When Gongsun Ao sent out troops, he only had more than a thousand men with him.
Most of these were sergeants from the South in the Northern and Southern Armies, and some were young people from the Ha Lin Army who followed them to get gold plating.
But what was unbelievable was that the number of militiamen following them was so large that it was mind-numbing.
Just when they left Chang'an City, there were more than a thousand people behind them.
By the time they reached Hangu Pass, there were already thousands of people following them.
These Guanzhong men who were eager to gain rewards through military exploits and join the Northern and Southern armies were mainly local rangers, middle-class sons of good families, and children of distinguished officials.
Most of them were brave, and their families had considerable assets, so they could afford weapons, horses, and expenses for long journeys.
In fact, there were more people who wanted to follow, but these people had no horses and little money. After chasing for a while, they could not catch up, so they had to return home with regret.
The Han family is a military force, and all adult males must serve for two years.
It's just that after the service period expires, most people go home and find their own mothers.
Only those who are extremely outstanding will be selected into the Northern and Southern armies and become standing armies, thereby eating real royal food.
Not only can they have enough to eat, but they can also obtain titles through military exploits, thereby improving their social status and receiving generous rewards. This is the real reason why many people would rather serve as militiamen at their own expense than follow the imperial court to fight in wars.
If this was the case at the end of the Song Dynasty and the end of the Ming Dynasty, there would be nothing to do with the Tatars.
It's a pity that at that time, the Confucian civil servant group occupied almost all the interests and refused to share any of them with others. If there were no benefits, no one would be willing to sacrifice their lives. The results can be imagined.
When Gongsun Ao went all the way east to the river bank, crossed the river and arrived at Kuaiji County, tens of thousands of militiamen from various places followed him.
There were too many of them, and Gongsun Ao couldn't let them act as they pleased, because they might cause harm to the place.
He deployed manpower to temporarily recruit these militiamen and provided them with supplies of materials, food and grass, but there was no salary.
As for the main soldiers, they had already been assembled in various counties surrounding Mitsukoshi.
At this time, there were about 30,000 county soldiers gathered in Kuaiji County.
"Captain Li."
Gongsun Ao found Li Danghu and asked, "How are the navy and ships prepared?"
"General." Facing Gongsun Ao, who had been worshiped as the rear general, Li Danghu was very respectful, "The navy has 23 large ships with 400 materials, and 49 small ships with 200 materials."
Gongsun Ao asked again, "How many troops and horses can be transported?"
Li Danghu was stunned for a moment, "Isn't it transporting grain?"
In his impression, unless he is fighting the opponent's navy, isn't the role of the navy just to transport food, grass and military supplies?
"Someone already has a plan in mind."
At this time, the Han Dynasty had only two official generals named in the Governor's Mansion of the Fifth Army. One was Wei Qing who stayed in Chang'an City as a deterrent to deter the Huns, and the other was Gongsun Ao.
Under this status, Gongsun Ao was inevitably a little arrogant, and his words were not as polite as in the past. "The Kingdom of Dongou asked the court for help, saying that the Fujian and Yue rebels had already attacked the city of Dongou (Wenzhou). Someone wanted to Use sea ships to transport troops directly to Dongou City to attack Fujian and Vietnam
No one was caught off guard. "
Li Danghu's eyes lit up and he immediately praised, "This is a good idea!"
In this era, there had not been any large-scale amphibious landing operations, so the Minyue people never expected that the Han army would come from the sea.
There is no doubt that this will achieve the sudden arrival of the army on the battlefield.
Li Danghu's job as the Navy Commander for more than a year was not for nothing. He worked hard to study, summarize and analyze, and already had a considerable understanding of the Navy.
Just like calculating the loading capacity of each sea ship, he quickly calculated in his mind and soon had the answer.
"General."
Li Danghu saluted and said, "We are going to Dongou now. We will have a guide who is familiar with the sea route to lead the way. If the wind is favorable, we can arrive in five days, but no more than ten days. Counting the food, grass and military supplies carried, a large ship can carry 250 soldiers. A small sea ship can carry one hundred and fifty soldiers. It just needs to be crowded
A squeeze. "
Calculated in this way, more than 12,000 horses can be transported in one trip.
It's just that Li Danghu said it was crowded, but in fact it was very crowded, because we also had to count the sailors on the ship, food, fresh water and other daily necessities, as well as the food, grass, weapons, armor, and even horses for the army. It was so crowded. The level is estimated to be comparable to that of the fifteenth century
Profitable shipping business.
Of course, the living environment here of Li Danghu and Gongsun Ao would naturally not be so restrictive.
"That's it."
Gongsun Ao nodded with satisfaction, "As long as we can send more than ten thousand elites outside Dongou City, we will definitely defeat them!"
They all have absolute confidence in the combat effectiveness of the Han army. If more than ten thousand elites suddenly appear at the rear of the battlefield, they will surely win a complete victory.
In theory, this statement is correct.
But in fact, they forgot one thing, and that was seasickness.
Although most of the troops concentrated in Kuaiji County were county soldiers from various counties in the south, and they were mainly Lou Chuanshi.
But rivers and lakes are different from the sea. The rolling waves on the sea are incomparable to the calm rivers and lakes.
This was because the troops were dispatched in winter and were not affected by the typhoon.
If it is summer, once there is a typhoon, it is very likely that the whole army will be wiped out and sink to the bottom of the sea to feed fish and shrimps.
After more than 10,000 carefully selected elites boarded the boat and headed south along the river, seasickness began to appear constantly.
He was obviously a strong seven-foot man, but he was suffering from vomiting and diarrhea and his face was pale, as if he would lose his breath in the next moment.
This situation really made Gongsun Ao, who was accompanying the army, anxious to death.
"General."
Seeing that it was not a problem, Li Danghu had no choice but to step forward and say, "How about we dock?"
When ships went to sea in this era, they basically walked along the coastline. Due to the lack of technology and instruments, going deep into the sea would lead to disorientation. Walking along the coastline can use the land as a reference.
At this time, the fleet was not far from the coastline, just within sight.
Gongsun Ao, who was frowning, asked in a deep voice, "How long will it take to recover from this situation?"
"After landing, it will take three to five days." Li Danghu thought for a while and responded, "No matter how serious it is, it won't take ten days."
"No."
Hearing this, Gongsun Ao immediately shook his head, "We don't have that much time. I don't know how long Dong'ou can hold on. If Dong'ou is breached, it will be troublesome."
The Dongou Kingdom cannot defeat the Minyue Kingdom, and now the capital of Dongou is under siege. If it is captured, the siege will not be easy, and human lives will be needed to pay for it.
"Speed up and reach Dongou City as soon as possible."
Faced with this order, Li Danghu could only reluctantly comply.
Sailing on the sea depends entirely on wind and ocean currents. This is not something that the general can do just by saying to speed up.
Fortunately, they were lucky. After spending six days, the fleet finally arrived at the sea off Dongou.
The next step is to log in.
In this era of landing operations, there are no well-equipped seaports available, and everything is connected by small boats.
After the large ship anchors and reefs its sails, the small sampan carried by the ship is put down. The people and materials get on the small sampan and are paddled to the beach to land on the beach.
Using this extremely inefficient method, it would take at least several days of effort to send more than 10,000 people and numerous supplies ashore.
Gongsun Ao turned around a little anxiously, "Can't you come closer?"
"General."
Li Danghu explained patiently, "If you force the ship to reach the shore, it will either run aground or reach the tentacles. The ship will be destroyed directly, and it is not sure that it can go ashore directly. If the ship capsizes, everything will be lost."
Gongsun Ao nodded to express his understanding.
These ships are expensive to build, and the people on them also belong to the navy.
Although he got the tiger talisman to command the navy from the emperor this time, it was only effective in the war to quell Mitsukoshi.
In essence, they have no direct affiliation with him.
If the situation is urgent, naturally nothing else can be taken care of.
However, the reconnaissance cavalry dispatched after landing reported back that although Dongou City was besieged, it seemed that it could hold on for a while, so there was no need to force the beach.
"A harbor will be built here in the future." Li Danghu observed the environment on the shore and said, "At least a few plank roads that go deep into the sea and can dock ships will be built."
"good."
Gongsun Ao nodded in approval, "The location here is close to Dongou City. Whether it is transporting people or food, it is convenient for shipping. Building a seaport can effectively strengthen the court's control here."
Both of them supported the construction of a seaport, but they did not mention the cost and manpower of the construction.
They are soldiers, and they only care about war matters, how to build seaports, and so on. Those are all ordered by the emperor, so naturally someone will do it.
After several days of effort, the sergeants and supplies were finally sent ashore.
Gongsun Ao did not dare to delay, leaving behind a group of sergeants whose symptoms had not been relieved, and led tens of thousands of horses and horses in a hurry towards Dongou City, which was dozens of miles away.
Li Danghu, who stayed on the shore, was inspecting the environment of the harbor and planning to build a road from the harbor to Dongou City.
It's true that he works hard and loves his work. Li Danghu has now fully entered the role of navy commander, and he only thinks about building the harbor wherever he goes.
The sudden appearance of the Han army was beyond the expectations of the Minyue Kingdom.
They naturally knew that the Han army was gathering troops and horses in the periphery, but they had already divided their troops to blockade various areas. Even if the Han army came over the mountains and ridges regardless of losses, they would not be able to reach here within a few months.
A few months were enough for them to break through Dongou.
Because of this, the Minyue soldiers and horses besieging the city had no intention of guarding the rear.
When Gongsun Ao launched his attack, Minyue's troops were beaten to the point of collapse as expected.
There is nothing to say about the battle process, just as the Han army defeated countless enemies.
After winning the battle, Gongsun Ao sent someone to call the door. After confirming that it was indeed the Han army, Dongou Kingdom opened the door to welcome them.
After everyone came out, Gongsun Ao saw that they were all wearing sackcloth and mourning.
It turns out that Ou Zhenming, the king of Dongou, died in the previous battle, and his son Ou Wang is now in charge.
Ou Wang was fed up with the endless war with the Minyue Kingdom, and as soon as he saw Gongsun Ao, he proposed to join the clan.
Gongsun Ao, who was ecstatic in his heart, pretended to refuse and persuaded for a while, and then he patted his chest and promised, "This matter is taken care of by someone. I will send someone to deliver a message to the emperor. I will never treat you badly."
The Han army continued to divide its troops to attack the Minyue soldiers and horses that blocked the intersections leading to Kuaiji County. The outer Han army gradually arrived outside Dongou City.
The captured Minyue prisoners were escorted to the seaside and began to build seaports and plank roads to provide logistical support for tens of thousands of troops by sea.
While waiting for the emperor's reply, Gongsun Ao had already looked south.
Having tasted the benefits of amphibious warfare, he planned to do it again.
The target this time is Dongye, the capital of the Minyue Kingdom, which is also Huzhou City in Hujian Province.
PS: Thank you to book friend Liu Suifeng for your 100-point reward support. I am deeply grateful. Thank you!
