The Liao Emperor Yelu Hongji happened to be in Liaoyang Mansion in Tokyo at this time, and the news of the destruction of the naval army shocked Yelu Hongji very much, and he came from Linhuang Mansion in Shangjing to understand the current situation of the shipyard.

In recent years, Liao's finances could not make ends meet, and the treasury was empty, which led to the gradual intensification of domestic contradictions, coupled with the political instability caused by the Chongyuan Rebellion, so that Yelu Hongji had to adopt the method of diverting attention and waging war against the Song Dynasty.

His purpose was to extort money from the Song Dynasty to make the Song Dynasty's annual coins rise to at least one million taels of silver and one million horses of silk, and on the other hand, he also built warships in an attempt to occupy Kunzhou and obtain an important source of wealth.

However, the navy army was completely wiped out, the shipyard was burned down, and his years of hard work were in vain.

In Danyang Palace, Yelu Hongji listened to the report of Xiao Weixin, the privy envoy of the Southern Yuan, with a gloomy face, and stood next to Zhang Xiaojie, the Xiangguo who followed him on his southern tour.

"There is no news about the fleet going to Kunzhou now, but someone found a mast on the shore, and judging from this, our fleet is afraid that it will be more auspicious, I don't know whether it will encounter the Song army or the storm."

"So, there's no accurate information from the fleet?" Yeluhongji asked.

"Humiliation is just speculation, but it just feels like there is more than luck."

Next to him, Zhang Xiaojie said: "I don't think so!" ”

Although Zhang Xiaojie is a Han Chinese, he is extremely trusted by Yelu Hongji, and was named the prime minister of Beifu, with a high and powerful position, second only to Yelu Yixin, he is of medium stature, has a foot of beautiful hair, white skin, and a gentle temperament.

Yelu Hongji glanced at him and said, "Zhang Xianggong, tell me your opinion!" ”

Zhang Xiaojie brushed his beard and said unhurriedly, "If the whole army is annihilated, then there will not be only one mast, now the north wind and the west wind are blowing, even if there is really a wreckage, it is also piled up on the coast of Japan, so the mast found should have nothing to do with our army, maybe it has been there a long time ago, it was just discovered just now, it should be left after the merchant ship sank in the summer." ”

"But how can Zhang Xianggong explain that the shipyard was burned, and the shipyard was attacked not long after we went to sea."

"These are two different things, the fleet is the fleet, and the shipyard is the shipyard, not to be confused."

Zhang Xiaojie said very reasonably, Yelu Hongji suddenly had a glimmer of hope in his heart, and asked again, "Can the shipyard be restored?" ”

Xiao Weixin cautiously reported, "Recovery can be restored, and the shipwrights are safe and sound, but it will take at least three years to rebuild the big ship." ”

"Why?"

"This is the process of shipbuilding, and the keel and ship board have to be dried for a long time, and it will take two and a half years at the earliest."

After hesitating for a moment, Xiao Weixin said again, "In addition, the treasury of Liaoyang Mansion is empty, and it is unable to build ships, so it needs to be allocated silver by the imperial court, at least 300,000 taels."

Preparation. ”

Yelu Hongji snorted heavily, although 300,000 taels can be taken out, but there are too many places to use the money, and one million taels of silver have been allocated to build ships before, which has caused dissatisfaction among the DPRK and China, and if another 300,000 taels are allocated, I am afraid that it will be strongly opposed.

After a while, Yelu Hongji said, "Let's wait until we get the news of the fleet!" ”

At this time, there was a report outside, "Jinzhou urgent report!" ”

"Come in and say!"

A guard walked in, knelt down on one knee and said, "The Song army occupies Juehua Island, and Xingcheng County is attacked!" ”

"What?"

Yeluhongji's eyes widened, and the room fell silent.

Yelu Hongji stepped forward, grabbed the guard by the collar and asked, "When did it happen?" ”

"An eagle letter has just arrived!"

Xiao Weixin also said hurriedly: "Let's make the situation clearer." ”

The guards took out the eagle letter, Yelu Hongji snatched it up, opened the eagle letter, and there was indeed only this sentence in it, 'The Song army occupied Juehua Island, and Xingcheng County was attacked. ’

Yelu Hongji was very annoyed, and he didn't have to think that he knew that this was done by the Song Dynasty's naval army, although there were not many troops there, but the strategic position was extremely important, once the Song army took root on Juehua Island, it could cut off the connection between Liaodong and Nanjing at any time.

Thinking that Juehua Island was about to become a subcutaneous tumor in Liaodong and cut off the corridor in western Liaoning, he couldn't bear it anymore, and immediately said to Xiao Wei, "You immediately lead the army to Jinzhou, and at all costs, recapture Juehua Island for me!" ”

The West Liaoning Corridor has always been an extremely important strategic place, the corridor starts from Jinzhou in the north, reaches Yuguan in the south, is nearly 400 miles long, but the widest part is only 30 miles, the narrowest place is more than 10 miles, the Shanhaiguan built in the Ming Dynasty is the most famous pass of the West Liaoning Corridor.

Although the strategic position is extremely important, the Liao State has not paid much attention to the defense of the Western Liaoning Corridor in the past hundred years, first, the Song army was cowardly and signed the Tanyuan Alliance with the Liao Army early, and secondly, there was Nanjing in front, that is, Yanshan Mansion as a buffer, and the Song army could not gain a foothold in the Western Liaoning Corridor alone.

But Fan Ning took an extremely wonderful chess piece and occupied Juehua Island, which was close to the Liaoxi Corridor, so that the Song army had a foothold in the Liaoxi Corridor, retreating to defend the island, and advancing to cut off the connection between Liaodong and Yanshan Mansion, how could Yelu Hongji not be annoyed.

Under Yelu Hongji's strict order, Xiao Weixin immediately led an army of 50,000 to Xingcheng County.

Although Yelu Hongji did not want to leave Liaoyang Mansion, considering that he had been away from Shangjing for too long, the current situation in the DPRK and China was still unstable, and the impact of the Chongyuan Rebellion was still there, he had to return to Shangjing under the escort of 100,000 troops.

The middle of November is the lunar calendar, and it is the middle of December of the solar calendar, and Liaodong has entered winter, and the first heavy snow has fallen.

The weather was very cold, the wind was cold, the snow was as thick as a foot, and the 50,000 troops were struggling to move forward on the official road, at this time they should be hiding in the room to warm up, but Yelu Hongji didn't care whether the soldiers were alive or dead, and forced them to rush to Xingcheng County to seize Juehua Island.

"Privy Envoy!"

Deputy General Yelu Dongtu said to Xiao Wei in a loud voice in the cold wind: "I'm afraid we don't have a way to seize Juehua Island, I have seen it just now, and there is no ice on the sea." ”

Xiao Weixin sighed and said, "I don't know if there is a way to recapture Juehua Island, but I know that if I don't go, the Son of Heaven will skin me." ”

"Then what if you go to Xingcheng County?"

"I don't know, let's go first!"

The march of the army was extremely slow, and it took a large amount of grain and grass to carry a heavy load, and it took five days to reach Xingcheng County.

Xingcheng County has become an empty city, and the people have fled to Jinxi County, which is thirty miles away to the south, which is convenient for the Liao soldiers, Xiao Weixin immediately ordered 50,000 troops to enter Xingcheng County, and let people thoroughly search the city to prevent the Song army from burying sulfur, fire oil and the like in the city.

The soldiers entered the city one after another, seized houses, burned fires for warmth, and cooked at the same time to satisfy their hunger, but the war horses could not squeeze into the small county town, so they had to set up livestock camps outside the city and raise the war horses in tents.

Xiao Weixin came to the city with a group of generals, looking at the sea in the distance, it was close to dusk at this time, and the sunset on the sea stained the sky red, but he could still clearly see Juehua Island more than 20 miles away.

The waves on the sea were undulating, and there was no sign of ice at all, which made Xiao Wei Nobunaga sigh, where did he go to engage in a boat crossing the sea battle? He had already received news that the Song army had taken away more than two dozen cargo ships in Xingcheng County, and there was not a single ship around.

Yelu Dongtu said in a low voice, "Privy envoy, the distance is too far, can you use the raft?" ”

Xiao Weixin was silent, the raft is generally used when crossing the river, and in the last five or six miles, it is a bit too far to even cross the Yellow River, let alone the sea of more than twenty miles, which is too risky.

But they really didn't have anything else to do but the raft.

Xiao Weixin had no choice but to say slowly, "Let the soldiers rest for two days first, and then it depends on the situation." ”

At this time, the soldiers brought a few monks, "Privy envoy, there are several monks asking to see you!" ”

"Bring them up!"

After a while, several monks were brought up, and they saluted Xiao Weixin with their palms, "See Xiao Shu's envoy!" ”

Xiao Weixin looked at them and asked, "Which temple are you from?" ”

"We are all monks of Juehua Temple."

"What about Abbot Wenhui?"

"The abbot took the other monks to the Red Leaf Temple in Yanshan Mansion, and we wanted to go back to Liaoyang Mansion, so we didn't go with us."

Xiao Weixin nodded, "Let me ask you, how many Song troops have come from Juehua Island?" ”

"Probably a few thousand!"

Xiao Weixin was a little dissatisfied and said, "Two thousand people are thousands, nine thousand people are also thousands, how many are they?" ”

"We don't know, it shouldn't be too many, it's estimated that there are two or three thousand."

Xiao Weixin glared at them fiercely, asked them to give them some grain and rice, and sent them to Liaoyang Mansion.

Several monks thanked them and left, and Yelu Dongtu said, "If there are only two or three thousand people, then it is completely feasible to cross the sea on a raft." ”

Xiao Weixin nodded, "Wait until tomorrow when you observe the sea conditions!" ”