"General Wang, attacking Kaizhou is just a bluff. For us, Korean talent is a big problem. Zhao Xingde patiently persuaded him, "The Koreans occupied Baozhou and have not moved. Now that we are suddenly intercepting a raft cargo ship on the river, we are obviously testing our strength. Although Xingzhi has been in the Central Plains for a long time, he has also heard that the Goryeo royal family claims to be a descendant of Goguryeo in the national letter, and has long coveted Liaodong. If we ignore it, we may not have an attempt to go up the Yalu River and take Taibai Mountain. ”

The surrounding Han generals all showed nervous expressions, and Wang Hengzhi still frowned tightly and did not answer. Han Ningshuang made the decision to pass through Suzhou Guannan, he must send troops to cooperate, but the foundation of Taibai Mountain cannot afford to lose. After pondering for a long time, Wang Hengzhi raised his head, looked at Zhao Xingde and said, "As General Zhao expected, how much time will it take to attack Baozhou?" ”

Zhao Xingde was secretly happy in his heart, but his face did not show it. "Baozhou is not far from here. Fifteen days at the fastest, 20 days at the slow, and there will be a result. ”

Wang Hengzhi showed suspicion in his eyes and asked, "Twenty days later, what if there is no result?" ”

"Then I will immediately withdraw from the army and follow General Wang to attack Kaizhou." Zhao Xingde smiled and said, "It's just to punish the Koreans, and Baozhou doesn't have to be attacked." His eyes fell on the map, Baozhou was only a few dozen miles away from the mouth of the Yalu River, and the city was very close to the riverbank. As long as Li Sihai's gunboat arrived, Xia Guo's artillery could directly bombard Baozhou City on the river. But the Koreans had no weapons to help him.

Wang Hengzhi couldn't believe it, and he didn't want to waste grain and grass for this, so he made a condition: "General Zhao also knows that our army is short of food, and if you want to send troops, each soldier will have five liters of food per day." If there is no food and grass, we will not be able to send troops. A smile appeared in Zhao Xingde's eyes, and he nodded: "Then it's a word." He agreed happily, Wang Hengzhi was afraid that he would regret it, and said: "My village has recently recruited more than 20,000 people, Ding Zhuang has done his best to recruit soldiers, plus the brothers who came to take refuge in the northern village, there are now more than 7,000 soldiers, how much does General Zhao want us to send troops?" ”

For ordinary soldiers, three liters of grain per day is equivalent to more than a pound of food per meal. Wang Hengzhi prescribed this ration of five liters a day per person, implying water, if he not only asked Xia Guo to provide grain and grass for sending troops, but also had to use the surplus as a reward for sending troops.

Zhao Xingde secretly scolded the old fox, this head is actually used to calculate the remuneration of grain and grass, Wang Hengzhi's real veteran army is only more than 2,000 people at most, but if the reward is less, he will send some homeless people who are not good to come over to receive grain and grass, which is even more useless. Zhao Xingde and Jin Changtai changed their eyes, and then they muttered: "Naturally, the more the merrier, but General Wang still has some soldiers and horses to guard the camp, and the Goryeo army has 3,000 people, so General Wang will also send 3,000 soldiers and horses to attack Baozhou with us." "For the Han army, three thousand Ding Zhuang is not something that can be abandoned at will, and an old army must be sent as the backbone, so that it has some combat effectiveness.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Xingde didn't bargain at all, Wang Hengzhi secretly rejoiced, this scholar and lieutenant didn't know that military food was the root of life, what a fool of how easy it is to deceive. The Han army did not have so many ways to colonize like the Xia State Camp, and they were worried about the food and grass for the winter. Wang Hengzhi was about to nod in agreement, but heard Zhao Xingde frown and said, "Oh, General Wang, it's still a little difficult." ”

"What's wrong?" Wang Hengzhi was a little nervous, the military rations of these 3,000 people for 20 days were as much as 3,000 stones. He was only ready to send five hundred veterans with a solar eclipse of three liters. Ordinary Ding Zhuang only has one liter of grain every day, and he will be hungry if he mixes some leaves and weeds. Twenty days of sending troops can save nearly 2,000 stone of military rations. Now he is afraid that Zhao Xingde will not fight Baozhou.

"Sending troops to deter the Koreans is for the interests of you and me, but now I want my battalion to bear the military rations, I'm afraid Zhao can't explain to the Protectorate Mansion and the General's Mansion."

Looking at Zhao Xingde's hesitant and hesitant face, Wang Heng was straight and didn't fight in one place, he felt empty and happy, and said angrily: "General Zhao, the emperor is not hungry soldiers, if there is no food and grass, I'm afraid, please forgive Wang for not being able to help." What he said was excessive, and Kim Chang-tae was angry in his heart and replied: "Since we are so unsympathetic, we can't help the battle of Kaiju." Do you want the artillery of my battalion to help you attack the city? There are no doors! ”

was robbed by Jin Changtai, a businessman, and the generals of the Han army behind Wang Hengzhi couldn't help but be annoyed and angry, and they all glared at him angrily, and some people pointed at him and said: "You, you, why do you not understand the rules so much." But he didn't say why.

"Jin Sima, don't be rude." Zhao Xingde arched his hand to Wang Heng and said apologetically: "Please forgive me for thinking about it." A look of disappointment flashed in Wang Hengzhi's eyes, and Zhao Xingde said again: "General Wang, after thinking about it, there is a remedy." Since our battalion has more military rations, no matter whether this Baozhou city can be defeated or not, in the future, the taxes collected from passing ships on the river in Baozhou will belong to our battalion," he smiled a little embarrassedly, "Although Baozhou is not as good as Zhenhai Mansion, there are no merchant ships, but the general will get this tax, and it is always better to pay to the Protectorate Mansion." ”

Hearing Zhao Xingde propose such a method, Wang Hengzhi looked at him with suspicion for a long time. If it weren't for the fact that the Han army had been entrenched in this territory for decades, and clearly knew that the banks of the Yalu River were either deserted or Jurchen tribes, and there were no taxes on the river, Wang Hengzhi would almost have thought that Zhao Xingde had set a trap. He thought about it several times, but he really couldn't figure out why Xia Guoying wanted this right to collect taxes, and the final conclusion was indeed to pay to the Protector Mansion. Wang Heng said with a look of difficulty: "General Zhao, although there are indeed no merchant ships on this river, it is difficult to say what will happen in the future, or so, you give me 2,000 stone of military rations, and I will sign for you." He secretly said in his heart, the Han army's cargo ship will not pass through Baozhou, and it will not pay taxes to you in vain. It's really going to be urgent, and when the time comes, it's not the big fist that makes sense.

Zhao Xingde was a little embarrassed: "General Wang, I can barely get another 1,000 stones, and it is a little difficult to get these 2,000 stone military rations." He sighed a little worriedly, "Otherwise, forget about this borrowing of soldiers." ”

"Forget it!" Wang Hengzhi hurriedly stopped him from retreating, patted his chest and said, "How can General Zhao watch the Goryeo invade Liaodong? This soldier, we are decided! ”

"Good!" The two agreed that three days later, the troops under the city of Baozhou met together, and Wang Hengzhi said goodbye. He wanted to hurry back to gather men and horses, and collect all those who dug grass roots, peeled bark, hunted hares, and dug mountain ginseng, and rushed to Baozhou City to eat military rations. The generals of the Han army couldn't care about staying for dinner, but Zhao Xingde kindly hung a dozen pickled hare brocade chickens on the back of the horses of Wang Hengzhi and others. Only a dozen horsemen went back with Wang Hengzhi, and more than 100 Han soldiers such as Tong Yunjie, the fourth master, stayed in the Xia State Camp to train artillery skills.

It wasn't until Tong Yunjie and the others were settled properly and returned to the Chinese military tent that Jin Changtai couldn't help laughing, and laughed and said: "Xingzhi is too unkind, Wang Hengzhi has lost a lot this time." ”

Zhao Xingde waited for him to laugh enough, and said with a straight face: "He only needs food." After speaking, he also smiled slightly. According to his and Jin Changtai's plan, the naval divisions of the Xia Kingdom had sharp artillery, so in the future, the camps that arranged for reclamation and sheltering the people were distributed along the river. Although real sea ships are difficult to manufacture, gunboats cruising on the Yalu River do not have to be as strong as sea ships, as long as there are dozens of shallow-water gunboats, adding up to hundreds of guns running on the river surface to fire and bombard the enemy, it is enough to get twice the result with half the effort. In this way, there will be more merchant ships passing on the Yalu River in the future, and Baozhou, the outlet of the Yalu River, Zhao Xingde will also be able to get it. Somehow, Wang Hengzhi actually let Baozhou out without care.

"Didn't he know that this power of taxation was the most important power of the imperial court? Promising us to collect taxes on the Baozhou River is to recognize that Baozhou belongs to us. And there is no boundary on the river, which means that hundreds of miles of the river and the coast belong to us. Kim Chang-tae greedily looked at the place that was one or two hundred miles up from the mouth of the Yalu River.

Zhao Xingde interrupted him unceremoniously: "Then we have to drive away the uninvited guests first." He said in a deep voice: "It is said that there are 300,000 soldiers on the northern border of Goryeo alone, known as the Guangjun, who are sharpening their swords and preparing to invade Liaodong." His eyes fell on the map of Goryeo, carefully looking at the cities that were close to the coastal rivers, and fortunately, the Goryeo people seemed to have a habit of building cities because of the river. Important cities, not near the coast, are next to the Datong River, Yongxing River, Qingchuan River, etc. "No wonder they are suffering from the Wokos." Zhao Xingde said secretly. He didn't mean to defeat Goryeo in one fell swoop, but if the king of Goryeo was bent on intervening in the war in Liaodong and making it difficult for Xia Guoying. Shallow gunboats up the river to bombard the city were a way to find peace.

"Inform Ma Rui first, it's okay for the cavalry to swim around Baozhou to monitor, don't act rashly." Zhao Xingde instructed while pondering, and Jin Changtai wrote down his military order and said with a smile: "The Goryeo people have captured the strong men who put the rafts, and Ma Rui will definitely not want to suffer losses, and he will also arrest those who leave the city." Zhao Xingde nodded and said: "As long as he is not stupid and uses a cavalry team of 100 people to attack Baozhou City, which is guarded by 3,000 people, it is okay to be arrogant outside the city." Jin Changtai smiled slightly, according to the information collected by the Military Intelligence Department, because the Goryeo army has been stationed in a narrow terrain for a long time, it is good at defending cities and water battles, and there are very few cavalry, and the riding skills are inferior to the Xia Guobu soldiers on horseback, as long as Ma Rui does not fall into the ambush of the Goryeo people, it should be no problem to protect himself.

"This time, Jin Sima and Liu Zheng led a hundred crossbowmen to stay in the base camp, plus a garrison battalion. The other 500 sergeants all went with me to attack Baozhou, Jian Cheng led a hundred cavalry, and a garrison battalion transported heavy grain and grass back and forth. Zhao Xingde smiled faintly, "Drive to Baozhou City, and see if the Goryeo people have the courage to go out of the city to fight." If they didn't even have the guts, they would have to stay in the city and endure the bombardment of artillery on land and sea. ”