Country color

Chapter 486
Li Shenfu said on the side: "Brother, since Liu Heita went north to attack Yuchi Gong, what should we do? At this time, it would be good if we abandon Yu Wenhua and take advantage of the situation to attack Mingzhou."

Li Shentong turned around and said: "I will not do this, jumping into the pit of fire where the two armies of Zhao and Xia are fiercely fighting, Lord Tang is going to take Luoyang, I am just a pawn to explore the way, attack Mingzhou, Didn't you do it for Li Chongjiu?"

Speaking of this, everyone laughed.Li Shenfu said with a smile: "That's all I said."

Li Shentong looked around, and said immediately: "What we have to do is to maintain the balance of power in Hebei, attack Yu Wenhuaji, and support Liu Heita to prevent Li Chongjiu from being destroyed. Bing Hebei and Shandong, Li Chongjiu will not be able to say that he has grassland horses to help him, even if he transfers 40 Turkic cavalry, he will not be able to recover."

Hearing what Li Shentong said, everyone nodded in unison.

Cui Mingan said: "Prince Huai'an, should I ask the emperor for instructions on this matter?"

Li Shentong said: "Accordingly, the request for official documents has already arrived in Chang'an, but the emperor has entrusted a certain person with full power in Shandong, and a certain strategy has been made here. The land of Hanoi is not lost."

After hearing this, everyone bowed their heads and said yes.

Li Shentong was full of ambition, and said with a smile: "Right now, we might as well stand on the sidelines and station our troops here to see how Liu Heita destroys Wei Chigong. If Liu Heita wins, we will attack Yu Wenhuaji. If Liu Heita loses, we will It is to send troops to aid Xia."

Xindu was the rule of the ancient Yizhou, and Yizhou was the head of Kyushu.In ancient times, Yao, Shun, and Yu all had their capitals in Hebei, so it was called Jifang, which is the name of the ancient Central Plains.

For Liu Heikai, the location of Xindu County is extremely important, connecting Hejian County in the north, Qinghe County in the south, Wu'an County in the south, Zhao County and Xiangguo County in the east, Yongji Canal in the west, and the Yellow River.

Liu Heikai's [-] elite soldiers rushed from Yongnian City in Mingzhou to Changle County, the prefecture of Xindu County. Liu Jun's soldiers marched lightly, but it took three days to reach Changle County. The elite army of black guns.

Now outside Changle City, soldiers of the Liu Army, wearing red scarves on their heads and holding fiery red battle flags, stood all over the mountains and plains, and a strong fighting spirit enveloped the entire mountain.

Liu Heita looked at Yuchigong's men and horses in the mountains, with a dignified look on his face, his younger brother Liu Shishan asked Liu Heita: "Brother, let's come here with all the elite, plus the troops from Xindu County, There are a total of [-] people, three times that of Yu Chigong, and they are ready to attack the enemy with all their strength, why is the eldest brother hesitating at this time?"

Liu Heikai looked at Liu Shishan and said, "I don't know what you're talking about, but this Wei Chigong clearly knows that there are few soldiers, but he doesn't retreat here. Isn't it a fraud?"

Liu Shishan heard the words and said: "Brother, you don't know that the Zhao people have been victorious all the time, and their arrogance is really arrogant. This Wei Chigong heard that he was Li Chongjiu's welding general. He never puts people in his eyes. This time he actually captured Li Tang's. Gucheng, this is tantamount to pulling out Li Shentong's face in public, I think he deliberately provoked our army here without knowing his life."

Liu Heitai looked at Liu Shi and said kindly, "If it's true, then it will be fine."

General Zhang Junli said: "General, but Li Chongjiu's prairie cavalry is still in Youjing. As long as Gaoyang is not lost, there is no need to worry about his cavalry going south. This Wei Chigong is the fat that came to your door."

Liu Heita nodded and said, "That's right, are the ministries ready?"

Liu Shishan clasped his fists and said, "It's ready, just wait for the general's order."

Liu Heita nodded happily, and said: "The whole army is attacking!"

Just as the drummer beside Liu Heita was about to beat the drum, suddenly a person from the bottom of the mountain rushed up the mountain in a hurry and said, "Wait a minute, General, something is wrong."

Liu Heikai's eyes froze, and when he saw that the other party was Ling Jing, he said, "You are not in Mingzhou, what are you doing with your letters? In such a haste, is Gaoyang City captured by Li Chongjiu, or Gao Yaxian was rebelled by Li Chongjiu?"

"None." Ling Jing shook his head, still panting violently.

Liu Heikai heard that Gaoyang City was not lost, and said with a smile: "Since Gaoyang City is not lost, what should I be afraid of?"

Ling Jing turned pale, shook his head and said: "General, you don't know, today Li Chongjiu used more than [-] fire boats to burn the iron chains on the river in Changlu City, and his naval ships are already Shun Yongji Canal went south."

Liu Heita was shocked when he heard the words, and said, "It turned out to be Yongji Canal!"

Changlu County in Hejian County, now adjacent to Yanshan County in Bohai County, has always been an important transit point for the Hebei Salt Road from Yongji Canal to Luoyang Jingshi.Due to the adjacent Yongji Canal and the salt industry, this place traveled from south to north, and the business was prosperous. It also made the imperial court set up a water gate here to supervise the ships going from south to north.

Now a raging fire is burning on the river outside Changlu County. The Xia Army Navy stationed in Changlu County, as well as the previous Hengjiang iron chain, are now burning on the river.Half of the ship sank to the bottom of the water, while the other half was in flames. There were corpses floating on the surface of the river, which showed that a fierce battle had just been experienced here.

On the north side of Yongji Canal, hundreds of large and small water boats filled the canal.The fiery red Zhao character flag was inserted horizontally on the bow of the ship, and it looked like a spark starting a prairie fire from a distance, covering the entire river from far to near.

The troop carrier opened the way ahead, and it was fully loaded with Zhao Jun's soldiers, and the ship's side entered the deep water, but it was a grain ship that was heavily loaded with Zhao Jun.On both sides of the river, nearly ten thousand Zhao troops rode finely, riding across the water.Zhao Jun Wan Shengjun, the elite cavalry of the sudden cavalry regiment, set fire to the military supplies piled up by Xia Jun on the port, turning the port into a white ground.

"My lord, our army has captured Changlu County."

Li Chongjiu and Zhang Xuansu were on a big boat, and they all nodded when they heard Xue Wanche's report.

Ji Chuan asked from the side: "The majority of Xia's troops are in the navy here, above the water pass. If the navy is destroyed and the water pass has been broken, it will be difficult for Changlu County not to surrender."

Xue Wanche said: "The county magistrate originally wanted to resist, but he was killed by the county lieutenant in the city. The county lieutenant held his head and opened the door to surrender, so it was effortless."

Li Chongjiu looked at Zhang Xuansu and said with a smile: "I remember the county captain, it must be your internal response to instigate rebellion."

Zhang Xuansu nodded with a slight smile.

It turned out that Li Chongjiu personally led an army of [-], and did not go directly from Youjing to Gaoyang City by land, but boarded a boat in most of Yongnu County, and went south by water from Yongji Canal.

Before Li Chongjiu had already ordered Lin to be the front, Zhou Bo recruited hundreds of waterborne merchant ships and grain ships in Youjing. The [-]-strong army received one month's rations, and then ordered the cavalry regiment and the cavalry of the Wansheng Army to advance along the river with the boats, and to attack the lower reaches of the Yongji Canal with both land and water.

Zhang Xuansu spread out the map and said: "From Changlu County to the south, you need to go through Gonggao of Hejian County, Wuyi of Xindu County, Zhangnan of Qinghe County, Wucheng, Qingyang, Yongji of Wuyang County, Guantao , you can go to Daming to the east of Mingzhou, from Daming to the south, pass through Neihuang, and you can reach Liyangcang."
From the map, Li Chongjiu saw that the Yongji Canal was like a link, connecting all the important cities in Hebei. Mingzhou was the base camp of Liu Heita, and the Liyang Warehouse had supplies of grain.

Zhang Xuansu said with a smile: "Liu Heitai stationed in Gaoyang City with his elegance and virtuousness, but he cut off our Hebei grain road, and our army uses Yongji Canal to transport grain, so that soldiers, horses, money and grain can flow continuously from the canal to Ming. Zhou, why are you afraid that Liu Heita will cut off my grain and roads?"

All the generals laughed, and even Ji Chuan rarely agreed with Zhang Xuansu's opinion, saying: "At the beginning, Yang Guang built the Yongji Canal for the purpose of transferring the grain from Henan to Youjing, so that it could be used by the Liao army. The army can get twice the result with half the effort by using waterways to transport food, and it can go straight to Mingzhou, Liu Heita's confidant. Liu Heita is like this, how dare he leave Mingzhou to support Gaoyang, Xindu, and can only defend Mingzhou, while our army divides troops into several routes , is about to sweep through the cities of Hebei, isolate Liu Heita in Mingzhou, and defeat him in the final battle."

Li Chongjiu nodded and said: "It should be so."

Just at this time, Xue Wanshu reported: "The water barriers on the river have been completely cleared, and the navy can go south."

Li Chongjiu nodded and said: "Civilian service is enlisted from Changlu County to pull boats for the navy and trackers. As for Wu Gunai, Qin Qiong, Luo Shixin and other generals, when they encounter stubborn enemies, they don't have to fight. They just pass by the city. The army's target is only Mingzhou, not the counties around the canal."

After that, Li Chongjiu's hundreds of ships, fully loaded with military rations and horses, sailed south along the Yongji Canal with full sails.Wu Gunai, Qin Qiong, Luo Shixin and other generals led cavalry and marched with the boat.

Xia Jun on both sides of the Yongji Canal saw Zhao Jun's army passing by, and they were frightened when they heard the news, and they dared not go out of the city to intercept it.Li Chongjiu conscripted [-] civilian husbands from Changlu County to pull fibers with the boat.

Li Chongjiu's navy went south along the Yongji Canal, and when they arrived in Gonggao County, they suddenly heard that the waterway ahead was blocked.

It turned out that Gonggao County was garrisoned by Dong Kangmai, a general under Liu Heita's command. Gonggao County's navy had [-] small boats and [-] sailors.

Dong Kang bought and heard that Li Chongjiu's main force of [-] troops had arrived along the river. He immediately ordered the navy to sink all the ships on the river, trying to prevent Li Chongjiu's army from going south.But Dong Kangmai didn't think of it,
Li Chongjiu had already taken precautions, and [-] civil servants recruited stepped forward to cooperate with Li Chongjiu's navy to clean up the sunken ship.

The civil servants directly launched Li Chongjiu into the water, hooked the sunken ship, and dragged it to the shore.Dong Kangmai wanted to mobilize troops to attack and destroy the civilian service clearing ships, but when he saw a large number of cavalry on the shore, he retreated immediately.

In just an hour, the water surface was cleared up, Li Chongjiu's navy continued to move south, and Xia Jun's navy sank in vain.

Xia Jun Dong Kangmai was on a hill far away, watching the mighty Zhao Guoshui army going south along the canal, and suddenly wanted to vomit blood.

Afterwards, the guard general of Zhangnan County in Xindu County announced his surrender to the State of Zhao, and Li Chongjiu's army was unimpeded. Dare to retreat and defend the city, dare not go out of the city.

Li Chongjiu's former army arrived at Qinghe, only a hundred miles away from Mingzhou, Liu Heita's base camp.At this time, Liu Heitai, who was in Xindu, was caught in a dilemma.

(End of this chapter)