Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Li Gong, who failed the imperial examination three times, passed the martial arts examination, and led troops in military campaigns for many years, is still only forty-two years old.

Xing'an County has been besieged, and craftsmen are building siege equipment.

Breaking the city is a matter of time.

Li Gong seemed a little depressed. He wanted to die for the Zhao and Song Dynasties, but for the sake of his family and tribe, he had no choice but to submit to the Ming Dynasty.

"My lord, the magistrate appointed by the imperial court is here."

"What's he doing here?"

"Say it's a labor force."

Li Gong was observing the enemy's city defense. When he heard that the prefect came to work on the front line in person, he reluctantly turned back to the camp to receive him.

In order to appease Li Gong, Guangxi did not set up a chief envoy for the time being, and still let him serve as an administrative envoy.

However, a Guilin Prefecture was set up, which not only included Guizhou, but also included the whole state of Jinghu Road.

The first prefect of Guilin was named Yang Bangyi, who was barely the same year as Ju Ming. However, Yang Bangyi did not pass the imperial examination, but was a graduate of the imperial examination.

No matter what, as long as you are a Jinshi in the fifth year of Zhenghe, you will be very popular in the Ming Dynasty. After all, you have the status of the prince in the same year!

"I've met Li Jinglue!" Yang Bangyi's attitude was very low. Although he and Li Gong were the same age, Li Gong held a high position and had sufficient seniority.

Li Gong returned the greeting and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Prefect Yang. Come and sit in my tent."

Yang Bangyi held out a wooden box: "This is a gift from His Majesty, please accept it from Li Jinglue."

Li Gong could only turn to the north and bow, thank the emperor from thousands of miles away, and then carefully take it with both hands.

Yang Bangyi smiled and said: "You can open up the story as much as you like."

Li Gong curiously opened the lid, revealing a monocular telescope inside. He had never seen this thing before and thought it was some kind of gadget for playing with.

Yang Bangyi reminded: "This object can be stretched or shortened. After a while, put a smaller section in front of your eyes and look at it from a distance. If the scene is blurry, adjust its length."

According to Yang Bangyi's statement, Li Gong used the telescope in confusion.

After a while, Li Gong said excitedly: "This is a sacred object. The scenery of a thousand miles away is as clear as your eyes. Why worry about being unable to wipe out the thieves and bandits in the world?"

Yang Bangyi smiled and said: "Your Majesty specially asked craftsmen to build it for Jinglue."

Li Gong turned towards the north again and said sincerely: "The emperor has been so kind to me, but I have no way to repay it, so I must fight to the death to destroy that fake Chu!"

"This is the drawing of the flat cannon. Two or three people can operate the catapult." Yang Bangyi took out the drawing of the returning cannon.

Guangxi is too remote. Not only have I never heard of telescopes, I haven't even gotten hold of a telescope.

Li Gong was dubious about Hui Hui Pao and decided to let the craftsman make one to test the effect.

Yang Bangyi was afraid of making this person unhappy, so he said softly: "Your Majesty knows that Jing Lue and Cao Cheng have a grudge. They used to be their masters, but now they are both generals of the Ming Dynasty..."

"No need to say more," Li Gong interrupted, "I won't embarrass him anymore, but I don't want to join forces with him. I followed the Ling Canal to the north to attack Quanzhou, and he went over the mountain to attack Daozhou. See Whoever defeats Yongzhou first? Anyway, from now on, the water in the well will not interfere with the water in the river!"

"Jing Lue's magnanimity is really admirable." Yang Bangyi praised him, but he was a little unhappy in his heart.

The man in front of me has surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, but he is still a warlord.

Li Gong and Cao Cheng are the largest forces in the south. As long as they cooperate sincerely, they can quickly follow the Xiangjiang River to Zhong Xiang's hinterland. But Li Gong's attitude was to fight on his own and was unwilling to cooperate with Cao Cheng.

Of course, this also has advantages, so as to avoid further friction between each other.

Late April.

Li Gong bombarded Xing'an County with returning artillery, and at the same time used regular siege vehicles to advance, and built a seven or eight-meter-high earthen platform outside the county town.

On the earth platform, arrows rained down.

On both sides, stones and bullets fell.

Li Gong's two sons led their troops to ascend first and quickly occupied two sections of the city wall.

The Puppet Chu defenders here are obviously much weaker than those over Dongting Lake. Not to mention street fighting, when the Ming army established a foothold at the top of the city, the defenders began to retreat on a large scale, and the supervisory army sent by Zhong Xiang took the lead in escaping.

After conquering Xing'an County, Li Gong worked non-stop and led his troops to the entire state.

The Chu army in the whole state was conquering the Su rebellion of the Dong people. When they heard that Li Gong was coming to kill them, they quickly withdrew their troops and returned to aid the state city. They were ambushed halfway and were almost wiped out.

Quanzhou was captured, but Li Gong fought with the Su family.

As early as the reign of Zhao and Song Dynasties, the Su family had repeatedly surrendered and rebelled. From time to time, they would go down the mountain to rob Han people, and even rob the government's wealth.

This time, while Li Gong occupied the capital, the Su family looted everywhere in the countryside.

In a rage, Li Gong actually trapped and killed the Su leader, and also executed several small Dong leaders!

When the news spread, the Dong rebels across the state became excited and began to plunder the countryside even more crazily. The Han rebels were angered by this and did not follow Li Gong northward, and immediately started fighting with the Dong people.

When Yang Bangyi got the news, he was so angry that he slammed the table: "This Li Gong simply doesn't prioritize. Even if we want to punish the murderer, we should kill Zhong Xiang first. How can he join the army now that he is being held back by the Dong people?"

…

On Cao Cheng's side, he bribed the garrison of Gupoling to rebel, and quickly broke through the pass and entered Jianghua County in Daozhou.

The city of Daozhou has been captured by the Han rebels, and the Jianghua County defenders are panicking. Cao Cheng promised to save the life of the garrison, and the puppet Chu army in Jianghua County directly opened the city and surrendered.

Cao Cheng also went back on his word and not only beheaded the surrendered defenders, but also killed all the altar masters and emissaries in the city.