Chapter 446: Robbing the Kingdom of Nanyue
Behind them, two large ships sailed smoothly towards the city wall, and stones and arrows were still being fired from the ships.
As the ship reached the foot of Hongzhou City, Marines immediately threw out anchor hooks to grab the city wall and carried out ladders to climb up to the top of the city. Looking behind, an endless stream of Shenwei Army soldiers were boarding the ship, climbing up the city wall, and quickly attacking both ends of the wall.
On a small hill in the distance, Lord Cao, Miao Gui and Fire Phoenix were all observing through telescopes.
When they saw the big ship against the city wall, they immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Lao Cao said happily that it was no longer a suspense that Hongzhou would be captured, and the navy had given face to our Shenwei Army this time.
The group went down the mountain to Zhou Ping's command post, who immediately reported excitedly that the north gate had been completely controlled by the navy and General Guo was leading his troops into the city.
Old Cao walked up to him happily, punched him on the chest and said, "That's great! Your sailors are brave and good at fighting. They easily captured the city gate for me. That's great."
All the generals burst into laughter.
Lord Cao said that we also need to prevent these bandits from escaping. What is the plan for the subsequent encirclement and annihilation?
Zhou Ping told us that we surrounded three sides and left one side open, leaving the thieves with a passage through the south gate.
Miao Gui reported to him: 10,000 cavalrymen have been transferred from Jiangbei, waiting for these bandits to escape.
Cao was very happy and said, "As quiet as a virgin , as swift as a rabbit." This time we will kill him. The thieves in Lin'an were so scared that they dared not move.
Five days later, Hongzhou was liberated, and Cao Youwen and Huo Fenghuang came to Jiankang Prefecture.
Zhao Yulin asked Dale to arrange for Lao Cao to go to Chun|Shuilou Yashe near the river for a drink. Huo Fenghuang took Wu Yuqi's arm and said that her sister was so happy, and she must have squeezed brother Yulin dry. Sister, you are a lucky girl, and you are not allowed to fight for it tonight.
Wu Yuqi's face immediately flushed, she slowed down and whispered that she was busy every day, "The girl is joking, the elder sister is not as capable as the younger sister."
The two women were talking to each other, neither willing to be outdone. The guard shouted from afar: Sister Yuqi, Sister Fenghuang, Master, please take a seat quickly.
Old Cao listened to the melodious sounds of stringed instruments and looked around at the elegant layout of the room in amazement, praising his brother for being well-read and having a refined taste.
Zhao Yulin was ashamed, for he was by no means well-read and had no taste for poetry and literature. He had merely copied a few of his great-grandfather's famous poems.
After the two women came in and sat down, Lao Cao picked up his glass of wine and called one of them away to celebrate the great victory of our navy in Hongzhou.
Fenghuang told him: Brother Miao was still behind Hongzhou Mountain, and she and Lord Cao came here first.
The navy played a major role in the battle of Hongzhou this time, using only ship cannons to clean up and isolate the north gate of Hongzhou, allowing the Shenwei Army to enter the city easily. It was just a pity that more than a dozen ships were destroyed.
Lao Cao said proudly: They are all broken pieces, and those sea vessels are old and dilapidated. They should have been taken ashore and dismantled for firewood long ago. Let's transfer money to the navy and build new ships.
Zhao Yulin raised his glass and asked Yuqi to toast Lao Cao and Fenghuang together, congratulating them on their victory.
He said: "It's time to build new ships." With Zhou Ping and his men using new weapons, the previous fleet configuration is definitely not suitable for new tactics, so it's time to change it.
However, the old ships that can be used should be preserved so that they can be used at critical moments. For example, there are so many cities and docks along our coast. We need ships to monitor the smuggling trade of merchants and catch pirates.
Lao Cao immediately said that it was absolutely right. This time Zhou Ping used ten old ships filled with stones to sink to the river bank, which raised the water level of the river channel near Hongzhou City by seven feet. The large sea ships were able to dock directly next to the city wall, hahahaha…
Oh, he hadn't thought that Zhou Ping would be willing to sink his boat to the bottom of the river to clear the way for the attacking ships and reduce casualties.
Good, well done.
Zhao Yulin was happy and excited. He picked up his glass and asked everyone to go, "One more person, one more person, go..."
In Lin'an Prefecture, Shi's son's eldest grandson returned.
This guy was supervising the battle in Hongzhou. When he saw the dense artillery fire from the Shenwei Army, he took the north gate in a few minutes and immediately fled under the cover of his personal followers. Unexpectedly, not long after he ran out of the south gate, the cavalry of the Shenwei Army caught up with him. It was really a crushing defeat. How could the defeated soldiers with no fighting spirit stop the Shenwei Army?
This guy's horse's butt was hit by an arrow and he fell to the ground. In his panic, he didn't have time to pull his foot out of the stirrup to escape, and the huge horse crushed his left leg, causing him to scream in pain.
When the pursuers came close to him, he suddenly had an idea and lay on the horse and pretended to be dead, thus escaping the disaster. He went back and complained to Shi's son.
The Shenwei Army was too powerful, and our army could not resist at all. The warships in the river blocked out the sky, and there was no end in sight. They took turns to fire cannonballs from close range, and the thunder bombs falling in Hongzhou City were like hail and rain, and the city was broken in a short time.
The damn Shenwei Army surrounded us on three sides and lacked one man. They secretly sent out cavalry to attack us without any warning. We were so panicked that we just ran for our lives. There were fleeing soldiers and dead bodies all along the way.
Even though Zeng Yaozu, who was known to be the most capable general, was powerful, his legs were blown off before he could escape from the city gate. When he died, his body was full of arrows, and there was no way to remove them all. Wow.
Shi's son already understood the situation and waved his hand to tell him to go down and have a good rest.
The close ministers immediately surrounded him and asked what to do.
The Shenwei Army's South China Sea fleet is coming eastward along the river. Should we send out the navy to intercept them and block them on the river?
The naval commander standing behind said that they could stop them for a while, but they definitely could not stop them. If that happened, not only would the navy be destroyed, but the Shenwei Army might also rush directly to Lin'an Prefecture.
Shi's son thought that these people were talking nonsense. When had he ever thought about intercepting the navy of the Shenwei Army?
Isn't that seeking death?
Shi's son said lightly: "Let him go." Hongzhou was not originally part of our Liangzhe, and the Shenwei Army did not cross the border to invade, so why panic?
Haha, that’s the secret.
Prime Minister Shi never considered Hongzhou as the territory of his small court in Liangzhe. He was just worrying about nothing.
The transport envoy said anxiously that we should expand the army and train soldiers, and there is silver in the government treasury.
Shi's son shook his head and said it was useless.
Please invite Mr. Xie to come to him as soon as possible...
In the Dali Kingdom Palace, Duan Xiaoning's father, the young emperor, was discussing state affairs with his important ministers and discussing the New Song Dynasty's Battle of Hongzhou.
The Dali Kingdom's spies forwarded a detailed battle report: The Shenwei Army was very powerful, their warships filled the entire river, and Hongzhou City was completely covered by cannonballs. It was destroyed in half a day.
The old men from the Gao and Chai families said tremblingly that it was really a monster, Zhao Qier was the monster, where did this monster come from?
Duan Xiaoning next to him didn't like what he heard. What is a demon? It's because they don't understand science.
Duan Xiaoning confidently said that the Shenwei Army was unstoppable. This was the result of the New Song Kingdom gathering skilled craftsmen from all over the country to produce a large number of new military weapons. There were no ghosts or gods in this world, so where did the monsters come from?
His father, the little emperor, certainly knew that there were definitely no monsters in the world. Even if there were, they were all scary tricks made up by the emperor or those who wanted to be emperor.
The little emperor said unhappily: What are you arguing about? This is a court meeting. My dear ministers, just tell us how to make Dali stronger. If Dali had a million soldiers, would it still be afraid of the Shenwei Army?
I am not afraid of anyone.
The little emperor is bragging again.
Don't ask whether he can train a strong army. Even if he has the ability, there are less than one million men, women and children in his Dali Kingdom combined.
Duan Xiaoning hesitated for a moment and said: The New Song Kingdom will definitely become stronger and stronger in the future, so we should stop thinking about how to fight against the New Song. That would be like hitting a rock with an egg. We might as well think about how to integrate into the New Song and become a family.
The little emperor was stunned.
The ministers around him looked at him in surprise and anger. The Gao and Chai families took turns questioning him: What? We are negotiating surrender before the New Song Dynasty attacks. Is this what the Prince of Zhennan should say?
The little emperor was already furious and shouted at Duan Xiaolin to go away.
However, despite their anger, these old men who never leave Dali still know that the situation is stronger than the people. The young emperor asked: "Gentlemen, please tell me how we can strengthen our army in Dali?"
The Gao family said that the reason why Dali is weak is that the princes and nobles are all fighting on their own, which has led to the weakening of national strength. How can we compete with the New Song Dynasty for the world without strong soldiers and horses?
When the Chai family heard the Gao family tell the truth, they also said that the reason why Dali was not strong was that there were separatist kings in various places, which weakened the power of the Dali central dynasty, so that foreign military operations always failed and the court dared not discuss conquest again.
What the Gao and Chai families said was true. Why did they only fight a tie with the Yue Kingdom in the south even though they had the new weapons of the Shenwei Army? It was because their national system was still in a state of scattered feudal separatism. Even the Gao and Chai families were still raising private soldiers.
The Gao family said: Even though we cannot defeat the New Song, defeating South Vietnam is no problem. Now we should gather elite troops from all over the country and march south to seize the rich and make it the southwestern granary and new source of troops for our Dali Kingdom. Then our strength will surely increase greatly when we fight against the New Song.
My goodness, Old Gao’s idea is really brilliant.
The Chai family immediately pointed out the direction for the young emperor. The small court issued orders to the eight military governorates and thirty-seven tribes, asking them to hand over their elite troops to form an imperial army for the southern expedition. They promised that after conquering the land of Nanyue, the taxes collected would be transferred to various places to improve people's livelihood.
When the young emperor heard this, he thought it was a good idea. He could get an army of more than 100,000 or 200,000 soldiers without paying a penny.
However, the Gao family said that the military weapons of South Vietnam and Dali were the same, and it would be difficult for Dali soldiers to defeat Yue with an overwhelming advantage without superior military weapons.
In this case, the war would most likely become a long-term war of attrition. By then, although Dali would defeat South Vietnam, it would become so weak that it could be eaten up by the New Song Dynasty in minutes.
Everyone felt helpless after hearing this. What Old Gao said did make sense, but what should they do?
The Chai family spoke, saying that we should go find the New Song Dynasty and buy its weapons and warships, and tell them that the Kingdom of Yue is going too far and that we in Dali must stand up to defend ourselves.
Old Gao slapped the table beside him and said, "That's it. I'm willing to donate my savings of many years, 1,200 taels of silver, to help Your Majesty strengthen the prestige of Dali."
The Chai family immediately followed suit and donated their savings of many years, one thousand taels, and also advised the young emperor that the military governors' offices in various places had silver, and the Shanchan Prefecture had earned a lot of money due to the good weather in recent years. The emperor only needed to ask the Prince of Zhennan to transfer the silver from the treasury, which would be enough to purchase the military equipment we needed.
