Chapter 453 is a fine work on Nanshan

In mid-March, Boyan, the deputy marshal of the Mongol expedition to the south, led 5,000 Timid Xue troops to the camp of the Nanyang Middle Route Army in the southern part of Henan Province. After a short rest, Boyan led 30,000 of his troops to Xiangyang City, and arrived at the Mongolian base in the Baihe City Castle outside Xiangyang City on the evening of March 27. At the same time, the reinforcements of the two compartments of the Jianghuai Military Region of the Song Dynasty were also led by Xia Gui, the deputy envoy of the Jianghuai Military Region, and successively came to Suizhou City in the east of Xiangyang.

Throughout March, both sides were deploying troops, and the total number of troops invested by the Song and Yuan armies in Xiangyang and the surrounding areas exceeded 200,000 at once.

"General Shudu, you will introduce the situation of the Southern Dynasty musket to General Boyan."

The day after Boyan's arrival, Marshal Ashu convened a high-level military meeting attended by the main generals of the Central Route Army. The only middle- and lower-ranking generals who attended the meeting on a regular basis was Qianhu Shudu, the only Mongolian general who had seen the firearms of the Southern Dynasties.

"Yes, Marshal." He got up, saluted first to Ah Shu, then to Boyan, and then told him about the musket he had seen.

After listening to this, Boyan said: "Regarding the musket used by the Southern Dynasty Imperial Forest Army, General Ben believes that there are still two points that need to be further investigated, one is the effective range of the musket, and the other is the firing speed of the musket. ”

"Yes, General Boyan is right." "In the future battles, our army needs to continue to explore, and if we encounter the opponent's musket again, our army must not hesitate to attack with arrows first to suppress the firing of its musket, and at the same time, if possible, strive to capture the opponent's weapon for our court to study." ”

"Yes, Marshal."

Ah Shu continued: "Generals, judging from the battles with the Xiangyang army in the past few months, the proportion of muskets in the Southern Korean army should be very small, which shows that muskets must have their fatal weaknesses, so as long as everyone is careful, they will be fine." In addition, Ben Shuai told everyone the good news, in addition to bringing 30,000 fresh troops this time, General Boyan also brought 200 stone throwers, and Ben Shuai planned to allocate all these 200 stone throwers to General Ali Hague, who was responsible for besieging Fancheng. ”

"Huh?" Ali Hague stood up excitedly and said, "Great Marshal, the outer city wall of Fancheng is far less solid than its inner city, with these two hundred stone throwers, the last general is confident that he will smash a gap in the outer perimeter of Fancheng." ”

"Okay, General Ali Hague, General Kong Yuan, this marshal will give you a month, and at the same time allocate another 10,000 horses to you to drive the Song army on the periphery of Fancheng into the inner city of Fancheng first."

"Yes, Marshal."

"Sit down, two." Ah Shu said with a smile, "Everyone, judging from the situation this month, more and more people and horses of the Southern Dynasty army are gathered around Xiangyang, and the total number of support troops such as the Imperial Forest Army, the Lin'an Military Region, the Jianghuai Military Region, and the East China Sea Fleet has reached more than 40,000. The generals listened to the order, and General Boyan arranged the tasks of our army in the next stage. ”

"Generals, according to the Privy Council of our dynasty grasped the movement of the Southern Dynasty and the judgment of the emperor, the appearance of the Imperial Forest Army of the Southern Dynasty represents that its emperor is very likely to come to Xiangfan in person, therefore, the victory or defeat of the Battle of Xiangyang can almost be said to be the victory or defeat of the entire Song and Mongolian War, the emperor instructed us to wait for us, we must win this war, and the sign of victory is that our army not only wants to take Xiangyang Fancheng, but also to annihilate the reinforcements of the Southern Dynasty under Xiangyang City, of course, if the emperor of the Southern Dynasty can be caught by the way, it will be a great merit." Boyan looked at the generals of the middle road army, and first nodded to the general, "General Liu Quan." ”

"The end will be."

"Because the Southern Dynasties' fleet along the Yangtze River and the Chongqing garrison Zhang Jue held the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, so that the naval warships in our Sichuan could not support Xiangyang, the emperor decided to send 1,000 shipbuilders from the Sichuan shipyard to Wanzhang Mountain to speed up the local shipbuilding. At the end of this month, Wanzhangshan Shipyard can manufacture ten warships, and the first batch of sailors trained by General Liu Tao has also arrived in Xiangfan, General Liu, the Hanshui Valley will be handed over to you, although the number of warships of our naval division is not as good as that of the Southern Dynasties, but you can try to compete with the naval divisions of the Southern Dynasties, in order to achieve the purpose of actual combat training, the action plan for the naval division will be formulated by General Liu himself, and there is no need to report to the general and the marshal. ”

When he heard the last sentence, Liu Cheng said excitedly: "Yes, the last general will respect the order." ”

Before Boyan came to Xiangfan, Kublai Khan had specially instructed that the generals of our dynasty were not as proficient as Liu Chuan in water warfare, so others were not allowed to blindly command, and Liu Zhuang's plan of action for the sailors was all decided by Liu Quan, and the rest of the generals were not allowed to interfere with it at will.

This extreme delegation of power naturally made Liu Quan, the general, very grateful.

Boyan continued to nod: "General Atahai. ”

"The end will be."

"You are responsible for the construction of the Wanzhang Mountain fortress, and you will lead 10,000 horses to garrison the eastern part of Lumen Mountain in case of Suizhou Xia Gui."

"Yes, General Boyan, the last general is the order."

"The east, west, and north gates of Xiangyang City are still in charge of the three generals A Tinghan, Guo Kan, and Zhang Hongfan."

"Order."

"General Huaidu."

"The end will be."

"At the beginning of next month, you will lead five thousand cowardly Xue troops to Yingzhou with General Ben."

"Huh? General Boyan, are you going to attack Yingzhou? ”

"It's random, it doesn't have to be a siege."

"Yes, the last general."

Ah Shu said with a smile: "Five thousand cowardly Xue, as long as you don't attack the city, it is enough to be the 50,000 army of the Southern Dynasty, from Xiangyang to Yingzhou, most of them are hilly and mountainous, and it is inconvenient to have more people." Generals, everyone knows their mission, right? ”

"Yes, Marshal."

Less than a five-minute walk west from the middle of the bustling Lin'an Tianjie, there is an ordinary small wine shop called Sprout. This small wine shop is not large, the first floor is a general hall, the second floor is a private room, but there are only four small private rooms, named after the south, east and west.

With the rapid development of the economy of the Song Dynasty, the price of shops along the street in Lin'an City has also risen sharply, and the shops in the Tianjie in the center are the most expensive among them. More than three years ago, a businessman surnamed Zhou rented this building and opened a budding liquor store, because it is located next to Tianjie but relatively clean, and the owner is good at management and the price is fair, so since its opening, business has been very prosperous.

In the evening, Yang Lian Zhenjia, who was wearing a hair cover and dressed as a layman, quietly came to this small wine shop. The owner of the store personally led Yang Lian Zhenjia to a private room by the window on the second floor, and instructed Xiao Er to put four dishes and a bottle of high-quality Chinese imperial liquid.

Yang Lian Zhenjia was expressionless, looking out the window while drinking alone.

After a while, the sky darkened completely, the street was brightly lit, the crowds were crowded, and the number of customers in the wine shop gradually increased.

Just as Yang Lian Zhenjia was about to finish drinking this bottle of liquor, a man in a black robe entered the budding wine shop, this black-robed man was short in stature, and his head was lowered, as if his whole body was shrouded in a black robe. The black-robed man was very familiar with the sprout wine shop, and after coming in, he came directly to the north room on the second floor.

"Nanshan, long time no see."

The black-robed man known as Nanshan snorted, sat opposite Yang Lian Zhenjia and said, "Say something quickly." ”

Yang Lian Zhenjia poured half a glass of wine for Nanshan: "Come, talk while drinking." ”

Nanshan was not polite, picked up the wine glass and sipped it silently.

Yang Lian Zhenjia whispered: "Nanshan, I want to know the information about the muskets used by the Song Dynasty's Imperial Forest Army. ”

"Muskets?" Nanshan muttered, then shook his head and said, "This is a first-class secret of the imperial court, and I can't know the details at all." The production of muskets belongs to the Gunpowder Administration, but special documents are required to enter and exit the Gunpowder Administration, and ordinary people cannot enter at all. ”

"Nanshan, can you get the entry and exit documents?"

"You want to go in?"

"Exactly, Nanshan, you have been in the palace for many years, can't you get the entry and exit documents?"

Nanshan suddenly smiled: "Don't be delusional, this kind of pass requires the emperor's own instructions, and you must be accompanied by the imperial guards to enter." ”

"Really?" Yang Lian Zhenjia thought for a while and said, "Nanshan, do you know the guards of the Gunpowder Prison?" ”

"The Powder Superintendent and its subordinate workshops are heavily guarded, and I only know that there are at least five hundred people from all walks of life guarding them."

"Centaurs?" Yang Lianzhen said, "Nanshan, what do you mean?" ”

Nanshan's voice sounded very sharp: "What I know is at least fifty imperial guards, three companies, that is, three hundred royal forest soldiers, and other guards of secret organizations such as Jinyi Guard, plus the original 100-person escort team of the gunpowder superintendent, there are roughly more than 500 people in total." Master Lian Zhen, you don't want to break in single-handedly, do you? ”

Although Yang Lian Zhenjia is strong in martial arts, he is very self-aware, and he has developed a cautious way of doing things for many years. Those fifty imperial guards alone were not something he could handle, let alone hundreds of others?

Yang Lian Zhenjia said with a smile: "Nanshan, this monk is not a reckless person, and he will not fall into the net without a perfect strategy." ”

Nanshan snorted, "That's very good. ”

"Nanshan, everything is fine with your family, don't read it, when the battle of Xiangyang is over, you can also see them."

"The Battle of Xiangyang?" Nanshan sneered, "The outcome of this war is still difficult to predict. Lian Zhen, right now, Jinyiwei is still looking for you everywhere, you, and Yun Ze, let's take care of yourself first. ”

"Don't worry about it, Nanshan, the poor monk farewell."

"No."

After Yang Lian Zhenjia left, Nanshan sat alone and silently for a while before getting up and leaving.