"Da da da", the sound of rapid horse hooves sounded outside Yangzhou City, and the remaining snow on the road was quickly trampled away.
A group of cavalry rushed into Yangzhou City in a wind, rushed along the central galloping road, and finally arrived at the gate of Yangzhou Governor's Mansion.
Li Xuan turned over and dismounted, the red cloak behind him was lifted up directly, and the golden armor collided with a clear sound.
From the two teams on the left and right, dozens of Qianniu Guards and Jinwu Guards stood up and dismounted at the same time.
Li Xuan stood in front of the door, looked sideways at Zhou Qian and Cui Ding, and said, "You two, take all the brothers, go in first, and Bao will accompany me to see Dou Weng."
"Here!" Zhou Qian and Cui Ding immediately bowed and agreed.
Li Xuan packed up her luggage a little, and then hurried towards the Governor's Mansion, followed closely by Su Baotong.
As soon as Li Xuan stepped into the door, he saw Sima Changyu of the Governor's Mansion walking out quickly with a hurried expression.
Seeing Li Xuan, Chang Yu hurriedly stepped forward with a wry smile: "Why did the prince come so quickly? I originally thought that the prince would not arrive until tomorrow?"
"Young Weng Dou has summoned you, how dare you delay." Li Xuan returned the salute to Chang Yu and said with a bright smile: "We have seen Sima for a long time, and seeing Sima in such high spirits today, Xuan knew that in this eastern expedition, the army will definitely win. Return."
"Your Majesty, you are joking. The victory of the Eastern Expedition was all due to the hard work of the soldiers, the concerted efforts of the generals, and a third of luck. The army defeated Silla three times and returned safely." Chang Yu invited Li Xuan into the governor's palace with his hand. He said: "It is unfortunate that the prince has come. The governor has guests at the moment and is unable to greet the prince in person, so he asked the lower official to do it for him..."
Li Xuan waved her hands cheerfully and said: "Sima, there is no need to be so polite. There is also a certain feeling of comradeship between you and me. The Governor's Mansion is no stranger to Xuan... I just don't know who this guest is today?"
Chang Yu laughed very frankly, approached Li Xuan, and whispered: "He is the son of Dengzhou Governor Deng Jiuguang, who was then the captain of Xuanwu of the Dengzhou Navy. It was he who led the troops back east from Silla in the past two days. I just settled in, so I happened to come visit Dou Weng."
"But there is a letter from Governor Deng?" Li Xuan paused slightly and her words were slightly guessing.
Deng Jiuguang was the leader of the eastbound reinforcements, and Dou Xuande must pay attention to his letters.
"It's time for the subsequent armies to return to the Tang Dynasty." Chang Yu explained a few words, then raised his head and said, "Your Majesty, please."
"Yes!" Li Xuan nodded and followed Chang Yu into the lobby of the Governor's Mansion.
"The King of Nanchang is here." Dou Xuande stood up immediately when he saw Li Xuan appearing at the door.
Beside him, a young man with a white-faced scholar look and a green round-neck robe quickly stood up.
Li Xuan took two quick steps, walked to the middle hall, and solemnly raised her hands to Dou Xuande: "My subordinate, Li Xuan, pays homage to Dou Weng!"
"You're welcome, nephew, please take a seat!" Dou Xuande asked Li Xuan to sit down, and then introduced to Li Xuan: "This is Deng Liang, son of Deng Jiuguang, the governor of Dengzhou. He is leading the navy to escort Silla this time. Please invite the criminal envoys and Japanese envoys to return to Yangzhou."
Deng Liang was twenty-four or five years old. Although he was a naval captain, he looked like a scholar. His face was fair and fair, without the color of the wind and frost all year round. His face was respectful, but deep in his eyes, there was always a glimmer of something fascinating. An uneasy light.
"Student Deng Liang, I have met the prince!" Deng Liang said with a very solemn hand, "I have heard for a long time that the prince is very talented in literature and poetry. I wonder if the student is lucky enough to ask for help from the prince?"
student?
Li Xuan stood up, cupped his hands, and then said politely: "Xuan can only get a few things from time to time. As Brother Deng said, just ask for help. If you have time, you and I can learn from each other."
"Thank you so much, Your Majesty." Deng Liang bowed deeply to Li Xuan again before sitting down with Li Xuan at the same time.
Dou Xuande then looked at Li Xuan and said, "How come my wise nephew came so fast and traveled more than 500 miles in one day?"
"Young Master Dou is called, how dare you not be unhappy." Li Xuan smiled sincerely, and then said helplessly: "Good morning if you leave early, good morning if you arrive early. If you are late, who knows what will happen."
Deng Liang on the side was very surprised when he heard this, and couldn't help but ask: "Your Majesty, do you mean that if you go slowly and are delayed on the road, you will be in danger? The land of Wuyue is so rich in resources and treasures, why is it like this?"
Li Xuan looked at Deng Liang with some surprise. He always felt that there was something in Deng Liang's words, but he couldn't hear anything. His eyes flashed and he said solemnly: "Xiao Wang returned to Chang'an from Wuzhou a few months ago. , we were attacked several times along the way, and we only stopped briefly in the big cities of Yangzhou, Xuzhou, and Shendu to get some supplies before heading west immediately."
Deng Liang still frowned and asked with confusion: "Since it is inconvenient along the way, why not send a large army to escort us and destroy the bandits at the same time?"
Li Xuan suddenly raised his eyebrows, what are these words.
Li Xuan looked at Deng Liang cautiously and said at the same time: "Brother Deng doesn't know. Whether it's Yangzhou or the Wuyue states, unless the imperial court has a decree and soldiers are mobilized across states, there needs to be a decree from the central government or the palace, otherwise it will be a conspiracy." Rebellion, and the number of rebels is never small."
Deng Liang's father, Deng Jiuguang, was the governor of Dengzhou. In the early years, the Dengzhou navy was dispatched on a large scale during the imperialist expeditions against New Baekje, Goryeo and Silla. In fact, the Dengzhou navy was the number one navy in the Tang Dynasty.
Several nearby states are within the jurisdiction of the Dengzhou Dudufu, and their rights are far more important than those of Wuzhou and Yuezhou.
It is impossible that Deng Liang did not know the rules for mobilizing soldiers. It is just that for many years, he acted unscrupulously between Dengzhou and the nearby states, and the nearby states did not care, so he intentionally or unintentionally ignored this rule.
But in other states in the mainland, there is no such custom.
If he really messes around, someone will immediately put a label of rebellion on his head.
Seeing Deng Liang's silence, Li Xuan's heart flashed with amusement, but also with a hint of vigilance.
Deng Liang could say such words, and his unscrupulousness in Dengzhou had already left a faint impression on Li Xuan's heart.
Li Xuan gathered her thoughts, looked at Dou Xuande, and asked in a deep voice: "Dou Weng, what is the situation on the East Island now? When will all the army be withdrawn to China?"
"Before the end of March next year, except for the army that stayed on Liaodong Road, the rest of the army, about 20,000 people, will all withdraw to the vicinity of Dengzhou and Yangzhou for rest and reorganization." When Dou Xuande said this, he immediately paused, but Li Xuan has completely understood.
After Anton's 20,000 troops take a brief rest, some of them will be transferred to the Western Front, but how many people will be transferred and when they will be transferred are all top secrets, and even Li Xuan cannot easily know about them.
"As for the details of Dongdao." Dou Xuande turned to look at Deng Liang.
Deng Liang immediately handed over his hands and said: "At the beginning of October, the army set off from Dengzhou. At the end of the month, it rushed to the west bank of Baekje, captured Incheon City, marched eastward along the Han River, turned north of the Han River, and arrived at Maishao City. At that time, there was news that our army had arrived in Incheon. Having been captured by Silla, they wanted to mobilize their troops to stop them, but Governor Li seized the opportunity. When he was maneuvering his troops, he fought out of Maixiao City, defeated 10,000 enemies, and killed 3,000 thieves. This was a victory. also."
Li Xuan listened attentively. Buying Xiaocheng's three battles and three victories was the information obtained by the government and the public, but the details were revealed by Deng Liang for the first time.
"In mid-November, the army rested for half a month and digested its reinforcements. Silla also mobilized 30,000 main troops to attack the city. At that time, the navy had left the Han River, headed west to the sea, and then southward. The Silla army was uneasy and attacked Xiaomai again. The city was attacked urgently, but no results were achieved for several days. When they were retreating, Li Du sent out troops. After a battle, they defeated the enemy again and beheaded five thousand people."
Hearing this, Li Xuan nodded slightly.
The people of Silla were anxious.
If they only trapped the city without attacking, they would still have some chances, but once they attacked the city, the Tang army defending the city would take advantage of the city. Coupled with the cold weather and the freezing ground, they forced the city to attack, and it would be strange to be undefeated.
"In late November, the Silla people attacked Maisho City at night without any warning. Fortunately, the city was always vigilant. More than 10,000 Silla people attacked and attacked the city, but failed. In the end, they retreated, leaving behind several people overnight. Thousands of corpses." Deng Liang's expression became serious.
Li Xuan and Dou Xuande looked at each other, with a hint of nervousness in their eyes.
How could they not hear how much murderous intent Deng Liang's understatement contained.
"After that, the people of Silla sent a letter of apology, and the Japanese envoys also followed, and joined our army, and the battle was decided." After Deng Liang finished speaking, he took a long breath.
Apart from the initial battle, the Navy did not participate much.
Most of the time, they were wandering along the coast of the original Baekje homeland, Cheongju, Jeonju and Guangzhou. Although it caused great pressure on Silla, in the end they did not make many attacks and fights, and their military achievements were insufficient.
"Well, thank you for your hard work, Brother Deng." Li Xuan stood up and bowed seriously to Deng Liang.
Deng Liang quickly stood up, cupped his hands and said, "I don't dare!"
After sitting down again, Li Xuan then raised his head and looked at Deng Liang: "Brother Deng, I wonder how the situation of the two commanders of Hangzhou Navy Ji Xiao and Yangzhou Xinlin Prefecture's Zhechong Commander Shi Jin is in the East Island?"
Deng Liang was slightly surprised, and then said: "Captain Ji accompanied the navy and made great achievements when attacking Inchon, but it's just Captain Shi?"
"Let me tell you." Dou Xuande suddenly saw the topic and said: "In fact, Captain Shi did not arrive at Dongdao. He landed in Sinanju, Pyongyang Road, and then climbed over the mountains and ridges to Shenzhou."
"Shenzhou? Over the mountain?" Li Xuan was a little confused. What was going on? Didn't he say that he was going to Dongdao to support? Why did he go to Shenzhou?
Dou Xuande breathed a sigh of relief, and then glanced at Chang Yu, who immediately bowed and retreated.
At the same time, he also asked people to strictly guard outside the lobby to prevent anyone from eavesdropping.
At this time, Dou Xuande continued: "Both of your nephews are not outsiders. I will tell you the truth."
Li Xuan and Deng Liang immediately stood up with flattered expressions on their faces, cupped their hands and said, "Please speak, Mr. Dou."
"This time the troops are withdrawn from the East Island. Firstly, they want to withdraw the troops and reduce the consumption of food and grass. Secondly, they want to transfer the Dongdao army to the western front. The reason for this is because the weather in Tubo is similar to that of the East Island. It is extremely cold and difficult to travel, and there are many soldiers in the Central Plains. I feel unwell, so I mobilized the Dongdao army to go there."
Having said this, Dou Xuande looked at Li Xuan and said in a deep voice: "As for Captain Shi, Pei Shangshu of the Ministry of War has said that if there is a severe cold and highland environment for training troops, then the trained soldiers will be able to operate freely in Tubo. , and that’s why Captain Shi’s trip came about.”
Li Xuan's face was suddenly stunned. Overcoming altitude sickness, landing in Tubo is indeed very similar to climbing a mountain. It's just that Pei Xingjian figured it out so early. If so, why go to Liaodong? Wouldn't it be over if people just climb Mount Huashan?
Maybe it's a little too perfect?
(End of chapter)
