Chapter 696 Cutting off the retreat

Unexpectedly, the envoy of the King of Tang also came. Qiu He looked at Zhang Jingshan with some embarrassment.

Zhang Jingshan said with a smile: "Mr. Qiu, please meet me. I also want to hear the conditions offered by the King of Tang!"

Qiu He secretly cursed these local tyrants as old foxes who only cared about profits and not human feelings.

Qiu He nodded, "Please let the messenger in!"

Soon, the personal guards led the Tang king's envoy in. He was a scholar in his thirties named Jiang Jiliang. He bowed to Qiu He and took out a letter and presented it to him, "This is a letter from His Royal Highness the Tang king to Mr. Qiu. Please take a look!"

Qiu He took the letter. Everyone's attention was focused on the letter, but Zhang Jingshan quietly pulled out a dagger. He rushed forward and pierced Jiang Jiliang's vest with the dagger. "Ah--" Jiang Jiliang screamed and fell to the ground dead immediately.

Qiu He was horrified, "Envoy Zhang, what are you doing?"

Zhang Jingshan threw away the dagger and said, "You can't accomplish anything by being indecisive. I'll make the decision for Mr. Qiu!"

Qiu He looked at the body on the ground, then at the letter in his hand, and couldn't help but sigh, "Whatever!"

He tore up the letter Li Yuan had given him. He hadn't even opened it yet and he didn't want to read it. He immediately ordered, "Pass on my order. Prepare to welcome the arrival of the Jin King's army!"

The next morning, Zhou Faming led 30,000 Sui troops from the south of the Yangtze River to arrive in Ba County and was warmly welcomed by the military and civilians of Ba County. Qiu He personally went out of the city to welcome the arrival of his old friend Zhou Faming. Both of them were veterans in their sixties and had not seen each other for many years. When they met again, their hair and beards were all white. They couldn't help but shed tears, sighed, and rode into the city together.

The joy of reunion passed in half an hour, and the harsh reality forced them to sit down and discuss.

Yu Wenzhi's army has already entered Luchuan County, and will reach Ba County in four days at most. Zhou Faming asked in a deep voice: "Is Yu Wenzhi's retreat to the south a hasty one, or an orderly one?"

Master Qiu said, "It should be somewhere in between. Yu Wenzhi never planned to stay in Shu for a long time. He always wanted to leave Shu via the Three Gorges Road, so he had made preparations long ago. He did not build a new palace, but packed up all kinds of supplies and stored them in a warehouse at the Minjiang Wharf. Once he was ready, he could retreat south at any time.

But Yu Wenzhi did not expect that the 100,000 Tang Wang troops would come so quickly. He urgently issued an order to requisition ships. Seeing the northern defense troops surrendering one after another, he could only lead the 80,000 defenders in Chengdu to retreat southward. Judging from their marching route, they should have a large number of ships following them. "

Zhou Faming looked at the map carefully and found that it was true. If the other party had gone through Fuling County, the distance would have been shorter, but they took a detour to Yibin County and then went east along the Yangtze River from Yibin County. This was a typical freight route. There was only one explanation: the other party brought a large number of ships.

Zhou Faming smiled and said, "I also brought 3,000 naval forces and 60 elite warships, which are enough to defeat the enemy's navy. Let's plan carefully how to fight this battle."

Yu Wenzhi led an army of 80,000 and marched south along the official road on the north bank of the Yangtze River. After passing the fertile Chengdu Plain, they had arrived at the southernmost part of the plain. This area was all hilly and mountainous. The Yangtze River meandered eastward among the mountains. The 80,000-strong army could only move forward with difficulty on the narrow official road. The so-called official road was only slightly better than the rugged mountain road. There was no way of riding in a carriage. There were only a few thousand mules and donkeys carrying some temporary supplies. There were no war horses, and the soldiers could only march hard on their own two legs.

The soldiers complained all the way. It was obvious that there was a wealthy and densely populated area a hundred miles to the east, where they could plunder along the way. However, in order to protect the treasures and supplies on the ship, they could only travel along the Minjiang River.

Now there is no village in front and no shop behind. There is no human figure for dozens of miles. There are mountains everywhere, one after another, and the soldiers are in despair.

That evening, the soldiers rested on the spot and started to cook. Unlike the Jiangnan navy, they did not have honeycomb coal. They had to chop wood, and they did not have convenient stoves. They had to dig holes in the ground to make stoves. They did not have tents. The tents were all on the boats. There were cliffs all the way here, and the ships could not dock to unload cargo.

Their only hope was 5,000 donkeys and mules, which carried enough food for 80,000 troops for five days, and they would get another supply from the ship after five days. Their last supply was the day before yesterday in Luchuan County, and now it has been two days. After today's meal, they can still last two days, but where can they get the next supply?

In a marching tent, Yu Wenzhi was anxiously thinking about this problem. Sima Dekan, the Prince of Henei and the general, pointed to the map and said, "Your Majesty, Jiangjin County is 50 miles ahead. We should be able to get supplies in Jiangjin County."

Yu Wenzhi said angrily: "You idiot, don't I know? Jiangjin County is on the south bank of the Yangtze River, and we are on the north bank of the Yangtze River. The north bank is full of cliffs. How can we get supplies?"

Sima Dekan was also very annoyed. He had advised him to set up storage and supply points along the way, but he did not listen and thought that the ship could be supplied at any time. Now he realized that it was not so easy to supply a large ship, but he blamed himself. What could he achieve by following such a coward?
Sima Dekan began to harbor murderous intent.

The team stopped to rest, but the fleet could not dock as there were cliffs on both sides of the area, so the fleet could only continue to drift slowly downstream.

Yu Wenzhi's fleet was very large, with about two thousand ships, but they were basically medium-sized ships of about one thousand stones. Among them, there were nearly four hundred warships, and the rest were cargo ships loaded with various treasures and supplies.

Yu Wenzhi's treasures mainly came from the Western Sui Dynasty, and various weapons, copper, iron, cloth and other strategic materials came from Emperor Yang Guang's southern expedition.

The fleet arrived at Jiangjin County ahead of time. There was a big circular turn here, and the fleet began to dock and stop, waiting for the arrival of the army behind.

But at this moment, a fleet of warships came from the east.

The fleet coming towards them was none other than the sixty five thousand shi warships led by Shen Guang. They were all chariot ships, with fifty soldiers and more than twenty rowers and helmsmen on each ship.

Now the naval general is called Tianjing General. Like Yingyang General, Huoqi General and Huben General, Tianjing General represents the navy.

But this title is only used during combat. Usually, Shen Guang's military rank is Lieutenant General of the Second Class. If he is leading cavalry in combat, his title will be changed to Lieutenant General of the Cavalry. Now that he is fighting in the navy, his title is naturally Lieutenant General of the Heavenly Whale.

Shen Guang squinted his eyes and looked at the dense enemy ships in the distance. He hadn't encountered such an opportunity to make merit in a long time. If he won this battle, he would be promoted to the rank of General of the Central Army.

"Dang! Ding! Ding!" The alarm bells of the warships in the distance sounded loudly, they discovered the Sui army warships.

Four hundred and thirty warships left the shore and rushed towards the sixty warships on the opposite side.

Although the enemy warships were large in size, their number was small. With seven to one, they could easily use wolf pack tactics to drag down and annihilate the enemy.

Shen Guang sneered. They really overestimated their own abilities. Instead of running away, they wanted to attack him. Since they wanted to die, he would grant their wish!

"Catapults ready!"

Shen Guang shouted loudly. The warship he was on was the flagship, with red and yellow flags hoisted. The red flag represented combat, and the yellow flag represented the preparation of main combat weapons. The main combat weapons of various warships were different, including bows and crossbows, racketeering poles, and ramming weapons, but here with Shen Guang, the main combat weapon was the iron fire thunder crossbow cannon.

The crossbows on sixty warships were put in place, the huge strings were stretched out, and the soldiers placed wooden boxes containing iron fire bombs on the firearms position next to the crossbows. A soldier loaded a fifty-jin iron fire bomb into the launching slot.

(End of this chapter)

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