The early morning mist permeated the river.

The sun was blocked by the fog, the sky and the earth seemed a little hazy, and the cold river breeze blew, sweeping over this river.

"It's so cold, it's early in the morning, no one comes at all, I don't know what Shangguan is tossing, what is there to keep, it's better to sleep comfortably in the bed."

Wang Qing muttered in his mouth, and gathered his slightly thin cotton clothes, and the heavy armor pieces were cold to the bones under the mist, and passed to him through the robe.

Early in the morning, you have to get up from the warm quilt and change the guard with others, which is naturally not a beautiful thing.

But there is no way, the task on duty is arranged, and it is a military order.

Military orders are like mountains and cannot be changed.

"Don't talk nonsense, now we don't have a good relationship with the Chu State, I heard that Yangxia County has been beaten into a sea of corpses and blood, and there are countless dead people.

It's already good that we can defend the river port in the south here, at least we don't have to go to the battlefield to fight hard. ”

The guard next to him, Lao Qin, was an old man, and when he heard Wang Qing talking nonsense, he hurriedly taught him: "And it's better to be cautious." Now that the countries in the north are desperately trying to drill into our Liang country, can the Chu country in the south not want to?

Be careful now, you might be able to save your life. ”

When Wang Qing heard this, he didn't think so: "The Chu people have lived in peace in Jiangnan for more than 30 years, and I envy the peaceful and prosperous world."

Okay, they're stupid and they're going to hit us?

Do you really think that people don't die in war?

This time, too, if the Chu people want to take the Yangxia County of Zheng State, they will give it to them, and they are not here to rob us of the land of Liang State.

Now it's okay, the court refuses to let it, and the two countries are fighting.

Jiaodong County was torn apart, I don't know how many people died, how much money was spent, and the place was estimated to be rotten.

Even our estuary, because of Liang and Chu, has become an enemy country, and the merchant ships of Chu that come and go here have disappeared for several months. ”

Wang Qing complained and was extremely indignant about the war between the two countries.

Lao Qin glanced at him and sighed slightly.

He knew why his companion was like this, because he himself was actually quite dissatisfied with the war between the two countries.

As a garrison guarding the port, it sounds like a soldier, an officer and soldier.

But in fact, they are not in the Liang State at all, and their essence is that they are just people requisitioned from the local government, and then they are forcibly arranged to guard the port.

As the conscripted people, they came to serve as soldiers, which belonged to the service of conscription, and it was an obligation for the people who were registered in the Liang State.

Not only did he not have any salary, but he also had to bring his own dry food and food, and be responsible for all expenses during his servitude.

The time of conscription is as short as more than a month or two, or maybe half a year, and everything depends on the commander's wishes.

One can imagine what a heavy burden this is for ordinary people in a place.

Fortunately, as a pawn guarding the mouth of the river, relying on this small port, Wang Qing and his family could also take the opportunity to ask for a port docking fee when they used to call at the port.

Although the bulk of this fee still has to be handed over to the top, after handing over the share to be taken by the top, the excess is the extra income that belongs to them.

Therefore, the levy of port fees has become a fixed income for all port guards, and the people above also know this, but they also choose to acquiesce.

The merchant ships of the Liang State have a relationship here, and they can pay less.

The merchant ships of Chu have nothing to do with it, and they can charge some more port fees.

Over the years, all the soldiers have done this.

And now, because of the war between the two countries, the merchant ships of Chu State are not coming directly. The merchant ships of the Liang State were also unable to go to the Chu State due to the closure of the trade ports of the Chu State.

So the extra income of all the soldiers was just gone.

Not only is it gone, but they also have to strengthen their vigilance because the state of Chu may come over.

At night, they will be arranged to be guarded in shifts, and they will be called up early in the morning, blowing the river breeze, and they will be frozen here.

If the money is gone, the life may be gone.

The two combined, a low-level soldier like Wang Qing, knows how big the resentment in his heart is.

But alas.

Fighting with the State of Chu is the decision of the upper echelons and the decision of the State of Chu.

They are local pawns, and no one listens to their thoughts, opinions, words and voices, and no one cares.

What Wang Qing and these people need to do is to obey the arrangements of the superiors, honestly obey the military orders, and be their own pawns.

At this time, he was still complaining, just because he was still young, he had seen cruelty, and he had been beaten less.

I don't understand what fate is, and what misfortune is from the mouth.

But Lao Qin, who is in his thirties, has already become a grandfather, although he is only a small person at the bottom, he has a much wider range of knowledge.

So after listening to Wang Qing's complaints for a while, Lao Qin only shook his head, and then interrupted: "Don't say it." Stand at your post well, where do you get so many words. You just said that, if Shangguan listened to it, you would have been beheaded directly.

It's okay for you to tell me, and tell the others......"

Lao Qin is educating the younger generations.

To be honest, if it weren't for Wang Qing being born in the same village, and the other party's parents had a good relationship with him, he wouldn't want to care so much.

However, after only half of the lecture, the words in Lao Qin's mouth stopped instantly, his eyes looked into the distance, and the whole person was instantly stunned, and a fear flowed from his eyes.

I saw countless black shadows appear in the dense fog in the distance, and gradually the black shadows approached, and the tall and hideous building boats crossed the river and sailed towards the port from the south.

The building ship got closer, and the flag fluttered on a large ship at the front.

Although Lao Qin was illiterate, he had seen a lot of ships from the Chu State in the past, and gradually he could roughly recognize how the characters of Chu were written.

At this time, on the flag on the ship of the leading building, there was the word Chu.

"Chu ...... Chu Jun, Chu Jun is coming-"

The voice of panic and despair sounded instantly, and Wang Qing behind Lao Qin shouted.

However, before he could say more with his mouth open, a strong wind suddenly hit in the distance. A powerful force shattered his front teeth and pierced him, and the arrow lost Wang Qing's body, rolling directly and nailed to the ground.

Wang Qing twitched a few times, and the arrow that pierced his brain flowed blood from the wound, and he was silent in an instant.

When Lao Qin saw this scene, his heart trembled.

The experienced man instantly understood that Chu Jun had indeed called as Shangguan said.

And from the river ahead, the dense warships of the Chu State that they saw, needless to say, this force could not be carried at all in their small port.

I can't hold it.

Lao Qin had this thought in his heart, and then directly threw away the short knife in his hand, turned around and fled towards the rear.

However, before he could escape far, another wave of more arrows from the Chu army missed, turned into raindrops, and instantly descended from the rear again.

In an instant, it rained arrows in the small port.

There was a scream from the port, and after Lao Qin also ran more than ten steps, there was a sharp pain in his back, followed by a strong force, rolling him.

Lying on the cold and wet port, his eyes looked at the sky, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, the foam mixed with blood flowed out, and he slowly lost his breath.

Half an hour later.

With the last scream, this small port close to the south of the Yangtze River fell into the hands of the Chu army without any suspense.

A Ming Chu army boarded the port and began to assemble in the land north of the river.

The inhabitants of the harbor were forcibly taken out and, in fear, sent to carry the bodies and supplies on board.

Huang An got off the ship, looked at the conquered port, and nodded slightly.

Although it is only a small port, as the first battle of the Northern Expedition, it is always a good sign to be able to win smoothly.

"General, the two hundred defenders of the Liang people in the harbor and the three hundred people have been cleaned up."

At this time, inside the port, a bloodied colonel came over, and when he saw Huang An, he immediately saluted and reported.

Huang An showed a smile on his face: "Good job, your department will rest for a while, and then leave a team of men and horses to guard the port and respond to the follow-up army." The rest of the people, together with Ben Shuai, continued to advance north before the Liang people could react. ”

"Yes!"

The little colonel answered the order and immediately turned around and went to prepare.

A short time later, in the fleet that came from across the river, the 5,000 Chu troops in the first batch of ten large ships led by the river had already disembarked and assembled in the harbor.

Seeing this, Huang An left a few generals and continued to arrange for the follow-up soldiers and horses to disembark, so that they could follow one after another.

Then he personally led the five thousand vanguard soldiers and horses, quickly left the port, and rushed to the north.

Since the Chu army and the Liang army began to fight on the border of Jiaodong and Yangxia before the winter last year, the relationship between the two countries has rapidly turned bad.

After the battle, the repeated setbacks of the Liang army were also accompanied by the twists and turns of Yan Yunqing, a famous general of the Liang State, which caused a shock in the Liang court.

Therefore, in order to reduce the pressure on the eastern border, in order to support this war with the Chu State to fight for Yangxia County, or to protect the Jiaodong County on its own border.

Liang began an operation to mobilize resources from all sides in the country to support the war in the east.

However, this kind of support was relatively restrained at first, and it was not completely exhausted.

After all, the State of Chu is the largest country in Kyushu second only to the Liang State on the bright side, and there are three million soldiers and horses placed in the Ming Prefecture alone.

In terms of this military strength, on paper, it is no longer weaker than Liang Guo.

At this time, the State of Chu only sent a million troops in Yangxia County, although it was already extremely large, but it was only equivalent to one-third of the military strength of the State of Chu.

This pressure is far from the limit of the Chu State.

If the state of Chu wants, it can also send a million soldiers and horses from the country at any time to invest in the war with the state of Liang.

Therefore, as long as these millions of soldiers and horses do not move, Liang Guo naturally does not dare to take out his hole cards easily.

But since the beginning of this year, the news that Chu and Wei have sent troops to Yongxi has spread, and it has been confirmed.

The last scruple in Liang Guo's heart was finally put down.

The reason is simple.

The state of Chu only has a total of three million soldiers and horses, and now there are one million in Yangxia County, and another one million in the Helong battlefield, so there are only one million people left in the country.

But this million people have to defend tens of thousands of miles of sea frontier and the southwest border, and they must also have enough strength to defend their own country.

A few places are apportioned, and there are not many soldiers and horses that can be used for the Liang State.

No matter how much the Chu State withdraws, it will at most take out another three or five hundred thousand people to target the Liang State.

Although this bit of soldiers and horses is not small, but for Liang State, the number one power in Kyushu, it is not afraid at all, and it cannot even pose a threat.

Let alone.

In the territory of Chu State, there are still tens of millions of immigrants who need to be resettled, which is a huge project and expense.

If this is not solved, does the state of Chu really have the strength to open up a third battlefield in addition to the two battlefields of Yongxi and Yangxia?

Thanks to the fact that the State of Chu has been showing weakness over the years and the false news released to the outside world.

and this series of bewilderments.

Anyway, after discussion, the monarchs and ministers of the Liang State unanimously agreed that the current Chu State has no spare strength to open up a third battlefield.

Therefore, based on this view, in March of this year, after confirming that the state of Chu had opened another battlefield in the northwest and fought hotly.

And the main force of Wei was also dragged in the grassland, and it was impossible to use it for Henan County.

After feeling that he was worry-free in the south and east, Liang Guo was completely relieved.

So he began to draw troops and horses from the western front, as well as the three places in the territory and the central part of Gyeonggi, and gathered an army of 500,000 troops, sent it to the eastern front, and handed it over to Yan Yunqing.

At this point, Liang Guo's soldiers and horses in Jiaodong County on the eastern front have officially reached 1.5 million, and after excluding the 100,000 people lost last year, more than half.

The support for Yan Yunqing is not insignificant.

And so important, there are also requirements.

The request of the monarchs and ministers of the Liang State was also very simple, that is, relying on this superior army and horses, they would quickly defeat the Huang Xuanbu of Yangxia County and drive them out of Yuzhou.

If it is not good, it will also inflict heavy losses on the Chu army and drive them out of Jiaodong County, so that they cannot threaten the security of the eastern border of Liang State.

And this speed must be fast, not too long, and the war will end by the end of this year at the latest.

The reason is also very simple, that is, the two kingdoms of Chu and Wei will withdraw their troops at the end of this year.

When the two countries' two million armies return, the defensive pressure of the Liang State on the western and southern fronts will rise sharply.

At that time, for the sake of border security, they also had to redeploy the troops and horses they had withdrawn, spread them to the two defense lines, and re-consolidate the battle line.

Therefore, Liang Guojun's support for Yan Yunqing can only be until the end of this year.

Once this year passes, when the two kingdoms of Wei and Chu adjust their national policies, it is difficult to say whether the imperial court can draw out spare forces in the future.

If Yan Yunqing doesn't catch this last fighter, then from now on, Jiaodong County is destined to become the eternal pain of Liang Guo.

Therefore, according to the above account, the territory of the Liang State today, the eastern and inland hinterlands, and the Gyeonggi region are extremely empty of defensive soldiers and horses.

In some places, there is no regular army, and only a few militia groups are relied on to maintain law and order.

On the southern line of Jiangbei, the Liang army still maintained enough soldiers and horses, about 500,000 troops and nine congenitals, distributed in Jiangxia and Guangling to guard against the Chu State.

According to the assumption of the monarch and ministers of the Liang State.

With such a large number of troops, even if the Chu State dispatched another 3.5 million soldiers and horses to the Northern Expedition, the Jiangbei defense line could deal with it on its own, so that the enemy could be kept out of the country.

And if the state of Chu mobilizes more soldiers and horses, such as a million troops, it will be able to hold out for a long time with 500,000 people, which is enough to delay the Liang state to respond and send reinforcements from the country.

It can be said that this arrangement is already very tight, very thoughtful, and attaches great importance to the Chu State.

However.

When the soldiers and horses of the Northern Expedition of Chu were replaced by 3.6 million soldiers, 6 million people, and nearly 10 million soldiers and horses.

This mere 500,000 Liang army is so vulnerable and ridiculous.

A nineteen-fold difference in troops, and a nearly sevenfold innate gap, is enough to break through any line of defense.

Liang Jun blocked the front, but he was just blocking the car with his mantis arm, and he didn't measure himself.

Therefore, in this Northern Expedition, the strategy formulated by Lu Yuan did not take the Liang Army of the Jiangbei defense line in his eyes at all.

According to his arrangement, this time when crossing the river to the north, there will be nine routes of soldiers and horses to the east, middle and west, with a total of 900,000 people and nine doppelgangers.

These soldiers and horses are all elites, and they will be led by clones, carrying a small amount of supplies, and will go directly all the way north, desperately advancing towards the hinterland of Liang State.

There is only one goal, and that is to fight as far as you can to the north.

Taking advantage of the time when Liang Guo has not yet reacted, he will hit the heart of Liang State as much as possible and occupy more plates, so as to reduce the area that Liang Guo can control and stifle its subsequent mobilization potential.

And after these Nine Road Pioneers, this is a large army to follow, take over their marching route, and go to surround and deal with the Liang army that was alarmed along the road.

For example, the 500,000 Liang troops in the Jiangbei Defense Area on the southern line of the Liang State waited for them to notice that the Chu army was moving north, and they were ready to pursue and cut off the back road.

In the future, the Chu army will also follow up and launch a fierce attack on these Liang troops who have just been mobilized from the defensive area.

In this way, one after the other, the Jiangbei defense line of the Liang State can be disintegrated in an instant.

Of course.

Even if those Liang soldiers are not fooled and watch the Chu soldiers cross the border, they will be turtles with shrunken heads and stick to the city and not come out, it doesn't matter.

In this Northern Expedition, the Chu State mobilized enough soldiers and horses, tens of millions of people.

With so many soldiers and horses, even if a city and a city surround it, it is enough to divide it.

The state of Chu did not need to storm the cities defended by the Liang army, it only needed to send two or three times more soldiers and horses than the defenders in the city to guard outside the city, and completely besiege them.

Anyway, it's only 500,000 people, and if it doubles or triples, it's just a million.

For the Northern Expeditionary Chu Army, it was only 12/10, and it didn't matter if it was thin.

What is the meaning of strong soldiers and strong horses, and many soldiers and generals, this is it.

If you are crushed by the general trend, no matter how strong the fortress is, no matter how perfect the plan is, it will be useless in the face of absolute strength.

As long as there are no internal problems within the Chu army, it is invincible.

And for Lu Yuan, who has already dispersed thirty-nine clones to various camps, soldiers and horses, and personally controls the overall situation.

With these doppelgangers helping them go down to the grassroots level and take care of all kinds of soldiers and horses, can this cause internal problems?

I can't.

Liang Ren was tricked to divert the tiger from the mountain, did he have the slightest defense, and there was such a huge gap in strength, how to look like a defeat.

Such a simple game, even if you are a fool, as long as you don't command indiscriminately and follow the original direction, you can't lose.

So this Northern Expedition, just go straight over.

On April 20, the 41st year of Shenwu, the Chu army crossed the river, and the pioneers of the Nine Roads marched together, rode lightly and rode fast horses, and ran for thousands of miles in more than ten days, reaching the territory of Xingyang and Donghai two counties.

The defense line in the north of the Liang River was pierced, and the Chu soldiers in the hinterland were in all directions, and the whole country was shaken for a while.

In the same month, millions of Chu troops crossed the river, and the Liang state fell to the south.