After the fleet set off from Chongqing Mansion, although it went down the river, it took three days to reach Jiading, three hundred miles away. On the one hand, this trip is not a military operation, and there is no rush; on the other hand, transport ships account for the majority of the fleet. These heavily loaded ships are definitely not as fast as warships, so they have to stop and go. In the case of the fleet march, several reconnaissance ships led the special company ships to clear the way ahead. The ships of Ouyang Xuan and others followed closely behind, and in the middle were the ships transporting arms and the warships of the navy company. At the end are the merchant ships from Bozhou. These ships also have guards and are not afraid of attacks by small groups of water bandits.
Ouyang Xuan did not order the fleet to dock in Jiading. During this period, Yu Xingzheng was leading troops to confront the Mongolian army in Jingyan, and his son Yu Dazhong was left behind in Jiading. If Yu Xing was in Jiading Mansion, as his nominal subordinate, no matter how much Ouyang Xuan disliked his appearance, he would have to endure the turbulence in his stomach to deal with him. This Yu Dazhong was stupid and greedy. Ouyang Xuan was too lazy to pay attention to him, let alone get into trouble with him, so he sent people ashore to inform Jiading Mansion, bought some water, and continued downstream.
Just a few days ago, Yu Xing sent people to Chongqing Mansion to ask for firearms, and asked Ouyang Xuan to send troops to reinforce or attack Chengdu to contain the Mongolian army. During the offensive and defensive battle of Jingyan, the Jiading army used trebuchets to launch grenades, causing serious losses to the Mongolian army's siege equipment. It's just that Yu Xing didn't know how to save money on things that cost nothing. In two or three days, he smashed all the 500 old-fashioned grenades sent by the Pili Army. When the Pili Army ran out of supplies, Yu Xing ordered the use of imitation grenades. However, the grenade imitated by Jiading craftsmen not only lacked explosive power, but also the burning time of the fuse was difficult to control. Although these inferior products also destroyed many Mongolian siege equipment, they also destroyed several of their own equipment due to premature explosion.
Seeing that the attack could not be taken for a long time, Liu Heima sent reinforcements to Jingyan's Mongolian army with twenty artillery pieces, which he had finally cast by selling iron. The cannons that were cast before were either captured by the Perak Army and re-smelted into iron, or they sank into the water as the warships were destroyed. Although these artillery had short range, low power, and poor accuracy, they still frightened Yu Xing. He also ordered people to transport more than ten artillery pieces from Jiading to shoot at the Mongolian army. For a moment, the sound of cannons rumbling under the city wall of Jingyan City, the firelight flashed, and the air was filled with choking gunpowder smoke.
After shelling each other for several days, both sides found that the enemy was still alive and kicking, and the artillery that cost a lot of money did not have much lethality. In particular, the Mongolian army was dismayed to find that seven of the twenty artillery pieces were lost due to bombardment, and the number of people who died from the bombardment was not much less than the Song army who died from the shelling. But what they didn't know was that two of the Song army's guns guarding the city were also blown up. It is said that although the artillery imitated by the Jiading Army was inferior, it had received guidance from the Perak Army, and its performance was much higher than that of the Mongolian Army. Therefore, the war situation is still in a stalemate.
Ouyang Xuan flatly rejected Yu Xing's request this time. In fact, if the Pili Army has enough ammunition, Ouyang Xuan will still send someone to send some grenades. However, during this period of time, Yu Zhu had taken away a large amount of ammunition, and had to transport ammunition to Bozhou and ensure the ammunition needs for the caravan escort. Therefore, the brigades of the Perak Army were seriously short of ammunition. Ouyang Xuan had no choice but to give priority to ensuring the needs of the navy and the defenders such as Guankou Village and Baizhang City. The Perak Army now only has enough ammunition to fight a medium-sized battle.
As for Yu Xing's request to send troops, Ouyang Xuan refused without hesitation. At present, the Perak Army has more than enough to defend but not enough to attack, and is completely unable to attack Chengdu. As for sending troops to Iken, it is even more impossible. According to Yu Xing's urine, the soldiers of the Perak Army will definitely be used as cannon fodder and consumables. Of course, Ouyang Xuan's reason for replying to Yu Xing's envoy seemed high-sounding: "Our elite troops have all gone to Ezhou according to the orders of Master Sulu according to the Sichuan system. The current defense is already difficult and there are really no troops to send."
When the fleet arrived in Xuzhou, Ouyang Xuan fell ill with dysentery. It was autumn, when food poisoning was at its peak, and because of the raging war, most of the towns along the way were withered, making it difficult to replenish fresh food. In addition, many people were traveling by boat and had diarrhea due to eating unclean food. Ouyang Xuan has always insisted on living and eating with the soldiers and civilians without special treatment, so this time he and Lu Dezhi also fell into the trap. He originally wanted to go ashore and visit the Xuzhou government, but his stomach was very upset, so he had to send Zhu Tiaozi and Dong Hu, who were both in good health, to visit him.
Ouyang Xuan was young and strong, and had been practicing for many years, so he fully recovered when the ship arrived in Luzhou. Lu De's condition also improved greatly, and his face became much rosier, but his body was still weak. When the ship arrived at Divine Arm City, Ouyang Xuan took Dong Hu to visit the city officials. When the two arrived in the city, the person who met them was not Zhu Xusun, the deputy envoy to appease Tongchuan Road and the prefect of Luzhou, but Liu Zhen. Zhu Xusun has led his army to Ezhou with Lu Wende.
Ouyang Xuan had extremely complicated feelings about Liu Zhen. According to history books, Liu Zhen was like a small boat drifting with the tide, rebelling and surrendering repeatedly in the tide of the current situation. On the one hand, this man was brave and resourceful. He had made countless meritorious deeds following Meng Gong and Li Zengbo, and he was brave enough to win the three armies. He was known as "Sai Cun Xiao". On the other hand, he was also very utilitarian. After being framed by Lu Wende and Yu Xing, he surrendered to the Mongols, causing a terrible situation in central Sichuan. Later, he proposed to Kublai Khan the key strategy of "if you want to destroy the Southern Song Dynasty, take Xiangyang first". It is not an exaggeration to say that he was one of the chief culprits in destroying the Song Dynasty. Thinking of what was written in the history books, Ouyang Xuan inevitably felt a little depressed.
Ouyang Xuan had a long conversation with Liu Zhen, and expressed his heartfelt words of determination to resist the Mongolia to the end. On the one hand, he was testing Liu Zhen's determination to resist the Mongolia, and on the other hand, he was telling Liu Zhen that Ouyang Xuan would treat those who surrendered to the Mongolia. Fight to the end without compromise. Before leaving God's Arm City, he ordered people to give Liu Zhen a lot of money, silk, gold and silver, and even gave Liu Zhen the sword on his waist, but he did not give him any firearms. Because he really didn't know whether his contact with Liu Zhen would change the original historical trend and prevent Liu Zhen from surrendering to the Mongolian army. Although relying on the technological accumulation of the Mongols, it is extremely difficult to imitate high-performance firearms. However, technological expansion is inevitable. What the Pili Army has to do is to slow down the Mongolian army's imitation as much as possible. Naturally, they cannot hand over firearms to people with double-minded intentions.
Liu Zhen sent Ouyang Xuan to the dock. On the one hand, he admired Ouyang Xuan for starting from scratch and creating a world surrounded by wolves. As for the patriotism and compassion for the people in Ouyang Xuan's words, he didn't care; on the other hand, it was because the gifts given by the Perak Army were heavy. Not to mention the money, silk, gold and silver, it was just Ouyang Xuan's gift. That saber is worth a lot of money. This knife is made of fine iron containing chromium from the Dayi Mountains. It is repeatedly forged by cold forging process. It is not only extremely sharp but also does not rust. It is a rare sword. Liu Zhen, as a person who has been wielding weapons all year round, naturally loves it.
While Ouyang Xuan was communicating with Liu Zhen, Dong Hu also went to visit Official Xu in the city. Dong Hu didn't know why Ouyang Xuan asked him to make a special trip to visit this official, but he carried it out to the letter. However, Xu Tuiguan did not accept the Pili Army's property, but returned it in full. This made Dong Hu think deeply. Such officials who did not love money were rare in the officialdom of the Southern Song Dynasty. They were simply outliers. This may be the reason why Ouyang Xuan wanted to make friends with him.
