On the evening of the fifth day of the first lunar month, I explained this year's overseas trade plan to Pu Shougeng and Xiao Tian at the Shifeng Commercial Bank. As soon as I returned to the gate of the palace, I saw Lu Xiufu rushing up from behind: "Your Majesty, the Xiangyang Military Region is urgent for eight hundred miles. ."
"Eight hundred miles urgent." I was stunned for a moment. This is the first eight hundred miles urgent battle report since the outbreak of the Xiangyang Campaign.
I asked Xiaoqi to read it out as I walked.
Lu Wende, the establishment envoy of the Xiangyang Military Region, reported to His Majesty and transferred it to the Military Affairs Council and the Ministry of War. In the early morning of the first day of the first lunar month, the Mongolian army launched an attack on our two cities, Xiangfan and Xiangfan. The east gate of Xiangyang City was first attacked by a Mongolian army's trebuchet. About two quarters After the bell, the Mongolian vanguard Achahan led more than 10,000 soldiers and began to attack the city. At the same time, a large number of Mongolian troops appeared outside the north gate and the west gate. The one who attacked the north gate was Zhang Hongfan, another Mongolian vanguard. The one who attacked the west gate was commanded by the Mongolian capital. Attahai, each of them led more than 10,000 soldiers to launch a fierce attack on our north gate and west gate. Later, according to the battle report of Fancheng, at the same time, Mongolian generals Ali Hague and Kong Yuan led an army of 20,000 and also began to besiege Fancheng. North Gate and West Gate. This was the first large-scale siege by the Mongolian army since they surrounded Xiangfan. The entire battle lasted for nearly an hour and a half. Under the tight defense of our army, the Mongolian troops everywhere retreated without success. A post-war inventory found that our army's casualties totaled 4,641, of which 944 were killed. Preliminary judgment showed that the Mongolian army's casualties were approximately 8,000, and the death toll was at least 2,000.
"What's going on with the Mongols? Are they in a hurry?"
Xiao Qi said: "The officials, these Mongols clearly don't want us, the people of Xiangyang, to have a good year."
"Yes, Xiao Qi is right," Fang Ling said. "Brother, this may be A Shu's true intention. His purpose is not to rush to attack the city, but to disrupt the normal order of life of the people in Xiangyang City and take the opportunity to attack. My confidence."
"Ah." Xiao Qi said hurriedly. "Ling Fei, I just said it casually. I can't take it seriously."
"Ling'er, Xiao Qi, you two are right. I completely agree. This should be A Shu's intention."
Fang Ling and Xiao Qi laughed together and said, "Brother (official). Is it true?"
"Of course. Once I open my mouth, I can't say anything casually."
"As soon as Jinkou opened his mouth." Fang Ling smiled, but suddenly his expression changed slightly, as if he thought of something.
"Ling'er. What's going on?"
"Brother, I seem to remember something. You mentioned this 'Chrysostom opens'. Why does it feel so familiar to me?"
Not long after I met Fang Ling, I said, "What's more, I won't break the trust of others when I open my mouth." Fang Ling said at that time, "Don't say anything without any restraint. This Chrysostom's talk is only limited to the emperor. The rest are People can’t say that.”
For more than two years, I have thought of many ways to restore Fang Ling's memory. But I didn't expect that an unintentional sentence made Fang Ling feel something.
However, Fang Ling didn't think of anything in the end.
"Forget it. Ling'er, don't think about it. Let's go see Concubine Yang. Xiaoqi, you go and inform the queen and ask her to go to Concubine Yang too."
"Okay. I don't want to anymore."
Judging from the battle reports received in the next few days, the Mongolian army outside Xiangyang City launched two large-scale siege battles on the first and third days of the Lunar New Year. Although it was fruitless, it also made Xiangyang City's The people were extremely nervous. However, the commanders of the Xiangyang Military Region, Brother Lu Wende, were quite calm. After all, they were generals who had experienced hundreds of battles. They did not panic at all. Under the command of the Lu brothers, the entire Xiangyang Military Region had tens of thousands of soldiers. Still maintaining a high fighting spirit.
At the same time, Lu Wende's battle report also reported that Mongolian Liu Zheng intended to set up a fence at Guanzi Beach south of Xiangyang City. However, his behavior was discovered in time by our fleet along the river and drove him away.
As the commander of the fleet along the river, Chen Yi certainly knows his mission. That is to ensure that the waterway from Yingzhou to Xiangyang is smooth before the warships of the Mongolian Navy enter the Han River Basin. Because there is currently no Mongolian navy in the entire Han River Basin. .So this task is very simple. But if such a simple task cannot be completed, then Chen Yi can only carry his head and go to Lin'an.
Chen Yi was originally a cautious person. He neither offended the imperial power nor had good relations with the prime minister. He was very cautious in doing things. Every day he would personally lead a warship to patrol the Han River section from Yingzhou to Xiangyang to prevent unexpected events. This is exactly what happened. Liu Zheng's cautious behavior left him unable to do anything for a while. Although the Han River Basin was at the ebb tide, he was suffering from the lack of naval warships and could not compete with Chen Yi in the water. Liu Zheng knew Chen Yi's capabilities and did not. Take it seriously. But besides watching the fleets along the river show off their power in the Han River, what else can they do?
Before sending troops to Xiangyang, Liu Zheng built 500 warships in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in Sichuan. However, they were blocked by the main force of the fleet along the river stationed in Chongqing and could not cross the Diaoyu City. The 1,000 warships built on the Shandong Peninsula The ship is far away and cannot quench the thirst nearby. We can only wait for the warships built by the new Wanshanbao shipyard. Of course, this will not be until late March at the earliest.
Liu Zheng was the favorite general of Marshal Meng Gong. He knew the gap between the Song Dynasty and Mongolia navy very well. Although Mongolia had obvious disadvantages, Liu Zheng was full of confidence. Except for Li Beiyang, the other naval generals of the Song Dynasty were not as confident. In his eyes, and with the strong support of Kublai Khan, Liu Zheng believed that as long as the 70,000-strong navy built by him were trained and the warships built at Wanshanbao base were put down the river, the fleet along the river would not be his opponent at all.
Regarding water fighting, Liu Zheng is very proud. Of course, pride requires capital. To be fair, Liu Zheng is indeed qualified. Even Li Beiyang admires Liu Zheng's water fighting talent.
For Liu Zheng at the moment, except for defeating the Song Dynasty navy in a water battle, he no longer had any ideas. Although Kublai Khan treated him well, he often used the principle of "a bright pearl should be used as a target, and a good bird should be chosen as a tree". Liu Zheng, but Liu Zheng knew that the fierce and brutal Mongols always looked down on those who surrendered. Even the Han generals in the Mongolian army were incompatible with him, even though they were polite on the surface.
The matter has come to this. Liu Zheng has only one way to go. In recent years, Liu Zheng has often paid attention to the situation in the Southern Song Dynasty. Naturally, he is very aware of the changes after the new emperor of the Song Dynasty came to the throne. The original arrogant Jia Sidao was unknowingly Liu Zheng lost his former power. His understanding of this point was far greater than that of Kublai Khan. It’s not that Liu Zheng never thought about returning to the Song Dynasty. He just opened his bow without turning back. He, Liu Zheng, was not a duplicitous person. people.
In late January, Navy Chief Zhang Xi came to Liu Zheng's tent. He handed Liu Zheng a letter and said: "General, a letter from Liu Tao."
"Liu Tao." Liu Zheng hurriedly saw it. Liu Tao said in the letter. "General, the first batch of five thousand naval divisions has been trained in accordance with the general's requirements. The Great Khan has ordered that these five thousand naval divisions be stationed in Xiangyang in advance. It is expected that in It will arrive in mid-March.”
Liu Zheng smiled and said: "Good thing. Just in time for the first batch of warships to be built."
"That's right, General. Then the navy of our dynasty can compete with the navy of the Song Dynasty on the Han River." Zhang Xi is a Han nationality in Mongolia. He admires Liu Zheng's water warfare ability very much. He can be regarded as Liu Zheng's successor. Mongolia’s only friend.
"Well. The Battle of Xiangyang was the most difficult battle in our dynasty. Although Lu Wende of Xiangyang was of low character, he was unambiguous in fighting. In addition, he had been running Xiangfan for more than ten years. His subordinates were Lu Wenhuan, Lu Wenxin, Lu Wenfu, Wang An, and Niu Fu and others are all good generals in the world. Most of Xiangyang's troops are those who are accustomed to fighting. This battle will not be easy to fight."
"General, then our army must have made a mistake in attacking Xiangyang."
"That's right. As long as Xiangyang is captured, the Song Dynasty will have no chance of victory. The Great Khan's strategy of siege and reinforcements is very correct. I always thought that the key to this battle lies in our navy. As long as we can capture the Song Dynasty in the Han River, If the navy is defeated and the waterway to Xiangyang is blocked, our army will be victorious. However, I have always felt uneasy recently. It seems that this battle is not that simple."
"Why does the general feel this way?"
Liu Zheng sighed and said: "General Zhang, you are not an outsider. It doesn't matter if I tell you. When the first emperor of the Song Dynasty was in power, the court was in chaos. But now it is very different. Since the Song Dynasty's army was reorganized, its combat strength It has been obviously improved. Although it is still not as good as the overall military strength of our dynasty, its new emperor makes me feel an inexplicable sense of fear. When the two armies are fighting, the most fearful thing is that they cannot know themselves and the enemy. Judging from the performance of the new emperor It seems that the market outside Xiangyang City should not be allowed to develop. But it happened
On the contrary, not only is the settlement still there, but our army is also allowed to build a castle there. This makes me puzzled."
Zhang Xi didn't know much about the politics of the Song Dynasty: "The general was overly worried. Maybe the emperor of the Southern Dynasties didn't know the 'good deeds' done by Lu Wende at all. Besides, my great Khan is wise and powerful. Marshal A Shu and Supervisor Shi Tianze are both resourceful people. No way." You don’t know these things.”
Liu Zheng thought for a moment and said, "I hope I'm worrying too much."
Kublai Khan, A Shu and others were more strategic and wise than Liu Zheng. But they all ignored one point. Liu Zheng was a former general of the Song Dynasty. Liu Zheng, because of his status, and his strategy of attacking Xiangfan was his first priority. He did not report this concern to Ashu or Kublai Khan.
Liu Zheng was extremely smart, but at the same time the city was also very deep. If this inference was told to Kublai Khan, it would be difficult to judge whether it would be good or bad for him personally.
In the following month, the Mongolian east-route army that besieged Xiangfan did not launch another large-scale siege. As before, they just continued to use trebuchets to attack the east gate of Xiangyang City every day. The Xiangyang defenders continued to repair it as always. Damaged city wall.
According to the news coming back from the north, the Mongolian army in Nanyang has been reorganized in advance. However, Kublai Khan did not order these troops to go south immediately.