The legend of the king of crossing

Chapter 201 Sending troops to Luzhou

In the meeting hall of the Mongolian Privy Council, Kublai Khan was standing in front of a large military map, looking at it carefully.Surrounded by many senior Mongolian generals, military generals Shi Tianze, Zhang Hongfan, Boyan, Zhang Rou, Dong Wenbing, Atahai, Hula, Sun Qi, etc. are all among them, and Liu Zheng, who is a little farther away, stands alone On the side, it looks out of the ordinary.Hao Jing, the civil servant and counselor of the emperor, and Shang Ting, the counselor of Zhongshu Province, and Guo Kan of Tengzhou, the governor of Tengzhou, stood on the other side.

Suddenly, Kublai Khan raised his long stick and placed it heavily on the "Luzhou" on the map, saying: "Everyone, this Khan has decided to attack Luzhou and Anqing, the governors of the Huainan West Road of the Song Dynasty."

Liu Zheng's heart skipped a beat, and he thought to himself, "How could it be Luzhou Prefecture? Didn't the Great Khan agree with my idea of ​​using Xiangfan as a breakthrough?"

In ancient times, there were many wetlands, paddy fields, and virgin forests in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, but the Xiangyang area had better passage conditions. Xiangyang is the main road, which is very suitable for stationing a large number of troops and is conducive to large-scale field battles of Mongolian cavalry.If you don't attack Xiangyang, you can only take a small army with thousands of people, which can neither carry too much supplies, but is also easy to be separated and wiped out, and even the back road is easily cut off by the defenders of the Song Dynasty who are familiar with the environment. .

Only by occupying Xiangyang can we form a good material loading point and control the main traffic sections. In the east, we can take the two Huaihe Rivers and go straight to the south of the Yangtze River; This is the so-called battleground for military strategists.

Liu Zheng believed that "without Xiang, there would be no Huai, and without Huai, Jiangnan would be at your fingertips."Although it cannot be said that Liu Zheng's views are absolutely correct, according to the course of history, Mongolia finally adopted Liu Zheng's suggestion and won the Battle of Xiangyang, and took this as an opportunity to flatten the entire Southern Song Dynasty.

Boyan was eager to try, and immediately said: "Khan, I am willing to lead the army to open up territory for the Khan to expand the territory, and test the actual combat capabilities of the new Xue army."

Both those who are in favor and those who are against all know that Kublai Khan is courageous in killing and attacking, and the strategy he set is difficult to change, so they all expressed their willingness to lead the army. Only Liu Zheng remained silent and stood alone. aside.

"Everyone, there is no need to argue. Marshal Ashu has already set off, and he will reach the front line in just a few days. Good news will come soon."

"The Khan is brilliant, the so-called military is expensive and fast, and the Khan kept me in the dark, presumably the Song people didn't know about it." Veteran Zhang Rou praised.

Shi Tianze also said: "Khan, in the Song Dynasty, Luzhou defender Fan Sheng, commander Zhang Lin and others were brave and foolish, self-righteous, Marshal Ashu was both wise and brave, and he was unexpected, so he will surely win the battle."

Kublai Khan smiled: "Well, I ordered Ashu to attack according to the plan. The Privy Council will follow up the battle report at any time. Dear friends, the meeting is over. Liu Zheng, Zhang Wenqian."

"The minister is here."

"You stay."

"Yes." Liu Zheng was taken aback for a moment.

Zhang Wenqian, in his fifties, had been classmates with Liu Bingzhong for several years. As an important minister in Kublai Khan's shogunate, he took up the post of Minister of Agriculture at the beginning of the year, in charge of agriculture.

Kublai Khan waited for the crowd to leave and said: "Liu Zheng, you must think that it is wrong for Ben Khan to attack Luzhou?"

Liu Zheng hurriedly knelt down and said, "Khan, I dare not."

"Liu Aiqing, get up. Ben Khan asks you, how long will it take you to build thousands of warships?"

"With sufficient funding, it will take about two years."

"Two years? Well, Liu Zheng, you will build a thousand medium and large warships for Ben Khan within two years. By then, including my original warships, including large and small warships, there will be nearly [-] ships." At the same time, the training of my navy should be stepped up, and I must reach the same combat power as the navy of the Southern Dynasty in two years. Ben Khan plans to launch an order for a general offensive to the south in two years. The chosen Xiangfan."

"Khan Shengming, what about the battle of Luzhou?"

"Liu Zheng, you don't have to worry about this. My court navy is still inferior to the people of the Song Dynasty. You must hurry up. Ben Khan has ordered the relevant departments to fully support him, and asked Zhang Wenqian to personally be responsible for allocating human, financial and material resources. If the navy's combat power If we can equalize with the Southern Dynasty, then the entire military strength of our dynasty will definitely be able to surpass the army of the Song Dynasty."

Kublai Khan was proud but not arrogant. Regarding the comparison of the military strength of Song and Mongolia, he was able to seek truth from facts and make up for shortcomings. He was indeed an outstanding military strategist.Liu Zheng was greatly impressed. If the rulers of the Song Dynasty had half the mind and ability of Kublai Khan, they would not have fallen to the point where only half of the country was left.

"Don't worry, Khan, I will do my best to create an invincible navy for Khan."

"Alright, Liu Aiqing, Ben Khan is looking forward to this day coming soon."

Zhang Wenqian finally said: "Master Liu, Zhang will help you with all his strength."

Knowing that Zhang Wenqian was a close minister of Kublai Khan, Liu Zheng didn't dare to be negligent, and hurriedly saluted, "Liu thanked Mr. Zhang here."

Jia Sidao's mind has calmed down a little recently. Hao Jing's departure does not seem to have caused too much trouble. From the information obtained, the Mongolian court is peaceful. There is no news of Hao Jing's reinstatement, and no envoys have been sent to question him. Song Ting.

It seems that the letter brought by the monk who claimed to be Yanglian Zhenjia that day should be authentic.

"Junhan, is Ulihan okay in the manor?"

"My lord, everything is well."

"Well, don't let him escape."

"Don't worry, my lord. Junhan understands the importance of it. I have already arranged for an elder from the Wu family to sit in charge in the manor."

"Well, don't worry, I'm doing business with Junhan. Many years have passed in a flash. Since I rescued your father 20 years ago, your Wu family has been following me. You have been loyal to me all these years, and I am also grateful."

"My lord, Junhan obeys my father's will, and it is only natural to do things for my lord."

"It's a pity that your Wu family's status in the world is gradually fading."

"My lord, the rivers and lakes are dangerous. Although my reputation is gone, at least my Wu family children are still alive these years, and it is thanks to your lord."

"Oh, life is like a dream."

Wu Junhan was silent for a while. In order to respect his father's last wish, he led the Wu family to guard Jia Sidao for more than ten years.It's just that Jia Sidao, who was under the command of Commander Yu Gong back then, seemed to have changed too much, and he was completely different from the grand master today.Back then, Wu Junhan quite agreed with his father’s last wish. At that time, Jia Sidao seemed to be a person with ideals and ambitions, otherwise Yu Gong would not have recommended him as the envoy of the Jinghu System before his death, and would have sent him as his successor.However, the current Jia Sidao is a "traitor" who only knows power and enjoyment.

Is it all worth it?

"Master Xiang, Lord Liao, Lord Weng is here." Jia Xuan's voice after entering the room interrupted Wu Junhan's thoughts.

"Let them in, Junhan."

"grown ups."

"Junhan, from now on, I will ask Na Ulihan to send you a letter regularly, and the old man will send someone to the north."

"All contain understanding."

"See Grand Master."

"Well, you two, sit down. Jia Xuan, serve wine and food."

"Yingzhong, the business department is still very busy."

"My lord, it's a lot easier than before. After the staff is in place, Yingzhong doesn't need to worry about everything."

"Well, do it well. The old man reckons that sooner or later you will get the post of Minister of Commerce."

Liao Yingzhong was stunned: "My lord, what do you say? Your subordinate's loyalty to your lord has never changed."

Jia Sidao smiled: "Don't talk about this today, what do you think of Zhao Yu's provincial system?"

Weng Yinglong said: "My lord, isn't this obvious? Your Majesty took the opportunity to re-arrange the positions of officials, but letting the Government Affairs Council take the lead on such an important matter is clearly weakening the authority of the Ministry of Education."

"Yingzhong, what do you think?"

"My lord, Mr. Weng is right. Judging from the series of measures taken by His Majesty, His Majesty is clearly purging dissidents."

Jia Sidao nodded slightly: "Well, once the emperor and the courtiers, Zhao Yu wants to restore the situation in Taizu Taizong's time."

Liao Yingzhong knew that during the period of Taizu Taizong, the imperial power was dominant, and the rise of prime minister power began from the time of Zhenzong. With the weakness of the subsequent emperors, the power of the prime minister increased and continued until the period of Lizong.

Weng Yinglong and Liao Yingzhong looked at each other, and then at the indifferent Wu Junhan. They didn't know what Jia Sidao was up to, so they kept silent.

"Compared to the previous emperor, Zhao Yu is too powerful. Under the arrogance, he seems to regard himself as Tang Zong and Song Zu. Faced with this situation, how should we deal with it?"

"My lord." Liao Yingzhong said after thinking for a while, "This subordinate thinks that when the provincial system is implemented, we should fight for more areas so that your disciples can stay as long as possible, and take advantage of the shortage of manpower when the Administrative Council is busy implementing the provincial system. , strive to let Chen Yizhong and others enter the Government Council."

Jia Sidao: "Although this method is feasible, can we just keep being passive like this?"