The fleet was still sailing through the waves, but the officers and soldiers of the Tang Army on board the boat no longer looked anxious, but calmly recharged their batteries and prepared for the war that was about to begin.
This quiet atmosphere also prevailed on the main ship. Only a few of the entourage didn't know what was going on and had nothing to do all day long.
Zhao Jin held up her skirt and climbed all the way to the oar tower, where she saw Wang Cui standing by the railing holding a lookout tube and watching the fleet behind.
The female guard's expression looked very serious, as if she was searching for something among the flags.
"What are you looking at?" Zhao Jinsui stepped forward and patted her shoulder, "Where did you get the telescope?"
"No...I didn't see anything." Wang Cui looked a little panicked.
"Something on your mind?"
"No, it's just...it seems that the ship of the general Lu I met before is empty."
"Where is the 'Brother Xiaoyou' you mentioned before?"
Zhao Jin took the watch tube and looked at it, saying: "I have wanted to play with this for a long time, but the bad woman refused to give it to me... There are really a lot of empty ships."
"yes."
"Are you curious where they went?" Zhao Jin asked again.
Wang Cui nodded and sighed in his heart, secretly thinking that he was not curious but worried.
"Are you curious?" Zhao Jin seemed to really understand Wang Cui's thoughts, and said carelessly: "Then let's go and ask."
~~
"Do you know you are asking me about my military situation?"
Yan Rong looked very busy and rolled his eyes at Zhao Jin after hearing Zhao Jin's question.
"Tell me what's wrong? Where else can I leak it?"
Yan Rong shook his head and said: "No wonder His Majesty said that you are too pampered and have no sense of boundaries. Now you really think that you are a rich princess. Now you are among the rebels. It would be better to keep your temper."
"If you don't tell me, don't tell me. You have to teach me a lesson."
"I can only tell you that there is going to be a war soon... Don't look like that. It's not Zhao Song who's beating you, but the war with Meng Yuan that's going to happen soon. Really, stop running around and stay with me honestly. I understand.
Already?"
"Meng Yuan?"
"I know you don't believe it. I'm afraid you might think that Jiangling is the territory of Song Dynasty, so how could Mongolian and Yuan troops enter the country?" Yan Rong said, "But this is true. You scolded His Majesty for rebelling in the name of resisting Yuan Dynasty, but in fact, His Majesty,
Just resisting Yuan..."
Yan Rong was probably afraid that Zhao Jin would accuse Li Xia again, so he couldn't help but explain a few more words.
Every time he talked about this, he just said that Zhao Song was not good enough and that Li Xia was not as capable as boosting the country's prestige. Yan Rong did not hide the admiration in his eyes.
Zhao Jin looked at Yan Rong, then at Wang Cui, and suddenly lost interest in refuting, and simply responded.
"oh."
Yan Rong gave her a strange look and said, "I know I advised you not to move, but His Majesty is really a wise king and has no personal grudges against you. You can be more open-minded."
"I understand." Zhao Jin lowered his head and muttered: "I understood it a long time ago."
Yan Rong was stunned for a moment, then turned around and saw that Zhao Jin's seemingly delicate and savage face showed a trace of other emotions.
Even if she understands it better, given her situation, can she continue to praise her?
~~
As if knowing that the war was imminent, Zhao Jin suddenly became sensible and stopped running around on the cabin and no longer scolded Li Xia.
The people around her, Yan Rong, were full of admiration, love and concern for Li Xia. Even Wang Cui was worried about the generals under Li Xia's command.
She was the only one on the whole ship who couldn't fit in. She had no reason to feel the excitement and yearning of others.
They were all concerned about a war, but she had nothing to do with it.
For the next two days, Zhao Jin spent most of the time sitting in the cabin in a daze, like a noble lady.
Noon on the 12th.
Suddenly, the ship rocked and shouts sounded on the deck.
Then the war drums sounded.
In the chaos, Yan Rong rushed over as quickly as possible and ran to the cabin to comfort Zhao Jin.
"Don't be afraid. The main ship needs to get closer so His Majesty can watch the battle. We stay here and everything will be fine."
Zhao Jin raised his head and could see the worry in Yan Rong's eyes.
She curled her lips and said, "I'm not afraid. Li Ni beats Yuanmeng and dogs bite dogs. What do I have to be afraid of?"
"You can't..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Yan Rong stumbled and almost fell.
But the main ship was shaking violently.
~~
On the top of Jiangling City, rows of artillery carts threw many boulders one after another and launched a condescending offensive against the Tang navy coming up the river.
Finally, when they saw that one of the huge rocks hit Li Xia's ship, the soldiers of the Yuan Dynasty on the city wall couldn't help but cheered.
Although only one stone could not really destroy such a big ship, it greatly boosted the morale of the Yuan army.
"Go on, smash Li Xia to death!"
…
A mile away on the Yangtze River was Li Xia's main ship. The large banner was standing at the highest point and fluttering in the wind, attracting the Yuan army's offensive.
This distance was the farthest the cannon truck at the city head could hit, but a stone still hit the side of the ship and cracked several wooden boards.
The ship rocked, and there was a cry of exclamation.
Fang Yankai, who accompanied Li Xia to watch the battle from a high place, could not help but become worried and advised: "Your Majesty, you should put your safety first and retreat."
This time, Li Xia glanced at Fang Yankai and asked, "What do you want me to do?"
"Your Majesty, please move the main ship to the center of the river, otherwise it will be like the fishing city Mengge back then..."
Before he finished speaking, a military commander immediately said: "No! If the main ship moves, if the officers on the shore think that our army has been defeated..."
"That's enough." Li Xia said, "Stop talking about it."
Fang Yankai was helpless.
He didn't want to be verbose, but the war was in danger and the emperor's safety was closely related. If others didn't persuade him, he had to do so.
"His Majesty……"
"Don't say it anymore. I know you are both right and reasonable. It's all out of duty and good intentions." Li Xia said, "It's my fault. It was wrong for me to charge into the battle. It was wrong for me to command by the river. It was wrong for me to go to the center of the river. It’s also wrong to avoid it.”
His tone was relatively calm, but he finally expressed his impatience.
He is patient, but since he came to the throne, every time he does anything, no matter big or small, he has someone admonishing him in his ears, which is really unbearable.
The civil servants and generals on the stage became quiet, but began to look a bit like Li Xia's marionettes, not daring to express their opinions.
This is a difficult thing for an emperor, and Li Xia is still learning.
"Continue to talk about the battle situation."
"After General Lu arrived with his troops, he solved the siege of Shashi Wharf. But last night, the Yuan army made a sneak attack on Jiangling City and captured Jiangling South City overnight. General Masilong led his troops to retreat to Tienv Temple in the north of the city, and fought with the Yuan army. Military street fighting..."
"Does he still have the city gate?"
"Beicheng is still in the hands of General Ma."
"Okay! Remember Ma Shilong's power..."
"Your Majesty, Ma Shilong allowed the Yuan army to break the city, and his crime shall be punished." A military disciplinary officer stepped forward and reminded him sternly: "The specific battle situation is not yet known, I'm afraid it is not appropriate to record merit."
"Ma Shilong has been guarding from last night to today, but he still hasn't allowed the Yuan army to completely control Jiangling City. If our army can win, this is the key. It must be recorded as a meritorious service." Li Xia insisted, and said: "Publish this message, immediately Praise the Jiangling garrison."
"According to the decree."
"Order Zhang Gui to support Shashi Town Wharf, and order Zhang Shun to support Jiangling County."
"According to the decree."
"If you give the order again, Jiang Cai will have full command."
"According to the decree..."
If Li Xia's main force had arrived a day or two later, Jiangling City might have been lost.
Ali Hague was still attacking Jiangling. When he saw the main force of the Tang navy arriving, he had to mobilize troops to the city and use artillery carts to block the river.
Li Xia's main role was to let the main warship with the big banner sail to a mile away from Jiangling City and attract the Yuan army's attention.
This allowed the Tang army to finally concentrate its forces.
The rest can be left to these generals to fight.
Before the main force arrived, Jiang Cai, Ma Shilong, and Lu Xiaoyou would be at a disadvantage because there were too many strategic positions to defend and their forces were scattered. At that time, the Yuan army could concentrate its forces to attack any place it wanted to attack, so the Tang army was naturally passive.
Now is the time when the generals of both sides can truly compete fairly.
Standing on the observation deck of the main ship, the first thing you can see is the battlefield at the Shashi Town Pier.
As Zhang Gui's navy landed, the Tang army sounded the clarion call for counterattack. Jiang Cai led his soldiers from south to north, while Zhang Gui led his troops from east to west, forming a clamp-like formation, slowly approaching the Yuan army's line.
Interestingly, Lu Xiaoyou used bluff to break the siege of Shashi Town Wharf, so the Yuan army general Ali Hague turned to attack Jiangling City, leaving empty troops outside Shashi Town.
There were not many troops left in the Yuan army camp, only more than 5,000 people.
These five thousand people are all cavalry, so they don't have to fight with Jiang Cai and Zhang Gui's naval infantry. The problem is that there is a lake northwest of Shashi Town, called Jiangjin Lake.
When Jiang Cai and Zhang Gui approached, the Yuan army retreated to the north, only to see a Tang army cavalry coming from the northeast as fast as the wind.
It was Lu Xiaoyou's cavalry. When he discovered that Zhang Gui had docked, Lu Xiaoyou led his troops north to encircle the Yuan army's rear army, using the mobility of the cavalry to make up for the lack of infantry.
From Li Xia's sight, he could see that there were only a thousand cavalrymen of the Tang Army.
However, the soldiers of the Yuan Dynasty did not know what was true and believed that they had five thousand cavalry, so they did not dare to fight hard and quickly retreated to the west.
During this retreat, they had to go around Jiangjin Lake, and the land by the lake was soaked by the continuous spring rain, which was not an easy road for the cavalry.
Finally, the advantage of the Yuan army's cavalry disappeared at this moment...
~~
"Report to the general manager, the Tang army in Shashi Town has counterattacked, and we can't stop them."
The detective horse galloped up to Jiangling, and ran all the way to the top of the city to report the news to Ali Hague.
Ali Hague's face immediately turned ugly.
For him, every key node in this battle was a bit off.
They almost captured Shashi Town Pier and almost captured Jiangling City.
It's not that Li Xia arrived too quickly, but that Ma Shilong was too tenacious. Even though the city was already broken, he still insisted on guarding Jiangling in the street battle.
The street fighting lasted all night and half of the day, delaying the Yuan army's time to occupy strategic locations.
Compared with when the Tang army conquered Ezhou, Lu Wenfu "led his army in street fighting, but was captured at the end of his strength", the little-known Masilong made a real effort.
Only then did Ali Hague realize that it was not Li Xia who was difficult to defeat. Li Xia was on a boat a mile away. As long as there was a boat, he could be knocked over.
The people who put him in trouble were Jiang Cai and Ma Shilong. With only half the strength of the Yuan army, they defended two places separately. They were stunned until the main force arrived and counterattacked...