First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 287 The Water Battle Begins

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At the south pier of the city, Li Xiaogong's heart was agitated when he saw the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty queuing up to board the warship with great arrogance. Li Yuan was able to lead troops and horses to break through the city himself. How could this king be inferior to him.

Wan Xuan was born reckless, with a rebellious temperament, and good at digging camps, seeing Li Xiaogong's high ambitions, he grinned from the side and said: "I think the brothers are very energetic, how can Gao Changshi say that they are mentally exhausted."

Liu Zhi was startled when he heard the words, shook his head and smiled, but didn't answer.

However, Li Xiaogong's face darkened, and he reprimanded: "Don't talk nonsense."

Wan Xuan is from Badong, he was born as a water bandit, and he is quite powerful. He most admires Gan Ning, who is from Soochow of the Three Kingdoms. Gan Ning is also from Badong, and he is also a water bandit. He imitated Gan Ning in everything, and Kuizhou people also jokingly called him Little Gan Ning.

After Li Xiaogong became the general manager of Kuizhou, Wan Xuan brought people to vote, firstly because he wanted to "be good", and secondly because he liked Li Xiaogong's noble background. After serving in the Kuizhou army, he regarded himself as Li Xiaogong's confidant.

Wan Xuan saw that Li Xiaogong seemed a little dissatisfied with Gao Chong, so he wanted to ridicule Gao Chong in front of Li Xiaogong, but he didn't realize that this flattery was wrong.

After all, Li Xiaogong has a benevolent heart, and he has never had any ill intentions towards Gao Chong. This time, regardless of Gao Chong's dissuasion, he forcibly sent troops to prove his ability, especially after Li Yuan's meritorious service, Li Xiaogong's thoughts became even more eager.

Wan Xuan scratched his head and retreated angrily.

After the formation of the army, Li Xiaogong trained the water army in Kuizhou for several months, but it was not without achievements, the Tang water army looked decent, Li Xiaogong was also able to command Liu Zhi's army with ease, and immediately ordered Liu Zhi's former army to clear the way.

After Gao Chong finished reading the battle report, he immediately took a small boat to Bailizhou. Jiang Baoyi was watching from the tower. As a general in the army, he was stationed in Bailizhou without knowing it.

"Don't mention it, King Zhaojun insists on fighting Wen Shihong, I can't stop it," Gao Chong said casually in front of Jiang Baoyi, shaking his head.

Jiang Baoyi was taken aback for a moment, but he knew that Gao Chong had adopted a strategy of "temporarily avoiding the edge, having power and forbearance" towards Wen Shihong, and Jiang Baoyi also very much agreed with this.

Now that Xiao Liang's country is about to fall, if he attacks head-on, it may arouse the fighting spirit of the Liang army, which has the meaning of mourning soldiers. Xiao Liang's counterattack on his deathbed will be extremely tragic. On the ground, let him hang out for three to five days, and the spirit of the soldiers of Liang Jun to fight to the death was worn away.

"Then what do you want to do?" As Gao Chong's close friend and future brother-in-law, Jiang Baoyi knew Gao Chong well. If Gao Chong had no other ideas, he wouldn't have come to Bailizhou to look for Li Xiaogong just after he dispatched troops.

"You prepare immediately, and when King Zhao Jun fights with the enemy, or even when he is about to be defeated, attack the enemy from the flank," Gao Chong immediately ordered.

"What about you?" Jiang Baoyi responded without hesitation, and then asked.

Gao Chong smiled wryly and said, "I can't go. Once I go, it will show that I don't trust King Zhao's ability to use troops, and before leaving, King Zhao ordered me to stay in Zhijiang City. As the commander, I must not disobey the order." .

Jiang Baoyi nodded, "This statement is reasonable, then I will send troops...".

Gao Chong had expected it a long time ago, and immediately smiled and said: "The military order to increase your troops last night is clear and strict. You can wait for the opportunity to move while you stick to Bailizhou. That's the seal of Commander Zhao Jun Wang himself."

Jiang Baoyi hurriedly took out the military order and took a look. Sure enough, the words "waiting for an opportunity to move at the end" were particularly eye-catching, but it was stamped with the commander-in-chief of the marching officer at the end, which was legal and compliant.

It seems that this is Gao Chong's prepared backhand. Jiang Baoyi admired him so much that he immediately went down to prepare for the battle.

When Gao Chong returned to Zhijiang City, Wei Ling breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "The final general thought that Gao Changshi was going to persuade King Zhao Jun."

Hearing this, Gao Chong continued to ask with great interest: "Why does General Wei think King Zhao sent troops?"

Wei Ling curled his lips, and blurted out without hesitation, "It's for the sake of face..." After saying this, Wei Ling just shut up, stepped forward and smiled, "The general is talking nonsense, Gao Changshi doesn't want to Seriously, just treat me as a fart."

Gao Chong laughed loudly, and hurried into the city.

What should be done has been done, since Gao Chong is sticking to the city, he no longer pays attention to Li Xiaogong's side, and devotes himself to the city defense.

Just like what I said to Jiang Baoyi, if you pay too much attention to Li Xiaogong's dispatch of troops, in the eyes of outsiders, you may think Gao Chong is too crazy, why does King Zhao need you as an adjutant to point out the war?Without you Gao Changshi in Tang Dynasty, no one would fail to fight.

After noon, the mighty Tang Army warships covered the river and went down the river. From the view of Jiang Baoyi from the Bailizhou tower, thousands of warships covered the sky and the sun, which was very spectacular.

In the middle army, on the top of the five-tooth warship, Li Xiaogong stood facing the wind, holding his sword in his hand, and asked in a deep voice: "How far is the enemy army?"

"It's less than ten miles back to the king," the general beside him respectfully replied.

Ten miles, sounds like a long distance, but if you go down the river, you will arrive soon.

Looking at the bend of the river where the water meets the sky, Li Xiaogong ordered: "Accelerate forward and cross that river bay."

Yang Junmao, who was behind him, was startled when he heard the words, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty must not."

Li Xiaogong frowned, looking unhappy.

Yang Junmao hurriedly bowed and bowed down, "My lord, that bend doesn't look far away, but it's actually three or five miles away. The east wind is blowing and the speed of the boat is hindered. If we speed up, we may meet Wen Shihong at the river bay. The narrowness of the river bay is not conducive to the change of our fleet."

Li Xiaogong was very dissatisfied when he heard the words, and said bluntly: "You are not the only one from Jingchu who is good at water warfare, and you follow orders."

Immediately when the messenger climbed to the high place, he would move the command flag, and the whole army accelerated forward.

Yang Junmao was in a hurry, and wanted to continue persuading, but was held tightly by Lin Zhisong. Li Xiaogong claimed that he wanted the people of Jingchu to see the power of the Tang navy, so he brought Yang Junmao and others with him.

On the other side of the turn of the river, the flags covered the sky, and the cyan flags all over the sky declared that this huge fleet belonged to Xiao Liang.

Naturally, Xiao Liang also had the Five-tooth Warship, and there were more than one of them.

The Tang army's five-tooth battleship was located in the middle army, with guards at the front and back, but Xiao Liang actually connected six five-tooth warships in a row, at the forefront of the fleet.

On the top floor of a large warship in the middle, several generals of the Liang army surrounded a man in a light blue robe. This man was not wearing armor, only a sword was hanging from his waist. He had a thin body and a few strands of beard.

"There are very few large ships in the Tang army, most of them are scorpions and scorpions. Are the jumping soldiers ready?" The man looked at the river bay ahead with his hands behind his back, and asked in a deep voice.

"Back to the general, eight thousand jumped to help the soldiers, already on the left and right wings", the general beside him replied.

(End of this chapter)