The men and horses of Zhang Yao and Ma Hui were absorbed, which was another bloodless victory after the imperial army went south after conquering Meiguan. With the pull-out of these two forces, the northern region of Lingnan was no longer a threat to the imperial army, and several weak forces in the northern region also surrendered one after another.

Liu Yu collected more than 10,000 horses at once, although these more than 10,000 horses were backward in weapons, but they had rich experience in fighting in the south, and they had their own military rations and material reserves, so Liu Yu did not have to worry about their supply. It can be said that it is a group of people who do not use it in vain.

In this way, in less than half a month after the imperial army moved south, it controlled more than a dozen cities in the northern part of Lingnan, forming an oppressive trend against the forces in the central region.

In the next few days, the forces in the central region began to form alliances to resist the further southward invasion of the imperial army, but there were also forces that conveyed a message to Meiguan expressing their willingness to join the imperial court. In the past two years, the Shun Dynasty army has won every battle in the south and the north, which has made the Lingnan forces, especially those small forces, feel that it is difficult to meet them, and at this time, the imperial army has quickly controlled the north and south of Lingnan, which makes them even more afraid.

Liu Yu did not rush to send troops south, first, several powerful forces in the central part of Lingnan are relatively large, with many soldiers and horses, and there are several solid cities as backing. The central part of Lingnan already borders the ethnic minority areas, and this part of the terrain is relatively complex, with many mountains and forests, and the northern soldiers who are accustomed to fighting in the open plains are particularly unsuitable for fighting in this environment.

What's more, Liu Yu can't afford to fight or consume, and he still has no money and materials to bother him.

It is too troublesome to advance little by little, if you can directly end the nest, it is most in line with Liu Yu's character and the current situation, but Lingnan has many forces. There is no place that is considered a "nest". This made Liu Yu quite anxious about the current occupation. Supplies are consumed. It will only take two more months, and it is impossible to get rid of nearly 20 small countries of various sizes in two months.

Normal means will certainly not solve the problem.

At this time, Liu Yu received a battle report from the south, saying that it was the armed forces of some ethnic minorities, taking advantage of the local situation and the imminent exchange of fire with the imperial army, and took the lead in attacking, grabbing territory and materials at the same time. This is because some upland rice in the south will mature in late June. At this time, it also happened to be the time when the grain in the south was not in good supply. This round of large-scale local conflicts between ethnic minorities was also an opportunity for the imperial army to calm down the southern incidents, but Liu Yu did not seem to plan to take advantage of it.

It's not that Liu Yu doesn't want to take advantage of it, it's that it's not easy to take advantage of.

Because he did not have any communication with the ethnic minorities in the south, and the armed forces of the ethnic minorities were relatively scattered, the scale of the conflict varied, and the local situation could basically be calmed down. And the local forces can roughly distinguish which of the ethnic minority armed forces and the imperial army poses a greater threat to them, and the other is just to rob them of supplies. The other is to directly exterminate them, and they can distinguish the importance in front of the imperial army and the armed forces of ethnic minorities.

So in this context. In the first few days of the conflict between the ethnic minorities in the south and the local military forces, the imperial army was simply waiting and watching. Liu Yu has always stayed in Meiguan under the pretext of recuperation, and this time Liu Yu did not appear on the front line of the war.

On May 14, Liu Yu received a letter from Han Sheng in Chang'an City, who not only reported the recent situation in Chang'an City and informed the imperial court of the collection of summer grain, but also tactfully persuaded Liu Yu not to be too reluctant. Liu Yue knew that Han Sheng was persuading him to go back, and there was no need to fight for the affairs of the south.

Liu Yu received the letter and calculated the amount of summer food provided by Han Sheng, feeling a little comforted in his heart. Although because of the frequent wars in the north in the past two years, the imperial court has pre-levied taxes on the local government for many years, but the imperial court still has some surplus after the collection of summer grain, and if all of them are transferred to fight this war, the replenishment of strategic materials can be extended for another month.

When Liu Yu said this issue at the military meeting, Huo Ying said excitedly: "Why don't we fight quickly? ”

Liu Yu smiled slightly bitterly on his face: "Your proposal is very good, but you tell me, how can you solve it quickly?" ”

Huo Zhi is simply brave and unscrupulous on weekdays, and at this time, he is good at saying some empty words, and he is blind to how to carefully arrange the strategy.

Qi Fang said: "It's really not good, King Lin might as well go back to Jiankang City for the time being, the south can delay the war temporarily, we have the cities around Meiguan as a foundation, and it will probably take less than two years to pacify Lingnan." ”

Liu Yue understood what Qi Fang meant, Qi Fang said to delay the war and wait for the country to be a little richer in the coming year before fighting this war. The starting point is good, but Liu Yu can't deal with it in his heart. Although Liu Yu likes to be calm, and he seems a little lazy on weekdays, he is not the kind of person who can get by, he also knows that the court still has internal and external troubles, and the affairs of Su Zhe, the king of Chu, are already annoying him, if he can't quickly pacify the south, it will become a drag on him, and he can't take care of both ends.

"I want to go back too." Liu Yu sighed, "But who can tell me where King Nan is now?" And who can tell me what will happen if the South becomes a country after this withdrawal? If the imperial court withdraws its troops, I am afraid that they will no longer obey the orders of the imperial court. This is a battle that has a beginning and must have a result! ”

Liu Yu expressed for the first time at the military meeting that he must fight to the end, and also let the soldiers know his position. That is to say, if the south cannot be pacified, the imperial court cannot withdraw its troops, and Liu Yu will remain in the south until the end of the war.

Liu Yu has his determination to calm the south in one go, and the soldiers also have the heart to return after a long battle. The best way now is to end the war quickly, the south will be pacified, and the soldiers can return to the north to reunite with their families.

For several days in mid-May, the Lingnan region was surrounded by rain and heavy humidity. And in these days, the imperial army is still standing still, and the local military forces are also busy quelling the looting actions of ethnic minorities. As a result, the upland rice, which was about to mature in a month, was severely damaged.

Although the robbery of the armed forces of ethnic minorities destroyed the grain and grass reserves of the southern military force, it seems that they secretly helped Liu Yu, but Liu Yu will not appreciate it, the southern force has sufficient grain and grass reserves, and Liu Yu wants to end the battle in a short time. At most, the robbery of ethnic minority armed forces increased the victory rate of the imperial army after the war dragged on for a long time, and had little impact on the current situation.

Liu Yu thought that it would be perfect if he could contact the armed forces of the ethnic minorities and work with them to uproot the military power in the south, and then the imperial court would set up a local administrative body in the south like an "autonomous region" or a "capital protectorate" to govern the south.

When Liu Yu was having a headache because he had no way, Liu Yu received a letter from the capital. This time the letter was forwarded by the intelligence system, and Liu Yu was still surprised when he received it, because it was Liu Liniang who wrote to him. The letter was sent in early April, and it took a month and a half before it reached him.

“…… For the husband outside, Ru'an, return to the heart like an arrow, take care of your body. The day he will return early. If there is something to do with me, there is grass to be seen in the south. The body is important, remember ......"

Throughout the text, it is mentioned many times that those who read the letter should take care of their health. Although this letter was nominally written by her husband to his wife who was far away in Chang'an City, Liu Yue could feel that the words in it seemed to be speaking to him, and he was ill after coming to the south, which seemed to be something that Liu Liniang had seen beforehand. Liu Yuxin said, could it be that the girl's miracle doctor was sent by Liu Liniang?

"This letter is for a little girl?" When Liu Yu read the letter, Qu Ning was diagnosing Liu Yu's pulse, and Liu Yue knew that it was Liu Liniang's letter, so he did not avoid Qu Ning. Qu Ning was very curious, and saw that the content of the letter was written by a man to a woman, and at this time, she was the only woman among the soldiers and soldiers in the entire Meiguan army, so she came up with the idea that the letter was for her.

"Of course." Liu Yu smiled, "This is the letter that your Liu Gongzi wrote to you." ”

Qu Ning didn't care about diagnosing Liu Yu's pulse when he heard this, so he immediately snatched the letter from Liu Yu's hand and read it carefully, there was still a little doubt about the letter, but after carefully reading the word "husband", he was a little annoyed in his heart, Liu Yu was lying to her at all.

"Why does Your Highness bother with the little woman for amusement. If Liu Gongzi wrote to the little girl, how could he use such a tone? ”

Liu Yu took the letter back, and said with a smile while reading it: "If you don't believe it, how can you say it...... Liu Gongzi was a little involuntarily, he didn't want people to know that this letter was written to you, so he made some concealments between his words. Qu Da Doctor Girl, what does this Nan have Hu Cao mean? ”

Qu Ning was quite surprised: "Your Highness is making fun of the little woman again?" ”

Liu Yu frowned and said, "What do you mean?" ”

"'There is grass in the south, and the name is water chestnut.' This is a famous sentence in the "Upper Anya Poem", Your Highness has not heard of it? ”

Liu Yu was ashamed in his heart, he had never heard of "Shang'an Poems" at all, he thought it was the work of a great poet in history, but unfortunately he only knew that Li Bai Dufu didn't know who "Shang'an" was.

"This king is only a shallow learner, and you are not ignorant. There is grass in the south of this country, what does the name water chestnut mean? ”

"Water chestnut is a specialty of the south, and it can also be eaten if it is used in medicine. At that time, Yuan Shang'an was assigned to the south as an official, and when he ate this water chestnut, he felt this emotion when he thought of his relatives at home, which meant that he hoped to bring this water chestnut back to his family in the north to taste in the future. Later this is a common sentence used in letters from husbands to their wives. ”

Liu Yu listened to Qu Ning's explanation and realized that there was such an allusion to the "Hu Cao in the South", originally Liu Liniang wrote a letter to his wife in Chang'an City with her husband as the tone, and this sentence was not wrong. But if she prefixes it with "if there is something with me", then there must be a connotation in it.

"Where do water chestnuts come from?" Liu Yu immediately asked.

"Southern...... Exactly where it is, you have to ask the locals to know. ”

Liu Yu's face suddenly raised his arms excitedly, picked up the letter and went to the outside. (To be continued......)