Three days later at dusk, greeted by Zhou Tinggou's cavalry, Liu Renzhan finally escorted a huge team of 500 trucks of grain and supplies back from Haozhou. Li Yuan specially led the generals to greet him at the gate of the Bagong Mountain camp. He saw that the old general Liu Renzhan was covered in dust, and his old face looked exhausted. He must have been in a hurry for this trip.
"Commander Li!" The moment Liu Renzhan saw Li Yuan, he immediately got off his horse, walked forward quickly and said with a smile: "I've kept you guys waiting! This trip has fulfilled my mission!"
Li Yuan quickly handed over his hand and replied happily: "Shuai Liu, you have worked hard all the way! Now that you are back, the morale of the army will be stable! There is no need to worry about the destruction of Shouzhou City!"
At this time, Liu Renzhan suddenly took a few steps to the side, revealing a thin figure behind him. Li Yuan took a moment to look around and realized that this person he had never met before was wearing a red official robe. Although the color of the clothing was eye-catching, his figure was thin. No wonder no one noticed it.
Liu Renzhan flicked his long beard and smiled mysteriously: "Oh, Marshal Li, this is my friend Meng Hua, the governor of Haozhou! This time I returned to Haozhou City, I was able to quickly mobilize a supply of grain, grass and baggage, all thanks to the efforts of the governor Meng Help!"
This Meng Hua was originally a Jinshi, and he had only been in office for one year from Jinling to Haozhou. However, he was a good hand in local governance, upright and well-liked by the people. So after Liu Renzhan was transferred to Haozhou a month ago, he The two soon got along very well. This time Liu Renzhan returned to the city, and after Meng Hua heard about the battle in Shouzhou, he did not hesitate to support the army in suppressing the rebellion, and even asked to go with him.
At this time, Meng Hua was looking around the camp curiously. When he heard Liu Renzhan's words, he realized what he was saying. He hurriedly stepped forward and bowed his hands to Li Yuan and said, "Your Majesty, Meng Hua, pays homage to Marshal Li!"
The war is imminent, and if the people's hearts are united, they will win by three points. Seeing this, Li Yuan felt more at ease, so he nodded and said with a smile: "There is no need to be polite, Governor Meng! It's been a good journey! As long as I work together, how can we not win this battle?"
Meng Hua seemed a little intimidated. Although he had admired the famous Marshal Li for a long time, when he saw Li Yuan smiling kindly towards him, he quickly lowered his head and just smacked his tongue in a low voice: "Hey! If it is rumored, As you said, Marshal Li is actually so young! Could it be that Marshal is really a martial arts star?"
As expected of a civil servant, he spoke pleasantly and immediately made everyone laugh. Li Yuan was feeling happy, and then he raised his hand and said: "Please, please, I have prepared a small amount of wine in the camp, and I will give you two a good refreshment tonight!"
When everyone was happy, they saw Liu Renzhan and Meng Hua looking at each other for a moment, and then said: "Very good! But Marshal Li, before that I and Meng Hua have important matters to discuss with the Marshal! Can we move to the account?" Are you talking inside?"
Seeing that the two men looked a little strange, Li Yuan nodded in agreement despite his doubts. After giving some military instructions to the generals, he supported Liu Renzhan and Meng Hua, and the three of them walked side by side.
As soon as he sat down in the tent, Liu Renzhan took the initiative and said: "Marshal Li, let me tell you some good news first!"
"Oh? What's the good news?" Li Yuan was not happy for a moment, but he immediately realized that the other meaning of these words was that there was bad news to come.
Liu Renzhan said calmly: "First of all, the food and grass raised this time are enough for our army for one month, and all the other ordnance materials are available. In addition, I also brought 300,000 arrows."
Li Yuan nodded repeatedly. Sufficient food and grass are naturally the basic guarantee, and these arrows are indeed indispensable. Although a lot of them were recovered from cleaning the battlefield earlier, they are far from enough to cope with the subsequent siege. Liu Renzhan It's quite thoughtful.
"Secondly, I followed Marshal Li's instructions and prepared all the siege equipment. Not only that, Governor Meng also specially brought in ten crossbows and five trebuchets. Although they are not many, they are all from Haozhou. The treasure at the bottom of the city!"
Hearing this, Li Yuan's eyes suddenly lit up and he couldn't help but be surprised: "Isn't this much? I heard that most of the crossbows and trebuchets in Jiangbei were all allocated to the Northern Expedition! Where did these come from? Governor Meng has made great contributions..."
Hearing this, Liu Renzhan was quite calm, but Meng Hua just smiled awkwardly and said helplessly, when the crossbow and trebuchet were moved out of nowhere, I, as the governor of a state, was shocked. Later I learned that Liu Dashuai’s late father, Liu Jin, was Yang Wu’s training envoy for the Haozhou regiment...
At this time, Li Yuan was overjoyed. Shouzhou City was already strong and difficult to break, and ordinary tools such as rams, ladders, trenches, and bridges alone might not have much effect. Unexpectedly, this small city of Haozhou actually had something hidden. Now that he had these two killer weapons in his hands, he felt a little more confident even though the war hadn't started yet.
Needless to say, a trebuchet is a must-have for attacking a big city. This trebuchet can not only throw stones, but can also throw a burning fireball, a bag of poison, or even dead bodies. A large number of dead bodies can cause plague and bring diseases in the city. It's simply an ancient biochemical weapon.
This crossbow is even rarer, because it is very expensive to make. Not to mention the precise structural parts, the huge and powerful bow string alone requires extremely demanding materials. Although the accuracy is not high, the range is extremely long and the hit power is huge. Under certain specific opportunities, it can often work wonders when attacking a city.
Then Liu Renzhan continued: "Furthermore, Governor Meng transferred 5,000 new soldiers from Haozhou. Previously, the army suffered a lot of casualties in the south of Shouzhou City, and the soldiers and horses brought by Marshal Li from Langzhou also suffered losses. It happened that Make up some. Although these state soldiers have not been recruited for a long time, they may not have much combat effectiveness, so they can be used to transport supplies to the army."
Li Yuan quite agreed and nodded in response: "What Marshal Liu said is true! Shouzhou City is a tough one right now. No matter how powerful these soldiers are, it is always good for our soldiers to have more hands!"
"Originally, I was thinking that untrained state soldiers would not be of much use! Hearing Marshal Li say this, I feel relieved!" Liu Renzhan said with sincerity on his face: "Meng Ji Shi Gaoyi, one of the recruits just recruited If you don’t keep any, they will be delivered to us!”
Meng Hua straightened his clothes at this time, raised his hands and said loudly: "Commander Liu, you are commended! Although Xianguan is a scholar and knows little about military matters, he also knows that military disasters are nothing more than disasters for the country and suffering for the people. If If these state soldiers in Haozhou can help the two generals to help the country together, then Xiaguan will be worthy of His Majesty's kindness! The two generals can rest assured to leave all the logistical matters for counterinsurgency to Xiaguan. try best!"
Looking at the seemingly weak but upright Haozhou governor in front of him, Li Yuan couldn't help but sigh in his heart, why are Chen Jue, Feng Yansi, Feng Yanlu and others who are also scholars, but have a different style of conduct, even though they have never had contact with Meng Hua? It's dark, but it looks pretty good so far.
"Marshal Li, this is the good news I brought! Then comes the bad news..."
Seeing that Liu Renzhan and Meng Hua's expressions became serious one after another, Li Yuan understood that there must be something critical, so he took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "Commander Liu, it's okay to just say it!"
Liu Renzhan's gray beard trembled visibly, and he suddenly sighed: "The Northern Expedition army has been defeated!"
