The sun is shining brightly and the music is loud.
Today's Luzhou City feels like celebrating the New Year, with every household decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, and men, women, old and young pouring into the streets. Bakers sellers, tricksters, meat and fish sellers, wine sellers and tea sellers, all kinds of merchants are shouting and shouting one after another. Several streets in Luzhou are a lively and joyful scene.
The reason why people are so happy is because of three big things.
The first one was the official approval from the imperial court, which exempted the people in Luzhou and Chuzhou from paying taxes for two years.
Because the Zhenjiang Army came to the Central Plains to fight the rebellion and did not rely on the imperial court for food and salary supplies. It had won many battles and made many military exploits before, so the imperial court originally planned to give it material rewards to comfort the soldiers. After discussion with Li Jiangyao, Xu Youchang and others, they hoped to benefit the people and convert the gold and silver materials awarded to the Zhenjiang Army into taxes in the place where they were stationed, and exempt them from taxes.
Li Bing weighed it repeatedly and finally agreed to their proposal.
The second major event was the formal establishment of the Silk Road Chamber of Commerce in Luzhou and Zhenjiang Military Government.
Before Xie Tanzhi returned to the Ghost Desert of Western Xinjiang, he deliberately met and discussed with the leaders of several major local guilds, and jointly agreed to establish the Silk Road Chamber of Commerce to sell goods from Luzhou and surrounding counties to Western Xinjiang or the further west continent. . At the same time, materials from the west were also transported to the river through the overall coordination and dispatch of the Chamber of Commerce.
This is a huge and long-term trade activity that is bound to bring considerable profits to the local area and is expected to turn Luzhou into an important commercial center in the Central Plains. It is naturally welcomed by merchants, handicraftsmen and farmers.
The last thing is related to war.
The soldiers and horses in Xinjiang, whether it is the army or the navy, have won great victories recently. Not only the court is happy, but the people also see hope.
Many young people, either determined to serve the country, eager to make contributions to the Holy Tang Dynasty, or sincerely admired Li Jiangyao and the Zhenjiang Army, asked to sign up to join and fight against the rebels.
Li Jiangyao thought about it for a long time, and finally, with the support of Xu Youchang and others, nodded and agreed to recruit local young people to join the army to make up for the losses of soldiers in previous battles.
Today, the opening of the Chamber of Commerce and the review of recruits coincided with the good news of tax reduction and exemption. No wonder the entire Luzhou City was bustling with excitement.
Early in the morning, Li Jiangyao went to the school military field and met with the first batch of more than 3,200 Luzhou recruits. There, he told everyone about the ups and downs of the Zhenjiang Army from scratch, from weak to strong, about the tragic heroic spirit of the Zhenjiang soldiers who shed blood on the battlefield to protect their homeland and country, and also about the reasons for the current crusade against the rebels. and the belief in victory.
Finally, he encouraged the young warriors to train hard and fight bravely to put down the rebellion as soon as possible and create a peaceful and prosperous world for Shengtang.
The three thousand Luzhou disciples were excited and shouted, vowing to follow the Protector and wipe out the south!
After leaving the school military field, Li Jiangyao rushed to the Chamber of Commerce without stopping, met with leading figures in the local business community, and personally presided over the opening ceremony of the Xijiang Silk Road Chamber of Commerce. In order to express their gratitude to the Zhenjiang Military Government, the big bosses of various industries in Luzhou jointly decided to use a large sum of gold and silver as military supplies to reward the meritorious soldiers on behalf of the local people.
Starting from Luzhou and Yangzhou in the east to Chechi and Shule in the west, an important commercial and trade link connecting the two continents was officially opened in a warm and festive atmosphere.
In the following decades or hundreds of years, Luzhou, as the base camp of the Xinjiang Army in the Central Plains, has been carrying the mission of connecting China and the West, and has become a far-reaching and important commercial city of the Holy Tang Dynasty.
Of course, these are all things for later. In addition to doing business in the Western Continent, Luzhou now also has to shoulder the important mission of counterinsurgency.
The addition of new soldiers is certainly meaningful, but more importantly, the original troops of the Zhenjiang Army are actively preparing for war. Six corps of the Army, plus one corps of the Navy, nearly 400,000 soldiers in Xinjiang were training hard day and night, ready to launch a fierce attack on the other side at any time.
In particular, the 600 new warships just collected greatly expanded the overall strength of the Kunpeng fleet, giving Nie Xianzang, Luo Yuan and others more confidence to face Bao Yuchun.
According to the development of the situation, Xu Youchang also suggested to Li Jiangyao at this time that he could consider launching a comprehensive battle for control of the river with the rebels.
For this reason, Li Jiangyao specially sent someone to ask Yang Li and Wang Wenlie to come to Luzhou secretly to discuss the decisive battle on the water with Nie Xianzang and others.
"Currently, our main warships are distributed in the Yiling area upstream and the Wuwei area downstream, totaling about 1,500 ships," Nie Xianzang said: "Compared to the rebels in terms of military strength, although there is still a gap, But we are ready to fight.”
Yang Li nodded: "Uncle and nephew Bao Yuchun attacked Yiling before, damaging more than 300 warships of our army, and his own losses were also considerable. According to the latest information, the total combat strength of the enemy fleet has dropped to more than 2,600 ships, the gap between the two sides is gradually narrowing.”
Li Jiangyao said with a smile: "In a war, it depends not only on the number of troops, but also on the situation, resources and morale. You are experts in water warfare. Please give us an analysis from these aspects."
Nie Xianzang accepted the offer and continued: "As I said just now, the distribution of the enemy and ourselves on the river is that our army is located at both ends of the upstream and downstream, while Bao Yuchun occupies the middle section. Specifically, from Jingxiang, The total length from Yueyang to Jingkou and Jiangyin is about 3,400 miles, and there are 37 important water fortresses in total."
"With more than two thousand warships, it is unrealistic to completely block such a long waterway. Therefore, Bao Yuchun can only adopt node defense and mobile interception. Wherever our troops carry out cross-river landings, he immediately mobilizes Nearby ships are heading to the crossing area to block the attack."
"The best way for us to crack the enemy's strategy is to destroy 50 to 70 percent of the rebel warships through one or two large-scale battles, so that they are no longer able to implement multiple mobile defenses."
Wang Wenlie added: "In terms of resources and morale, both sides have their own advantages. The north has many soldiers, generals, and abundant food and grass, but the shipbuilding workshops are mostly concentrated along the river, and many of them were destroyed by the rebels before. Therefore, the shipbuilding capacity Significantly reduced. The southern shipyards have a large number and can be replenished faster, but their morale is relatively low and not as high as our fighting spirit. Therefore, I agree with Xu Shuai’s idea. It is better to start the battle early. If it is delayed, the enemy will fight There will be more boats soon."
Yang Li also analyzed: "From the perspective of combat experience and combat capabilities, at the beginning, the enemy was based on Shengtang's Kuohai Navy. Almost all of them were veterans who had followed Bao Yuchun for many years, and they had very strong combat capabilities. But As time went by, we continued to consume a lot of their troops, and the proportion of veterans in Kuohai decreased rapidly, becoming mainly recruits recruited from the south. The overall level, the two sides are currently almost equal, which is why the rebel fleet later One of the main reasons why he becomes weaker the more he fights.”
Li Jiangyao nodded slightly: "If you want to start a battle with the enemy, what form or method should be adopted? And where should the battle be conducted? You should feel free to speak freely."
Yang Li responded: "General Nie already discussed this matter with me yesterday, and we have basically reached a consensus. Please ask him to introduce it to you adults."
Nie Xianzang nodded: "Deputy Governor Yang is polite. In fact, many good ideas are his idea. I am humbled by my position and want to introduce others. Let me talk about them in general first."
As he spoke, he stood up, pointed at the map and said: "The strategy we discussed is called to contain the upper and lower forces, and to disturb the west and advance eastward. The Yiling fleet took the lead and asked the Suzaku Legion on the Jingxiang defense line to cooperate to create a large-scale crossing. Jiang's illusion attracted rebel warships from the Yueyang area to intercept them, maximizing the containment of the enemy and reducing the deployment of troops on the downstream battlefield."
"Ten to fifteen days after the operation started upstream, the Zhenjiang Army began to assemble in the Yangzhou area. It also created a situation where the main force would cross the river on a large scale, prompting the enemies on the Jinling, Jingkou, and Jiangyin lines to gather nervously."
Yang Li added: "This waterway is closest to Hangzhou, the base of the rebels, so the enemy will be more concerned about it. The number of warships will far exceed the battlefield upstream."
Nie Xianzang nodded and continued: "This is exactly what we hope for. The purpose of the so-called battle is to destroy the enemy's main fleet in one fell swoop."
Xu Youchang asked with concern: "How many warships do you expect the enemy to invest here?"
"According to intelligence judgment, excluding those enemy ships that were attracted by the Yiling fleet, there are probably between 1,300 and 2,000 ships in the downstream area." Nie Xianzang replied: "With such a force scale, we are confident of winning the battle. .”
"Where are you going to fight?" Li Jiangyao asked.
Nie Xianzang pointed to the map confidently: "This is the Jingkou Passage."
Li Jiangyao asked: "Why did you choose this place? Tell me why."
"Reporting to the Protector-General, I am considering starting a battle with Bao Yuchun here for two main reasons," Nie Xianzang responded loudly: "First, when our Kunpeng Tenth Army was first formed, its main scope of activities was in Jingkou. This area. The soldiers are very familiar with the hydrology, landforms, wind direction, and tides here, which is beneficial to combat."
Luo Yuan couldn't help laughing and said: "The first time I hit the autumn wind, I robbed Laobao of hundreds of boats, wasn't it just in Jingkou?"
Nie Xianzang also smiled and nodded, and continued: "Secondly, the river surface of the Jingkou Channel is very wide, and there are many river estuaries on both the south and north banks, which is convenient for hiding warships. As long as we make deployment preparations in advance, once a fight breaks out , our flywheel ships can be shot out everywhere, catching the enemy off guard."
Wang Wenlie stood up at this time and said: "Not only that, I think there is another favorable factor. Ten miles upstream and downstream of the Jingkou channel, there is a huge river center island, which is stuck at both ends of the water channel, forming an envelope for the river. If we can control these two islands during the battle, we will shut down the enemy ships that enter the Jingkou channel, and no one will be able to escape."
Li Jiangyao looked at the map carefully and couldn't help but praise: "Very good! I agree with your idea. Let's target Jingkou and have a battle with Bao Yuchun to see who is the king of the Shengtang water battle!"
