A newly built fortress stands on the top of the hill.
From the banks of the Han River to the mountains, you can see reeds and dill flowers all over the place, exaggerating the mood of autumn.
In mid-September, a group of Yuan troops came on horseback from the north.
The leader was a young general, who dismounted and strode into the fortress.
"General manager."
"How's the battle going?"
"Li Xia went down the Han River and captured Junzhou on August 15th, then captured Yin City and Gucheng, and fought to the foot of Xiangyang City."
"So fast?"
"Lü Wenhuan fled all the way and fled back to Xiangyang City. Li Xia continued to attack for eight days without making any progress. On the ninth day, Lu Wende bypassed Longzhong Mountain from the south and recaptured Gucheng. Li Xia's retreat was cut off..."
The young general manager of Caizhou is named Baijianu, and he is the son of Sodu.
In the battle of Shangzhou, all the instigators died at the hands of the Song army, and hundreds of slaves inherited their father's duties.
At this time, he was walking and listening to the battle situation, and climbed to the top of Lumen Mountain. He looked far into the distance and saw Xiangyang City.
"Bring me the map."
Combining the terrain in front of them with the terrain on the map, the slaves of the Baijia had a clearer understanding of the situation.
The Han River flows from west to east to Xiangyang, then turns a corner and flows from north to south.
Lumen Mountain is on the east bank of the Han River, and to the west is Xiangyang City. Li Xia attacked on the west side of Xiangyang City.
"After being cut off by Lu Wende, Li Xia stationed himself in Woniu Town."
Baijianu took the lookout tube and could see the dense warships on the Han River from a distance, but he could not see Li Xia's navy further upstream.
He looked down at the map and said, "Tell me about the topography of Woniu Town."
"Woniu Town is bounded by the Han River to the north and Longzhong Mountain to the south."
"Is it the Longzhong Mountain where Zhuge Liang is?"
"Does the manager know about Zhuge Liang?"
"Longzhong is right, the world is divided into three parts." Baijia Nu said in fluent Chinese, "Today there are no three parts of the world. The Great Yuan Dynasty will soon destroy these two small countries."
"The people of the Song Dynasty are weak and still fighting among themselves. They are not worthy of being divided into three parts of the world."
"Go on."
"Woniu Town is surrounded by mountains on two sides, facing the river on one side, and facing Xiangyang only on the east. Li Xia did not expect that Lu Wende abandoned the ship and only led his infantry through Longzhong Mountain. His way back was cut off by Lu Wende. If
Crossing to the north bank of the Han River and abandoning the ship, he might be able to escape back to Hanzhong, but Li Xia did not and is now surrounded. "
"Where are the troops?"
"Including logistics, Li Xia should have less than 20,000 troops. Lu Wenhuan in Xiangyang has 30,000 troops, and Lu Wende has brought at least 60,000 people to support. Not only these, but reinforcements are coming one after another to support."
"So many?" Bai Jianu was surprised, and then mused: "The Lu family brothers are determined to keep Li Xia."
"Definitely, we have been attacking Xiangyang for so many years. It is because the navy is insufficient and we cannot cut off the support of the Song army from the waterway. Li Xia's navy is even weaker, but he dares to go deep alone. This time he will finally die at the hands of the Lu family brothers
"
"Li Xia has won many battles over the years, but he didn't expect that when he attacked Song Dynasty, he was still held back."
"Mongolia is good at attacking, and Song is good at defending. The Zhao family seems weak and can be bullied, but even our great Mongolian country has not been conquered for so many years. "
As a general of the Yuan army who had been confronting the Song army in Caizhou for many years, Baijianu also had deep feelings about the battle with the Song army. He said: "The Song country is terrible, but it is like a pool of mud. Once you step in, you will pull out."
Not coming up."
"That's the truth. I don't know how many heroes have been lost in this mud."
In fact, these Mongolian generals all knew that the one who was lost in the Song Dynasty was Kuochu, the successor of Ogedai Khan, Mengge Khan himself.
Fortunately, this time it was Li Xia's turn.
"Li Xia was surrounded in Xiangyang just after he ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor. If the news spreads to Guanzhong, will there be chaos under his rule?"
"Of course, we have quickly sent a message to the Henan Economic Strategy Office to mobilize troops and horses to capture Guanzhong."
"Okay!" Baijia Nuo said: "
I have brought three thousand horses with me. If Li Xia wants to escape, I will pursue him at any time."
"No rush, let's sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, and watch Lu Wende consume it. After Li Xia dies, we still have to fight for Sichuan and Shu with the Song people..."
~~
Across the Han River, Xiangyang City was busy both inside and outside the city.
The mist crosses the autumn barrier, and the mountains block the torrent.
Thousand-foot-long iron chains were stretched across the river, blocking the rebels from continuing down the river.
The heavy artillery carriage on the city head was still adjusting its direction, and the militiamen were carrying wood and stones.
The warships headed toward the north shore.
There is also an important town of the Song Army on the north bank, Fancheng. It stands on both sides of the Han River with Xiangyang to the north and to the south, flanking the invading enemies from the upper reaches.
With the flags fluttering, the gates of Fancheng were opened wide, and the infantry left the city and headed west.
"According to the order of General Lu, reinforce the north bank of the Han River to prevent Li Ni from breaking out!"
"Encircle and suppress Li Ni!"
"Those who have meritorious service in suppressing rebellion will be greatly rewarded!"
These infantry marched westward, leaving the boundaries of Xiangyang and Fancheng, and gradually they could see the rebel ships anchored on the Han River...
~~
Fang Yankai stood on the oar and looked out, seeing more and more Song troops on the north bank, and sighed: "Now even if your Majesty decides to abandon the ship and go north, there is no chance."
"Your Majesty has no intention of escaping, but they are blocking His Majesty's escape route. It is a waste of troops to use them in useless places."
The person who responded was Huo Xiaolian, the general of the Selected Front Battalion who was responsible for guarding Li Xia.
As soon as Fang Yankai heard this, he knew who this argument came from, and he couldn't help but sigh again.
"It's too deep."
Huo Xiaolian nodded perfunctorily, not quite understanding the worries of these scholars.
Fang Yankai asked again: "When His Majesty comes, you can join me in persuading him, and we can start to break out."
If Huo Xiaolian wanted to answer, he would only say, "Ms. Fang has no right to order me." He was concerned about the other party's face, so he did not answer and had to change the topic.
He was studying the art of war recently, so he asked: "Please give me some advice, Xianggong Fang. They say that the Mongolian army is strong and the Song army is weak, but I followed your majesty in the Western Regions against the Mongolian army and could often win quickly. Why did I feel... war when I attacked the Song Dynasty?" Hard to beat."
"The Song army is good at defending. Even though it is stronger than the Mongols, it has been attacking the Song Dynasty for thirty years and is often defeated. The Mongolian army does not defend the city and prefers to fight in the field. Of course, a victory is a quick victory, and a defeat is also a quick defeat."
"The Mongolian army did not defend the city..."
In the middle of the conversation, a sharp warning sound suddenly sounded, and it could be seen that wolf smoke was rising into the sky to the west.
The war has begun in the west. Since Lu Wende surrounded Li Xia, he has been attacking every day.
Although the offensive was not violent, Lu Wende's purpose was to burn the warships and provisions, making it difficult for them to sustain them for a long time.
"The Song army is attacking again." Fang Yankai was very anxious and said hurriedly: "Don't let your majesty come up again."
Li Xia just walked out of the cabin and heard the noise, but still walked up to the high platform on the oar in a hurry.
"Your Majesty, the Song army has cannons and rocks, and the high platform is dangerous."
"What if you get hit like Brother Meng?" Li Xia said, "It doesn't matter."
"Since your majesty still remembers Brother Meng, please take this as a warning. To show off your courage even if you sacrifice your body is something that the ancients did not do!"
"We are no longer on the battlefield. Fang Qing also knows that in this battle we put safety first...Give me the telescope."
Li Xia looked very calm.
Others only thought that he was pretending to be calm, but in fact after being surrounded, he often had the intention to hide in the cabin to accompany Yan Rong and Tang An'an, as if he was on a lucky trip to Xiangyang.
Of course, the boundary between self-confidence and arrogance is often easily blurred. If Li Xia is really annihilated by Lu Wende, all his back-ups and arrangements will be useless.
A hero can only be judged by success or failure.
Fang Yankai's worries were not unreasonable. In fact, several small boats broke through the Tang army's defense line that day and rushed straight to Li Xia's battleship...
~~
Lu Wende abandoned the ship and went around to the back of the Tang army by land, only grabbing the upper hand.
There were more than a hundred ships traveling to Zhucheng, so they could only engage the Tang army by firing arrows from the shore, building pontoons to engage the banks, and throwing giant trees from upstream.
But he captured Gucheng County, had geographical advantages, and had three times as many troops as Li Xia. After the war began, he gradually gained the upper hand.
The general in charge of the westernmost defense line of the Tang Army was Wang Xin. He was weak on the left and right. Finally, the defense line was torn apart by the Song Army's strong attack, allowing the Song Army's small boats to rush into the formation.
The Song army could not help but feel greatly boosted in morale and rejoiced.
On a warship, Ruan Cheng'en, the magistrate of Yicheng County in Song Dynasty, saw this scene and was very excited. He drew his sword and shouted: "Plain the thief! Li Ni faked the favor of the emperor and caused trouble in the world. Kill him! Kill him!"
When Wu Xi rebelled, people with lofty ideals in Shu rose up to resist. Now that Li Xia has rebelled again, there are not so many people with lofty ideals in Shu, which suffered a massacre.
But there is still Jinghu Lake.
Ruan Cheng'en has read poetry and books since he was a child, and he has learned to be loyal to the emperor and serve the country, so he cannot tolerate rebellious officials and traitors like Li Xia.
This time, Lu Wende led his troops to fight against the rebellion and passed through Yicheng. Ruan Chengen spent all his wealth to recruit soldiers and horses to follow Lu Wende to put down the rebellion. After occupying Xiagucheng, he supervised day and night, renovated the warship at his feet, and built a
Gun carriage.
Finally, the civil magistrate actually led his troops to break through the Tang army's defense line. He stood on the bow and looked, and the largest warship in the Tang army appeared in front of him little by little.
"Li Ni is right there."
"Load the cannon! Load the cannon! Destroy Li Ni's warship..."
Soon, big rocks, porcelain caltrops and fireballs were loaded on the cannon pockets.
Ruan Chengen was so excited that he rushed to the bow of the ship himself and pointed his sword at Li Xia's warship.
"Shameless and shameless in the history of thousands of years, I repay the emperor with a heart of loyalty!"
"..."
"boom!"
A cannonball hit Ruan Chengen's head with such force that it shattered instantly, causing blood and flesh to scatter everywhere.
But the shells were still moving forward, and the small warship was shattered into pieces with a bang...
~~
On the bank of the Han River, the Song army had just built a huge artillery cart and was preparing to load it with huge rocks to launch it at the Tang army's warships.
Lu Wende stood on a hill and observed the battlefield with a lookout tube.
In his sight, he saw an own warship approaching Li Xia's main warship, but it suddenly fell into pieces and sank to the bottom of the river.
"what happened?"
He raised the lookout tube and looked for what the Song army had used to destroy the warship.
"boom!"
There was another loud noise, and his vision flickered, and he saw that the artillery carriage on the bank of the Han River was suddenly shot into pieces.
A bloody mist exploded on the battlefield, and screams came one after another...
The soldiers of Song Dynasty were shocked and retreated one after another.
"boom!"
Another artillery carriage was smashed, and more soldiers of Song Dynasty were so frightened that they rushed back like water.
The golden sound sounded quickly.
The ships of the Tang army advanced towards the north bank and continued to fire arrows...
~~
"Why?"
This was the first thing Lu Wende asked after he hurriedly returned to the camp.
"Why? Li Ni has such a powerful firearm, why didn't he use it when he attacked Xiangyang?!"
He does know how to fight, and he immediately noticed the key points on the battlefield.
Without waiting for the generals and his staff to reply, he already said: "Isn't the dog hozen here just to lure us here?"
"Founding in the east and attacking in the west?"
"No way? Li Ni only has so many troops and ships. The most important thing is, besides him and Jiang Cai, who else can lead the attack on Song Dynasty alone?"
"Send the cavalry to take a detour from Dali and follow the route Ashu took?"
"Impossible. The Yuan army is about to push into Guanzhong, and Li Ni has been delayed for a short time."
"He could only attack the Song Dynasty with naval forces. The land route was too slow. Before his troops could arrive, he would have been destroyed."
"Perhaps he doesn't have many firearms, and they are only used to protect his safety?"
"possible……"
Just when everyone
Just when they thought Lu Wende was too suspicious, someone suddenly thought of something and asked: "The most powerful naval general under Li Ni...shouldn't he be Shi Jun?"
"Shi Jun?"
"Shi Jun?" Lu Wende turned around, with a glint in his eyes.
"Yes, in the battle of Mahujiang, Shi Jun, the governor of Xuzhou, was the leader of three thousand naval forces and attacked Wulianghetai. He hit ten with one strike. This man was not only good at fighting, but also understood the Song Dynasty..."