After the Tang army defeated Xiao Mill, it got at least 80,000 or 90,000 soldiers, the most important of which was 20,000 sailors and more than 400 large and small warships, which made the Jiangling Tang Army reach 150,000 people, 400,000 stone of grain, countless armor and materials, and only the pig iron inventory reached 30 million catties. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Li Yuan decided to unify the south of the Yangtze River in three to five years, greatly expanding the territory of the Tang Dynasty, and the first step in expanding the territory was to seize the former Lin Shiqu sphere of influence, with Yuzhang County and Yichun County to the south bearing the brunt.

At present, the Northern Sui did not garrison troops in Yuzhang County and Yichun County, and there were only 30,000 naval troops under the command of Laihu'er in the entire south, so it can be said that in terms of security, the Northern Sui did not attach much importance to the south, on the one hand, the south was relatively stable, but more importantly, the capital and economic focus of both sides were in the north, so the strategy of the Northern Sui for the south was to maintain stability and calm as much as possible.

But Lin wanted to be quiet and the wind did not stop, the Northern Sui did not want a war to break out in the south, and even acquiesced to Li Yuan to tear up the agreement and go back on his word, while the Tang Dynasty, which tasted the sweetness, gradually shifted its strategic focus to the south, and the Tang Army's Eastern Crusade was inevitable.

At present, the fifteenth army of the Tang army is stationed in three places, one is in Yiling County, due to the emptiness of the internal forces in Bashu, the Tang army must strictly guard two routes into Shu, one is the Three Gorges Road, and the other is the Qingjiang Road, these two routes into Shu converge in Yidao County, so the Tang Army has 30,000 troops in Yidao County, 20,000 troops in Yiling County, and all the sailors and warships are deployed in Yiling County, commanded by Liu Hongji, the general of the right Xiaowei.

The 100,000 troops preparing for the Eastern Expedition were deployed in Baling County and Changsha County, respectively targeting Yuzhang County and Yichun County, of which Li Xiaogong led 60,000 main forces to be stationed in the area of Changjiang County in Baling County.

The general Wang Renshou led 30,000 troops to garrison Liling County in Changsha County, and it was only a hundred miles away from here to Yichun County.

The remaining 10,000 troops were stationed in Baling County, and as early as a few months ago, hundreds of thousands of stone grain and a large amount of armaments and materials had quietly arrived in Baling County, and the Tang Army would use Baling County as a logistics center to launch a fierce attack to the east.

At this time, Li Xiaogong was not in Changjiang County, but in Baling County, and their offensive deployment had been nearly a month, but they had not received the official will of the Eastern Expedition issued by the Son of Heaven, which made Li Xiaogong a little anxious.

Li Xiaogong also knew in his heart that it was impossible for Zhang Xuan not to see their intentions when deploying troops like them, but if Jianghuai was in chaos, then even if the Northern Sui knew their intentions for the Eastern Expedition, they would be helpless, after all, Jianghuai was connected to the Central Plains, and once the Jianghuai was in chaos, the Central Plains would gradually become chaotic, and the Northern Sui could not afford such a situation.

It is precisely because of this that Li Xiaogong also paid special attention to the situation in Jianghuai and waited for news from Du Fuwei.

On the morning of this day, Li Xiaogong urgently convened a military meeting, dozens of generals gathered together, everyone saw that Li Xiaogong was particularly full of energy, and they all asked: "Your Highness, I heard that a messenger has arrived in Chang'an, is it a holy decree!" ”

Li Xiaogong held up a scroll of edict and said with a smile: "Everyone is right, this is just received an edict, and the Holy Lord officially ordered us to go east. ”

There was a burst of cheers in the lobby, Li Xiaogong waved his hand again, making everyone quiet, he said slowly: "Jianghuai is in turmoil, the main force of the water army that came to Hu'er has rushed to rescue Hefei, even if there is a little army left in Jiujiang County, there should not be many left, this is our opportunity, the saint asks us to use this opportunity to expand eastward with all our might, if we can capture Wu County and Huiji County, then all the generals will be knighted, and many of you here will be crowned princes." ”

Everyone couldn't bear the excitement in their hearts, and they all geared up, and they couldn't wait to fly directly to Huiji County, at this time, the deputy general Huang Junhan asked: "Your Highness, we are attacking all the way to the east, so how to ensure the logistics grain and grass?" ”

Li Xiaogong ordered someone to bring a large map, unfolded in front of everyone, he pointed to the map with a wooden pole and said: "This Eastern Crusade, grain transportation is the key, land transportation is obviously unrealistic, can only take the Yangtze River water transportation, we have two hundred cargo ships, but only fifty warships to escort, a bit weak, so the capture of Jiujiang County is the top priority, according to the Northern Sui to get the naval army defense map, the Northern Sui hoarded in the south of the Yangtze River in one of the grain in Danyang County, Jiangning County, the other in Jiujiang County, Pengze County, there are 300,000 stones, Therefore, we must first seize Pengze County, and even if Baling County's logistical food supply is not available, we still have sufficient food supply. ”

Another general, Lu Shangzu, asked: "Your Highness wants to seize Jiujiang County first, so what should Yuzhang County do?" ”

"This requires us to send troops separately, this time we must seize several important cities, Pengze County just mentioned, as well as Huancheng County close to the Yangtze River, Yuzhang County, Poyang County near Ganshui, and Yichun County and Luling County in the upper reaches of Ganshui, these are all big cities by the river, the waterway is convenient, so that we can smoothly obtain food and supplies, so the capture of these six big cities is our first plan, I am responsible for leading the army to seize Huancheng County and Pengze County, General Huang Junhan is responsible for capturing Yuzhang County, General Lu Shangzu is responsible for capturing Poyang County, General Wang Renshou is responsible for seizing Yichun County and Luling County, this is our previous arrangement, and now I just repeat it, we must seize all the targets within ten days, if we can't capture them, we will be punished by military law! ”

Everyone bowed down together and said, "Obey!" ”

Li Xiaogong turned back to the general Qin Wu channel: "I will hand over the logistics of Baling County to you, give me a careful guard, and do not give the Sui army any chance to take advantage of, if you lose Baling County, then don't blame me for being ruthless." ”

In the end, Li Xiaogong's tone became very stern, and Qin Wutong trembled with fear and saluted: "The humble post will definitely hold Baling County." ”

.......

After receiving the edict of the Eastern Expedition sent by Chang'an, the Tang army, which had been preparing for a long time, finally launched the battle of the Eastern Expedition, 90,000 Tang soldiers were divided into four routes, one route led by Li Xiaogong himself, and went straight to Jiujiang County, he wanted to capture the two counties of Huancheng and Pengze at lightning speed, and seize the cargo ships of the Sui army and a huge amount of grain stocks.

The second route was led by Huang Junhan and killed Yuzhang County, the third route was led by Lu Shangzu and killed Poyang County, while the fourth route was led by Wang Renshou and captured Yichun and Luling counties.

The Tang army was very well planned and had a clear goal, occupying the five counties of Jiujiang, Yuzhang, Poyang, Yichun and Luling in a very short period of time, and once they gained a firm foothold, they would continue to march eastward to attack Danyang, Wujun and Huiji and other Jiangnan counties, Li Yuan's ambition had been demonstrated, and he would take advantage of Du Fuwei's rebellion in Jianghuai to annex the entire south of the Yangtze River.

However, neither Li Yuan nor the entire imperial court realized that the Northern Sui had secretly increased troops to Jianghuai as early as last year, and had already completed preparations for war against Jingbei, and they even did not think that Du Fuwei had died, and the so-called Jianghuai civil strife was nothing more than the Northern Sui internal guard army pretending to be Du Fuwei's army to operate in the Jianghuai area.

Li Yuan still couldn't imagine that Zhang Xuan was in Qichun County at this time, or even on the big boat on the Yangtze River.

More than 200 warships of the Northern Sui army had blocked the Yangtze River between Jiangxia County and Qichun County, ostensibly to prevent the Jiangxia Tang army from taking advantage of the Jianghuai civil strife to attack, but in fact it was to prepare for the Northern Sui army in Qichun County to attack Jiangxia.

On a 3,000-stone warship, the river breeze is blowing, the waves are beating the hull, Zhang Xuan is looking at the land of Jiangxia County a few miles away, the famous general Qu Tutong on the other side has been replaced by a counter-plot, and has become an eight-sided exquisite officialdom, but Li Shenfu, who has mediocre military quality, is no longer a concern to seize the six counties of Jingbei, but Zhang Xuan is now thinking about the entire Jingzhou, this is an opportunity, and the successful strategic deception has won Zhang Xuan this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, can he seize it?

At this time, Fang Xuanling hurriedly came out of the cabin, walked to Zhang Xuan's side and whispered: "Your Highness, there is news from Baling County that Li Xiaogong's army has launched an attack. ”

Zhang Xuan's face was expressionless, and he asked lightly after a long time: "How many garrisons are there in Baling County, and who is in charge?" ”

"The garrison of Baling County is still 10,000 people, and it is still commanded by Qin Wutong."

"What is the background of this Qin Wutong?"

"Back to His Royal Highness, Qin Wutong is a native of Hanzhong, was a Huya Lang general stationed in Chang'an, surrendered to Li Yuan after the fall of Chang'an, and was named the general of the right Wuwei by Li Yuan, this person is strong in martial arts, so that a big iron spear weighing 80 pounds, bravely penetrates the three armies, he has participated in the World Heroes Meeting, entered the top 40, and was defeated under the knife of General Su Dingfang when competing for the top 20."

Zhang Xuan's eyes showed a look of doubt, and he asked puzzledly: "Why did Li Xiaogong make this decision to send a fierce general to defend the city?" ”

"Although Qin Wutong is a fierce general, when the Qiang rebelled the year before last, he held Chengdu with an army of 3,000 people and blocked the attack of tens of thousands of Qiang people, it should be this reason that Li Xiaogong decided to let him guard Baling County."

Zhang Xuan sneered and said: "The Qiang people are just a rabble, they rush up, they will be defeated in a battle, what honor is there to defeat them, does Li Xiaogong think that we are also Qiang people?" ”

At this time, Luo Shixin next to him couldn't help but say: "Marshal, the Tang army has launched an eastward crusade, and I think it is not appropriate to delay it any longer, and after a long time, it is likely that the Tang Dynasty will see through the Jianghuai illusion." ”

Zhang Xuan said lightly: "It's too late for them to see through it now, the time for our attack is not ripe, wait patiently for a few more days." ”

Luo Shixin didn't dare to say any more, Fang Xuanling saw that the generals were confused, so he smiled and said: "The timing that the marshal said refers to the fact that Li Xiaogong's army attacked Pengze County, they went deep into the hinterland, and it was too late to retreat, and that was the time for us to attack." ”

"The military advisor said a lot, and that was the time for us to attack."

After Zhang Xuan finished speaking, he immediately instructed the two personal soldiers: "Quickly go and summon Liu Lancheng, the commander of the internal guard, to see me!" (To be continued.) )