Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 468 - 88 Sincerity crowns the ancients forever - 2

"It's a pity, if we double the number of cavalry, we can just cut into the enemy's back."

Ma Rui said regretfully.Two battalions were expected under the cavalry regime, but this is only a skeleton.Only a dozen officers slowly selected soldiers from the infantry to train from scratch.Northerners are good at riding, while southerners are good at boating.Few of the volunteer soldiers from Jingxiang were proficient in riding skills, let alone the skills of shooting bows from left to right and shooting straight arrows.Only the most basic riding skills can be practiced.

"If there are twice as many cavalrymen," Zhao Xingde said with a smile, "you can go to the street with me to beg for food."

With Ma Rui's all-out efforts, the formation of the cavalry has progressed very well.Zhao Xingde looked at the distance with great satisfaction. Around the large school grounds, there were rows of children lying on their stomachs, watching the cavalry practice their spear skills curiously and enviously, and doing some small businesses such as selling melons and dates.Soldiers ride on clay horses wielding sticks and knives."Shooting" arrows immediately requires higher cavalry skills, so the cavalry of the Baoyi Army focused on spear and saber skills, and tried to be simple in their moves, and they did not hesitate to die with the enemy.The conditions for selecting the cavalry are very strict. They must have a girth, agility, and excellent eyesight, and they must not be too tall.Once selected as a cavalry, the salary is twice that of the infantry. If the requirements of the cavalry battalion are not met regularly, the person will be sent back to the infantry battalion.Therefore, the training of the cavalry battalion is much harder than that of ordinary infantry.

After the great victory in Fangzhou, the Baoyi Army had been stationed in Fangzhou for half a month. Zhao Xingde took the opportunity to reorganize the Baoyi Army. Before the ordnance, the three of them trained with two wooden sticks and a firecracker.During training, soldiers are divided into three grades: excellent, junior, and supplementary soldiers.In order to prevent the soldiers of the three ranks from being dragged down by each other, most of the elite soldiers were incorporated into the Thunder-Throwing Battalion, and their salaries were three times that of their own ranks.The salary of the supplementary soldiers is only half of that of the original class.Therefore, everyone in the camp is vying to be the first, and they all want to win better treatment by virtue of their skills.The entire Baoyi Army was organized into fifteen battalions, including two cavalry battalions, one thunder-throwing battalion, two artillery battalions, and ten gunner battalions.Lu Mingyu and Luo Xianshi served as the commanders of the left and right armies, and each had five firearms battalions under their command.Ma Rui was in command of the cavalry army, while Gao Su and Liu Zhijian were in charge of the artillery battalion.Du Chuijiao leads the thunder-throwing battalion.

Zhao Xingde selected some strong warriors from the captives to enrich the Fangzhou Song Army.The Fangzhou army was still under the command of Chen Keli, the former Fangzhou military commander, and expanded to ten commanders, with a total of more than [-] people.This team may not be able to win the field battle with the invading Liao army, but it is enough to defend Fangzhou City after adding artillery and trenches.

This kind of reorganization was almost impossible before, but after the victory in Fangzhou, the reputation of the Baoyi Army rose, and Zhao Xingde's prestige in the Baoyi Army suddenly increased, and the reorganization was carried out smoothly without much effort.Since the Liao army invaded the south, there has been no failure. The Song Dynasty was defeated once in Hedong, twice in Hebei, and three times in Bianliang. The morale of the army and the people were extremely depressed.It directly led to the fact that the major battalions had hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers, but they all protected themselves in Yingcheng under the threat of the Liao army, and did not dare to take the initiative to attack the main force of the Liao army.After the victory in Fangzhou, even if everyone in the camps in Hedong, Hebei, and Xijing mentioned it, they would raise their thumbs up and praise "good man!" The southeast of Jingxiang even praised this battle as an unprecedented victory.

It wasn't until more than ten days later that the town's police department broke through the blockade of the Liao army and opened up the waterway from Ezhou to Xiangyang, which slightly overshadowed Fangzhou's limelight.The Zhen army selected [-] elites as forwards, led by Niu Gao and Yang Zaixing, to fight the Liao army on a warship.Yue Fei personally led the army to succeed, and set up iron barrel cannons, three-bow bed crossbows and other sharp weapons for water battles on the warships.The warships of the Song army approached the water village of the Liao army with the southeast wind, and all the cannons and crossbows on the warship were fired, igniting all the sails of the Liao army.The Khitan people are not good at water warfare, and the signing troops in the water fortress have no desire to fight to the death, they immediately scattered in panic and fled in all directions. The Han River was full of corpses, and the river turned red.After defeating the water stronghold of the Liao army, Niu Gao and Yang Zaixing led the troops to cut off the iron chains that lock the river with giant axes, and successfully sent the batch of grain and grass to Xiangyang.People of insight know that Xiangyang is the gateway to the southeast half of the country.The [-] troops stationed in the southeast battalion have accumulated a lot of food and grass. The symbolic meaning of opening up the waterway to send the food and grass to Xiangyang this time is greater than the substance.

The Xijing camp sent troops to rescue Xiangyang almost at the same time. Cao Di personally led the army to go south, avoiding Dengzhou and Tangzhou that had been occupied by the Liao army, and passing through Junzhou in the northeast of Fangzhou. The cavalry of the Liao Army brigade was densely packed on the east bank of the Han River, but there was no navy to stop the Song Army from advancing.After the army from Xijing arrived in Xiangyang, Liu Yanqing received the order to greet them, and only then did he know that the new emperor Zhao Qi was actually among the reinforcements.

Zhao Qi then announced that he would take Xiangyang as his destination, and the morale of the troops was greatly boosted. They shouted long live, and they were quite ready to fight to the death with the Liao army in Xiangyang, and the situation immediately stabilized.Surprisingly, among the generals, Zhao Qi had a particularly favorable view of Yue Fei.When he heard that Yue Fei was temporarily stationed outside Xiangyang City, he immediately bestowed gold helmets and silver armors, jade belts and brocade robes, and asked the eunuch who delivered the decree to tell him that as long as Yue Fei was willing to return to Xiangyang, the officials would immediately grant him the title of Wuchang Army Day Degree envoy, plus Prince Shao Bao.If this is the case, he will be comparable to Cao Di, Liu Yanqing, and Yang Yanqing who are far above him in terms of fame and status.Among the generals, Yue Fei was just a commander of the Xiang army. The officials praised a young general of the younger generation so much that everyone was envious and jealous, even Liu Yanqing, the commander of the Southeast Festival, was a little jealous in private.

However, what is even more astonishing is that Yue Fei abandoned this honor like a shoe. He did not allow the eunuch who delivered the decree to board the ship. Shengfan went back to Ezhou along the river on the same day. It is said that after Zhao Qi learned about it, he felt sorry for him and told others that Yue Pengju was a pure minister.Zhao Qi actually ordered the eunuchs to store up all the armor and brocade robes and save them for rewarding Yue Fei in the future when he returns to obedience.

After the news spread, everyone sighed with regret, and even more believed that Zhao Qi was a wise king who was thirsty for talents.Some time ago, the Liao army's soldiers were suppressing the border, and people were panicked. Now, many people think that Xiangyang is rejuvenated.If it hadn’t been for the unpopularity of the Cai party’s appointment of private individuals in the southeast, the Lishe had implemented the policy of county school elections earlier, tied the local tyrants together, and the two armies of Zhenguobaoyi showed enough strength, I am afraid that more than half of the state The county is going to vote for Zhao Qi.Even so, the hearts of the people in the southeast are fluctuating, and in the counties and counties controlled by the Lishe, there are also gentry who also walk around with Mrs. Cai Jing and Li Bangyan in private.

Fangzhou and Xiangyang are close at hand, so it is naturally affected a lot, but the influence is more among the common people in the market.When the common people are happily talking about the new official's thirst for talent, they will subconsciously forget that the official's side is already crowded with Cai Jing, Li Bangyan, Cao Di, Liu Yanqing and other officials of various colors. There is still a place for newcomers to gain a foothold.

"It's a good move." Chen Yuyi sneered, "People say that His Highness the Third Highness is extremely intelligent, and it's really not a lie."

When Chen Yuyi rushed to Fangzhou from Chang'an, and brought Liu Yi's letter to meet Zhao Xingde, Zhao Xingde knew that he was a descendant of Chen Xiliang, the former Zhizhou of Fangzhou, and the eldest grandson of the Chen family in Fangzhou.Chen Yuyi served in the Prime Minister's Mansion of Xia State, and Liu Yi valued him very much. If Fangzhou really needed him, the Prime Minister's Mansion would not be willing to let him out.The last secret order to Zhao Xingde was sent out hastily, it seems to be worried about some ambiguity, Liu Yi also specifically stated in the letter that Zhao Xingde is still fully responsible for the southeast affairs, and can directly mobilize troops including the Fangzhou garrison.Therefore, Chen Yuyi is not only the long history of the prime minister's mansion, but also a subordinate of Zhao Xingde, who can help him plan the military salary of the Baoyi army, take care of civil affairs and other matters.

"It would be good if we can consolidate the front line of Xiangyang." Zhao Xingde said indifferently, "General Yue is about to conquer Jianghuai. In three days, I will lead my troops back to guard Ezhou." Although the main force of the army was blocked by Jingxiang, it was like entering an uninhabited land between the Jianghuai River and the Huaihe River. If it weren't for the dense water in the south of Jinling, which was not suitable for the Liao army's horses to gallop, the remnants of the Song army would have been wiped out long ago.

At first, Yelu Bijie and Tie Muge just plundered and waited for Yelu Dashi to come to join forces, but in recent months, under the instigation of Kong Yanzhou and Li Cheng, a rebel general, the Liao army has increased its control over prefectures and counties. .Yelubijie was originally the Northwest recruitment envoy of the Liao Dynasty, who specialized in dealing with the Mobei ethnic groups. The division and wooing of these things was done in the same way, and he was familiar with it.Brother Tiemu is also a man with a flexible mind. On his way south, he saw the population of the Song Dynasty and the fierce resistance of the people.Therefore, the two generals of the Liao Army hit it off, stationed soldiers and horses in every prefecture and county, set up a routine of requisitioning food and grass, recruited local powerful families into the Han army camp, and falsely spread the decree of Bianliang to seal many false officials.

In view of this section, Chen Dong deeply felt that the Liao army should not be allowed to lay a foundation in the southeast.Now that Xiangyang has temporarily consolidated, Dong has no time to delay.Therefore, after discussing with Chen Dong and Yue Fei, the town government decided to send troops to the east in June, and the main force of the Baoyi army would return to Ezhou to prevent the enemy from attacking.

In addition, Zhao Xingde is also thinking about the newly opened iron mine. More than 3000 captives will be escorted to Daye County with the army. The mines and iron smelting furnaces there will be expanded, and there will be ironworks and foundries. Refined iron is specially used to make armor Weaponry blades, artillery guns, and inferior products were cast into agricultural tools and shells.In order to stimulate production, he had already persuaded Chen Dong to divide more than a dozen mining areas by the Military Quartermaster Office. Except for the original government-operated iron yards, each iron factory would openly bid for them, and then the Military Quartermaster Office would purchase ordnance from the iron factories.This kills two birds with one stone. Since ancient times, wealthy businessmen have loved large-scale transactions such as smelting iron and boiling salt. The money from bidding for iron ore can also relieve the emptiness of the Ezhou treasury.