"Okay! Okay... Manager Zhao, your soldiers are pretty good!"
Zhao Huan looked at the 30,000 elite armored soldiers who were about to follow him to Yangzhou to defend the city, and then smiled and gave Zhao Mingcheng such a compliment. I don't know if it can be considered a compliment!
Zhao Mingcheng smiled and replied: "The officials have received the award. This is not the credit of the minister alone. These soldiers are colleagues of the Privy Council. Colleagues from the Liangjiang, Lianghuai, Jinghu, Yangtze and Coastal Administrative Departments worked together with the minister." Troop training...and the two Lieutenants Zhong who were idle at home also put in a lot of effort."
"Oh, there are a lot of people there!" Zhao Huan nodded, the smile on his face remained unchanged.
And Zhao Mingcheng didn't think much about it. He was so proud now that he never thought that Zhao Guan's family would be suspicious of him... He is a civil servant! Originally, he didn't know how to lead troops to fight, and he was just trying to catch up. At that time, the officials insisted that he had the appearance of a famous general and forced him, a good civil servant, to lead the military training.
This is really hard on Zhao Mingcheng. For more than two years, he has been busy with military affairs, learning the art of war, and researching various weapons and armors day and night.
He was afraid that his talents were insufficient, so he just brought his wife Li Qingzhao to study together. Not only did he study ancient books, he also went to study under his masters, learning battle formations and weapons from two old masters, Zhongshi Zhong and Zhongshi Min, who were both idle at home.
Fortunately, these two parents-in-law are so beautiful that they learn everything quickly, and now they have reached the level of "military experts"!
Of course, with so many new troops, just two of them "military experts" can't do it. In addition, there are a large group of civil servants who are very interested in military affairs, including Nie Shan, Li Gang, He Li, Zhang Shuye, Wang Boyan, Zhang Suo, Li Guang, Lu Zhi, Xue Bi, Li Ruoshui, and Li Ruoxu, who are studying together with Zhao Mingcheng. Military science.
And Zhao Huan also trusts the "Scholar Army" that just appeared... The Song Dynasty no longer trusts generals, Zhao Huan simply doesn't use those military leaders! And he didn't trust the eunuchs (most of the eunuchs around Zhao Ji supported Zhao Kai). If he didn't trust the civil officials anymore, who else could Zhao Huan's emperor use to lead his troops?
Therefore, in the past two years or so, Zhao Huan has 100% trust in the "scholar in charge of the army", and he can also let the Privy Council free to do things!
Basically, everything you ask is allowed and everything you ask is allowed. And the funding has increased... Anyway, I have money! If you don't need to train troops now, you will have to return to Zhao Kai with Zhu Lian!
With the strong support of Zhao Huan, a group of civil servants who were not very knowledgeable were able to obtain conditions for leading troops that no general or even Chen Chen (civilian) could have imagined since the founding of the Song Dynasty.
The new army they have trained may not be able to be dragged out to fight in the field, but there should be no problem in defending the city and fighting based on the city - their armor is hard enough, their spears are long enough, and their divine arms and bows are strong enough. More is good enough, and training is hard enough!
According to Zhongshi Zhong and Zhongshi Min, these 100,000 new troops are already "much better than the Western Army"!
At this time, Zhao Huan asked the military leaders and civil servants on his left and right again, "Are my invincible navy ready? In the past two or three years, the navy has spent as much money as the land navy!"
It turns out that Zhao Huan also has an invincible navy!
This is not bragging!
Zhao Huan's new army of the Army looked pretty good, but no one thought they could really compete with the armies of Zhao Kai and Jurchen.
But Zhao Huan's navy is definitely an invincible navy that can defeat Zhao Kai and Jin Kingdom's navy!
The navy of the Southern Song Dynasty only had the "Jiang Army" and the "Navy"!
"Officials," Li Gang, who served as Privy Councilor together with Zhao Mingcheng, immediately took the question and replied, "20 navy boats have entered the city and are anchored on the Qinhuai River. Officials can board the boats for review at any time. .”
"Okay!" Zhao Huan nodded with satisfaction, "Li Qing, lead the way, I want to see the invincible navy of the Song Dynasty!"
Now there are two people in the Privy Council of the Southern Song Dynasty. The left Privy Councilor Zhao Mingcheng is in charge of the army, and the right Privy Councilor Li Gang is in charge of the navy!
Appointing a Privy Councilor to take charge of the navy is enough to highlight the importance Zhao Huan attaches to the navy!
Because there was a dedicated Privy Councilor in charge, the navy of the Southern Song Dynasty had now become a service on the same level as the army!
In other words, the navy of the Southern Song Dynasty was no longer dependent on the army, nor was it controlled by the local commander-in-chief. Instead, two naval administration departments were established—the Yangtze River Administration and the Coastal Administration. The former was responsible for all river divisions, the latter for the navy.
However, the division of defense areas between the navy and the river navy on the Yangtze River is not at the mouth of the Yangtze River, but at Jinling City. The waters of the Yangtze River east of Jinling are dominated by the navy!
And west of Jinling is the territory of "Jiang Jun"!
Therefore, the main warships of the Southern Song Dynasty Navy must be able to sail into the Yangtze River near Jinling, and they must also be able to enter the Qinhuai River estuary.
This type of warship is called a river and sea boat!
This kind of river and sea boat is actually not particularly big. It costs between 1,500 and 1,800 materials (materials). If converted into displacement, it means a light load of 700 to 800 tons.
What drives this large river and sea ship are two pairs of human power and water wheels on both sides and three to four hard sails.
Because the hull is relatively wide and the area of the hard sail is relatively small, the speed of this kind of river and sea boat is not very fast, but it is relatively stable and not easy to capsize.
In addition, these river and sea boats are warships, so they are relatively strong. Moreover, there are quite a lot of weapons installed on the ship, including crossbows, cannons, shooting poles, and the bow is also equipped with horns!
This time, the 30,000 elite soldiers who follow Zhao Huan to Yangzhou will set off from Jinling under the escort of these 20 river and sea boats.
As for large ships like this, as many as 60 have been built so far. Except for 20 ships deployed near Jinling City, the rest are placed in Mingzhou, Suzhou and Xiuzhou. They can support Yangzhou at any time and can also sail north. To take the escape route of the Kingdom of Jin, of course you can also protect Zhao Huan and escape through the waterway...
...
Huaibei, Huaiyang Army, Pizhou City.
The news of Zhao Huan Yujia's personal expedition was quickly sent to the two princes of the Jin Kingdom who were stationed here by the details sent by the Jin Kingdom.
However, the costumes of the two golden princes were completely different. The fourth prince Wushu still dressed like a Jurchen nobleman. The bald man in a white robe (with a mink hat, which he didn't wear because he was afraid of the heat) was sitting cross-legged on a rug bed, sipping a glass of ice-cold wine.
Wu Limei, the fifteenth prince, put on the regular clothes of a Song Dynasty prince, sat on an armchair, and listened expressionlessly to Wu Shu's confidant Cai Songnian reporting the news of Zhao Huan Yujia's personal expedition.
Cai Songnian is the "cheating peace envoy". Because of his merits in "cheating peace", he has gained the trust of the two brothers Zong Wang and Zong Bi. Now he is participating in the war in the name of accompanying the army to consult.
"The Fourth Prince and the Fifteenth Prince, the secret report sent by Xizuo said that the navy in the Southern Song Dynasty was powerful... not only could they roam the river, but they could also enter the sea and travel thousands of miles a day! If Zhao Huan sent the navy to carry several Wanlu Division, if we leave the Yangtze River Estuary and head northward, I'm afraid there will be trouble in the capitals along the east coast of Beijing!"
His worries are justified!
Those 60 river and sea boats alone can carry tens of thousands of new army troops and a large amount of equipment and baggage to go north. There is no need to fight a landing battle...just break into the port or the inland river.
Although the Kingdom of Jin now has thousands of miles of sea territory, its coastal defenses are zero... Even the seaports in Jingdong, Hebei, Liaodong and other places have no defenses.
If tens of thousands of Southern Song Dynasty New Army land divisions landed in those places, wouldn't they cause big trouble? Although the Jin soldiers dispatching ten thousand elite soldiers would be enough to defeat them, it is impossible for all the Jin soldiers' elite soldiers to wait at the beach... By the time they arrive from elsewhere, the Song army would have already left by boat!
"No!" Wu Limei, the fifteenth prince, interjected, "Zhao Huan is not Zhao Kai and would not do such a thing... The Gu family estimates that he will order guards everywhere in Huaibei and Huaidong. Defend the city to the death, and move into Yangzhou City to defend the city. We will never go further north from Yangzhou!
We can take Haizhou and Lianshui first, then cross the Huaihe River and go straight to Yangzhou, and surround Yangzhou before he escapes! "
"The fifteenth prince," Cai Songnian said with a smile, "Haizhou is close to the sea! The city of the state is right on the seaside. The Song navy will arrive at any time. How can we fight?"
"It won't arrive." Wuli Mei shook her head, "Zhao Huan won't send a single soldier to save Huaibei... Besides, we also have explosive pots. Throw a few out and scare Liu Yu to his knees. Just surrender.”
Wu Shu smiled and said: "If there are no reinforcements, Haizhou and Lianshui are easy to capture... Wuli sister, why don't you lead troops to capture Haizhou!"
"Me?" Wu Limei, the fifteenth prince's face suddenly changed. Although what he said was clear and logical, in fact he was also cowardly!
To be honest, Zhao Huan led his troops from the good city of Jinling to station in Yangzhou, which was beyond his expectation. If he was allowed to be an official in the Southern Song Dynasty, he would not dare to stay in Jinling City... How dangerous Jinling is! It's right next to the Yangtze River. Once the enemy crosses the river, they can immediately surround Jinling City!
Moreover, in history, whenever Jinling was surrounded by enemies coming from the north, it was always conquered... Zhao Huan actually dared to make Jinling his capital. He must have read too little history books.
"What? You don't dare to go?" Wu Shu said with a smile, "Sister Wu Li, I will conquer the world for you this time!"
It turns out that the purpose of the Jin soldiers going south to Huaidong this time was not to eat up the territory of the Huaihe River, but to support another Song Dynasty - weren't the two Zhaos originally competing? Now that the two Zhaos are so well off, the Kingdom of Jin must not try harder to stir things up?
At this time, Wuli sister Zhao Gou was favored by Wanyan Wu Qingbu, and he was the filial son of Dajin, so he was the leader of the "Three Song Dynasties".
But how could Wuli sister Zhao Gou dare to lead the troops into battle in person? How scary that is!
Seeing that Wu Limei was about to give up, Wu Shu's face also darkened, and he said in a gloomy tone: "Wulimei... Entrepreneurs should take the lead and set an example for the three armies. Your third brother Zhao Kai and others How many times have you been in battle every year? Are you and him the same father? Why are you so timid?"
"Fourth Prince, I, I'm going! Isn't it okay if I go?" Zhao Gou was about to get angry when he saw Wu Shu, how could he dare to say not to go? No matter how powerful Liu Yu is, he can't possibly compete with the fourth prince, right? It's better to go...this way you have a better chance of surviving.
