As soon as the sky was bright, Zhao Lie took a group of subordinates to climb the high ridge and overlook the Jiyang Military City.

After the field investigation, Zhao Lie found that he had made a big mistake: the Jiyang Military City was not in Jiyang County, but in Ningyuan.

The Jiyang Army includes Ningyuan, Linchuan, and Jiyang, and the military administration is located in Ningyuan, which is hundreds of miles away from Jiyang, so the Jiyang Military City has nothing to do with Jiyang.

Zhao Lie got up early in the morning and led his subordinates to observe the terrain of the Jiyang Military City, naturally in order to have a more detailed and comprehensive understanding of the main battlefield that was about to be fiercely fought next, so he also brought a local general to explain.

The local name is Mo Huaiyuan, who was originally a small official in the Jiyang Military City, and was captured by the Song army during the previous siege. Facing the imperial court, Mo Huaiyuan naturally surrendered without resistance. This person is a military family, three generations of military households, born in Si and grew up in Si, a local expert, plus he is a small official in charge of repairing the city defense, speaking of Jiyang Military City, it is like a number of treasures.

"So that all know that this Ningyuan is named after Ningyuan water, Chunyou five years (1245), Mao Kui, who was then the Zhijun, dug Ningyuan's "back river" around the north of the city. The new river channel is about eight miles long, and the excavation is mainly the diversion section of more than three miles in the east, and the rest uses natural depressions. The introduction of Ningyuan water in the military city not only solved the problem of drinking water for the soldiers and civilians in the city, but also filled the moats outside the city, forming a deep and wide moat, which greatly improved the defense ...... the city."

Mo Huaiyuan was foaming at the mouth as he spoke, and Ding Xiaoqi on the side couldn't help but choke him: "The defense of this city has been strengthened, isn't it more difficult for us to fight?" ”

Mo Huaiyuan was stunned, and everyone laughed, but what Ding Xiaoqi said was also true, and the wide and deep moat has indeed become one of the difficulties for the Song army to attack the city.

Zhao Lie didn't care too much, and only said to Mo Huaiyuan: "You can give a detailed introduction to the Jiyang Military City." ”

As soon as he talked about this proud military city, Mo Huaiyuan perked up, folded his sleeves and saluted, and then pointed to the military city seven miles away from the mountain and talked eloquently.

"The Jiyang Military City covers an area of about 50 acres, and the official office area in the north of the city is about 10 acres. It is more than one mile around, totaling two hundred and forty-two zhang, and one zhang and six feet high...... Open the east, west and south gates, each corresponding to a port. The inside and outside walls of the city are covered with bricks and stones, and they are not afraid of heavy rains, floods, and sea tides......"

Zhao Hunt first noticed that the three gates of the military city correspond to these three ports, according to Mo Huaiyuan's explanation, located in the south gate of the military city, the north bank of Ningyuan water is called Xindi Port, located on the south bank of the twin stars such as the twin stars of the big port, Fanfang Port correspond to the north gate and the west gate respectively. Dozens of miles upstream of the three ports are also open to small boats, which can go deep into Litong, and some places are "unfathomable, and there are dragon dives".

At present, among the three ports, only Fanfang Port in the West Gate is controlled by the Song army, and the other two ports are still in the hands of the Yuan army. It's not that the Song army doesn't want to control it, it's just that the troops are insufficient, and even if they take it, they can't hold it. Although the other two gates were in the hands of the Yuan army, the Yuan soldiers did not dare to go out of the city and enter the port easily.

Why is there such a big city in an inferior military city with more than 300 households? And have three ports?

This question Zhao Lie had as early as Guangya, and at this moment he finally heard an unexpected and reasonable explanation.

Everything is because of sea trade.

Located in the southernmost part of the Great Song Dynasty, Jiyang Military City was a must-stop for merchant ships on the route between the Great Song Dynasty and Champa (Vietnam). The Champa was a very important trade object for the Song merchants, and many Champa people moved to the Jiyang Military City for business reasons. At the same time, it is also indispensable to drill the Arabs of the world's merchants wherever there are interests.

"There are more than 500 customers and more than 3,000 people in the military city. Let me tell you, these people seem to be similar, but they are very different. For example, the people of Champa eat by storing rice on large green plates and twisting them by hand. The Persian women, rich and poor, were all ringed with gold, silver, copper, and tin, pierced their ears and drooped down to their shoulders...... There is a Buddha temple in the southwest of the city, it is said that it is a Buddhist hall, its hall system, the ritual is actually the same as the worship temple, this is a big cannibal also...... There is Xinxing Fang in the east of the city, Baoping Fang in the west of the city, and there is a utilization workshop in the south of the city. Zhufang Han and Lifan are mixed with various ethnic groups, and the military and local guest Mai resonate with each other. ”

Mo Huaiyuan said something about it, and everyone listened to it with relish, only Zhao Lie had the absurd idea of "internationalization".

It is no wonder that a small border town with "only 308 households in the military state" and only "dozens of thatched houses scattered around" in the military city has such a scale. It turns out that this is not a small city at all, but a border trade port city with an international nature. Its customers are far more than the main households, and most of them are wealthy maritime merchants.

Because this city is very close to Litong, Zhuli has been in turmoil for decades, in order to protect the property of the family, funded by the maritime merchants, and the government came forward, jointly built this strong city port that can be counted even if it is placed in the Central Plains resort.

In the cities where trade flourished during the Song Dynasty, the number of customers often outnumbered the number of households. For example, there are more than 64,000 main households and more than 78,000 customers in Guangzhou; In the Southern Song Dynasty, Chunxi checked again, and there were more than 82,000 main households and more than 105,000 customers. There are as many as "10,000 families" just for permanent residents. The situation in the military city of Geeyang is not unique, and it is very common in the harbor city.

Zhao Lie inquired in detail about the garrison of each section of the city wall of the military city, which was similar to what he heard during the hall meeting yesterday. Just as Zhao Lie was about to move to another mountain to observe the enemy situation at the other two gates of the military city, a flag commander with a small flag on his back rushed over and urged Zhao Lie to return to the camp as soon as possible.

"The prime minister will beat the drums and gather the generals at the beginning of the hour, please be sure to rush back to the camp within two minutes, otherwise the military law will be engaged."

As soon as the drums of war sound, it is the battlefield, and the battlefield military orders are like mountains, even fathers, sons and brothers have no mercy to talk about, and as a general, you must have the consciousness of a general.

Zhao Lie gave up his hand: "The last general will obey the order." ”

……

At three o'clock on May 29 in the second year of Xiangxing of the Great Song Dynasty, under the military city of Jiyang in Qiongzhou, in front of the beach of Fanfang Port, under the witness of Empress Dowager Yang, Wen Tianxiang on the right, Chen Yizhong on the left, Zeng Yuanzi, the governor of the political affairs, and Yang Liangjie, the secretary of the household department.

Zhang Shijie, the commander of the Song Army, and Su Liuyi, the deputy commander of the Song Army, led Zhao Lie, Jiang Fenglie, Su Jingzhan, Zhang Ba (i.e., Zhang Tongzhi), Huang Tiancong, Xu Dafu and other generals and 1,500 soldiers to hold a military memorial at the Daying School.

The military sacrifice in the Song Dynasty has a set of strict etiquette, although there are no more than 1,000 soldiers and no more than 10 generals, Zhang Shijie is still like leading 100,000 soldiers to the battle, he has a clear eye, and does not fall into the prestige of the great power of the Celestial Empire.

By the deputy marshal Su Liu Yi for the first offering, with lacquerware often food shrine, all with green rope, covered with a curtain. The Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan was enshrined first, and the sheep and pigs were used to replace the Taigao. The wind priest, the rain priest, and the horse priest also use animal prisons, wine preserves, and incense coins to recommend as above.

The ancestral officials all wore uniforms and sang a blessing: "On May 29 of the second year of Xiangxing of the Great Song Dynasty, Taifu, Yue Guogong, Deputy Privy Envoy, and Zhang Shijie of Tongping Zhangshi." With the laying of three animals, sacrifice to the gods. It is difficult for the leader of the fierce party, the discipline is chaotic, the poison is poisonous, and the evil is unforgivable. Ordered to march, to fight in the sky, to defeat the enemy, the gods are helping. Feasting. ”

After the military sacrifice, Zhang Shijie ascended to the top and announced the generals and soldiers of the three armies: "The whole people, do not be careful, listen to orders!" Today, the soldiers are not welcome, invade and defeat Wang Luo, scratch my borders, harm my troubles, and poison the common people. The queen of heaven gave me an axe, and the heavens will be punished. Ershang is a mental strength, a sharp spear, and a great annihilation. There is glory in death, and there is no disgrace in retirement. There is a reward for using life, and there is a killing without life. Alas, everyone! Serve the king's affairs, don't do it and be punished! ”

All the soldiers shouted together: "Serve the king, don't do it and be punished!" ”

The momentum of thousands of people actually suppressed the sound of the tide.

Subsequently, the generals of each battalion issued rewards, which were nothing more than capturing and beheading, and rewarding a certain amount of silk money. Harvest a certain class, transfer gifts, etc., in order to inspire the army's fighting spirit.

When everything was done, it was already three quarters of the hour. With a little red tooth flag on behalf of the boss, the drums and horns played in unison, and the neat array of thousands of troops rushed out of the camp, waving the flags, and the momentum was like a rainbow, killing the Jiyang Military City.