The legend of the king of crossing

Chapter 453

In mid-March, Boyan, Deputy Marshal of the Mongolian Expedition to the South, led 27 Qi Xue troops to the Nanyang Middle Route Army camp in the south of Henan Province. After a short rest, Boyan led [-] of them to Xiangyang City. On the evening of the [-]th, they arrived at the Mongolian base in Baihe City Castle outside Xiangyang City. At the same time, the reinforcements from the two sides of the Jianghuai Military Region of the Song Dynasty, led by Xia Gui, the deputy commander of the Jianghuai Military Region, successively arrived at Suizhou City in the east of Xiangyang.

Throughout March, both sides were dispatching troops, and the total number of troops invested by the Song and Yuan armies in Xiangyang and its surrounding areas exceeded 20 at once.

"General Suodu, you will introduce the situation of the muskets of the Southern Dynasties to General Boyan again,"

On the second day after Boyan's arrival, Marshal Ashu held a high-level military meeting attended by the main generals of the Central Route Army. The only middle- and lower-level generals who attended the meeting on a regular basis were Qianhu Suodu—the only Mongolian who had seen the firearms of the Southern Dynasties. general.

"Yes, Marshal," Suodu got up, first saluted to Ashu, then to Boyan, and then told the situation of the musket firing he saw.

After hearing this, Boyan said: "As for the muskets used by the Imperial Forest Army in the Southern Dynasties, this general thinks that there are still two points that need to be further investigated. One is the effective range of the muskets, and the other is the firing speed of the muskets."

"That's right, General Boyan is right," Ashu said, "In future battles, our army needs to continue to explore. If we encounter the opponent's muskets again, our army will not hesitate to shoot arrows first to suppress the enemy's muskets." The firing of their muskets, and at the same time, if possible, strive to capture the opponent's weapons for our research,"

"Yes, handsome,"

Ashu continued: "Generals, judging from the battles with the Xiangyang Army in the past few months, the proportion of the Southern Dynasty army equipped with muskets should be very small, which shows that muskets must have their fatal weaknesses. Therefore, as long as everyone is careful, It will be all right. In addition, the commander-in-chief has good news for everyone. In addition to bringing [-] new troops, General Boyan also brought [-] stone-throwing machines. All the planes were assigned to General Ali Hague, who was in charge of besieging Fancheng."

"Ah," Ali Haiya stood up excitedly and said, "Commander, the outer wall of Fancheng is far less solid than its inner city. With these two hundred trebuchets, the general will have the confidence to open a gap in the outer part of Fancheng. "

"Okay, General Ali Haiya, General Kong Yuan, I will give you a month, and at the same time I will allocate 1 troops to drive the Song army outside Fancheng into the inner city of Fancheng first."

"Yes, handsome,"

"You two, sit down," Ashu said with a smile, "Everyone, judging from the situation this month, more and more troops from the Southern Dynasties army gathered around Xiangyang. The total number of troops has reached more than 4. According to my estimate, the anti-encirclement tactics implemented by the Southern Dynasty will soon begin. As long as our army can destroy its reinforcements outside Xiangyang City, then the Battle of Xiangyang, or even the entire The battle between Song and Meng is about to come to an end, all the generals obey orders, and General Boyan will assign our army's tasks for the next stage."

"Generals, according to the movements of the Southern Dynasty and the judgment of the emperor, the appearance of the Imperial Forest Army in the Southern Dynasty means that the emperor is very likely to visit Xiangfan in person. Therefore, the victory or defeat of the Battle of Xiangyang can almost be said to be the result of the entire Song, Mongolian and Southern Dynasties. The victory or defeat of the war, the emperor instructed us to win this war, and the symbol of victory is that our army must not only capture Xiangyang Fancheng, but also annihilate the reinforcements from the Southern Dynasty under Xiangyang City. Of course, if we can It would be a great contribution to capture the emperor of the Southern Dynasty," Boyan looked at the generals of the army in the middle, and first nodded, "General Liu Zheng,"

"The end is here,"

"Because the fleet along the river of the Southern Dynasties and Zhang Jue, the defender of Chongqing, guarded the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, our naval warships in central Sichuan could not support Xiangyang. Therefore, the emperor decided to send [-] shipwrights from the Sichuan shipyard to Wanzhang Mountain to speed up the local warships. Shipbuilding speed, at the end of this month, Wanzhangshan Shipyard can manufacture ten warships, and the first batch of sailors trained by General Liu Tao has also arrived in Xiangfan, General Liu, the Han River Basin will be handed over to you. The number of warships in the division is not as high as that of the Southern Dynasty, but we can try to compete with the Southern Dynasty navy to achieve the purpose of actual combat training. The action plan of the navy will be formulated by General Liu himself, and there is no need to report to the general and the commander."

When he heard the last sentence, Liu Zheng said excitedly: "Yes, the order of the last general,"

Before Boyan came to Xiangfan, Kublai Khan had specifically instructed that the generals in our court were not as proficient as Liu Zheng in water warfare, so others were not allowed to command blindly. None will be allowed to intervene at will.

This kind of extreme decentralization naturally made Liu Zheng very grateful.

Boyan continued to point his generals and said, "General Atahai,"

"The end is here,"

"You entrust Shi Jianjun with the construction of the Wanzhang Mountain Fortress, and you lead 1 people to station in the eastern part of Lumen Mountain to prevent Xiagui from Suizhou,"

"Yes, General Boyan, the order of the last general,"

"The east, west, and north gates of Xiangyang City are still in charge of the three generals Ajahan, Guo Kan, and Zhang Hongfan,"

"Decree,"

"General Huaidu,"

"The end is here,"

"At the beginning of next month, you, together with this general, will lead an army of [-] soldiers to Yingzhou,"

"Ah, General Boyan, are you going to attack Yingzhou?"

"Change at random, not necessarily siege,"

"Yes, the order of the last general,"

Ashu laughed and said: "Five thousand cowards, as long as they don't attack the city, they can be used as an army of [-] in the Southern Dynasty. From Xiangyang to Yingzhou, most of them are hilly and mountainous, and it will be inconvenient if there are too many people. Generals, everyone knows their own strength." It's a mission."

"Yes, handsome,"

Walk westward for less than 5 minutes from the middle section of the bustling Lin'an Tianjie, there is an ordinary small restaurant named Germination, this small restaurant is not big, the first floor is the general hall, the second floor is the private room, but there are only four rooms The small private rooms are named after southeast and northwest respectively.

With the rapid economic development of the Song Dynasty, the prices of shops along the streets in Lin'an City also rose in a straight line, and the shops on Tianjie in the central area were the most expensive among them. , some operate by themselves, and some are rented out to others. More than three years ago, a businessman surnamed Zhou rented this building and opened a budding restaurant. He is good at management and the price is fair, so since the opening, the business has been very prosperous.

In the evening, Yang Lian Zhenjia, who was wearing a wig and dressed like a layman, came to this small restaurant quietly. The owner of the shop personally led Yang Lian Zhenjia to a private room by the window on the second floor, and ordered the waiter to put it on the table. I ordered four dishes of side dishes and a bottle of high-quality Chinese Royal Yee.

Yang Lian Zhenjia had no expression on his face, while looking out the window, he drank alone.

After a while, the sky completely dimmed, the streets were brightly lit, the crowds were crowded, and the number of guests in the wine shop gradually increased.

Just when Yang Lian Zhenjia was about to finish drinking the bottle of liquor, a man in a black robe entered the Germination Restaurant. This man in black robe was short in stature and lowered his head, as if his whole body was covered by black robe. The man in black was very familiar with Germination Restaurant, so he went straight to the North Room on the second floor after entering.

"Nanshan, long time no see,"

The black-robed man called Nanshan snorted, sat opposite Yang Lian Zhenjia and said, "Speak quickly if you have something to say."

Yang Lian Zhenjia poured Nanshan half a glass of wine: "Come, talk while drinking."

Nanshan was also polite, picked up the wine glass and sipped silently.

Yang Lian Zhenjia whispered: "Nanshan, I want to know the information about the muskets used by the Imperial Forest Army in the Song Dynasty."

"Fire guns," Nan Shan muttered, then shook his head, "This is a first-class secret of the imperial court, and I have no way of knowing the details. The production of muskets belongs to the Gunpowder Supervision, but special certificates are required to enter and exit the Gunpowder Supervision. can't get in at all,"

"Nanshan, can you get the entry and exit documents?"

"You want to go in,"

"Exactly, Nanshan, you have been in the palace for many years, can't you get your entry and exit documents?"

Nanshan suddenly smiled: "Don't think about it, this kind of pass requires the emperor's own written instructions, and you must be accompanied by the imperial guards to enter,"

"Really," Yang Lian Zhenjia thought for a while, "Nanshan, do you know the situation of the guards at the Gunpowder Supervisor?"

"The gunpowder supervisor and its subordinate production workshops are heavily guarded. I only know that at least 500 people from all walks of life are guarding around them,"

"People from all walks of life," Yang Lian Zhenjialeng said, "Nanshan, what do you mean?"

Nanshan's voice sounded very thin: "As far as I know, there are at least fifty imperial guards, three companies, that is, a 300-member Imperial Forest Army, and other guards from secret organizations such as Jinyiwei. The hundred-man guards that originally existed in the Gunpowder Prison, together there are probably more than 500 people, Master Lianzhen, don’t you want to break in alone, don’t you?”

Although Yang Lian Zhenjia is highly skilled in martial arts, he is very self-aware. After many years of careful work, he has developed a cautious way of doing things. He is not able to deal with the fifty imperial guards alone, let alone other hundreds of people.

Yang Lian Zhenjia said with a smile: "Nanshan, I am not a reckless person. Without a perfect plan, I will not fall into the trap of myself,"

Nanshan snorted, "It's so good."

"Nanshan, your family is fine, don't worry about it, you will be able to see them after the battle in Xiangyang is over,"

"Battle of Xiangyang," Nanshan sneered, "the outcome of this war is still hard to predict, Lian Zhen, right now Jin Yiwei is still looking for you everywhere, you, and Yun Ze, let's take care of ourselves before we talk about it."

"Don't worry about it, Nanshan, the poor monk bids farewell,"

"No delivery,"

After Yang Lian Zhenjia left, Nanshan sat alone for a while in silence before getting up to leave.