In the cabin, Zeng Jinghai unfolded a map of Guangzhou, and he said to Kang Bao: "I have been paying attention to Wei Chihu's movements, and I found that he also attaches great importance to the naval army, and sent his brother-in-law Huang Jixiang to lead two thousand troops into Panyu, controlling more than 100 warships in Panyu Port, and sending the general Wang Jian to Bao'an County with hundreds of soldiers, obviously also wanting to control nearly 100 warships in Bao'an. ”

Kang Bao pondered for a moment and asked, "How many troops does Wei Chihu have in his hands now?" ”

"About 16,000 people."

Li Yang frowned, "Will there be so many?" It must be around 11,000 people! “

Zeng Jinghai shook his head, "Gongzi doesn't know, after Wei Chihu occupied the South China Sea, he turned all the 5,000 militia soldiers into regular soldiers, making his strength reach 16,000 people, and it is said that he will also recruit a group of Yi soldiers in the northern part of Lingnan, their family has a close relationship with the Yi people, and it may be that the leaders of the Yi people will support them." ”

At this time, Sima Yang Huihe, who accompanied the army, said in a low voice: "General Kang, I have a plan to defeat the enemy army!" ”

He pointed to the map and whispered a few words, and everyone nodded again and again, taking advantage of the asymmetry of information to catch the enemy by surprise, which was really a clever plan.

.........

The fleet went to Xinhui in a mighty way, 30,000 troops landed in Xinhui County, rested for a day, Zeng Jinghai led 2,000 soldiers to kill in the direction of Panyu County by land, Kang Bao also personally led 30,000 troops, under the leadership of the guide, detoured to the direction of Panyu County.

At this time, it is the late spring and early summer in the north, and the area of Guangzhou is also very hot, but the Han people in this area have been cultivating for a long time, in addition to the hot climate, there is basically no difference with the south bank of the Yangtze River, there are endless rice fields everywhere, the rice in the paddy fields has grown lushly, you can see the farmers driving the buffalo everywhere passing by the ridges, there are also a series of waterwheels standing by the small river, there are many rivers, the land is fertile, it is completely a scene of a vibrant water town.

This made Kang Bao very emotional, he rode a horse and said to everyone: "Everyone says that Lingnan is full of miasma and is a wild place, but now it seems that this is not the case at all, I think that except for being hot, it is no different from Jiangnan at all!" ”

The guide smiled: "There are also wild places, mainly in the northwest mountainous area, there is a reckless mountain, the territory of Miaoyi, after the opening of the Meiguan Road in the Great Yuling, it is not a problem to go to Ganzhou by land, the caravans are endless, especially the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion, and many northern farmers moved along the Meiguan Road, there may be hundreds of thousands!" My grandfather moved from Huaibei and brought a big family, started a family here, and slowly took root. ”

Kang Baorao asked with interest: "How does this place compare with your hometown?" ”

The guide scratched his head and said: "I haven't been to Huaibei's hometown, I can't say, but our side of the Xijiang River is a fertile plain along the lower reaches of the river, it is said that Zhao Tuo of the Qin Dynasty led an army of 400,000 to the south, overcoming thorns and thorns, developing a large area of land, laying a good foundation, agriculture has been very good, before the Anshi Rebellion, Nanhai County is a first-class and prosperous city, business is no less than Yangzhou, there are more than 200,000 Persian merchants living in Guangzhou alone, although it is not as good as before, but there are still many merchants from Nanyang countries will come, There were also quite a few Great Eaters and Persian merchants. ”

"Are there more big ships in Guangzhou now?"

"How so? There are many folk sea ships, there are special business houses that rent sea ships, Persians and big cannibals all take our sea ships, and the sea ships that go to the South Seas are also ours. ”

"What about the government's ships?" Kang Bao asked again.

"The government also has sea ships, but I heard that they are frozen, there are many merchants who want to buy them, but the king does not sell them, if the general is interested, you can go to the east of Panyu to have a look, they are all over there."

There is a relatively spacious official road from Xinhui to Nanhai County, and it takes three days to march, Zeng Jinghai led 2,000 troops to arrive in Panyu County first.

Panyu County is a harbor county, close to the wharf, the inhabitants here come from a complex source, almost half of the people are from overseas, there are big cannibals, Persian and merchants from the South Seas, they have lived in Guangzhou for many years, have married wives and children here, and become a member of the Tang Dynasty.

The population of Panyu county is not much, mainly warehouses, there are thousands of large and small warehouses in the county, many foreigners become businessmen, and the spices, precious stones, precious wood, blankets, tinware, medicinal materials and other materials shipped from overseas are marketed to the Central Plains, and silk, porcelain and various exquisite daily necessities are transported to overseas for sale.

In this way, the Maritime Silk Road was supported by thousands of Hu merchants.

It was noon when Zeng Jinghai arrived in Panyu County, he ordered his soldiers to rest in a vacant lot twenty miles away from the county seat, it was still early, it was estimated that 30,000 imperial troops had not yet arrived, and he wanted to create an opportunity for Kangbao's imperial army.

Until nightfall, a soldier rushed to you and said, "General, General Kang asked me to inform you that they are already in place!" ”

Zeng Jinghai nodded and ordered: "The hour has come, all the brothers get up and prepare to go!" ”

Two thousand soldiers got up, packed their bags and set off, and when they were still five or six miles away from the county seat, they were discovered by the patrol soldiers of Panyu County, and they rushed back to the county seat to report to the chief general Huang Jixiang.

Huang Jixiang was shocked, more than half of his two thousand soldiers went out to test the ship, and the defenders in the city were only five or six hundred, Zeng Jinghai actually seized this opportunity to kill.

While Zeng Jinghai's army had not yet been killed, Huang Jixiang hurriedly ordered his subordinates to rush to Nanhai County for help.

Zeng Jinghai did not carry siege weapons, and he did not come to attack the city, he led the army to the dock and occupied Jinan Bay.

Jinan Bay is a bay where ships gather, there are hundreds of large and small warships, some of the small patrol ships have been sailed out of the sea by soldiers to test the ship, dozens of warships above a thousand stones are basically there, because they have not been used for many years, before the shipwright thoroughly inspects the damage, no soldiers dare to use them for the time being.

The news quickly spread to the county seat, Huang Jixiang's mood was quite complicated, it turned out that Zeng Jinghai came to snatch the warship, and he made a little fuss, thinking that he was here to attack the county seat, in fact, think about it, the other party did not carry any siege weapons, what did they use to attack the city?

However, Huang Jixiang also found that this was also an opportunity, if the reinforcements could arrive in time, maybe they could wipe out Zeng Jinghai's army.

Panyu County is less than 20 miles away from Nanhai County, it is actually the harbor city of Nanhai County, if the population is large enough to expand Nanhai City, the two counties can be connected as one.

Wei Chihu received Huang Jixiang's request for help, this news made him overjoyed, and Yu Chihu was also ready to lead the army to Xinhui County to exterminate Zeng Jinghai, but he didn't expect him to send it to the door himself.

Wei Chihu immediately ordered his brother Yu Chiqing to rush to Panyu with 5,000 soldiers.

"Be sure to bring Zeng Jinghai's head back to me."

In the night, the gate of Nanhai City opened, and Wei Chiqing led 5,000 soldiers to rush out of the city and rushed straight to Panyu County, 20 miles away.

In the past few days, Wei Chiqing has been holding back the fire in his belly, he feels that his brother has too many concerns, this family can't be touched, that wealthy family can't be killed, he originally wanted to take a few wealthy families after occupying Nanhai County, especially those maritime merchants, one by one, they are rich and rival the country, copy a few, and the brothers can make a small fortune.

Wei Chiqing attaches more importance to the soldiers, this time he occupied Nanhai County, and the soldiers who followed them south found nothing, complaining, and Wei Chiqing was also in a panic in his heart, this anger was held in his heart, so that he secretly made up his mind, no matter what the eldest brother said, this time he must rob more than a dozen maritime merchants in Panyu County, especially those Persian merchants and big food merchants, aren't they just a group of fat and strong sheep?

"Speed up, after killing Zeng Jinghai, we will grab another vote from his mother and add some foreign wealth to everyone!"

No one is rich or foreign, and under the encouragement of Wei Chiqing, the soldiers are full of expectations, gearing up and speeding up the march.

Twenty miles of travel, that is, most of the time, soon, they were only five miles away from Panyu County, and the shadow of Panyu County could be faintly seen in the distance.

It was the hour of the first watch, and a crescent moon loomed among the clouds, and the earth became bright and dark, and they passed through a wilderness, and suddenly there was a sound of bangs, 'Bang! Bang! Bang! Suddenly 10,000 arrows were fired in the dark, 5,000 soldiers were caught off guard, and suddenly screams rang out, and a piece of soldiers were shot down by crossbow arrows, and the soldiers of the Lingnan Army were mainly based on leather armor, and they could not resist the powerful penetration of crossbow arrows at all, and more than 2,000 people were hit by arrows in the first round of arrows.

Wei Chiqing was the only general on horseback and the key target of the soldiers, he was hit by hundreds of arrows, shot like a hedgehog, and died on the spot.

"There is an ambush! There is an ambush! ”

The soldiers shouted in horror, and then the second round of arrows was fired, and half of the remaining soldiers were shot down, and two rounds of crossbow arrows were fired, and only more than 1,000 of the 5,000 soldiers were left without being hit by the arrows.