The sun is shining and the drums are noisy.

Today's Luzhou City, as if it is the New Year, every household is decorated with lights, and men, women and children are pouring into the streets. Selling cakes, playing tricks, calling meat and fish, selling wine and tea, all kinds of merchants shouting one after another, endlessly, several streets in Luzhou are a lively and extraordinary joyful scene.

The reason why people are so happy is because of three major events.

The first one is the official approval of the imperial court, which exempted the people in Luzhou and Chuzhou from taxes for two years.

Because the Zhenjiang army came to the Central Plains to fight against the rebellion, did not rely on the food and salary supply of the imperial court, and had won many battles and made a lot of military exploits before, the imperial court originally planned to reward it with materials to comfort the soldiers. After discussing with Li Jiangyao, Xu Youchang and others, they hoped to benefit the people and transfer the gold and silver materials rewarded to the Zhenjiang Army into taxes at the place where they were stationed and exempt them.

Li Bing weighed it again and again, and finally agreed to their proposal.

The second major event is the official establishment of the Silk Road Chamber of Commerce jointly organized by the Luzhou region and the Zhenjiang Military Government.

Before Xie Tanzhi returned to the ghost desert in Western Xinjiang, he specially met and negotiated with the leaders of several major local guilds, and jointly agreed to establish the Silk Road Chamber of Commerce to sell the goods of Luzhou and surrounding counties to Western Xinjiang or further to the Western Continent. At the same time, the materials in the west have also been transported to the front line of the river through the overall planning and dispatch of the Chamber of Commerce.

This is a huge and long-term trade activity, which is bound to bring considerable benefits to the local area, and is expected to turn Luzhou into an important commercial center in the Central Plains, which is naturally popular with merchants, craftsmen and farmers.

The last thing has to do with war.

The soldiers and horses of Zhenjiang, whether it is the army or the navy, have recently won a big victory, and not only the imperial court is happy, but the people also see hope.

Many young descendants, either determined to serve the country, eager to make contributions to the Holy Tang Dynasty, or sincerely admired Li Jiangyao and the Zhenjiang Army, and asked to sign up to join and crusade against rebellion.

Li Jiangyao thought about it for a long time, and finally, with the support of Xu Youchang and others, nodded and agreed to recruit local youths to join the army to make up for the losses of soldiers in the previous battles.

Today, the opening of the Chamber of Commerce and the review of recruits are in time, coupled with the good news of tax reduction, it is no wonder that the entire city of Luzhou is bustling.

Early in the morning, Li Jiangyao first went to the military field of the school to meet with the first batch of more than 3,200 Luzhou recruits. There, he told everyone about the ups and downs of the Zhenjiang army from scratch and from weak to strong, the tragic and heroic feelings of the Zhenjiang soldiers who shed blood on the battlefield to protect their homes and defend the country, and also told the reasons for the current crusade against the rebels and their belief in victory.

Finally, he encouraged the young soldiers to train hard, fight bravely to kill the enemy, put down the rebellion as soon as possible, and create a prosperous scene of peace and prosperity for Shengtang.

The three thousand children of Luzhou were excited, raised their arms and shouted, swearing to follow Dadu Hu and sweep the south!

After leaving the military field of the school, Li Jiangyao rushed to the Chamber of Commerce non-stop, met with the leading figures in the local business circles, and personally presided over the unveiling ceremony of the Western Xinjiang Silk Road Chamber of Commerce. In order to express their gratitude to the Zhenjiang Military Government, the big bosses of various industries in Luzhou jointly decided to take out a large amount of gold and silver as military funds to reward the soldiers who had made meritorious contributions to the war on behalf of the local people.

An important commercial link connecting the two continents of the east and west, from Luzhou and Yangzhou in the east to Chechi and Shule in the west, was officially opened in a warm and festive atmosphere.

In the following decades and hundreds of years, Luzhou, as the base camp of the Central Plains of the Zhenjiang Army, has always carried the mission of connecting China and the West, and has become a famous commercial city with far-reaching influence and decisive importance in the Holy Tang Dynasty.

Of course, these are all later words, and at present, in addition to doing business in the western continent, Luzhou also has to shoulder the important mission of counterinsurgency.

The replenishment of new recruits is of course very significant, but what is more important is the active preparation of the original troops of the Zhenjiang Army. Nearly 400,000 soldiers of the six armies of the army, plus one naval division, trained day and night, and were ready to launch a fierce attack on the opposite bank at any time.

In particular, the 600 new warships that had just been seized greatly expanded the overall strength of the Kunpeng fleet, making Nie Xianzeng, Luo Yuan and others more confident in facing Bao Yuchun.

According to the development of the situation, Xu Youchang also suggested to Li Jiangyao at this time that he could consider starting an all-out battle for control of the river with the rebels.

For this reason, Li Jiangyao specially sent someone to invite Yang Li and Wang Wenlie to come to Luzhou secretly to discuss the issue of the decisive battle on the surface with Nie Xianzeng.

"At present, our main warships are distributed in the Yiling area upstream and the Wuwei area downstream, with a total of about 1,500 ships," Nie Xianzeng said: "Although there is still a gap in strength compared to the rebels, they already have the strength to fight. ”

Yang Li nodded: "Before, Uncle Bao Yuchun's uncle and nephew stormed Yiling and destroyed more than 300 warships of our army, and his own losses were also not small. According to the latest information, the total combat strength of the enemy's fleet has dropped to more than 2,600 ships, and the gap between the two sides is gradually narrowing. ”

Li Jiangyao said with a smile: "To fight a war, not only look at the number of troops, but also look at the situation, resources, and morale. ”

Nie Xianzeng gave up his hand, and then said: "As I said just now, above the river, the state of the distribution of the enemy and us is that our army is located at both ends of the upstream and downstream, and Bao Yuchun occupies the middle section. Specifically, it is from Jingxiang and Yueyang to Jingkou and Jiangyin, with a total length of about 3,400 miles, and a total of 37 important water fortresses. ”

"With more than 2,000 warships, it is unrealistic to control such a long waterway and a complete blockade. Therefore, Bao Yuchun can only adopt the method of node defense and mobile interception. Where our troops crossed the river and landed, he immediately mobilized nearby ships to go to the river crossing area to block the attack. ”

"The best way for us to crack this strategy of the enemy is to destroy fifty to seventy percent of the rebels' warships through one or two large-scale battles, so that they will no longer be able to implement multi-point mobile defense."

Wang added: "In terms of resources and morale, both sides have their own advantages. The northern army has a large number of generals and abundant food and grass, but most of the shipbuilding workshops are concentrated along the river, and many of them have been destroyed by the rebels before, so the shipbuilding capacity has been greatly reduced. The shipyards in the south are numerous and can be replenished more quickly, but their morale is relatively low, and they are not as warlike as ours. Therefore, I agree with Xu Shuai's idea, it is better to start the battle early, and if it drags on, the enemy warships will soon increase again. ”

Yang Li also analyzed: "From the perspective of combat experience and combat ability, at the beginning, the enemy was based on the broad sea army of Shengtang, and almost all of them were veterans who had followed Bao Yuchun for many years, and their combat power was very strong. However, as time went on, we continued to consume many of them, and the proportion of veterans in the broad sea quickly decreased, and became mainly recruited from the south. On the whole, the two sides are almost on par at the moment, which is one of the main reasons why the rebel fleet has become weaker and weaker since then. ”

Li Jiangyao bowed slightly: "If you want to start a battle with the enemy, what form or method should you take?" And where should the battle be fought? Be bold and speak your mind. ”

Yang Li responded: "Yesterday, General Nie has already discussed this matter with his humble position, and we have basically reached a consensus, please ask him to introduce it to your lords." ”

Nie Xianzeng nodded: "Deputy Governor Yang is polite. In fact, many good ideas are his ideas, and he will talk about them first. ”

As he spoke, he stood up, pointed to the map, and said, "The strategy we discussed is called containment from the top to the bottom, and disturbance from the west to the east. The Yiling fleet took the lead in action, and asked the Suzaku Legion located in the Jingxiang defense line to cooperate, creating the illusion of a large-scale river crossing, attracting rebel warships in the Yueyang area to intercept it, pinning down the enemy to the greatest extent, and reducing the number of troops in the downstream battlefield. ”

"Ten to fifteen days after the start of the operation upstream, the Zhenjiang Army began to assemble in the Yangzhou area, and also created a situation of large-scale crossing of the river by the main force, prompting the enemy on the Jinling, Jingkou, and Jiangyin lines to assemble nervously."

Yang Li added: "This waterway is the closest to Hangzhou, the rebel's nest, so the enemy will also be more concerned. The number of warships will far exceed that of the upstream battlefield. ”

Nie Xianzeng nodded and continued, "This is exactly what we want. The purpose of the so-called battle was to destroy the enemy's main fleet in one fell swoop. ”

Xu Youchang asked with concern: "How many warships can the enemy expect to put here?" ”

"Judging by the intelligence, excluding those enemy ships that were attracted by the Yiling fleet, the downstream area is probably between 1,130 and 2,000 ships." Nie Xianzeng replied: "With such a scale of troops, we are confident that we will win the battle. ”

"Where are you going to fight?" Li Jiangyao asked.

Nie Xianzeng confidently pointed to the map: "Here, the Jingkou Waterway." ”

Li Jiangyao asked: "Why did you choose this place, tell me why." ”

"Returning to Daduhu, there are two main reasons why I am considering starting a battle with Bao Yuchun here," Nie Xianzeng replied loudly: "First, at the beginning of the formation of our Kunpeng Tenth Army, the main scope of activity was in the area of Jingkou. The hydrology, landforms, wind directions, and tides here are very familiar to the soldiers and soldiers, which is conducive to combat. ”

Luo Yuan couldn't help but smile and said: "The first time I fought the autumn wind, I robbed Lao Bao of hundreds of boats, isn't it in Jingkou." ”

Nie Xianzeng also nodded with a smile, and continued: "Second, the river surface of the Jingkou Waterway is very wide, and there are many river estuaries on both the south and north banks, which is convenient for hiding warships. As long as we prepare for deployment in advance, once a fight starts, we can kill our flywheels everywhere and catch the enemy by surprise. ”

Wang Wenlie got up at this time and said, "Not only that, but I think there is another favorable factor. Ten miles upstream and downstream of the Jingkou waterway, there is a huge Jiangxin Island in each place, which is just stuck at both ends of the waterway, forming a situation of entrapment on the river. If these two small islands can be controlled during the battle, the enemy ships that enter the Jingkou waterway will be closed and killed, and none of them will want to escape. ”

Li Jiangyao looked at the map carefully and couldn't help but praise: "Very good!" I agree with your ideas, let's take Jingkou as the goal, fight with Bao Yuchun, and see who is the king of the Shengtang Water War! ”