In mid-March, Boyan, deputy marshal of the Mongolian expedition to the south, led 5,000 Xue troops to the Nanyang Middle Route Army camp in southern Henan Province. After a short rest, Boyan led 30,000 of them to Xiangyang City. On the evening of the 27th, they arrived at the Mongolian base inside the Baihe City Castle outside Xiangyang City. At the same time, the reinforcements from the two wings of the Jianghuai Military Region of the Song Dynasty also arrived at Suizhou City in the east of Xiangyang under the leadership of Xia Gui, the deputy envoy of the Jianghuai Military Region. .
Throughout March, both sides were deploying troops. The total number of troops invested by the Song and Yuan armies in Xiangyang and its surrounding areas exceeded 200,000.
"General Suodu, please introduce the situation of the Southern Dynasty muskets to General Boyan,"
The day after Boyan arrived, Marshal A'shu held a high-level military meeting attended by the main generals of the Central Route Army. The only middle- and lower-level generals who regularly attended the meeting were Qianhu Suodu - the only Mongolian who had seen the firearms of the Southern Dynasties. general.
"Yes, Marshal," Sudu stood up and saluted first to Ashu, then to Boyan, and then told about the musket firing situation he had seen.
After hearing this, Boyan said: "As for the muskets used by the Imperial Guards of the Southern Dynasties, I think there are two points that need to be further investigated. One is the effective range of the muskets, and the other is the firing speed of the muskets."
"Yes, General Boyan is right," A Shu said. "In future battles, our army needs to continue to explore. If we encounter the opponent's muskets again, our army will not hesitate to launch an arrow attack first to suppress The firing of its muskets, and at the same time, if possible, strive to capture the opponent's weapons for our research,"
"Yes, Marshal,"
Ah Shu continued: "Generals, judging from the battles with the Xiangyang Army in the past few months, the proportion of Southern Dynasty armies equipped with muskets should be very small. This shows that muskets must have their fatal weaknesses. Therefore, as long as everyone is careful, It will be fine. In addition, I want to tell you some good news. In addition to bringing 30,000 new troops, General Boyan also brought 200 trebuchets. I plan to use these two hundred trebuchets. All the machines were allocated to General Ali Hague, who was responsible for the siege of Fancheng."
"Ah," Ali Hague stood up excitedly and said, "Commander, the outer city wall of Fan City is far less strong than the inner city. With these two hundred trebuchets, the general will have the confidence to open a gap in the outer city of Fan City. "
"Okay, General Ali Hague and General Kong Yuan, I will give you one month, and at the same time, I will allocate you 10,000 troops to drive the Song army outside Fancheng into the inner city of Fancheng."
"Yes, Marshal,"
"Two of you, sit down," Ah Shu said with a smile, "Everyone, judging from the situation this month, more and more troops from the Southern Dynasties have gathered around Xiangyang, supported by the Yulin Army, Lin'an Military Region, Jianghuai Military Region, and the East China Sea Fleet. The total number of troops has reached more than 40,000. According to my estimation, the anti-encirclement tactics implemented by the Southern Dynasty will soon begin. As long as our army can eliminate its reinforcements outside Xiangyang City, then the Battle of Xiangyang, or even the entire The battle between Song and Meng has come to an end. All generals listen to the order. Now, General Boyan will arrange the tasks of our army in the next stage."
"My generals, according to the trends of the Southern Dynasty that our Privy Council has mastered and the emperor's judgment, the appearance of the Southern Dynasty Imperial Army means that the emperor is very likely to visit Xiangfan in person. Therefore, the victory or defeat of the Battle of Xiangyang can almost be said to be the decisive factor for the entire Song and Mongolia Dynasties. Regarding the victory or defeat of the war, the emperor instructed us that we must win this war, and the sign of victory is that our army must not only capture Xiangyang Fancheng, but also annihilate the reinforcements of the Southern Dynasty under Xiangyang City. Of course, if we can Capturing the emperor of the Southern Dynasty would be a great achievement." Boyan looked at the generals of the army in the middle, and first nodded, "General Liu Zheng,"
"The end will be here,"
"Since the Southern Dynasty's fleet along the Yangtze River and Chongqing garrison Zhang Jue were guarding the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, our naval warships in Sichuan were unable to support Xiangyang. Therefore, the emperor decided to transfer a thousand shipbuilders from the Sichuan shipyard to Wanzhangshan to speed up the local warships. Shipbuilding speed, by the end of this month, Wanzhangshan Shipyard can build ten warships, and the first batch of naval officers trained by General Liu Tao have also arrived in Xiangfan. General Liu, the Han River Basin will be left to you. Although I am currently facing the water The number of warships in the division is not as high as that of the Southern Dynasty, but it can try to compete with the Southern Dynasty navy to achieve the purpose of actual combat training. The action plan for the navy will be formulated by General Liu himself, and there is no need to report it to the general and the commander-in-chief."
When he heard the last sentence, Liu Zheng said excitedly: "Yes, the last general respects the order,"
Before Boyan came to Xiangfan, Kublai Khan had specifically instructed that none of the generals in our dynasty were as proficient in naval warfare as Liu Zheng, so others were not allowed to give random orders. Liu Zheng made the final decision on all naval action plans, and the rest The generals are not allowed to interfere at will.
This extreme delegation of power naturally made Liu Zheng, a demoted general, very grateful.
Boyan continued to point out the generals: "General Atahai,"
"The end will be here,"
"You leave the construction of the Wanzhang Mountain Fortress to Shi Jianjun. You lead 10,000 troops to station in the east of Lumen Mountain to prevent Xia Gui from Suizhou."
"Yes, General Boyan, the last general respects your order,"
"The east, west, and north gates of Xiangyang City are still in charge of the three generals Achahan, Guo Kan, and Zhang Hongfan,"
"Get the order,"
"General Huaidu,"
"The end will be here,"
"At the beginning of next month, together with my general, you will lead five thousand Xue troops to Yingzhou,"
"Ah, General Boyan, do you want to attack Yingzhou?"
"It changes randomly, it doesn't have to be a siege,"
"Yes, the final general honors your order,"
Ah Shu smiled and said: "Five thousand Qixue, as long as they don't attack the city, can be enough to serve as the 50,000-strong army of the Southern Dynasty. From Xiangyang to Yingzhou, most of them are hilly and mountainous areas. It is inconvenient to have more people. Generals, everyone knows their own strength." It’s mission, right?”
"Yes, Marshal,"
Less than five minutes' walk to the west from the bustling Lin'an Tianjie in the middle, there is an ordinary small restaurant called Moya. This small restaurant is not big. It has a main hall on the first floor and private rooms on the second floor. However, there are only four rooms. The small private rooms are named after southeast, northwest and northwest respectively.
With the rapid economic development in the Song Dynasty, the prices of shops along the streets of Lin'an City also skyrocketed. The Tianjie shops located in the central area were the most expensive among them. People close to Tianjie seized the business opportunities and converted their residences into shops one after another. , some are run by themselves, and some are rented to others. More than three years ago, a businessman named Zhou rented this building and opened a sprouting wine shop. Because the location is adjacent to Tianjie but relatively clean, and the boss He is good at management and his prices are fair, so business has been booming since the opening.
In the evening, Yang Liazhenjia, wearing a hairband and dressed as a layman, quietly came to this small restaurant. The owner of the store personally led Yang Liazhenjia to a private room by the window on the second floor and ordered the waiter to put the I ordered four dishes of side dishes and a bottle of fine Chinese imperial liquid.
Yang Lianzhenjia had no expression on his face, looking out the window while drinking alone.
After a while, the sky darkened completely, the street lights were shining brightly, the crowds were crowded, and the number of guests in the wine shop gradually increased.
Just when Yang Liangzhenjia was about to finish the bottle of white wine, a man in black robe entered the Germination Wine Shop. The man in black robe was short and had his head lowered, as if his whole body was covered by black robe. The man in black robe was very familiar with Sprout Winery. After entering, he went directly to the north room on the second floor.
"Nanshan, long time no see,"
The black-robed man known as Nanshan snorted, sat opposite Yang Lianzhenjia and said, "If you have anything to say, tell me quickly."
Yang Lianzhenjia poured half a glass of wine for Nanshan: "Here, let's talk while drinking."
Nanshan was not polite, picked up the wine glass and sipped it silently.
Yang Lianzhenjia whispered: "Nanshan, I want to know the information about the muskets used by the imperial guards of the Song Dynasty."
"Fireguns," Nanshan muttered, then shook his head and said, "This is a first-level secret of the imperial court. I have no way of knowing the details. The production of muskets belongs to the Gunpowder Supervisor, but you must have special documents to enter and exit the Gunpowder Supervision. Ordinary people There’s no way to get in,”
"Nanshan, can you get the entry and exit documents?"
"You want to go in,"
"Exactly, Nanshan, you have been in the palace for many years, can't you get access documents?"
Nanshan suddenly laughed: "Don't have any illusions. This kind of pass requires the emperor's personal approval, and you must be accompanied by the imperial guards before you can enter."
"Really?" Yang Liazhenjia thought for a while and said, "Nanshan, do you know the guard situation of the gunpowder prison?"
"The Gunpowder Supervisor and his subordinate manufacturing workshops are heavily guarded. I only know that there are at least 500 people from all walks of life guarding them,"
"People from all walks of life," Yang Lianzhen said calmly, "Nanshan, what do you mean?"
Nanshan's voice sounded very high-pitched: "All I know is that there are at least fifty imperial guards, three companies, or three hundred people of the imperial army, and there are also guards from secret organizations such as the Jin Yiwei. Including the original 100-man escort team of the Gunpowder Supervision, the total number is probably more than 500 people. Master Lianzhen, you don’t want to break in alone, do you?”
Although Yang Lianzhenjia is highly skilled in martial arts, he is very self-aware and has developed a cautious way of doing things through his many years of careful craftsmanship. The fifty imperial guards alone are not something he can handle, let alone others. Hundreds of people.
Yang Lianzhenjia smiled and said: "Nanshan, I am not a reckless person. I will not fall into a trap without a perfect plan."
Nanshan hummed: "That's very good,"
"Nanshan, everything is well with your family. Don't worry about it. You will be able to see them after the battle in Xiangyang is over."
"The Battle of Xiangyang," Nanshan sneered, "It's hard to predict the outcome of this war. Lian Zhen, the Jin Yiwei are still looking for you everywhere. You, as well as Yunze, should take care of yourself first."
"Don't worry about it, Nanshan, the poor monk bids farewell,"
"Not sending it,"
After Yang Lianzhenjia left, Nanshan sat alone in silence for a while before getting up and leaving.