Chapter 59: Yangtze River Waterway

"I will meet the emperor, long live my emperor! Long live my emperor! Long live!" Boluo Huan gave a great gift to Kublai Khan, and his voice was like a bell, as if he had knocked a big bell. Boluo Huan was tall, about 1.8 meters tall, with a tiger's back and a bear's waist, and a fierce aura all over his body. When he stood there, he seemed to have endless strength.

Kublai Khan withdrew his gaze from the map, looked at Boluo Huan and said, "Your dear, please don't have any gifts. Get up."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Boluo Huan stood up after thanking her.

Kublai Khan waved, "Love, come here."

Boluo Huan walked to Kublai Khan and said, "The emperor summoned his ministers, don't know what to do?" Boluo Huan was a general under Kublai Khan. He was known for his loyalty and righteousness, and was highly appreciated by Kublai Khan. Kublai Khan urgently summoned him to see him, so naturally there were important military and national affairs.

"Love, look." Kublai Khan pointed to the map and said, "You are accustomed to the army. What do you think of our current situation?"

This is a map of the military deployment situation between the Mongolian and Song dynasties. The troops of the Mongolian and Song dynasties were marked on the map, which was obvious at a glance. Bo Luo Huan, a person who had been in the battle formation for a long time, observed it and said: "Your Majesty, please forgive me for your words."

"Tell me." Kublai Khan looked at the map and said, "I'm just about to hear your opinion."

Boluo Huan looked at the map and said, "Your Majesty, I think the situation is both good and bad." Seeing Kublai Khan's contemplation, he nodded slightly, and expressed his agreement, and then said, "On the positive side, the army of the Southern Dynasty is now divided into four groups: Sichuan, Huaidong, Huaixi and Jiangnan. In addition to Huaidong and Huaixi, which can be mutually exclusive and support each other, Jiangnan and Sichuan are fighting each other, and are alone, and cannot get reinforcements."

"Yeah, keep going." Kublai Khan praised him very much and encouraged him to continue.

After receiving Kublai Khan's approval, Boluo Huan became enthusiastic and said, "The most important thing in these four parts is Jiangnan. Jiangnan is the seat of the Southern Dynasties' capital and the heartland. Although Zhonghe's plan to quickly destroy the Southern Song Dynasty was frustrated, the core of this plan was still applicable. The emperor, I think that Jiangnan is the place where life and death are determined. My Dayuan should assemble heavy troops and defeat the Jiangnan Song army with the force of Mount Tai to crush the eggs. Then my Dayuan can regain the dominance in Jiangnan and destroy the Southern Dynasties."

"I think so too." Kublai Khan was very satisfied with Boluo Huan's analysis, and then continued his analysis, saying: "From the current situation, Zhao Qi's main force has been dragged by Zhonghe on the front line of Changzhou. Jiangnan has almost no defensive power, and can be used everywhere for our army." Looking at Boluo Huan, he said: "Do you understand what I mean?"

Boluo Huan understood what Kublai Khan meant in a second thought, and asked him to lead his army to Jiangnan to reinforce Guo Kan. His enthusiasm immediately increased and he said excitedly: "I understand. I am willing to lead my army to Jiangnan to resolve the siege of Zhonghe."

"You still haven't understood what I mean." Kublai Khan shook his head and said, "Have you heard of the story of Bianzhuang stabbing the tiger? Two tigers fight each other and wait until they are exhausted before taking action. They can achieve twice the result with half the effort. They can make a contribution to assassinating the two tigers."

Boluo Huan is also an extremely smart person. He immediately understood and praised: "The emperor is wise!"

"My idea is that you will lead the front and rear left guards and the Qiexue Corps to Jiangnan. Your mission is not to reinforce Zhonghe, but to go straight to Lin'an, find a place to land in Hangzhou Bay, and take Lin'an with lightning speed." Kublai Khan said with confidence: "As long as you take Lin'an, the scene after the capital of Fuchai, the King of Wu, was captured by Suzhou, will be reproduced, and the morale of the Song army will be immediately dispersed. Even if Zhao Qi has the ability to penetrate the sky and the earth, he will not escape the fate of failure. At that time, you will then move the army north and join Zhonghe to encircle and annihilate Zhao Qi's army." Heavy knocking on the map, "That will be the momentum of plowing the caves, unstoppable!"

The reason why Kublai Khan gained such a high reputation in history is indeed not a blessing. He is really a master of talent. He dared to make such a big decision and take such a big risk. As he said, Li Jun had no more troops to use. Li Jun used all his troops to siege Guo Kan, but he was just trapped. If he wanted to eat Guo Kan, a vicious enemy as fierce as a fox, who was as cunning as a fox, and still didn't know how long it would take to delay.

It can be said that in the contest between Li Jun and Guo Kan, the two were evenly matched, and no one could do anything to each other in a short period of time. This is like a balance scale, which can break this balance with just one hair. Kublai Khan still has many powers in his hand, and Li Jun has no power to use. Therefore, Kublai Khan is the only one who can throw hair on the scale, not Li Jun.

The Five Guards were Kublai Khan's Guards, stationed in Dadu, and were the elite among the elites. Kublai Khan threw the three guards at once, as well as the Qixue Corps, known as the Mongolian General Reserve Army. Such a great power is not a hair, but a very, very heavy weight. As soon as this army arrives, the balance will lose its balance sharply.

The Qixue Corps was formed in the era of Genghis Khan. There were only 10,000 people at the beginning, but in the late Genghis Khan, it reached 120,000. This army is known as the Mongolian reserve team. It can be imagined that this army has a great weight in the Mongolian army. This army is mainly descended from Mongolian heroes, as well as loyal Semu people and Han people. It is well-equipped and strictly trained, and will not be able to be dispatched easily. Once dispatched, it means that it is determined to win.

Kublai Khan is worthy of being an excellent strategist. He analyzed the situation in Jiangnan and decided to cast the general reserve team to give Li Jun a decisive blow. Such a huge force, not to mention the attack according to Kublai Khan's strategic deployment of attacking Lin'an, even if he went ashore in the Changzhou area and attacked Li Jun with Guo Kan, Li Jun, who had no mobile troops, could not resist it. Hundreds of thousands of Song troops would collapse in a short period of time.

Kublai Khan's move was really brilliant and ruthless. Once Lin'an was captured, the news came, and the army must have been dispersed. If you find a word to describe it, it would probably be the word "Heaven collapse". It was not much different from the fate of King Fuchai of Wu and King Fuchai during the Wu and Yue battles. When Suzhou was captured, Fuchai was fighting for hegemony with Jin in the north. After the news spread, the brave and warlike soldiers of Wu fled on a large scale and completely collapsed in a short period of time. Wuchai eventually had to commit suicide.

Boluo Huan thought that Kublai Khan wanted him to lead his army to ashore in Changzhou area and attack Li Jun with Guo Kan. Unexpectedly, Kublai Khan's plan was so bold. He was surprised at first and understood the benefits, and immediately became very happy and said, "The emperor is wise! If he fights like this, the Southern Dynasty will be destroyed within two months."

"It's almost that time." Kublai Khan was very satisfied with Boluo Huan's accurate calculations and said, "Don't take it lightly. You must act quickly. You must complete the task of taking down Lin'an before Zhonghe can still support it. Zhonghe is in a hurry to enter the Fuku. It will not be too much supply, and it will be difficult to support it for a long time. According to my estimate, the existing supplies and slaughtering war horses can only barely last for two months, so we don't have much time. The Three Guards and the Qiexue Corps have already assembled. You should act quickly."

"I understand." Boluo Huan received the order and said, "I pack up my armor and set off before dark. I marched overnight. I will arrive in Anqing within half a month. I will arrive in Hangzhou Bay within ten days and take Lin'an within a month."

"Well! I'm waiting for your good news." Kublai Khan was very confident in this loving general.

"Heart, headache." Li Jun kept knocking his head, looking at the map, his eyes fixed on the Yangtze River waterway on the map, as if there was something strange about the Yangtze River waterway, as if a magnet attracted his gaze.

Not only did Li Jun's eyes attract the Yangtze River on the map, Liao Shenggong, Gundam, Zhao Liangchun, Zhao Qian, Huang Han and other people stared at the Yangtze River waterway. Although they did not knock on their heads and complain about headaches like Li Jun, their anxiety was no less than that in Li Jun.

The problem now is very simple. The Yangtze River waterway has become a life-and-death line. The Yangtze River waterway is controlled by the Mongolian Navy. The Mongolian Navy is rampant on the Yangtze River waterway. After Kublai Kan received the report that Guo Kan was surrounded, he would definitely send reinforcements to relieve Guo Kan's siege. Now, due to the lack of total troops, Li Jun cannot even solve Guo Kan, so there is no force to deal with the reinforcements. If Kublai Kan's reinforcements fail to reach the south of the Yangtze River, the best way is to prevent them from crossing the river. However, the Yangtze River waterway is controlled by the Mongols, and Kublai Khan will send another army of hundreds of thousands of yuan, so it will not be difficult to cross the river.

Thinking of the critical situation, Li Jun's head couldn't help but grow bigger, and it didn't hurt either. Except for the sound of Li Jun's headache, there was no more sound in the room. Liao Shenggong and others were worried about this. The Mongolian army was fierce and good at fighting, and Guo Kan was in charge. If he wanted to eat him in a short time, it would be a bit of a dream when the total strength was insufficient. Thinking about the Changping War that year, Bai Qi's good combat, it took more than 40 days to complete it against Zhao Kuo, a guy who only knew how to talk about war on paper. It was still hungry that Zhao army would launch a general attack before it was about to fall to the ground. If the general attack was launched earlier, the Zhao army would fight to the trapped beasts and seek to survive in death, the Qin army would have suffered much greater casualties.

The current situation is similar to this. If Li Jun attacks for a strong attack, even if he wins, it will only be a miserable victory. The casualties will be huge, which is so great that Li Jun cannot accept. You must know that even if Li Jun kills Guo Kan and Boyan loses the army, it will only hurt Kublai Khan. For Kublai Khan's strength, it will only hurt his muscles and bones. Kublai Khan can order recruitment, quickly arm a larger army, and obtain support from Europe through political transactions, and will soon recover. On the other hand, Li Jun has only half of the country, and half of the country, neither resource nor population can be compared with Kublai Khan. He must use every soldier reasonably, and every soldier can play the greatest role. It will harm him too early to consume the living power without any benefit.

Not to mention, the person in charge of the encirclement was Guo Kan, not the incompetent Zhao Kuo-like figure. The formation was like an iron barrel. Li Jun could only rely on constantly digging trenches to erode his position bit by bit, and constantly squeezed his position to strengthen the encirclement.

Gundam stomped on the ground with heavy feet and said helplessly: "Your Majesty, stop calling, even my head hurts." He patted the treasure knife on his waist and said: "That's the worst, I'll fight with the Tartars. If the Tartars get ashore in Changzhou, we will have artillery and muskets, so we will definitely make the Tartars come and go."

"You think it's too simple. We only have a few hundred cannons, but we just want to defeat hundreds of thousands or millions of Mongolian troops. How easy is it? Don't say that we are so rustic cannons like us, it's impossible to replace them with modern cannons. We have to fight with real swords and guns." Li Jun smiled in his heart, Gordon's mind was a little simple, and said, "Do you think the Mongols would go ashore in Changzhou?"

Gundam was straightforward and didn't use his brain to think about it. He blurted out: "If the Tartars don't go ashore in Changzhou, where else would they go..." His mouth opened so hard that he could stuff an egg, and said in surprise: "What the emperor means is that the Tartars will go ashore in Hangzhou Bay? Go straight to Lin'an?" Gundam's good general, just said it quickly, and thought of this festival halfway through his words. It's really good.

Li Jun and Liao Shenggong nodded at him, and they could not understand the meaning anymore. Zhao Liangchun and the others did not expect this festival. When they heard Gao Da’s words, they were shocked and couldn’t help but say a word. Everyone wanted to get the benefit of Mongolian reinforcements landing in Hangzhou Bay and heading straight to Lin'an than to get ashore in Changzhou.

Gundam thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty, I think that, first, we can strengthen the defense force of Hangzhou Bay, and second, we can use Ningbo Port as a base to patrol the north, harass and sabotage, and delay their actions. Third, we can dispatch Li Tingzhi and Zhang Shijie to urgently rush to Jiangnan."

Li Jun nodded and said, "The first, second and second points you said are naturally going to be carried out. As for the transfer of Li Tingzhi and Zhang Shijie to help Jiangnan, they have a good idea, but it is not easy to implement. How could they pass the Yangtze River?" He spread his hands and felt helpless.

Li Tingzhi and Zhang Shijie have a total of hundreds of thousands of troops. As long as they arrive in Jiangnan, they are not afraid of Mongolian reinforcements. The key is that they cannot cross the Yangtze River. Even if they are determined, they can only look at the Yangtze River and sigh.

This is the truth. Gao Da slapped his forehead and said, "I am really, I forgot about this." After thinking about it, he said, "Your Majesty, you don't have to go to the Yangtze River. You can ask them to go from the east and from the sea to the south."

"The solution is good, but I'm eager to find so many boats. Besides, they are in Huaixi now, and it takes a lot of time to hurry to the east and go to the east. In addition, even if they get on the boat, it may not be safe. The Tartars would not have thought that this section would intercept them at sea. We have no advantage in the navy, and the losses will be very heavy." Liao Shenggong analyzed.

What Liao Shenggong said was definitely the truth. Instead of burying the fish in the sea, it is better to stay in Huaixi, which can also be used to restrain him. According to the current situation, Li Jun had no choice but to watch the Mongolian reinforcements crossing the Yangtze River to attack him.

Liu Hezi came in with a crutch with his personal soldiers and said, "Your Majesty, I have set up some fuzi on the Yangtze River waterway, and there are more than a thousand ships to use. In addition, there are three or four thousand warships in the existing naval army. Although it is insufficient to fight tough battles, it is still feasible to harass and destroy them with mobile and flexible guerrilla tactics." Liu Hezi is really far-sighted and thinks about everything. No wonder he can persist in the battlefield behind enemy lines.

Li Jun moved a stool and said, "General Liu sat down first, sit down." He held Liu Hezi and sat down, "What General Liu said is also imperative. Before we have a better solution, we can only do this."

It was a great honor for the emperor to personally carry a stool for Liu Hezi, but no one dared to be jealous. Everyone knew that this was the honor that Liu Hezi deserved. If it weren't for Liu Hezi's heroic actions, Guo Kan would not have surrounded him. Jiangnan is not known what he is like now.

Liu Hezi never expected Li Jun to treat him like this, so he was so excited that he couldn't even speak.

Li Jun paced and said, "If we had more warships, even one or two thousand, we could develop water guerrilla warfare. We would hold the Mongols on the Yangtze River waterway and prevent them from crossing the Yangtze River safely." Li Jun's meaning was not that we could not carry out water guerrilla warfare now, but that more warships would have much more effect. In fact, Liu Hezi has been carrying out water guerrilla warfare, and the effect was pretty good.

Just when Li Jun was worried, what happened next was a beautiful gospel for Li Jun. A messenger came in under the leadership of the captain of the guards and said, "I am here to report to the emperor by Prime Minister Wen." He held Wen Tianxiang's memorial in front of his forehead.

After Li Jun led his army to war, Wen Tianxiang stayed in Lin'an and handled military and political affairs. He sent someone to deliver the letter. There must be a major military and national affairs. Li Jun did not dare to be negligent, so he hurriedly held the memorial in his hand, removed the fire-lacquered seal, and opened it and looked. After reading it, Li Jun's worries just now turned empty, as if he had no worries at all, with a happy look on his face, and handed the memorial to the anxious Gundam, saying, "General Gao, take a look too. A big happy event." Yan Lai was extremely happy. If there was not a trace of Qingming to tell him to restrain himself, he would have twisted the yangge.

"I'm almost worried, what else is there to be happy?" Gundam was very surprised. After taking the memorial, he smiled and said, "It's great, we have more than 2,000 more warships. Now, the Tartars have to bear it."

Everyone in the house was worried about the lack of warships to block the Yangtze River waterway. The one they wanted to hear the most was the word "ship". When Liao Shenggong and the others heard the word "ship", their ears suddenly stood up. Liao Shenggong, who had always been calm and calm, became anxious and said, "Where did the ship come from? Tell me quickly."

Liu Hezi pondered for a moment and said, "Did Fuzhou and Guangzhou send us naval troops?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Liao Shenggong slapped his forehead and said, "General Liu said very well, it must be like this. Your Majesty, you see that I am so happy that I didn't even think about it."

"It's normal, it's normal." Li Jun laughed in his heart that Liao Shenggong was also very happy and said, "General Liu is right. It was Chen Yizhong and Lu Xiufu who sent us a navy. Guangzhou sent 1,500 warships, and Fuzhou was a little less, and there were also 1,000. Don't think there were fewer. Half of these warships were gunships equipped with one or two artillery guns, and three hundred of them were equipped with steam engines."

On that day, the naval battle of Ningbo, steamships and gunships showed their skills. Zheng Jinghe led ten ships to pursue Dong Wenbing hundreds of warships, and sank more than 100 or 200 ships. There were gunships and steamships of this size that could deal with more than three times the Mongolian navy. The strength of the navy suddenly increased several times. It would be impossible to be unhappy if Li Jun was unhappy.

"It's so great. I'm worried that there is nothing I can do. After so many boats come at once, what else can I worry about? It's like someone just wants to sleep when someone gives me a pillow. That's the happiest thing." Li Jun thought excitedly.

As soon as Li Jun's words fell, Liao Shenggong and the others said in admiration: "So many?"

"I still think there are fewer people." Li Jun smiled and said, "Chen Yizhong and others are also sensible people. After the Lin'an Defense War, it has become an urgent task to prevent the Mongols from increasing troops from the Yangtze River waterway. They have driven all shipyards to build warships. This is the first batch of warships they sent, and there will be more in the future. They said that they will build gunships and steamships in the future."

Li Jun was happy and did not use the strengths of scholars to interpret the steamships well. The steamship he mentioned was just to install existing ships on steam engines. A truly deformed product cannot be considered a real steamship.

"The escaped king Chen Yizhong actually has such courage. When I see him again, I must give him two cups." Gundam stroked his white beard with a smile and laughed. Chen Yizhong originally advocated moving the capital, and Gundam advocated the war of resistance, and looked down on him very much. Unexpectedly, he thought deeply. He sent reinforcements to solve the danger in Lin'an at the critical moment. Now he is sending a water army at the most troublesome critical moment. It can be said that it is a "timely help". Gundam has to look at him with admiration.

Li Jun waved and said, "Don't just be happy, let's consider how to use these warships."

"Your Majesty, I think you must choose a good commander who can command these warships." Liao Shenggong fully utilized his strengths and hit the nail on the head.

Liu Hezi struggled to stand up, pressed Li Jun back on his chair, and said, "Your Majesty, the Yangtze River is quite familiar, so let me go. I dare not say anything else. Only if I am three inches of energy, the Tartars will not think about crossing the Yangtze River." Liu Hezi is resourceful and a handsome man who stands alone. He will definitely be able to complete the task when he is sent to him.

Li Jun smiled and said, "General Liu is anxious for the national crisis, and I feel very comforted. You should take care of your injuries now. This navy army has a good candidate. How about Zheng Jinghe?" Li Jun looked at Liao Shenggong and the others and asked.

In the Battle of Ningbo, Zheng Jinghe made his mark and was highly courageous and novel in his tactics. He has now commanded the navy stationed in Ningbo. It would be more appropriate if he was the commander of the army.

"It's indeed a good candidate." Gundam touched the white beard and first expressed his agreement: "This kid is brave, has a unique tactic, and he sees the opportunity very quickly. It's unexpected that he can't defend himself. He is a craftsman."

Liao Shenggong and the others agreed with Gundam's view very much and nodded.

Li Jun was very satisfied with the consensus and said: "I mean, all the naval forces will be commanded by Zheng Jinghe, patrolling the coastal areas and the Yangtze River, finding the right opportunity to fight a few annihilation wars, and weakening the strength of the Mongols' naval forces. Of course, he must use these warships based on the principle that he cannot fight hard, fight when he has the opportunity, and harass him when he has no chance."
Chapter completed!