In early August, the scenery on both sides of the Han River echoed Lu You's poem.
"The Han River flows eastward from the sky, and the mountains of Basel are covered with autumn for thousands of miles."
An old man was walking slowly on the outskirts of Hanzhong city on crutches. When he saw a father and son walking towards him carrying a load, he said with a smile: "Is the harvest good this year?"
Although the father and son did not recognize the old man, they saw his smiling face, so they stopped and responded.
The public security in Hanzhong is good and the people are simple. There are few precautions between strangers and they can often talk when they meet.
"Have you eaten, my husband? You picked some fruits on the roadside, can you eat some?"
"No, no, I just want to ask, what day is today?"
"Today, today is the ninth day of August in the first year of the founding of the Tang Dynasty."
The old man said to himself: "The first year of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the first year of the founding of the Tang Dynasty... It really makes people feel like the Tang Dynasty before the change of the Five Dynasties."
The farmer named Hao Erfu smiled honestly and replied: "Isn't that right? We have had great harvests for two consecutive years. Isn't this a prosperous time?"
"The almanac has changed?"
"changed!"
Hao Erfu put down the burden in his hands and took out several brand-new almanacs from the package, with a few newspapers underneath.
He handed one of the books to the old man and said with a smile: "The new calendar issued by the imperial court is accurate for the farming season. It said it was white dew the day before yesterday. I really caught a cold that night when I was shirtless."
"Of course it's accurate." The old man sighed in a low voice. With Dun Shoujing promoting the new calendar, how could it be inaccurate? But he waved his hand and said: "How can I get your things easily?"
"Take it, father-in-law. I live in Anjufang in the outer city, and Fangzheng asked me to help distribute it."
Hao Erfu said: "We have to let everyone know that we have issued a new calendar. When I come back, I only need to use it to teach people how to live."
"well."
The old man had already touched a few copper coins in his sleeves. He thought about it but did not take it out. He asked: "Anjufang, do you live not far from the workshop?"
"Yes, I also work in the workshop during the off-season, and the wages I earn can support my dog's education..."
"Dad." The young man who had been standing behind and said nothing couldn't help but said: "I told you that I changed my name. Hao Xingbang, Hao Xingbang, dad, you have to remember my name."
"I know, isn't it easy for dad to say it all at once..."
When the father and son were talking, the old man rubbed the almanac in his hand, looked at the Han River, and suddenly said with emotion: "With so many warships, are we afraid there will be a war?"
"Don't worry, I won't fight in Hanzhong. The government has announced a plan to attack the Zhao and Song Dynasties."
"Then we are going down the Han River to attack Xiangyang, right? I'm afraid we will set off in the next two days? I want to send some food to my Tang Dynasty soldiers."
"Then I don't know. How can we ordinary people know this?"
"Can the officers and soldiers be given more rewards and collect more food from you?"
"It's based on this year's grain tax. It was supposed to be paid five days later, but officers and soldiers came to collect it the day before yesterday."
"I heard that King Qin... no, he is the emperor now, and he has arrived in Hanzhong?"
"Yes!" Hao Erfu became excited, nodded repeatedly, and said: "When the emperor entered the city, I saw your majesty from a distance!"
"Have you ever met His Majesty?"
"Many people have met His Majesty in Hanzhong City. The year I fled the country, I saw Your Majesty on the first day I arrived in Hanzhong."
Fortunately, after chatting for a while, the old man smiled warmly, said goodbye to the father and son, and continued walking eastward, bypassing the path and boarding a donkey cart parked in the field.
The donkey cart carried more than ten bundles of firewood and walked eastward for more than ten miles until it reached the Liulin Inn in Puzhen.
"Old man Tang has brought you firewood? Go inside and ask the shopkeeper to give you the money." The old man picked up a bundle of firewood, lowered his head and walked through the courtyard into the woodshed. After a while, he secretly
Let’s talk.
"Have you heard about it?"
"It's difficult. But I asked many farmers and found that all the grain had been shipped to the ship before yesterday."
The old man's somewhat rickety back straightened up a lot, and his originally somewhat old face became sharper. He added, "I think Li Xia has made all the preparations that need to be made, and will send troops eastward in the next two days."
"It is shameless to go to war without declaring it. The general asked us again and again to confirm that Li Xia really came to Hanzhong in person?"
"He is really in Hanzhong, and there are many people in Hanzhong who have seen him. There is no way to blind him."
"Okay, I'll send someone to report it to the general."
"The road to Xiangyang is closed."
"I have an idea. By the way, there's also the matter of firearms. How's your inquiry going?"
The old man said: "I'm about to find a chance to sneak into the workshop... I think with our craftsmanship, we don't need a recipe, as long as we get the finished product, we can imitate it."
"Well, I heard that people in the Yuan Dynasty are also spying on Li Ni's firearms and ordnance. But our craftsmen are better and easier to imitate. Give me whatever you can get."
"Okay, I bought a sight tube on the black market."
The old man dug around and found not only a telescope but also a new almanac.
The two ended their conversation, and soon a spy left the Willow Forest Inn and headed east along the wilderness trail.
A few days later, he rushed to the Han River Gorge in the Qinling Mountains. Instead of taking the official road, he climbed up the mountain with difficulty.
As he walked, he felt something was wrong with the birds in the woods. He ran to a higher place, raised his telescope and looked towards the Han River.
The view from the top is excellent, and we can see densely packed ships on the Han River approaching along the river.
An imperial flag appeared in the viewing tube, and the messenger murmured, "It's really Li Xia..."
A pigeon flapped its wings and allowed someone to take off the letter tied to its leg, and then put it in a cage.
A soldier opened the letter and read it, turned around, and walked quickly towards Lu Wenhuan, who was standing on a high place and looking out.
"General, everyone's intelligence confirms that this is indeed Li Xia's personal expedition."
Lu Wenhuan took the small letter, glanced at it, and handed it back without much expression on his face.
The place where he was standing at this time was a peak on Wudang Mountain.
The Han River flows into this area, which can be regarded as a dividing line. To the west is the high mountains of the Qinling Mountains, and to the east is the Nanyang Basin.
This place is under the jurisdiction of Junzhou and is the intersection of Hanjiang River and Danjiang River. Danjiang was originally called Heijiang. Danzhu, the eldest son of Emperor Yao, was buried here, so it was renamed Danjiang.
Therefore, Junzhou is also called Danjiangkou.
This is Lu Wenhuan's first line of defense against Li Xia. However, since Lu Wenhuan arrived in Junzhou to take charge, he has not paid much attention to defense arrangements. Instead, he has paid more attention to the collection of intelligence.
He understood one thing deeply - Li Xia did not have a hundred thousand naval troops, and this battle was not to destroy the Song Dynasty, but to consolidate his position.
The time left for Li Xia was very short. Once the war was prolonged, it would be impossible for Li Xia to deal with the joint attack of the Song and Yuan Dynasties when they reacted.
In other words, Li Xia must defeat the fighting spirit of the Song Dynasty court in the shortest possible time and force the court to recognize his imperial title.
That is to say, we must show our strength and strive to stand with the Song and Yuan Dynasties.
Then, the strategy must be to win by surprise, rather than focusing on the gains and losses of one city or one place.
It took less than ten years from serving as a county captain to the founding of the country. A small country based on the broken Sichuan and Shu could not afford a war that was too long and could only pursue a quick victory.
However, on the Yangtze River battlefield, the rebels' fighting style completely exceeded Lu Wenhuan's expectations.
Jiang Cai actually chose to attack Jiangling by force, and it seemed that he would not be able to capture it within a month.
When something goes wrong, there must be a monster, and Lu Wenhuan immediately realized that Li Xia was making false claims again.
Therefore, he cannot care about the gains and losses of one city or one place. What he has to do is to determine Li Xia's true main attack direction and block or even annihilate Li Xia.
In this case, information is much more important than the city.
"No matter how this battle is fought and no matter how many changes in strategy, there are only two possibilities. Either focus on the Han River or focus on the Yangtze River."
"Yes, even if it is now confirmed that Li Ni is in the Han River, he may be using himself as bait to attract our reinforcements. If Lu Shaobao supports Xiangyang, Li Ni can send his generals to attack Jiangling."
"But don't forget, our army has more than 100,000 naval troops in Jinghu alone. No matter which road he attacks, our army can defend it."
"Yes, Li Ni likes to use strange soldiers, but the reason is that he is not strong enough. However, if he uses too many strange soldiers, as long as we see through him, there will be nothing he can do..."
The Song Army generals and officials analyzed the situation, but in the end it was Lu Wenhuan who had to make the decision.
Lu Wenhuan took a few steps and reviewed all the information he had received.
"Li Ni originally had no navy. In the past two or three years, he has gradually bought some naval generals. He only has a handful of naval generals."
"There is only one Jiang Cai left. The rest of the navy generals under Li Ni cannot be called generals. Except for He Tai who defeated the enemy camp, the few he has recently promoted are all unknown people. Their banner names are Zhang Shun and Zhang Gui.
Never heard of it.”
"There are also a group of people brought by Wang Xun."
"After all, the naval generals and generals only have this many troops in total."
"I really want to sigh for him, 'It's hard for a clever woman to make a meal without rice, ah..." Finding out and confirming Li Xia's strength before the war started made Lu Wenhuan feel a lot more at ease.
He thought about this war and gradually became more ambitious.
Since they occupied a terrain densely covered with rivers and rivers in Xiangfan, with more than 100,000 naval troops facing less than 30,000 men, the idea should not be to defeat Li Ni, but to encircle and annihilate Li Ni and put down the rebellion in one fell swoop.
"Am I too greedy?" Lu Wenhuan asked himself in his heart, feeling the Lu family's pride in supporting the Song Dynasty alone, and shook his head.