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Fengzhou.

Li Simo was a little hesitant when he received Li Chao's handwritten letter.

The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty showed great welcome and sincerity for his surrender. He was given the surname Li, and was appointed as the prince of Heshun. He was also appointed as the general of the Right Wuhou, and was appointed as the deputy envoy of the Shuofang Jiedu and the deputy captain of the Zhenbei Protectorate.

He was originally a Turkic royal family, but the people of the Ashin family always suspected that he was not a Turkic species. Now the emperor of the Li family in the Tang Dynasty regarded him as a member of the Li family.

Comparison, there is a big difference.

The Turkic clan Bi Teqin and the Heshun Prince of the Tang Dynasty seemed to be more prominent in the Tang Dynasty, especially with several other prominent positions.

But Li Chao now asks him to go to Ningyuan, which is a bit embarrassing.

It is only 180 miles from the Guankou where he is now. You can get there by horseback for a day. If you take a boat back, you can still get back overnight.

One day and one night, hidden secrets can be unaware of it.

But what does Li Chao mean?

"Ni Li, what do you mean by Li Chao?"

"Secret Service, didn't he say he wanted to invite you to have tea?"

"Drinking tea? At this time, I ran 180 miles to Wubao to drink tea. It's a pity that Li Chao said, this must be just an excuse. I can't guess what he intended."

If you can't guess Li Chao's real intention, Li Simo dared not go there easily.

"I don't think there will be any trap. After all, the Emperor Tang has already given you the title of Prince Heshun. I think he just wants to see your sincerity. If you dare not go, then he will definitely think that you are not really surrendering."

"I took such a big risk to go to Wubao just to see my sincerity? This is too boring!"

"If I were Li Chao, I wouldn't think it was boring. He brought 50,000 troops to Wubao and was going to Fengzhou next. If you don't really surrender, this would be a big deal."

"What do you mean, I have to go this trip?"

"You can travel back and forth in a day, and it will be reassuring to Li Chao."

Li Simo pulled his golden beard, and the Tang Dynasty had already given him a generous reward and treatment. Now it was time for him to give his sincerity.

"It seems that Ubao really has to go there, but it doesn't seem to be very good to just go there empty-handedly."

Nili looked at Li Simo, "What gift does the Secret Service plan to bring?"

"Yes, what gift should I bring?" Li Simo murmured to himself.

Ningyuan, one hundred and eighty miles away.

This place has become a huge construction site.

Before he was not sure enough, Li Chao did not intend to march north rashly. Recovering Lingzhou is one thing, and occupying Wubao is the same. But if he crossed Wubao and crossed the 180-mile desert area, he would really step into the Dongtao Plain.

This is a completely different nature.

Fifty thousand soldiers were converted into city-building craftsmen and civilians.

Surrounding Wubao, the land was leveled around, digging trenches, and stones were taken to build foundations, burning ash with shells, and ramming the city walls with loess.

Tens of thousands of people are working hard, while Wuhai Lake on one side is vast and vast. A temporary dock has been built near the city, and a large number of grain transport ships from Lingzhou are parked in the lake port.

Li Chao stood by the lake and liked this place very much.

The embraces of the three mountains, flowing in the water, especially this vast lake.

This lake is actually a river and lake. Due to the diversion of the Yellow River in this section, and the terrain is low-lying, the river channel is eventually wide and becomes a large lake connected to the river. The lake is very large, but the water is not low, and the deepest part is only about three meters, and most places are only more than half a meter deep.

The lake is wide and the water is flat.

For the ships coming from Lingzhou, it does not affect it. Instead, it is calm and has a wide water surface, which is very easy to rely on in and out. A large number of weapons and grain are unloaded from the ship and transported into Wubao.

Wubao has become the inner city of Ningyuan City and has also been expanded and reinforced.

The most conspicuous one is the Eight Niu Crossbows being set up on the top of the city. This kind of crossbow cannon that was improved and given the title of general by the emperor was given by the emperor. Although each of them was large, it was the most powerful on the top of the city. First, the crossbows were large and inconvenient to move, so there was no need to move on the city. Second, the crossbows were mounted on the city, condescending, with a good shooting range, and increased the range.

The inner city of Wubao has not only become a granary and arsenal, but also an assembly workshop for the eight-ox crossbow and huge stone cannons. The core components of the crossbow made by Chang'an Ordnance Supervision were transported here from the ship through Lingzhou and assembled with other accessories made from local materials here.

One by one, eight-ox crossbow and huge stone cannon are being assembled continuously.

"Some merchant ships and grain ships can also be converted into warships, and eight-ox crossbows can be installed on them."

From Wubao to Fengzhou and Shengzhou, the Yellow River waterways are relatively wide and relatively smooth along the way. They are very suitable for sailing. With such good conditions, some warships, eight-ox crossbows and some small stone cannons can certainly enhance their strength. Although the Turkic cavalry is powerful, their horses are not capable of running on the Yellow River.

Warships can provide firepower support from the river at critical moments for the Tang army marching along the coast. This kind of water and land coordination tactic is suitable for the geography here, and there is no reason not to use it.

If it weren't for the rush of time, Li Chao planned to build some larger warships, which could load all the stone cannons onto the ship. They could not only transport troops and grains with fleets, but also use firepower support, send troops, and provide cover.

Ningyuan City is still under construction, and tents are everywhere on the periphery.

Fifty thousand soldiers, a huge number.

However, there was always a sense of worry between Li Chao's eyebrows.

These 50,000 soldiers seem to be too many, but in fact they are not strong.

When Li Chao set out from Chang'an, he brought 20,000 Guanzhong Prefecture soldiers, which were still relatively elite. However, after regaining Lingzhou, Li Chao divided 6,000 people to regain other states.

Later, another 30,000 Tang troops came, but in fact, only 15,000 soldiers were from the palace, and the other 5,000 were young and strong civilians.

Li Chao dispatched another 9,000 people to support several other managers.

In fact, Li Chao had only 20,000 government soldiers, plus 15,000 civilians, and 25,000 rural soldiers who were reorganized by the 25,000 surrendered troops.

This time, Li Chao brought 50,000 troops and left 10,000 troops. Nine thousand left behind were soldiers of the Tang Mansion.

Li Chao now has 50,000 soldiers around him, but it turns out that there are only 10,000 soldiers in the palace.

One wing was 4,500, and one was directly under the cannon battalion. Another 6,000 soldiers were combined with three thousand civilians to form two wings of nine,000 people.

These three boxes are quite credible.

The remaining 36,000 people were combined with civilians and surrendered soldiers. They were not very good in terms of combat effectiveness and reliability.

Know your own and your opponent, and then you will be defeated in a hundred battles.

Knowing the enemy is important, but what is more important is knowing the enemy. If you don’t even know your true situation, how can you fight against the enemy?

Wubao in April is already very cool and the water in the Yellow River is warm.

A group of soldiers who were resting were following the boatmen in the port and holding nets in the lake with nets of fish. There were a lot of fish in Wuhai Lake, such as the Yellow River carp, the Yellow River catfish, the Yellow River crucian carp, etc. There were many fish and many ospreys. Flocks of ospreys and water birds picked up a fish from the lake from time to time.

Many people in the north are not very good at fishing.

However, there are people from all over the army, and there are also many people who originally lived by the Yellow River, the Wei River, the Luo River, the Han River, and some even had fishermen.

Those who are raising boats are generally fishing experts.

With their guidance, the soldiers who were resting, in the unrest place by the lake, holding nets, baskets, and spears, and simple homemade harpoons. They were laughing and fishing while playing in water, and having a good time.

In half a day, you can catch many fish.

There are all kinds of fish, including shrimp, crab, river clams, etc.

A large pot was set up by the river, pour the clear well water from the well to boil, then throw the cut fish and shrimp into the pot and stew it, add some green salt, and throw the big blue and white green salt into it without the fine salt, and then pull some wild grass with a spicy taste.

Finally, add a few handfuls of wild vegetables or mushrooms you find, and a pot of delicious river fish soup will be done.

The soldiers who had been tired after repairing the city for a long time, when they heard the bell of dinner, they threw down their tools and ran over with a smile. They went to the river to wash their hands and faces first, and then came to make soup and food with their own basins.

Everyone was very satisfied with drinking hot rice and fresh fish soup outside.

“There are so many fish here.”

“There are many birds.”

Cheng Chumo and Niu Jianhu were carrying a bag of bird eggs, and several big birds came over.

Li Chao took a look and said, "Fry and eat it, eat sun eggs."

Sun eggs are very simple to make and taste good. They will not be as old as purse bags, nor as oily as scrambled eggs. They are tenderer than boiled eggs, and are simpler and more convenient than roasted eggs.

According to your preference, the eggs can be fried very tender.

"Master, do you think Li Simo will come?"

"If he really surrenders, he will come." Li Chao said while carrying the bird egg.

Li Gan asked with some concern, "It is said that soldiers are very fast. We are stopping here now, and we are building cities and building weapons. Jie Li will not know. If he knows the situation here, wouldn't he know about our plan to advance? How can we raid Fengzhou?"

"There are more than 10,000 troops and we are going north to use troops hundreds of miles away. Do you think this can be kept secret? As soon as our army leaves Lingzhou, the Turks must have known the news. It is completely impossible to keep such a big move completely confidential." Li Chao said.

"I never thought of hiding it from the Turks."

"this"

The Turks have not made any moves until now, and this is definitely not because they have not received the news. That is impossible, it is not a small move of hundreds of people, tens of thousands of people.

"Why did the Turks not responding?"

"Yes, I don't understand why Jie Li didn't respond."

Li Chao also couldn't figure it out. Under normal circumstances, the Turks had long gone south to regain Shuofang, and at least they would recruit troops to strengthen the defense of the Dongdao. But now, there has been no movement in Fengzhou.

Things were very abnormal, and Li Chao couldn't understand why Jie Li was not moving.

He would not go north easily until he understood this.

At least, they had to see Li Simo first and get Ke Qing's reward before Li Chao would make a careful decision. Before that, they would build Ningyuan City here, build crossbows, and catch fish and birds.

While frying the eggs slowly, Li Chao was still thinking about the abnormal reaction of the Turkic Jie Li Khan.

He had already reached the gate of the Turkic people, and Jie Li did not send troops. Moreover, Li Simo had to surrender at this time, and it was abnormal everywhere.
Chapter completed!