After listening to Ma An's narration, Li Yuan almost didn't drop his jaw, it is normal to burn, kill and loot in these years, but it is often a tragic situation that only happens when he plunders other people's land, as for the death of his own people, it can only be said that the Jin army is already mad.

It is true that if the Jin army wants to get supplies on Taihu Lake, it can only be replenished from the nearby Changzhou, which is the most feasible, after all, Changzhou is the only transit place on the upper and lower 500-mile canal.

After many days of sailing and attacking, the Jin army reached the Taihu Lake, and Changzhou was the nearest big city besides Suzhou, which was naturally the best supplement, but I didn't expect Li Jingsui to take such unexpected measures, and he was so crazy that he burned and looted his own cities and people in the south of the Yangtze River.

Li Yuan not only regretted a little, he was still a little late, of course, the three thousand guards cavalry under his command may not be able to hold Changzhou City, but if he can arrive in Changzhou earlier, he can evacuate the people and clear the wilderness so that the people can escape this catastrophe, and it can also make the Jin army unable to get the replenishment of materials, grain and grass too smoothly.

"Do you know how many ships and how many troops the Jin army has on Taihu Lake? When did they come and when did they leave today? Li Yuan frowned and asked.

The villain asked some merchants, now there are a lot of ships on the Taihu Lake, there are dozens of dragon head boats, and there are countless medium and small boats, stretching for five or six miles, the boats are densely packed with soldiers and horses, and a rough estimate is that there are as many as sixty or seventy thousand.

As for the more than 10,000 thieves who came to Changzhou, they arrived in small boats and left in the afternoon, and more than a dozen cargo ships on our Changzhou wharf were also robbed by them, and they must have returned to Taihu Lake after loading the looted food supplies.

Please forgive the villain for only knowing so much, because there are no officials in the city, and the villain really can't go to inquire about it, so he can only stay in the city and organize the people to tide over the difficulties. Ma An said.

Li Yuan said: "You have done a good job, from now on, Changzhou is my Great Chu City, I will order you to assassinate the history of Changzhou, you are responsible for appeasing and relieving the people here, and organizing the people to rebuild their homes." Remember, don't let the people get into trouble. Hold out for a few days, and I'll find a way to get you some food and supplies from elsewhere to tide you over, but for the time being, you'll have to rely on yourselves. ”

Ma An bowed his head excitedly and said: "Please rest assured, Your Majesty, your humble position will definitely live up to your mission!" Thank you for your kindness! ”

Li Yuan nodded and said, "What other cities are there along the road to the south of the canal?" ”

Ma An said: "Your Majesty, there are only some small counties along the river to the south of Changzhou City, Wujin County and Changzhou County, both counties are under the rule of my Changzhou, Wujin County is about 320 miles away from here, and Changzhou County and Wujin County are only dozens of miles away. With the speed of the Jin army's boats, it is estimated that it will pass through these two counties and enter Taihu Lake in less than two or three days, and I don't know if these two counties have also suffered. ”

Li Yuan's face was gloomy and he nodded.

That night, Li Yuan summoned Zou Ping and the generals in the accompanying guard camp and informed them of his plan.

"Ladies and gentlemen, judging from the current situation, Changzhou down, the canal is gradually widening, the waterway is fast, after the Jin army gets the grain and grass materials, it will inevitably want to return to Taihu Lake as soon as possible, and we may not be able to chase them by land, and they can only be left far behind. In this way, our actions are meaningless. Once the more than 60,000 Jin troops were replenished, they would soon attack Suzhou. ”

"Your Majesty, why don't we pursue it south early tomorrow morning, maybe there is still a chance to catch up? In case they could catch up, the brothers all brought strong bows and crossbows, and it was not impossible to disturb them from the shore, even if they could not intercept the Jin army's grain ships, they could not be replenished too smoothly. Zou Ping said in a low voice.

Li Yuan shook his head slowly and said: "I can't catch up, in the past few days, we have been galloping day and night, and the people and horses can't stand it anymore." If you run like this, people can stand it, but the war horse will definitely not be able to stand up, and the more you chase, the farther you will be left behind. ”

"Your Majesty, what should we do then? Could it be that you can't turn around and go back to join the army? Zou Ping asked with a frown.

Li Yuan said: "Of course not, in this way, we can only watch Suzhou fall into the hands of the Jin army, and we will never be willing to return to me without success." I thought about it carefully, for the sake of today's plan, I can only let all the sons and horses rest in Changzhou for half a day, help the people of Changzhou to do something, and at the same time let the war horses rest and recover their strength. The next thing to catch up, I want to go alone. ”

"What? How does this work? ”

"Absolutely not? How can you let Your Majesty be in danger alone? ”

"Your Majesty, no."

The generals of the guards shouted one after another.

Li Yuan waved his hand and said: "Don't panic, my mount is a BMW horse that is one in a million, although it has been running for a few days, but in fact, it is just a little effort. Didn't you see it holding its back all the way? That's because your horse is too slow for it to run as much as it wants. You see, the rest of the horses are depressed at the moment, but they are still in good spirits. ”

Everyone turned their heads to look at a group of horses tied not far away, but they saw Li Yuan's snow-stepping black horse standing in the darkness with a radiant look, looking around with sparkling eyes, and there was no tiredness at all. But the war horses next to it were all lying on the ground listless, as if they had lost their strength.

"My mount can travel hundreds of miles a day, and with you can only slow down the journey, and cannot catch up with the Jin army's fleet. However, if I rode alone, I would have been able to reach Wujin County on the bank of the canal in the south ahead of schedule, at least one day before the Jin army arrived. That way, I can contact the local officials and people in advance, and if there are soldiers there, it would be better, and maybe I can make some moves. Li Yuan continued.

"Having said that, but Your Majesty is going alone, how can you guarantee your safety? Wujin still has the Tang flag planted there, not my Great Chu Rule, if Your Majesty has three long and two short, I will die. Zou Ping said hurriedly.

"Yes, yes, what should I do if something happens to Your Majesty on the way alone? How do we account for it? The generals also said.

Li Yuan laughed and said, "What can happen to me?" Do you think I'm a weak scholar who can't be restrained? How many battles have I fought over the years? There are no eyes on the battlefield, if something happened, I would have had an accident a long time ago, and I would have waited until today?

Besides, Changzhou is already the territory of my Great Chu, and the small counties under my rule will naturally have to change their courts, so I just went to contact the local officials in advance to see if I could do something on the road that the Jin army must pass, not to fight the Jin army alone. You will also come later, what can happen? I think about it, this is the only way, otherwise we will have to go home in vain. ”

The generals were silent, and Li Yuan smiled: "Don't be sad, you guys are like this, isn't it a curse and something has happened?" I have made up my mind, and this matter is decided. I'll set off early tomorrow morning. You can rest until the afternoon and then set off, there is no need to rush on the road, you can reach the left side of Suzhou within seven days. ”

The generals were helpless, knowing that once His Majesty decided on the matter, there would basically be no change, and it would be in vain to persuade him. Moreover, now that it is known that the Jin army is transporting grain by water, if it can really interfere with this matter, it will undoubtedly be a huge blow to the Jin army, and the only way at present seems to be to be able to catch up with the Jin army and do something on their way.

In the early morning of the next day, Li Yuan bid farewell to the guards and galloped away from Changzhou City in their worried eyes. The black horse under the crotch got the opportunity to indulge in galloping, and the road was like lightning, and it was extremely fast. Li Yuan sat on the horse, only to feel the spring breeze blowing on his face, and the scenery around him retreated rapidly, as if he was sitting on a speeding train.

BMW is a BMW not only because it is fast, but also because it has endurance. In ancient times, it was known as a thousand miles of horses, which may be an exaggeration, but even if you can't travel thousands of miles a day, you can also have five hundred miles in half. Such a long road is not only fast enough, but also requires long-lasting endurance.

Although Li Yuan's black horse may not be able to travel 500 miles a day, if he runs hard, it is still possible to travel 300 miles a day. But the horse can bear it, but the people can't bear it, Li Yuan not only suffered from the strong wind on the horse's back, but also suffered from the bumps like breaking his intestines, which is the most fatal.

Therefore, Li Yuan had to control the speed and time of action, so that the horse would not be too tired, and he would not be tossed over.

At the end of the day, he had traveled nearly two hundred miles, and in the evening, Li Yuan finally saw a black and oppressive group of ships in the river in front of him, like a forest mast and flickering fire. Li Yuan knew that he had caught up with the Jin army's fleet transporting grain and grass in one day. Even so, Li Yuan was surprised by the speed of the Jin army's fleet, and they had already left Changzhou for two hundred miles.

Of course, this is understandable, after all, they set off half a day earlier than themselves, and even at night, they can sail, but their speed is limited. At this rate, in a day or two, they will arrive in Wujin County.

Now that he had caught up with the fleet, Li Yuan was relieved that he would definitely be able to arrive in Wujin at least one day in advance, so he had a day to prepare for the arrival of the Jin army. So Li Yuan didn't rush overnight, but found a sheltered place to rest for the night.

Early the next morning, Li Yuan set out again, and caught up with the Jin army's fleet again at the hour of the hour.

Li Yuan deliberately rode his horse and galloped across the bank of the canal, and the long boats and horses on the river, as well as the dense soldiers and horses on the boats, as I knew before, were exactly the more than 10,000 soldiers and horses sent by the Jin army to plunder.

Li Yuan didn't dare to get too close, nor did he dare to go parallel to them, and soon distanced himself from the fleet, because he couldn't let the Jin army on the ship pay too much attention to himself running on the shore, although Li Yuan didn't carry any eye-catching flags, and he also changed into ordinary armor without identification, Li Yuan still had to be careful at all times.

Therefore, Li Yuan quickly descended the river embankment and ran south along the weedy path below the river embankment to overtake the Jin army's fleet.