Drive the RV back to Datang

Chapter 554 Chapter 567: Yangzhou Japanese Infestation
Li Hao came to Luoyang by boat with two hundred special forces and five thousand recruits from the military academy. After delineating the construction site of the steel factory, he set off in a hurry by boat, went south along the Daoji Canal, went straight to Yangzhou, and went southeast Going to the coastal areas, the Japanese pirates ravaged the coastal areas. If he went a day late, more people in the Tang Dynasty might be killed by the Japanese pirates. He was very anxious.

When Li Haogang left Chang'an with his troops, in the Mansion of King Wu in Yizhou, Jiannan Road, King Wu Li Ke was reading a book in the pavilion in the garden. Yuan Tiangang suddenly walked over quickly, saluted King Wu and said, "Your Highness, Poor Dao may have to leave for a while. In the days when poverty is gone, Your Highness, please be careful and don't act recklessly."

Li Ke was slightly surprised when he heard the words, stood up and frowned and asked, "The military division has only been back for less than a month, why did he leave again? Could it be that there is something wrong with Liuzhao?"

Yuan Tiangang shook his head and said: "No, some rogue bandits from the Japanese country came across the sea, disturbing the coast, causing trouble everywhere, and the poor will lead people to slaughter these mad dogs!" .

Li Ke was puzzled when he heard the words, and asked inexplicably: "The rogues from the Japanese country disturbed the coast? This matter is handled by the emperor himself. Why should the military advisor worry about it? Isn't the military advisor afraid of being exposed?"

Yuan Tiangang raised his head and sighed, forcibly relieved his anger, and tried his best to calm his tone, and said: "Your Highness, any other foreign country will be tolerated by the poor, but the Japanese can't. They are a despicable race that has nothing to do with our Chinese nation. There is an unshakable hatred, and even more heinous hatred, the poor will kill them with his own hands in his lifetime, and now that we are fledgling, the poor will go to these pirates to collect some interest first, and hope His Highness will do it."

Li Ke frowned when he heard the words. He didn't understand why Yuan Tiangang said that the Wa Kingdom and Datang had a sworn feud. It seemed that apart from this group of Japanese pirates, the Wa Kingdom didn't seem to offend Datang very much. This made him very confused. Yuan Tiangang was An expert, and with extraordinary strategies, he always makes decisions before acting, but he felt that Yuan Tiangang was too impulsive this time, and he wanted to say something, but seeing Yuan Tiangang's solemn face and hidden anger, he didn't seem to be able to persuade him at all. So he could only helplessly say: "Military divisions have to be careful when doing things outside. The mere Japanese pirates are not infested, and we need to be careful to guard against the court, otherwise we will all be ruined."

"Thank you, Your Highness, for your success!" Yuan Tiangang bowed his body, and said, "Don't worry, Your Highness, Pindao will use his own troops for this operation, and nothing will happen. Even if something happens, His Highness will not be involved."

"Then..." Li Ke also bowed to Yuan Tiangang, and said, "I wish the army division a victory."

That afternoon, a carrier pigeon flew out of Yizhou Wu Wangfu and headed east. At the same time, Yuan Tiangang rode out of Yizhou City with a dozen of his own masters on horseback, and headed straight for Jianghuai Road. Yuan Tiangang and Li Hao act in different ways, but their ambitions are the same, especially when it comes to the issue of Japan, they have almost the same idea, one word - kill!

Although Yuan Tiangang once did things to entrap the people of the Tang Dynasty, he borrowed the power of foreign tribes to help him achieve his goals, but he grasped everything just right, and it was absolutely impossible to give the country of the Han people to the barbarians, so although he had Selfishness, doing things unscrupulously, but he still has a sense of righteousness. As for the Japanese people, he hates them very much. Originally, the Japanese pirate rebellion had nothing to do with him, but he still had to travel thousands of miles to lead people to slaughter the Japanese pirates. Only he himself understands his hatred, not even Li Hao can understand it.

Li Hao took the waterway this time. This waterway is the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal. The Beijing-Hangzhou Canal at this time is not exactly the same as the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal of later generations. The Beijing-Hangzhou Canal of later generations has been improved, dredged, and rebuilt. The canal has only been opened for a few decades. All of this is due to Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty. The Beijing-Hangzhou Canal can be said to be an achievement left by Emperor Yang.

The Beijing-Hangzhou Canal in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, with Luoyang as the center, started from Yuhang (now Hangzhou) in the south and ended in Zhuojun (now Beijing) in the north. It was built in the first year of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty (AD 605). , is divided into four sections, the section from Zhuojun to the Yellow River is called Yongji Canal, the section from the Yellow River to the Huai River is called Tongji Canal, the section from the Huai River to Jiangdu (Yangzhou) is called Hangou, and the section from Jiangdu to Yuhang is called Hangou. Jiangnan River.

And what Li Hao took this time was the section of Tongji Canal, from Luoyang directly to Huai River, and after entering the Huai River, travel east along the Huai River for a certain distance, enter Hangou from Shanyang, and then reach Yangzhou.

The most comfortable way to travel in ancient times was by boat. The journey was unimpeded, and you could travel day and night. Only when you encountered heavy fog or rainy days, and you couldn’t see clearly at night, would you stop the boat and take a rest. This time, Li Hao was not very lucky. Fortunately, the rain was not heavy, like a plum rain, and it stopped for a while and then stopped for a while. Anyway, the sky is always gloomy. At night, you can't see the moonlight, you can't see your fingers, and you can't sail. , it rained for more than ten days, and the wind direction was not very good. Their marching speed was very slow, and Li Hao was so anxious that he wanted to abandon the ship and go by land. Hold your temper and move slowly.

Half a month later, the annoying rainy weather finally ended, Li Hao and the others speeded up their journey, and it was already August when they arrived in Yangzhou.

When Li Hao arrived in Yangzhou with his troops, Bian Youdao, the governor of Yangzhou, personally led all the officials of Yangzhou out of the city to meet him. The ceremony was grand. After all, Li Hao is now a high-ranking and powerful envoy of Jianghuai and Jianghuai. He has the power to kill all officials of Jianghuai and Jianghuai. .

Li Hao kept everything simple, and with more than twenty guards, he entered the city with Bian Youdao, and rushed to the Yamen Hall of the Dudu Mansion in Yangzhou.

In the hall, Li Hao sat in the upper seat, Bian Youdao took the second seat, and the rest of the officials sat in two rows.

As soon as Li Hao sat down, he asked, "Lord Bian, has there been any incidents of Japanese pirates harassing the people recently?"

"Back to King Qiongnan, yes." Bian Youdao clasped his hands, "A few days ago, two fishing villages in Huating County were looted by Japanese pirates successively. More than 100 people were killed. ruins."

Li Hao frowned upon hearing this, and asked coldly: "Then, Lord Bian, I ask you, how did you deal with the Japanese pirates raging?"

Bian Youdao was nervous when he heard the words. Seeing Li Hao's appearance, he was obviously very unhappy. He could only bite the bullet and said: "Return to the lord, the officials have summoned all the soldiers and horses in Yangzhou, there are nearly [-] soldiers and horses, guarding the Linhai area However, the effect was very little. The Japanese pirates did not fight against our army at all, they fled in the wind, and quickly plundered and burned them when they found an opening. survived."

Li Hao sneered, "Are you asking for credit?"

Bian Youdao was stunned when he heard the words, he heard that Li Hao was mocking him, and hurriedly cupped his hands in fear: "I don't dare, I know I'm incompetent, but the pirates are really cunning, I...I am willing to be punished."

Li Hao snorted coldly, and suddenly raised his voice, "Where is Li Jian, Lieutenant of Yangzhou Zhechong?"

A tall and thin man in his forties suddenly came out to salute: "The humble Li Jian pays homage to King Qiongnan!"

Li Hao looked at him with raised eyebrows, and asked: "Master Bian is a civil servant, he is not good at military affairs, and it is up to you to decide how to fight against the Japanese. How did you assist Lord Bian to eliminate the Japanese?"

"Humble job..." Li Jian had a bitter look on his face when he heard the words, and finally sighed, "Back to the lord, the humble job once persuaded Lord Bian to order him to temporarily evacuate all the villagers from the fishing villages in the coastal area into the city, so that the humble job could lead troops to ambush the Japanese pirates, but Bian The adults did not allow it."

"Oh?" Li Hao looked at Bian Youdao with raised eyebrows, and asked, "Lord Bian, what happened?"

"My lord, there is indeed such a thing." Bian Youdao replied respectfully, "Your lord doesn't know that these fishermen have lived by fishing for generations, and if they leave the sea, they may not even be able to eat. Let them leave the fishing village, how can they do it?" arrive?"

Li Hao frowned and said coldly: "Is fishing more important or life more important? You will always be led by the nose by the pirates, no wonder the pirates are so rampant!"

When Bian Youdao and Li Jian saw that Li Hao was angry, they quickly fell to their knees and said, "This official is guilty, please punish me!"

"Get up!" Li Hao snorted coldly, and said in a calm tone, "The first task of this king is to help you get rid of the Japanese pirates. After the Japanese pirates are eliminated, I will settle the old accounts with you. During this period, I hope you will take good care of yourself." Performance, meritorious deeds!"

"Thank you, my lord!" The two of them prostrated themselves on the ground, trembling with excitement, and slowly got up, but they didn't dare to sit down after getting up, and stood there like two tumblers.

Li Haodao: "I hope you can cooperate with this king this time. Bian Youdao, you pass on this king's order to transfer all the villagers from the coastal areas under Yangzhou's rule back to the city. Whoever dares to resist will be imprisoned for obstructing official duties." , put them in prison, but be careful not to hurt anyone, you have to make proper arrangements for the food and lodging of those villagers, and don’t be negligent, if this king hears that someone is starving or freezing, you are the only one to ask!”

"Yes!" Bian Youdao bowed his hands vigorously to accept the order.

Li Hao faced Li Jian again, and said slowly: "Li Jian, from today onwards, you will bring all the soldiers and horses in Yangzhou to follow this king, carefully watch how this king got rid of the Japanese, and the dignified governor's mansion zhechong , You are so useless, even the dress thieves can't solve it, and this king is not ashamed of you."

Li Jian blushed, and hurriedly cupped his fists: "It's a great honor to be able to follow the prince!"

Li Hao stood up and said, "Okay, everyone else is doing their own thing and actively cooperating with Mr. Bian's work, so let's go."

All the officials left one after another, and Li Hao also led Li Jian out of the yamen hall, and then said: "Li Jian, tell me well, which area of ​​your Huainan Road has been most harassed by Japanese pirates."

Li Jian thought about it carefully, and said: "My lord, Huating County and Yandu County suffered the most from Japanese pirates. These two areas are close to the sea, and there are hundreds of fishing villages. Japanese pirates have harassed them more than 30 times. Huating County , more than 3000 people have been killed by Japanese pirates, and more than 2000 people have been killed in Yandu County, and the people in Yandu County are rich, and there are many salt pavilions besides fishing villages. Yandu County was harassed by Japanese pirates and lost a lot of salt. They were also robbed of a lot of money and rice.”

Li Hao frowned when he heard the words, slowly clenched his fists, and then slowly opened them again, muttering to himself: "Huating County... seems to be Nantong and Shanghai, Nantong and Shanghai were originally sandbars on the sea, At this time, Nantong and Shanghai did not seem to be bordered by the mainland. No wonder there were many fishing villages there; as for Yandu County, it should be the Yancheng of later generations. Although there are now sun-dried salt farms, they have not yet become mainstream. The method is still very popular..."

"My lord, what did you say?" Li Jian didn't hear what Li Hao said, and asked in doubt.

"It's nothing, you don't need to know." Li Hao said indifferently, "How many people can you transfer at present?"

Li Jian said: "Go back to your lord, there are only 3000 people on the villain's side at present, and the rest of the soldiers and horses are scattered around to protect those scattered coastal villages and towns."

"En." Li Hao nodded thoughtfully, and after a while, he suddenly said, "You and this king are going to Huating County. As for Yandu, this king will send people to lead troops there."

After he finished speaking, he said to Feiying beside him: "Qin Huaiyu, Yuchi Baolin, and the three brothers of the Cheng family, you take 3000 people to Yandu County, and everything will go according to the previous plan." After finishing speaking, he handed them a token .

"Yes!" Qin Huaiyu took the token and set off with Yuchi Baolin and the three Cheng family brothers.

Li Hao went straight out of the Governor's Mansion, asked Li Jian to dispatch troops, and then led the army towards Huating.

Bian Youdao has already begun to write documents and send messengers to convey the order to all coastal counties and counties. The villagers and townspeople in Linhai villages and towns must be sent back to the city, and they must be strictly guarded and cannot be disobeyed.

As soon as the official document was issued, a yamen servant came to report to Bian Youdao that Li Hao and Li Jian had led the army to Huating. Hearing this, Bian Youdao couldn't help sighing, "This King Qiongnan is indeed a man of practical work. He just arrived in Yangzhou Don't rest your feet, get rid of the Japanese immediately, no wonder you can ascend to such a high position at such a young age, you can't do it without admiration."

(End of this chapter)