Early the next morning, Fanning, escorted by 3,000 cavalry, left the capital and headed for Laizhou.

Laizhou is currently the base of the Great Song Dynasty Naval Army, thousands of warships and tens of thousands of naval troops are stationed here, after the naval army is under the control of Miao Shunli suicide and martyrdom, the Son of Heaven Zhao Xuan posthumously awarded him the king of Donglai County, rewarded 30,000 taels of silver, and shaded his son Miao Ji as an official.

At present, the command of the navy is taken over by Mao Nanwu, the deputy commander, who is about 40 years old, with dark skin, strong and burly, and has rich experience in the navy.

He was the deputy commander of the Quanzhou Naval Army, followed Fan Ning to open up the South Seas, and led dozens of warships to defeat the Three Buddhas Qi Naval Army, and later Mao Nanwu participated in the Battle of Baigou and the Battle of Western Xia, and was ordered to establish the Great Song Dynasty Naval Army Base on Shenmi Island, and led the Shenmi Island Naval Army to sink hundreds of warships of the Liao Army, and repeatedly made military exploits.

On the morning of this day, Mao Nanwu received news that Fanning, the generalissimo of the expedition to the north, had arrived in Laizhou, less than 20 miles away from the naval base.

Mao Nanwu hurriedly led dozens of generals out of the camp to welcome the arrival of the marshal.

In a short time, a large group of cavalry appeared in the distance, waving the flag, the momentum was magnificent, and a red flag was embroidered with a big 'fan' word.

In just a moment, the cavalry of the brigade slowly approached, and the first official wearing a purple robe and a golden crown was none other than Fanning, the generalissimo of the expedition to the north and the king of Chu.

Mao Nanwu hurriedly led the generals to step forward and kneel down on one knee, clasped his fists and said: "Humble Mao Nanwu, welcome His Royal Highness the King of Chu!" ”

Fan Ning turned over and dismounted, helped Mao Nanwu up, let the generals get up, and said with a smile: "General Mao, generals, we haven't seen each other for a long time, and I am deeply relieved to see that everyone is serving the country." ”

Mao Nanwu was originally the deputy commander of Quanzhou, a small military attache from the sixth grade, it was Fan Ning's unique vision and was promoted step by step, in just ten years, now he is from the third grade of the general, the navy is under control, how can he not be grateful to Fan Ning?

Not only him, but more than half of the other naval generals were promoted by Fanning in the Pingxi Xia War.

At this time, when Mao Nanwu saw Fan Ning, his heart was extremely excited, and his voice was a little choked, "Your Highness can re-lead the army, which is the luck of the Great Song Dynasty and the luck of the water army!" ”

Fan Ning patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "The victory is won by you, and with you here, it is the luck of the Great Song Dynasty and the luck of the navy!" ”

Mao Nanwu wanted to say more, but Fan Ning smiled: "If you have anything to say, let's talk about it when you enter the water army camp!" ”

"That's right! Right! Right! Your Highness, please enter the camp with your humble duties. ”

Dozens of generals surrounded Fanning like stars holding the moon and entered the naval camp.

The naval camp is divided into two parts, the land camp is slightly smaller, covering an area of only more than 100 hectares, thousands of large tents, and 50,000 soldiers are stationed, but the sea base is extremely broad, there are thousands of hectares of sea, more than 100,000 wooden stakes are laid, and an incomparably huge naval army camp is besieged, and thousands of large and small warships are moored in the water village.

There was no ice on the south side of the Bohai Sea, the waves gently hit the revetment, and thousands of ships, large and small, were slightly undulating on the sea.

Fanning stared at the sea for a long time and asked, "What's going on with the defeat of Liaohe?" ”

"Please go to the big tent of the Chinese army with your humble post, where there is a detailed sand table exercise."

Fan Ning nodded and followed Mao Nanwu to the big tent of the Chinese army.

Mao Nanwu pointed to a sand table and said: "The Liaohe fiasco is the most painful defeat since the establishment of the Great Song Dynasty Water Army. ”

Fan Ning stepped forward and saw that the sand table was about one zhang long and wide, including the northern part of the Bohai Sea, Liaoyang Prefecture, the Liao River and the banks of the Liao River, and the composition was relatively simple.

The Liao River is crowded with models of warships, as well as rafts, the boats painted red to indicate that they are burned, and the rafts and the river are the same, which vividly outlines a water battle that falls into the trap of the sea of fire.

Fanning frowned and asked, "Isn't there a scout on the shore?" ”

"At first, there were, but the Liao army kept appearing on the shore, and the scouts couldn't go any deeper."

"Even the scouts can't go deep, and the fleet dares to go deep into the hinterland?"

Fan Ning was obviously a little dissatisfied in his tone, this was a serious violation of the rules of water warfare, Miao Shunli was experienced, Fan Ning didn't believe it, he didn't even understand this.

Mao Nanwu said helplessly: "We also know that it is dangerous for a lone army to go deep, but the military order is stipulated, requiring us to join the 100,000 army in Liaoyang Mansion, they are light soldiers marching, only bringing some dry food, we must cooperate with the actions of the 100,000 army." ”

After a pause, Mao Nanwu explained: "We also realized that this military order was a bit dangerous, so we specially put important weapons such as steel ballistas and iron fire mines in the back, and put grain and grass and siege equipment in front. ”

Fan Ning took a few steps and asked, "The military order you said refers to the military order of Han Xianggong, or the order of the imperial court?" ”

Mao Wunan said in a low voice for a long time: "It is actually a joint military order from the Son of Heaven and the Privy Council. ”

Fan Ning sighed slightly, this is the real reason for the fiasco of the Song army, from the blind command of the imperial court, but this is also Han Jiang's responsibility, as the commander, he did not withstand the pressure of the imperial court.

In the final analysis, Han Jiang's prestige is slightly lower and he is not confident enough, Zhao Ji himself is aware of this, so he specially pointed out four words in his will, 'full responsibility', it is estimated that Han Jiang will not be able to get the maximum command.

"Tell me now, how many ships and soldiers have been lost by the navy?"

"A total of 174 warships were burned, 33 10,000-stone warships, 97 5,000-stone warships, and the rest were 3,000-stone warships, and more than 8,300 soldiers were killed, some of them may have been captured, but we are all temporarily included in the list of casualties, even if they escape the fire, I am afraid it will be difficult to escape the slaughter of the cavalry on the shore."

Fanning's heart was very heavy, this was really the heaviest loss of the establishment of the Great Song Water Division.

"How's the morale of the army now?"

"It was relatively low at first, but after a period of training, it gradually recovered, especially when I heard that His Highness was the generalissimo, and the morale has been completely restored."

Fanning then said: "Gather the whole army, I want to say a few words to everyone!" ”

Mao Wunan was overjoyed, he was looking forward to the marshal giving a lecture to the officers and men of the whole army to boost the morale of the army.

'Boom! Boom! Boom! ’

The war drums of the assembly sounded, and the 40,000 sailors in the barracks assembled on the martial arts exercise ground from all directions, and a high platform had been erected on the martial arts arena, and it was now the beginning of February, and there was already a bit of warm breath in the sea breeze.

The drums ceased, and all 40,000 soldiers had been assembled, when Fanning appeared on the high platform, and the 40,000 soldiers cheered excitedly in surprise.

Fanning smiled and waved his hand, signaling everyone to be quiet, and the martial arts arena quickly quieted down, and 40,000 pairs of eyes looked at the coach Fanning.

Fan Ning said loudly: "Everyone is not mistaken, I am now back as the generalissimo of the expedition to the Great North, and I will lead everyone to crusade against the Liao State." ”

The atmosphere in the army was extremely enthusiastic, and the soldiers raised their arms and shouted again.

Fanning was also infected by the enthusiasm of the soldiers, and he waved his hand again, and the soldiers quickly fell silent.

"Although we suffered a fiasco a few months ago, with many casualties and destroyed a lot of warships, our navy did not break its muscles and bones, but only fell down once on the way to run, just get up and continue to run, and after this setback, our navy will run faster and become stronger, because our navy is the strongest army in the world, and it has made great achievements in the destruction of Western Xia, and it can also be recorded in history in the battle of destroying Liao!"

............

In the middle of March of the second year of Xining, everything recovered, the ice and snow melted, the ice on the river disappeared without a trace, and the two hundred Song army Wanshi warships set off from Shenmi Island arrived at the river outside Baozhou City at the mouth of the Yalu River, and Baozhou City was built on the riverside, and the city gate was only dozens of steps away from the river.

The Song army's 10,000 stone warships are like behemoths condescending, 30 stainless steel ballistas on the warship simultaneously fired iron fire thunder into the city, one by one iron fire thunder exploded in the city, the explosion was earth-shattering, the city was filled with gunsmoke, thousands of people in the city fled in panic, and after half of the three thousand defenders were killed, they also gave up Baozhou.

At the same time, Xuanzhou, which was only a dozen miles away from Baozhou, was also attacked by the strong long-range attack of the Song army, and the fire arrows rained down like rain, overwhelming the sky, and the city was engulfed in flames, and the entire Xuanzhou City was engulfed in flames.

Three days later, the Song army occupied Baozhou and Xuanzhou, opening the prelude to the attack on the Liao State Tokyo Province from the eastern front.