Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 522

"Okay, that's great! It's rare, it's rare!" Zhao Qi danced, "The three generals Zhao, Yue, and Han actually repelled the Liao bandits." He handed the military prelude in his hand to Deng Su, full of joy. The face is full of surprises, "Ezhou has no worries, Privy Cao is about to send troops, and there is no time to give them back."

"I obey the order." Deng Su bowed and said, he quickly glanced at the report and was taken aback, "Send troops today?"

"Yes!" Zhao Qi reached out to pick up the Son of Heaven Sword from the table, hung the scabbard on his belt, and took a heroic selfie in the mirror, Zhao Qi nodded in satisfaction. "Ezhou is empty, just around the corner, and Aiqing will go with me." He patted Deng Su on the shoulder, as if Ezhou City had surrendered under his feet, "Zhao Xingde is a general, if possible, Aiqing can persuade him to submit , I will not hesitate to reward you." After Zhao Qi finished speaking, without waiting for Deng Su's consent, he opened the palace door and walked out.

There is already a team of imperial guards waiting outside, all of them have already put on their armor, escorted Zhao Qi in the middle, and walked all the way to the imperial chariot.Deng Su followed behind the imperial chariot with his head bowed all the time. The sky was shining brightly, and he couldn't help narrowing his eyes slightly.If Ezhou is attached to Yuqian, the unification of the Central Plains will be just around the corner.The strength of Chen Dong and Zhao Xingde must be preserved as much as possible, so as to restrain Cao Di, Liu Yanqing, and..., Yue Fei and Han Shizhong.Your Majesty may be tolerant, Deng Su raised his head and looked at the figure on the imperial chariot.

The [-] army has been waiting for a long time, and the imperial chariot will set off as soon as it arrives in the army.

The boats and warships meet each other on the water, and the cars and horses on the shore are rustling. The soldiers and horses are connected one by one. You can't see the end to the south and the end to the north.Most of the army in Xiangyang is elite soldiers accumulated by the imperial court for a long time. The soldiers are dressed in bright armor and lined up holding bows, crossbows, knives and guns. The arrows waited, and more military supplies such as food and grass were carried down the river by naval warships, with flags covering the sun, war horses neighing, and gongs and drums ringing.The dust was flying, and dozens of cavalry escorted the emissary who declared the decree, persuading the rebels in Ezhou not to resist stubbornly, and sent down the real dragon emperor early.

"Cao escorted the imperial driver to the expedition, and the important task in Xiangyang is entrusted to Liu Xianggong."

Cao Di, dressed in military uniform, cupped his hands radiantly.Unexpectedly, those juniors in Ezhou were still fighting for their spirits, forcibly repelling the Eastern Route Army of the Liao thieves. This time, they sent troops to Ezhou and took advantage of the situation to go straight to the south of the Yangtze River.Surrounding Cao Di are the generals of the Xijing camp. These days, Cao Di has transferred the Xijing elite to Xiangyang, overwhelming the southeast camp in terms of strength. He is self-interested and seldom decisive. In this case, he is completely fighting against him.

"Where is there?" Liu Yanqing was less aggressive than Cao Di, but he couldn't tell that he had a big belly even when he was sitting on a horse.With a solemn face, he couldn't see any dissatisfaction. Instead, he solemnly cupped his hands and said, "The Liao bandits are powerful and cunning. After Cao Xianggong captured Ezhou, he must join forces as soon as possible to resist the Liao bandits together." . " His words showed weakness, but in fact they reassured Cao Di's heart.

"Don't worry Liu Xianggong," Cao Di said with a smile, "Ezhou is powerless to resist, and the thief Dashi is cunning and suspicious. When he recovers, the army has already won the battle." The secrecy of this battle was done very well. Those who really knew the inside story in advance, including Zhao Qi and Liu Yanqing, were only seven or eight people.Since Cao Di took over as the privy envoy and escorted Shengjia to Xiangyang, he has been calling for the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains and the recovery of Bianliang, training soldiers, preparing food and military supplies, and at the same time, in the name of dredging the grain road, opened up various checkpoints from Xiangyang to Ezhou , In the name of escorting grain and grass, the navy conducted several sea trials to test the water.Now that the army suddenly turned around and headed south, taking advantage of the emptiness of Ezhou's troops and the overwhelming momentum of Mount Tai, it is indeed very sure that they will crush the rebels in Ezhou in one fell swoop.

"Liu Xianggong only needs to cooperate with Cao." Cao Di pointed at the army with a horsewhip, and laughed loudly, "Under the [-] tigers and tigers, Nanping's chaos' party, north of Khitan, ZTE's great achievements, just around the corner!"

The two handsome ministers stationed their horses on the high slope, looking down at the tens of thousands of troops passing by, even the imperial chariot of the yellow umbrella was among them, they couldn't help being extremely high-spirited, Liu Yanqing looked at the yellow umbrella, and couldn't help but feel a little pitiful That young emperor, Cao Di now holds [-] tigers in his hands, and even relies on his status as the head of the country to reject the generals. Doesn't he want to go further?Liu Yanqing couldn't help but feel a shock in his heart.

Cao Di has a name in governing the army. He must fool his eyes and ears and make him like a baby, so that he can bow his head and obey his orders, and he will go through fire and water without paying attention.In the army going south, many soldiers were ignorant and only knew how to obey orders, but the sudden change from the northern expedition to the south still made many people feel strange.

"Brother, didn't you mean to call back to Bianliang?" Shi Ke said with a sad face, "Why are you heading south again?"

"Shut up," Rui Laoqi whispered, "Be careful that people will listen to you, and you will be punished for the crime of shaking the morale of the army."

The two men were from the same hometown in Henan. Wang Yanping was recruited to join the army when he was in Pingla, but his family was still in Henan.After Cao Di arrived in Xiangyang, he selected elites from the southeast camp to form a Flying Tiger Army, and the two were selected again.Remembering that their family members were still alive and dead, Shi Ke and Rui Laoqi sighed, drooping their heads all the way, feeling at a loss in their hearts, and just followed the army southward.It's a long journey, I don't know when it will end, and I don't know when I can return to my hometown, so I don't have to be a lonely ghost in a foreign land.

The [-]-mile waterway from Xiangyang to Ezhou seems to be farther than Jiangzhou to Ezhou, but the use of troops in the southeast requires naval assistance.The sailing from Xiangyang went down the Han River, while the return from Jiangzhou to aid Ezhou went upstream, and the speed of the boats was very different.Therefore, even if Jiangzhou's suppressing army and Baoyi army returned immediately after the war, they would not be able to reach Ezhou in time.According to detailed investigations, scholars like Chen Dong have done their best to repel the Liao State East Route Army, and now those staying in Ezhou are just some prefectural and county battalions who have no combat capabilities.Cao Di set out with an army of [-], one is that the lion fights the rabbit with all his strength, and the other is that he wants to run a good life in Ezhou. As the emperor, he also sits here and dispatches troops.

The Xiangyang army went south along the Han River, advancing both land and water, and the momentum was extremely large. Most of the states and counties they passed along the way surrendered in hope of the wind, and very few stubbornly closed their doors. Cao Di only left a small number of soldiers and horses to watch. The army rushed to Ezhou at full speed.More than ten days later, the forward arrived in the north of Ezhou City. However, the flag officer did not bring news of victory, but the opposite.

"What? Navy gunboats blocking the river?" Cao Di yelled sharply on his horse, "With only four or five boats, can it stop my tens of thousands of troops?" Ai Jiang, almost thought this was perfunctory.He has been in charge of the army for a long time, and his body is very intimidating. The flag officer can't bear it, he can't justify himself, he just kneels on the ground and pleads guilty.

"Okay, get up." Cao Di forced himself to calm down, and hummed, "Tell me, what's going on?"

"Commander, the gunboats that help the rebels are different from ordinary naval warships. The iron barrel guns are arranged under the sides of the ship, and there are two or three layers of gun holes. There are dozens of iron barrel guns on a ship. There were so many, the ships on both sides took turns to fire guns, and the ships were strong and powerful. Although there were many warships in the forward navy, they could not match them. The enemy ships continued to bombard them day and night, and General Meng was forced to withdraw from Hanyang again."

"What?" Cao Di shouted, "How many enemy troops are there? Can't even capture Hanyang?"

"No, no..." The banner officer tied his tongue and still explained, "Hanyang is still in our hands, but the enemy ships kept firing bombardments, and the soldiers stationed in the city suffered a lot of damage, so Meng The general left some soldiers and horses to defend the city, and most of them withdrew from Hanyang and camped out of range of the enemy ships' artillery."

"What kind of artillery fire is so powerful..." Cao Di gasped, his brows furrowed like never before.

............

On the river between Hanyang and Ezhou, three "weird" gunboats were lined up, and the other warships of the Ezhou Navy guarded the gunboats to prevent the warships of the Xiangyang Navy from colliding and setting fire.The flag was hung on the mast of the gunboat, and the painting was actually a blue unicorn between the white mountains and the black waters.

"Hasn't the enemy 'shown' yet?"

The sound of "da", "da" and "da" sounded on the deck, and the sailor and gunner couldn't help but tense up, stepping on the deck firmly with a fake leg.In the past, the people in the navy had some words for him to drag his broken leg on board, but the disability on his leg did not prevent him from resisting the wind and waves at sea, nor did it prevent him from being in charge of the first gunboat of the Han army. Now, Tong Yunjie has It was all those who went south to the Han people's navy to control them.

"These gray grandsons regard their own lives as precious, and they wish to get into the hole and run to the sky. No wonder Liaogou went south, tens of 10 people are not enough for people to fill their teeth, even the emperor Lao Tzu Throw it to Liaogou." The gunner said loudly, and there was a burst of vulgar laughter from around.There are also more than 100 large and small ships at the front of the Xiangyang Navy. If they recklessly use the technique of ramming and attacking, it will be really difficult to deal with.But they haven't been like this so far, which is why the Han army navy is able to calm down.

Hearing the vulgar words of his subordinates, Tong Yunjie frowned, and reprimanded: "Be careful, don't be careless. This is an errand ordered by Mr. Zhao. If it goes wrong, I will be ashamed to see others. You all jump into the sea to feed the fish. He said that he was feeding the fish is not a joke. The Han army navy punished the traitors, throwing them into ice cages in winter, and throwing them into the sea with their hands and feet tied to feed the fish in summer.The soldiers were shocked when they heard this, and hurriedly agreed.

Tong Yunjie nodded, and after inspecting this deck, he looked at Diao Dou on the mast. This was the only place on the whole ship that was inconvenient for him to go. not here.Tong Yunjie was a little more heartbroken, dragging that wooden leg, "da" "da" "da" to inspect the second deck.There was a gloomy air about Tong Yunjie, and when he left, the sailors on the upper deck heaved a sigh of relief, and the pressure on his body suddenly eased a little. No one wanted to offend the one-legged commander, who was punished to go to the bottom where the sun is always dark .