In September of the 28th year of the Great Qian, Qianguo sent 300,000 troops to the south.

The first route was Gao Xu as a general, and troops were sent from Jiangxia and Jiangling to attack Xiakou and Baling; The second route was Chang Kun as a general, and he crossed the river from Chaohu to attack Jiankang and Wuhu respectively; The third route, Lu Shuang was the general, set off from the port of Qingzhou Sailor, and the fleet arrived at Wu County to land; The fourth route is Zhao Ping, the king of Shu, as the main general, and sent troops to attack Ningzhou.

Zhao Junsheng's personal expedition this time may be the last battle in his life, so he can't miss it, otherwise it will be a pity.

On September 12, Zhao Junsheng's royal car arrived at the Chaohu Water Division Camp.

At this time, 100,000 horses have been gathered around Chaohu Water Village, plus 100,000 sailors, a total of 200,000 troops, Chaohu Lake is full of camp tents, white camp tents are as dense as stars in the sky, and there is no end in sight.

"Greetings to the Holy Driver!" Chang Kun led the generals and colonels out of the camp to greet and bow.

Zhao Junsheng waved his hand: "Flat!" Let's go to camp first! ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" The generals will stand up and give thanks.

The generals embraced Zhao Junsheng's royal car into the camp and walked for half an hour before coming to the palace.

Just because the main general of this road is Chang Kun, so the main general's tent is Chang Kun's residence, and Zhao Junsheng can't skip the command, so the generals ordered someone to build a simple palace, and the royal car stayed here for a short time, and he had to set off after a few days, and he didn't live for three nights in total.

The generals followed Zhao Junsheng to the palace, Zhao Junsheng was draped all over, sat on the throne with a sword in his hand, and once again accepted the visit of the ministers and generals of the army.

Zhao Junsheng said: "You don't have to salute when you go out to march and fight, get up!" According to the plan, the Fourth Route Army will launch an attack at the same time on September 15, what is the morale of the officers and men of the Second Route Army, and how is the preparation of food, grass and ordnance? ”

Chang Kun stood up and bowed and hugged his fists and said: "Back to Your Majesty, the battle of reunification is a big thing, this may be the only time for all the soldiers, if you miss it, you will never encounter it again, so the morale of the soldiers is high, and the grain and grass ordnance has been transported enough for three months, not counting the grain and grass, even if the ordnance continues to fight, it can last for two months!" ”

Zhao Junsheng asked again: "Has the sailor made preparations?" Did the soldiers have the courage and determination to fight Liu Song's sailors and defeat them? ”

Xu Yibao clenched his fists and replied: "Back to Your Majesty, the sailors and soldiers can't wait to fight to the death with Liu Song Sailor, although the soldiers have not really fought a water battle, but they have been practicing for six years, and they are conducting actual combat drills every month, and they will definitely not back down when they really face Liu Song Sailor!" The soldiers all know that the imperial court has spent countless financial and material resources to raise these 100,000 sailors not to let them be uncles, but to let them serve. ”

Zhao Junsheng nodded and said, "Very good!" If the fleet encountered Liu Song's sailors while sailing on the river, I ordered: The water battle is under the full command of General Xu, assisted by General Wu Xi as the deputy general, and the omissions are checked and filled! ”

Wu Xi stood up and hugged his fists with Xu Yibao and agreed: "The minister takes the order!" ”

Zhao Junsheng asked Chang Kun: "How was the battle plan for attacking Wuhu and Jiankang arranged?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, as early as a year ago, Liu Song may have noticed that our dynasty was training sailors in Chaohu Lake, so they sent a fleet of thirty large and small warships to block the mouth of the river for a long time, and several times they wanted to enter the mouth of the river to enter Chaohu Lake to reconnoitre, but they were all beaten back by our shore defense, and now this small fleet of Liu Song is docked on the river outside the mouth of the river all day long, and the number of warships of our army's naval division is large, and the waterway is long and narrow, and it is not easy to expand, so it can only take advantage of the night to block the Song army fleet that blocks the river by surprise. There is no need to be afraid when the fleet of our sailors has completely entered the river, so the minister decided to set off in the middle of the night on September 14, and the fleet will slowly move along the waterway, so that it should be possible to reach the mouth of the river at about the end of the hour, and then take advantage of the dawn to carry out a surprise attack on the Song army's sailors parked on the river! ”

Zhao Junsheng thought about it and asked: "Have you considered this question as have you considered whether the Song Army's naval division has arranged relevant facilities under the surface of the river mouth to prevent our military naval division from entering the river, and whether the channel into the river has been blocked?" ”

Wu Xi clenched his fists and replied: "Your Majesty, a month ago, we sent three groups of sailors who were proficient in water to sneak under the channel in a small boat late at night to investigate, and found that Liu Song did arrange three arm-thick iron cables at the mouth of the river, and threw boulders into both sides of the river mouth with boulders, tying the iron locks to the boulders!" Fortunately, we sent someone to investigate, otherwise we don't know that the Song army secretly arranged this hand, three days ago, the ministers ordered the sailors to sneak into the water in a small boat late at night and take a huge tong to cut all the iron cables, and now our army sailors warship, so we also lost five sailors! ”

Zhao Junsheng said: "That's good, in the past two days, in addition to the morning exercises, don't arrange drills for the soldiers, let the soldiers rest more and recuperate!" From today on, kill pigs and sheep, and let the soldiers eat and drink well! ”

The generals clasped their fists together and agreed: "No! ”

After the generals dispersed, the camp quickly became lively, a large number of pigs and sheep were led out and slaughtered by the men and soldiers, and for a time the whole camp was full of screams of pigs and sheep before they were slaughtered.

Jar after jar of wine was taken out of the warehouse by the soldiers and piled up outside the camp, and once the meal was served, it was distributed, a bowl for each person.

In the next two days, the three meals a day were good wine and meat, and there were a large number of fish caught from Chaohu Lake with fishing nets.

The people of this era are all people who do hard work, and they can eat very much, and some people who eat a lot of food can eat two catties of noodles; If you eat rice, some people can eat more than two catties at a meal, and the entire camp of 200,000 people will eat 160,000 catties of grain at one meal, and the concentrate of livestock is counted separately.

Of course, this is just before the war in order to supplement the nutrition and physical strength of the soldiers, usually not let the soldiers eat, the usual food is quantitative, if the soldiers are usually let go, even if the country is rich, it can't afford to raise these pot-bellied men.

According to the battle plan, the naval division should first solve the Wuhu naval division, and then transport the infantry, cavalry, baggage troops and siege equipment to attack Wuhu, and then the naval division fleet will go north along the river to attack the Jiankang naval division.

September 14th, late at night.

For dinner that day, the soldiers were still well fed and full, except for the fact that they did not drink alcohol, and each soldier received three days' dry rations after being fully armed and carrying his bags.

After the army was assembled, Zhao Junsheng ordered the army to set off and rush to the north bank of the river on foot on the other side of Wuhu, and only wait for the sailors to arrive and board a boat to cross the river.

At the same time as the departure of the 100,000 army, the 100,000 sailors boarded 3,000 large and small warships, so they sailed along the waterway in the direction of the river.

From the perspective of safety, Zhao Junsheng, as the emperor, should go south with an army of 100,000, but he chose to set off with the officers and soldiers of the naval division on a warship despite the opposition of the ministers and generals accompanying the army.

If it weren't for the transfer of command, it would not be easy for more than 3,000 large and small warships to set off in an orderly manner and go to the Yangtze River along the narrow waterway, Zhao Junsheng stood on the roof of the flagship and leaned on the railing to blow the river breeze, he looked at the warships with lights on in front and back were not slow, not at all, from this aspect, it can be seen that Xu Yibao and Wu Xi are undoubtedly talented in commanding the sailors.

After all the sailors entered the narrow waterway from Chaohu Lake, Xu Yibao walked to the roof deck and hugged his fist at Zhao Junsheng and said, "Your Majesty is boarding the ship for the first time, are you still used to it?" ”

Zhao Junsheng said with a smile: "It's not the first time to board a ship, but it's the first time to board such a big warship, and I feel okay, I haven't been seasick yet!" ”

Xu Yibao breathed a sigh of relief and said: "It has always been the northerners who ride horses, the southerners who operate the boats, and I can't see what it is when I take a boat on the small river, many northerners can adapt to it, once I get to the big river with a big wind and waves, it will be completely different, and the boat will be very bumpy at that time, and many people who board the boat for the first time are vomiting and diarrhea after a long time!" ”

Zhao Junsheng nodded and asked, "Our sailors and soldiers won't feel uncomfortable when they get to the river, right?" ”

"That's not going to happen, the wind and waves on Chaohu Lake will not be smaller than on the river, the soldiers have been practicing for six years, everyone has long been adapted, and now they are uncomfortable if they don't get on the boat for a day, they are all a bunch of cheap bones!"

Zhao Junsheng laughed: "Hahaha·····"

After three hours, and after midnight, the ships in front of them signaled with torches to slow down and stop.

Zhao Junsheng asked Xu Yibao: "Why did you stop?" ”

Xu Yibao explained: "Back to Your Majesty, I have arrived near the mouth of the river, here is only ten miles away from the mouth of the river at most, the vanguard fleet is going to defeat the Song army sailors blocked at the mouth of the river, they have about thirty large and small warships, at this time they are asleep, just right to sneak attack, as long as this small fleet of the Song army is defeated, our army sailors can enter the river unharmed, and now General Wu Xi has taken the lead in the fleet of one hundred warships, look over there!" ”

The warship that Zhao Junsheng was riding was a warship of 3,600 materials, the command cabin was at the highest point, and the field of vision was very wide, he looked in the direction of Xu Yibao's finger, and sure enough, he saw a light in the distance, which was the light on the vanguard fleet.

Less than an hour later, when the sky was bright and bright, a few miles away on the surface of the river outside the mouth of the river suddenly burst into flames, and a large number of shouts of killing were blown by the wind, and soon thick smoke was seen billowing into the sky.

It was dawn, and the soldiers who should have been washing did not wash, but they still took out dry food and looked at the river surface at the mouth of the river while eating.

Soon, a knight galloped along the river bank on a war horse, waving a flag as he galloped.

"Drop the boat and get the people on board!"

Under Xu Yibao's order, a sailor rowed a small boat to the shore and soon picked up the knight who reported the news on the boat.

"Your Majesty, Xu Dashuai, our army's vanguard sailors defeated the Song army sailors on the river in one fell swoop under the command of General Wu, all the Song warships anchored and stopped on the river, when our warships were killed, they were completely defenseless, they didn't have time to lift the anchor and raise the sails to escape, most of them were hit and injured by our warships, and our soldiers then rushed to the enemy ships to fight under the order of General Wu Xi, capturing more than 300 people and killing more than 400 enemies!"

Zhao Junsheng laughed and said: "The first battle was won, very good!" ”

Xu Yibao immediately ordered the fleet to lift anchor and raise the sails to continue moving.