"It's a pity, if we double the cavalry, we can cut into the back of the enemy."

Ma Rui said regretfully. Two battalions of men and horses were expected under cavalry command, but for now they were just empty shelves. Only a dozen officers slowly selected soldiers from the infantry army and trained from scratch. The northerners are good at riding, and the southerners are good at boats. There are almost no Jingxiang volunteers who are proficient in horsemanship, let alone the skills of firing bows left and right on horses and shooting arrows. You can only start with the most basic riding skills.

"If there are more cavalry," Zhao Xingde smiled, "you can go to the street with me to beg for food." ”

With Ma Rui's full efforts, the cavalry formation progress has been very good. Zhao Xingde looked at the distance with great satisfaction, and around the big school field, there were rows of children lying on their stomachs, curiously and enviously watching the cavalry practice their marksmanship, and by the way, they did some small businesses such as selling melons and dates. Soldiers ride on clay horses and wield sticks and knives. Horse archery requires higher riding skills, so the cavalry of the Baoyi Army focused on spear and sabre skills, and tried to be concise in their moves, and did not hesitate to die with the enemy. The conditions for selecting cavalry were harsh, requiring people with ape arms, agility, excellent eyesight, and not too much stature. Once selected as a cavalryman, the salary is twice that of the foot soldier, and if the requirements of the cavalry battalion are not met regularly, the person must be returned to the head of the infantry barracks. So the training of the cavalry battalion was also much harder than that of ordinary infantry.

After the victory in Fangzhou, the Baoyi army had been stationed in Fangzhou for half a month, Zhao Xingde took the opportunity to rectify the Baoyi army, and mixed the 2,500 fire gun regiment training army and more than 5,000 Jingxiang soldiers together. In training, soldiers are divided into three grades: superior, basic, and supplementary. In order to prevent the three ranks of soldiers from dragging each other down, most of the superior soldiers were assigned to the mine-thrower battalion, and the military pay was three times that of the first rank. The salary of the supplementary soldiers is only half of the original level. It is because everyone in the camp is competing for the first place, and they all want to win better treatment with their skills. The entire Baoyi Army was organized into fifteen battalions, including two cavalry battalions, one mine-thrower battalion, two artillery battalions, and ten gunner-gun battalions. Lu Mingyu and Luo Xianshi served as the commanders of the left and right armies, and there were five battalions of firecrackers under their command. Ma Rui was the commander of the cavalry, and Gao Su and Liu Zhijian were the chief and deputy commanders of the artillery battalion. Du blows the horn and leads the thunder-throwing battalion.

Zhao Xingde also selected some strong warriors among the captured soldiers to enrich the Fangzhou Song army. The Fangzhou Army was still under the command of Chen Keli, the former commander of Fangzhou's soldiers and horses, and expanded to ten commands, totaling more than 5,000 people. This army may not be able to win a decisive battle with the invading Liao army, but it is enough to defend Fangzhou City after the fortification and trench.

Such a reorganization was almost impossible before, but after the victory in Fangzhou, Zhao Xingde's prestige in the Baoyi Army suddenly increased, and it did not take much effort to smoothly carry out the reorganization. Since the Liao army invaded the south, the Song Dynasty was defeated in Hedong, Hebei, and Bianliang, and the morale of the army and the people was depressed to the extreme. As a direct result, the major battalions sat on hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers, but they all protected themselves under the threat of the Liao army, and did not dare to take the initiative to attack the main force of the Liao army. After the victory in Fangzhou, the reputation of the Baoyi Army rose, even if the people of the Hedong, Hebei, and Xijing camps of their lords mentioned it, they had to raise their thumbs and praise "Good man!" The southeast area of Jingxiang even touted this battle as an unprecedented victory.

It was not until more than ten days later that the headquarters of the Zhenguo Army broke through the Liao army and opened up the waterway from Ezhou to Xiangyang, which slightly overshadowed the limelight of Fangzhou. The Zhenguo Army selected 2,000 elites as the vanguard, led by Niu Gao and Yang Zaixing, and engaged the Liao army on the ship. Yue Fei personally led the army to follow, and set up iron bucket cannons, three-bow bed crossbows and other sharp weapons for water warfare on the warship. The warships of the Song army approached the water village of the Liao army by the southeast wind, and the guns and crossbows on the warships were fired in unison, setting all the sails of the Liao army on fire. The Khitan people are not good at water warfare, and the signing army in the water village has no heart to fight to the death, and suddenly panicked and scattered in all directions, and the soldiers of the Zhenguo army took the opportunity to shoot with fire guns and rockets, killing countless enemy soldiers, it is said that the Han water is full of corpses, and the river water turns red. After breaking through the Liao army's water village, Niu Gao and Yang Zaixing led the army to cut the iron chain of the Suohe River with a giant axe, and successfully sent this batch of grain and grass to Xiangyang. People of insight know that Xiangyang is the gateway to the southeast half of the country. The 100,000 troops stationed in the southeast camp have accumulated a lot of grain and grass, and the symbolic significance of opening the waterway to send grain and grass to Xiangyang is greater than the substance.

The Xijing camp sent troops to rescue Xiangyang almost at the same time, Cao Di personally led the army south, avoiding Dengzhou and Tangzhou, which had been occupied by the Liao army, and passing through Junzhou in the northeast of Fangzhou, the whole army marched along the river by warship, and the cavalry of the Liao army gathered on the east bank of the Han River, but there was no naval army to stop the march of the Song army. After Xijing's army arrived in Xiangyang, Liu Yanqing received the order to welcome him, only to know that the new emperor Zhao Qi was actually in the reinforcements.

Zhao Qi then announced that he would take Xiangyang as his line, and the morale of the troops was greatly boosted, and they shouted long live, quite a posture of fighting to the death with the Liao army in Xiangyang, and the situation suddenly stabilized. What is surprising is that among the generals, Zhao Qi actually has extra blue eyes for Yue Fei. He heard that Yue Fei was temporarily stationed outside Xiangyang City, and immediately gave him a gold helmet and silver armor, a jade belt and a brocade robe, and asked the eunuch who passed the decree to bring a message, as long as Yue Fei was willing to return to Xiangyang, the official family immediately enshrined him as the envoy of the Wuchang Army, and added the prince Shaobao. If this happens, he will be on a par with Cao Di, Liu Yanqing, and Yang Yanqing, who are far above him. Among the generals, Yue Fei turned out to be just a commander of the Xiang army, and the official family promoted a junior general like this, everyone was envious and jealous, and even Liu Yanqing, the commander of the southeast festival, was a little blushing in private.

However, what is even more jaw-dropping is that this honor, Yue Fei actually abandoned it, he did not let the eunuch who passed the decree on the ship, did not do the courtier's courtesy, only thanked him in the direction of Xiangyang, and then ordered the army to pull out the camp and raise the sails, and returned to Ezhou on the same day. Zhao Qi actually ordered the eunuch to collect the armor and brocade robes, and leave them for reward after he returned to Shun in the future, and the Wuchang military festival envoy and the crown prince Shaobao's name remained unchanged.

After the news spread, everyone sighed, and even more determined that Zhao Qi was a wise man who was eager to seek talent. Some time ago, the Liao army pressed the border, and people were panicked, but now many people think that Xiangyang has a Zhongxing atmosphere. If it weren't for the Cai Party's unpopularity in appointing private individuals in the southeast, the Lishe side had already implemented the county school election policy, tying up the local heroes and the powerful together, and the two armies of Zhenguo and Baoyi showed enough strength, I am afraid that most of the prefectures and counties would have thrown themselves into Zhao Qi. Rao is like this, the hearts of the people in the southeast are fluctuating, and in the states and counties controlled by the Li Society, there are also gentry who are also going back and forth with Cai Jing and Li Bangyan and his party in private.

Fangzhou and Xiangyang are close at hand, so they are naturally affected a lot, but this impact is more among the people in the market. When the common people happily talk about the new official family's thirst for talent, they will subconsciously forget that the official family has long been crowded with Cai Jing, Li Bangyan, Cao Di, Liu Yanqing and other various ministers, and it is difficult for new people to gain a foothold.

"It's a good trick for the horse bones of the gold market." Chen Youyi sneered, "People say that the Third Highness is brilliant, and it is really not a lie. ”

When Chen Youyi rushed to Fangzhou from Chang'an and met with Zhao Xingde with Liu Yi's letter, Zhao Xingde learned that he was the old governor of Fangzhou. Xiliang's descendants are also the eldest grandson of the Fangzhou Chen family. Chen Youyi was in the Prime Minister's Mansion of Xia Kingdom, and Liu Yi valued him very much, if it weren't for the fact that Fangzhou really needed him to come, the Prime Minister's Mansion would be reluctant to let him out. The last secret order to Zhao Xingde was issued in a hurry, as if he was worried about some kind of ambiguity, and Liu Yi also specifically explained in the letter that Zhao Xingde was still in charge of the southeast affairs and could directly mobilize troops and horses, including the Fangzhou garrison. Therefore, Chen Youyi is not only the long history of the Prime Minister's Mansion, but also a subordinate of Zhao Xingde, who can help him plan for the military salary of the Baoyi Army, take care of civil affairs and other matters.

"If we can consolidate the first line of Xiangyang, it will be good." Zhao Xingde didn't care and said, "General Yue is about to go east to Jianghuai, and in three days, I will lead my troops back to the division and guard Ezhou." There was a slight gloom in his eyes, although the main force of the Liao army was blocked by Jingxiang, but it was like entering a no-man's land between the Jianghuai River, if it were not for the dense water network south of Jinling, which was not suitable for the Liao army to gallop, the remnants of the Song army would have been swept away.

At first, Yelu Bijie and Tiemuge were just plundering and waiting for Yelu Dashi to come and join forces, but in recent months, under the influence of Kong Yanzhou and Li Cheng, the rebel generals, the Liao army has increased its control over the prefectures and counties. Yelu Bijie was originally the northwest envoy of the Liao Dynasty, specializing in dealing with the northern Mobei tribe, and these things were similar and familiar with it. Brother Temu is also a flexible person, he went south all the way, seeing the population of the Song Dynasty and the fierce resistance of the people, he was simply invincible, and he deeply felt that only the people of the Southern Dynasty were the only way to govern the Southern Dynasty. Therefore, the two Liao army commanders hit it off, stationed soldiers and horses in each prefecture and county, set up a common practice of requisitioning grain and grass, recruited local powerful clans to be incorporated into the Han military camp, and also falsely spread the will of Bianliang to seal many puppet officials.

In view of this section, Chen Dong deeply felt that he could not let the Liao army take root in the southeast. Now that Xiangyang has been temporarily consolidated, the Eastern Crusade is urgent. Therefore, after Chen Dong and Yue Fei discussed, the Zhenguo army decided to send troops to the east in June, while the main force of the Baoyi army was to return to Ezhou to prevent the enemy from attacking.

In addition, Zhao Xingde was also worried about the newly opened iron mine, more than 3,000 prisoners will be escorted to Daye County with the army, where the pits and iron-smelting furnaces will be expanded, as well as ironworks and foundries, refined iron is specially made of armor blades, artillery firearms, and inferior products are cast into agricultural tools and cannonballs. In order to stimulate production, he had persuaded Chen Dong to divide more than a dozen mining areas by the Quartermaster Bureau, and let the iron factories openly bid for them, except for the original government-run iron yards, and then the Quartermaster Government would buy ordnance from the iron factories. Since ancient times, wealthy businessmen and magnates have loved such large-scale transactions as smelting iron and boiling salt, and the silver money from bidding for iron ore can also slightly relieve the emptiness of the Ezhou treasury.