Horse on the World

Chapter 415
In February of the second year of Zhaoqing, the Tuojiang River, the largest river in the east that runs through Shunzhou, Shenzhou, and Liaozhou, had already begun to thaw. The water splashed all over the sky and hit the embankments on both sides of the bank.The warm sunshine caresses the earth gently, and the spring breeze is pleasant, but it is a good time for early spring.

Although there are still ice blocks raging in the river, on the embankments on both sides, the tender green grass sticks out its head tenaciously, swaying weakly in the spring breeze. From a distance, it seems that the embankment has been replaced with a new one. A floral dress, one green and one yellow.

At the berth of the Tangwan navy, Zheng Zhiyuan, the admiral of the Dingzhou navy, was squatting on the bank of the Tuojiang River, watching the large and small ice blocks passing by not far in front of him, and the water splashed on his body. It also seems to be unaware.He was very anxious. Commander Li of Dingzhou had already issued an order to launch an attack along both sides of the Tuojiang River as soon as possible, and cooperate with Zeng's army to entangle the main force of Lu's who went deep into Shenzhou. But this year, Ling Xun was later than usual. For a long time, it was late February, but the Tuojiang River had just begun to thaw. Dozens of warships led by him entered the Tuojiang River from Anshun, but they were stuck at the Tangwan navy berth, watching Zeng's retreat on land. , but nothing can be done.

"Scary weather!" Zheng Zhiyuan cursed bitterly, turned around and asked an old man in black clothes beside him: "Old Wu, when do you think this Ling Xun will end?"

Mr. Wu is an old man from the local area. He has lived by the Tuojiang River for a long time, but he knows Ling Xun here very well.

"General Zheng, judging by the weather, I'm afraid Ling Xun won't be completely over until the beginning of March." Elder Wu said respectfully.

Zheng Zhiyuan angrily kicked the small stones on the embankment into the river, and shook his head helplessly. At this time, the Tuojiang River, it is impossible for a boat to enter the Tuojiang River. The large and small ice blocks will cause fatal damage to the boat. The moment the message ends.

In Shanyin County, Shenzhou, the base camp of Lu's army, Lu Fengchun was also very anxious. The development of the war was far from what they expected. The expected blitzkrieg turned into a protracted war of attrition. Zeng's resistance was unusually fierce. Still leaning towards them, but compared to this local war, the Lu family is already quite dangerous in the chess game of the whole world.

After nearly a year of fierce fighting, although they occupied the entire Shunzhou and most of Shenzhou, the opponent's resistance became stronger the further they moved forward, and until now, every step they took had to pay a huge price.After suffering through the winter, Lu Fengchun once again launched a fierce attack on the Zhucheng in front. Zhucheng was the last hurdle for the Northern Army to encircle Shenzhou City. After defeating him, the road to Shenzhou was flat, without any obstacles. Taking Shenzhou City will further destroy Zeng's determination to resist. After a year of war, Zeng's main force has been almost destroyed. As long as Shenzhou City is captured and troops enter Liaozhou, Zeng's surrender can be forced.

But what Lu Fengchun never imagined was that this humble Zhucheng firmly held back his progress.The small city is only a few miles away, but tens of thousands of elite troops are stationed there. What makes the northern army even more frightened is that the defenders in this small city are well-equipped. The machine was almost doubled, and the eight-ox crossbow with four crossbows shot at the Mengchong chariot, and the siege chariot did a huge damage. He was shot by hundreds of crossbows densely like migratory locusts.

Lu Fengchun's tens of thousands of troops were dragged by Zhucheng for half a month, but they were still unable to break the city. Seeing the warmer weather, Lu Fengchun's temper became more irritable every day.

Where did Zhucheng's excellent equipment come from?Of course it was from Dingzhou. Ever since he knew that the Dingzhou Navy had wiped out the Bozhou Navy, Lu Fengchun knew that Li Qing had finally intervened in the battle.

Years ago, the first part of the Dingzhou Navy arrived at Anshun Port, which made Lu Fengchun even more aware of the imminent danger. Fortunately, it was already winter when they arrived, and the Tuojiang River was frozen, so the Dingzhou Navy could not enter the inland river to fight, and his plan was to In this winter, they took down Shenzhou in one go and marched into Liaozhou. In this way, only the navy's Dingzhou army would no longer be able to play much role, and the persecution would be withdrawn to the sea to wander.

But what he never expected was that all his hard work in the winter had only brought him closer to Shenzhou City. At this time, the Tuojiang River had begun to thaw, and he had to think about what he should do after the Dingzhou Navy entered the Tuojiang River.
Zeng's navy doesn't need to think about it at all, the combat effectiveness of dozens of broken ships is quite poor, but the Dingzhou navy is different, they are all fully equipped naval warships, although those who can enter the Tuojiang River are just a few unexpected But for the Northern Army whose navy is zero, this is a sharp arrow. With the Dingzhou Navy, Zeng will be able to deploy troops anywhere along the Tuojiang River as he likes, but he can only Desperately defending.

Leaning over the map, staring at the winding Tuojiang River across the entire east for a long time, Lu Fengchun finally decided, no matter what, to ensure the safety along the Tuojiang River.

"Zhao Ting, come here!" He greeted his son.Lu Zhaoting, who was once captured alive by the Statistics and Investigation Department, walked over in full armor, and the faintly visible bloodstains on the armor showed that this noble son in the past was also fighting on the front line now, under his unshaven beard , The resolute look showed that he had slowly matured in the blood and fire.

"Father, what's the matter?" Holding a water glass in one hand, pouring cold water down, he walked over.

"Look here!" Lu Fengchun pointed to a certain place on the drawing.

"Baimadu?" Lu Zhaoting glanced at his father in surprise.

"Not only Zhili, but also Baliji." Lu Fengchun poked these two places heavily with his fingertips.

"The Tuojiang River has a sharp turn at two places, Baimadu and Baliji, forming a zigzag route. Here, the river is narrow and the water is turbulent. It only needs to build a fortress and a built-in trebuchet to cover the entire river. And set up another stronghold on Baima Mountain to respond to these two places. Make sure to cut off the Tuojiang River so that Zeng's navy cannot go up the Tuojiang River to attack our side and rear." Lu Fengchun said.

Lu Zhaoting nodded and said: "Father, there is no problem with this kind of deployment. In the previous battles, didn't we severely defeat Zeng's navy several times in these two places, causing them to sink their halberds into the sand, and they were no longer able to attack along the Tuojiang River?" Are we done?"

"But the Dingzhou navy is here!" Lu Fengchun sighed, "The Dingzhou navy is not comparable to the Zeng's navy in terms of ships, soldiers, or equipment. The troops in these places are too weak, once they break through, the consequences will be disastrous."

Lu Zhaoting was silent for a moment, and said: "Father, are you overly worried? Each fortress of Baimadu and Baliji has assembled [-] soldiers, and there are another [-] elites on Baima Mountain, and [-] soldiers are guarding these two places. , should be safe."

"Don't be afraid of [-], just in case!" Lu Fengchun said: "In these places, there are only more than [-] elite members of our Lu family, and the rest of the troops are all locals recruited by force, and they have to surrender. Our generals of the Zeng clan, these people's will to fight is worrying, if they collapse during the war and leak thousands of miles away, we will be completely passive."

"What does dad mean?" Lu Zhaoting asked.

"You lead [-] elite soldiers, go and guard these two places for me, no matter what, we must ensure that Baimadu and Baliji are in our hands." Lu Fengchun looked at his son and said: "Dingzhou Navy entered the Tuojiang River. The general in charge is the Zheng Zhiyuan who wiped out Zhongxiang in Bazhou, this man is resourceful, courageous and good at fighting, you have to be careful when confronting him, you must be careful not to make mistakes."

Lu Zhaoting's eyes lit up, staring at the two small black dots representing Baimadu and Baliji on the map, "Father, don't worry, no matter how treacherous he is, I only have one idea, that is to stick to these two places, Send a ship over here."

Lu Fengchun stroked his beard and laughed loudly, "That's what I meant. If you hold these two places, I will have no worries here. I will try my best to win Zhucheng and march into Shenzhou."

At the berth of the Tangwan navy, Ling Xun, who had troubled Zheng Zhiyuan for many days, finally came to an end. The rushing river was rushing down the river without restraint. Zheng Zhiyuan, who was guarding the river every day, was ecstatic, and finally he could send troops.

The Dingzhou sailors and marines who stayed at the Tangwan berth for a whole winter boiled up. The sailors finally overhauled the ship and installed weapons, while the marines packed up their packages, packed their weapons, and were ready to go. For these People are not afraid of fighting, but afraid of being idle.When they are free, the officers will train the soldiers in different ways every day in order to keep the soldiers from getting into trouble. At the end of the day, they are often exhausted like dogs. When they return to the camp, they will eat a few mouthfuls of food weakly and then die. She fell asleep like a pig, and there was still energy to do other things. In the eyes of the Marine Corps, training is much more terrifying than fighting.

This army has stayed in Tangwan for a long time, and the local people were quite afraid at the beginning. So many troops from other places stationed there have always been a sad thing for the local people. The so-called banditry is like a comb, and soldiers are like a grate, which means that the army is much more powerful than the bandits, but this well-equipped army that makes people feel a little scared at first glance makes the locals feel that the experience passed down from this old life There are new doubts.Throughout the whole winter, the common people can see these soldiers, shirtless and wearing only a pair of shorts, singing songs and striding forward on the snow, or dozens of people carrying a log weighing hundreds of catties Shouting a chant and passing by the house.From the fear at the beginning to gradually getting used to it, and later on, whenever these soldiers were training, the ordinary people who were bored would come to watch the fun, and occasionally say hello to them, clap their hands, and cheer them up. Some soldiers and civilians have a happy taste.Unlike the army I have seen before, no matter what is collected locally, or what the soldiers need, this army pays in a disciplined manner. I have never seen a bad debt. The scourge of being a soldier, on the contrary, is that the income has increased a lot. The only fly in the ointment is that the local chickens, ducks, pigs, etc. have been wiped out, and these soldiers have bought them all.

With the sound of the bugle, these soldiers who are quite popular with the locals lined up neatly, stepped on the springboard line by line, entered the cabin at the berth, and followed the anchors of the ships. Set sail and gradually disappeared from their sight.

"When will they come back?" the local people thought reluctantly.

(End of this chapter)