In the tent of the Chinese army, the generals stood with their helmets and armor pierced. After these days of training, the appearance of the Baoyi Army has been very neat, and it is no longer the rabble of a few months ago. However, when Zhao Xingde talked about the rescue of Shuzhou, the generals were in an uproar.

"General Zhao, we are full of calculations, less than 10,000 horses. The Zhenguo army was also less than 10,000 horses. Luo Xianshi said worriedly, "And most of them are foot soldiers, and the combined cavalry of the two armies is only 3,000 people." The Liao army had 20,000 cavalry, and Li Cheng's 30,000 or 40,000 rebels were fighting for the tiger, adding up to 50,000 or 60,000 people. There is a huge disparity between the strong and the weak, how to fight this battle? ”

The generals agreed with Luo Xianshi and were reluctant to send troops to rescue Shuzhou. On the one hand, after the Battle of Fangzhou, Zhao Xingde was worried that the generals were too light on the enemy, and as the saying goes, you can't rely on winning by surprise after all, but you can't do it again, and the most important thing in the confrontation between the two armies is strength. Therefore, although the momentum in the Baoyi army is like a rainbow, the more high-ranking generals are, the more they dare not despise the Liao army. As soon as I heard that the Liao army in Shuzhou actually numbered as many as 50,000 or 60,000 people, I couldn't help but feel a little worried in my heart. On the other hand, the Baoyi Army has been stationed in the nearby prefectures and counties of Ezhou for a long time, and this area has always been a rich land of fish and rice. In addition, Zhao Xingde allowed his subordinates to urge him to pay and urge food, so the supply of food and salary was effective, and unconsciously, the army adapted to the local area and was unwilling to leave the station easily.

"Rescuing Shuzhou is the policy of the prime minister and the privy envoy." In the eyes of the generals, General Zhao said with a very firm expression, "There are thousands of families and one person in charge." If each goes its own way, then the lips and teeth are cold, and it is only a matter of time before the Liao army is broken. Zhao Xingde sighed in his heart and said in a deep voice, "Therefore, we must rescue Shuzhou, so Shi Tongzhi led two battalions of soldiers and horses to stay behind." The others quickly made preparations, and once the grain and grass in the Prime Minister's Mansion were prepared, we sent troops to rescue Shuzhou. ”

"Do you have any way to win?" Lu Mingyu bowed down and asked.

Zhao Xingde muttered: "To the north of Shuzhou is the rugged Dabie Mountains, and to the south is the Great River, and the river is the narrowest here. There is only a narrow flat land left between the mountains and rivers, which is controlled by the city of Shuzhou, and if the troops are sufficient, this place is indeed an easy place to defend and difficult to attack. On the one hand, the cavalry of the Liao army could not pass through the mountainous areas, and even Li Cheng's troops were mostly from Huaibei, who were not accustomed to water warfare, and it was easy for our army to take advantage of the waterway. Therefore, for the Liao army, the only way to seize Shuzhou is to control the main road of this plain. On the other hand, this place is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and the surrounding terrain is complicated, so it is difficult for the Liao army to intercept a steady stream of reinforcements, so that Shuzhou does have the possibility of holding it. "If you persist until the summer, the south is hot and humid, and most of the Liao army is the Khitan and the cavalry of the grassland barbarians, I am afraid that it will be difficult to adapt, and the epidemic will be rampant, and most of them will retreat without a fight at that time. But Zhao Xingde was worried that the generals would be lucky, so he didn't say it.

"If you have enough troops?" Shi Jingkui muttered, "Do you want to recruit volunteers from the prefecture and county to help defend it?" ”

"That's right," Zhao Xingde nodded, "If Shuzhou is lost, it will not only be cold for the east and west roads in the south of the Yangtze River, but the door will be opened." If we can manage Shuzhou as an important town, we can use artillery to block the water and land passages, the Liao army cannot advance westward, and our army can go down the river and reach Jiangning overnight. Speaking of this, Zhao Xingde was silent. Yue Fei is willing to risk being outnumbered, and he also wants to protect Shuzhou, and he does have his considerations. He wants to use Shuzhou as a springboard to conquer Jiangning. Yue Fei was worried that after the Liao army was consolidated in Jianghuai, it would be a hundred times more difficult to recover. And if Jianghuai can be quickly recovered, then all prefectures and counties will be quickly annexed. With the manpower and material resources of several roads in the southeast, the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains and the expulsion of the Northern Captives are just around the corner!

"Fast horses spread to the south of the Huaixi River, and the volunteers of Zhaozhou County brought their own blades, wrapped them in ten-day rations, and joined our army in Nankang, and then went down the river to rescue Shuzhou with great fanfare." Zhao Xingde was still careful, he was worried that before the reinforcements arrived, Shuzhou would be conquered by the Liao army. The place where the volunteers of the state and county gathered was still set in Nankang, and it also meant to prepare for the second line of resistance. Since the southern invasion of Liaokou, Huaixi and the prefectures and counties in the south of the Yangtze River have been in a state of turmoil, and the government and Haoqiang have trained volunteers to defend the land and defend against the enemy. But it's hard to say how many of these volunteers will come.

"This time to aid Shu and the decisive battle with the Liao army, the naval army is extremely important. The power of the iron barrel cannon is not small, if possible," Zhao Xingde muttered, "The warship needs to be reinforced more, if you need iron bars, hardwoods and other materials, come and tell me, I will personally go to the quartermaster to ask for it." Zhao Xingde couldn't help but think of the scene in the Nanshan Sea, Li Sihai's warship fell apart because the shelling was too fierce and the hull could not withstand the anti-shock force.

"Yes!" The battleship was all overseer, and he said loudly.

The Zhenguo army added iron barrel cannons to the river boats, and opened up Xiangyang. It was a great success in the First World War by water. Not only did the Liao army quickly imitate and install iron barrel cannons on the warship, but the Baoyi army also installed small iron barrel cannons on the original Shuikou boat, which was called a small fighting ship. Zhao Xingde also asked the Quartermaster to buy some merchant ships that were sold at low prices because of the poor waterways of the Yangtze River, and added a few heavy barrel guns on the deck, which were called large bucket ships. Small bucket ships can carry more than a dozen people, and large bucket ships can carry hundreds of people. The Baoyi Army was originally dominated by Jingxiang Shui Kou, and now there are thousands of small ships, dozens of small fighting ships, and eight large fighting ships. It's just that the shock of the barrel cannon is so great that ordinary merchant ships can't bear it at all, and the fighting ships have spent a lot of effort to strengthen the ship, and the money spent is better than the money to buy the ship itself.

"My lord," Shi Jingkui asked, "Xiangyang Bianliang's prefecture and county, do you want to pass it on?" The Xiangyang Bianliang he asked about was not a region, but a county in the south of the Huaixi River that regards Xiangyang Bianliang as an orthodox prefecture and county, adding up to more than half. Song Muzhou County is now in its own orthodoxy, and it is full of three, forming a strange situation. However, under the pressure of the Liao army, the state and county did not cut off the horses from each other, except for the difference in their orthodoxy, they were actually safe.

"Biography!" Zhao Xingde cut the railway, "The rise and fall of the world is the responsibility of the husband!" ”

"Yes!"

The Baoyi army was in full swing to prepare for sending troops, and one by one fast horses sent the text to more than 100 prefectures and counties in Huaixi and Jiangnan, and the clouds of a great war shrouded the entire north and south of the river. Since the Liao army marched south, it has been invincible. There were many cavalry, and wherever the main force of the Liao army carrying iron barrel cannons went, it was known as the city of the Southern Dynasty without three days, and there was no undefeated army. The Song Dynasty's southeast camp and Xijing camp gathered more than 100,000 troops, and with the victory of Xiangyang, they stopped the Liao army's west road in the north of Xiangyang. However, because of the emptiness in the southeast, the east road of the Liao army was like entering a no-man's land, and now it is going up the river in an attempt to copy the back road of the Song Dynasty army in Xiangyang.

For a time, the world shook. At this time, when Zhongzhou County was in a panic, it suddenly received that the Zhenguo Army was determined to defend Shuzhou, and Zhao Xingde summoned the volunteers of the three roads to help the east, preparing to gather in Nankang, and the army marched along the river to Shuzhou to fight to the death with Liaokou. These inscriptions spread all over the country, and people's hearts were uplifted.

............

"Mr. Zhao, does this mean that he knows that he can't do it?"

Zhang Xuji, the governor of Raozhou, received the text and sighed. If it weren't for the fact that the original governors and other officials abandoned the seal and fled, and the state school was elected by the public council, he would not be able to be a governor in this life. The Liao army came along Jiangxi, and Zhang Xuji was ready to wear official robes, hold the seal of Zhizhou, and set his family to self-immolate and martyr himself in the state government. After receiving this letter, he called his eldest son Zhang Jiurong and ordered the 800 volunteers of the Xiang Army who commanded the county to be brought to Nankang.

"Father, if this army goes, there will be no more soldiers in the state city?" Zhang Jiurong hesitated. He described it as withered and as thin as a bamboo pole. This is because of the side effects of being hard read by my father since childhood. If it weren't for the fact that the other gentry were unwilling to die, the errand of commanding the volunteers would not have fallen on him.

"Liaokou is powerful, if you really come to Raozhou, a mere 800 Xiang army will be very helpful. As a governor, I have the responsibility to defend the land, and my family lives and dies in Raozhou. If you are afraid of anything before the Nankang Army and insult my Zhang family's lintel, you will not be counted as my Zhang family's descendants. Zhang Xuji smiled bitterly, stretched out his hand to stroke his beard, and said, "Do it well!" He hesitated for a moment, and then said: "In the future, on my monument, I will engrave 'Raozhou Zhizhou Zhang Gong of the Great Song Dynasty'." ”

"The child understands." With tears in his eyes, Zhang Jiurong knelt down with a hem and respectfully kowtowed to his father three times.

............

On the Shinshu Post Road, a rough-clothed man fell on the side of the road, with a few arrow feathers stuck in his forehead and chest, and his breath was dead. The horse lingered beside the owner, a person held the reins of the horse, reached out to break the horse's mouth, looked carefully, looked up and down the shape of the horse, and then turned around and said happily: "The big boss, this is the real Hexi horse, and the age is not big, let's send it this time." ”

The big boss didn't hear it, looked at the dead man, frowned and sighed: "I killed the wrong person this time." He turned around, handed the inscription found on the dead body to the military advisor, shook his head and said, "This person was sent by Mr. Zhao to summon volunteers to Baozhou to fight the Liao thieves." Mr. Zhao's article, you can also take a look. The military advisor took the letter and looked at it, and his face suddenly turned like earth, and he stammered: "Then, big boss, what should we do?" ”

"What else can I do?" The big boss stomped his feet and said remorsefully, "Gather the brothers in the village, and I will personally go to Nankang to ask Mr. Zhao for his guilt." Soon after, more than 100 people in poor armor led a good horse and headed west along the mountain road.

............

In the government of Shezhou Mansion, Zhizhou Huang Zhongdu carefully invited his staff member Zhan Zhen into the inner room and took out a piece of paper from his arms to show him. After Zhan Zhen saw it, his face changed color, and he said in surprise: "This Yue Fei is a crazy general, are Chen Dong and Zhao Xingde also crazy with him?" How can Shuzhou hold on. Don't talk about the Liao soldiers, Li Cheng's men and horses passed outside the state city, and the team was at a glance. ”

Shezhou is the place where the Fangla Rebellion began, for several years the officers and soldiers and thieves killed very heavy, the people here are strong but sparsely populated, so the Liao army did not cross the border and did not have too much nuisance. Huang Zhongdu originally respected Xiangyang and held a belief in resting with the people, so that as soon as Li Chengjun arrived, he descended to Bianliang.

"Your Excellency, look?"

The room was dimly lit, and Huang Zhongdu muttered: "This battle must be fought, let's be more careful." However, in these years, many roads are always good, and a few people were sent to Nankang to inform Zhao Xingde of the truth of Li Cheng's department. It can also be regarded as a love for the future. "Yes." Zhan Zhen's heart moved slightly, and he nodded vigorously.