Guo Ziyi has long been accustomed to the words of Emperor Li Yu, because the situation in the Tang Dynasty has deteriorated to the verge of extinction, Li Yu raised his eyes to look at these civil and military generals in the court, most of the loyal people are incompetent, and the loyalty of the top ability is also problematic, only Guo Ziyi is such a loyal and virtuous minister who can revitalize the Tang Dynasty, which has to be said to be the luck of the Tang Dynasty. Thinking that Yu Chaoen had dug up Guo Ziyi's ancestral grave, the old Linggong, who was leading the soldiers outside, did not get angry, but ran to him to cry, which made him feel comfortable.

Yu Chaoen's power is getting bigger and bigger, and it has reached the point where he is jealous of the emperor, and he actually relied on my favor to ask his son for purple clothes and gold belts, and also said the words "Why don't the affairs of the world depend on me" in the political hall of Zhongshu Province, which is frequently challenging his bottom line.

Although the strong enemy is now on the side, the Yong army has 100,000 soldiers on the other side of the Yangtze River, which is really not a good opportunity to eliminate internal thieves. But the more this time, the more we must eliminate our own internal instability, and it is the real national policy to first secure the internal affairs of the outside world.

Guo Ziyi's arrival strengthened his confidence in cutting off Yu Chaoen, and with Guo Ziyi sitting outside to block the Yongjun, he could safely reuse Yuan Zai for planning inside.

Guo Ziyi couldn't help but said sadly: "When the minister crossed the river by boat in Jiangcheng, he happened to hear the news of Xiangyang's death, Zhang Xun, Nan Jiyun, Lei Wanchun and other generals will definitely die. ”

"Okay," Li Yu hurriedly said: "This is exactly what I want to do, Zhang Xun is loyal to the country, loyal to the death festival, and should be a model for the world's loyal ministers, I want to posthumously crown him the Duke of the country, canonize the governor of Yangzhou, and after recovering Chang'an in the future, I will also paint a portrait of Lingyan Pavilion for him." ”

The emperor was able to express his attitude in this way, Guo Ziyi was relieved, and he immediately picked up important matters and said: "Your Majesty, the traitor Yongjun army is very urgent, and it has approached Jingmen three days ago. Helan Jinming had no ability to command the army, was timid and afraid of war, and only lost a few hundred people in the battle of Jingmen and Xiangyang, and then retreated to Jiangcheng without any achievements. Jiang Cheng will inevitably lose to Li Siye in his hands. ”

Li Yu hammered his knee hatefully and said, "I am still so important to him, and he is a cowardly villain. Ling Gong, I will order you to be the Jianghuai Jingxiang patrol envoy and concurrently serve as the chief of the march, and immediately after taking office, he will take away the post of Helan Jinming Jiedu and demote him to Jiankang first. Command Jingxiang and Jianghuai's 200,000 troops, and rush to the aid of Jiangcheng! ”

Guo Ziyi knelt on the ground and crossed his hands: "Oh! ”

After accepting the emperor's order, he could not stay in Jiankang for a moment, and immediately rushed west to Jiangcheng, mobilizing troops from Jiangzhou and Ezhou along the way, and requisitioning more than 100 warships to go to Jiangcheng in an all-round way.

Jiangcheng is strategically located, where the Yangtze River and the Han River converge to form three areas: Jiangxia, Hankou and Hanyang. In fact, there are two cities in Jiangcheng, one in Hankou in the north of the Yangtze River, and the other in Jiangxia in the east of the Yangtze River. Today, most of Helan Jinming's troops are concentrated in Jiangxia, and there are only 40,000 troops in the city of Hankou. In order to show his determination to resolutely resist the rebels, he set up the Jiedu envoy in Hankow. But his big boat repeatedly raised and lowered its sails on the riverbank every day, and was already preparing for an escape.

Guo Ziyi believed that Jiangcheng was a city that was absolutely impossible to be besieged, because one side of the city faced the Yangtze River, and as long as the city could be defended, grain and baggage could be continuously sent from the river. Once he entered Hankou, he had to use the tactics he had cultivated in Xiangyang City to fight with Li Siye, relying on the rich land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River to drag Li Siye's elite army down. At the very least, it can bring the two sides into a phase of strategic stalemate.

Li Siye also understood this very well, so after he conquered Xiangyang, he immediately ordered Li Huaixian to march into Jingmen to persuade Li Guozhen to surrender, and sent the Flying Tiger Cavalry to run hundreds of miles a day to reach the vicinity of Jiangcheng, and at the same time, the Xuanwu cannon was loaded on the ships in the middle reaches of the Han River and arrived at the station of the Flying Tiger Cavalry along the river.

When Guo Ziyi was about to reach Jiangxia in the west, there were only 40,000 flying tiger cavalry and 60 Xuanwu cannons stationed near Hankou, and the real main force infantry was still on the way, and more heavy grain and grass had just passed through Jingmen, and at this speed, Li Siye could not occupy Jiangcheng at all.

But he himself reached the vicinity of Hankou first, and before the majority of his troops arrived, he ordered the sixty guns that had arrived in advance to bombard the city first, causing psychological oppression to the stubborn enemy in the city.

The Xuanwu cannons and shells were transported off the shore of the Han River, lined up along the river, and the muzzles of the cannons emitted billowing white smoke and made a rumbling sound, and for a time the churning fireballs raged everywhere in the city.

A number of giant Kong Ming lanterns also arrived in advance, flew over the city and threw fierce fire and thunder downward, burning down many houses and military camps, and Jiangcheng was finally shrouded in the clouds of war.

Such a fierce artillery attack made Helan Jinming frightened, and the eldest grandson Quanxu also knew that this person was unreliable, so he went directly to Yuanmen to find him, and said straight to the point: "Doctor Helan doesn't have to be afraid of the enemy, according to the scouts under my command, the Tang army gathered outside Hankou is only a few flying tiger cavalry and a few cannons, and the real main force and siege equipment of the Tang army are far from coming." As long as you sit here and hold on, Guo Linggong will soon lead a large army to come. ”

The eldest grandson Quanxu did not say some words, so as not to hit Helan Jinming's enthusiasm to resist the enemy, in fact, when Guo Ziyi led the army to arrive, Helan Jinming's good days will come to an end.

Helan Jinming and the eldest grandson Quanxu have a bad relationship, so that Helan will not believe a word of his words. Do he and Guo Ziyi think that they are as easy to deceive as Zhang Xun?

Zhang Xun is a kind of person who says that he is a loyal minister if he is good, and he is a stupid fork when he says that he is unpleasant, so many vested interests in Datang, everyone from a wealthy family has enjoyed it for generations, why should it be his turn to fight with a small Yongqiu County order. Today, those noble families in the court have been rich and noble for several lifetimes, and if they want to die in battle, they will die first, why should he, a person whose ancestors have never enjoyed wealth and nobility, fight hard.

Not to mention that Guo Ziyi's ancestor Taiyuan Guo has been a dignitary since the Eastern Han Dynasty, and even the eldest grandson Quanxu is also a descendant of the Sui and Tang Dynasty eldest grandson family, anyway, they have more reason than me to work hard.

He had such a thought in his heart, but he slapped his chest loudly: "What did General Changsun say, although I, Helan Jinming, don't have much ability, but I am still loyal to Datang Sheji." He stood up with a table of papers, stretched out his hand and pointed to a coffin in the side room and said, "Have you seen that coffin, if Jiangcheng is lost, this coffin will be the fate of this official." ”

Eldest Sun Quanxu nodded convincingly, believing Helan Jinming's nonsense, he crossed his hand towards the other party and said: "Doctor Helan, please rest assured, Eldest Sun Quanxu will advance and retreat with you, resist the strong enemy, and will not let you enter the coffin." ”

After saying that, he turned around and left, and led 3,000 Guo Jiajun to personally check the enemy situation on the city wall, and now it was dark. But faintly on the horizon, he saw a row of black cannons, red flames coming from the muzzles, shells exploding behind him on the city walls or over the houses, several buildings collapsed, and the people were killed or wounded, and wept bitterly.

Artillery is too powerful, surpassing all siege equipment and long-range weapons, the Yong army can be invincible, half of it depends on these things.

……