Outside Nanhai City, at the gate of the Chu army's camp.
Lan Cai'er led a group of high-level generals, and Qing Yunzi, as the local host, personally opened the camp gate and led Li Xiong and other East Route Army generals to greet them.
"Haha, I've been wasting my time in Nanhai City for a long time, but I couldn't do anything with this turtle shell. Today the queen led her army to help. With this help, I finally feel confident."
After waiting for a moment at the door, a luan chariot came slowly from afar. Seeing this, Qingyunzi quickly stepped forward and saluted.
Although he is a clone of Lu Yuan, which can essentially be regarded as one person and two bodies, in the eyes of outsiders, Qing Yunzi is an independent immortal cultivator and has no deep connection with Lu Yuan except the master-slave relationship.
The same is true for Lu Yuan's external propaganda, only mentioning Qingyunzi and Huang Xuan as monks who were lucky enough to have the opportunity of their predecessors. They practiced hard in the mountains for decades and achieved success.
Then he fell into the lack of spiritual energy in heaven and earth. It was difficult to make any progress in this life, and the avenue was exhausted.
So he came up with the idea of coming out of the mortal world to find wealth and live in peace.
As for why there are so many great countries in the world, why are they looking for Chu?
Naturally, it was because the King of Chu, Lu Yuan, was also a monk and had the same status as the two of them, so they had more words in common.
Regardless of whether others believe this external excuse, Lu Yuan and the two clones believed it anyway.
Even if others have too many suspicions, facing the three monks, they can only curse in their hearts and never dare to express their beaks externally.
And as time went by, Qingyunzi and Huang Xuan were separated by Lu Yuan's spiritual thoughts, which was essentially equivalent to another split soul.
In addition to some flaws in his temperament, his outward appearance is that he is emotionally indifferent and has a somewhat withdrawn personality.
This is more in line with their status as ascetic monks.
Therefore, no one has been able to discover the truth that they are Lu Yuan's clones for decades.
At this point, even Lan Cai'er, Lu Yuan's personal person, has been kept in the dark and does not know the truth.
"Where, where, Zhenren Qingyunzi is an expert in the immortal way, and his Taoism is mysterious. Ningren and Nanhai Kingdom can only rely on a temporary large number of soldiers to be trapped in this city.
With real people's ability, given time, we will definitely find a way to defeat the thief.
Now that I have led my people here, I have the intention of seizing the master's bow. I hope the master will forgive me. "
Lan Cai'er showed great importance and respect for Qing Yunzi, the real protector of the country.
Regarding the arrival of the great catastrophe of heaven and earth, and the plan of the Jiuzhou Immortal Sect to ascend to the world, now among all the countries in the Kyushu, all the hegemons that have connections with the Immortal Sect have basically learned about this news.
After Lu Yuan got the support of Feishuang Dao, he did not hide the news, but informed the innate masters in the country.
As a queen, Lan Cai'er certainly knew the inside story.
Therefore, she certainly respects those real people like Qingyunzi who can give up the chance of ascension and choose to stay in Chu country to support their husbands.
After all, apart from my husband, this is one of the few immortal cultivators in the entire Kyushu.
If you count the whole world, you may not be able to count them more than you can count on both hands.
For such a rare talent, the amount of treatment is naturally not comparable to that of ordinary innate masters.
Not to mention, with Qingyunzi's strength and status comparable to those of the second level Xiantian, he is naturally much higher than the average first level grandmaster.
Lan Cai'er knows this, and so do the innate masters behind her.
Especially Han Liang, who was born in an immortal sect, naturally has a sense of awe and respect for a real monk like Qingyunzi.
Only those who are born in the immortal sect can find out how much a monk weighs.
It was a person who could directly kill an innate master with just one spell, a truly high-end combat power.
Of course, with the current situation of depletion of spiritual energy in the world, a wild cultivator like Qing Yunzi who has no heel will lose one point of mana every time he uses up his foundation, and after it is used up, it can no longer be made up for.
Therefore, for such casual cultivators, the mana in the body is limited, and the spells cannot be used unless they can be used. It is a top-notch deterrent that is not revealed, and is not a conventional combat power.
Therefore, although Qingyunzi, who possesses magic, has the strength of the second innate realm, he cannot use it often, or even avoid using it.
His regular combat power is the same as that of Huang Xuan, another real protector of the country. He is incredibly powerful and can rival the innate master's body refining techniques.
The common method used by the two guardians of the country to the outside world is the indestructible body refining technique. With this method, they are enough to compete with ordinary innate masters.
If you also include the spells that may be used at any time, even if you encounter someone who is in the second realm of Xiantian, you will still be extremely fearful and do not dare to provoke him casually.
As for the Grandmaster of the first level of Xiantian, when facing an enemy, knowing that the opponent is an enemy who can release a spell to kill him instantly at any time, his morale will naturally be lowered.
It is inevitable to be timid during a fight, and always be ready with means to save your life or escape. If you are restrained, you will certainly not be able to defeat these two clones.
Therefore, in the eyes of outsiders, the two real protectors of the Chu State were second-level masters with conventional innate combat power, but with short-lasting and highly lethal means.
Enough to be afraid, but not too afraid.
That's why.
During the siege of the city, Qingyunzi and Li Xiong actually took the lead in attacking the city several times in order to forcefully break through the defenses.
But Shangguan Ming, the commander of the Ning army in the city, came out to stop him at critical moments every time.
He did not forcefully fight Qingyunzi, but only used restraint and delay, leaving room for escape at any time, obviously to guard against Qingyunzi's spells.
In this situation where the enemy is on full alert, even though Qing Yunzi is a sword cultivator who is good at fighting, he has solidified the talisman sword skills in his body.
But even though entry-level spells like Talisman Sword Technique are incredibly powerful, if they can't hit the vital point with one blow, they won't be able to instantly kill an innate master.
With Shangguan Ming on guard, it was quite difficult for Qing Yunzi to use his magic to kill this person cleanly.
If the opponent is allowed to dodge a sneak attack, although it is not impossible to kill him by force, what needs to be used at that time is not a small spell, but maybe two, three, four or five.
Nowadays, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is scarce, and Lu Yuan doesn't have much mana to supply clones, so naturally he can save whatever he can.
In his view, spending too much mana for a mere first-level innate master is obviously not worth the gain.
After all, if you want to kill the innate master, there are too many ways to choose from, so there is no need to use precious spells.
That's it.
After Qingyunzi's clone contacted Lu Yuan's real body and conveyed the dilemma he was facing.
Lu Yuan sent a message to Lan Cai'er, asking her West Route Army, which was stronger and had an advantage over the enemy, to quickly deal with Su Xuange in Yulin City, and then lead the troops to Nanhai City for support.
This was also the reason why Lan Cai'er suddenly gathered some troops and issued an order to attack Yulin City some time ago. Lu Yuan intervened behind the scenes.
Although he is remotely controlling the battle situation thousands of miles away, he is suspected of being a micro-manipulation master.
But fortunately, Lu Yuan's judgment was correct.
With the Western Route Army having four times the innate strength of the enemy and seven times the strength of the enemy's troops, even if Su Xuange were to guard the isolated city, he would never be a match for Lan Cai'er and the others.
It is obviously the best choice at the moment to deal with the weakest enemy on this road first, then mobilize superior forces, and then deal with Nanhai City.
Now that the Su Kingdom has been overthrown, as long as the Nanhai Kingdom is attacked and destroyed, the Chu Kingdom's southern expedition can be regarded as initially achieving its goal and capturing the initial Lingnan territory.
Yes, the term Lingnan originally referred to Nanhai and Yulin counties during the Qianyue period.
As for the current Jiuzhen County of the Song Dynasty, in terms of geographical division, it does not actually belong to the Lingnan region. Instead, it is closer to the South China Sea islands and the southern rain forests. At the same time, it intersects with the mountainous areas where the southwest barbarians are located.
Generally speaking, it belongs to the intersection of Lingnan, Southwest, Nanhai, and Rainforest.
It doesn't matter where you put it.
The reason why it is now divided into the Lingnan area is because the Yue Kingdom attacked and destroyed the Jinghai Kingdom. For the sake of convenience and name recognition, it was classified as Lingnan.
If Lu Yuan had not deliberately pursued perfection and chosen to be content and contented, he would have chosen to withdraw his troops directly after conquering the Nanhai Kingdom, and he could have claimed to the outside world that he had annexed Lingnan and achieved a great victory in this southern expedition.
certainly.
Under the current favorable situation, with so many advantages, he certainly would not be stupid and choose to let go of such a fat piece of Song.
With an area of one and a half counties and a population of two million, the Song Dynasty's financial resources were actually quite substantial.
If he could eat it, Lu Yuan would not only be able to gain a lot of luck, but also his cultivation speed would be a few points faster. Chu State can also increase a lot of taxes and raise another hundred thousand soldiers.
With so many benefits, he certainly had no reason to let Song go.
The Song State knew this very well after thinking about it, so after receiving the news of the Soviet Union's demise, Xie Ning started recruiting troops at home.
Directly abandoning the policy of paying equal attention to civil and military affairs and emphasizing long-term sustainable development that we have adhered to over the years.
I learned from Su Xuange's aggressive military tactics and extortionate levies, with the attitude of killing the chicken to get the egg, and would rather die than die.
Anyway, if this battle cannot be won, the Song Dynasty will also die.
No matter how well the base is preserved now, it will only give the enemy an advantage in the end.
Instead of doing this, it is better to fight to the death, and in the end, maybe scare off the enemy and defend the current foundation.
None of these guys who rule the roost in troubled times are easy to deal with. They are all ruthless and determined.
Lu Yuan did not let Lan Cai'er continue to go south after destroying the Su State, and he was also worried that the Song State might be reduced to ruins in a war.
After all, he wanted to annex the Song Dynasty because of the sufficient local population and the wealth accumulated from years of stability.
If this place is destroyed, even if it is annexed in the end, all we will get is ruins.
Not only did Chu get little benefit, but it also had to lose troops and generals. In the end, it spent a lot of energy to recover and wasted money and food.
more importantly.
Under the current situation of the great catastrophe coming to earth, it is impossible for the Chu State to spend too much energy on the development of a borderland like the Song State, which is located in the extreme south of Kyushu and is destined to be the first to suffer when the disaster breaks out.
In other words, Xichuan, Xiangyang, Dongting, etc. have grain-producing plains, are connected by waterways, and are important places for money and grain with prosperous commerce, so Lu Yuan can devote his efforts to developing them.
He would not be able to invest too many resources in other Lingnan counties, southwest areas, and even important towns like Hanzhong, but would only allow them to develop.
After unifying Lingnan, defeating Ning State, and capturing Yangzhou.
All the focus of the Chu State will be placed on the northward march to Zhongzhou, and all resources will also be used for this strategy.
If we want to develop it in the future and invest resources, it will also be the land of Zhongzhou, not Yangzhou.
Zhongzhou is where the future lies.
…
After greeting each other and greeting each other, Qingyunzi brought Lan Caier and others into the camp.
After everyone took their seats in the meeting hall, they naturally started talking about the current situation in Nanhai City.
"In recent days, I have sent troops several times to invite battle, but the Ning army has retreated to its camp, and the Nanhai navy is even more courageless and dare not go out of the city to fight.
Therefore, it is probably impossible to lure them into fighting. "
Qingyunzi introduced the information he had to everyone: "But a few days ago, at Shuizhai Pier outside Nanhai City, a Ning army navy came from the north, with more than a hundred ships and nearly 10,000 people. .
This Ning army navy joined the navy of the Nanhai Kingdom, and its momentum could not help but increase. It directly covered the entire offshore area and controlled the sea routes outside the city.
However, apart from blocking the sea surface, the navies of the two countries did not make any changes. Apart from going out for patrols from time to time, they mostly hid in the docks and water forts. "
Nanhai Kingdom also has a navy, or rather a navy.
As a country close to the sea, the Nanhai Sect was engaged in maritime business when it first started.
It is rumored that the Nanhai Sect has business relationships with many island countries in the South China Sea and as far north as the Liang Kingdom, as well as some barbarian tribes in the rainforest.
To be able to do such a large business, the Nanhai Faction naturally controls a lot of fleets and warships.
When it was still just a Jianghu sect, most of the Nanhai sect, which claimed to have 100,000 disciples at that time, lived on Hai Hai's rice bowl.
In the South China Sea, basically anyone who walks on the sea or gets on a boat will bear the flag of the Nanhai Sect and take the identity of a Nanhai disciple.
This is also the origin of the number of one hundred thousand disciples.
Because he includes the lowest sailors on the ship, all those doing business on the sea can call themselves disciples of the Nanhai sect as long as they identify with the Nanhai sect.
Otherwise, how could the Nanhai Sect, a mere county sect, be able to support one hundred thousand disciples?
It is indispensable to make false claims.
Later, when the Nanhai Faction became a sect and became a country, the original fleets in the sect directly changed their flags and identities, and directly became the navy of the Nanhai Kingdom.
The scale of this navy is not small. Following the foundation of the original Nanhai Sect, it initially formed a scale of 20,000 people. Later, after the expansion of the Nanhai Sect, it now has a navy of 40,000 people.
However, most of these 40,000 sailors are part-time caravans, traveling on the sea all year round, doing business all over the world, and will not be permanently stationed in the South China Sea.
There are only about 10,000 naval troops who really stay in Nanhai Kingdom for a long time.
Now these 10,000 people are combined with the 10,000 naval forces sent by the Ning people. There are a total of 20,000 naval forces and more than 200 ships. Even if the Chu navy cannot be dispatched, it is enough to occupy an absolute advantage on the sea. .
At the very least, the Chu army outside the city has nothing to do with the navies of the two countries who are showing off their power at sea. They can only watch them block the sea waterways.
"Ningren suddenly sent a navy?"
After listening to Qing Yunzi's introduction, Lan Cai'er couldn't help but frown: "Now the war in the Yangtze River is in full swing. The Ningren Navy has been defeated repeatedly and has lost control of the waterway in the Jiangxia battlefield.
The Ning people had a surplus of navy, so instead of sending them to the Jiangxia battlefield to support the front line, they came all the way to the Lingnan border to support the Nanhai Kingdom, which had no water threat. It was really strange.
Could it be that they wanted to pick up Ning Jun and the people from Nanhai State here to escape? "
Lan Cai'er made this guess that was close to reality.
Qingyunzi nodded and agreed with this guess: "Based on the stalls in the city and the intelligence I collected from many sources, it is speculated that the navy sent by the Ning people is indeed planning to evacuate the Ning army in the city at any time.
However, they still wanted to struggle and defend Nanhai City, so they just blocked the sea and kept the waterways open, and did not pick up people directly.
The Nanhai Navy and Ning Army in the city also had this retreat, so even if the situation became increasingly unfavorable, they had no intention of surrendering.
Just because they can leave at any time, they are so stubborn and stubborn to defend this city. "
Qingyunzi said with a slight gritted teeth.
In fact, Ning Ren's plan is not difficult to guess.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see what the intentions of those monks who stayed at the water village dock outside Nanhai City were.
Don't you just plan to pick someone up and run away at any time?
This is also true.
At the beginning, Bai Yi'an had proposed sending a navy to Lingnan to pick up the armies of Nanhai State, Su State, and Song State.
This strategy was naturally improved by Shen Qiu's concept of moderation and eventually changed its appearance.
For example, Shen Qiu's original proposal was to send at least 30,000 naval troops south and recruit a large number of civilian ships from the country, so that the numerous armies and supplies of the Lingnan Three Kingdoms could be transferred.
When they arrived at Shenqiu, they changed to sending 10,000 naval troops southward without recruiting civilian ships. Even after arriving at Nanhai Kingdom, they did not directly evacuate the troops of the two countries in Nanhai City. Go up and watch.
The idea behind this was naturally that Shen Qiu was still obsessed with his strategy of balancing the South China Sea and felt that he had great hope of attacking the Chu State by surprise. By then, he might be able to keep the three Lingnan allies and let them contain the Chu State here.
With this idea, it is naturally impossible to evacuate the troops of Nanhai State and other allies at such a critical moment.
The 10,000 naval troops sent now are just planning to evacuate the remnants of Shangguan Ming's Ning army if the plan really goes wrong.
With the cooperation of the navy of the Nanhai Kingdom, more than 200 warships, and recruiting some civilian ships of the Nanhai Kingdom, it is enough to evacuate the remaining 40,000 Ning troops and part of the Nanhai Navy, and at the same time take away the dignitaries of the Nanhai Kingdom.
In this way, Ning Guo could not only prostitute more than 10,000 navy troops and 20,000 to 30,000 Ning army elites for nothing, but also take away a large amount of Ning Guo's accumulated wealth. Even if Nanhai State was lost, they would not lose.
Even with the South China Sea royal family in hand, it might be possible to attract a group of South China Sea national navy officers who were scattered around the world to do business, and that would make even more money.
In this way, Lingnan will be protected if it wins, and part of the capital will be recovered if it loses.
Shen Qiu's golden mean can be said to be extremely proficient.
