At the top of Kuizhou City, Zhang Qiyan's eyes suddenly widened when he saw the fleet going down the river crashing into the Song Navy that covered the river.
"It's reinforcements!"
"Reinforcements are coming!"
"Set off the fire!"
Soon, the artillery on the city head adjusted its angle and spit out a shell, which hit the river far away.
They had very few artillery shells left, and at this time it was to receive reinforcements into the city and to deter the Song army.
Although the Song Navy navy deliberately avoided the distance of the Tang Army's artillery, the side of a large ship was grazed by a cannonball and was instantly smashed into powder, and the ship's hull began to tilt.
So the ships around it quickly moved away from Kuizhou City, and there was chaos.
Zhang Qiyan raised his telescope and saw this scene, then looked at the reinforcements in the distance. Suddenly he remembered something, turned around and shouted: "Kill them!"
He walked a few steps, raised his hand, and pointed at the hanging basket that had just been lowered to the top of the city.
"Wanzhou is not lost! If the thief dares to lie to me, I will kill him!"
When some soldiers started to pull the hanging basket, they wanted to pull Yao Fan and Hu Huaixiao back to the top of the city to be executed.
Seeing this situation, Hu Huaixiao was so frightened that he lost his mind and panicked.
Yao Fan quickly drew his knife out of desperation and cut the rope of the hanging basket.
"ah!"
With a muffled sound, the hanging basket hit the rocks below the city. A sharp pain and numbness hit the soles of their feet, and the two of them screamed in pain.
"Walk!"
Yao Pang endured the feeling that his calf was about to break, climbed two steps, stumbled and fell into his boat.
"Save me!" Hu Huaixiao shouted.
"Let's go!" Yao Min shouted.
Hu Huaixiao had no choice but to grit his teeth and get up and run towards the boat.
Arrows shot down from beside him. He was hit by two arrows and cried in fright.
Then there was a "bang", and a big stone rolled down from the city wall and hit Hu Huaixiao, smashing his legs into mud.
His upper body fell into the river and was stuck by a boulder, unable to move. He was stunned for two breaths and then howled in pain.
The shrill screams did not stop Yao Pang, and he quickly sailed the boat towards the center of the river.
"Let's go!"
"Bang!"
Some rocks were thrown by the artillery carts of the Tang army and hit the river, causing high splashes.
Yao Fan stared at the Song Navy in front of him.
He knew that with the strength of the Song army, it would be very difficult for the Tang army to reach Kuizhou.
Then, as long as the boat can row out of the range of the artillery carriage on top of Kuizhou City, he can escape.
Gradually, he got farther and farther away from Kuizhou City, and got closer and closer to the Song Army fleet...
Sudden.
Amidst the loud noise, the boats on the river swayed more violently.
Yao Pian looked around with wide eyes and saw a Song Army ship sinking slowly.
"Stop!" Yao Pian shouted to stop the soldier rowing desperately, "Don't go over!"
Just when we stopped paddling, the boat was rushed downstream by the river. However, there was another loud noise and another artillery hit downstream.
"Walk!"
Yao Pang fell on the deck, looked up, and saw a dilapidated boat with the flag of the Tang Army squeezed out of the fleet with difficulty, and then slowly sank in the river.
There was blood on the river surface, some people were swept away by the river water, and some people swam away.
Afterwards, another broken boat squeezed out, but was hooked by two Song Army warships next to it. After a boarding battle, it slowly sank again...
Yao Fan stared blankly for a while, and suddenly saw a red sun in the west, which outlined the entire river surface in blood.
The next moment, his body trembled, and when he turned around, he saw a dilapidated Tang Army warship finally breaking through the siege of the Song Army fleet and heading here.
Behind it, two more, three more... more and more ships appeared.
Fly the flag into the wind with one stroke.
And there was a short figure under the banner shaking, and several arrows stuck in his body were gradually revealed.
With a "bang", a Song Army's warship hit the Tang Army's warship heavily, and the figure of the Tang general was shaken and fell into the river.
"General!"
Yao Pian heard the shouts of Tang soldiers.
But he no longer cares about looking at them. His boat was rushed by the river and hit another ship, and a Tang army ship noticed him in front.
Yao Pian realized that he was wearing the official uniform of the Song Dynasty. Seeing a Tang soldier in front of him raising his crossbow, he quickly jumped into the river.
"Plop."
Immediately afterwards, a ship ran over his head.
Fortunately, he was very good at water. He held his breath and immersed himself in the river, trying to identify the direction.
Suddenly, Yao Min felt a big and agile fish bump into him. He turned around and saw a black shadow swimming upstream and about to emerge from the water.
But he felt something squeezing out from his chest.
He looked down with difficulty in the water and saw a stream of dark color spraying out of his body.
I don’t know when, Yao Min was stabbed...
~~
"Quick! Open the city gate!"
The water gate of Kuizhou City has been opened, and a Tang Army boat sailed into the water gate with difficulty as it was about to sink into the river.
Cheers rang out, and the soldiers who had been waiting for help for a long time cheered.
Zhang Qiyan jumped onto the boat from the dock with bare feet. When he saw that there were several sacks in the small cabin, he couldn't help but feel sad and happy.
"Which general is here to help?"
"I!"
Then I saw a man coming from the boat behind, took off his rattan armor, and gave Zhang Qiyan a bear hug.
It was Zhang Gui.
"My eldest brother and I rushed back from Guanzhong. We specially told the Sichuan-Sichuan soldiers that the Northern Expedition went well and asked you to hold on for the last period. Also, Marshal Jiang planned to come to support himself, but we robbed him of this job."
"Okay, okay, okay..."
Both parties were overjoyed. Zhang Gui slapped Zhang Qiyan hard again and said, "I knew you could definitely hold on!"
"Almost, if I come later, I won't be able to hold on."
"Haha, you can hold on."
Later, more reinforcement warships entered the city, and some soldiers rushed towards Zhang Gui in panic.
"General, it's bad! General Zhang Shun fell into the water."
"What did you say?!"
Zhang Gui was in a hurry. He looked around, jumped on a boat and said he was going to rescue Zhang Shun.
While everyone was trying to persuade him, they suddenly heard cheers coming from the water gate.
They turned around again and saw a man holding an oar standing upright on a boat entering the water gate. If it wasn't Zhang Shun, who could it be?
"Brother?!" Zhang Gui was overjoyed and said, "Are you okay?!"
"What can be the matter?" Zhang Shun patted the armor on his body and said loudly: "I have all my precious things with me, and there is support at the top of the city. Who can do anything to me on the water? By the way, General Zhang, Wanzhou doesn't
Di, I am from Wanzhou!"
"That's good. It's ridiculous that Jia Sidao claimed that an army of 200,000 people was attacking Sichuan and Sichuan, but he could only do this kind of deceptive trick. Do you think I am a three-year-old child who is easy to deceive?"
~~
"Ping Zhanggong, reinforcements from the Tang Army have entered Kuizhou City."
"Am I blind? Do I need you to repay me?"
Jia Sidao threw away the telescope in his hand and turned straight back to the cabin. He didn't care that as Ping Zhanggong, he had to keep calm in public.
He just wants to be left alone.
"I just let one or two thousand people into Kuizhou..."
With such words in his mouth, he actually couldn't comfort himself anymore. He thought that if this happened, it would take at least another three to five months to capture Kuizhou.
There are too many changes that may occur in three to five months. Food and grass are insufficient, something happens in the court, and Li Xia returns to help.
Putting all these circumstances together, it is obvious that the capture of Sichuan and Shu is far away.
Give up?
If you are willing to admit defeat, you might as well send someone to contact Li Xia in Lin'an. Why go through all the trouble and lead an army of 200,000 people up the river?
Jia Sidao stood alone by the cabin window and thought for a long time. It was not until late at night that he recruited Liao Yingzhong.
As soon as Liao Yingzhong came in, she said: "Ping Zhanggong, please see Su Liuyi..."
"No rush." Jia Sidao waved his hand and said: "Today is just a small setback. Who is not in trouble? I don't believe Li Xia, Kublai Khan will have smooth sailing."
"yes."
"A few things." Jia Sidao ordered: "Send someone to see Boyan and remind him that he can't delay any longer and must attack the main force of the Tang army as soon as possible."
Liao Yingzhong thought for a while, and soon found a candidate, and asked: "How about letting Huang Gongshao go?"
"Okay. Let Weng Yinglong go to see Lu Wenhuan and tell him to stop pretending to me. If he doesn't capture Mengjindu, I will personally lead the troops there!"
"yes."
"Write a letter to Han Zhen and ask him how the situation in Lin'an is..."
Liao Yingzhong agreed one by one, understanding that Jia Sidao's intention in making these arrangements was nothing more than to delay Li Xia, stabilize the court, and gain more time to capture Sichuan and Shu.
Because the situation has reached this point, all parties can barely afford it, so whoever can hold on will win.
~~
Far away in the north, by the Juma River, Li Xia also stayed up all night, discussing the current situation with Zhang Hongdao.
"At this final stage, it was a competition to see who could stabilize the situation. Kublai Khan wanted to stabilize the conflict between the Mongols and the Han Dynasty, Jia Sidao's army wanted to stabilize the court outside, and we were spreading our troops.
Too open."
"I understand what your Majesty means. Kublai Khan put Boyan in Kaifeng and never sent him back to defend Yanjing. What he was waiting for was for your Majesty to mobilize heavy troops to go north. We only have so many troops. If Henan becomes weak, it will be
If Boyan cuts it off, everything will be lost."
Zhang Hongdao said, thought for a while and gave another example, and said: "Sichuan and Shu are the tail, and Hebei is the head. If the war in these two places does not go well, we can retreat. But Boyan can cut us off in the middle."
"The situation looks good, but if we lose, we will lose everything. So we must be stable and not rush to gather heavy troops in Yanjing." Li Xia said: "Let's turn around first and cut off Boyan."
"Shandong?"
"Um."
Zhang Hongdao pondered: "Previously, the land of Shandong was returned to the Dongping Yan clan and Li Fen. After Li Fen's rebellion, Kublai Khan transferred most of the Shandong soldiers and horses. Since our Northern Expedition, Shandong has not had much reaction, because the Yan clan
Their power has been reduced, and the new Shandong officials appointed by the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty have little strength."
"The Yan family's influence in Shandong should still be there." Li Xia said: "We don't have enough soldiers and horses, so we can only 'attack with troops'."
"Your Majesty is saying to recruit the Yan clan to surrender?"
"I originally wanted to send Wang Xin, but he hasn't come back yet."
Zhang Hongdao's wife Yan Shu was the daughter of Yan Zhongji, the Marquis of Shandong, and this matter would eventually fall on him.
He didn't think much about it and said: "Zhang Xun, the dog, can go to Dongping."
"Okay, I wrote a letter to Yan Zhongji and asked him to take it with him..."
In the final stage of the stalemate, Li Xia used the safest move, but it was still an offensive move.
~~
Yanjing.
Outside the Daning Palace where Kublai Khan was, the entire Yuan Dynasty had fallen into the unrest of the enemy approaching the city, but Kublai Khan was the only one who remained very calm.
Throughout this defensive war in the Central Plains, although there were many failures, his overall strategy has not deviated too much.
The original idea was to open up the Tang army's front and let Boyan cut it off.
Now the situation has finally reached a stalemate, and the price paid is much heavier than expected. In short, the Tang army's front line has been stretched, and its strength is thin enough.
It just depends on who can open up the situation first.
Will Li Xia defeat Yanjing first?
Kublai Khan thought of this and shook his head. His main force had not moved at all, and it was impossible for Li Xia to break Yanjing.
It depends on whether Jia Sidao takes over Sichuan and Shu first, or Li Xia takes over Shandong first, or Lu Wenhuan takes over Mengjin Ferry first, or Boyan first counterattacks Zhengzhou and Luoyang...