At the Xiazhou wharf, more than a dozen large ships were moored together, and the Baoyi army replenished the last batch of grain and grass here. As Zhao Xingde expected, the Jiangling Navy Division did not stop the Ezhou ships from moving westward, and even did not even get on the ship for inspection after giving enough money to buy the road. The river is wide, the river is gentle, and the misty white mist is shrouded in the surface of the river, which seems very quiet. Further west, there are many rapids in the water, the channel is very narrow, the river is turbulent, and the bottom of the water is densely covered with reefs. If you want to swim against the current, you can't rely on sails and rows alone, you have to hire a slender man to tow a wooden boat on the shore. Therefore, the Baoyi army stayed in Guizhou for a few days, and the various divisions that had sailed separately were regrouped. Zhao Xingde also convened the generals again to discuss the matter of relieving the siege of Fangzhou.

Lu Mingyu said worriedly: "After receiving the news from the lord of Qin Zhai, the cavalry of the Liao thieves who attacked Fangzhou is very powerful, and the Liao generals are very cautious, sending troops to plunder the countryside are infested with more than 100 horses, and each escort of grain and grass is more than 2,000 horses. The Qin Zhai lord and they tried to fight the Liao army's baggage once, but as a result, many brothers were killed and wounded, and finally retreated. He saw that someone showed disdain, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "There are more than 1,000 Liao thief cavalry escorted, and the Qin village master went to rob the grain, and more than 2,000 brothers of the Qin village master were killed and injured more than 400 people, he didn't say how many Liao thieves were killed or injured, but in my opinion, I'm afraid they didn't kill a few Liao thieves." The generals were in an uproar.

Zhao Xingde nodded, the Liao army has won consecutive battles, and its morale is extremely strong, it is indeed not easy.

"There are 100,000 soldiers and horses in Xiangyang who are not going to rescue Fangzhou, why let us go." Someone whispered a whining.

"The lord of Qin Zhai said that the Liao thieves have more than 5,000 horses, and every time they escort grain and grass, they are more than 2,000 horses. In addition, there are more than 10,000 signing troops outside the mountains. Lu Mingyu continued. Fangzhou is one of the poorest places on Jinghu North Road, the so-called poor mountains and bad waters out of the people, so there are many bandits and water thieves. Fangzhou is a mountainous area, the place is remote, and outsiders are called "from outside the mountains".

Hearing that the enemy army was strong, the faces of the generals were a little grim. Originally, I thought that it was the traitors in the DPRK and China, and the officials and soldiers were incompetent, and when they got to this point, they were about to fight with the Liao soldiers, and everyone's psychology became heavy. After the Liao army occupied Henan and Hebei, the rebels in various states and counties swarmed. But because of this, when the rebels and the Liao soldiers fought head-on, they were crushed at every touch.

Zhao Xingde observed his words, and these newly recruited subordinates were faintly afraid. Although they have become officials at this moment, it is a little difficult for them to attack a strong enemy. Seeing this situation, Zhao Xingde pressed the general strategy to be discussed, and ordered: "Go to the bow of the ship first to see the master of La Fiber." ”

The generals didn't have him, and they all got up and followed behind Zhao Xingde. At this time, two or three hundred slender men had gathered on the riverbank, and the masters did not know that this was the official ship of the official army, and they looked at the fleet moored in the river like a yellow finch waiting to be fed. At this time, it was already warm in the south of the Yangtze River, but it was still cold in the Three Gorges area, and these slender men were barefoot, their clothes were ragged, and the scars on their backs were all scars from ropes. Jiang Feng faintly sent "Distinguished guest, do you want to pull the fiber?" "Great official, do you use the master?" The cry.

"The fleet is going to go to Dengying Gorge, Huangniu Gorge, Kongling Gorge, Ox Liver and Horse Lung Gorge, and after leaving the Baojian Gorge of the Soldier's Book, it will go ashore in Jiangbei." Shi Jingkui pointed to the channel, "We need to use more masters, and if we pay double the money, we can recruit enough manpower, and a ship uses sixty slender men, a total of more than nine hundred masters." "The accounts of the Baoyi Army were made public, because Zhao Xingde was unwilling to forcibly recruit his master, and it cost a lot of money to hire a slender man, and Shi Jingkui, who was in charge of the accounts, also explained to the generals to avoid criticism from the generals.

Zhao Xingde nodded and agreed: "Let's not bully them, just give them double wages." He turned his head and said to Lu Mingyu, Luo Xian and other generals, "These people who pull fiber are poor customers, and they earn a day's life in the river, and they only get more than two hundred yuan." Originally, the slender men did not need to pay taxes, but since the invasion of the northern captives, the imperial court has increased taxes in order to raise troops and quell the chaos, and they have to pay 50 yuan every day. The family has a wife and children, and can only live with porridge and vegetables. His tone was slight, "The Liao army occupies Henan and Hebei, and the imperial court is going to use troops on a large scale, and this tax will definitely increase in the future. ”

Zhao Xingde took a deep breath of the damp air, and the river breeze blew the corners of his eyes a little moist.

"How unreasonable!" Xia Mao'er said indignantly. He was originally a fisherman on the water, but he fell into the grass because he was not angry about paying taxes, and when he heard that the tax was going to be raised, he couldn't help but feel uneasy. The other generals also had sympathy. Luo Xian's eyes were deep in thought, and he didn't know why Zhao Xingde mentioned this matter, so he listened to him intently.

Zhao Xingde looked at Xia Mao'er and sighed: "Last time you went to Jiayu County to ask for salary, the taxes paid in the county, the clothes on our bodies, and the food in our mouths, more than half of them have to come out of these ordinary people." Nowadays, we are only a land of dozens of states and counties, and with the power of the people of dozens of states and counties, we can save the world from overthrowing, and what the people bear is the burden that cannot be borne by the people. No matter how strong the Liao army is, those of us who serve as soldiers can only know that they can't do it, and we can't let down these people who are struggling to live. ”

At this point, all the generals understood what he meant, and the few people who had the heart to retreat were a little ashamed in their hearts.

Zhang Wudi stretched out his hand and slapped the side of the boat with a "snap", and said loudly: "Let's go and fight with Liaogou!" Xia Mao'er also said: "Lao Tzu frowned, in the next life, he will become a cow and a horse!" Lu Mingyu and Luo Xianshi were also deeply impressed, Luo Xianshi hugged his fists and said: "People in the reckless world don't know the general situation, please General Zhao give an order to forgive the sin!" ”

Zhao Xingde said with a smile: "What a crime, when Zhao went to the battlefield for the first time, he was also scared. ”

The generals laughed as he did. Although I don't know when Zhao Xingde first went to the battlefield, since the Baoyi Army became an army, he has handled the affairs of the army in an orderly manner, Lu Mingyu, Luo Xianshi and others saw it in their eyes, and they knew that Zhao Xingde was not Zhao Kuo on paper, but an experienced general. They were also relieved with strangeness, but they didn't dare to ask more.

Back in the cabin, the generals calmed down and discussed together how to defeat the Liao army in Fangzhou. Luo Xianshi suggested finding a way to cut off the grain route of the Liao army, but Lu Mingyu objected, saying that the Liao army had accumulated a large amount of grain and grass, and the number of grain transportation was not frequent, and the grain route was tightly guarded, and the Qin village lord had failed to rob the grain. Lu Mingyu also suggested harassing the Liao army with suspicious soldiers, luring them to attack, and then finding a dangerous valley to set up an ambush, the Liao cavalry was inconvenient to fight in the mountains, and they would suffer a big loss. Luo Xian's ten ambushes can no longer be repeated, and after the Liao army suffered losses in the mountains, they will definitely not be fooled again. If the Liao army only stayed in Fangzhou City, which was surrounded by plains, it would not be easy to break the enemy and break the siege. Most of the generals were born as thieves, and none of the strategies they came up with to break the enemy were to fight hard with the enemy. Zhao Xingde nodded in his heart, the atmosphere of the Secret Dao Baoyi Army is mixed, if you really want to expel the northern captives in the future, you still have to be able to fight a tough battle.

Luo Xianshi saw that Zhao Xingde was noncommittal, so he smiled and said: "General Zhao is silent, if you have a plan, you might as well tell me to wait." At this time, Lu Mingyu and the others woke up, and it seemed that they were too active just now, but they left Zhao Xingde aside.

Zhao Xingde said with a smile: "One person is short, everyone is long, Zhao just wants to listen to everyone's strategy." I also have an idea for the strategy of breaking the enemy, let's refer to it together. He paused for a moment, and when he saw that all the generals were listening attentively, he pointed to the topography of the mountains and rivers in Fangling and said: "I see that this place is towering on all sides, but there is a plain in the middle, and the rivers are crisscrossed, which is a great place for water attack."

This sentence woke up the dreamer, Fangling this place, since ancient times the most flooded, from the Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the place name is called "Fangzhu", until the Qin Dynasty only changed the "Fangzhu" of "Fangzhu" to the "house" of the house. Although the generals didn't know this allusion, Lu Mingyu, Luo Xian Shi and others knew about the geography of Jingxiang, and knew that Fangzhou was flooded all year round, so that the soldiers of flood control were all over the state, and they would report it immediately in case of floods. Now that the thieves have entered the prison, these flood control guards have been withdrawn, but the water flow of those lakes is still there.

"Flood the Seventh Army!" Zhang Wushu slapped the table and said.

Lu Mingyu groaned: "Liao thieves are good at riding, let's be good at water warfare, after we join forces with the Qin Zhai Lord, let the Qin Zhai Lord point out a few ravines to intercept the water, there are peach blossoms in this season, and when the mountains and rivers accumulate, let's dig the embankment and waterproof again, and drown these Liao thieves!" His eyes were full of admiration.

Luo Xianshi smiled and added: "Even if you can't drown, there is a mud outside Fangzhou City, and the war horses of the Liao thieves are also running." We won't suffer a loss when we fight! Zhao Xingde actually thought of most of what the generals said, but it is not as good as teaching people to fish. He came up with this idea, but he didn't want to do it all himself, but guided these bandit-born generals to perfect this strategy step by step. Seeing that the generals said everything to me, the discussion was very enthusiastic, Zhao Xingde smiled and nodded.

At this time, Shi Jingkui said worriedly: "If you attack with water, I am afraid that I am afraid that the flood will harm the people." Zhao Xingde's eyebrows also frowned slightly.

Luo Xianshi said: "The people near Fangzhou didn't go into the mountains to avoid trouble, but they were pulled by Liao thieves to sign the army, and there are not many people left on the dam. Besides," he said, pointing to the rivers that crisscrossed them, "there are so many rivers here that the water rises for a maximum of half a day and a day. Go out, the people will not be killed if they dodge a little, and this time is enough for us to deal with the Liao thieves. ”

Shi Jingkui nodded and agreed with Luo Xianshi's statement. This water attack strategy, because of the topography is the most important, can not make a more detailed plan for the time being before the convergence with the people and horses of Fangzhou, Qingfeng Village and Taipingzhai. The generals of the Baoyi Army discussed some ways to expand the results of the battle, such as sending fine workers to blend in with the signing army, making chaos together when distributing water, and intercepting the main road leading from the state to the mountains after the war, so as not to let the Liao army escape, and so on. After having the strategy of destroying the enemy, everyone's confidence has doubled, and they are also very energetic when discussing things, and they have the momentum of destroying this morning eclipse.