Although transporting grain from Guangdong reduced the logistics pressure of the army a lot, it took more than ten days to transport grain from Guangdong to Guangxi.
Chao Yong frowned and said, "How much food is left in the army?"
Li Jun said: "There are ten thousand stones left."
The army's food and grass were transported by the navy along the water. Only when the navy transported the food and grass, the army was able to advance quickly.
Chao Yong looked at the map and said, "From Yongzhou to the Shenglong Mansion, the journey is about 800 miles, and there is only one city in Menzhou in the middle. You should be able to reach the outside of Shenglong Mansion in half a month."
The State of Yue used to be villages and had no cities. It was not until the Yue Li Dynasty that it began to build cities, but it only built cities on the border and Shenglong Mansion.
The army went south to the south and was in a season when there was little rain in Lingnan. In addition, all the roads were drought this year, so the army rarely encountered rainy days when it went south. Chao Yong did not want to bet on when the drought would end. Once continuous rain came, even if there was no plague in the army, the number of soldiers who were not accustomed to the local environment would increase a lot.
Li Gong also heard the prince's meaning, thought for a while, and said, "The lower reaches of the Fuliang River are all plains, and there is a lot of rice planted. The food in Shenglongfu is supplied by the plains in the lower reaches of the Fuliang River. If it is advanced quickly, it may be possible to grab some food, but the population of the Yue Li Dynasty is not as good as that of our Central Plains. If we want to grab food and grass for more than 100,000 people, it is probably impossible to do it."
Chao Yong left five troops to guard Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi all the way. At this time, he still had five troops under his command, but he kept all the soldiers who were not suitable for the local conditions on the spot. The four troops were only about 40,000, plus Li Gong's 10,000 Guangdong soldiers, but there were nearly 10,000 barbarians in the thirty-six caves, and there were 150,000 soldiers and horses in the Li Dynasty in the south.
Xu Guanzhong never spoke, always feeling neglected something, and suddenly clapped his hands and said, "The people of Yue must defend themselves in Yongzhou. Yongzhou must have food and grass. Why don't we search for food and grass in the city?"
When Chao Yong heard this, his eyes lit up and said, "Yes, all the food robbed by the Yue people from Guangxi must have been transported to Yongzhou. Tomorrow, the entire army will look for food in the city of Yongzhou."
Under the collision of hundreds of elephants, Yongzhou City was razed to the ground and there were several fires. However, the elephants knocked down many houses and prevented the fire from spreading. The fire did not burn the whole city. The army shot and killed the elephant herds in the city and had already entered the night. It only wiped out the fires in the city and captured some surviving Yue soldiers. It did not have time to search carefully in the city.
Chao Yong smiled and said, "Then let's go away first. I will see how much food and grass you can find tomorrow before deciding how to use troops."
There was nothing to say all night. The next day, the army began to look for food in the city, and soon found more than 100,000 stones of food from the city.
Chao Yong immediately summoned the generals to discuss the route of advance.
Li Jun said: "The navy can only reach the border along Zuoshui. When it reaches the border, the navy will not be able to transport food and grass."
Li Gong said: "Food and grass can be transported in ox carts. Guangxi is not short of cattle. Every year, merchants sell large quantities of cattle from Guangxi to Jiangnan for profit. We can requisition buffaloes from the Zuoshui coast and border tribes to transport grain."
Chao Yong nodded and said, "Okay. Then use the navy to transport grain to the border first, and then use a ox cart."
Hua Rong said: "There are no city passes in the territory of the Yueli Dynasty. After breaking the Menzhou, the army can march straight into the distance. The cavalry can take one step forward to stop the people of Yue from crossing the river on the north bank of the Fuliang River, and even snatch ships and raid the Shenglong Mansion on the south bank."