Late Tang

The 15th day of August in Xiantong [-]th year is the annual Mid-Autumn Festival of reunion.The Zhendong Army, which was preparing for the final expedition, also had a day off to celebrate the festival.The expedition is about to start, and it coincides with the Mid-Autumn Festival.Li Jing also generously took out a large sum of money and food from the treasury and distributed it to all the soldiers.

As a reward for the Mid-Autumn Festival, each soldier received a thousand dollars, two buckets of rice, and ten round cakes, and each soldier received a new set of clothes, shoes and socks.Even ordinary people get four cakes per person, plus two catties of rice.

Round cakes, that is, moon cakes in the Tang Dynasty.Moon cakes originally originated in the Tang Dynasty and served as food for the army's victory.During the reign of Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty, General Li Jing conquered the Huns and returned triumphantly on August [-]th.At that time, some Hu people who were doing business offered cakes to the emperor of the Tang Dynasty to celebrate their success.Emperor Gaozu Li Yuan took the gorgeous cake box, took out the round cake, pointed to the bright moon in the sky with a smile and said, "You should invite the toad with the cake." After speaking, he distributed the cake to the officials to taste together, and since then there has been a custom of eating cakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival .

Therefore, at this time, it has become a custom to set up incense tables and worship the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival.When watching the moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival, ordinary people will make round cakes. In addition to round cakes, watermelon is also an indispensable item for wealthy families.

In the current catastrophic year, ten round cakes and dozens of catties of rice are already extremely heavy rewards for the soldiers.Even ordinary people can get four round cakes and two catties of rice. People in Dengzhou and southern Liaoning all praise Li Jing.

On August [-], just after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Zhendong Army began to dispatch troops.

The first to go was the [-] troops who went south to conquer Wang Ying.

Li Jing was appointed by the emperor as the commander of the southern expedition to the north and the commander of the northern camp to the east, but Li Jing was unable to do so.Between Li Keyong's father and son and Wang Ying's two rebels, Li Jing finally chose to conquer Li Keyong himself.As for the army of the Southern Expedition, Li Jing appointed Pei You, a judge of the Zhendong Army with rich naval experience and high strategy, as the deputy capital commander, who actually acted as the chief general of the Southern Expedition Army.

In addition, Li Liang was transferred to be the Sima of the Southern Expedition and the Northern Camp, Li Chun was the judge of the Southern Expedition and the Northern Camp, and Xiao Dingbang, an extremely influential Sima in Dengzhou in the south of the Yangtze River, was appointed as the Secretary of the Northern Camp.

The South Expedition and the North Camp consisted of three navy battalions, Nutao, Anlan, and Fubo, and five infantry battalions drawn from the Zhendong Army.Megan is the envoy of the vanguard soldiers and horses of the camp, Megan is the envoy of soldiers and horses in the vanguard of the camp, Zhang Lie is the envoy of soldiers and horses in the left wing of the camp, and Wu Qian is the envoy of soldiers and horses in the right wing of the camp.In addition, Zhang Chengzong was transferred to be the deputy commander of the northern camp and the military envoy of the middle chamber, and Liu Shouqian was the deputy capital commander of the southern expedition and the northern camp and the military envoy of the rear chamber.

In the early morning of that day, the thick fog on the sea first opened, and the long-lost red sun rose.

Li Jing personally practiced it for the army and gave him wine.

At the port of Dengzhou, tens of thousands of family members of soldiers who went on an expedition came to see them off, reluctant to leave.

Pei You was very excited when he was appointed by Li Jing as the coach of Nanzheng.What is exciting is not just this position, but Li Jing's trust in him.Although under his leadership, Li Liang, Li Chun, Xiao Dingbang, and even Megan and Julie are Li Jing's confidantes.In particular, Zhang Chengzong and Liu Shouqian, who are both deputy governors, are Li Jing's confidantes, but he is still very grateful.Looking at the white sails covering the sky and the sun in the port, I suddenly felt that the soldiers died for their confidantes.

"This southern expedition will definitely live up to the trust of the county magistrate. It will be a success and return triumphantly!"

Li Jing smiled heartily, and patted the old man's arm: "Then I will wait for your good news, but don't put too much pressure on your heart. This time you go south, it's called counterinsurgency, but the most important thing is The purpose is to open up sea trade routes and find a new way out for our Dengzhou business. You take 8000 people to sea, and I hope you can bring all these bastards back to me.”

On the wharf, the generals of the Southern Expedition set up an incense table and kowtowed. On the table, three animals of pigs, cattle and sheep were offered.After turning over prayers, 36 death row inmates who committed heinous crimes were brought out from the death row. A row of executioners stepped forward and chopped off their heads. Dropping on the flag of the army.

After the flag sacrifice was completed, the Southern Expeditionary Army officially set off.The soldiers on the expedition lined up neatly to board the ship, and then the fleet lifted anchor and set sail, blowing horns and drums to set sail.

Three fleets of more than three hundred warships were dispatched. Behind the battleships, there was a larger fleet waiting in the sea at this time.When the battleship passed by, he followed closely behind.This is the huge caravan that has recently assembled in the major ports of Dengzhou and southern Liaoning. There are more than 3000 sea-going ships, loaded with all kinds of goods, the most important ones are products produced in Dengzhou, all kinds of liquor, fruit wine, Rock candy, and canned food, etc.The second is all kinds of weapons, as well as all kinds of furs from southern Liaoning, as well as large animals such as cattle, horses, mules and donkeys.In addition, there are several 10 taels of gold.Even Dengzhou's salt was transported in large quantities. Although Jianghuai also has salt, this time the fleet will go directly to the southernmost Jiaozhou in Annan.Dengzhou's salt is top-grade, and it will be sold as well.

On the second day of the Southern Expedition Fleet, Li Jing also formally assembled troops for the Northern Expedition. All troops from Dengzhou and Southern Liaoning were assembled in Duli Port, and then Li Xu's Zhenhai Fleet, who stayed in Dengzhou, added a group of merchant ships. Transported 8000 horses and horses to Youzhou.

The Northern Expedition had 8000 soldiers and horses, including [-] Zhendong Army, [-] Duli Town Army, [-] Liaonan Army, and [-] United Army soldiers who were called up to undertake the task of logistics and auxiliary troops.

Li Jing, the Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Camp of the Northern Expedition, was naturally the commander-in-chief of the entire army, and Wang Pu and Wang Zhong jointly served as the Deputy Commander-in-Chief.Li Zhen served as the marching commander, Guo Chengan served as the judge, Zhang Hong served as the secretary, and Du Zhongwu served as the instructor.Li Wei, the tenth general of the Flying Eagle Battalion, was the vanguard envoy, Wang Zhong also served as the envoy of the left wing, Wang Pu served as the envoy of the right wing, and Li Jing himself served as the envoy of the middle.Li Juyi was the envoy of soldiers and horses in the front compartment, and Shi Shoucheng was the envoy of soldiers and horses in the back compartment.Guo Zhenhai was the emissary of You Yi's soldiers and horses, and Lin Wu was the Marquis of Yu, the capital of the camp.

Along with Qin Zongshou, Qiu Shengong, Li Yuan, Cui Chengxiu, Gao Rong and other generals, young generals Liu Xun and Wang Yanzhang were the top ten generals and deputy generals of Li Jing's personal guard camp.

For Li Jing's expedition this time, Lin Wei, the deputy envoy of the Zhendong Army who has always been prudent, was still the general left behind. He guarded Dengzhou and southern Liaoning together. Thousands of soldiers.

Although there are not many soldiers and horses, Li Jing is very relieved.Dengzhou and Liaonan are not currently threatened.To the west of Dengzhou, Qingzhou is still busy quelling Wang Jingwu's rebellion, and there are twelve cities on the border of Denglai, so there is no need to worry about refugees making rebellions.In southern Liaoning, Jili Prefecture and the Khitan were fighting fiercely, and they could not threaten southern Liaoning at all.And in southern Liaoning, there are four towering cities blocking Jili City from going south, and there are Changxing Islands and Changshan Islands on the left and right, so Li Jing doesn't have to worry about the fire in the backyard.

The landing place of the army in Youzhou is still at the mouth of Zhangshui.But this time, Li Jing did not choose the territory of Youzhou last time, but chose the territory of Yichang Army on the south bank of Zhangshui River.The southern boundary between Lulong Town and Yichang Town is Zhangshui.Li Jing landed directly on the south bank, which was in the territory of Cangzhou of the Yichang Army.

Choosing this place to land is also to avoid the possibility of Li Maoxun ambush on the north bank.Although this possibility is very small, Li Jing has to guard against it. After all, Li Maoxun is a lunatic.

The reconnaissance capital and special warfare capital of the Flying Eagle Battalion were the first to land. They quickly landed in the middle of the night, and then established a beach position on the coast.However, the worrying things did not happen, and there were no soldiers and horses on the north and south banks of the Zhangshui River.In the afternoon, the whole army was finally transported ashore.

After resting for a day on the south bank of Zhangshui River, Li Jing's soldiers and horses began to move forward, and re-entered Youzhou territory on the same day, and arrived at the foot of Huichang County on the Jiaojiang triangle of Sanggan River and Juma River in the afternoon.

Huichang County was one of the six counties in Youzhou captured by soldiers from southern Liaoning last time.

At this time, Huichang County already knew the news that a large number of Zhendong troops had landed again as early as yesterday.However, the news shows that the Zhendong Army landed in the Yijing Army's territory of Cangzhou this time.This made the garrison in Huichang both worried and happy.It would have been nice if the Zhendong Army had really gone to the Yichang Army this time. After all, Huichang had just been robbed, and there were only [-] to [-] old and weak left in the originally prosperous city.

There is a battalion stationed in the city at this time, but a battalion of the Youzhou Army has only 500 troops.They sent the information to Youzhou City as early as yesterday, but they haven't heard a reply yet.

Just as they were expecting the Zhendong Army to go to the territory of the Yichang Army, at noon that day, countless smoke and dust rose from the east of the city, followed by a long line of soldiers and horses marching all the way, with flags like the sea, spears like forests, and swords shining. Sheng Xue.

Liu Rengong, the ten general who heard the news from the top of the city, couldn't help but pale, and swallowed tightly, sweat dripping down his forehead.

Reaching out to support the battlements made him stabilize his figure.I sighed in my heart why I was so unlucky!He was just a tomb robber, but was later conscripted into the army. Because he has the skill of tomb robbery, he also knows some woodwork and soil work, especially good at digging tunnels.Moreover, those who do tomb robbers are all brave people.The last time he followed Li Maoxun to attack Youzhou, he was promoted directly from the leader of the team to the general afterward, and he can be regarded as the direct descendant of Marshal Li.

Then last time when southern Liaoning soldiers robbed Youzhou, Liu Rengong arrived quickly with all his men. Although they didn't meet the Zhendong Army, they were the first soldiers to recover the lost city.Because of his meritorious service in recovering Huichang City, and because he is Li Maoxun's direct descendant, Li Maoxun just made an exception and was promoted to the top ten generals of the battalion.For this reason, he was sent to Huichang City, and based on the capital, he recruited [-] new recruits, built the Huichang camp, and became ten generals of the camp.

Finally, he nodded his head. He just got his own small territory and five hundred brothers. Liu Rengong and Liu Kutou were excited. Who would have thought that this damn Zhendong Army would come across the sea again after all? Yes, and this time, they directly killed Huichang City, and now, it was too late for him to escape.

(To be continued)