Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 747 I don’t eat beef
The weather along the Yangtze River in spring is like a baby's face, changing at any time and without any ambiguity.

When Liang Chongyi's fleet set out from the mouth of the Ganjiang River, the sun was still warm, but when they arrived in Jiangling, the sky was gloomy.

After nightfall, fine raindrops floated on the surface of the river. Dozens of broken warships swayed back and forth in the night, just like terminally ill old men, gasping for breath three times after every step.

Liang Chongyi stood at the bow, wiping the rain off his face. The old wound covered by the scarlet paper armor seemed to start to ache again. He was wearing paper armor, but he was not a paper general. He had fought in battle and knew the cruelty of war.

This time is different from last time, we are going to take it seriously!

Last time we would have surrendered directly, and if everything had gone well, there would have been basically no fighting. But this time it’s different.

It was impossible for the defender of Jiangling City to surrender because the enemy was Li Shen, the eldest son of Li Lu.

Liang Chongyi looked at the dark Jiangling Water Gate not far away. A few lights on the battlements turned into orange spots in the rain.

"Who's ahead? The fleet stops!"

On the top of Jiangling City, someone suddenly shouted loudly at the fleet that Liang Chongyi was on.

Dozens of torches suddenly lit up on the city walls, and the clicking sound of the taut crossbows was particularly creepy in the night.

Following Liang Chongyi's order, the fleet suddenly stopped and began to slow down. Liang Chongyi held the side of the ship tightly with both hands, his heart was in his throat!

"Liang Chongyi, the governor of Jiangnan West Road, is here! I will obey your majesty's order and lead the Hongzhou navy back to defend Jiangling. Please open the water gates!"

He opened his throat and his voice echoed on the surface of the river.

"what happened?"

Someone leaned out from the top of the city wall and looked around. The firelight illuminated half of a young face. It was Li Shen.

Jiangling was not without defenses. On the contrary, as the only strategic place south of Xiangyang, Jiangling immediately raised the level of patrols.

No one in the city is allowed to go out without reason, and the generals guarding the city must be replaced every day.

Liang Chongyi felt his throat tighten, but he still pulled open the armor on his left arm and took out the wrinkled imperial edict.

"Liang has the imperial edict in hand. Please let me enter the city alone to verify it!"

He held the imperial edict, waved it in the direction of Li Shen and shouted.

Hearing this, the atmosphere on the city wall suddenly relaxed, and the personal soldiers around Li Shen quietly put down the hilt of their swords.

The basket was lowered with a creaking sound.

Liang Chongyi stepped onto the wet hanging basket, his boots slipping on the moss. As the hanging basket continued to rise, he said nothing, watching himself getting farther and farther from the ground, clenching his fists tightly and then slowly loosening them.

Soon, Liang Chongyi climbed up the city wall. Li Shen, who still looked childish, came forward and asked, "Marshal Liang, where is the imperial edict?"

"Here is the divine decree."

Liang Chongyi handed the worn silk in his hand to Li Shen, who looked at it again and again, and only smiled after confirming that there was no problem.

"Marshal Liang, please don't blame me. My father has ordered to strictly guard Jiangling. I have no choice but to do so."

Li Shen smiled and waved to the deputy general beside him, who immediately ordered the water gate of Jiangling City to be opened.

However, Li Shen seemed to remember something and asked in confusion, "By the way, isn't Mr. Yan also in Hongzhou? Why didn't he go with Marshal Jie?"

Hearing this, the deputy general in charge of city defense beside Li Shen, who had already put the sword in his hand into the scabbard, immediately gripped the handle tightly and pulled out half of it.

Looked at Liang Chongyi with vigilance!
Done!

This is a question that makes Liang Chongyi shudder.

"Mr. Yan is seasick and is now asleep in the cabin. If Your Highness wants to see him, you can wait until the fleet enters the city and you will naturally see him at the ferry."

Liang Chongyi smiled awkwardly, trying his best to suppress the urge to kill.

Now is far from the time to take action!
Li Shen just mentioned it casually, without thinking too much. At this moment, the iron chain winch made a teeth-grinding sound, and the thousand-pound water gate was slowly rising.

Liang Chongyi stared at the Water Gate. In his eyes, it seemed not to be a door, but a sunny road leading to wealth and glory.

"Your Highness, since you want to see Mr. Yan, why don't you accompany me to the ferry?"

Liang Chongyi's eyes rolled and a bold idea popped up in his mind.

"That's fine too."

Li Shen did not doubt it and just said something perfunctorily.

Since the imperial edict is authentic and can be verified with Li Lu's orders, Liang Chongyi is indeed the main general in Hongzhou.

So, there should be nothing wrong with this fleet, right?

It’s not Li Shen’s fault that he was too careless, but Liang Chongyi’s heart was too vicious.

The group arrived at the ferry in Jiangling City. At this moment, the warships "under Liang Chongyi's command" had already docked at the pier of the ferry.

The flags were in tatters, there were arrows stuck in the ship, and some of the masts were broken.

Li Shen couldn't quite believe it. How come this navy looked like it had just experienced a great battle?

"Your Highness, the mouth of the Gan River was blocked by the Bianzhou Army. I had to work very hard to break through. My troops suffered heavy casualties."

Liang Chongyi squeezed out a few crocodile tears, wiped them with his sleeve and said in a pretentious manner.

"It's not easy for Marshal Liang Jie."

Li Shen sighed with emotion and believed Liang Chongyi even more.

When we arrived in front of the largest ship, a group of soldiers had already disembarked.

These people were all wearing the uniforms of the Jingxiang Army from Hongzhou, which were slightly different from the so-called "Imperial Guards" from Jiangling, but obviously not the uniforms of the Bianzhou Army.

"This is His Royal Highness Prince Xingyang."

Liang Chongyi introduced Li Shendao to the leading general.

"This general looks familiar..."

Li Shen looked at the general in front of him and felt that he looked very familiar. He must have seen him somewhere.

"I, General Li Guangbi, pay my respects to Your Highness."

Li Guangbi said with a smile, without any greeting, which seemed a bit presumptuous.

Oh, so you are Li Guangbi. No wonder you looked so familiar.

Li Shen suddenly realized. After all, he had met Li Guangbi in Chang'an that year.

Li Shen was about to cross his arms to return the greeting, but suddenly he froze in place.

Li Guangbi, isn’t he the general of the Bianzhou army?

Alarm bells rang in his heart, and when he was about to speak, suddenly the head of the person next to him flew up and rolled to the ground like a ball!
At the moment when the knife flashed, Liang Chongyi had already crashed into the arms of Li Shen's deputy general, chopping off his head and knocking him away. Li Guangbi was also unambiguous, and with his personal soldiers, he killed all the personal guards around Li Shen in one encounter!

At this moment, the rain has stopped, the dark clouds were blown away by the wind, the moon appeared, a reflection appeared on the river, and large ships were looming!

Bang bang bang!
As three fireworks bloomed in the sky, torches suddenly lit up on the river surface. Two hundred warships lurking in the darkness rushed towards the water gate of Jiangling City like arrows!

Hao Tingyu was standing on the deck of the ship. When he saw the signal that the city had been successfully captured, he immediately ordered the entire army to attack without stopping for a moment.

"Kill!"

The Jiangling city wall was in chaos. From the warships at the ferry inside the city, teams of Bianzhou soldiers rushed down and began to charge towards the city wall. Li Guangbi led his men to guard the water gate and personally confirmed that the fleet outside the city could enter the city one after another.

The cowhide drum on the city wall was still beating, reminding the defenders of Jiangling City to go up to the city wall to resist.

However, perhaps someone threw kerosene on it, the drum suddenly exploded at some point, and the burning drum fragments flew around like red butterflies, turning the drum tower into a sea of ​​fire.

Some of the defenders of Jiangling City had just raised their chevaux de frise to try to block the passage to the city wall when they were knocked down by the Tang army that poured in through the sluice gate.

The water gate was breached, and the city was breached. Even if Han Xin was resurrected and Bai Qi was still alive, they could not reverse the decline.

Manpower is sometimes poor.

Li Guangbi stood guard beside the water gate with his sword in hand, his face as gloomy as water. Messengers kept coming from his place to deliver messages.

Liang Chongyi was wiping his sword, and at his feet lay the headless deputy general who was defending the city. Li Shen, who had never experienced a battle, looked at Liang Chongyi in panic, wanting to say something, but his lips trembled slightly, and in the end he could not say anything.

He was already scared silly.

These soldiers were fierce and cruel, and regarded human life as worthless. The guards who had just stood on the top of the city with him were now lying around the ferry, with their bodies lying all over the ground.

"Your Highness, this is the battlefield, this is war."

Liang Chongyi sighed softly and whispered to Li Shen, as if saying this could alleviate his guilt.

Of course, without him, Jiangling City would not have been captured so quickly.

This is Liang Chongyi taking advantage of the information gap and the trust of the Jiangling defenders in him. It is indeed reasonable, but not very glorious.

The moon was hanging in the sky, watching the people on the ground fighting for survival or for some other reason. There were many Jingxiang troops in Jiangling City, but the counterattack was not fierce.

Many soldiers saw the chaos at the city gate, so they took off their military uniforms and hid in the homes of their relatives and friends.

At dawn, the last flag of the Jiangling City defenders fell from the watchtower, and there was no organized resistance on the city wall of Jiangling City.

Li Guangbi came to the government office of Jiangling City with his personal soldiers. Willow catkins were floating in the sky. He reached out to catch a falling catkin. The spring scenery of Jiangling City was gradually becoming clearer in the morning mist.

Got it, surprisingly easy!
"You are the first to make a contribution in this battle. I will report this to the government."

Seeing Liang Chongyi waiting in front of the Jiangling government office, Li Guangbi stepped forward, patted him on the shoulder and said.

Hearing this, Liang Chongyi was overjoyed.

He hurried forward, got close to Li Guangbi, and asked in a low voice: "Li Shen is Li Yu's eldest son, how should we deal with him?"

This problem is not big, but it is also not small.

After all, Fang Qing is only the most powerful official in the court of Bianzhou, and the emperor is Li Qi. Even though Bianzhou has changed several emperors, they are all from the Li family.

Li Shen is also a member of the Li clan and the grandson of Brother Ji. If it is not handled properly, it will cause waves.

"General Liang, there are some things that the emperor may not say clearly. But those of us fighting on the front lines need to understand how to deal with troubles and share the emperor's worries."

Li Guangbi said meaningfully.

Li Shen was Ji Ge's grandson, and because of this, he had to be dealt with. On the contrary, those members of the Li clan who were not close relatives did not have to worry about being killed.

Good fortune lies within the shadow of misfortune, and misfortune lies within the shadow of good fortune. This is the truth.

While a person enjoys the convenience brought by his identity, he may also be cursed by his special identity.

Liang Chongyi nodded, not quite understanding.

As someone who surrendered halfway, he was already lacking in morality. If he could not hold on to his new master, it would only be a matter of time before someone took advantage of the situation to settle accounts with him.

"The general knows."

Liang Chongyi clasped his fists and saluted Li Guangbi, with a hint of ruthlessness flashing across his face.

Li Guangbi nodded slightly, waved his hand, and signaled Liang Chongyi to hurry up and do his business. When the other party walked towards the city wall, he looked at Liang Chongyi's background and sighed.

"You are helpless, and so am I."

People who lead troops will be suspected by their superiors. This has nothing to do with the general's own thoughts and is only affected by objective reality.

Liang Chongyi needed to prove his loyalty, and so did Li Guangbi.

……

"Official! Official! Urgent!"

Early in the morning, Yan Zhuang rushed to the government office, only to find Fang Chongyong already working in the study. In addition to him, Li Quan and others were also there, one or two of them, with serious faces, pointing at the map on the wall.

"No need to say more, I already know."

Fang Zhongyong raised his hand and interrupted what Yan Zhuang was about to say.

"Li Guangbi conquered Jiangling alone, and now this place has become an enclave. Li Yu will definitely not give up and will definitely speed up the recapture of Jiangling.

Send a message to Che Guangqian in Ye County, asking him to quickly capture Tangzhou!
Give Lu Qi an ultimatum. If he doesn't surrender, we'll hang his entire family on the city wall after we capture the city!"

Fang Chongyong ordered in a deep voice.

Da Congming beside him immediately wrote down what had just been said, and it would soon become a military order, which would be sent by the Privy Council to Che Guangqian at the front line.

"Your Majesty, if Jiangling is recaptured by Li Yu, then the current good situation will definitely fall apart.

But now, who will go to reinforce Li Guangbi?"

Yan Zhuang asked doubtfully.

Although it seemed easy for Li Guangbi to open Jiangling City, from the perspective of land, the surrounding area was all the territory of the Jingxiang Army. Taking Jiangling only opened a gap in the defense line in the south of the Jingxiang court.

How to defend and how to counterattack are the crucial things next.

Xiangyang has a dangerous terrain. Although attacking from the south is much easier than attacking from the north, it cannot be dealt with in a few moves.

This battle might still have to be fought!
Who should be sent?
Fang Chongyong weighed the pros and cons in his mind.

"Your Majesty, Feng Changqing is currently stationed in Yangzhou. Why not let him lead the troops to reinforce us?"

Li Quan suggested.

Starting from Yangzhou, we can save a lot of time. Although the troops are not elite, we don't need to fight from Jiangling to Xiangyang. It's enough to defend the city.

Once Che Guangqian captured Nanyang Wancheng, Xiangyang would become an isolated city, attacked from both the north and the south. All that was left was to send people to persuade it to surrender.

Xiangyang’s potential actually lies in the Nanyang Basin.

If Li Guangbi only relied on Jiangling, it would be difficult for him to capture Xiangyang unless Li Lu did a suffocating operation like the one he did during the Hou Jing Rebellion in the late Southern Liang Dynasty.

"Well, that's fine."

Fang Chongyong nodded and accepted the advice readily.

At this moment, he was thinking about the reform of the government structure.

As the territory becomes larger and larger, some of the old systems are no longer suitable for the development of the new situation and must be changed.

After taking Xiangyang, internal reorganization became imperative.

(End of this chapter)