Li Hao took 200 special forces and 5,000 recruits from the Military Academy to Luoyang by boat, and after delineating the construction address of the steel mill, he hurriedly set off by boat, went south along the Daoji Canal, went straight to Yangzhou, and went to the southeast coastal area.

When Li Hao just led the troops out of Chang'an, in the palace of King Wu in Yizhou, Jiannan Province, Li Ke, the king of Wu, was reading in the pavilion in the garden, Yuan Tiangang suddenly walked quickly, saluted King Wu and said: "Your Highness, the poor road may have to leave for a while, and in the days when the poor road is no longer there, please be careful with your Royal Highness, and don't act recklessly." ”

Li Ke was slightly surprised when he heard this, got up and frowned and asked, "The military advisor has only been back for less than a month, why do you want to leave again?" Isn't there a situation on the other side of the six edicts? ”

Yuan Tiangang shook his head and said: "No, it is some rogues from the Wa Kingdom who have crossed the sea to disturb the coast and cause trouble everywhere, and the poor Dao wants to take people to slaughter this group of mad dogs!" By the end of his life, his face was full of gloom.

Li Ke was puzzled for a while when he heard this, and asked puzzledly: "The rogues of the Japanese Kingdom disturb the coast?" This matter is dealt with by his father, why should the military advisor worry about it, isn't the military advisor afraid of being exposed? ”

Yuan Tiangang raised his head and sighed, forcibly relieved his anger, let his tone be as calm as possible, and said: "Your Highness, any other state to invade, the poor road can be tolerated, but the Japanese people can't, that is a despicable race, and my Chinese nation has a common hatred, and there is a monstrous hatred, poor Dao will be punished by his own hands in his lifetime, now, we are fledgling, poor Dao will go to this group of Japanese robbers to collect some interest first, and hope that His Royal Highness will be fulfilled." ”

Li Ke frowned when he heard this, he didn't understand why Yuan Tiangang wanted to say that the Wa Kingdom and the Tang Dynasty had a common enmity, it seemed that in addition to this group of Wa Kou, the Wa Guo didn't seem to offend the Tang Dynasty much, which made him very confused, Yuan Tiangang is a master, and his strategy is extraordinary, he has always planned and then acted, but he felt that Yuan Tiangang was too impulsive this time, and he wanted to say something, but seeing Yuan Tiangang's face full of solemnity, and implied anger, he didn't seem to be able to persuade him at all, so he could only helplessly say: "The military advisor must be careful when acting outside, and it is not enough to be a little troublesome, We need to be careful to watch out for the court, otherwise we are all done. ”

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Yuan Tiangang shook his body and said, "Your Highness, rest assured, Poor Dao will not have an accident this time, with his own people, and even if something happens, it will not be involved with His Highness." ”

"Then ......" Li Ke also saluted Yuan Tiangang and said, "This king wishes the military division victory." ”

In the afternoon of the same day, a carrier pigeon flew out of the Wuwang Mansion in Yizhou and headed east, at the same time, Yuan Tiangang took more than a dozen personal followers to gallop out of Yizhou City, and went straight to Jianghuai and Huai, although Yuan Tiangang and Li Hao acted in different ways, but the ambition of the two of them was the same, especially on the issue of dealing with the Japanese State, the two of them had almost the same idea, one word - kill!

Although Yuan Tiangang has done things that harm the people of the Tang Dynasty, he borrowed the power of foreign tribes to help him achieve his goals, but he has everything just right, and it is impossible to send the Han people to the barbarian clan, so although he is selfish and unscrupulous, but his righteous heart is still there, as for the Japanese people, he is very hateful, the original Japanese rebellion has nothing to do with him, but he still has to take people thousands of miles to slaughter the Japanese people, the hatred of the Japanese people in his heart, only he understands, even Li Hao can not understand.

Li Hao is taking the waterway this time, this waterway is the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal at this time is not exactly the same as the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal of later generations, the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal of later generations has been improved and dredged, and it has been rebuilt, and now this Beijing-Hangzhou Canal has only been opened for a few decades, all of which is thanks to Emperor Yang of Sui, and the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal can be said to be a merit left by Emperor Yang.

The Beijing-Hangzhou Canal in the Sui and Tang dynasties, with Luoyang as the center, starts from Yuhang (now Hangzhou) in the south, reaches Zhuojun (now Beijing) in the north, was built in the first year of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty (605 AD), the Sui Dynasty excavated a total length of 2,700 kilometers, divided into four sections, Zhuojun to the Yellow River is a section, called the Yongji Canal, the Yellow River to the Huaishui section, called the Tongji Canal, the Huaishui to Jiangdu (Yangzhou), called the Hangou, Jiangdu to Yuhang, called the Jiangnan River.

And what Li Hao walked this time is the section of Tongji Canal, from Luoyang to Huaishui, after entering Huaishui, follow Huaishui to the east for a distance, from Shanyang into Hangou, you can go to Yangzhou.

The most comfortable way to rush in ancient times is to take a boat, all the way unimpeded, and you can travel day and night, only in the event of foggy or rainy days, you can't see clearly at night, you will stop the boat to rest on the shore, this time Li Hao's luck is not very good, all the way just encountered the rain continuously, the luck in the misfortune is that the rain is not big, like the plum rain, stop for a while, anyway, this sky, always gloomy, at night can not see the moonlight, stretch out your fingers, can not sail at all, even more than ten days of rain, the wind direction is not very good, Their marching speed was very slow, so anxious that Li Hao wanted to abandon the ship and go by land, but he also knew that in such a rainy weather, the land march was also a mess, so he held back his temperament and marched slowly.

Half a month later, the annoying rainy weather finally ended, Li Hao and the others sped up their trip, and when they arrived in Yangzhou, it was already August.

Li Hao led the troops to Yangzhou, and Bian Youdao, the governor of Yangzhou, personally took all the officials of Yangzhou out of the city to greet him, and the ceremony was solemn, after all, Li Hao is now in a high position, and he is the deposed envoy of the two Jianghuai provinces, and all the officials of the Jianghuai two provinces have the power of life and death.

Li Hao was simple, and entered the city with more than 20 guards with Bian Youdao, and came to the yamen hall of the Yangzhou Governor's Mansion in a hurry.

In the hall, Li Hao sat on the upper seat, Bian Youdao sat on his lower hand, and the rest of the officials sat in two rows.

As soon as Li Hao sat down, he asked, "Lord Bian, has there been any incident of the Japanese raiding and harassing the people recently?" ”

"Back to King Qiongnan, there is." Bian Youdao arched his hand and said, "Some time ago, two fishing villages in Huating County were looted by Japanese robbers, more than 100 people died, both villages were plundered, and another village was burned down and has become ruins. ”

Li Hao frowned when he heard this, and asked in a cold voice: "So, Lord Bian, this king asked you, how did you deal with the rampant Japanese bandits?" ”

Bian Youdao was nervous for a while when he heard this, looking at Li Hao's appearance, he was obviously very unhappy, he could only stubbornly say: "Back to the prince, Xiaguan summoned all the soldiers and horses in Yangzhou, there are nearly 10,000 soldiers and horses, and they are guarding in the coastal area, but the results are very small, the Japanese invaders do not confront our army at all, they flee when they look at the wind, and quickly plunder and burn when they find a gap. ”

Li Hao sneered: "Are you asking for credit?" ”

Bian Youdao was stunned when he heard this, he heard that Li Hao was sarcastic about him, and hurriedly gave up his hand in panic: "The lower officials don't dare, the lower officials know that they are incompetent, but the widows are really cunning, and the lower officials ...... The subordinate was willing to be punished. ”

Li Hao snorted coldly, and suddenly raised his voice: "Where is Li Jian, the commander of Yangzhou?" ”

A tall and thin man in his forties suddenly came out of the line and saluted: "Humble Li Jian pays a visit to King Qiongnan!" ”

Li Hao raised his eyebrows and glanced at him, and asked: "Lord Bian is a civil official, he is not good at military affairs, and the matter of resisting the Japanese is naturally up to you, how did you assist Lord Bian in getting rid of the Japanese?" ”

"Humble ......" Li Jian looked bitter when he heard this, and finally sighed, "Back to the prince, the humble post once advised Lord Bian and asked him to order the temporary withdrawal of all the villagers of the fishing villages in the coastal area into the city, so that he could lead troops to ambush the Japanese invaders, but Lord Bian did not allow it. ”

"Oh?" Li Hao raised his eyebrows and looked at Bian Youdao and asked, "Lord Bian, is there such a thing?" ”

"Back to the prince, this is indeed the case." Bian Youdao replied respectfully, "The prince doesn't know, these fishermen have lived by fishing for generations, and when they leave the sea, they are afraid that they won't even be able to eat, so how can they leave the fishing village?" ”

Li Hao frowned and said coldly: "Is fishing important or life important?" You will always be led by the nose by the pirates, no wonder the pirates are so rampant! ”

Bian Youdao and Li Jian saw that Li Hao was angry, and hurriedly knelt on the ground and said, "The lower official is guilty, please punish the prince!" ”

"Get up!" Li Hao snorted coldly, and said in a soothing tone, "This king came this time, the first task is to help you get rid of the widows, and after the widows are removed, I will settle the old accounts with you. ”

"Thank you, Lord Wang!" The two of them fell to the ground, trembling with excitement, and slowly got up, but after getting up, they didn't dare to sit down, and stood there like two tumblers.

Li Hao said: "This time, I hope you can cooperate with this king, Bian Youdao, you pass on this king's order, all the villagers in the coastal areas under the rule of Yangzhou, all transferred back to the city, whoever dares to resist, will be locked up for the crime of obstructing official business, and put in prison, but pay attention, don't hurt people, those villagers' food and lodging problems, you have to make proper arrangements, don't be lazy, if this king hears that who is starving and freezing, only you ask!" ”

"Yes!" Bian Youdao gave his hand hard to receive his life.

Li Hao faced Li Jian again, and said slowly: "Li Jian, from today on, you will take all the soldiers and horses in Yangzhou to follow this king, and take a good look at how this king got rid of the widows. ”

Li Jian's old face turned red, and he hurriedly clenched his fists: "It is a great honor to be able to follow the prince!" ”

Li Hao got up and said, "Okay, everyone else performs their duties and actively cooperates with Lord Bian's work, so let's disperse." ”

All the officials left one after another, and Li Hao also took Li Jian out of the yamen hall, and then said: "Li Jian, tell this king well, you Huainan Province, which area has been most disturbed by the Japanese invaders." ”

Li Jian thought about it carefully and said: "Back to the prince, Huating County and Yandu County suffered the most from the Japanese invaders, these two areas are close to the sea, there are hundreds of fishing villages, the Japanese have attacked and disturbed more than 30 times, Huating County, has been killed by the Japanese Invaders more than 3,000 people, Yandu County has also killed more than 2,000 people, and the people of Yandu County are rich, in addition to the fishing villages, there are many salt pavilions, Yandu County was attacked by the Japanese invaders, lost a lot of salt, and was also robbed of a lot of silver money and rice grain. ”

Hearing this, Li Hao twisted his eyebrows, slowly clenched his fists, and then slowly spread his fists again, muttering to himself: "Huating County...... It seems that Nantong and Shanghai are over there, Nantong and Shanghai were originally sandbars on the sea, Nantong and Shanghai at this time do not seem to border the mainland, no wonder there are many fishing villages; As for Yandu County, it should be the Yancheng of later generations, although there are now sun-drying salt farms, but it has not yet become the mainstream, and the method of boiling salt is still very popular......"

"What did you say, lord?" Li Jian didn't hear what Li Hao said, and asked suspiciously.

"Nothing, you don't have to know." Li Hao said lightly, "How many people do you currently have to transfer." ”

Li Jian said: "Back to the prince, there are only 3,000 people on the villain's side at present, and the rest of the soldiers and horses are scattered all over the place to protect those scattered coastal villages and towns. ”

"Hmm." Li Hao nodded thoughtfully, and after a while, he suddenly said, "You and this king go to Huating County, as for Yandu, this king will send someone to lead the troops over." ”

After he said that, he said to the flying eagle beside him: "Qin Huaiyu, Yu Chi Baolin, the three brothers of the Cheng family, you take three thousand people to Yandu County, and everything will be done according to the previous plan." With that, he handed them a token.

"Yes!" Qin Huaiyu took the token and set off with the three brothers of Yu Chi Baolin and the Cheng family.

Li Hao went directly out of the Governor's Mansion, asked Li Jian to transfer troops, and then led the army in the direction of Huating.

Bian Youdao had already begun to write a letter and send messengers to convey the order to the various coastal prefectures and counties, and it was necessary to send the villagers and townspeople of Linhai villages and towns back to the city, and they should be strictly defended and not disobeyed.

As soon as the official document was issued, there was a servant to report to Bian Youdao, Li Hao had already led the army to Huating with Li Jian, Bian Youdao couldn't help but sigh when he heard this: "This King Qiongnan, really a person who does practical things, just arrived in Yangzhou and did not stop, immediately removed the widow, no wonder he was able to ascend to such a high position at a young age, I can't admire it." ”