Along the direction of Bianshui River, more than 20,000 troops followed the gradually biting north wind and calmly moved southward, with flags fluttering and advancing by land and water. When Liu Chengyou went south this time, in addition to bringing supplementary military strength, he also brought a large amount of military supplies, especially siege weapons such as carts, kerosene bombs, and crossbows. He used more than fifty ships to transport them, intending to take advantage of the opportunity. During the period before the Huai River freezes, try to allocate supplies as much as possible.
Not many civilians in Huaibei were recruited this time, because for the Huainan War, more than 60,000 people had been recruited in the Central Plains to serve in the front and rear areas. Although the people's power was enough to support them, the cost was too high for the imperial court. Especially when there is a way to save time, effort and money.
According to the suggestions of ministers and with Liu Chengyou's permission, it was planned to recruit civilian men from Huainan to supply the army for the subsequent war. This was a direct plan to use Huainan's war potential, and it was also a matter of ebb and flow.
Although the Northern Han army was strictly ordered not to steal, loot, burn, kill, or rape, the recruitment of corvees was a normal rule behavior. After all, it was a conquest by force, so how could there be so much gentleness, courtesy, and frugality? It is inevitable that the people of Huainan would be traumatized by the war!
There is a dragon boat on the Bian River. Liu Chengyou is in the army. He takes one day in the boat and one day in the carriage. But in comparison, he still likes riding in a car. Compared with the ups and downs on the water, he feels more at ease on land.
Although he was in the midst of a large army, to prevent unexpected events, the Emperor's chariot was still equipped with three vehicles, with a distance of twenty feet between the front and rear. Liu Chengyou would take one of them every time he landed.
The Luanjia is very spacious and comfortably furnished, and can accommodate Liu Chengyou to study, manage politics, discuss the army, sleep, and even...
The virtuous concubine took over the lady, and now she was waiting in the carriage, accompanying Liu Chengyou. It was still warm in the car, so he took off his thick fur robe, leaving only two pieces of regular clothes, which were tight around his body and outlined his graceful figure.
Accompanying Liu Chengyou on the expedition, Lady Zhe was not overjoyed by the emperor's favor and love. Instead, she was excited about being able to leave the palace and witness the war. She is also a tiger girl, but compared to the noble concubine Gao, the "wildness" in Lady Zhe seems to be stronger and purer. Of course, if the young lady turns into a beautiful lady and quietly caress for her husband and raises her children, she can withstand loneliness. This is why Liu Chengyou likes her even more after getting to know her.
The strong wheels carry the heavy body, and there are constant bumps during the journey. Although the road traffic in the Central Plains has improved in recent years, it is only an improvement. As for the Huainan strategy, the imperial court's transportation reforms for the Central Plains states were basically concentrated on a few water transport trunk roads. With the imperial court's original weak financial resources, it could only barely make basic investments in river channels.
As for the official land routes, only local states and counties responded to the imperial court's call and repaired roads and ditches when farming was slack and there was a little food stored in the warehouses.
Therefore, he almost collapsed in the car. The bumpy road while driving caused continuous bumps that made him drowsy. This is still official, the situation is so bad, let alone other things.
That is to say, there has been no rain recently. Otherwise, the road will be muddy and the army will go south, which will cause more trouble.
His body was swaying, and Liu Chengyou couldn't help but said to Lady Zhe beside him: "When I free my hands, I will repair the roads in the country. How can the world be rich if the roads are impassable and uneven?"
Liu Chengyou has said similar words many times, but due to limitations of national power, he has basically stopped talking. In this regard, Liu Chengyou is like a king with a strong mouth.
Hearing this, Mrs. Zhe couldn't help but smile, handed over a winter date, and said to Liu Chengyou: "Officials have their own ambitions, but as you said on weekdays, the food must be eaten one bite at a time, and the road must be walked step by step. There is no need to rush. .”
"Am I in a hurry? I'm never in a hurry!" Seeing the young lady admonishing him with her own "quotes", Liu Chengyou hesitated slightly and bit the beauty's hand.
After chewing the dates, which were very crisp and sweet, Liu Chengyou raised his eyes and looked at Madam Zhe, who was charming and graceful. He held her in his arms and said, "I'm not in a hurry for anything else, but I need to be anxious at this moment!"
After saying that, he was trying to show off his verbal and physical desires on Lady Zhe. Although the young lady was ashamed, she just greeted her with a blushing face...
Of course, Liu Chengyou was only aroused temporarily and soon let go of the panting Lady Zhe.
He stretched out his hand to slightly open the curtains and looked out towards Luan Jia. Guarding closely in front of the emperor were the soldiers of Fengchen camp, all of them tall and powerful. Outside Fengchen camp, the cavalry army was commanded by Han Tong, who was deployed in the camp capital and took charge of the affairs in front of the camp.
The cold wind in the air rushed in, lowering the temperature and dissipating the charming atmosphere inside Luan Jia. After feeling for a while, Liu Chengyou immediately ordered Zhang Dejun who was driving outside: "Zhang Dejun, pass on Tao Valley!"
"yes!"
Soon, Tao Sheren, who had made two trips to the Tang Dynasty and was familiar with the national conditions of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Fortunately, he was named to accompany him. He caught up from behind and rode a horse, hurriedly and panting.
There were foreign ministers around, so the lady inside the car tidied up her messy clothes early and put on a robe.
"I wonder what your Majesty's orders are?" Tao Gu asked.
"The weather is very cold, and it will only get colder in the future. We plan to send it back to Tokyo with more quilts, shoes, socks, gloves, and coal and charcoal to keep out the cold. The soldiers are exposed to frost, wind, ice and snow, and are preparing for When the country is fighting, we must try to ensure that they suffer less from the cold!" Liu Chengyou gave direct orders.
"Yes!" Upon hearing this, Tao Gu responded quickly.
"The officials are so considerate of their subordinates. How can the officers and soldiers not be kind-hearted and try their best to die when they hear this?" Lady Zhe, who was standing by, couldn't help but sigh.
"I just did what I had to do. The soldiers left their hometowns, separated their flesh and blood, their lives were intertwined, and they shed blood for the country. How could I not treat them kindly!" Liu Chengyou said with some emotion, but a wry smile soon appeared on his face: "It's just not Knowing how long the national treasury can sustain, the ministers in Tokyo and the staff of the Third Division are anxious to grow old again..."
"Where are you?" Liu Cheng calmed down and asked outside.
"Back to Guan's house, we still have more than 20 miles to go to Yongcheng. After Yongcheng, we will reach Suzhou!" Zhang Dejun did his homework and replied in time.
Liu Chengyou looked at the sky, the sun was setting in the west, it was still early, and said: "Send the order, we will camp in Yongcheng tonight, and set out for Suzhou tomorrow morning. Local officials do not need to greet us!"
"yes!"
After Shenshi, the army arrived at Yongcheng and camped on the left side of the city. The navy carried the baggage and attacked Fuli first.
Liu Chengyou personally visited the Longqi Army and was warmly cheered by the soldiers. After all, it was an army that was founded. No matter when, with this relationship, Liu Chengyou was a trustworthy army. Liu Chengyou has always been kind to the Longqi Army.
Back at the imperial tent, Liu Chengyou was about to check if there was any latest news from the front line, when he received a piece of good news. Guo Rongzou went to camp, and on the 24th, he captured Zhongli, Haozhou, and captured He Yanxi, the warden of the puppet Tang Dynasty. He killed 751 enemies, captured 1,230 prisoners, and captured 70 warships. Guo Tingwei, the regiment training envoy of Haozhou in the Tang Dynasty, led the remaining troops of Haozhou Navy to the east and went to Sizhou.
Liu Chengyou was overjoyed when he heard the report and came to the envoy to report the details of the battle. It turned out that the Tang army in Haosi made a sudden move, and the Haozhou army moved westward to threaten the mouth of the river. On the order of the imperial court, Guo Rong led Xu Yi's army to march westward to monitor Haosi's army, defend the canal, and coordinate the rear.
At this time, it happened that Zhao Kuangyin took the initiative to attack at the mouth of the vortex and won a great victory. Haozhou's troops and horses suffered heavy losses and almost no combat power remained.
At that time, Guo Rongzheng led his army to inspect Linhuai. When he heard about the battle at Wukou, he immediately became interested and left Xuzhou Jiedu deputy envoy Cheng Deqin to patrol between Huaisu. He and Yizhou regiment training envoy Chen Sirang unified the six thousand army. Heading west, after crossing the Huan River, we headed south towards Zhongli, hoping to take advantage of the heavy losses in Haozhou to seize this important place in the shadow of the Huai River.
Guo Tingwei and He Yanxi quickly retreated to Haozhou, but they failed to allow Guo Rong to take advantage of the opportunity. After understanding the enemy's situation, Guo Rong discussed with Chen Sirang, the training envoy of the Yizhou regiment, and led three battalions of soldiers to Chen Sirang to find shallow water to cross the Huaihe River at night and go around to behind Zhongli. After the Battle of Wukou, the Haozhou navy suffered serious losses and the monitoring of the Huai River was greatly reduced.
After Chen Sirang successfully crossed the river, Guo Rong led most of his troops to pretend to move in the Huaiyang area northeast of Zhongli. This move immediately attracted the attention of the Haozhou defenders. Afterwards, Guo Rong wove bamboo rafts, gathered boats, built momentum, and made a gesture of crossing the river. Even though he hesitated, he still did not dare to be cautious and personally led two thousand boatmen to intercept.
Originally, the purpose of Guo Rong and Chen Sirang was to mobilize the Haozhou army to annihilate and eliminate their effective strength. But Chen Sirang was in the south and learned that Guo Tingwei was leading his army and He Yanxi was guarding Zhongli alone, so he decisively raided the city.
Sure enough, He Yanxi was unprepared. He defended the east and west, but failed to defend the south. Chen Sirang led his army, broke the city with one blow, occupied the state government office, and captured He Yanxi alive before he could react. Not stopping after that, Chen Sirang led the army and took advantage of the situation to attack Zhongli Water Village and capture all its camps and boats.
What happened next was a matter of course. After learning of the changes in the rear, Guo Tingwei had no choice but to lead the remaining naval forces in his hands, eastward to Sizhou, and join the Sizhou regiment training envoy Feng Yanlu.
After learning the details of the battle report, Liu Chengyou was in an extremely happy mood and said with emotion: "Zhao Kuangyin won the battle at Wukou, and Guo Rong gave me another surprise at Zhongli."
"I think the key to these two battles is He Yanxi, the military commander. This man is really a blessed general in our dynasty!" As he said this, Liu Chengyou couldn't help but tease.
Wang Zhu, who was accompanying him, was also smiling and congratulated Liu Chengyou: "Good news comes frequently. Our army has won consecutive battles and conquered cities and territories. The Huainan prefectures are about to be conquered soon!"
