Early the next morning, a large golden light appeared on the horizon far away from Gaomi Military Port, and a round of red sun rose where the water and sky met.

More than a thousand knights from the west saw this scene and slowly slowed down rapidly.

"Dong'er, are we there?" The heroic Yang Qinfang was full of surprise and joy when she saw the Xuanjia Army slowly stopping.

Not long ago, she and Yin Mingyue went to Xiangyang, and after the two killed Dugu Huaien, they took a group of Shura guards and killed a few disciples of the Dugu family, and successfully blamed Li Yuan. In order not to keep up with Yang Tong's itinerary to the south, the two ran back to Luoyang, and finally arrived on the day of Yang Tong's departure, which made the two women very happy.

"We're here!"

Yang Tong also slowed down his horse's speed and ran non-stop for a few days, and they finally arrived at their destination, Gaomi Military Port.

This is the first time Yang Tong has arrived at this military port, and he will ride the wind and waves and go on an expedition to the south.

"Dong'er, aren't we going to fight in the south? How did you get to the beach? Yang Qinfang asked puzzled.

Yang Tong smiled but did not answer, and at this time, a group of cavalry rushed in the distance, led by five generals. One is Wei Chigong, one is Su Dingfang, one is Xue Wanche, one is Niu Jinda, and the other is Zhang Zhenzhou, the governor of the navy.

There are also four other people, they are the captains of the navy's fleets, Zhou Shaode, and Ma Guiqian, the son of Zhou Faming.

Zhou Faming's grandfather was Zhou Lingqi, the general of the Southern Liang Cavalry, his father was Zhou Jiong, the governor of Southern Chen, and his second brother Zhou Fashang, the general of Wuwei of the Sui Dynasty. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, Zhou Faming guarded Jiangxia County, sent three sons to attack the three counties of Chuyang, Yong'an, and Qichun, and followed Yang Qi's Southern Sui, hoping that the imperial court would send troops to take over, but Yang Qi's imperial court never could hit the Jingzhou area, and after two years of hard work, the father and son had no food inside and no reinforcements outside, so they were forced to surrender to Xiao Miao, and later followed to the Great Sui.

The Zhou family is good at water warfare, and Zhou Faming is now assisting Qin Qiong in Jiangxia with his second son Zhou Xiaojie and third son Zhou Shao. The eldest son, Zhou Shaode, and Ma Guiqian, the general, went to serve in Gaomi Military Port and became Zhang Zhenzhou's generals.

Everyone urged them to step forward, clasped their fists and saluted: "See the saint!" ”

Yang Tong said solemnly: "Lone is Yang Yu, the king of the Tang Dynasty of the Great Sui, and the generals have recognized the wrong person." ”

Yang Yu sat in Nanyang in the name of the emperor, and Yang Tong added the title of 'Yang Yu' as the Qingxu Inspector Imperial History, responsible for supervising the hundred officials of the two states of Qingxu, inspecting the counties and counties, correcting the prisons, and purging the court.

When everyone heard Yang Tong say this, they all burst into laughter.

Yang Tong smiled and asked, "Have the troops arrived?" ”

"On the Holy Side, the 60,000 troops of the First Army have arrived at the military port!"

Yang Tong asked Xiang Zhenzhou again: "Where are the food supplies and siege equipment?" Has it been shipped on board? ”

Zhang Zhenzhou, who had tanned his skin, said energetically: "It's all on the boat, and you can leave at any time." ”

"Let's go, let's go!"

Yang Tong urged the horse to go to the dock, Yang Qinfang and Yin Mingyue and other generals of the Sui Xuanjia Army only reacted at this time, it turned out that they went directly to the south by boat, and did not participate in the Qingxu battlefield that Yang Gongren was responsible for.

Yang Qinfang was curious, and urged him to step forward and ask Wei Chigong in a low voice, "Duke Eguo, where are we going?" ”

Wei Chigong knew that Shura Wei was good at assassination, and sometimes it could play a role in turning things around, and Yang Qinfang was already a general of Shura Wei, so he was not surprised that she went on the expedition with the army, he bowed down and smiled: "The military plane is top secret, Your Highness will not ask, in short, it will not disappoint you." ”

He smiled and rode his horse to follow Yang Tong. Yang Qinfang saw that Wei Chi Gong didn't want to say more, so he had no choice but to draw his war horse and follow closely.

The sea has been filled with large five-tooth warships, fighting ships, warships, bridge ships, go-boats, walkers, red horses, scouts, etc. The building ship and the fighting ship are the main warships, and the ships are mainly used for raids; Red horses and scouts are used for sentry. In addition, there were many large sea vessels that carried troops, food, horses, and weapons and equipment

From a distance, like a mountain that stretches for dozens of miles as far as the eye can see, more than 2,000 sea ships seem to be awakened from the night, revealing their vitality, during which warships continue to sail in and out.

At this time, the wharf was extremely busy, dozens of wooden towers several feet high were erected high next to the wharf, and dozens of soldiers shouted slogans and turned the winch. Between the rotation of the long rope, bales of heavy grain were hoisted high and sent smoothly to the large ship moored on the shore. Also loaded onto the big ship were bundles of heavy siege engines and armor tents that had been dismantled.

This kind of busy scene has actually started half a month ago, and after half a month of day and night fighting, most of the supplies have been on board.

In the open space hundreds of steps away from the wharf, there are more than 2,000 tents stationed, stretching for more than 20 miles, which is the place where the officers and men of the First Army are stationed. Not long ago, there were hundreds of thousands of troops coming and going in Henan County, which was dizzying, and the forces of all parties did not know that the officers and men of the First Army secretly rushed to the military port by boat at that time, and by three days, all the 60,000 troops had arrived, plus more than 40,000 naval officers, and 100,000 troops had been secretly assembled here.

It can be said that everything is in place now, just wait for the commander Yang Tong to give an order, and the fleet will be able to leave the military port for an expedition to Jiangnan.

"Holy!" Someone not far away suddenly shouted loudly, Yang Tong looked back, only to see the Xuanjia Army get out of the way, two men in short clothes were running towards this side, he couldn't help laughing, these two people are Li Chun and Yu Wenwen, the left and right waiters of the Ministry of Works, and the two of them will also go out with the army and be responsible for managing the craftsman battalion.

The two galloped forward, threw stirrups and dismounted, and stepped forward to salute together: "Weichen see the saint!" ”

"When the army is out, pay attention to efficiency; You don't have to bring those false courtesies to the army! Yang Tong motioned for the second minister to be exempted.

"Wechen obeys." Li Chun and Yu Wenwen hurriedly got up

Yang Tong knew that these two people were extremely skilled, and their arrival meant that the skilled craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry were in place, so he asked with great interest: "How many people have come from the Ministry of Industry?" ”

Li Chun, the left attendant of the Ministry of Industry, replied: "Yusheng, half a year ago, in order to complete the task of the expedition to Lingnan, the Ministry of Industry sent more than 3,000 craftsmen to Gaomi Military Port to make warships day and night, but the progress was far from keeping up, so more than 4,000 craftsmen were hired from the people, all of whom were good shipbuilders. ”

Yang Tong was very embarrassed to hear this, he was hot-headed at the beginning, and set a battle plan to go south by boat and expedition to Lingnan, but the result was that he couldn't keep up with anything, so the plan of the expedition to Lingnan could not be implemented for a long time and was forced to be suspended; But fortunately, the ships that were built urgently were not in vain, and they came in handy after all.

He nodded and said to everyone, "Everyone go to the big tent of the Chinese army to discuss matters." ”

As he spoke, he led the people to run to the tent.

The big tent of the Chinese army is located in the east of the camp, and the sand table transported from Luoyang is being spliced by craftsmen, the circumference of this sand table is five zhang, and the Central Plains, Jizhou, Youzhou, Liaodong, Bingzhou, Yongzhou, Liangzhou, Bashu, Jingzhou, Yangzhou and Lingnan and other places are all visible. This sand table is exquisitely made, and the famous mountains, rivers, lakes and official roads are presented in an intuitive way, just like the sand table map of the world.

The sand table has not yet been fully arranged, and the left and right marching Sima Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui each hold a map, and Fang Xuanling commands more than a dozen military garrison soldiers to plant small flags on the city, and Du Ruhui is responsible for correction.

Secretary Lang Yu Shinan watched silently from the side, reminding Fang Xuanling from time to time.

Yang Tong knew that Yu Shinan, who was famous for his loyalty, friendship, blog, rhetoric, and scholars, was not a military talent, but what he liked was Yu Shinan's understanding of Jiangnan.

Yu Shinan is a person in the south of the Yangtze River, the family is very good, when he was a teenager, he worked hard and thought unremittingly, sometimes he did not wash his face or comb his hair for more than ten days, and after learning something, he traveled to the land of Jiangnan and visited Confucian scholars and calligraphers from all walks of life. In the period of the Great Cause, Yu Shinan was successively awarded the title of secretary and promoted to the living house. With Yu Xuan and Yu Zizhi, he was ordered to compile "Changzhou Jade Mirror" and "Ou Yu Tuzhi", "Changzhou Jade Mirror" is based on the "Hualin Through" compiled by Emperor Wu of Liang in the Southern Dynasty, with a total of more than 400 volumes; Comparatively speaking, the "Atlas of the Districts" is even more remarkable, and this monumental work records the customs, historical facts, products, geography and other conditions of various counties and counties across the country. As one of the editors-in-chief of "Ou Yu Tuzhi", Yu Shinan's understanding of the geography of the world is countless times higher than that of the Great Sui monarchs and ministers. Having such a geographer by his side would at least give the Sui army one more chance of winning.

Yu Shinan has always wanted to say a few words to Yang Tong, but there is always no chance to be alone, at this time, seeing Yang Tong standing in front of the sand table watching, he stepped forward and bowed, and said in a low voice: "Shengshang, Weichen has a few words, I don't know whether to say it or not." ”

Yang Tong said with a smile: "I have always disliked to engage in Yiyantang, there is something to say, but it doesn't hurt to say it!" ”

"Although Weichen is not familiar with military affairs, he also knows that this trick is extremely clever to hide from the sky and cross the sea, but the seven counties of Huaibei and the eastern part of Jianghuai are occupied by Li Mi, and my Great Sui Navy will go south along the coast, and if it wins, it will take the Jiangdu City directly, and when the news of the loss of the rear reaches the ears of the enemy's main general, the Wei army, who is worried about his parents, wives and children, will surely shake the army's heart and be uneasy. But in case the battle reaches a stalemate, and Zuo Servant and General Du Fuwei are unable to open the situation for a long time, our army will become a helpless and helpless lone army. As the king of a country, the saint shoulders the important task of unifying the world and the stability of the country, and his personal safety is related to the fate of a country. Why did the saint go to the danger and personally lead the army to fight Li Mi? ”

"I also know that my safety is related to the peace of the world, and I really shouldn't put on armor and lead the army to fight in person."

Yu Shinan was even more puzzled in his heart, but he didn't come out to disturb, only to hear Yang Tong say again: "I asked the right servant to shoot Yang Shanhui in Nanyang to clamp down on the Tang army of Chungling, and the general Xue Wanjun garrisoned Xiyang, and with Li Jing as the commander-in-chief, the army of 200,000 troops was stationed in Huai'an, and the troops were pointed directly at Erli, so that the two sides could not join forces." Duan Decao and Shi Jin, who sat in Nanjun, were Li Shimin, who was guarding against Yiling, and Qin Qiong was stationed in Jiangxia, which made Lin Shihong unable to support Li Mi. On the Qingxu battlefield, there are 100,000 troops led by Zuo Servant, Xie Yingdeng in Yingchuan, Du Fuwei and Yao Junsu in Jianghuai, and Luo Shixin as a mobile army in the middle. With such a large battle, it only needs to advance steadily from north to south and from west to east, and it will soon be able to recover the seven counties of Huaibei, which is more than enough to deal with just one Li Mi. However, after the end of the military, it will also involve matters such as the post-war reconstruction and stability of Jiangnan, and if Jiangnan is unstable, it is very likely that new separatist forces will appear, and this will have to be done. ”

Yu Shinan nodded, and then asked, "Listening to the tone of the saint, it seems that he values Jiangnan very much?" ”

"Of course!" Yang Tong smiled and said: "The division between the north and the south has lasted for hundreds of years, and they are hostile to each other, after the establishment of the Great Sui Dynasty, although the north and the south were quickly unified, but it was only a formal unity, the emperor's grandfather dug the Grand Canal, improved the status of the Jiangdu, reused the people in the south, reduced taxes, and benefited the people of the south of the Yangtze River, these are actually excellent measures." However, the battle to destroy Chen only destroyed the Chen Dynasty, and did not completely destroy the old system in Jiangnan in a bloody way, which led to the fact that the old southern forces represented by the Jiangnan Shi clan were still very strong. Therefore, the means of the imperial grandfather's concession have never allowed the north and the south to achieve the unity of people's hearts, on the contrary, these Jiangnan scholars are not grateful for the emperor's grandfather's goodwill, they are not satisfied with the court's giving, all of them have to inch in, they have to get more and more. This point can be seen from the performance of the Jiangnan Shi clan after the Jiangdu Change. ”

Yu Shinan was silent when he heard this.

After the extermination of Chen, in the long years to the middle of the Great Cause, the place where the most rebellions were made was in the southern land, and there were large and small rebellions and rebellions, all of which had the shadow of the Jiangnan Shi clan. After the Jiangdu Change, none of the Jiangnan Shi clan watched coldly, none of them cared about Yang Guang's life or death, and none of them voiced their opposition to Yu Wenhua, and they all took the opportunity to expand their own power territory, and supported Li Zitong and Shen Faxing to plot the world, trying to divide the river and rule. It can be seen that Yang Guang did not influence a Jiangnan scholar family from the time of King Jin to the eve of the change in Jiangdu.

What is the reason?

Naturally, it is the deep-rooted influence of the old forces in the south of the Yangtze River, these families are immortal, and the people in the south have always been kidnapped by them to their chariots, and the imperial court is afraid that the world that has finally settled down will be in turmoil again, and it does not dare to attack the southern scholars who have kidnapped the people in the south. So to some extent, you can only sit back and watch them grow step by step.

In line with the idea that 'county officials are not as good as being in charge', the local people do not dare to resist the local family lords, so that they can recklessly collect wealth in the name of the court and harm the people, so that the court will bear the blame for their crimes. In other words, the old forces in the south are the big obstacle to the great unification of the hearts of the people in the north and the south.

At this time, Yang Tong said: "War is the best means to defeat the old forces, only by annihilating these people, can the imperial decrees be implemented unimpeded, the people can enjoy the favorable policies of the imperial court, and the light and meager endowments can be implemented in place, and the local area can be truly stabilized." When the time comes, the southern tax can be used to support the imperial court to restore the livelihood of the people in the Central Plains. The current Central Plains is full of holes, and it is difficult for the savings of the north to support the land of Henan after the war, and only with the rich resources of the south can the imperial court quickly tide over the difficulties after the war. Among them, it is necessary for me, the emperor, to come forward and promise, so that the people can believe that the imperial court treats everyone equally, regardless of their crime of being a thief, and only in this way can the people of the south be able to produce with peace of mind and deliver money, grain and materials to the Central Plains. ”

Yang Tong is telling the truth, the reason why the historical Li Tang Dynasty was able to quickly recover the economy and achieve the rule of Zhenguan. The reason is that the Grand Canal of the Sui Dynasty was relied on to transport money and grain from the south to the north in a steady stream. The prosperity of the Kaiyuan Dynasty in the Middle and Tang Dynasty was also due to the dredging of Caoyun, which made a large number of materials in the south transported to the north, thus making Guanzhong and the north of the materials unprecedentedly prosperous.

The two prosperity of the Li Tang Dynasty and the Anshi Rebellion lasted for more than 100 years, in fact, they were all benefited from the Grand Canal dug by the Sui Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, Zhao Da simply built the capital in Kaifeng, on the bank of the canal.

Yu Shinan finally understood Yang Dong's intentions, thinking of the southern land of two crops a year and three crops a year, and also very much agreed with Yang Tong's idea of attaching importance to the south, he pondered for a moment, and then said: "Shengshang, in this way, the upstream Bashu is extremely important. ”

Yang Tong said with a smile: "The world is not chaotic in Shu first, the world has been governed in Shu but not in governance, and the importance of Bashu is self-evident." The Qin Dynasty's attack on Chu and the Great Sui's destruction of Chen all started from Bashu, and I understand the strategic position of Bashu very well. ”

Yu Shinan nodded and said, "It's good that the saint understands, and he won't say anything more." ”

Yang Tong's thinking returned to the issue of this naval expedition, and now the general strategy has been decided, but many details need to be confirmed.

Yang Tong said to Zhang Zhenzhou on the side: "How much time does it take to get from here to the Yangtze River?" ”

Zhang Zhenzhou has rich sailing experience, and he has also walked this route many times, and immediately bowed down and said: "Qiqi Shengshang, if the wind is favorable, it can be reached within five days, and if it is against the wind, the slowest is only about ten days." ”

Speaking of the direction of the wind, Fang Xuanling, who arrived in advance, said: "In the past few days, I have found that the wind blows from the south, and occasionally there is also a north wind, and the wind direction seems to be uncertain. ”

This is also the most crucial question that Yang Tong wants to understand, that sailing is different from a land march, and the march is full of many unpredictable dangers.

Emperor Wen led an army of 300,000 by sea and land with the Han kings Yang Liangxie, Gao Gong, Wang Shiji, and the general Zhou Luohu to attack Goguryeo. Gao Gong and Wang Shiji are both famous generals who have experienced a hundred battles, the former Gao Gong is shrewd and capable, fighting outside and inside, leveling Nan Chen, and his military exploits are brilliant; The latter destroyed Chen, Dingyuzhang and Luling, which can be called invincible. However, when their 300,000 troops on land and water marched together, the army commander drove straight into the army and won a hundred battles, but the navy army responsible for logistics and supply encountered strong winds and waves, and most of the ships sank in the sea. Gao Gong and Wang Shiji, who went deep into the hinterland of Goguryeo, could not conquer the key fortresses, and the rainy season came, the land supply was completely interrupted, and the navy in charge of logistics was buried in the sea, resulting in the supply of grain and grass, and the 300,000 troops of Emperor Wen's expedition to Goguryeo finally ended in defeat, and ninety percent of the soldiers and horses were left on the land of Liaodong. If the navy arrived as scheduled, how could there be three subsequent expeditions to Goguryeo?

And Yang Tong also found that the flag foot was drifting to the north just now, indicating that it was now the southeast wind direction, which made him a little worried, for fear that his army would not be able to reach the mouth of the Yangtze River as scheduled.

As the governor of the Great Sui Navy, Zhang Zhenzhou has spent most of these years in the sea, and has a deep understanding of the navigation charts and wind directions in the southeast seas. He immediately replied: "Holy Lord, we are feeling the southeast wind now because the Taihang Mountains and Taishan Mountains in the distance block the north wind from the south, but it is actually the north wind blowing on the sea; If you come back to observe after the third watch in the evening, you will find that it has become a north wind and a northwest wind, but now it is a time when the wind direction is changing, and it will not be long before the north wind is replaced by the south wind, and this is the case every year. In order to get accurate information about the wind direction, the last general asked more than 1,000 experienced old fishermen over the years, and after confirming them one by one, he came to these conclusions. ”

Yang Tong asked, "How long will it take for the wind direction to change?" ”

Zhang Zhenzhou replied: "According to the climate of previous years, the wind direction will change in about ten days, but after the beginning of spring this year, the cold weather will be longer than usual, and it is estimated that the north wind will last longer." These warships are all newly built new ships, all using the labor-saving pulley combination researched by the Ministry of Industry and the Kaitian Academy, even if the sails are put away, with only manpower, they can reach the mouth of the Yangtze River within ten days. ”

"That's fine." Yang Tong breathed a sigh of relief, in this case, there was still time to do so, and he asked Fang Xuanling again, "How is the army prepared?" ”

Fang Xuanling understood what Yang Dong meant, and immediately bowed down and replied: "Your Excellency, all the supplies are ready, and the army can board the ship and set off at any time. ”

Yang Tong nodded slowly and said to the generals: "If the third is the north wind, then set off with a tailwind tonight!" ”

"Whoa." The crowd answered.

At this time, a personal guard quickly walked into the tent and submitted a military report to the front, Yang Tong took the military report and read it, and said to everyone overjoyed: "Lu, Gu, Zhang, Zhu, Shen, Wang, Xie and other Jiangnan Shi clan heads concentrated in the Lu family's villa, plotting to launch the Jiangdu Change, and the plot was not secret and was detected by Li Mi, and now it was suppressed by Li Mi's bloody victory, and the counties and counties in Jiangnan were in chaos, which is a godsend opportunity for our army to send troops." ”

Regarding his calculations, the deliberate leakage of the Black Ice Terrace, and other dark dishes that annihilated the Jiangnan Shi clan, which damaged his image of wisdom and martial arts, Yang Tong naturally ignored it.

"Heaven sent it!"

"Li Mi has done his own sin, and he cannot live."

“……”

The generals who don't know what to do are all smiling, they are all battle-hardened people, and they naturally know what it means for the enemy army to fall into civil strife.

Only Fang Du, who understood the truth, smiled at each other.

As for Yu Shinan, he sighed, so many Jiangnan Shi clans that had been inherited for hundreds of years were wiped out like this, and as a Jiangnan person, he still had this to accept.