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Chapter 499
In the twilight of the morning, the Yongji Canal outside Daming City.

This place has become the base of the Youzhou navy, but on the tens of feet wide river, there are thousands of sails like clouds and masts like forests, covering the sky and the sun.

On the bow of the ship, the navy flag with the character of Zhao fluttered.

Hundreds of flat-bottomed tugboats are heading north along the Yongji Canal to Daming. These tugboats arrive with nearly 10,000 shi of grain and grass from the Liyang warehouse to feed the [-]+ army.The continuous supply of grain in the Liyang warehouse not only greatly saved Li Chongjiu's insufficient reserve of military rations, but also taking the waterway from Liyang to Daming is far more convenient than taking the waterway from Youjing to Daming, saving thousands of miles of travel and saving manpower and waste of material resources.

It can be seen from this that the capture of Liyangcang is of great significance to Li Chongjiu's attack on Mingzhou this time.

Among the grain boats, more than a dozen warships with ramming angles on their bows were slowly moving on the river.The battleship has three decks, and it is much larger than the grain ship with two decks, whether it is carrying people or cargo.

Surrounded by flat-bottomed tugboats, a warship taller than a head was heading to berth on the Yongji Canal.

There were already a thousand generals of the Zhao army waiting on the pier.The auxiliary army on the pier, as well as the civilian service conscripted temporarily, were moving grain and rice from the grain ship, and everyone was extremely busy.
Finally, the warship docked and anchored. Dozens of Zhao Jun's leather-armored infantry went to the pier with shields to guard, and at the same time blocked the sight of outsiders.

Watching this scene, the boatmen, sailors, and servants on the pier couldn't help but look sideways, wanting to see who was coming, such a big battle.

But then another grain ship arrived, and everyone couldn't help but get busy again.

After the warship docked, Li Chongjiu, Xue Wanshu, and Li Wenxiang disembarked from the warship, and Zhang Xuansu, Guo Xiaoke, Li Deyi and other generals of Zhao Jun on the shore greeted them in person.

Li Chongjiu looked at the Daming Wharf, unloading food up and down. He was very satisfied with the busy scene, and immediately asked Zhang Xuansu: "How is the security of Daming City?"

Zhang Xuansu heard what Li Chongjiu said, and immediately knew that Li Chongjiu was concerned about the safety of the famous names in places where the army hoarded food.At that moment, Zhang Xuansu said: "Since Liu Heita abandoned Daming, our army of 2 horses has been stationed in this city, and two generals, Guo and Li, have set up formations by the Mingshui River [-] miles away. Daming City is absolutely secure. .”

Li Chongjiu nodded, at this time a general stepped forward and said: "Li Deyi, pay homage to King Zhao."

Li Chongjiu helped the other party up, and said softly: "This time Xiaoke advances so fast, it's really unexpected, and it's thanks to Li Qing's help."

Li Deyi lowered his head and said: "King Zhao praised me, I am ashamed to be worthy of it."

"It's worth it," Li Chongjiu looked at Zhang Xuansu and said, "Has Li Qing's proposal for rewards come down from Zhongshu Province?"

Henry Zhang said: "It's not so fast yet."

Li Chongjiu said: "Don't wait, I will issue an imperial edict to make Li Qing Marquis of Pingyuan."

Li Deyi immediately thanked him.Guo Xiaoke saw that Li Deyi had received the reward, and his face was quite proud, but he was a little surprised to see that Li Chongjiu didn't seem to have the slightest praise for his general.

"Also invite King Zhao to rest in the city." Zhang Xuansu said.

Li Chongjiu waved his hands and said, "No need, I will keep Xue Wanche, and Tudiji will lead 5000 troops to guard Liyang and monitor Henan, as well as Yu Wenhuaji and Li Tang. So this time I brought them from Liyang. The troops are limited, and this is our army's granary. Although our army has the support of Liyang's army rations, this place must not be captured by Liu Heita, otherwise it will repeat the mistakes of Yuan Cao's battle at Guandu. Follow me to the city Look around."

Li Chongjiu inspected the Daming city defense. The granary was built in the city, and the military rations brought in from the dock were continuously transported from the east gate to the granary.The four sides of the granary are closely guarded by soldiers, and the preparations for setting fire and preventing moisture are also very thorough.

All this is thanks to Zhang Xuansu who has been in charge of military affairs in Daming City.

Xue Wanshu asked: "May I ask, is your Majesty planning to use Daming as the base for the battle against Mingzhou?"

Li Chongjiu asked back: "Why does Xue Qing think so?"

Xue Wan said: "There are three advantages to having a large base camp with a great name. First, the great name is located by the Yongji Canal, so it is convenient for water transportation, mobilizing troops and horses, and transporting military rations; Go east and enter Mingzhou; the third time the granary is here, you should set up heavy troops to guard it."

Li Chongjiu shook his head, and said: "I attacked the camp in Mingzhou, not in Daming, but in Mingzhou."

Xue Wanshu asked in surprise: "Does the king want to personally preside over this battle?"

Li Chongjiu asked back, "Why not?"

Zhang Xuansu said from the side: "Your Majesty, attacking Mingzhou is not a matter of a day and ten days. I think it is better to send a general to do it for me."

Li Chongjiu said: "The siege of Mingzhou is related to the success or failure of Hebei. How can I stay out of it and pretend to be someone else. You don't need to persuade me anymore."

Speaking of this, the general on the side spread out the map in front of Li Chongjiu. Li Chongjiu pointed at the sheepskin map with his horsewhip, and said: "Liu Heita has stationed heavy troops in Yongnian City and built a strong city. If our army wants to attack Yongnian City, we must first sweep it away. On the periphery, after setting it up as an isolated city, we will attack together. According to the plan, the main force of our army and Xu Shiji will continue to attack Mingzhou from north to south."

Xue Wan said: "Your Majesty, although Li Shentong has been defeated, Li Tang may still intervene in Hebei affairs."
Li Chongjiu clicked on the map, and immediately said: "Send the order, order Yinghefu to lead [-] cavalry, take Wu'an for me, cut off the reinforcements from Li Tang Shangdang, and tie up my pockets!"

The autumn wind is getting colder, and this Zhao Xia battle has dragged into October.

The north and south of the Yellow River ushered in the early winter season, and piles of dark gray misty clouds pressed down on the earth.At dusk, winter rain began to fall from the sky, and the gray rain and mist shrouded a barren forest. Old trees stood gloomy in the rain, and jackdaws wailed from the branches from time to time, making it extraordinarily desolate and cold.

Begging Ashu's [-] rooms to get Xi's cavalry, marching in the rain.

Qi Ashu has always been fortunate that all the cavalry horses of Shi Dexi's army are all shoed, otherwise the horses would easily rot their hooves when marching in this season in the past.

"stop!"

Qi Ashu touched the raindrops on his face, and Zhuma looked around vigilantly. At this moment, the rain gradually stopped, and the sky became darker and darker. The surroundings were pitch black, and the whole land was completely shrouded in gray mist.

"What happened to the military master?"

Qi Ashu said: "No, the road is getting quieter and quieter, and there is no one. It's so strange."

The generals on the side reined in their horses one after another, and one of them said: "The military master is careful, I think it's all right."

Qi Ashu scolded: "How many battles have you fought? What do you know, this Han land doesn't have to be on the grasslands, it won't be so uninhabited for hundreds of miles, not to mention that Wu'an County is a place with a large population of Han land."
"drive!"

A fast horse came galloping, and it was the cavalry scout of Shi Dexi's department.

"Military Lord! On the other side of the mountain, many torches were found, as if a group of people and horses were also rushing in the rain."

After hearing this, Qi Ashu ordered the cavalry of Shibu to get the Xibu cavalry, led all the horses into the forest to hide, and led the light cavalry to go to the distance to investigate.

Qi Ashu came to hide in a valley full of dense forests, looked up, and saw soldiers in gray clothes on the hillside, holding torches, marching like a long dragon on the rolling hills.

Qi A Shu said: "This group of people is probably an enemy rather than a friend!"

"Do you want to avoid it?"

Qi Ashu said: "This group of people came from the south, and they came from the north with us, but they went west together, obviously they also went to Wu'an. So it is likely to be Xia Jun's people."

The generals heard the words and said: "Go to Wu'an, so they think the same as us, they want to rob Wu'an."

Qi Ashu said: "That's right, since we meet them on the road, we can't let them go."

As the forward of Yinghefu's [-]-strong army, Qi Ashu, his [-]-room unit got Xibu Qingqi, and encountered Zhang Junli's troops who were reinforced by Xia's army in Wu'an on the way.

The two armies met on a narrow road halfway.Qi Ashu followed the night, hiding and ambushing Zhang Junli's troops suddenly.

The two armies fought fiercely in the rain for an hour, but the ambush did not go smoothly. It was very dark, and the two armies each held torches to fight, in a mess.After fighting for a while, each of them realized that something was wrong, so they broke away from the battle. After paying the price of more than a hundred casualties to each other, neither of them took advantage.

So the two armies camped separately.

After dawn the next day, Yinghefu led the main force of the prairie cavalry to arrive near Wu'an City.Hearing that Xia Jun also intends to rob Wu'an, he immediately sent 1 people to take Wu'an City, and he led the main force to fight Xia Jun together with Qi Ashu.

Twenty thousand prairie cavalry lined up east of Wu'an, while Zhang Junli's troops had less than 5000 troops.

Zhang Junli retreated to the narrow valley to set up camp, which prevented Yinghefu's superiority in military strength. The two armies fought fiercely from morning to evening for four hours in a row.
Just when Zhang Junli died terribly, and Ying Hefu was about to break through Zhang Junli's camp.Liu Heikai led the Mingzhou reinforcements of the Xia army to arrive and launched a fierce attack on the flank of Yinghefu. Fengsheng crazily counterattacked.

Yinghefu's troops were torn apart by Liu Heitai from the flanks. Knowing that they were defeated by the enemy, Yinghefu immediately ordered the troops to withdraw, and Shi Dexi's cavalry retreated from the battlefield in the dark.

Liu Heikai defeated Yinghefu in the Battle of Wu'an, but Yinghefu sent [-] cavalry to break Wu'an City.

However, in the Battle of Wu'an, Liu Heikai defeated the grassland fanqi who was feared by Xia Jun from the tigers and wolves, but he gave Xia Jun a shot in the arm. Got a respite.

Although Yinghefu was a small setback, he also conquered Wu'an, so he sent the memorial of pleading guilty and the memorial of conquering Wu'an to Li Chongjiu together.

At this time, Li Chongjiu led 2 horses and was marching towards Handan City, the key point of Mingzhou.

After learning the report of the Battle of Wu'an, Li Chongjiu was both worried and happy. For Li Chongjiu, the result of the Battle of Mingzhou was a victory in strategy, but a loss in tactics.

(End of this chapter)