Zheng Rong was also a general, and he valued the fierceness of the soldiers the most, listened to Shi Liangzhi's suggestion, agreed without thinking about it, and with a stroke of the pen, he ordered the military department to immediately select the best armor, war horses, bows and crossbows, and replaced all the damaged equipment in Qiu Yizhi's department, and transferred more than 200 swords from Ouchi to equip them with a unified arrangement.

The so-called "Buddha relies on gold, people rely on clothes", with these equipment, these elite divisions under Qiu Yizhi appear more heroic, walking at the forefront of the team, shocking the onlookers on both sides, and they don't even dare to take a breath of atmosphere.

With the majesty of this group of proud soldiers, the gorgeously dressed royal forest honor guards behind them lost a lot of color, and they routinely held all kinds of ceremonial weapons in their hands, trying to hold their heads high and their chests high, and follow behind Qiu Yi's headquarters.

Behind the guard of honor is the emperor's chariot.

However, in order to highlight that he was a Shenwu Emperor who immediately took over the world, Zheng Rong deliberately gave up the imperial chariot and did not sit, but chose a pure white sweat and blood horse, put on gold armor, golden robes, and golden dragon helmets, and rode forward majestically.

In fact, Zheng Rong has been extremely busy with military and government affairs in the past few days, sleeping less than two hours a day, and it is the season at the junction of winter and spring. After the consultation of the Tai Hospital, it was a cold, although the illness was not serious, but it was necessary to recuperate for a period of time to recover, otherwise it would be back pain and weakness in the hands and feet.

However, the auspicious time is determined by heaven, even the emperor can't go against the sky, Zheng Rong can only barely cheer up, pretend that everything is fine, ride on the horse in high spirits, and slowly move forward.

Zheng Rong was born with a mighty image, and he was skilled in bows and horses, and quite proficient in martial arts, so the people who didn't know the reason for it didn't see anything unusual, but they felt that if there was such a wise and martial emperor who went south in person, the rebellion of the king of Lingnan would be put down in a blink of an eye.

However, the informed Prime Minister Zhong Likuang and several princes all sweated, and it was not until Zheng Rong, under the support of countless Imperial Forest Army, walked the entire Imperial City Street safely, left the capital Luoyang through the Pingchang Gate and sat on the vacant imperial chariot, and everyone was relieved.

After the royal chariot, it was followed by eighteen richly decorated carriages.

The carriages were drawn by four black horses of solid color, and were guarded by two samurai on horseback in addition to the chauffeur. These carriages were originally intended for the emperor's ministers.

However, today, the eighteen carriages were empty of seventeen, and only one of them had a person sitting in it, and this person was the target of Zheng Rong's southward crusade - Zheng Gui, the king of Lingnan.

For Zheng Gui alone, it is not too much to go to great lengths to use such a suspicious strategy: although the king of Lingnan himself was captured, hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses in the Lingnan palace are still there; Second, the king of Lingnan was accidentally caught by Qiu Yizhi, which is not above board, and only after a serious ceremony was held to present the prisoners, can he be regarded as being able to tell the world the news of the pacification of the Lingnan army; The three imperial court centers and the main forces of the forbidden army have all gone south, and leaving Zheng Gui, the king of Lingnan, in an empty capital may not be reassuring.

With these reasons, Zheng Rong finally decided to take his disobedient younger brother with him, and he was afraid that the spies of the Lingnan Royal Mansion or the remnants of the Tianzun Sect would take advantage of the chaos of the expedition to plot against him. Therefore, he deliberately arranged for eighteen carriages to be dispatched at the same time, so that outsiders could not guess which car the king of Lingnan was in, and the car that was really loaded with Zheng Gui was guarded by Wei Chi Lianghong and Wei Chi Jiming's father and daughter disguised as soldiers to ensure that nothing went wrong.

Under such strict deployment, Zheng Rong finally completed the departure ceremony, leading the elite soldiers all the way to the south, along the official road that had been intensified, and moved towards the Yangtze River.

Along the way, there were constantly elite soldiers selected and recruited from all over the country, and when they came to the edge of the Yangtze River, Zheng Rong already had more than 200,000 troops under his command, which was enough to sweep away the main force of the Lingnan Army in Jiangnan Province in one fell swoop.

The defense on the north bank of the Yangtze River was deployed and commanded by General Zhang Long.

Zhang Longnai was Zheng Rong's personal guard, and he had already received the news of the emperor's personal expedition, so he did not dare to slack off, and set up a grand tent in a wide position by the river a few days earlier, and sent heavy troops to guard the line, waiting for the emperor to come.

Emperor Zheng Rong was happy when he saw that Zhang Long was meticulously prepared, so he said, "Zhang Long, you are so patient. I want to cross the Yangtze River in the south, and your trip is so exquisitely prepared, I can't stay for a few days, isn't it a waste? ”

Zhang Long immediately bowed his head and said: "The emperor thinks so, but he is considerate of the last general; If the last general does this, it will be disrespectful to the emperor. The emperor can live here for a day and a half on my side, which is to give me Zhang Longtian's big face, how dare the last general not work hard? ”

"Good!" Zheng Rong praised, "It is worthy of being an old man from the Youyan Palace, and this is exactly what I want." Since you have a heart, I will not refute your face, so I will stay in this line for a few more days. ”

After saying that, Zheng Rong waved the flag and lived in Xingyuan.

Since Zheng Rong issued a holy decree to transfer the emperor's eldest son Zheng Xin and the emperor's second son Zheng Sen from the front to his side, Zheng Sen was solely responsible for the marching affairs, and the emperor's escort was Zheng Xin's responsibility.

The emperor's eldest son, Zheng Xin, is the one who wants to be the emperor, this time the emperor drove the expedition in person, although he did not get the heavy responsibility of supervising the country, he couldn't help but feel a little lost in his heart, but the opportunity to wait in front of the emperor day and night is not something that can be easily given up.

Therefore, he was cautious along the way, lest something go wrong and make the emperor unhappy, and he would keep the guard in order. As soon as Zhang Long arrived at Zhang Long's line today, he replaced all the guards with forbidden troops, and set up checkpoints again on various key roads, as long as he was not an absolutely trustworthy person, he must not be half a step close to the tent.

Zheng Rong walked all the way, leaving the palace and leaving the capital Luoyang, and suddenly felt that the air was a lot fresher, and the typhoid fever he had before leaving Beijing was quickly cured, and even the fatigue accumulated for a long time was swept away.

As soon as he was leaving, Zheng Rong summoned Zhang Long in and asked him about the preparations for crossing the river.

Zhang Long was meticulous and not afraid of triviality, and reported everything in detail for more than an hour, which made the matter clear and clear.

Zheng Rong was also patient, and after listening to him, he appreciated: "Okay, you have done a very good job here, and the army has successfully crossed to the south, so I will first give you a credit." Is the boat crossing the river slightly less prepared? There are 200,000 people in our army! ”

Zhang Long replied: "In this matter, the last general also asked the old river workers on the Yangtze River. They said that even if all the fishing boats, ferries, and transport boats were gathered here, they would not be able to transport 100,000 horses at once. Even if it can be sent across the river, there is no spacious place on the south side of the Yangtze River for these horses to land at one time, and only in phases and batches can the army be transferred over. ”

Zheng Rong is good at horse warfare and foot combat, but he doesn't know anything about water warfare. However, after all, he had rich combat experience, and he listened to what Zhang Long said and made sense, so he didn't interrupt him, and listened to Zhang Long add two more sentences after pondering: "The last general was afraid that these old boatmen were afraid of going south to fight, so they deliberately made up to deceive the last general, so he specially asked Li Shengjie, who was good at sea navigation, and he also gave the same answer, so he dared to report it to the saint to know." ”

Speaking of Li Shengjie, Zheng Rong's eyes suddenly flashed, and he said: "We are the Northern Army, and it is a fact that we are not good at water warfare, and there is nothing to avoid." It's rare to have this Li Shengjie, who has countless strong ships under his command, and is willing to do things for the imperial court, which can really be described as a tiger with wings. ”

Qiu Yizhi stood in the crowd, holding his breath and listening to the emperor's evaluation of Li Shengjie, and he was also quite relieved in his heart - to have these two words of the emperor with such a high evaluation, then this Li Shengjie can be regarded as being able to settle down in Dahan, and it can be regarded as his father, the old shipowner Li Zhi's long-cherished wish to return to his roots.

But I heard Emperor Zheng Rong say again: "In my opinion, our army has crossed south in a big way, and it is quite helpful to Li Shengjie. ”

When Qiu Yizhi heard this, he hurriedly took half a step forward and said, "Since the emperor intends to summon Li Shengjie, that is his blessing." Weichen will go on a trip to pass Li Shengjie to meet the saint. ”

The civil and military officials in the tent who recognized Qiu Yi's identity had nothing to say, and those who didn't know him couldn't help but look sideways - this person was young, he had never seen or heard of it in the court, and he was so bold that he went out to speak without being questioned by the emperor.

was in doubt, but heard Zheng Rong say: "No need, I will go over in person." ”

The arrival of the Labor Emperor to receive him was such a great honor - even the old ministers of the Three Dynasties and the central Zaifu may not have such a special encounter. Today, Li Shengjie, a young man who was born as a pirate, actually allowed the emperor to go to meet him without hesitation, which made the civil and military officials standing in the tent hall all gasp with envy.

At this moment, he heard Zhong Li Kuang say coldly: "Holy Lord, this move is not appropriate. This Li Shengjie is still young and has young qualifications, and he may not be able to afford such a special encounter as the emperor. Moreover, although it is the north bank of the Yangtze River, it is also like the front line, and the soldiers are in danger. It's better to let Qiu Yizhi send him to the audience, it's the same. ”

Zheng Rong shook his head nonchalantly and said, "Mr. Zhongli is too worried, how many soldiers of our army are stationed here, where will there be any risks?" What's more, I want to see what kind of young master hero this Li Shengjie is, and I want to see the strong ships and cannons under his command. How? Can Mr. Zhongli send Li Shengjie over, and can he also bring his warships with him? ”

After saying that, Zheng Rong laughed out loud.

The officials in the account did not want to offend the actual controller of the imperial court's government affairs, Prime Minister Zhong Likuang, so they could only hide their mouths and laugh quietly, which was regarded as echoing the emperor.

With such a feeling of the stars holding the moon, even the emperor who was in the ninth level was quite useful, and smiled proudly: "Okay, our soldiers are fast, let's go." By the way, everything is simple, and the honor guards should not all be dispatched, just take the two fathers and daughters of the Wei Chi family and Qiu Yi's department. ”

Qiu Yizhi hurriedly stepped forward: "Minister, obey the order!" ”

Those officials who didn't know Qiu Yizhi's true identity saw such a scene, and began to murmur in their hearts again: "Who is this Qiu Yizhi?" The emperor can actually entrust all his worth and safety to him......"

Before they could figure out any answers, Emperor Zheng Rong had already stood up from his throne, waved his sleeves and walked out of the tent.

Qiu Yizhi had an escort errand with him, so he hurriedly got up after a little bow, helped Zhongli Kuang up, and said in a low voice: "Master, the emperor is on the rise, and the students should hurry up to order the soldiers and horses, and the escort is important." ”