The west wind rises, blowing away the dark clouds, and the moonlight shines coldly.
Under Wujiang City, the fireworks were mottled, and when the wind passed, it became even more bizarre.
In the midst of the fishy smell, there are piles of corpses, among which there are many seriously injured people who are still alive. They are spending their last lives, squirming and struggling, and their wails and cries are floating around, as if they are singing an elegy for themselves.
Three to four thousand water pirates left their lives on the battlefield, and the unmanned ships were also stranded and floating on the embankment. Liu Xiuli, who had arrived with his troops, could only move the landing point to the north.
The regular troops disembarked in an orderly manner, with short and clear orders constantly sounded, but all the soldiers remained silent. Except for the sound of the clash of armor and the sound of quick and powerful footsteps, there was basically no other noise, showing an extraordinary Well trained.
Liu Xiuli's ship had not yet docked. He stood on the top of the ship, looking at the performance of his troops with a satisfied and proud smile.
He turned his head and looked at the gray-robed scribe next to him, "Brother Jianzhang, can we, the young men, compare to the strong soldiers of the North?"
Cui Jianzhang twirled his beard and hid the disdain in his eyes with a smile, "It's the same, it's the same. Brother Xiu Li has such a literary and military strategy, but it can't be used. It's because the princes in the Southern Dynasty have no eyesight. After arriving in the Northern Kingdom, I will definitely be able to become a marquis and show my abilities to my generals."
"In the past five years, I have devoted all my efforts to military training. Unfortunately, it is not worth it to rush into action before the time is right!" Liu Xiuli sighed.
"A blessing in disguise is a blessing in disguise." Cui Jianzhang smiled calmly and consoled him, "Taihu Lake is like the gateway to Lin'an. Brother Xiuli controls this place. If he waits until the Great Khan's troops arrive, he can indeed accomplish great feats, but only if the Southern Dynasty The defense line along the river has been defeated. By then, it can be said that the overall situation has been decided. Brother Xiuli's role is not critical, but now that God has given us the opportunity, as long as we can capture and kill the prince of the Southern Kingdom, it will be a great achievement."
Liu Xiuli's eyes were filled with confusion, "Is this King Yan really so important?"
Cui Jianzhang nodded, "That's true. Not to mention that he is the most legitimate heir to the throne in the Southern Dynasty. Judging from his words and deeds in Lin'an, he is indeed very qualified as a hero. Being both civil and military is not a big deal, but his character is decisive. , the city is far-reaching, and he has manipulated the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty several times. In the previous incident with Ningmen, many forces worked together to set up a killing situation. He was clearly in a desperate situation, but in the end he not only bucked the trend, but also reversed his hand. He killed his opponents in a short time, and even broke the Southern Dynasty's tradition of not killing scholar-bureaucrats easily. It can be seen that he never adhered to the rules. Moreover, he often talked about revolution and invigoration, and he did not hide his ambition to restore the Central Plains. If he was in power, the Southern Dynasty would surely There are earth-shaking changes. Our Mongolian country has swept all directions and is bound to unify the world, and King Yan is probably the biggest variable hindering this process. We should get rid of it quickly!"
Originally, Cui Jianzhang, as the person in charge of the secret service, had been lurking in Lin'an for several years. He fled Lin'an in a hurry more than a month ago and lost all his men. He had to hide in Liu Xiuli's army to escape the pursuit of the Imperial City Division.
When he knew that King Yan was in Wujiang County, he had been encouraging Liu Xiuli to attack him. However, Liu Xiuli had his own considerations. What he wanted was wealth and power, rather than sacrificing himself to contribute to others. How could he agree? That is, he was convinced that his family had already It attracted the attention of King Yan, who had no choice but to make a desperate move.
Liu Xiuli's original plan was to let the water bandits do the dirty work, and then he would publicly kill the water bandits to avenge King Yan. This would not only eliminate hidden dangers, but he might also get some credit.
If the water pirates are ineffective, then they can send out their own troops and work together to capture Wujiang, and then massacre the city. If the operation is done well, the blame can also be placed on the water pirates.
Who the hell knew that the battle had already ended under the city before he arrived. Five thousand water bandits either died or fled, which was equivalent to the annihilation of the entire army. This was really outrageous.
Now that things have happened, the Liu family has no way out. Da Song cannot stay any longer and can only run away to save his life.
However, Liu Xiuli had different ideas from his father. He didn't want to go to some bird country, but if he wanted to go to Beitou, he would naturally have to bring a substantial meeting gift.
Coupled with Cui Jianzhang's instigation, he decided to catch or kill King Yan at all costs.
"Brother Jianzhang, do you think King Yan has escaped?"
Cui Jianzhang shook his head,
He vowed, "I can guarantee he didn't escape."
"Why are you so sure? Why didn't he escape when he had enough time?"
"From his previous actions, we know that this person is extremely confident and arrogant, and he likes to take risks. Since he can defeat five thousand water pirates, he will definitely not take thousands of your soldiers and horses seriously. After all, the Song Dynasty is The impotence of the Custodes is well known."
Liu Xiuli smiled sinisterly, "Haha, it's best this way. When he sees the fighting power of my men, it will be too late to regret it."
He had long regarded his troops as capital. Others relied on their troops to make a fortune, but he secretly used the Liu family's money to invest in it, even several times the military expenditure allocated by the court.
After five years of operation, the 11th Commander of Xiongjie, who is directly under him, is not only fully staffed, but also fully equipped with weapons and equipment. The training is also extremely strict, and it has a very strong combat effectiveness.
At this time, a vehicle and ship docked at Liu Xiuli's building. Liu Xiuren hurried across the boat and came to the upper level of the building and asked, "Why do you take action without consulting me about such a big matter!?"
"There is no need to delay, and I have also discussed it with my father..."
After Liu Xiuyi explained in detail, he added, "It's useless to talk about anything else now. Wei Zhen Weitang and the others have already taken a step ahead and can go to sea at noon tomorrow. In addition, I have informed my father that we should be preparing for the evacuation of the whole family at this time. You Go home and go to sea with your father."
Liu Xiuren was helpless after hearing this, but he still didn't understand Liu Xiuyi's behavior, "Then what's the use of killing King Yan now!? Your attack on Wujiang is just a waste of time. It's better to just go down Wusongjiang and get out of danger as soon as possible. .”
"Our family left such a large piece of property behind and fled in panic. We have lost too much. We have to take something else with us..." Liu Xiuyi had no choice but to reveal his plans again.
Liu Xiuren thought for a while and nodded, "What you said makes sense. It would be difficult to get these soldiers to follow us to a foreign country. Rather than abandon them in vain, it is better to put them to use and not waste so much money on our family." Money and food. By the way, how many soldiers did you bring out this time?"
"Four thousand, hey, it's said to raise an army for a thousand days, but to use it for a while." Liu Xiuyi said proudly.
Liu Xiuren was surprised, "Four thousand? How can Li Zhizhou agree? He has connections."
Officials from top to bottom in Anji Prefecture are well fed by the Liu family's money, but when it comes to military affairs, they certainly dare not go too far.
Liu Xiuyi said, "Because the children of Li Zhizhou and Xiao Tongpan were unfortunately kidnapped by water bandits when they were playing by the lake in a boat. Do you think they can take it easy? If I take less of them, I'm afraid they will still be kidnapped." I don’t want to. It’s thanks to Brother Jianzhang’s plan that we came up with this clever plan.”
Liu Xiuren didn't know Cui Jianzhang's true identity at first, but now he looked at him with admiration. He bowed and said, "Sir, you are so resourceful and resourceful. I would be disrespectful to you. From now on, my Liu family will have to rely on you a lot. Please don't give up on me."
Cui Jianzhang returned the courtesy and said coyly, "Prefect Liu is so polite. In the future, we will be ministers in the same palace and we should take care of each other. If we successfully capture and kill King Yan and go to the north with this great achievement, the Liu family's power will definitely be much higher than mine. When we arrive, At that time, Choi will still have to rely on Brother Xian’s support.”
"Haha, thanks to your good words, the Liu family will never forget the kindness of your introduction!" Liu Xiuren seemed to have gone away from all his worries at this time, and began to look forward to a bright future.
Liu Xiuyi glanced at the shore and saw that most of the soldiers had already boarded. "Let's go ashore first. I want to see how powerful this King Yan is and whether he can turn the small Wujiang River into an iron wall."
After landing, they walked south along the lake embankment, and then saw the scene of hell on earth under the west city wall.
Liu Xiuyi originally thought that the water pirates were too useless and it was not surprising that they could not capture Wujiang. They probably broke up and fled after suffering losses.
But on the battlefield in front of us, there are probably no less than three thousand corpses, which is really horrifying!
This meant that the fighting power of the defenders exceeded his expectation by more than ten times, so the faces of several people became ugly.
Cui Jianzhang's eyes were full of disbelief, "Looking at this situation, there are definitely more than 300 troops in the city, and they dare to go out of the city to fight back." Junqu Pavilion
"I'm afraid this city won't be easy to defeat. We have to plan carefully." Liu Xiuren also looked solemn.
Liu Xiuyi, an old soldier, could naturally see some clues from the battlefield situation, and he also had a new assessment of the strength of the defenders.
Immediately, he sent troops to all four directions of Wujiang City, first surrounded the city, and ordered to speed up the unloading and assembly of siege equipment.
He came well prepared, and the regular army would not just use human lives to attack the city. He couldn't transport the complicated and heavy rams and ladders, but he still had bed ballistas and stone cannons.
Soon after, two soldiers escorted a man in a state of embarrassment to Liu Xiuyi.
"Fang Tang? You are still alive. Where is Xuanhe!?"
"I'm afraid that Commander Xuantong will be in bad luck..."
Fang Tang ran one step ahead of Xuan He, and cleverly hid in the darkness, successfully escaping Chang Geng's pursuit. Originally, he wanted to run away, but thinking that his family was still in the hands of the Liu family, he hid in On the ship, they waited until Liu Xiuli's army landed before they dared to show up.
Afterwards, he told the story of the previous war in full, which made Liu Xiuli and others feel more and more headaches.
"A firearm sharper than the Sky Thunder? Fenghua Army? King Yan personally led the troops to counterattack?"
Each piece of news made Liu Xiuli frown more and more, and then he ordered the soldiers to dismantle the water pirate ships and use them to make large shields and platoon vehicles.
Considering that attacking the city at night would be more detrimental to our side, and there was only more than an hour before dawn, we decided to simply wait until dawn before launching the attack.
Zhao Mengqi, who was at the top of the city, watched the movements of the rebels and gradually became aware of Liu Xiuli's intentions, so he arranged for some people to be on guard duty while the rest rested in place. He himself did not enter the city tower, but took off his pocket and leaned against the wall. He sat down and closed his eyes.
