Chapter 623: The Strange Soldier of Xinde

After Geshuhan died, the ambush soldiers around him came. The personal soldiers who had not crossed the river were extremely sad and angry and fought to the death, but they were outnumbered and gradually the fewer and fewer people were killed. Seeing that the situation was not good, hundreds of people shouted and rushed out of the siege and rushed to Jingzhou.

The news of Geshuhan's death reached Jingzhou a few days later. Geshuyao, the son of Geshuhan, fainted from grief and woke up by the generals' emergency. Geshuyao immediately ordered the entire army to mourn, cut his finger and wrote the word "revenge" to rectify the army and get 30,000 elite soldiers, and go to Xiangyang to kill.

But at this moment, Li Heng's 100,000 army had already reached Xiangzhou. Li Mao urgently ordered the general Zhao Fengzhang to lead 50,000 troops to face the enemy. In the battle of Siwangshan, Shi Hui, deputy envoy of Jiannan Jiedu, defeated Zhao Fengzhang's army, and the 100,000 army pointed at Xiangyang City. Two days later, the army crossed Shuhe and came to Xiangyang City, and Ge Shu Yao's 30,000 troops also rushed to Changlin County, and the troops stopped moving forward.

At this time, Li Mao still had 70,000 troops in the city. Just when Li Mao was about to fight Li Heng to the death, news came from the west city that his most trusted general Zhang Weijin opened the city to surrender, and the 70,000 troops followed Zhang Weijin to surrender the Jiannan Army, and the 100,000 Jiannan Army rushed into Xiangyang City. It was not until this time that Li Mao learned that he killed Ge Shuhan was destroying the Great Wall. In endless despair and regret, Li Mao burned the Jing Prince's Mansion and burned himself to death.

When Ge Shu Yao heard that Li Mao committed suicide, he knew that he was defeated by the Jiannan Army, so he led his army back to Jingzhou, and all the 800 warships in Jingzhou and left Jingzhou and headed towards Jiangnan.

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The war in Jiangnan is currently in a stalemate. Although the Northern Tang army is in high morale and fierce attacks, it is difficult to match the Southern Tang naval army because there are many cabbage ships. The 80,000 troops have to sigh at the river. At this time, Li Qing'an ordered a large number of ships to build in Baisha Port, recruited tens of thousands of ship workers, and built 300 large ships within two months.

The news soon reached the camp of the Southern Tang Army on the other side of the Yangtze River. When Li Lin heard that the Northern Army had just started building ships, he couldn't help laughing. At this time, he also received information. The emperor's brother Li Heng personally led an army of 100,000 to attack Jingxiang. All kinds of good news came, which finally made Li Lin feel relieved. On the one hand, he ordered the patrol patrol on the river bank and strictly prevented the Northern Army from crossing the river with canal boats. On the other hand, he looked forward to it and waited for the good news from Jingxiang to come.

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At night at Yan Port, cold winds were everywhere, the north wind was howling, and the strong wind blew the flag on the port to a loud bang! The surroundings of the port were already heavily guarded by tens of thousands of soldiers. Within twenty miles, it was difficult for any outsider to get into the port. After repeated increase in troops, the number of troops stationed in Yan Port had exceeded 30,000, which was very hidden. From here to a hundred miles away, there were white salt fields, with no houses or trees. Under the blockade of the army, spies on the south bank could basically not come, and it was even more impossible to find that 30,000 troops had been stationed here.

At this time, a fierce sound of horse hooves shattered the quiet night. Thousands of cavalry rushed from the northwest, rushing at lightning. The general led by Li Qing'an, the commander of the Northern Army.

Yan Port is the first strategic location occupied by Li Qing'an. He did not want to seize the salt profit of the Jianghuai River, but he took a fancy to the special geographical location of Yan Port. It is located at the estuary of the Yangtze River, facing the sea directly, and is blocked by Hudou Island, which makes it difficult for the Southern Tang army to detect the situation here.

It can be said that Yan Port is the key to Li Qing'an's complete victory in the Jiangnan Battle. There is no suspense to win the Jiangnan Battle. The key is to intercept many Jiangnan troops. Li Qing'an also knows that when fighting on the water, their Northern Tang army has no advantage and even has the possibility of defeat, so he must annihilate the Jiangnan army on land to the greatest extent.

A thousand cavalry rushed to the port, and General Li Baozhen led his army forward and saluted, "The last general will meet with the general."

“Are they coming?”

"It's almost done. The scouts from the east have seen them, and it will be there in half an hour at most."

"Okay! Let's go to the dock to wait."

Li Qing'an urged his horse to go to the pier. More than twenty boats on the pier removed Hudou Island. The pier was empty and several guide boats were already in place. The black waves slapped the long bluestone strips on the pier, making a rustling sound. The night was particularly deep, and the river was covered with a faint gray mist, but it did not affect the navigation.

Li Qingan stared at the vast river surface, dark clouds pressing against the river surface, without even starlight. This was a very hidden night, and it was also the army that the Northern Army had been waiting for for a long time.

"General, I'm looking forward to it!"

Li Baozhen walked up slowly. He looked at the river and sighed excitedly. The sigh was not melancholy, but a kind of expectation and excitement. Zhao Chongjie also came up. This time he was the deputy general.

Li Qingan smiled faintly and said to them: "This time the task of you two will directly affect the success or failure of my Jiangnan strategy. I only have five words to ask you: plan and then act."

The two bowed together and said, "Yes! Obey the order."

At this moment, Li Qingan suddenly turned around and looked up at the river. He seemed to feel something. After a moment, he laughed, "You can prepare, they are here."

As soon as Li Qing'an finished speaking, he could only hear the harsh bell sound from the tower, "Dang! Dang! Dang.

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This is a signal that a ship has entered the port.

Zhao Chongjie turned his horse's head and ran towards the military camp. Li Qing'an walked forward a few more steps. At this time, he vaguely saw a series of highlights appearing in the air on the river surface. Gradually, the highlights approached. The black shadows seemed extremely strange in the mist. When the black shadows approached, their true face was revealed. This was actually a huge five thousand stone sea boat, seven feet high and more than twenty feet long, and could sail into the deep sea to ride the wind and waves.

But it is definitely not just this one, there are highlights behind it, endless in the darkness, and I don’t know how many sea boats are heading here.

Of course, Li Qingan knew that there were 300 large sea boats loaded with two million stones of grain. The sea boats came from the distant Xinde and were originally unloading goods at Guangzhou Port. However, due to the war in Jiangnan, Li Qingan ordered 300 sea boats to continue northward, and the final destination was the salt port in front of him.

Two million stones of grain and a large amount of Indian goods will be unloaded in the salt port, but what Li Qing'an wants is not these goods, but these 300 large ships that can sail far away from the deep sea.

The huge sea ship, under the guidance of the guide ship, stopped at the dock. The dock was about two miles long, but eight large ships were moored at the same time. The torches were lit, and the fire was dim, and the dock still looked very dark.

Hundreds of sailors were busy skillfully. They wrapped cables as thick as arms on the iron piles, fixed the ship, opened the deck, and put long string boards on the side of the ship, and more than a dozen special skateboards for unloading grain were also fastened to the side of the ship.

At this time, a group of Anxi soldiers escorting the ship quickly stepped down from the deck. The leader suddenly saw Li Qing'an. The soldiers were extremely excited. They never expected to see their commander here. They all stepped forward and knelt down on one knee to salute. The leader said, "Tian Jianming, the fifth guard of the Beiyi Xinde Army, led his troops to meet the general."

Li Qingan was also happy. He felt like he was able to meet the garrison of Xinde on the Jiangnan Sea. He hurriedly stepped forward and helped him up, and smiled and said, "General Tian, ​​please get up, brothers, you guys have traveled thousands of miles. Thank you for your hard work, everyone gets up!"

The soldiers stood up and Tian Jianming reported: "Reporting to the general, Bei Zhi led a thousand Erlang guards to come, and the journey went smoothly. There were hundreds of Persian and Sogdian merchants on the ship, and they got off the ship in Guangzhou. Now, except for the crew, there are only our 1,000 Anxi Army, with a total of two million stones of grain and some Indian medicinal materials, all of which are preserved intact."

Li Qing'an nodded and said, "This is the first time we have transported food from Xinde to Datang. Once this route is fixed, there will be a larger-scale grain transportation in the future, including five hundred or even thousands of large ships. I hope General Tian can bring me more naval troops that can sail far away, so don't let me down."

Tian Jianming was overjoyed. The general meant to apply it to him. He quickly bowed and said, "I am willing to do my best."

Li Qingan smiled and said loudly to the soldiers: "Brothers travel thousands of miles and travel hard. This time, every brother will remember the first level of merit, and soon there will be a more important mission waiting for everyone. I hope everyone will continue to work hard and make new contributions!"

The soldiers bowed and said in unison: "I am willing to serve the general!"

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The fleet was docked and immediately became busy. More than 30,000 soldiers rushed to large ships and slid bags of grain off the large ship. Tens of thousands of soldiers were busy until the fourth hour, and two million stones of grain were finally unloaded. At this time, 30,000 soldiers and war horses began to line up on the ship. Li Baozhen bowed Li Qing'an and said, "General, the last general is on the expedition."

"General Li, I wish you a victory and a good news soon!"

In the darkness, Li Qing'an stood upright on the dock, clasping his fists to the soldiers who were going out in the night wind. Large ships turned around one after another, sailed into the sea in the darkness before dawn, and headed towards the distant south.

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Time gradually passed a few days, and the troops on both sides of the Taiwan Strait remained in a stalemate. Perhaps because of the fact that the Northern Tang army had no boats to cross the river and was not as good as their own in terms of naval forces, the Southern Tang army, which had always been sluggish in morale, gradually became high in morale. They carried out practical exercises on the water every day. Teams of large ships showed off their might and swam back and forth in the river. The drums sounded like thunder and shouts were shaking the sky, just like a demonstration on the north shore. On the other hand, the north shore was quiet, with only some canal ships sailing quietly along the shore, transporting food and supplies.

That afternoon, a small boat arrived from the north shore, and a young scholar and two soldiers following him were on the boat. Before the ship reached the shore, several warships on the south shore immediately met.

The warship surrounded the boat on all sides, and thousands of crossbow arrows pointed at the young scholar on the boat. Gao Xianqi, a general of the Southern Tang Dynasty, stood at the bow of the boat and shouted loudly: "Who is coming?"

The young scholar on the boat held his fists and said, "Below is Zhang Zhijie, the clerk of the tent of General Li, the governor of Anxi, who came to deliver a letter to His Highness the King of Wu at the order of the general."

Zhang Zhijie was calm and unafraid, surrounded by crossbows and arrows, and said loudly: "We only have three people in total. I am still a scholar. Did I scare the King of Wu's 100,000 troops as if I were facing a great enemy?"

Gao Xianqi stared at him for a while, waved his hand and said, "Take him to see Your Highness!"

The warship dodged a way, and the boat slowly docked. Zhang Zhijie, escorted by more than a hundred people, left at the Wu King's camp in Dantu County.

King Li Lin of Wu had just received a message from Feige from Xiangyang. Li Heng's 100,000 troops had already captured Xiangyang City. Li Mao burned himself to death. Jingxiang had been occupied by the Southern Tang army, which meant that the Jiangnan army's retreat passage had finally opened. This news made Li Lin very excited. Soon the news spread. There was cheering in the camp, and many people hugged each other and cried. None of the soldiers and generals were willing to fight against Li Qing'an. The opening of the retreat passage was equivalent to giving them a chance to live.

But there are also people who are disdainful. Li Lin's son, King Xiangcheng Li Yi, is a typical representative. He is now full of confidence in himself. In the past, Cao Cao's 830,000 army was also defeated by tens of thousands of Jiangdong naval troops? What's more, the other party had only 80,000 people, and he didn't care about the tens of thousands of newly recruited troops. The opponent's troops were not as strong as his own, so why did he be afraid of it?

Hearing the cheers of the camp, Li Yi curled his lips and said to the deputy commander Li Chengshi: "I think my father is too timid and fears Li Qing and An as a tiger. Last time, the Anxi Army only had a thousand cavalry, so he fled to the south in panic. Jiangdu City didn't want it anymore. It was said to be a laughing stock in the world. Unfortunately, I was not in Jiangdu at that time, otherwise I would never have been humiliated."

Li Chengshi also sighed and said, "It's not that everyone is afraid of the Anxi Army, but that the strength of the Anxi Army is terrifying. They have almost never suffered a defeat. They have defeated the Great Cannibal."

"What's the big cannibal? It's just a group of Humans."

Li Yi waved his arms and said unconvincedly: "I heard that they don't even have armor and are not as good as ours. Is it worth showing off to defeat them?"

"Okay! OK! Even if the cannibals are Human, what about the Tubo people? The Tubo people who have been troubled by us for nearly a hundred years have also been destroyed by the Anxi army. This can always explain the problem!"

Li Yi shook his head in disappointment, "Deputy Coach Li, I think you were also scared by Li Qing'an and peeing your pants. It is a shame for me to discuss the situation with you."

After saying that, he turned around and walked out of the tent, "Little Prince! Little Prince!" Li Chengshi shouted repeatedly from behind, but Li Yi ignored him at all. Li Chengshi shook his head helplessly and sighed: "A newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger!"

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Li Yi walked out of the tent in a depressed mood and happened to see soldiers escorting Zhang Zhijie toward him. He asked loudly: "What happened? Why do you take this sour scholar into the military camp?"

Gao Xianqi bowed and said, "Report to the little prince, this is a messenger sent by Li Qing'an, and send a message to the prince."

"Oh? Li Qing'an's messenger."

Li Yi walked around Zhang Zhijie twice, looked him up and down, and suddenly stretched out his hand and said, "Where is your letter? Give it to me!"

Zhang Zhijie raised his head slightly and said coldly: "My general has an order, and the letter must be submitted to the King of Wu in person."

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Yi slapped Zhang Zhijie in the face with his backhand. Zhang Zhijie was caught off guard and was beaten to a staggering moment and almost fell down.

He covered his face and stared at Li Yi with hatred. Without saying a word, Gao Xianqi was shocked and quickly stopped Li Yi, "Little Prince, he is Li Qing'an's envoy, so you must not be rude."

"Get out!"

Li Yi pushed Gao Xianqi away and said viciously: "I'll say it again last time and give me the letter!"

Zhang Zhijie straightened his body and said proudly: "If you have the ability, just kill me!"

"You fucking!"

Li Yi drew out his sword, pressed the sword blade on Zhang Zhijie's neck, and sneered in his ear: "Believe it or not, I'll kill you like a chicken."

"Is that so? Then you do it!" Zhang Zhijie glanced at him and said coldly.

At this moment, the shout of King Li Lin of Wu came from afar: "You are evil, why don't you stop!"

Seeing his father running over with anxiety, Li Yi said 'hum!', put away the sword, and squinted his eyes and said to Zhang Zhijie: "I won't kill you, I will lend you your head to tell Li Qing'an, others regard him as a tiger, but in my eyes, he is like a native chicken and a tile dog."

"Very good! I will tell you the original words and wish you a few days to grow your head."

At this time, Li Lin arrived. He received a report from Gao Xianqi. His son, King of Xiangcheng, Li Yi, actually threatened the envoy of Li Qing'an, which made him angry and annoyed, and hurried to stop him.

Li Yi pushed Zhang Zhijie away and left. Li Lin hurriedly stepped forward and comforted him, "Please calm down. My son has always been arrogant. If you let the envoy suffer, I will definitely teach him a lesson."

Zhang Zhijie touched his face, and there was still a burning pain on his face. He remembered this hatred and said lightly: "I am on the order of the general to go to the Nanying camp. I won't say much if I don't want to say anything else."

"Okay, please give me a message!"

Zhang Zhiji nodded and followed Li Lin into the golden silk tent. In the tent, Li Lin happened to discuss the matter of Jingxiang. When Zhang Zhijie came in, everyone stood up.

Li Bai recognized Zhang Zhijie at a glance. How many times did he have been to Zhang Yun’s mansion? Zhang Zhijie, who was only in his teenager at the time, asked him for advice on writing poems. Although nearly ten years have passed, he still recognized it.

"Aren't you the son of Zhang Xiangguo?"

Zhang Zhijie didn't expect to meet Li Bai here. Li Bai was his most admired idol. He was stunned, "Li... Taibai, why are you here?"

Li Bai felt a little ashamed. When Zhang Yun was a little cold to him, he wrote, "How can you bow your head and serve the powerful?"

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’But today he also became the aide of the King of Wu, and he only bowed and said nothing more.

Li Lin next to him was even more surprised. It turned out that the envoy was Zhang Yun's son, and Zhang Yun's son actually became Li Qing'an's envoy.

"It turns out it's Prince Zhang's name, and I'm rude."

Zhang Zhijie had recovered from the shock of seeing Li Bai suddenly. He returned to the calmness he had just now. He took out Li Qing'an's handwritten letter and said: "Your Highness, King Wu, now I am General Li's envoy. I am my general's handwritten letter to Your Highness."
Chapter completed!