He always believed that the Han people would not lose to others in the white-knuckle war, whether it was in the powerful nomadic iron cavalry, the fishermen and hunters who were good at fighting, or in the face of powerful colonists, they could have the capital to fight. What he feared was that the inherent dependence of people would make Song Jun obsessed with firearms, a prescription that would make people want to stop, and in the end, it would become poison.

"Even if there is no gunpowder, you must hold Xiangyang." He said to Bai Yijie solemnly: "Although I have said it many times, I still have to explain it to the soldiers, and throw the idea that I don't know how to fight without the fire gun and the bamboo general into the Han River." In the past, Yue Shuai did not have General Zhu, so he returned to Zhuxian Town. King Wu did not have a bamboo general, and he cut his beard and abandoned his robe in the same Wushu that was killed in the Immortal Pass, and there was no reason why he would suddenly be unable to leave firearms in our generation. ”

After a pause, he said to Bai Yijie again: "But the garrison of the powder magazine must also be tighter, gunpowder is an extremely fierce thing, let it cause as much damage to the enemy on the battlefield as possible, don't let it become a disaster in Xiangyang City." ”

Bai Yijie responded, and said: "The gunpowder in the city can cope with the war for the time being, what I am worried about is the stockpile of gunpowder in the outer castles. ”

"How many fortresses are left on the periphery?" Zheng Yunming asked, "If I were Qu Chu and Tasi, I would definitely be concentrating my forces to storm the fortresses on the periphery now, so that none of the fortresses would survive, and let them become thorns that would linger behind the attack on Xiangyang." ”

"Thanks to the power of firearms, most of the outer fortresses are still in our hands." Wang Deng pointed to the map: "The fiercest Mongol offensive is the Niujiao Fort in Nanshan and the Lutuo Fort in the southwest. The two fortresses were besieged several times, among which the fortress of Luluoling was bound to be attacked by more than 1,000 people every day, the battle was extremely fierce, even if we looked at it from afar on the corner tower, we could imagine the extent of the battle, Liu Cheng held on to Luluoling to this day, and has made a great contribution to the garrison of Xiangyang. ”

"It is not easy to defend a single city alone," Zheng Yunming sighed: "It is also thanks to him that he can defend the palace with all his heart, if he can survive until after the war, he will definitely win the first credit." ”

The generals have no objection to this, and until now, it is indeed Liu Cheng who has undertaken the heaviest task, killed and injured the most enemies, and established the greatest feat. Let him get this first credit, and everyone is also willing.

As for Zheng Yunming himself, the so-called future history of Liu Cheng leading more than ten prefectures and counties to defect to the Yuan Dynasty has always plagued his judgment in his heart, and he has a stubborn view that Liu Quan will definitely not persevere to sacrifice in the face of strong Hu pressure like Wang Deng and Yang Liang, and his bottom line may be broken at any time at a moment when the pressure of the enemy army is strong, and then choose another path.

"You can't let Liu Cheng face such a lot of pressure alone. Even if it is difficult, we must help. Zheng Yunming said as he thought about how to break through the army outside the city to support Liu Quan. In his mind, he already has the best candidate.

He commanded, "Go and call Jiao in!" The back soldiers responded, and immediately led Jiao Jin, the third deputy general of the Zhenwu Army, to come forward.

"How about sending you to Luhuling to reinforce Liu Quan?" Zheng Yunming stared at Jiao Jin and asked: "You and Liu Chuan are already good friends, it is more appropriate to send you to the friendship army, it just depends on whether you have the courage to break through the siege of ten thousand times outside the city and reach Lutuoling." ”

Jiao Jin's thick eyebrows twisted, he paced back and forth in front of Zheng Yunming for a few steps, pondered in his heart for a while, raised his head and said, "If I go, please allow me three things." ”

Zheng Yunming replied decisively: "If you have any requirements, just say it." ”

"First, my ability is limited, and I can't take a lot of troops out of it, and if it's less than a thousand people, I can barely cope with it."

Zheng Yunming nodded: "There are not many soldiers, you have selected five hundred brothers with skill, as long as they can reach Lutuoling safely, it will be the most powerful support for Liu Quan." ”

"Secondly, I need to choose a dark and windy night to sneak out of the city, sneak out of the Mongol encirclement at night, and go to Lutuoling."

This is also an inevitable thing, Liu Cheng also used this trick to steal out of the city to break through the blockade of the Mongols, the difference is that the Mongol army is more numerous this time, and the strength of the blockade has been greatly strengthened.

Yang Luo asked, "Isn't it necessary for the main general to organize a feint attack to attract the attention of the Mongol army, so that you can take advantage of the chaos to get out of the city?" ”

"The Mongols are not fools, they are skilled in strategy. After being fooled once, he categorically refused to go on the second time. Jiao Jin said: "This time they will definitely take precautions, so they must not use the old trick of attacking the west to win by surprise." I only hope that the Lord will not give me too many restrictions and let me decide for myself how to get out of the city. ”

"No problem. It's up to you. Zheng Yunming said: "Time is not waiting, you start preparing immediately, and I will immediately inform the Department of the preparation of this operation." Whatever tactics you use, in short, hold the camel ridge for me. ”

Jiao Jin has never liked to boast, but simply gave up his promises. If Liu Cheng takes this order, I am afraid that he will have a few more bold words to say.

"Is the battle in the city well arranged?" Zheng Yunming waved his hand to make Jiao Jin retreat, and this time he asked Bai Yijie: "Today I saw that there are already 10,000-level generals on the opposite side of the city looking at the city, and I think that tomorrow the Mongols will definitely attack the city on a large scale." If there is something wrong on our side, the Mongols will not give us any chance to correct it. ”

He was not alarmist, as the commander-in-chief of the Mongol army, King Tath had already proved that although he was only twenty-eight years old, he was already the first-class in the world in terms of empirical adaptability. Zhao Kui has much more battlefield experience than him, but he may not be his opponent. Not to mention the deputy capital of Jing'e, which is mainly composed of young people.

Bai Yijie put the feather fan on the map, just suppressed the part of the Jing Chu Army (Jing Hu Deputy Commander Division) responsible for the garrison, and said calmly: "Most of what can be done has been done, and the rest is to respond to the situation on the battlefield, judge the situation, and not make up for it by preparing in advance." It is a coincidence that you have returned tomorrow, and tomorrow is the time when the Mongol army will launch the first wave of real siege warfare, and you can return before this battle, which is equivalent to having the backbone for our army, and can calmly cope with the rapid offensive of the Mongol army. ”

Zheng Yunming was taken aback, he didn't expect the time to come so coincidentally, if he was delayed in Yingzhou for a day, he would have encountered a big battle outside the city when he returned to the city, and it might not have been so smooth to break through and return. The reason why the Mongols did not intercept his warships very effectively was that it was a little relaxation a moment before the onslaught, so that the Song army sailors from the Han River had a chance to take advantage of it.

Bai Yijie raised his eyes and looked at Zheng Yunming, and asked in a low voice: "You tell me the truth, how many men and horses and warships are there in the periphery of the imperial court, and how sure are you of rescuing the siege of Xiangyang?" ”

"You know my character, one is one, and there will be no nonsense," Zheng Yunming replied: "Now there are 30,000 elite troops from Jiangling and Jingzhou sent by Jiangling in the downstream, and the subordinates of the Guards Ma Jun Division and the Jiangzhou Metropolitan Command who have been reinforced from the downstream add up to more than 30,000 people, and they are all elite warriors, and there are thousands of people in the Huguang Consulate General and the Ezhou garrison army, and now there are at least 70,000 reinforcements gathered in the downstream. As far as warships are concerned, Jiangling has sent 15 warships to the naval forces stationed in various places, and Jiangzhou has brought 300 naval warships under the jurisdiction of the Jiangzhou Embassy Department along the river, as well as the Ezhou Naval Army, the Huangzhou Naval Army, and the Dongting Naval Army, plus our Jingchu Naval Army, there are more than 700 warships in total, and these troops are currently under the personal command of Meng Heng, the commander of the Guards Ma Jun. ”

Bai Yijie didn't immediately show a look of joy, but continued to ask in a calm tone as usual: "In the opinion of Ming Gong, Meng Puyu led this army and horse to rescue Xiangyang, what are the odds of victory?" ”

"Why bother to test me with such obvious facts. Even if Meng Hui, the most outstanding commander in the south of the Yangtze River, was to lead, the 70,000 southern army would be defeated in the face of 100,000 Mongolian cavalry. Zheng Yunming said: "The strength of 100,000 Mongolian iron cavalry is at least equivalent to the combined force of 200,000 elite soldiers of the Jin Kingdom. What's more, in terms of general combat strength, two Great Song sergeants can barely compete with one Jin Guosheng soldier. Even if the Mongolian army was entrenched in such a limited place in the terrain of Xiangfan, it was by no means something that 70,000 Great Song soldiers and horses could be frightened. ”

Bai Yijie saw him pause, and knew that the next part was the main part, so he said: "However, the real battlefield of victory is not on land?" ”

"Gongfu broke the essence of the battle of Xiangyang in one word." Zheng Yunming suddenly raised his voice: "This success or failure, everything will be concluded on the Han River!" ”

"In a land battle, we have no upper hand over more than 100,000 Mongol troops, but our warships have an advantage in front of the Mongol ships and bamboo rafts!" Zheng Yunming shouted: "Yang Luo, you come to tell the military advisor, where are our advantages?" ”

Yang Yu sighed, it was not the first time that Zheng Yunming took him out as an auxiliary commentary, and he said aloud: "The biggest gain from going south this time is to understand that the role of firearms in water warfare is so big, big enough to affect the situation of the battle. As long as Meng Shuai and Peng Man can give full play to the role of firearms, they will be able to defeat the Mongol warships on the Han River and continuously transport supplies and personnel into Xiangyang, as long as the waterway is smooth, Xiangyang will be at ease. ”

"More than that," Zheng Yunming waved his hand, "It's much more than that." I haven't said to all of you yet, starting today, we're going to learn about a new concept, which is river control, or we can call it a whole new term, which is water rights. It is not only necessary to intercept the ships of the Mongolian army and prevent them from endangering the supply and reinforcement of our army, but also to go further and completely block all the water operations of the Mongolian army, so that the small Han River will become an insurmountable moat for the Mongolian army. Even if they have thousands of warriors and millions of war horses, they can't cross the river. This is the greatest essence of water warfare, and the ultimate goal of water warfare is to seize control of the river! ”