Tibet.

Chapter 1423: Southern Expedition to Linyi
Three days later, Li Chengshi, the commander-in-chief of the Tang Dynasty navy, arrived in Jiaozhou with 300 warships. The ships sailed into the Red River and docked at the shore. The people of Jiaozhou had never seen such a large fleet and they all came to visit.

When they heard that this fleet was used to fight pirates, tens of thousands of people cheered.

This fleet consisted of 20 warships of 10,000 shi, 100 warships of 5,000 shi, and 180 warships of 3,000 shi, and 20,000 naval troops.

On the largest warship, Zhang Boyi introduced the situation of Champa to everyone. "During the Sui Dynasty, Champa was called Linyi. It was destroyed by Emperor Yang of Sui. The northern part was returned to the court, and Jiuzhen County and Rinan County were established. The Tang Dynasty established Annan Protectorate. In addition to Jiaozhou, the original two southern counties were expanded to Aizhou, Huanzhou, Tanglinzhou, and Luofuzhou.

But after the An-Shi Rebellion broke out, the Tang army retreated and only saved Jiaozhou. The other states were annexed by Champa, and a small number of Han people fled back to Jiaozhou. "

Li Chengshi asked puzzledly: "The country marked on my map is Linyi. Is the one lying on the ground Champa or Linyi?"

"It's the same thing. We call it Linyi Kingdom, and Champa is their capital, so they call themselves Champa Kingdom or Champa Kingdom. We can unify them and call them all Linyi Kingdom."

Li Chengshi nodded. "That's right. Otherwise it will be confusing. Also, what is the military strength of the Linyi Kingdom?"

"There are about 50,000 troops and 10,000 elephants. Their fighting power is just so-so, but this country is very warlike. Just a few years ago, there was an internal conflict in Zhenla, which split into Water Zhenla and Land Zhenla. The Water Zhenla army was defeated and retreated to the Zhenla River Delta.

Linyi State saw this opportunity.
They immediately joined forces with Chola to attack Water Chenla, almost destroying it. They occupied the richest delta of the Chenla River. They received help from Chola, and their navy was quite powerful. Now there are Chola troops stationed there!"

Du Huan was in high spirits and asked quickly, "Doctor Zhang means that Linyi still has troops from Zhuluo?"

Zhang Boyi nodded, "Indeed, I also sent people disguised as merchants to Linyi to inquire about the situation because the emperor decided to attack Linyi. I was gone for two months and just came back."

Zhang Boyi pointed to the map and said, "See why there is a thin strip in the south of Jiaozhou? This is because there is only some flat land along the coast. To the west are vast mountains covered by ancient forests for thousands of miles. Our army can go south along the coast. There is an official road we built before. I plan to lead 5,000 troops south with ten days of dry food. There is a natural harbor in the southernmost part of Rinan County. The navy can move in sync with us and meet at the natural harbor to unload supplies. The capital of Linyi is less than a hundred miles away from the harbor."

Li Chengshi said happily: "It's decided, but I'm not familiar with this sea area, I need a guide!"

Zhang Boyi smiled and said, "I will give you an old fisherman as a guide. He is very familiar with this sea area and has been to Srivijaya."

After two days of rest, three hundred warships set off in a mighty force, heading south along the coastline.

At the same time, Zhang Boyi led 5,000 cavalrymen with only ten days of dry food, and marched lightly while the main army marched south.

As we all know, the Hanoi area in northern Vietnam has belonged to the Central Plains dynasty for thousands of years, and there is also a Jiaozhi in the game "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

In fact, in addition to Jiaozhou, there is also a thin tail below the maps of the Han, Sui and Tang dynasties. This is because central Vietnam is a large mountain range running from north to south, with only a long strip of flat land along the coast. Therefore, Jiaozhou has a tail on the maps of the Han and Sui and Tang dynasties.

Where did the border of this tail end? It ended at Da Nang, which is the natural harbor mentioned by Zhang Boyi. The Han Dynasty established Jiuzhen County and Rinan County on this tail.

Not far south of Da Nang is the Linyi Kingdom, but the prosperous Chenla River Delta in the southernmost part belonged to the Chenla Kingdom.

However, because Linyi Kingdom had little arable land, while Jiuzhen County and Rinan County had a lot of flat land, Linyi Kingdom had always coveted the land of the two counties. King Hu Youda took advantage of the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty and was forced to withdraw troops from Annan, and led his troops northward to annex Jiuzhen County and Rinan County. Because there were still a thousand troops stationed in Jiaozhou, Hu Youda did not dare to go north, so he turned south and headed his troops to the southern part of Zhenla.

In addition, Linyi and Zhuo had been colluding for a long time. Zhuo even sent a navy to stay in Linyi, disguised as pirates, and constantly invaded Jiaozhou and Yazhou.

At this time, Chenla was split into Water Chenla and Land Chenla due to internal strife. The two Chenla kingdoms kept fighting. A few years ago, in a war, Water Chenla was defeated and lost most of its land in the north. The remaining forces fled to the Chenla River Delta. Linyi saw the opportunity and immediately decided to attack the remaining forces of Water Chenla. The equally warlike Chola Kingdom also sent 10,000 troops and 100 warships to support Linyi. The Water Chenla army was defeated by the joint forces of the two countries and retreated to the last stronghold, the city of Paratipat.

As a result, the Zhenla River Delta, with its dense river network and fertile land, was occupied by the Linyi Kingdom army.

As the Tang army marched south, they encountered people along the way who were all subjects of the Central Plains dynasty. After being occupied by the Linyi Kingdom, they were forced to accept its rule, and were subject to heavy taxes and exploitation.

The return of the Tang army made the people along the way cheer, and they all took to the official road, bringing food and drink to warmly welcome the arrival of the Tang army.

The Linyi officials and troops along the way did not dare to resist and fled.

Ten days later, the Tang army arrived at the natural harbor, which was later known as Da Nang. Eighty miles ahead was the capital of the Linyi Kingdom, Champa, also known as Champa.

The Tang navy had arrived first, and the two armies immediately joined together, setting up camp in an open area on the shore to allow the soldiers to rest, while sending scouts to investigate the situation in Champa.

There are currently 30,000 troops stationed in Champa. King Hu Yuda's attention has been on the south. He was considering how to attack the last city of Water Zhenla. Unexpectedly, the Tang army came from the north and was only 80 miles away from him.

Hu Yuda was horrified. He knew that Champa was small and dilapidated and could not be defended. On the one hand, he ordered the nobles to retreat to the south. On the other hand, he personally led an army of 30,000 and drove 10,000 elephants to fight against the Tang army.

At this time, the Tang army received news that the Linyi army had actually gone to war.

The Tang army immediately sent out 20,000 troops to fight, with Zhang Boyi as the chief general and Li Chengshi as the deputy general. Why was Zhang Boyi the chief general despite having fewer soldiers? The reason was very simple. Zhang Boyi had much more experience than Li Chengshi and his military rank was one level higher than Li Chengshi. He used to be Li Guangbi's deputy general. After Li Guangbi died of illness, tens of thousands of troops were handed over to him. After surrendering to Li Ye, he was ordered to recover Jiaozhou.

Zhang Boyi kept pace with the times and was well aware of the various advanced firearms currently available to the Tang army.

This time, the navy brought three of the Tang army soldiers' favorite weapons. One was the explosive arrow, one was the arrow mine, and one was the iron fire mine. Another weapon was the cannon, which was a powerful weapon for the navy in naval battles.

The Tang army came to a wilderness. There was a large forest seven or eight miles away. At this time, the Tang army had already felt the huge movement in the forest. Dust was flying and the earth was shaking.

Among the 5,000 Tang troops, 3,000 were transferred from Nanzhao. They had all participated in the final battle against Nanzhao and had experience.

General Wei Yulin immediately said to Zhang Boyi: "General, these are the enemy's elephant vanguards. There should be tens of thousands of them. We have defeated them in Nanzhao before."

Zhang Boyi nodded. He knew that the Linyi army had 10,000 elephants, and they were all driving the elephants to run in front.

He immediately asked, "How to defeat an elephant!"

Elephants are afraid of fireworks and arrow mines. You can attack them with arrow mines and kerosene, and then chase and shoot them with explosive arrows. The elephants will surely be defeated.

Zhang Boyi nodded, "Pass my order, pour 500 barrels of kerosene, and prepare 2,000 heavy crossbowmen!"

(End of this chapter)