It was midsummer in July and the weather was hot. However, the Feng Yuan by the South Lake had a gentle breeze and was quite cool.
A group of young girls walked up the steps carrying drinks and ice cubes to the pavilion in the middle of the lake.
They were only covered with gauze, and pairs of slender thighs appeared and disappeared under the gauze skirts.
Walking into the Water Curtain Pavilion, I saw Lu Wende lying on the couch and sleeping soundly.
Lu Wende was tall and strong. At this time, he only had a small blanket covering his belly, as if a mountain of meat had collapsed there.
There was another team of maids around him who were fanning and massaging him. The maids all walked barefoot and tiptoed when walking, moving as gently as possible to avoid waking Lu Wende.
But with a few cicadas chirping, Lu Wende woke up.
He just slowly raised his eyelids, but to the maid in the pavilion, it seemed like a big deal... The maid who was holding his big feet and massaging them increased her strength and carefully observed his reaction.
"Is my third brother back?" Lu Wende said lazily, "Let him come over."
After a glass of ice wine, Lu Wenfu also arrived. He sat down leisurely and said, "Brother, can Lao Liu handle the market in Xiangyang by himself? Why don't you let me take charge?"
Now that the Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty have negotiated peace and reached a mutual trading agreement, Xiangyang has begun mutual trading, and it is foreseeable that this will bring huge profits.
Lu Wenfu did not hide his desire for this kind of benefit in front of his brother. He had repeatedly expressed his desire to go to Xiangyang in a vague way, but today he simply said so.
Lu Wende didn't even raise his eyes and said, "You think Xiangyang is just doing business? Why didn't you say you wanted to go when Lao Liu was fighting in Xiangyang?"
Lu Wenfu laughed awkwardly and said, "Eldest brother also knows that Lao Liu is too upright and should not be involved in the discussion. I will go over and keep an eye on him to avoid being taken advantage of by the people from the north."
He said "Northerners" instead of "Mongolians". During the years of fighting against the Mongols, they all knew that the main force of the Mongolian attack on the Song Dynasty was actually the Han army. However, in order to arouse the hatred of the soldiers, they still called them Mongolians; from now on
After the peace was negotiated, those who participated in the mutual trade were all wealthy people from the Central Plains. Of course, they could no longer be regarded as Mongolians who did not know how to do business, and they had to be vigilant.
Lu Wende said: "In a few days, envoys from the Yuan Dynasty will come to Ezhou to see me. You can go to Hanyang to welcome them. We can talk about it after we have discussed the details of the market."
"..."Listen to big brother's instructions."
"Don't just think about gold, silver and jewels. There might be a war."
"A war?" Lu Wenfu was very surprised, "We have already made peace, so why fight?"
"If we don't fight the Mongols, we will inevitably have to fight the rebel hozen."
Lu Wenfu chuckled lightly and asked: "Brother, are you planning to conquer Li Xia? It's not that it's not easy to attack the upper reaches from the lower reaches, and the court can't provide money and food."
"He is really going to rebel against the Song Dynasty and proclaim himself emperor. I heard that he will ascend the throne on July 18th. The news has not come back yet. I don't know if it is true or false." How many years has Li Xia been in business? "Lu Wenfu couldn't help but laugh,
Twisting the beard on his lips, he sneered: "If you say you are an emperor, does that mean you are an emperor? How can you be like an emperor if you are poor and shabby? If nothing else, just the other houses like my eldest brother's are even more magnificent than his palace.
How much? He also has a face and is not afraid of becoming the laughing stock of the world."
This is the truth. Li Xia claimed to be emperor in the simple and dilapidated courtyard of Chang'an, and it was really funny for them, the luxurious families in the south of the Yangtze River, to admit it.
Lu Wende did not laugh, but murmured to himself: "The emperor raised his feet casually and used the soles of his feet to rub the girl who was serving him, because his feet were so big that they made the girl's body look particularly petite.
What good is the emperor?
Is it comparable to the life he is living now?
"It doesn't matter if he proclaims himself emperor, he will force the court to think of ways to raise money and food for me to attack Sichuan."
Lu Wende's previous unwillingness to send troops to the west was not because he was afraid of Li Xia, but because the court wanted him to lose troops and lose generals without giving him money or food. It was different now. After negotiating peace with the Meng Yuan Dynasty, the pressure on the Huaihe River defense line was suddenly reduced, and the Song Dynasty was able to draw more power. Dealing with Li Xia. "Yes, the eldest brother has waited patiently for several years, and finally waited for this opportunity." Lu Wenfu looked at the scene of his eldest brother playing with the maid, thought for a while, acted as the mastermind, and started to analyze. "If Li Xia is really He dared to rebel against the Song Dynasty and proclaimed himself emperor, which was a bad move. In the past two years, he went to war with the Mongols, and the imperial court even sent troops to help.
By proclaiming himself emperor, he is forcing the imperial court to send troops to quell the rebellion. I don't know what he thinks. If this continues, even if he really wins the battle, he will force the imperial court to form an alliance with the Mongols, right?
"Young and hard-boned." Lu Wende commented, "Silly dog."
Lu Wenfu laughed loudly and said: "July 18th... Then Li Xia's envoy is already on the way?"
What should Li Xia do after he becomes emperor? He can only do what Li Yuanhao did, send envoys to the Song Dynasty to win the recognition of the Song Dynasty, or at least blame the Song Dynasty for starting the war.
"Counting the time, the envoy has almost arrived in Ezhou..." After saying this, Lu Wenfu squinted his eyes and looked at the lake shore, and saw a servant running over there, pacing anxiously, obviously having something urgent to report.
"Sure enough, it's here."
However, the news that came was not that Li Xia's envoys had arrived, but that the navy had arrived.
"The rebel navy troops left Wanzhou, defeated Jigui and Yiling on one day, Yidu, Songzi and Zhijiang on the next day, and arrived at the gate of Jianglingfu on the third day!"
"What did you say?" After hearing this, Lu Wenfu didn't react yet and asked in surprise: "What rebels?"
"The rebels of Li Ni of the Puppet Tang Dynasty, led by the rebel general Jiang Cai, have attacked Jiangling Mansion."
"An undeclared war?" Lu Wenfu did not listen carefully to the battle report, but repeatedly muttered, "An undeclared war?"
These days, all the staff have used the founding of Xixia to analyze Li Xia's claim to the throne, and do not believe that Li Xia has the strength to destroy the Song Dynasty.
The imperial court could raise 100,000 troops and 30,000 warships in Jinghu.
On the other hand, Li Xia had insufficient warships and unskilled naval forces, and the naval force he could mobilize was only one-tenth of the imperial court's.
Moreover, Meng Yuan, who is watching with eager eyes, will send troops to attack Chang'an at any time.
Li Xia was destined to be unable to attack Lin'an. At most, he could only force Song Ting to recognize his imperial title through a small battle.
But he actually sent troops? And he still went to war without declaring it. Was he not afraid of angering the Song Dynasty?
Suddenly there was a scream in the pavilion, but it was Lu Wende who kicked a maid away and stood up.
"It's a good time that the Dog Hosun is here! I thought the Three Gorges was difficult to navigate, so I just happened to kill his navy in Jiangling first."
Jiangling Mansion.
Warships were densely crowded on the Yangtze River, the gates of Jiangling City were tightly closed, and the artillery carriages on top of the city were constantly adjusting their directions, creating a chilling atmosphere of confrontation between the two armies.
On the warship, Jiang Cai raised his lookout tube to observe the movements in Jiangling City, his expression looking a little serious.
After going down the Yangtze River and conducting sneak attacks on several states and counties, he encountered Song Ting's first important town and finally stopped the overwhelming offensive of the past few days.
"General."
Ma Shilong walked up to the battle platform and looked around. He saw that the wind in the river was very strong and his words would not be heard by other generals. He just said: "Jiangling City is already on guard. There are more than 3,000 warships at the docks in the city.
There are more than 15,000 defenders in the city, and there are more warships and troops than us..."
At this point, he came closer to Jiang Cai, lowered his voice, and said: "Besides, the Song army still occupies the city wall, and there are reinforcements and reinforcements, so I'm afraid it will be difficult to fight.
Jiang Cai didn't have much reaction after hearing this.
Because the more troops, warships, better terrain, and supplies that Ma Shilong mentioned are all numbers on paper. And every time the Song army lost a battle, the numbers on paper were much better than the opponent's.
.
Victory or defeat not only depends on these, but also depends on the command of the generals, the morale of the soldiers, the use of tactics, etc., and even luck. "If it is not easy to fight, we have to fight. Let's take Jiangling."
Ma Shilong did not respond immediately. He was an old man next to Jiang Cai and a true confidant, so he dared to speak his mind directly. "General, I don't understand. What's the use of taking Jiangling? There are still things ahead.
Yueyang, Hanyang, Ezhou. By the time we take Jiangling, the Song army has gathered 100,000 navy troops."
"I have my own sense of proportion.
Masilong added: "Anyway, the Yangtze River is wide and the Jiangling garrison can't stop us. It's better to go down the river and kill Ezhou before Lu Wende can react.
This was a very risky plan. It was easy to bypass Jiangling and go down the river, but without supplies, their navy would not be able to fight a lasting battle, and once defeated, it would be almost impossible to escape upstream.
That is to say, it was only a lunatic like Masilong who had just been carried away by the joy of the founding hero who dared to bring it up.
ginger
Then he shook his head and said: "The military order we received is to capture Jiangling."
Masilong had no choice but to surrender, but he still didn't quite understand what the use of his ten thousand navy troops would be if they captured Jiangling.
"There should be reinforcements." He thought to himself.
Soon, the horn sounded, the warships slowly approached Jiangling City, and the two sides fired cannons and rocks at each other.
"Capture Gangneung!"
"Set off the fire!"
"Bang..."
The huge rocks created huge waves and the ship rocked.
"The sail is stuck!"
"I come……"
Lu Fu still stood firm, as if his feet were nailed to the deck with every step he took.
He rushed to the mast and climbed up, moving quickly. There were arrows floating in front of him, but he turned a blind eye.
Lu Fu's temperament was not like that of a general, that is, because of his excellent boat handling skills and his excellent water skills, he was able to become Jiang Cai's most valued general.
In this battle, all the comrades were very motivated, but Lu Fu was still a little unmotivated.
In the past, he was a member of the Song army, and he only followed Jiang Cai to kill the Mongols. As for Jiang Cai, whether he followed the Song court or the King of Qin, he didn't understand this. But now, he was attacking the cities of the Song Dynasty. Lu Fu worked hard to adjust
After setting up the sail, I was about to lower the mast. I looked down and saw the gun carriages beside the warship. I couldn't help but get distracted, thinking that if those huge rocks hit the city, how many civilians would be killed or injured...
"Come down quickly!"
"Step aside!"
Suddenly he heard shouting from around him. Lu Fu, who was distracted, turned around and saw that the soldiers under the mast had fled away one after another.
"Bang!"
The mast slowly fell down and crashed into the Yangtze River. "Gululu..."
The river water poured into the ears, and the sounds of fighting and cannonballs suddenly stopped, and the world became quiet.
Lu Fu's eyes widened as he saw someone falling into the river and bleeding, and was quickly washed away by the Yangtze River.
He quickly found Jiang Cai's warship and swam toward it with all his strength. However, after swimming for two times, he suddenly gave up his strength and let his body lie on the river, drifting along the Yangtze River. Everyone has his own ambitions.
, the comrades all wanted to follow the King of Qin... no, it was the emperor. The comrades all wanted to follow the emperor to make achievements and bring peace to the world, but he was unwilling to attack the Song Dynasty.
Then go back to your hometown.
The sky was high and the clouds were wide, and the water of the Yangtze River was rolling eastward. At this moment, Lu Fu felt free.