In the western suburbs of Kaifeng, between the golden water of the Bianhe River, there is a pond in the low-lying place. In the autumn and winter of the second year of Qianyou, Wang Pu was ordered to dig and thought that the Han Dynasty sailors were training.

There are more than thirteen miles around the pool, the north-south direction, the east-west diameter is long, the diversion water irrigates it, the dam is set up in the south, the golden water is passed, and it is used for the purpose of flood discharge. At the beginning, more than 40,000 soldiers and civilians were recruited into this pool, which took about two months and cost 30 million yuan.

The pool is newly formed, without special naming, and is directly called "new pool". After Chi Cheng, Liu Chengyou allocated money and grain to build more than 300 large and small warships on the side of Bianshui, and selected young people who practiced water in the forbidden army and the Central Plains and Huaibei states to train the navy. In addition, the soldiers recruited from Jingbei Prefecture County were able to get 7,000 sailors and the Jingjiang Army.

And the commander of the Jingjiang army, Liu Chengyou thought about it, thought about it repeatedly, and transferred him to Xiang Xun. Liu Chengyou also has no choice, the north really lacks generals who are good at water warfare, and directly uses outsiders, Liu Chengyou is not at ease, after all, it is he who spent a lot of money to build a "water army".

With Xiang Xun, it is regarded as "drought will use water", a bit of a duck on the shelf, but Liu Chengyou also asked his meaning in person, although a little embarrassed, but Xiang Xun still gritted his teeth and swore to train into a water army.

Of course, Liu Chengyou also knew that he could not be too reluctant, and in order to reduce the pressure on Xiang Xun, Liu Chengyou mobilized a number of military academies from Xiang, An, Ying, Fu and other southern prefectures and counties to go north to assist Xiang Xun and organize and train the naval army.

After Xiang Xun received Liu Chengyou's mission, he felt a heavy responsibility, and after the warships, officers and soldiers, and money and food were fully equipped, he took more than 10 naval generals of different origins to devote himself to the formation and training of the Jingjiang Army.

As far as Liu Chengyou knew, during the period when Xiang Xun was the chief general of the navy, he knew his shortcomings and was not ashamed to ask, so he took the two commanders from Xiangyang as his teachers and asked them for advice. He also read more military books, studied the combat examples of ancient and modern naval divisions, summed up their experience gains and losses, and actively discussed with his subordinates in training, formation, and engagement. At the same time, Xiang Xun also took the initiative to learn astronomical and geographical knowledge, and went to the library to check the hydrological situation of the country's rivers, especially the Jianghuai region......

The main general played a leading role, and the officers and soldiers followed suit, and after more than half a year, the rabble, which was originally like a plate of scattered sand, gradually took on the appearance of a naval army.

The ship is lined up and the side of the battle, all of them have the same appearance, Liu Chengyou has inspected a few times, at least it looks like this.

The new pond in the spring season has pleasant scenery, green fields and green trees. More than ten miles around the new pond are divided into royal gardens, and there is an iron cavalry army training and cruising in the meantime on weekdays, in fact, it is to avoid the training of the navy from being spied on.

The news of digging ponds and lakes and training sailors cannot be hidden, but the specific situation of the navy can be hidden. According to the news from Jinling, the Southern Tang Dynasty monarchs heard that the Han Emperor was digging a pond in Kaifeng to irrigate water to train the water army, but they did not take it seriously.

Only Han Xizai said that Li Jing should be careful of the Northern Han Dynasty, but unfortunately, Li Jing believed in Han Xizai, and it was difficult to bear Han Xizai's "I am right" admonishment attitude. As a "mentor and helpful friend" of the Han Dynasty, Feng Yansi also ridiculed, saying that the Son of Heaven of the Northern Han Dynasty dug a pond on the flat ground to train his troops, which was a great achievement, and he did not have to be afraid.

Although he only smiled, it was not that there was no reaction at all, and Li Jing also sent his waiter Li Deming as an envoy to Kaifeng to contact the joint army to attack Chu. Liu Chengyou ordered Taogu Haosheng to entertain Li Deming, and asked him to repay Li Jing, and the Tang army would enter Chu, and the Han army would follow.

Obviously, after taking the bait, Nantang's side was more active than Liu Chengyou's side imagined. It was March, and Tang Ting had already begun to prepare for the launch of troops into Chu.

The sun is warm, the breeze is gentle, and the surrounding scenery makes people feel comfortable. This time, Liu Chengyou's family came out to go out, the queen, the concubine, and the virtuous concubine all came with the prince, this time, Liu Chengyou did not forget to bring his eldest son Liu Xu with him, and the queen Fu personally took care of it.

In the distance, a camp was set up, and when the grass grew and the warbler flew, Concubine Gao and Concubine Zhexian were flying kites and running towards the wind, especially Concubine Gao, who was laughing and laughing, and her beautiful delicate body trembled so moving......

Liu Chengyou still had time to appreciate the beautiful scenery, and his eyes still fell on the new pool, dozens of Han naval forces that were training in an attack formation.

Under the protection of the Ouchi guards, let Xiang Xun follow him, ride a horse and ride lightly on the bank of the new pond, from south to north, and walk slowly.

Regarding the sailor, Liu Chengyou is basically a soldier on paper, although he can't see any fame, but looking at his ship formation from a distance and his soldiers up close, his demeanor is touching.

"Xingmin, you really live up to my expectations, every time I see the water master, I have a different experience, and the water master is gradually becoming a water master!" Liu Chengyou pointed to the march in the pool, waving the flag, and the sailor who was shouting endlessly, and said in the opposite direction.

Xiang Xun is close to the age of confusion, and his career as a sailor for less than a year seems to have made him three years older.

At this time, hearing Liu Chengyou's words, he felt that the Son of Heaven was a little optimistic, and he rode on the horse and hit him directly: "Don't hide it from Your Majesty, the new pond is still water, which cannot be compared with the complexity of the river water situation at all. It's still far from becoming an army! ”

Listening to Xiang Xun's conservative answer, Liu Chengyou praised his sanity and calmness: "It seems that I chose Xingmin as the general, which is a correct choice. ”

Since following Liu Chengyou, Xiang Xun has been praised a lot, only this time, not as calm and indifferent as before, sighed and responded: "Your Majesty pays the hands of the ministers with a sailor, and the ministers feel their heavy responsibility, and they can only be conscientious and conscientious to repay Your Majesty!" ”

Nodding, Liu Chengyou said: "Just say this to you to Xingmin, the expedition to Huainan on a different day, the Jingjiang army is of great use!" ”

His eyes lit up, Xiang Xun hugged his fists, and said passionately: "Even if our army lacks actual combat, the ministers dare not guarantee it, but in terms of the heart of the soldiers who dare to fight, they will win over the thief army!" ”

"Listen to that, cheer up!" Liu Chengyou said, thought about it, and instructed Xiang Xun: "The next sailor training, when going out of the river and into the river, gallop on top of the river surging." Actual combat experience may not be obtained, but others, which should be familiar and practiced, must not be relaxed! ”

"Yes!"

Xiang Xun sighed to Liu Chengyou: "I am good at foot riding in the north, and if I talk about water warfare, I have to count the southern countries." As far as the ministers know, it is common for the southern princes to conquer, thousands of warships and tens of thousands of sailors. And in my north, since three generations, there are only a handful of records. The largest scale has to count the Liang and Jin Jiahe battles, the Jin army burned the Liang boat, at that time it was not like the naval army engaged in the battle, but more like the infantry army maneuvering the boat......"

Hearing this, Liu Chengyou said: "It is precisely for this reason that the training of the sailor is indispensable. It is not enough to conquer Huainan with strong infantry and cavalry, and even if it can be taken, I don't know how much it will cost. There are tens of thousands of puppet Tang naval divisions, and they only need to move one to Huaishang and cross the two sides of the strait. ”

"Your Majesty is very true!" Xiang Xun echoed.

"And if I want to completely sweep away the southern countries, I need to rely on the power of the sailors. Xinchi training is just a small fight, waiting to capture Jingnan, when the river gorge is organized and trained, and even build sea ships, go out to sea to surprise soldiers......"

Listening to the general strategy of the Son of Heaven, Xiang Xun bowed again and sighed: "Your Majesty's grand plan is far-sighted, which makes the ministers fascinated!" ”

and briefly chatted with Xiang Xun about the sailor's drills, as well as deduced the sailor's tactics of the expedition, Liu Chengyou was still unsatisfied, but had to let him go. has already caused the harem to be unhappy, and he said that he would come out to play, but he caught a general and discussed it non-stop.

"Official, come and accompany me to put paper kites!"

With a smile and a groan, the little lady rode to Liu Chengyou's side, still holding the thread in her hand, and a beautifully made paper kite was hanging high under the blue sky. Folding the little lady's riding skills is indeed good, pulling the line with one hand and riding the horse with the other, steady and steady.

Liu Chengyou was interested, drove his horse with him, galloped in the wilderness, and actually entered a dense forest on the side. Soon, the paper kite broke the line and fell downwind, and the Son of Heaven and the Broken Lady became a shared horse, the difficulty of the horse shock was too high, but there was no problem with the desire to be a brother.

In this way, it is very difficult for the accompanying guards, since they are fully focused on protecting in case of accidents, and they dare not look more.

It is rare for an official family to be profligate, even if it is an open-minded and generous woman, she is too ashamed......

When Liu Chengyou returned to his heart's content, looking at the folded lady who was shrunk in his arms, with a blush on her little face, the queen and the concubine were a little unhappy.