Chapter 1139 The Steps of War (Part 2)
"Dong..." The soldiers rang the huge copper bell.
A moment later, the three gates of Jiangling Water City rose one after another, and ships sailed out one after another, gathering on the vast lakes outside.
After the first group gathered, Huang He, the governor of the left camp of the navy, took the warships to escort the front and drove south into the Yangtze River.
In the water city, Shen Hun, the governor of the Navy Central Camp, was wearing a whale salamander leather armor with a faint pattern.
Whale and salamander, commonly known as "big fish", is the so-called "whale" in later generations. At this time, it is briefly distinguished. The male is called "whale" and the female is called "salp".
Shen Hun's family is rich, and this whale salamander leather armor was bought at a high price.
Many years ago, a whale salamander was washed up to the shore by the waves and stranded, so someone killed it, cut it into the skin, made many leather armor, water lining, and rain boots. Shen Hun asked someone to purchase a few, and he has always been very precious.
When navy fights, there are so many benefits to wearing this thing.
The protection is extremely strong, no worse than iron armor. It is also waterproof and warm, and it will not sink after falling into the water. It is also extremely flexible. Which navy general doesn’t want one?
But stranded whales are hard to come by and can only be encountered once for many years, so there is nothing we can do about it.
Well, Yang Bao also has one now, of course it was given by Shen Hun.
The Navy has expanded very quickly in the past two years.
After taking over the three counties of Badong, Jianping and Yidu, they recruited personnel to supplement the damage of the war. At the same time, they were reorganized and divided into three battalions, one with three thousand people each, with a total of more than 500 ships, most of which were small warships.
The Right Camp is currently stationed in Shibao City - because the name Shibao City is too common, Shao Xun personally named it "Shibao".
There were some land divisions in Shibaochengtun, which accumulated some military resources and grass, while the navy set up camp in Jiangzhong in the south of the city. On weekdays, they fight small-scale battles with the enemy. Once a large army attacks, they will immediately avoid the battle and try to preserve their strength.
Zuoying and Zhongying were both stationed in Jiangling Water City, which had been almost built. The main task was to escort the food and grass military funds to Badong and even Linjiang County to hoard them. While maintaining the daily consumption of local troops, they could accumulate various combat materials as much as possible.
This operation was not very smooth, and we have only hoarded the resources needed for several months.
However, this time, Badong mobilized more than 50,000 people, which was far beyond the original plan, so this little thing was not enough - of course, the time for the Miaocheng battle was also advanced, and it was unlikely that it would be launched this winter, because some people in the court thought that Li Xiong was in poor health and could wait until he died before taking action.
Now it's useless to say that these are all, the war is about to break out and no one can stop it.
After the soldiers of the central camp had breakfast, they rested for half an hour, and then began to load various supplies on the ship.
Shen Hun climbed to the top of the city and overlooked the entire area.
On the river in the north, continuous ships were heading towards the Shuicheng. They are not suitable for entering the Yangtze River, but there is no problem sailing in the inland rivers.
The first batch of grain sent from Xiangyang had arrived, with a total of 300,000 hu of food immediately filled the almost exhausted palace.
In addition to the ships, there are also a large number of ox carts, horse carts, mule carts and other things entering Jiangling. The court used almost all means to fill the appetite of the war beasts.
There are some people running away outside the north gate of Jiangling’s main city.
When Shen Hun saw it, he chuckled.
There are rumors in the city that during the Liangcheng War, Jin State may take advantage of the situation to seize Jiangling.
Rumors are spreading, but don’t say it, there are many people who believe it because Dongwu really did this back then.
But most people can't actually run away. The hand stops, how can I eat after running away? I stayed in Jiangling with a tough bullet and had work to do, and I could get wages to buy grain to support my family. After I ran away, I would have nothing.
Therefore, it is destined that only those who have houses and relatives in the local area are likely to leave. Today is the last wave and the number of people has been greatly reduced.
"Hurry up! Hurry up!" Du Bi, the Jiangling Shogunate, came over. Before he could speak, the little historians surrounded him shouted.
Shen Hun was unhappy, but considering his own situation, he could only sigh, smile and go down the city tower to deal with the shogunate officials.
The cargo on the ship was slowly filled.
When the bell rang for the second time, the ships from the navy camp left one after another and sailed into the vast swamp.
The soldiers and civilians of Jiangling heard the thick and dull bells, and everyone was speechless.
Most people don’t care about who wins and who loses - maybe only the people in Beijing care - they just want to finish the war quickly and not delay too long and cut off everyone’s livelihood.
This is a major business town, and there are too many people who make a living by business. If Shuzhong can be opened up and all commercial restrictions in Chengguo can be lifted, then it can be supported. I am afraid that the fight will last for a long time, and the merchants will have to donate funds and pay, and the people will be levied free of charge or even travel around the gullies. That will be too difficult.
The ships left one by one, slowly and firmly, just like this battle of destruction.
*******
From Yiling to Badong, it goes out of the gorge. This is called the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, which is more than 500 miles, and was called 700 miles in ancient times.
There are many names for the Three Gorges, such as the ancient Xiling Gorge (located in Fengjie), also known as Guangxi Gorge and Kuimen, and was renamed Qutang Gorge in the Tang Dynasty, and to this day.
The name of Wuxia (located in Wushan) has never changed, but it also has alias, such as Mingyue Gorge.
Xiling Gorge (located in Yichang) was called Zigui Gorge, Guixiang Gorge and Guangde Gorge in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Later, it gradually seized the ancient name of Qutang Gorge (Xiling Gorge), but for some reason.
During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Kuimen (Guangxi Gorge), Wu Gorge and Xiling Gorge from west to east were Kuimen (Guangxi Gorge).
Among the Three Gorges, Kuimen is the most dangerous and Wu Gorge is the longest. At this time, a large army is passing through the north bank of Wu Gorge.
At the forefront are more than a hundred cavalry. They hold a big flag and write seven big words "General Huang, the Right Jinwu Guard".
Obviously, these are the soldiers from Taiyuan, with a total of twelve defenses and 3,600 combat soldiers.
Sima Zhanghe, the other troops of Longxiang Prefecture, was dismounted and walked on foot.
As a person who once rode a chariot with the emperor, Zhang He's reputation once resounded throughout the army, and many people still remember it.
However, after becoming a Sima of another department and having an official position, although he had not fought, he only earned merits and no longer had the opportunity to reach the top in one step.
Fortunately, Zhang He is open-minded, generous and easy-going, and he is just a little regretful. He seems to be very satisfied with being Shangguan. After all, before that, he was just a citizen of Xiangcheng, and his ancestors had never been an official in eight lives.
While marching, Zhang He turned his head and looked at the river.
The weather is good today, the river surface is sparkling, and countless ships fill the river, which looks quite shocking. The light and flexible boats traveled around the fleet, constantly passing commands.
The slightly larger Mengchong is narrow and long, covered with raw cowhide, and the bow of the ship is as sharp as a knife, which can conflict with the enemy ship - there is no doubt that this is the main ship type of the Daliang Navy's current backbone.
A tall building ship sailed in the middle of the fleet, which, in addition to hundreds of navy soldiers, also carried more than a thousand auxiliary soldiers.
Banners kept rising on the mast, and sometimes drums were heard.
The paddlers shouted rhythmic trumpets, and the paddles hit the water were neatly and uniformly.
Zhang He closed his eyes with some conscience, as if he had breathed the smell of fresh tung oil on the hull.
As a northern land duck, he actually liked these ships in particular, thinking that they were more majestic and more mysterious than the boundless cavalry unit.
After a while, he opened his eyes, looked at the same fascinated soldiers in the defense, and cursed with a smile: "Go away, go quickly! Go day and night, and rushed to Chengdu to celebrate the New Year."
Everyone burst into laughter.
Just walking to Chengdu will almost be the New Year, let alone fighting. But no one corrected him, it was a beautiful expectation.
"Sima, how much money can I get after going to Chengdu?" asked the boy, who was only sixteen or seventeen years old in his year.
Zhang He glanced at him and said, "Why are you thinking about money?"
"My grandma spent too much money when she was sick, and she couldn't save her money in the end. I want to go to Chengdu to make a profit." The boy said.
Zhang He sighed inwardly, patted the boy on the shoulder, and said, "Follow me when you go into battle, don't run around."
The young man responded and then said, "Sima, I practiced martial arts at the age of seven, it's not bad. Now I'm ranked in the Youjinwu Guards, how can I learn from women to be afraid of death?"
The others were amused by him.
"Go to Chengdu to grab a few yellow moist cloths, send them to Li Gua's house, and get a bride immediately." The thirty-year-old soldier smiled.
"Nonsense!" Li Gua couldn't hold back and said, "My daughter won't marry this guy."
After hearing this, the boy muttered in a low voice, "I don't like your crooked melon or jujube."
Everyone laughed even harder, until the sound of horse hooves came from behind, then they curled their smiles and slightly aligned the front, back, left and right.
"Dongdong..." The drum sounded from afar.
This is not an order to advance, but a rectification of the queue.
Almost at the same moment, all the soldiers who were marching stopped and stood in line.
After the whole team was finished, the leader of the team beat the thin drum around his waist and responded.
"Dongdong..." The drums of each team responded to each other.
A moment later, the military mansion drum sounded again, and the troops stationed in the place slowly began to wriggle again.
As if they were about to leave, drums also sounded on the river surface, and the warships began to adjust their positions and form a battle formation.
Only on the beach below the post road, the boatmen were still singing loud and thin songs, walking step by step, dragging the deep and extremely heavy canal ship forward.
Huang Biao stood at a height of Wushan, overlooking the panoramic view.
"Telection, don't put on the whole team when marching, go on a rush." After watching for a while, he ordered.
As soon as he finished speaking, someone repeated the order and went down the mountain to convey it.
Huang Biao walked among the plants and trees with his hands on his back, and couldn't help asking, "Where are the people from Sanjiao Mansion?"
The four prefectures of Jingling, Sanjiao, Dongwo and Guangmu formed the lineup of the Right Jinwu Guard. Each prefecture recruited 900 people, leaving only one defense to guard the house.
Among the four palaces, the son of Jingling Mansion was at the front, while the Sanjiao Mansion and the auxiliary troops fell at the end.
The Jiangbei Post Road is narrow and difficult to walk, and only a few thousand people are dragging him down. The forward has already crossed Wushan, but the back team is dozens of miles away, which makes him speechless.
"I have passed Shimen Beach." The guard Sima immediately stepped forward and replied.
Huang Biao nodded and asked again, "Where is Zuo Yulin Guard?"
"In Liubei City."
Liu Bei's city is near Zigui County, and is the capital of Zigui County in Han Dynasty, the ancient Guizi Kingdom (destroyed by Chu State), built by Liu Bei, and Jianping County, Eastern Wu.
During the Jin Dynasty's attack on Wu, the prefect of Jianping crossed the iron cable here, and made an iron cone of more than 2 meters, and secretly placed it under the river to resist the ship, so it was also called "Shuo Shuitou".
This place is more than 40 miles east of Shimentan.
The troops that were defeated were really too long, almost a long snake formation, and they could not be expanded at all. No wonder Liu Bei was also worried about where to set up camp back then. It was really difficult to find a place, especially when your troops reached 50,000.
"Has Zuo Jinwu Guard been out?" Huang Biao looked at Sima and asked.
"They are the fastest and even took the risk of taking a boat for a while. They should have arrived in Linjiang."
"Maybe--" Huang Biao said anxiously: "I have fought with the thief."
In front of the Right Jinwu Guard, there are the Right Yu Lin Guard, the Silver Guard, the Heihu Army, etc., and tens of thousands of people are scattered. The river surface and mountain roads are all filled with flags and the mountains and fields, and the sound of drums is endless.
"Let's go!" After hearing this, Huang Biao only had a word popping out of his mouth, and went straight down the mountain to speed up the journey.
(This chapter ends)