Section 31: The sky is as blue as paper.

A golden dove cuts through the sky, dragging a bright trail under the blue sky. Flapping its wings all the way, flying rapidly from north to south, the earth kept falling backwards under its wings.

It takes off from a humble tribe in Beimeng, crosses the majestic and precipitous Shuangshan Pass, stops at the bustling Kyoto pigeon loft, and then continues south. Skimming through the vast and continuous Qinglu Mountains, heading straight for Hanshui City.

The two Han Dynasty have been facing each other across the river for nearly four months. In the past few months, there have been many times more pigeon of all kinds from south to north than usual. But if someone in the know sees this pigeon, he will be surprised. This pigeon turned out to be the Golden King, known for his long-distance endurance. This kind of pigeon was originally a wild beast, and then domesticated into a spirit animal, which is very rare. Not only are they agile and have endurance. And he is ferocious by nature, even if he encounters all kinds of fierce birds in the air, he will not suffer. It is generally used to remotely transmit very urgent and important confidential documents.

The "Golden Emperor" streaked across the sky with an urgent whistle all the way. Suddenly, the pigeon accelerated violently, with a sharp roar. His whole body turned into a golden light and shadow, and he slammed into the Hanshui City below. On the majestic and thick southern wall of Hanshui, there are black flags at this time. From time to time, a group of armored soldiers with guns patrolled by. The dove circled around the walls of the city several times when he heard a shrill whistle from the Tower of Canterlot. As if receiving some information, there was a "buzz-" sound, and the pigeon rushed down like a sharp arrow.

Li Tie was sitting in the arrow tower, his eyes half-open and half-narrowed, as if he was napping. Next to him, Xiahou Ba's father and son, the city lord of the organ, Li Zhong and the generals of the entire Southern Expeditionary Army all stood respectfully, although the sun was scorching outside, the air in the city tower was so cold that it seemed to freeze.

The guard next to him took out the sealed letter paper on his feet from the pigeon, walked a few steps and half-knelt on the ground, raised the letter above his head with both hands, and said respectfully: "Captain, the latest news from Beimeng." Li Tie let out a "hmm", slowly took the letter from the hand of his own soldier, opened it and looked at it, and the solemn look on his face suddenly became a little heavier. Raising his head, he said to the people standing below: "Everyone, it's not a way to stand like this, and so far, nothing has been accomplished." On the contrary, they are constrained by the south everywhere, and everyone has been thinking about it since noon, haven't they come up with a good law? ”

The generals on the city tower lowered their heads, and they didn't dare to take a breath. At the beginning of the southern expedition, the vast majority of people felt that although the five provinces in the south of the Yangtze River were rich, they had always won and weakened, and as soon as the iron cavalry in the north arrived, the other party was determined to surrender to the wind, but after several months of fighting, it was much more than these northern generals expected. The Southern Han withdrew everything that could be withdrawn from the north to the south of the river, using the river as the line, and retreating to the south to defend, and the water war was not the strength of everyone, and there was a feeling of being powerful and nowhere to go.

Everyone felt very aggrieved in their hearts. But he didn't dare to say more, so as not to touch the mold of Lord Taiwei.

Li Zhong whispered on the side: "Father, now that we have built so many ships, as long as Uncle Lan's sailors open the way, I think the time has come to go down in one go." ”

Li Tieying's falcon-like eyes glanced at him, and he just snorted coldly: "It's not a thing." ”

After Li Zhong was captured, he redeemed it at no cost afterwards. But Li Tie has a deep prejudice against him. At this time, saying this sentence in front of so many people seems a bit heavy. The old man surnamed Lan was a little careless, after all, Li Zhong was arrested by the Jiangnan Navy in his hands. He stepped forward and said, "Lord Taiwei, if we really want to attack the south, we can consider not breaking through from Nanning and looking for a breakthrough point in other parts of the river." ”

With this mechanism, the city lord eased his cheeks, and Li Zhong secretly breathed a sigh of relief. hurriedly lowered his head and retreated.

Li Tie glanced at him, and didn't continue to be embarrassed. Looking at the old man surnamed Lan who spoke in front of him, he waved his hand and said, "Brother Lan, it's not that I haven't considered your method, it won't work." ”

The old man surnamed Lan was surprised: "Lord Taiwei, the river almost winds through most of the Eastern Han Dynasty, can he prevent the entire river basin in the south of the Yangtze River?" ”

Li Tie smiled slightly, and patiently explained: "Brother Lan, the troops who cross the river to raid must first be tens of thousands, and if there are fewer people, they will be easily eaten by the other party." But Zhu Huai had long expected this, on both sides of the river, the army hoarded hundreds of thousands of people who had migrated south, and it can be said that the entire waters south of the Yangtze River were already under the effective surveillance of the other side, and it was too difficult for our large forces to cross the river quietly. ”

Looking at the thoughtful look of the old man surnamed Lan, he continued: "Once the river is crossed, with the advantage of the other party's boat, Jiangnan will definitely come to stop it." In the end, it still depends on the water warfare capabilities of the two armies. Brother Lan, your naval army is okay to deal with Dai Yu'er's sailors, but once you add the Storm Army that comes to help, I'm afraid it will be very difficult. ”

He said it very politely, but the old man surnamed Lan knew that what the other party said was the truth. With his current possessions, if he wants to deal with two naval teams at the same time, it is not a difficult problem at all, but there is no chance of winning. Unless, take out the old bottom of the entire organ city, or you can fight. He thought about it, didn't say anything more, and slowly retreated.

The scene suddenly fell silent again.

Li Tie stood up, glanced at all the generals, and paced around the city tower with a frown, in fact, there was an important reason he didn't say just now. "The three armies have not moved, and the grain and grass go first." If you look for a new ferry, the grain and grass consumed will be tens of thousands of stones, and after a few months of confrontation, the grain and grass of the Northern Han Dynasty are also a little tight.

This is a major event that affects the morale of the military, and Li Tie is old and spicy, so naturally he will not say it.

It's just that now that he has become a tiger, he can't say it, and he can only fight the Southern Han Dynasty first. Otherwise, the southern expedition will return in vain, and the blow to the morale of the army will also be huge. He thought, holding on to the ridge on the city tower with one hand, and looking at the opposite side through the rolling river. At both ends of the river, the water and the sky are the same color, only the sound of light waves is heard, and in the scorching sun, the air seems to have a faint smell of water. Under the south gate of Hanshui, there are countless large and small walkers and warships neatly lined up. Most of these boats have been made by craftsmen over the past few months, so the paint is new and the ships are not very large.

On the ship, many soldiers were shirtless, making various stabbing attacks and blocking movements with the sound of the trumpet. Li Tie suddenly turned around and looked at the other general-looking humane: "Lord Wang, are these sergeants worthy of a battle?" ”

This man is in strong shape, and he is the deputy governor of the Northern Le Lang Water Division. He is also the cousin of Wang Zhili, the goalkeeper of the Southern Expeditionary Army. His name is Wang Zhiqing. Most of the sailor officers in Le Lang are controlled by the Wang family. This time Li Tie went south, the sailors could not work on the expedition, and the most people who followed the army south were the navy craftsmen, followed by some generals. Li Tie put them in charge of the training of the navy, and Wang Zhiqing was the person in charge of the generals of the navy.

Hearing Li Tie's inquiry, Wang Zhiqing saluted and said: "Back to Lord Taiwei's words, after so many days of training, these soldiers have barely adapted to fighting on the ship, but once Lang is in a hurry, I am afraid that the combat power will still be greatly reduced." ”

Li Tie sighed and thought for a while: "Then, let the craftsmen lock all the ships together with iron chains, and ten ships are in a group, so that they can resist the wind." ”

Wang Zhiqing was vaguely uneasy, but he couldn't say that there was anything wrong. I had to hesitate and said, "Lord Taiwei, in this way, the flexibility of this ship seems to be a little worse. Once there is a change, it is not easy to disperse. ”

Before the words fell, the old man surnamed Lan next to him had already stood up and said with a smile: "I think Taiwei's method is very good." It just solves the weakness of the northern soldiers who are not accustomed to water warfare. Lord Wang's consideration is not unreasonable, but what you think about is just a water battle at sea. When the time comes, our 500,000 troops will form a line and sweep away, directly pushing down Nanning, running over all the way, and everything that stands in the way will become powder. Naturally, there is no question of what to dodge. ”

After receiving the praise of the city lord of this organ, although Li Tie was still motionless on his face, there was a trace of pride in his heart. Although he is not familiar with water warfare, this method is also something he thought about for a long time. Although it is still inevitable to fight with the Jiangnan Navy at that time. But in this way, you can maximize the mobilization of your own fighting personnel, and the chances of victory will be greatly increased.

Wang Zhiqing said: "But ......"

Li Tie waved his hand and said, "It's settled." Go down, all of you. In addition, Lord Xiahou stayed. ”

After everyone had withdrawn from the city tower, Xiahou Ba stepped forward and whispered, "What, Lord Taiwei, has there been any change in Beimeng?" ”

Li Tie had a bad relationship with Xiahou Ba, the governor of the north, and Zhao Wuneng, the governor of the northeast. His courage to carry out a coup d'état is inseparable from the strong support of these two.

This time, the Northern Han and Northern Mongolia formed an alliance, but they secretly sent countless gold and silver goods to reach a temporary agreement. The two sides agreed to a temporary truce for five years, and every year the Northern Han Dynasty would pay tribute to Northern Mongolia with grain, grass, gold, silver and silk in exchange for temporary peace. At the same time, the Northern Han Dynasty must inform the Northern Mongols of its military movements at any time during these five years. This treaty was almost humiliating, but Li Tie still agreed. There were five years, which was enough to pacify the south of the Yangtze River, and even sweep the entire Eastern Han Dynasty. However, the situation changed dramatically two months ago. At that time, Li Zhong was captured, and in Nanning, he saw the second highness of Beimeng, Na Yanda, and Zhu Huai had a close relationship. After he was released, he was even more evil, and he didn't want to think about it, so he went to interrogate the representative of Beimeng who went south with the Northern Han Dynasty, and beat up the official. By the time Li Tie got the news and arrived, this qiē had already become a foregone conclusion. And after Nayanda returned to Beimeng, he used this as an excuse to fight hard and be ready to go south again at any time. If it weren't for the fact that there was a prince Na Yan Dun dragging his hind legs, it is estimated that the iron cavalry of Beimeng would have rushed to Shuangshan Pass a long time ago.

The more Li Tie thought about it, the more angry he became, and he still couldn't help but scold again: "Rebel." ”

Xiahou Ba whispered: "Lord Taiwei, you can't blame Gongzi for this, in fact, that Yan Da appeared in Nanning, and this matter was already strange. Even if I did, I would have thought it was strange. Although Childe's reaction was a little fierce, it was also human. ”

Li Tie snorted and said, "Don't I know the wolf ambitions of Beimeng? What I'm scolding is that this kid is so big, and his heart is still so shallow, and he can't pretend to be at all. It's far worse than Xiahou Xian's nephew. ”

At the mention of Xiahou Tian, Xiahou Ba's face also showed a hint of triumph, but he was still cautious: "Taiwei, if you really talk about successor talents, I'm afraid we are not as good as the Southern Han, although Xiaotian is stable, but compared with those people in the south, it is too far behind." ”

Li Tie sneered: "You mean Tao Yu and Wu Ming's orphans in the north, right?" Hmph, let them toss now, the more they toss, the deeper the contradictions between Zhu Huai's Jiangnan officials will be. It is said that the prime minister can hold the boat in his belly, but I want to see how long this prime minister of the Southern Han Dynasty can last. ”

Xiahou Ba is also a ninth-dan master, and he is also one of the top martial forces in this world, but when he saw Li Tie's smile, he was still cold and didn't dare to say more.

Li Tie stopped laughing and continued: "Okay, let's not talk about this. Beimeng is now moving more and more frequently, and I'm worried that Shuangshan Pass will be lost, and I will wait for you to go down. Remind Zhao Wuneng and Li Wei not to transfer troops anymore and pay close attention to the movements of Beimeng. ”

"Yes!"

"After going down, immediately ordered the craftsmen to prepare the chain lock ship, ready to fight the Southern Han Dynasty at any time."

"Obey the orders of Lord Taiwei, and I will do it."

Xiahou Ba was stunned, and after saluting respectfully, he slowly retreated from the city tower. Li Tie held the pheasant in one hand, still looking at the head of Nanning City opposite.

After a long time, he took a deep breath and walked down the tower under the guard of several personal soldiers.

A gust of river wind blew, and a piece of bluestone on the moat turned into powder, raising countless dust.