Chapter 147 Worried about Yongshan Village
The black-sailed boats kept rowing towards the dock. The people in the cabins carefully counted the boats, measured their sizes, and estimated how many soldiers had already landed on the dock.
Suddenly, a sentry on the shore asked, "What are you doing? Stop the boat immediately and don't come near."
The boatman replied, "It's night fish, night fish," and then immediately rowed away.
Soon, a carrier pigeon flew to the southwest with a secret message that said "The Shenwei Army has returned to defend, no less than 5,000 people."
At noon the next day, the prefect invited Zhao Yulin to have a drink to thank him for his help in digging out termites in Luzhou.
This time, Luzhou launched a thunderous attack to punish evil and fight corruption. Shunfeng played an important role in gathering information. A number of corrupt officials and bullies, including the inspectors and transporters, were brought to justice, and the power of the prefect was unprecedentedly consolidated.
Zhao Yulin told the prefect that he would take away all the confiscated gold and silver, and the rest would be at the prefect's disposal.
Because the expenses of suppressing the rebellion are huge and the Shenwei Army has a large number of people, the military budget is already tight and has long been unaffordable. He has no other choice but to ask the prefect to forgive him.
It turned out that the Shenwei Army was also short of money and had long been eyeing Luzhou.
The prefect only then realized that Zhao Yulin had planned this all along, and that Zhao Yulin would have taken action regardless of whether he asked the Shenwei Army for help or not.
Since Commander Zhao had said so clearly, the silver was definitely gone. However, there were still many jewels, calligraphy and paintings, various treasures and real estate seized. There were dozens of beautiful high-end glass cups alone, which would still be a considerable fortune after being sold.
The prefect pretended to be reluctant to give up and agreed after a moment of hesitation.
The two continued to drink and chat, and after the banquet, Zhao Yulin boarded the ship directly back to Yibin.
Li Yunqing was still leading his troops to fight in Guci. All the troops of the First Garrison Column of the Shenwei Army stayed behind to continue suppressing the rebellion, while all the troops of the Second Garrison Column boarded the ship and returned to Yongshan Village.
Zhao Yulin got rid of the corrupt Luzhou Shipbuilding Commissioner, and the speed of requisitioning ships increased sharply. The endless stream of ships on the river were almost all troop transport ships, and the powerful water transport capacity was immediately demonstrated.
He saw it all and was happy in his heart. He had no worries even if Dali invaded.
He felt a little dizzy after being blown by a gust of wind at the bow, so he went in and lay down on the couch to take a nap. Li Chuan quickly found a blanket to cover him.
Li Yunqing commanded the garrison to launch a fierce attack on Guci, but something went wrong at the critical moment.
Seeing that the Miao King's lair was about to be destroyed, the local emperor actually took out his secret weapon: a dozen Qinggang cannons to bombard it.
This is a powerful weapon made by the Miao King's craftsmen using green locust wood, imitating the model of Zhao Yulin's iron barrel cannon.
His craftsmen sawed the one-foot-diameter Qinggang wood into five-foot-long sections, hollowed out a three-inch-diameter, four-foot-long gun barrel in the middle, beat three waist hoops with flat iron, filled it with gunpowder and stone bullets, ignited and fired, and it became a powerful Qinggang cannon.
After all, Gu Ci is the nest that King Miao painstakingly built, and all of King Miao's cronies are here. After a day of fierce fighting, King Miao felt that the military power of the Shenwei Army was too strong, and Gu Ci would definitely not be able to be defended.
Seeing that his old nest was in danger, he killed his concubines and children, took out his secret weapons and bombarded the Shenwei Army. The brothers of the First Column saw such powerful artillery for the first time and panicked. They were caught off guard by the Miao King's death squad. The Miao King took the opportunity to break out with the remnants of his troops and actually succeeded.
Li Yunqing was furious when he saw this scene and immediately ordered a pursuit. He scolded the captain who was in charge of the siege in the northwest corner and told him that the regular army was not afraid of attacking with explosive packs, so how could they be scared to death by a few stone bombs?
Did the garrison really say that?
The generals of the First Garrison Corps also felt it was a great humiliation, and without saying a word, they led their brothers in a desperate pursuit, and finally surrounded the Miao King again in the Donghuang Palace.
Li Yunqing immediately drove the Second Corps behind to surround them, shrinking the encirclement inch by inch.
This time the Miao King has no heavy weapons , and his men and horses are as few as possible. How can he resist?
He hid here and there but couldn't escape at all, and finally, he captured the Miao King who was already seriously injured.
The Shenwei Army then dispersed and cleared out the remaining enemies.
At this point, the suppression of the rebellion in Renhuai Fort entered the stage of washing dishes...
As soon as Zhao Yulin's official ship docked at Cuipingshan Wharf, a report came from the downwind side that Dali was attacking Yongshan and Shimen. He was originally planning to go ashore, but immediately changed his mind and ordered to set sail for Yongshan immediately after replenishing supplies.
The official ship quickly started moving again, rushing forward.
Lu Youpeng from Shunfengchu was stationed in Yongshan Village and became the commander-in-chief of this border defense war. He sent all the garrisons of the 1st Corps of the 2nd Column to Shimen, and he himself led the Shunfengchu action team and the soldiers transferred from various places to guard Yongshan Village.
The main task of Shunfeng Department is intelligence and surveillance, which comes in handy here. He summarized the information, mobilized troops, and arranged for Shunfeng Department to supervise the palace soldiers to hold their positions.
The Dali soldiers were well prepared. They advanced along the Jinsha River and destroyed two cable nets blocking the river in succession.
Seeing the urgency of the situation, Lu Youpeng rushed to the front line to supervise the battle. He used the third cable net to stop Dali's fleet and used giant catapults to bombard them from a long distance, destroying a large number of ships and causing large areas of enemy ships to burn.
The river was a sea of fire and explosions were heard one after another, scaring the enemy ships behind them so much that they desperately fled upstream.
After defeating the enemy invading by water, it will be much easier to attack the enemy by land.
The Song army was stationed at the pass and was well prepared. The Dali soldiers had to pass through one pass after another, all of which had been managed by the Shenwei Army for five years. The fortifications were very complete, and as long as the soldiers worked hard, the enemy would not be able to pass easily.
Dali lost the naval battle and launched a fierce attack on Phoenix City on the border, which was a military city closest to Dali set up on the border by the Fire Phoenix when it was stationed.
When Lu Youpeng learned that the Dali soldiers had already attacked Phoenix City, he led the reinforcements from the rear to personally command the battle.
At first, the soldiers of Jiazhou Prefecture were afraid of the enemy. After Lu Youpeng killed two officers who tried to escape, he told them that after the city was captured, everyone would be killed by the Dali soldiers. It would be better for them to defend the city with all their might and leave a good reputation for defending their country.
After a mobilization, the palace soldiers burst out with unprecedented combat power. In addition, the trebuchets defending the city were advanced, and a large number of giant thunder bombs were used for suppressive bombardment. The Dali soldiers could not climb up the city wall, so they bombarded the wall desperately. After three days of fierce fighting between the two sides, most of the front wall of Phoenix City was destroyed, and Lu Youpeng had to retreat to the second line of defense as planned.
In the Dali Palace, the young emperor was furious after receiving the news of the navy's defeat and cursed the navy commander for his incompetence.
While he was still angry, secret reports from Luzhou arrived again. The carrier pigeon faithfully brought back the secret letter, reporting that the Renhuai rebels were defeated in Yuanhou Field and the Shenwei Army had begun to retreat with no less than 5,000 troops.
The young emperor immediately summoned his important ministers to discuss the matter.
Only then did they realize that they had made a big mess.
First, when the Gao and Chai families heard that the Shenwei Army was returning to defend Yongshan Village, they immediately became nervous. This time, these two families volunteered to lead the troops in order to take back the military power. They were all their family members and confidants.
Now that the Shenwei Army has returned to defend, a round of fierce fighting may result in heavy casualties and the loss of sons, grandsons and sons-in-law.
Then the Prince of Zhennan felt very regretful. He had sent out troops, but before he could gain any benefits, he had lost half of his navy.
The little emperor was also very unwilling.
When you go to war, you always want to gain some benefits. How can you return empty-handed?
At this time, battle reports came from the front again, saying that the army had entered Yongshan Village and occupied Phoenix City.
The little emperor felt much more comfortable. He finally got something out of it, and he let out a long sigh.
The frowns of several people in the hall also relaxed a lot, as they finally managed to get some benefits from Zhao Qier.
But what to do next?
Should we continue the attack?
Or should we stop here?
It was hard to decide for the moment, and these gentlemen started to grumble again...
Duan Xiaolin has been continuously managing Mantis River in Shanchan Prefecture of Dali State since he got the fief. He has built four streets here, one vertical and three horizontal, forming a decent-sized market town. Let's call it Kunming.
Zhao Yulin's fourth sister Zhao Sihan was playing with her son Duan Yu on the edge of Dianchi Lake. Duan Xiaolin walked into the cabin and asked her why she didn't go out to see so many water birds.
Zhao Sihan shook his head and said he was not interested.
Duan Xiaolin asked her directly: Is it because of the war on the border?
Zhao Sihan shook his head and looked at the island outside the cabin.
A large number of water birds live on the islands in the lake. Famous and unknown birds fly up in groups and swoop down in the air. It is truly a paradise on earth.
Duan Xiaolin has been in Dali in recent months, leaving Zhao Sihan alone in Kunming with the child.
She knew that Shanchan Prefecture was continuously sending troops northwards. That was Dali gathering troops on the border, but she turned a blind eye to it and devoted herself to managing the small palace and entertaining the little prince.
Duan Xiaolin entered the cabin and sat down to drink tea, and asked her if she was worried about the border war?
Aren’t you afraid that your third brother will be defeated and lose Yongshan and Xinshi?
Zhao Sihan shook Duan Yu and said she was not afraid and she believed her brother would handle it.
Duan Xiaolin told her regretfully that the two countries had started fighting. To be precise, the Dali soldiers went to fight his third brother's Shenwei Army, and the two sides had a battle at Mahu River.
He sighed and began to lament: How nice it would be if there was no war, we wouldn't have to be separated for so many months, and the emperor's second uncle detained him in Dali and wouldn't let him leave.
Zhao Sihan continued to shake the child and said that she knew, so she stayed here all the time to avoid arousing suspicion.
The couple was speechless, and both looked at the water birds in the distance...
Zhao Yulin was still rocking on the boat, so she had no idea of the troubles in her sister's heart.
Li Chuan told him that they were about to arrive in Xinshi, and he asked them to arrange a meal at the dock, as his brothers were also very tired after a few days.
When the official ship docked, Master Jueming was waiting at the pier, and the two of them went to the riverside cottage together.
After the food and wine were served, Jueming asked him, "The Dali spies here have been active more frequently, there are spies in the town and on the ships passing by. What should we do?"
To catch or not?
If we don't catch them, our military secrets will inevitably be discovered by them.
Jueming pointed to the military ship at the dock and said that the spies must have seen it clearly. His people had already discovered two groups of Dali spies who were openly sitting on the dock drinking and counting.
