The word "butter" refers to butter, which means it can nourish all things.
The new year has begun, and spring plowing is about to begin.
Whether it is the Han Dynasty or the Hu Dynasty, orthodoxy or rebellion, the only difference between them is where the food cultivated by the farmers ends up, but they must all attach great importance to it.
After the peace negotiation, the Song court no longer needed to mobilize more than 300,000 troops to defend Lin'an, and negotiated a peaceful situation for the people to farm.
From this point of view, this national policy is very correct. Otherwise, the problem that 200,000 years of coins can solve will not only cost millions of military supplies, but also delay the country's agricultural work for a year or even several years.
On the eighth day of the second lunar month, Awakening of Insects occurs. Human beings are busy with their affairs, and the fields are full of cultivation.
Jiang Cai climbed to the top of Jiangling City and looked towards the outskirts of the city with a lookout tube.
"It's a pity that such a good field will be wasted if it is not plowed."
"Look at what the general said." Masilong said: "Isn't that the general who sent all the farmers outside Jiangling City away?"
Masilong was just a subordinate general in the Song army before. In just a few years, he was promoted to the commander-in-chief and could lead an army on his own.
He was wearing majestic armor and had a big red cape on his back. When he spoke, he looked around and occasionally flicked his cape with his hands, like a big arrogant rooster.
But in fact, on such a rainy day, the cloak has been soaked into a piece of wet cloth. Not only can it not block the wind, but it is also very annoying when it hangs on the body.
Jiang Cai raised his telescope and said without turning his head, "Don't talk nonsense."
Masilong is indeed lying. The reason why there are no farmers cultivating land in the suburbs of Jiangling is obviously because of the increasingly approaching war.
In the rain curtain, a figure galloping on horseback appeared to the north.
"Tan Ma is back."
"Get ready to open the city gate."
"General!" Masilong suddenly shouted and raised his hand, "What is that?"
Jiang Cai squinted his eyes and wiped the rainwater on the sight tube, then looked carefully and saw that just behind his three scouting horses, there were more than ten more riding horses chasing them.
Both sides are chasing each other.
"It's the Yuan Army!"
It was raining and the ground was slippery. Our team tried hard to increase the speed of the horse, and it was not too slow. However, the speed of the ten or so riders quickly caught up with them.
"Get ready to respond!" Masilong turned around and shouted, "Archers!"
The archers on the city wall slowly raised their bows, but at this distance they could not shoot the pursuers behind their own horses.
Jiang Cai put down the telescope and ran to the city wall in two steps, his eyes widened. He saw that under the rain curtain, the Yuan army quickly caught up and chopped down his scouting horse to the ground.
Far away, no sound can be heard.
The soldier fell to the ground silently, and the blood gushed out and was immediately washed away by the rain.
The empty horse was led by soldiers of the Yuan Dynasty.
They did not leave, but continued forward, running to a stone's throw away from the city wall, and shouted: "Kaicheng surrender as soon as possible, or else we will massacre Jiangling City!"
"Fire the arrow!" Masilong shouted.
The arrows were hit by the rain, but they could not hit the Yuan army, but made them laugh.
"Let me tell you again, Chang'an has been captured by Dayuan."
Masilong stretched his neck and shouted: "Goulu, the more you say this, the less your grandpa will believe it, hahaha."
He has a thick neck and a loud voice.
However, Jiang Cai kicked Ma Shilong and reminded him that it was not appropriate to argue with the enemy's soldiers when he was in charge of an army.
"You guard Beicheng."
"What about you, General?"
"Let you guard Beicheng!"
Jiang Cai gave another order, led a group of personal guards, and strode towards Nancheng.
His boots were filled with water, and the leather squeaked when he stepped on it. Jiang Cai wiped the rain off his face, and as he walked, he sorted out the situation in his mind.
In the entire Jiangling area, he has more than 10,000 troops stationed in Jiangling City, Shashi Town Wharf, and along the Yangtze River.
There are nearly 20,000 troops returning to Ezhou, and they also need to protect the population and provide supplies.
As for how many troops the Yuan army could have? It is not yet known, but Jiang Cai deduced that there should be no more than 5,000 people. After all, this is still the territory of the Song Dynasty. The Yuan army can only enter in small groups, and it is difficult to enter in large numbers.
So, it would not be easy for the 5,000 yuan army to conquer Jiangling or defeat the Tang army on the Yangtze River. What is the key to the battle?
Shashi Town Pier!
This is the easiest and most useful strategic location for the Yuan army to capture.
By seizing the dock, we not only have ships, but also can blockade the river. Once the main force of the Tang army is blocked to the east of Jiangling, the strategic purpose has basically been achieved...
Jiang Cai rushed to Nancheng and took a look. He saw that the riverside was still busy. Boats from Ezhou, loaded with people and goods, were still slowly going up the Yangtze River. There were shirtless and barefoot trackers on the shore trying their best to pull those people.
heavy ships.
"Has His Majesty's decree arrived?"
"Not yet. The ship is sailing up the river with its baggage. Calculating the time, it will arrive in five days at the earliest."
When he heard that the main army had not arrived at Jiangling yet, Jiang Cai's eyes filled with worry.
But there is no other way to swim against the current.
"Get ready immediately, I want to personally support the Shashi Town Pier."
"promise……"
"There are three thousand and three in Jiangling, so why should we go far? We went to Yangzhou after hearing the news and sent each other off to Jiangjin Bay."
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Shashi Town was a major river crossing of the Chu State. Today, it has become a strategic and commercial hub in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.
The dock is more than ten miles away from Jiangling City, but its prosperity is not inferior to Jiangling City. It can be said that it is "noisy like boiling, money is like hills, and silk is like reeds."
Even after the Tang army captured Jiangling, the prosperity of this place did not diminish. Instead, it became the Tang army's baggage and a transit port for trophies. It became even busier after the peace negotiation.
Nowadays, most of the people in Shashi Town are big businessmen and nobles. They don't care much about the Song Dynasty losing half of their country. Instead, they care about business.
"Have you heard? After the peace negotiation, the forecourt will be located in Jiangling. Where can the forecourt in Jiangling be located? It must be the Shashi Town Pier."
"I also heard that the rebels...oh, no, it's the Tang army who wants to be stationed in Jiangling."
"The future situation can be foreseen. Tsk tsk, the famous town of Sanchu can be connected to the east and west. The evening canopy lights reflect the distance, and the light is always like daytime."
.....
Not caring about the national war but only caring about money. This trend is not only owned by the Lu family, nor was it brought about by Lu Wende.
On the contrary, it can be said that the fact that Lu Wende went from a charlatan who killed his enemies to serve his country to a corrupt man with thousands of excuses may not be due to the influence of this trend.
Since Chanyuan, the Song Dynasty has been spending money to buy peace, and has been accustomed to spending money to buy peace. It has long been kidnapped by its "wealth" and "prosperity".
But sometimes, peace cannot be bought or sought.
When the horn sound reached Shashi Town, the busy dock was stagnant.
The laborers carrying goods in the rain stopped what they were doing and raised their heads blankly; the merchants sitting in the teahouse and wine shop were still talking loudly and put down the cups in their hands...
Through the heavy rain, they didn't see what happened.
As the horn got louder, soldiers suddenly rushed over and roared.
"Everyone aboard! Everybody aboard!"
"Get to the pier quickly!"
"What's wrong? Didn't they negotiate for peace? The Song Army and the Tang Army went to war again?"
They have not yet linked the new name "Yuan Army" with the Mongolian army that once liked to massacre cities. As for whether this Yuan army will massacre cities or not, no one knows at this time.
The place where the fighting took place was still more than ten miles away from the town.
The Yuan army came around from a lake called "Changhu" to the east of Jiangling City, bypassing the Tang army's defense in Jiangling City.
But just north of Shashi Town, there was still a Tang army stationed, and traces of the Yuan army were discovered in advance.
This Tang army originally planned to build a fortress near the wharf of Shashi Town for long-term garrisoning. They had dug trenches, piled up low walls, and lined up behind the low walls. They did not appear to be panicked.
"The Yuan army is approaching..."
"Quick report to General Jiang, has Tan Ma returned? How many people are there in the Yuan army?"
.....
It was not easy to observe the number of Yuan troops on a rainy day. The line of sight from high places was not good, and the dust and smoke of the cavalry's march could not be seen at all.
Although there were more than 2,000 Tang troops stationed in Shashi Town, there were less than 700 troops at the defense point in the north, standing within the low wall and waiting in full formation.
The Yuan army gradually emerged from the rain, and the team was very scattered. The cavalry did not stop, but surrounded the town as if looking for a breakthrough.
"It's more than two thousand."
The commander of the Tang army guarding the wharf of Shashi Town was counting the number of Yuan troops while holding a lookout tube.
"Three thousand..."
Another Thousand Soldiers flag appeared in sight, and then another.
"Four thousand, five thousand... Damn it, the general manager of all households! Hurry! Report to General Jiang immediately... Damn it, how could the Song Army let so many Yuan troops enter?!"
The sound of rain and river waves covered up the sound of too many horse hooves.
However, the shaking of the earth still came.
These Tang soldiers guarding the north could feel that the Yuan army had launched an offensive to the east, and the defensive force in the east was even smaller, with only more than 500 people.
"Commander! They are attacking the dock from the right wing!"
"Why panic! Guard the enemy in front of you!"
Suddenly there was a "boom" sound from the east side of the pier. It was the artillery on the river boat that was already bombarding the Yuan army who was sneaking up on them.
At the same time, the Yuan troops in the north also moved their horses and came to kill them.
"Meet the enemy!"
The Tang army commander remained calm and did not blindly save Dongmian.
But the voices of the people on the dock crying for their fathers and mothers had already reached them, disturbing the minds of these soldiers.
At the same time, Jiangling City.
Jiang Cai had temporarily led his troops to support Shashi Town and handed over the city's defense to Maslong.
This was the first time that Masilong had received such an important errand. He immediately transformed from a beautiful big rooster to an ant on a hot pot. Regardless of the rain, he walked around the top of the city, waiting for the second group of scouting horses to come back.
Finally, this group of exploring horses was not stopped by the Yuan army's cavalry and quickly rushed back to Jiangling City.
"General Baoma, it's bad! The Yuan army attacked Shashi Town Pier with ten thousand people. General Jiang led people to support him. He was attacked by a Yuan army cavalry on the bank of Jiangjin Lake..."
Shashi Town is more than ten miles away from Jiangling City, and Jiangjin Lake is northwest of the dock.
It can be seen from this that the Yuan army did not want to attack the city by force, but wanted to encircle it and recruit reinforcements.
Masilong looked rough, but after thinking about it he understood that if the Yuan army wanted to blockade His Majesty, they had to seize the Shashi Town Pier within five days, so they used a trick to behead Jiang Cai first.
"General Ma, will you send someone to support General Jiang?"
"Of course!" Masilong did not hesitate and ordered: "All our troops immediately... wait! Has General Jiang asked me for help?"
"The Yuan army's horses were so fast that they cut off General Jiang's retreat and shot the messenger who broke through. We haven't received orders from General Jiang yet."
"Damn it." Masilong spat, thinking about Jiang Cai's repeated explanations before leaving, and he felt very entangled.
After struggling to the end, he finally ordered: "There is no order, continue to defend the city!"
People don't have the ability to see before and after. In wartime, they don't know whether every decision they make is right or wrong.
But in the early morning of the next day, after the rain and the sky cleared, Masilong raised his lookout tube from the top of the city and saw the densely packed Yuan troops stationed in the dense forest outside the city. He was frightened.
If he dared to open the city gate to support Jiang Cai yesterday, he was afraid that Jiangling City would be lost if the Yuan troops ambushed nearby.
"Damn it! How many people did they let in from Xiangyang?" Masilong was furious.
And those Yuan troops stopped hiding with him and began to cruise outside Jiangling City and surround him.
Masilong then broke off the news with Jiang Cai. He could not get orders from Jiang Cai, and he did not know what the battle situation was like at Shashi Town Pier and whether he could hold on until the main force arrived.
"It's better now. I've been promoted, and I really have to be on my own..."