In the first year of Longsheng, on February 16, Taizong issued an edict and sent Qi Wang Xian and Chu Township Hou Jiangzhe to attack Qinzhou, and the Yonghan War started.

――"Yongshi - Taizong Benji"

On February 27 of the first year of Longsheng, the southernmost defense line of Qinzhou, Lingyuan Fort, was covered with war clouds, and the border of Dayong was blocked for a winter, and even the most shrewd and capable scouts had no way to spread the news, but everyone knew that Dayong would not stop like this, and the war would start.

A castle stands alone on the small hill, the hill is the south flow of Qinshui, in the early spring of each year, the ice and snow melt to make the Qinshui rise, all along the river should beware of the flooding of the Qinshui, but this year it seems that the water level is not high, it should be no obstacle, the river in this area is wide, the water flow is gentle, the land is fertile, there are more than a dozen villages on both banks, and the Lingyuan Fort on the hill is where the Northern Han Army is stationed, here is also the most cutting-edge battle line of Qinzhou, after fifty miles here, it is the county seat of Ji, along the Qinshui, there are blockhouses everywhere, easy to defend and difficult to attack, And Anze, Qinyuan, and Qinzhou City are the most important passes.

A group of Northern Han soldiers stood on the city wall, paying attention to the movement in the south, since the New Year, a military order has been passed from above, telling them to always be on guard against the attack of the Dayong army, so they dare not relax at all. A soldier was probably a little tired, and turned around to say a few words of gossip with his comrades, but when he turned around, he saw his comrades looking ahead dumbfounded, he subconsciously turned his head, only to see that blue-black lines suddenly appeared on the horizon, but in an instant, the blue-black became thicker and thicker, although it was very far away, but in the eyes of the soldier, as if he had seen Dayong's military flag, he shouted hoarsely: "Ring the alarm bell." A somewhat stunned soldier came to his senses, ran to the bell tower in three steps and two steps, rang the bronze bell, and then the trumpet sounded in the castle, and many neatly dressed Northern Han soldiers rushed out of the barracks everywhere. A general dressed in a general's uniform ran to the castle tower and said angrily: "Why didn't the scouts sent out return, go and light the beacon fire." His guards hurried to the top of the castle and lit a beacon fire. The billowing wolf smoke pointed straight to the sky, since the twenty-two years of Dayong Wuwei, the Dayong army set foot on the land of the Northern Han Dynasty for the first time, and a major war related to the life and death of the Northern Han Dynasty was about to break out.

Xia Ning, the vanguard of the Dayong Army, the king of Qi's trusted general, saw the wolf smoke billowing in the distance, couldn't help laughing, reined in the whip, pointed forward and said: "Even if they find out what our army can do, can a small Lingyuan Fort still block our soldiers' command." The army listened to the order, took Lingyuan Fort in one fell swoop, and was ordered by the king of Qi to clear the wilderness. With that, the Yongjun in blue and black armor shouted loudly, and as Xia Ning rushed away, the small Lingyuan Fort was just fighting up, but it was just a mantis arm as a car. In just half an hour, Lingyuan Fort had been breached, the Yong army was surrounded on all sides, and the Northern Han army had no survivors. Lingyuan Fort was originally responsible for detecting the enemy's outpost of the front, once the Yong army attacked, Lingyuan Fort could not be fortified, so the sergeants sent here were all determined to die, the Yong army fought at the beginning, and there was no intention to persuade them to surrender.

Xia Ning saw that Lingyuan Fort had been breached, and the city gate and city defense equipment were destroyed, and then the army went to the countryside on all sides, this time the king of Qi issued a strict order not to leave the enemy behind him. Villages were burned down, although most of the young and strong men joined the army, but the Northern Han people were fierce, even the strong women and children and the elderly could pick up swords to attack the Yongjun soldiers at any time, so under Xia Ning's orders, the Yongjun iron cavalry almost crushed these village fortresses into ruins, and the surviving civilians were driven by swords to Duanshi and Anze. The Dayong army did not advance lightly, but steadily advanced step by step, leaving deserted villages and uncultivated fields wherever they passed. The only thing that made the civilians of the Northern Han Dynasty happy was that the commander of the Yong army, King Qi, ordered that civilians should not be killed indiscriminately, so as long as they did not resist, they could not only save their lives, but even have the opportunity to bring some belongings, but they had no other direction to go except to the north.

On the bank of Qinshui, a group of ragged old and weak women and children supported each other to walk north, there were only a few broken cars in the team, loaded with some rice grain, a few children and old people who were really unable to walk sat on the car, their expressions were full of sadness, they were all weak and powerless people, basically in the northbound refugees have fallen to the back, and the Yongjun iron cavalry has passed countless times, they often encounter the Yongjun who search back and forth. And the generals of the Yongjun army, who expelled them from their homeland, made it very clear that if they could not reach Duanshi before March 10, then they would be executed as spies of the Northern Han army. The cold spring breeze blew from the river, so that some thinly dressed old and weak shrunk into a ball, the spring in Qinzhou is still very cold, the future is boundless, thinking that they may be executed by Yongjun as a spy, some old people in the team are already crying blood.

Who would have thought that Yongjun would use such a method? Six years ago, the Yongjun army also invaded Qinzhou, but there was no offense against the villages along the way, but now they are all flat, several old people talked about it privately, and they all said that it is no wonder that the former commander of the army is the current Dayong Emperor Li Zhen, but this time it is Li Xian, the king of Qi, who does not know that Li Zhen is magnanimous and the king of Qi is ruthless?

A child sitting in the car inadvertently swept over the river, and he suddenly pointed to the center of the river in surprise and said, "Grandpa, there is a big boat there." The old man who was staggering by the side of the car raised his eyes and was also stunned, only to see that in the middle of the Qin River, more than 100 large and small ships were going upstream, one of which was the most huge and sturdy, with a big flag on the bow of the ship, and a big river character on it. There were many soldiers on board, and more than 20 warships around the ship guarded the ship in the center, followed by a cargo ship full of Yongjun's baggage. The old man's exclamation made everyone else turn their heads to look, and saw the Yongjun's sailor clipper and the soldiers on the boat with distinct armor, they were almost unable to walk anymore, the last time the Dayong army attacked the Northern Han, but did not use so many sailors, this time, presumably Dayong is bound to win, right?

At this moment, there seemed to be some commotion in the bow of the ship, and several half-grown children with better eyesight clearly saw three people slowly walking out of the cabin on the top floor, and one of them came out in line, standing at the bow of the boat, holding the railing, and looking towards the shore. This person is dressed in a plain robe, covered with a blue coat, and he can't see his appearance from a distance, only seeing that the person's hair is light gray, it should not be young, and everyone can only see a pair of clear and cold eyes, although they are far away, but those eyes almost see through their internal organs, which makes them feel an inexplicable chill in their hearts. In the crowd, a middle-aged farmer with a simple appearance flashed a cold light in his eyes the moment he saw the boat, but he immediately lowered his head, still looking depressed and worried, and touched his right leg from time to time, which was wrapped in some strips of cloth, which should be a wounded leg, no wonder he fell behind.

At this time, there was a quiet sound of horses' hooves behind everyone, although the sound was not loud, but the shaking of the ground still made them aware of the crisis, several farmers picked up hoes and sickles, and wanted to protect their families as much as possible, those Yongjun did not know when they would kill. What fell into their sight was a small cavalry of no more than twenty or thirty people, led by a female general in blue-black soft armor, although wearing armor that could not be distinguished, but this woman was beautiful and matchless, with long eyebrows and sideburns, which made people know at first sight that this was a heroine, she was wearing a black cloak, a long sword hanging from her waist, and a crossbow hanging from her back. And the entourage behind her was also dressed in soft armor and wore crossbows, but the weapons were of this kind, almost the same.

When the cavalry team approached this team of displaced people who were forced to go north, they naturally dispersed, faintly surrounded the team of displaced people, and a cavalry said in a loud voice: "Why are you still lingering here, don't you know that the military order is strict, just after tomorrow, if you can't enter the Ji clan, it means that your death time has come." The voice was clearer and more moving, but it was also a woman.

An old man staggered forward and said, "Master Jun, we are all old and weak women and children here who can't afford to walk quickly, so we missed the trip, please be lenient with Master Jun." ”

The woman turned her head to look at the female general who was the leader, and the female general's gaze swept over everyone one by one, her gaze was so clear and piercing that anyone who was stared at by her felt the shadow of death looming over her. The woman's gaze fell on the injured middle-aged farmer, and the corners of her mouth showed a hint of ridicule, and she raised her whip and said, "You, come out." ”

The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment, limped forward, and the woman's eyes looked at him all the time, until he walked to the horse, the woman asked coldly, "You are a secret agent under Xiao Tong, right?" ”

The farmer looked dazed, as if he did not know what the woman would say, but he justified himself in fright: "The villain is not a spy, but a farmer who has done his duty, and it is only because his leg has been broken that he was left behind by the villagers." ”

The woman smiled coldly and said, "I, Su Qingnai, am a good spy among the spies, how can you hide from my eyes?" With that, the whip in his hand stabbed the farmer in the throat like a poisonous snake. The farmer's eyes flashed, and he didn't react, but he just screamed and closed his eyes, and the long whip was indeed back at the touch of a button. The farmer was covered in a cold sweat and fell to the ground in fright. The woman was condescending, looked at him coldly for a long time, then turned around and said in a loud voice: "Su Qing, the chief post of the front line, asks to see the overseer. The voice was clear, and everyone felt as if Su Qing was talking in their ears, although it was far away from the center of the river, there was also some commotion on the boat, and it was obvious that they heard Su Qing's voice. A short time later, a clipper boat approached the shore, and the woman led the horse to the shore, and the other knights rode away, but they went along the shore, apparently not ready to get on board, and the woman who spoke first fell behind. The middle-aged farmer breathed a sigh of relief and was about to get up, but he felt a cold and sharp foreign object pierce his throat, and when he struggled to look up, he saw the woman who had fallen behind looking at him coldly. The farmer's eyes flashed with fierce anger and bewilderment.

Dismounted and walked to the shore, Su Qing's eyes were as calm as water, as if he didn't know what was happening behind him, even though those homeless people let out suppressed exclamations. It wasn't until the young woman rode her horse to her side that she said indifferently: "Ruyue, you would rather kill the wrong one than let it go, you did a good job." The woman saluted on her horse and said, "Thank you, Miss, for the compliment." Then he took the reins of the horse thrown by Su Qing.

Su Qing flew up and jumped onto the warship, and said to the Tiger Guard wearing pure black armor: "Thank you for answering, how is the Lord of the Overseer?" The Tiger Guard smiled and said, "Your Excellency is used to taking a boat, there is no discomfort, General Su must have brought a military report, and your Excellency is waiting." ”

I stood on the boat, looking at the homeless people on the shore, although the spring breeze was cold, but it could not penetrate the big curtain I was wearing, although it was only a distance of 500 steps, but it was two different destinies, I was a high-ranking official of the enemy country with beautiful clothes and great power, and they were homeless people whose lives were as cheap as grass mustard. Born in troubled times, and from the beautiful Jiangnan for many years to the frost condensation of the north, this situation has long been commonplace, even with the prosperity of Dayong, it is difficult to avoid the emergence of this situation, not to mention the Northern Han Dynasty who has been fighting for many years. Just by looking at the fact that most of these displaced people are old, weak, sick and disabled, we can know what the situation of the Northern Han is.

Sighing softly, I turned my gaze forward, the strategy I made with my own hands cannot be overturned, if these people can't escape to the Ji clan, there is only one way to die, since I pushed them to the brink of death, why use cheap sympathy to cover up the guilt in my heart, or let the pity in my heart be ruthlessly covered, as long as Dayong dominates the world, I don't have to watch such a human tragedy repeat.

Xiao Shunzi, who was standing behind me, suddenly stepped forward and said in a low voice, "Childe, let's go back to the cabin." ”

I glanced back at Xiao Shunzi, I could see from his eyes, he didn't want me to feel sad because of those homeless people, although there are people in this world that I respect and love, but only Xiao Shunzi is my confidant, I smiled lightly and said in a low voice: "Don't worry, I have always been selfish and afraid of death, and you don't know, how can you be tempted by these irrelevant people." ”

Xiao Shunzi didn't make a sound, standing behind me and didn't retreat, my heart became warmer and warmer, what I just said was not all comforting words, I was just an ordinary mortal, unable to take care of the world, except for myself and my relatives and friends around me, colleagues and subordinates, I can't take care of more people.

Hu Yanshou raised his voice at this time: "My lord, General Su Qingsu, the general post of the front line, asks to see you." ”

I nodded and said, "Please General Su on board." "Su Qing is a general I appreciate very much, although she is a woman, but she is calmer and smarter than most men, and her mind is even more ruthless and ruthless, this time I and the King of Qi agreed to let her serve as the front line scout outpost, responsible for probing the military situation, intercepting and killing the scout spy of the Northern Han Army, this time I must have passed through Qinshui and saw my building ship, so come and meet me, the overseer, this is also an unwritten practice in the military, and according to my estimate, our army and the Northern Han Army have not yet started a frontal war, there should be no urgent military situation.

After a while, Su Qing got on the boat, and sure enough, as I expected, there was nothing important, but from Su Qing's tone, I heard the doubts in her heart, for the needs of the army to clear the wilderness, she was still wandering on the border of Qinzhou for more than ten days, if she marched with all her strength, it would only take two days to reach the Ji clan, but in order to clear the bunkers and villages along the way, the army is still wandering in this area, the so-called soldiers are fast, no wonder she is puzzled. However, she had a calm temperament and did not question it openly, but only expressed dissatisfaction with the speed of the march.

I didn't intend to explain to her, and asked, "General Su, have the spies of our army sent to the homeless people already entered the Ji clan?" ”

Su Qing shook his head and said: "The Ji guards are very cautious, blocking all the displaced people from the city, and letting them be arranged and resettled according to the township, and setting up a system of armor protection and sitting, although our spy has been lurking for many years, so it has not been eliminated, but it is difficult to act, and the news cannot be transmitted, I am afraid it will be useless when attacking the Ji clan, and the general will get the information, the Ji clan has been ordered to move those displaced people and civilians from the Ji clan into the hinterland of Qinzhou, leaving only some young men to help defend the city." ”

I chuckled: "The Northern Han defense takes Duan Invincible as the first, presumably it was his idea, they must have decided to use the strong wall to clear the wilderness, step by step to meet the battle, this is not bad, our first step is to clear the wilderness, so that there is no civilian existence between the two armies on the battlefield, they have helped us in this way, but they also have to do it, if not, without our army attacking, the Ji clan will be broken by the exiles." ”

Su Qing hesitated for a moment, and finally asked: "My lord, there is something unclear in the end, these civilians are harmless to the overall situation, why do you insist on clearing the four fields first, isn't it to coerce the people as a precursor?" Why do you use this method, why do you use this method, so that there will be many obstacles to Dayong's rule in Qinzhou. ”

A glint flashed in my eyes, I didn't expect this Su Qing to have such an insight, and not only the talent of a spy, and said with appreciation: "General Su can see this, it can be said that he has a far-reaching vision, and he is forced to drive the people north, and the key is not to tell you for the time being, I order His Royal Highness the King of Qi to strictly declare the military order, try not to kill innocents indiscriminately, in this way, there are always most civilians who can escape safely, and Qinzhou has always been the front line of the Northern Han and Dayong against the enemy, and the people here are also quite hostile to Dayong, so they are even more resentful of our army." , I can't take care of it, just like the people of Zezhou, why don't they hate the Northern Han Dynasty very much! ”

At this time, there was a sudden commotion in front, I subconsciously looked, only to see more than ten miles away from the river bend suddenly appeared with the Northern Han Army flag of the warship, I can't help but be shocked, the Northern Han Dynasty has never had the establishment of a naval army, a naval army costs a lot, for the Northern Han Dynasty, the war horse is easy to obtain, the cavalry is easy to train, but the naval army is difficult to practice, so the Northern Han Army has always been in addition to the wartime requisition of civilian ships to transport baggage, basically there is no example of using the naval army to fight. couldn't help but glance at Su Qing, she had been in the Northern Han Dynasty for many years, why didn't she discover the existence of the navy?

Su Qing is also pale, she is in charge of the intelligence network in the Northern Han Dynasty, and she did not realize the existence of this naval army in the Northern Han Army, which is not only a major dereliction of duty, but also a great shame, her cold gaze crossed the river, at this time the warships in front of the Yongjun army have already set up a position to meet the enemy, although the naval army of the Yongjun army is not as good at fighting as the Southern Chu naval army, but compared to the Northern Han naval army that has never heard of it, it should be quite powerful.

The Northern Han Navy went down the river, but it was clearly visible for a moment, I saw those warships, and I couldn't help but sigh in my heart, it was clearly a commonly used warship in the Southern Chu Navy, and it would take a year and a half to build a warship, and it would take a year and a half to build a warship, and if you look carefully, those warships are clearly brand-new, presumably before the Zezhou War last year, and the navy was preparing for it before the Great War in Zezhou, looking at the shape of the warship, it should be the craftsmen provided by the Southern Chu, and now through the sea, the Guanshan barrier is no longer a problem, no wonder the Northern Han Dynasty can also prepare for the naval army, but think of the manpower and material resources consumed, It is not easy for the Northern Han Army to have such courage. Nowadays, although our army has a building ship and more than 100 warships, compared with the warships of the Northern Han Navy, it is inferior in speed and attack and defense, not to mention that our army is still downstream, I did not expect this situation in advance, the combat strength of the Zezhou Navy is not strong, and it seems that our army is going to suffer.

The waterway of the Qin River is not wide, and I saw that the bow of the ship was equipped with antlers and the hull was coated with tung oil, divided into three columns, and collided with the Yongjun warship, I couldn't help sighing, remembering the scene of the naval army battle I had seen in Nanchu in the past, and hesitated whether to intervene in the command of the generals of the Dayong Navy. At this time, Zhuang Ru, the commander in charge of commanding the Zezhou Naval Army, had already stood beside me, and he didn't care about asking me for instructions, waving the flag and passing down the military order, I only looked at it for a moment and was relieved, it seems that this person has rich experience in commanding the naval army, even if he arrives in Southern Chu, he can also fight, not to mention that it is just a fledgling Northern Han Naval Army. I saw that he ordered the Yongjun warships to disperse, avoid the frontal attack of the Northern Han naval army, and attack the two wings with all his might. All of a sudden, the sound of killing above the water shook the sky, and the guns covered the sun.

I looked at the two armies fighting, although the advantages and disadvantages of the ships are different, and the tactics of the generals are also uneven, but there are still considerable points, it seems that they have worked the naval army, I don't know how I actually remembered the Southern Chu, Dayong and the Northern Han are developing the naval army, it can be seen that they have the ambition to go south, but in addition to the fact that Prince De once established a cavalry against public opinion, it is still dominated by the naval army and infantry, as far as I know, after the death of Prince De, the Xiangyang cavalry was reduced a lot by the Southern Chu court, and the degree of elite is not as good as before, just look at the investment of various countries in military strength, you know that Nan Chu is at the back.

When I was faintly melancholy in my heart, Zhuang Ru came over and said, "My lord, the last general is going to lure the main force of the enemy army into the encirclement, and you need to use the building ship as bait. "I glanced at him lightly, Zhuang Ru, twenty-seven years old, with a slightly dark face, a mediocre appearance, medium height, a strong body, and a quiet temperament, he was one of the few naval talents in Dayong, and the only weakness was that his temperament was too upright, and he looked down on civil officials who were greedy for life and afraid of death, and I could even see the hidden contempt for me in his eyes. He is still young, maybe for him, I am just a weak scholar, good at intrigue and trickery, good luck, and get the blue eyes of the royal family, after all, many of my affairs are hidden in the clouds, and it is not something that a general of his status can know.

Deliberately ignoring the contempt hidden in his words, I said lightly: "If you want to lure the enemy ships to fight, call for longevity, and make the tiger guards shout loudly, it is said that the Zezhou battalion is the supervising army, and the Hou Jiangzhe of Chu Township is here." ”

Hu Yanshou hesitated slightly, but he was shocked by my calm but firm tone, and passed the order, he took the lead and shouted: "Zezhou battalion supervisor, Chu Township Hou Jiangzhe is here, if the enemy general has the guts, can he dare to come to battle?" ”

On the main ship of the Northern Han Naval Army, a tall general flashed a fiery light in his eyes, and raised his arms and said: "Sons, capture Jiang Zhe alive and break the Zezhou Water Camp." With his order, the offensive of the Northern Han Navy became more and more fierce, the two armies were fighting desperately, only to see the warships staggered, from time to time there were warships capsized and sunk, after a while, the three ships of the Northern Han Army had rushed to the side of the building ship, and the enemy army had climbed to the top of the building ship. I said in a loud voice: "Hu Yanshou, you all listen to General Zhuang's orders." ”

A trace of gratitude flashed in Zhuang Ru's eyes, and he passed down military orders again and again, commanding the sailors on the building boat to fight with the tiger guards, although these tiger guards are not good at water warfare, but they are all strong warriors, and they are already able to go freely on the building boat, at least on the relatively calm Qin River, so the Northern Han army except for a few warriors, can not attack the building boat at all. Zhuang Rude said emptyly: "My lord, it's too dangerous here, you can go to the cabin to rest first." This time his tone was very sincere.

I smiled slightly, and said in a loud voice: "Although Jiang is weak, but with the protection of my Dayong warriors, why not be afraid of the strong attack of the Northern Han Dynasty, Jiang is here today, watch you defeat the enemy." Those sailors and tiger guards were all shocked, and shouted loudly: "Your Excellency trusts us, we will fight to the death." All of a sudden, he exerted great power and forced the Northern Han naval army that attacked the upstairs ship to retreat and kill. A handsome and tall young general commanding from the stern shouted, "Look at the arrows." "The sound of the bowstring, three eagle arrows shot at my face very fast, with my eyesight that the arrow is also as fast as a meteor, some of the sailors and tiger guards in the straight line between the two of us are angry and want to block the feather arrows, but they are all a line slower, only one tiger guard horizontal knife slashed, cutting off a feather arrow, but the half of the feather arrow in front of the feather arrow almost unabated speed shot at me, and the guard was a huge shock, the horizontal knife almost out of his hand, the distance between the two sides is only more than twenty zhang, no wonder they can't stop.

Just as the two half-feather arrows were about to be killed, a white snow-like palm suddenly appeared in front of me, and the middle finger flicked, and with three crisp sounds, the two half-feathered arrows were shocked back. I knew that Xiao Shunzi would be able to keep me safe, my face did not change at all, my eyes fell on the young general of the Northern Han Army who shot me with an arrow, and I laughed loudly: "If someone takes this person's head to offer, the reward is fifty taels of gold, and if this person is captured alive, the reward is one hundred taels of gold." ”

Everyone was even more energetic, and the hidden worry of suddenly encountering a powerful naval army had long disappeared, since the boss wanted them to capture the enemy generals alive, it seemed that their side had the upper hand. A few loud-voiced Tiger Guards had already shouted loudly: "The enemy general will not be captured yet, but the hundred taels of gold will be decided." The young general's face was pale, and he commanded his soldiers to attack the building ship with all their might, and the two armies fought endlessly, and the sound of killing shattered the floating clouds.