In the empress's palace, the empress and her ministers discussed the advantages and disadvantages of Yan and Song and the Song army's combat methods.

In the end, the empress overrode public opinion and adopted Mengkuo's suggestion.

However, the empress's heart is like a mirror, the situation on the battlefield is ever-changing, and any carelessness may shatter Mengkuo's plan.

Therefore, all participants in the implementation plan must be thoughtful and cautious.

After all, this battle is related to the situation of the Song State in the next two or three years, and whether it can lay a solid foundation for the Song army to unify the country in the Yan and Song Dynasty hegemony.

No matter how difficult this upcoming battle is, and how many twists and turns it will encounter, the monarchs and ministers of the Song State must do their best, and the army and the people must unite to fight for this goal.

However, Song Qi, Qin Ming, and Han Tao still sneakily met at Song Qi's mansion to discuss the empress's intentions.

Today, the empress claimed in front of her ministers that she didn't care about the coup d'état of Song Qi, however, the empress transferred Song Qi and Qin Ming out of Kaifeng City and sent Guo Wanshan to lead the army north.

The empress's actions are more telling than her words and deeds, which inevitably worries Song Qi and Qin Ming.

Song Qi Mansion.

When the three of them met, Song Qi withdrew from the maid in the study, took a deep breath, and focused his eyes on Qin Ming and Han Tao.

With a sad expression, he said, "Prime Minister, General Han, the empress arranged, what objections do you have?" ”

Qin Ming's face was complicated, he stroked his beard, and said with a worried brow: "The empress arranged, this official is really puzzled, I can't guess whether Your Majesty trusts this official, or is afraid of this official." ”

"This king is also worried." Song Qi agreed, and then said with a bitter expression: "However, judging from General Han's situation, Your Majesty does not trust you and me. ”

Han Tao, Liu Zhuoya, and He Shanzhang went to Yan Kingdom, and the first two were captured alive in Handan and thrown into prison.

Han Tao was lucky, defeated by Ju Wentai and Huang Puxuan, and led the army to flee from the sea in a hurry, called the dragon boat to return to China.

However, when she returned to Kaifeng, the empress took all the remnants of Han Tao's account under Mengkuo's tent, and even Han Tao became a general under Mengkuo's tent.

Song Qi was dissatisfied with this matter, and Han Tao was also dissatisfied, but unfortunately, there was no excuse to open up to the empress.

"In this way, when the official leaves Kaifeng, there is more than one good luck," Qin Ming heard this, and his strength was weak.

The empress is back in power, and it is easy to clean him up.

He wanted to escape death, but he could only take advantage of the fact that he was leading the troops out, took out the clutches of the empress, and went into exile in other countries, surviving his life.

Song Qi waved his hand, refuted Qin Ming's conjecture, and said, "Prime Minister, things are not so bad that they are more than lucky. After all, at the beginning of the Yan and Song Dynasty hegemony, it was the time to employ people, and His Majesty would not do anything that harmed others and was not beneficial to himself. However, if the prime minister leads the naval division to fail in the battle, it will be difficult to make a comeback and fall into the situation of General Han.

However, if the prime minister wins a big victory, he will definitely contribute to the Song country.

Frankly speaking, His Majesty has left you and me an opportunity, and whether we can grasp it or not depends on your and my means. ”

"Seems to be such a reason!" Qin Ming looked up at Song Qi and bowed his head gently, if His Majesty did not trust them, at the beginning, he would not arrange for Song Qi to fight against the Chen State, and now, he would not arrange for him to lead the army to the Yan State.

Song Qi picked up the teacup, tasted the tea absentmindedly, and said to Qin Ming for a long time: "Prime Minister, conquer the Yan Kingdom, if you win, let it go, if you lose, no matter how much it costs, the Prime Minister must break through the Yan Water Division, go west against the current, and go to the west of the Song Kingdom." ”

"Don't worry, the prince." Qin Ming smiled bitterly, the three holes of the cunning rabbit, he didn't want to take this step until he had to.

Song Qi also knew that if he and Qin Ming led an army to the western part of the Song Kingdom, it would indicate that the Song State was in an all-round weak position in the Yan and Song Dynasty struggles.

They led their troops to flee to the western part of the Song Kingdom, and sooner or later the Song Kingdom would be divided, and I am afraid that they would completely lose the ability to compete for hegemony with Dayan.

........

Two days later, Qin Ming set off from Kaifeng with his cronies and traveled to the eastern coast under the stars.

Arriving in Song Dong, he summoned the generals and held a military meeting to expound the edict of the empress and proclaim his determination to defeat the Yanshui Division.

At this time, the Song court also sent officials to collect grain and grass and transport it to the southern part of the Song Kingdom, where it happened to receive the dragon boat when it arrived.

The next day, Qin Ming gathered the sailors, the momentum was like a rainbow, and he took a dragon boat and sailed along the coast. Mighty across the sea to the south.

Five days later, 1,000 Song Dragon ships, carrying more than 200,000 Song sailors, arrived at the mouth of the Yangtze River.

Received military rations and joined forces with Wu Yue's sailor who arrived early.

400,000 sailors, shuttling across the river, hundreds of boats competing for the current, shaking the sky and covering the sun, thousands of sails along the river against the current westward, huge fleet, as if the black dragon swaying in the Yangtze River, the momentum is majestic, as if to engulf the Yangtze River.

On the battleship, Qin Ming summoned Wu Yue's generals to discuss the battle plan.

This battle is related to his personal career, about the future of the Song Kingdom, and has an extremely far-reaching impact on Yan and Song, and must not be a child's play.

In addition, Qin Ming couldn't let go of his power in Kaifeng, and fled to the western part of the Song Kingdom, becoming a traitor who left a reputation for eternity.

Qin Ming, Li Cunjie, the general of the Yue State Naval Division, Mu Qianjun, the general of the Cai State Naval Division, and Nangong Yu, the general of the Wu State Naval Division, stood against the wind and stood quietly on the deck.

Looking at the sparkling river, Qin Ming ignored the cold river breeze in early spring, and took the lead and said: "General Li, General Mu, General Nangong, how powerful the Yan country is, I won't go into details,

This time, the 200,000 sailors of the Song State poured out, and the two countries of Wu and Yue also sent a large number of sailors, if they could not annihilate the Yan Shui Division on the river, the Wu-Yue and Song alliances would no longer have the ability to shake the Yan army.

Therefore, this general took the lead in expressing his position, in the war, regardless of the Wu Yue and Song Three Kingdoms Naval Division, for every Yan army killed, this will reward the same amount of money, if the Yan dragon ship is sunk, this will reward ten taels of gold.

I hope that the three generals will pass through the Wu Yue Water Division. ”

"General Qin, the Song State is bound to control the waters of the Yan Kingdom!" Li Cunjie heard the sound and said loudly.

However, the combat power of the Yanshui division is limited, the number is limited, and in the Yangtze River, it can only defeat the Cai Shui Division, which is isolated and has lost the source of food and grass, and wants to compete with the Wu Yue Song Shui Division, which undoubtedly hits the stone with an egg.

"General Qin, you overestimate Yanshui Division, in this way, General Qin is afraid that he will reward hundreds of thousands of dollars." Nangong Yu smiled secretly, a little sarcastic about Qin Ming.

"Money is something outside the body, you can't bring it in life, you can't take it in death, but if you can defeat Yanshui Master and cut off the connection between the north and south of Dayan, you will be famous for eternity." Qin Ming said.

He can't tell Li Cunjie and Nangong Yu to plot against the Song Kingdom, so he can only use personal honor and disgrace as an excuse to show the importance of this battle.

"In this case, the Yanshui Master should be annihilated."

"Well, General Qin's words will be passed on to Wu Guoshui."

Hearing the sound, Qin Ming stood quietly on the deck, silent, he wanted to annihilate the Yanshui Division in one battle, take the Yangtze River as the boundary, cut off the Yan Kingdom, and gradually annex the Yan Kingdom.

.........

Jianghe City, a city bordering the Song Kingdom.

Here, in the base camp of the Yanguo Water Division, more than 100,000 water divisions, all garrisoned in Jianghe City, beware of Wu Yue Song Water Division, and broke into the waters of Yan State.

In order to test the Yanshui Division, the Wuyue Song Naval Division would often break into the waters of the Yan Kingdom, and when the Yan army pursued them by boat, they would flee again, and occasionally there would be fierce battles, and the Yanshui Division would win less and lose more.

At this moment, in the handsome tent, Han Xiandang, Jian Yuyan, Su Pei, and Gu Lefeng are receiving two important guests, Chen Tang and Guo Huai, who once had a pivotal position in Chen Guo's court.

When Song Qi led his troops to fight against Chen, Chen Tang personally led the army to block the front line, and Guo Huai gave advice to Dugu Shuo in the rear.

It's a pity that the Song State is too powerful, and for the Chen State, which only has six southeastern counties left, the Song State is undoubtedly a behemoth.

In addition, in the summer, the Chen army was beaten by the Song army and abandoned its armor, and the morale of the whole army was low.

The Chen army was defeated, and Chen Tang fled in embarrassment and joined Dugu Shuo and Guo Huai.

The three of them were in exile in Yueguo, and they planned to seek a place to live in Yueguo, and then try to make a comeback.

However, the Wu-Yue-Song Alliance, in order to win over the Song Kingdom, Yue Jun handed them over to the empress, if the two of them had not fled in advance, at this moment, they would probably have been imprisoned in Kaifeng City.

There was no place in the south, so they had to take the risk of crossing the river and taking refuge in the Yan Kingdom.

Although Dugu Shuo succeeded to the throne and abolished the alliance with Yan State, now Chen Guo has shot himself in the foot and was annexed by Song State, but at least Chen Guo still has Dugu Jiayi, at least it can be proved that Yan and Chen are married.

They believed that Dugu Jiayi was there, and the north was becoming more and more clear, and there would eventually be a war between Yan and Song, so they ventured to Jiangbei and left to Han Xiandang's military tent, hoping that Han Xiandang would introduce them to Emperor Yan.

At this time, on the embankment in the north of the Yangtze River, a messenger voice suddenly came, and the other party rode his horse forward quickly, and went straight to Han Xiandang's garrison barracks.

All the way to the horse, rush forward.

Soon the messenger arrived at the barracks, handed over his horse to the guards below the gate, and hurried straight to the tent.

At this moment, the messenger hurriedly walked in, noticed that the handsome tent was held, and held a banquet, and still reported: "Report, General, Lord Jane, the big thing is not good, there are thousands of warships on the east side of the Yangtze River, going up the river and advancing westward rapidly." ”

Hearing this, Han Xiandang was so shocked that he put down his wine glass, got up and asked, "What's going on, tell me clearly?" ”

Not long ago, Chen Tang and Guo Huai, in order to prove their sincerity to the Yan army, they separately mentioned that the Song State might attack the Yan State Navy Division and cut off the connection between the north and the south of the Yan State.

The messenger didn't dare to hesitate, and hurriedly said: "The spies report that the warships swaying on the river, most of them are Song State dragon boats, and there are a small number of dragon boats, trying to break into the waters of Dayan, which seems to be testing our army's defenses. ”

For a while, Han Xian's face was complicated, he was afraid of something, and said in a cold tone: "Probe again, find out the number and intentions of the other party." ”

When the messenger left, Han Xiandang was furious and said, "What is Song Jun going to do, don't you really take me Han Xiandang in your eyes?" ”

"General Han, don't be impatient, the intentions of the Song army are unclear, we need to wait with peace of mind and think about it in the long run." Su Pei was also nervous, picked up the wine glass, and drank it all.

Yan Shuishi spent several months defeating Cai Shuishi, and when the opponent ran out of arrows, he still failed to inflict heavy losses, so Mu Junchen led the remaining warships and sailors to flee to the waters of Yue and take refuge in Yue Guo.

Today, the Yanshui Division is still very weak and absolutely incapable of fighting against the Song Shui Division, which has thousands of warships.

"General Su, don't worry, it's a big deal to fight with the Song State Water Division on the river." Gu Lefeng's expression was resolute and a little unyielding.

Han Xiandang, Su Pei, and Gu Lefeng were in charge of the Yan State Water Division, Jian Yuyan was a three-person strategist, and the four led the army to sway the Yangtze River to ensure the connection between the north and south of the Yan Kingdom.

At this time, Jian Yuyan stood up and said, "General Han, General Su, General Gu, no matter what the intentions of the Song army are, we must quickly report the situation of the Yangtze River to the emperor, I always feel that things are not as simple as they seem."

Moreover, there were only 200,000 sailors in the Song Kingdom, and in the words of the messenger, there were thousands of warships swaying on the river, indicating that Wu Yue's sailors were more or less involved in this war. ”

"Lord Jane, whether to wait for the messenger to send the exact news, and then report to the emperor, it will only take half a day before and after." Gu Lefeng Road.

However, Jian Yuyan raised his hand and denied: "The soldiers are very fast, the Song army appeared in the waters of Yan Kingdom, which proves that the Song army has planned, and there must be other plans, not to mention, the Song army is coming, and it can attack us to the north, and it is enough to attack the Yan army in the south, so we have to guard against it, and we must report to the emperor immediately." ”

"What Lord Jian said is extremely true, you must report to the emperor immediately, and in addition, you must also send a messenger to cross the river to the south to report the news of the appearance of the Song army to the Jin Guohou, and prepare in advance." Han Xiandang also said.

At this time, Chen Tang said: "Generals, if Chen's guess is right, the Yan and Song Dynasty battles for hegemony are about to start, and Wu Yue and Song are united, and the water division attacks, I am afraid that Wu Yue will be included in the water division, and the generals are facing a lot of pressure."

"What about the Song Bureau, if you dare to take the initiative to provoke a war, this general will let the Song army immerse themselves in the heart of the river and be accompanied by fish and shrimp." Han Xiandang cut the railway.

After that, Han Xiandang continued: "General Chen, Lord Guo, you are all extraordinary people, if you don't mind, stay and help us fight against the Song army." ”

"General Han, we are all former ministers of the Chen State, doesn't the general care?" Chen Tang asked.

They should have been ready to take refuge in the Yan Kingdom, if they could make contributions in the war, it would be more beneficial for Han Xiandang to introduce the two to Emperor Yan.

Han Xiandang chuckled lightly and said: "General Chen, General Ben and General Su are former ministers of Zheng State, General Gu is an old minister of Liang State, and Lord Jian is not from Yan State, but we are all valued in Yan State, Your Majesty is open-minded and can accommodate mountains and rivers, how can we not accommodate two of them?" ”

Hearing this, Chen Tang and Guo Huai chuckled, and Guo Huai said: "General Xie trusts, Guo and General Chen are ugly." ”

Han Xiandang waved his hand, beckoned the guards outside the tent to come in, and instructed him to arrange messengers to go to Yanjing and Mocheng respectively to report the affairs of the Song army to Emperor Yan and the Duke of Jin, so as to avoid the two armies being breathed by the Song army.

At this time, he continued to wait in the tent, waiting for the messenger to come with news.

Fortunately, after understanding Song Jun's intentions, he made proper arrangements.

About half a day later, the messenger returned and reported to Han Xiandang: "General, the naval divisions of the three kingdoms of Wu, Yue and Song are united, there are thousands of warships on the river, and there are nearly three or four hundred thousand naval divisions, all of which are currently stationed at Osprey Ferry on the back of the Yue Kingdom. ”

Hearing this, Han Xiandang took a deep breath, the water division of the Yan Kingdom was only 100,000 people, and the Wuyue and Song coalition forces were several times larger than the Yan army, which was incredible.

Osprey Crossing was very close to their garrison Jianghe City, and it only took half a day's journey to reach either side of the march.

Wu Yue Song sailor dared to set up the base camp in Osprey Crossing, which is enough to prove that the other party has no fear and does not take Yan Jun in his eyes.