After eating for a while, Concubine Yang suddenly asked: "Guan, how can you be sure that the child in my concubine's belly is a prince and not a princess?"
"Ah," I said with a smile, "Concubine Shu, I am the True Dragon Emperor, so of course I understand this kind of thing."
Fang Ling smiled and said: "Yes, Sister Yang Fei, brother, the official family is a god."
"Yes, I believe that," Xie Daoqing said, "Guan, you will be away from the palace for a long time this time, and the workload of instructing the court will increase. Therefore, I propose that Concubine Qiu come to assist the queen. Let’s deal with the memorial,”
Among my concubines, Quan Jiu and Qiu Fei are the best in writing, and Qiu Fei is the one who is most interested in government affairs. I nodded and said: "Okay, Qiu Fei, after I leave Lin'an, you will assist the queen." Handling official business,"
Concubine Qiu said excitedly: "Yes, the official family, I will definitely assist the queen well,"
Although I was fully prepared and confident for this personal expedition, at the moment before the expedition, like the new recruits, I was excited and a little nervous.
Returning to Funing Hall, I lay in bed unable to fall asleep for a long time. After making out with Quan Jiu repeatedly, I fell into a state of half-asleep due to exhaustion.
In a daze, I suddenly heard a burst of gunfire coming from outside.
"The battle has begun," I quickly put on my clothes, picked up the gold pistol from the bedside, and walked out.
Smoke was filling the air outside, and the sound of killings was loud. I looked around, but I could only hear noises and no one could be seen. I panicked a little and shouted several times, "Come here, come here," but my voice soon became louder. Covered by the deafening sound of gunfire, it could not be heard at all. I checked my pistol and boldly walked forward. After about ten steps, I saw two people and a horse appearing in the thick smoke, running in front. Wearing Song Army uniform, when I saw him, I immediately shouted in surprise: "Lingshan,"
Le Lingshan heard my voice and hurriedly turned around and ran towards where I was. More than ten meters behind her, there was a Mongolian man wearing a yellow robe and holding a strong bow. The Mongolian Khan rode On a maroon-red war horse, he moved forward leisurely and calmly. Although I had never seen this person before, the three words "Kublai Khan" suddenly appeared in my mind. "Bili" saw that Le Lingshan had already run up to me, he sneered, drew his bow and nocked an arrow, and shouted, "The shooting star chases the moon," and then a dark green arrow shot over.
I said "Ah" without thinking of shooting with the weapon in my hand. I just subconsciously took a step forward, then turned around sharply and held Le Lingshan in my arms. At this moment, the extremely fast gun shot The arrow was already less than one meter away from my back. The strong wind brought by the arrow stung my back, and I secretly said, "My life is at stake."
However, the arrow did not hit me. At this critical moment, Fang Ling, who came from nowhere, suddenly appeared behind me and blocked the arrow shot by "Kublai Khan" with his body.
I let go of Le Lingshan and turned around to look. I saw blood oozing from the corner of Fang Ling's mouth. An arrow pierced through his heart. My heart hurt. I raised my hand and fired a shot. This shot hit the opponent just in time. Between my eyebrows, I knocked "Kublai Khan" off his horse. I didn't care to see whether "Kublai Khan" was dead or alive. I threw away the gun and immediately sat on the ground, holding Fang Ling in my arms. Fang Ling reluctantly He blinked, looked at me and smiled, then closed his eyes.
At this moment, Le Lingshan patted my shoulder and suddenly smiled at me, then turned into a burst of light smoke and entered Fang Ling's body.
Suddenly my mind went blank, and I fainted immediately.
That night, Kublai Khan received the latest battle report sent by A-Shu and Boyan six hundred miles away. In this battle report, A-Shu and others reported four points. First, Ali's Hague Ministry had already On the fourth day, the outer city of Fan City was captured, and all the Song troops defending the city were driven into the inner city; second, the remaining two brigades of the Second Division of the Southern Dynasty Royal Forest Army, with 5 or 6,000 men, arrived in Yingzhou on April 29; third It was Liu Zheng who led the first batch of naval warships to have two tentative battles with the Southern Dynasty navy, but the outcome was inconclusive; fourth, Boyan personally led Xue Nan to Yingzhou, but had no chance to see the muskets of the imperial guards.
What interested Kublai Khan the most was the second article in the battle report. The Imperial Guard Army increased its troops again. Of course Kublai Khan knew that the Southern Dynasty Imperial Guard Army only had two divisions in total. Half of the troops had already arrived in Yingzhou, which meant that The probability that the emperor of the Southern Dynasties would personally conquer Xiangfan greatly increased.
After reading the battle report, Hao Jing said: "Your Majesty, I also agree with your Majesty's conclusion that Emperor Song will definitely conquer it himself."
"Yes," Kublai Khan nodded and said to Zhenjin beside him, "Zhenjin, you choose a day to go south and meet up with General Oruchi in the Nanyang camp. Once you learn about the Southern Emperor's personal expedition, you will lead the troops who stayed in Nanyang. Thirty thousand Central Route Army marched straight to Xiangyang,"
"Yes, Father,"
Hao Jingdao: "Your Majesty, it seems that the Emperor of the Song Dynasty is quite courageous. However, if he conducts the expedition himself, it will save our army the second step of the southern expedition. In this way, our army only needs to kill or capture the Southern Emperor in the Xiangfan area. , and force it to surrender, maybe there is no need to even take the third step,"
"Yes, what the Imperial Master said is very much in line with my wishes."
In the plan formulated by Mongolian Kublai Khan, Ashu and others, the plan to conquer the south was divided into three major steps. The first step was the battle of Xiangfan, taking the land of Xiangfan, controlling the north and south, and dividing the east and west; the second step was to go straight down From the south of the Yangtze River, go straight to Lin'an and force the Southern Dynasty royal family to surrender; the third step is to march west to Sichuan, south to Guangdong and Guangxi, and north to Jianghuai to defeat the remaining military forces of the Southern Dynasty in one fell swoop.
If the Emperor of the Southern Dynasties was killed or captured in Xiangfan, wouldn't it be obvious that the first and second steps were combined in one place? Until this time, the entire Yuan Dynasty's senior officials were still full of confidence in the combat effectiveness of the Yuan army.
Zhenjin said: "Father, General Zhang Rou, the deputy commander of the Southern Campaign, has been dead for many months. The position of commander of our West Route Army is always vacant. I suggest that it be best to appoint him as soon as possible."
"Well, it's real gold. I've already thought about this," Kublai Khan agreed: "Whoever comes, please tell Dong Wenbing, Dong Aiqing, and Prince Hedan to come to the palace to see me."
In early May, the overall construction of the capital of the Yuan Dynasty was still in full swing. Basically, the ministers of the court and the central government temporarily lived not far from the palace. In less than half an hour, Dong Wenbing and He Dan entered the study of the palace one after another. .
"See the Emperor,"
"No courtesy, please sit down,"
"Thank you, Your Majesty,"
Dong Wenbing, Zhenjin, and Hao Jing finished bowing to each other and sat down at the bottom of the table.
Kublai Khan got straight to the point: "Dong Aiqing, He Dan, Ting Feng,"
"I'm here," the two of them hurriedly knelt down on the ground.
"Dong Aiqing, since the late autumn of last year, the old general Zhang Rou, who was the deputy marshal of the southern expedition and the marshal of the west route army, died of illness, his position has been vacant. Today I am naming you the deputy marshal of the southern expedition and the marshal of the east route army. A gold medal with a tiger head,"
"Your Majesty, Dong Wenbing, thanks the Emperor for his grace,"
"Brother Hedan, I will appoint you as the Marshal of the West Route Army."
"Thank you, Your Majesty, I obey your order,"
In the Mongolian Han army, there were three major forces, namely the Shijia family headed by Shi Tianze, the Zhang family headed by Zhang Rou, and the Dong family headed by Dong Jun and Dong Wenbing and their sons. During the period when Mongolia was exterminated, all these three major families turned over to Genghis Khan.
, became one of the forces that several Mongol Khans always valued, among which Dong Wenbing had the deepest friendship with Kublai Khan.
Kublai Khan continued: "Zhenjin, inform the Privy Council and appoint Zhang Honglue, the son of the veteran general Zhang Rou, as the commander of the Southern Army, to take over the vacancy left by Dong Aiqing after his promotion. It is under the name of the East Route Army and will be awarded a gold medal."
pieces,"
"Yes, Father,"
Zhang Honglue was a strategist, well versed in classics and history, and good at riding and shooting. Zhang Rou's eighth son was Zhang Hongfan's brother who was the pioneer in the southern expedition.
"Two dear friends, please sit down," Kublai Khan continued: "The Battle of Xiangyang has been going on for more than a year. What are the current developments in the Sichuan Military Region and Jianghuai Military Region in the Southern Dynasties?"
He Dan said: "Your Majesty, except for Xia Gui of the Jianghuai Army who led his army to Suizhou, the Sichuan Military Region and the Jianghuai Military Region of the Southern Dynasties only strictly guarded the city passes and there was no movement."
Kublai Khan said: "I received a battle report from the Central Army today, saying that the other two brigades of the Second Division of the Southern Dynasty Imperial Guard Army have also arrived in Yingzhou. Judging from various signs, the Southern Dynasty Emperor will definitely personally conquer Xiangfan in the near future. This is
As a result, the situation in the Battle of Xiangfan may far exceed that of our army.
It is expected that since there is no movement of the Southern Dynasty armies in the east and west, I plan to dispatch 15,000 troops from the east and west armies to go to Xiangyang to support and strive to kill the Southern Emperor in the Xiangfan area. As long as this
If the move is successful, future battles in the east and west will become much simpler,"
"Yes, Your Majesty, I obey your order,"
"Zhenjin, after the meeting tomorrow, you and your two beloved ministers will go to the Privy Council to complete the procedures for troop deployment."
"Yes, Father,"
"My dear friends, please be prepared first. As soon as the news of the Southern Emperor's personal expedition is confirmed, the reinforcements will be sent out immediately."
"Yes, Your Majesty,"
Dong Wenbing continued: "Your Majesty, all the things I have done in Dadu have been completed. Early tomorrow morning I will set off south to the east road army camp north of the Huai River. I will say goodbye to the Emperor here first."
Finally, Dong Wenbing knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times respectfully.
After Kublai Khan received this great gift, he stood up and helped Dong Wenbing up and said: "Dong Aiqing, remember what happened sixteen years ago. At that time, you, Wen Yong, Wen Zhong and other 46 people rushed to Dali to prepare for the hardships. From then on,
He followed me in the southern and northern wars, and he was loyal and made countless contributions, which is very rare."
Dong Wenbing said: "Following the emperor is a small official's fortune. The emperor's wisdom and martial prowess are actually a blessing to our great Yuan Dynasty. A small official can use the strength of dogs and horses to repay the emperor's great kindness."
Kublai Khan looked at his beloved general and said with a smile: "Okay, okay, I have your family, so why worry about failing to achieve my great cause?"