Chapter 476 Confrontation
Unexpectedly, Zuo Xiaoyou opened the city to welcome Shen Mu, and Qin Chaowen of Gaoyou was so frightened that he closed the city and dared not go out to fight. He let Shen Mu, Xu Ziling, Bu Tianzhi and Chen Laomou lead the 24 flywheel captains to drive straight down, enter the Huai River and sail through the canal Jiangdu, together with the young commander's navy who attacked from the East China Sea, attacked Jiangdu's navy and defeated Li Zitong at the mouth of the Yangtze River, completely destroying his remaining navy.

The total strength of the Wu soldiers guarding Jiangdu and facing Jiangyanling exceeds 4, and their strength is still higher than that of Shen Mu. Shen Mu is not greedy for merit.Qin Chaowen knew that the general situation was over, and because he admired Shen Mu as a man, and was even more awed by his power and military skills, he surrendered the city.

So far, Zhongli and Gaoyou, the important towns of the Wu army in the north of the two river capitals, and more than a dozen nearby county towns have all been controlled by Shen Mu.The strength of the Young Marshal's Army increased to 5, and its prestige was even stronger.

Shen Mu adopted the false proposal and moved Qin Chaowen and half of his army and family to Zhucheng in Donghai County at the same time. The two major waterways of water are under control.

Yang Gongqing and Zuo Xiaoyou filled the two vacancies of the generals of the Eighth Township of the Young Marshal Army, and then added Qin Chaowen and Luo Qifei, making a total of ten township generals.Yang Gongqing is the first in order, followed by Xuan Yong, Bu Tianzhi, Gao Zhandao, Chen Changlin, Bai Wenyuan, Jiao Hongjin, Zuo Xiaoyou, Qin Chaowen and Luo Qifei.

Niu Fengyi and Cha Jie performed well. The former was promoted to the supervisor of the Ministry of War of the Six Departments of Supervision, while Cha Jie was appointed as the supervisor of the Ministry of Punishment, sharing the position originally held by Xu Xingzhi.

In addition to being in charge of the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Punishment, Xu Xingzhi was also promoted to the chief military division of the Young Marshal Army, who can lead troops to go out.

Because of his extraordinary military talent in the battle of the water gorge, everyone was convinced by this arrangement.

Ren Meimei and Chen Laomou are still divided into the main household and the workers.

The organization of the Young Marshal's Army is getting tighter and tighter, and the officers and soldiers below will be promoted, greatly boosting the already high morale.

Shen Mu also discussed rewards for meritorious deeds. Since the treasury is sufficient, there are rewards from top to bottom.

After arranging everything, Shen Mu led his troops back to Liangdu, and news of Hulao's fall came at this time. The guilty and timid Wang Xuanying retreated without a fight, handed over Hulao to Li Shiji, and fled back to Luoyang.

Shen Mu knew his own family affairs. Once Luoyang fell and Li Shimin's army came to the east, under Li Shimin's excellent strategy, under the attack of Li Shimin's excellent strategy, cloud-like fierce generals and elite Tang soldiers, the young generals would only be beaten. Son, it will never last until next spring when the flowers bloom.

The only way to rescue is to capture Jiangdu first, and retreat to the south if necessary. As long as the two towns of Zhongli and Gaoyou can be firmly guarded, Jiangdu will be safe.

So Xuanyong and Zuo Xiaoyou strengthened the defenses of Gaoyou and Zhongli cities, built fortresses at dangerous places in the river, and invested human resources in building ships, increasing the number of airships, and enhancing the combat effectiveness of the navy. Jiangdu.

The military prestige is different now, Gui Xiliang and Xing Rong finally persuaded the other leaders of the Zhuhua Gang to help the Young Marshal Army with all their strength, so that Luo Qifei's intelligence network spread to the eastern section of the Yangtze River and all parts of the south of the Yangtze River.

On this day, Shen Mu, Xu Ziling, Xu Xingzhi, Luo Qifei, Gao Zhandao, Chen Laomou, Ren Meimei, Bai Wenyuan, and Jiao Hongjin were studying the attack on Jiangdu in the meeting room of Liangdu Marshal's Mansion.

After repeated research, no one can be fully sure.

Luo Qifei said: "Li Zitong's Wu army navy is dead in name only, and now there are only a dozen or so merchant ships that were forced to requisition from the common people and refitted. With our flying ships, we can easily block the river, making it difficult for Jiangdu and Yanling. Echoing, as long as Yanling is captured and the waterways are blocked, Jiangdu will be isolated and left to be slaughtered."

Yang Gongqing sighed: "If Li Shimin didn't worry about the future, Jiangdu would surrender to us sooner or later, but since Li Zitong knew that Li Shimin's army would one day attack our young commander in the south, he would stick to Jiangdu and never leave Jiangdu. , food is sufficient, it is not a problem to last a year or so, and because of Li Shimin's hope, the soldiers in the city will also be united and not easily shaken."

Gao Zhandao agreed: "If Li Zitong abandons Yanling and concentrates all his troops, food and grass to Jiangdu, our situation will be even worse. Of course, we cannot attack Jiangdu with all our strength, but even if we use our entire army, our strength is only 5, which is insufficient. Kejiang [-] Wu troops in the capital."

Shen Mu recalled the offensive and defensive battle in Liyang. At that time, Dou Jiande was well-prepared and strategically clever. His military strength was several times that of the defending army, and he still suffered serious losses.It is very difficult for him to mobilize 3 people to attack Jiangdu. To attack Jiangdu, which is a hundred times stronger than Liyang, the defenders in the city will have more than [-] siege troops.

The biggest problem is that the Young Marshal's Army is unable to withstand the loss of a large number of soldiers, otherwise it will be even less capable of fighting against Li Shimin.When using soldiers, Jiang must be fully sure, and there is no room for loss.

At this time, Feiyun's personal guard came to report, and Luoyang Wang Xuanshu asked to see him.Feeling astonished, Shen Mu went to the outer hall with Yang Gongqing and Xu Ziling to meet Wang Xuanshu, the second son of Wang Shichong.

Wang Xuanshu was a servant of the world, with a tired look on his face, no longer the handsome and handsome look of the past, when he saw Shen Mu and the two of them as if they were relatives, tears welled up in his eyes, he knelt down to Shen Mu and cried out sadly: "Young commander, save my father! "

Shen Mu supported him, and settled him down first, and asked him for details after he calmed down.

Wang Xuanshu said: "The tiger prison fell, brother Wang returned to Luoyang, Li Shimin moved to the Qingcheng Palace in the forbidden garden of the eastern capital, cut off the waterway at the intersection of Gushui and Luoshui, and forced Luoyang together. The father knew that the situation was critical, so he took the risk to attack. Thousands of troops approached Gushui to resist the Tang army. Li Shimin ordered his general Qu Tutong to lead 7000 soldiers across the river to attack. When the enemy and us were at loggerheads, Li Shimin led a large army to help. The fine cavalry rushed straight to the back of our formation, invincible, and the damage was heavy. The enemy and our armies merged and dispersed, dispersed and recombined, and repeatedly confronted each other. After three hours of fighting, our army was finally defeated and retreated. Li Shimin took advantage of the momentum to chase and kill , went straight to the capital, captured and beheaded more than [-] of our army, and besieged the capital. Now Li Shimin is besieging from all sides, attacking our capital day and night."

Just looking at Wang Xuanshu's demeanor, one can imagine the tragic fighting situation at that time, with the sun and the moon darkened, corpses strewn across the field, and blood flowing like rivers.

Wang Xuanshu said sadly: "Father regretted not listening to the young commander's advice. He often said that if he didn't retreat from Cijian, or let General Yang and the young commander stay in the tiger prison, the situation would not turn as sharp as before. As long as If we can defend until the severe winter, the Tang army will not be able to supply food and grass, and the siege of Luoyang will be lifted by itself."

Shen Mu and Yang Gongqing could hear you looking at me, but Xu Ziling remained silent.

Yang Gongqing said: "Mr. Xuanshu is coming to see us today. Is it the son's intention or your father's intention?"

Wang Xuanshu shyly said: "It's the father's idea, and we all agree very much. I hope the young commander will not forget the old grudge and help us defend Luoyang."

Shen Mu said, "How is the food situation in the city?"

Wang Xuanshu said: "Because all food routes to the outside world have been cut off, food and daily necessities are in short supply, rare clothes, gold, silver and treasures have become as cheap as worthless, a bolt of silk can only be exchanged for three liters of millet, and a thousand bolts of cloth is only worth one liter of salt. The food stored in the warehouse can only barely last for a month, and the situation is very critical."

The three of them suddenly realized that Luoyang had reached such an impoverished situation, no wonder Wang Shichong sent Wang Xuanshu to seek help from Shen Mu regardless of face.

Wang Xuanshu said sadly: "The common people now eat grass roots and leaves. Some people even use mud paddles and rice crumbs to make cakes to satisfy their hunger. After eating, they all get sick, with swollen bodies and feet. plague."

After a pause, he continued: "If the young commander-in-chief and General Yang are willing to return to Luoyang to help us, the father promises to hand over the command and let the young commander-in-chief command the entire army."

Shen Mu secretly thought that this should be Wang Shichong's biggest concession, nodded and said: "I need some time to think about it, Xuanshu, you go to the hotel to rest first, and I will give you an affirmative answer tomorrow morning."

After Wang Xuanshu was led away by his own soldiers, Shen Mu let out a long breath and said, "What do you two think?"

Xu Ziling smiled wryly and said: "You have no choice at all. Wang Shichong can only wait until the first ten days of September at most, and it is absolutely impossible for us to capture Jiangdu in such a short time."

Yang Gongqing said: "There is another way, which is to try to deliver a batch of grain and daily necessities to Luoyang to Wang Shichong, so that Zheng Jun can last for a while."

Shen Mu shook his head and said, "The biggest problem in Luoyang is not only the food shortage, but also the Achilles' heel of low morale and fighting spirit. If we want Luoyang to survive the winter, the only way is to defend the city for him. On the other hand, please let Dou Jiande put aside the past and send When the army comes to help, as long as the Dou army can cross the river and regain the tiger prison, then it will be Li Shimin who will have a headache instead of us."

Yang Gongqing agreed: "This may be the only chance to defeat Li Shimin."

You must know that Li Shimin is the invincible commander in the world, and Tang Jun is the most well-trained and well-equipped experienced army. If it is not in a very special situation, whoever confronts them will not have the confidence to say victory.But now Li Shimin is attacking Luoyang with all his strength, not only suffered heavy losses, but also has no time to spare, if Shen Mu can hold Luoyang steadily, and Dou Jiande's army crosses the river again, Li Shimin will be attacked by the enemy, if he does not retreat, he is very likely to lose this battle.So Yang Gongqing has this opinion.

Shen Mu nodded and said: "Wang Shichong sent Xuanshu to ask me to rescue Luoyang. On the surface, I am their savior, but in fact Luoyang is also my only savior, so let's make a decision like this."

Xu Ziling said: "This matter must be discussed in detail, and we should not act rashly. If Li Shimin gets wind of it and sends a large army to intercept our food transport team, we will not be able to finish eating."

Yang Gongqing said confidently: "The road to Luoyang is the most familiar to me. As long as we travel day and night, we can get close to Luoyang without anyone noticing. If we have enough troops, we should have no problem breaking through the siege of the Tang army. Luoyang is not our Liang. If you want to surround the capital with impenetrable water, even if the Guanzhong army comes with all their strength, I'm afraid it will still be impossible."

Shen Mu murmured, "Young Master Ling's proposal to deploy troops cautiously is very useful. Let's use a fucking strategy to pretend to attack Jiangdu on a large scale. In fact, the target is only Yanling, which is across the river from Jiangdu. Young Master Ling will be in charge of commanding the entire army. , while I and Yang Gong, Ma Chang, and Yang Gong’s five thousand men secretly transported grain to Luoyang, and then stayed to defend Luoyang for Wang Shichong, and then tried to persuade Dou Jiande to come to help. Ha! Ling Shao only needs to bluff, maybe Li Zi Tonghui handed over Yanling to us. Li Zitong dared not leave the city for a day when our young commanders stationed in Yanling."

Xu Ziling smiled wryly and was speechless. Shen Mu didn't invite him to Luoyang, not because he was required to lead the young commander's army that pretended to attack Jiangdu, but because he knew that he didn't want to confront Li Shimin head-on.

Yang Gongqing said excitedly: "This is a good turning point for our Young Commander in the fight for world supremacy. I will prepare everything immediately." After saying that, he left.

Shen Mu and Xu Ziling were left with thousands of words for a long time, and they didn't know where to start.

Shen Mu finally broke the silence, and said dejectedly: "Brother! We are going to separate again!"

Xu Ziling sighed for a while, Shen Mu's simple words actually contained profound meaning.

Under Li Shimin's huge offensive, it is still unknown whether Shen Mu can hold Luoyang firmly, so this sentence can be the farewell of life and death.

Xu Ziling smiled wryly and said, "Quickly summon your men for a meeting."

Shen Mu took a deep breath, stood up staggeringly, and said, "Frankly speaking, I was frightened by describing to Xuanshu the situation of dead bodies all over the streets in Luoyang. Sigh! Where did Boy Ba go? I need someone as strong as him." The people are by my side to defend Luoyang together."

Xu Ziling asked him to put his hand on his shoulder and said, "Do you want to go back to the meeting room?"

Shen Mu said: "It's good to go anywhere, alas! You don't know how miserable I was when you said those unfeeling words to me. Only at that moment did I deeply realize how serious the mistake I made was! Can't change her thoughts about me. I felt extremely lonely, I tossed and turned in bed all night, shame, self-blame and remorse intertwined, like Shi Zhixuan's seal of immortality, I couldn't hide Stop, even more unstoppable. Can you take me to a place where there is no one, and let me cry bitterly."

Xu Ziling said lightly: "Young commander! I'm sorry, there is not much time. You will go to Luoyang tomorrow. Now is the time for you to dispatch troops."

Xu Ziling stood on a small hill beside the canal, Liangdu was not far behind, the sky was dotted with stars, and Wanliban was grazing beside him.

Shen Mu is still presiding over military meetings one after another in the city, trying his best to arrange everything properly before departure tomorrow.After Xu Ziling participated in the meeting on the study of overall action, he rode Wanliban out of the city to take a breather and rest here, enjoying the tranquility and peace of being alone.

The sound of hooves approached from far away, Xu Ziling didn't have to look back to recognize the footsteps of Thousand Miles Dream.

A piercing sound came from the sky, and Wuming landed on his shoulder.Apart from Shen Mu, this spiritual falcon also obeys his orders.

Xu Ziling stroked the soft feathers on the back of the unknown eagle, Shen Mu came to him, and said excitedly: "What a boy! You actually hid here to enjoy the happiness. I am miserable! I was dizzy during the meeting, and I didn't know it at the end. What are you talking about?"

Xu Ziling took a deep breath against the wind and said, "Any important decisions?"

Shen Mu said: "Commander Xuan Yong is responsible for the feigned attack on Jiangdu."

Xu Ziling asked in surprise, "Don't you need me?"

Shen Mu said: "You can't kill a chicken with a sledgehammer. Starting tomorrow, our Young Marshal Army will mobilize and gather the navy and field troops in Gaoyou to prepare the tools for attacking the city. This is called east and west. Li Zitong may be really like this because he doesn't know the truth about our army." It is expected that by concentrating the food and soldiers of Yanling to Jiangdu, we can easily win Yanling. This is a battle that does not need to be fought, but another exercise in dispatching troops and generals, so that Xuanyong will have one more command An opportunity for the Young Marshal's amphibious operations."

Xu Ziling frowned and said, "Then what am I doing? Didn't you want me to accompany you to guard Luoyang?"

Shen Mu smiled and said, "How can I be so not brother enough, knowing that you don't want to confront Li Xiaozi head-on, but still forcing you to fight him to death?"

Xu Ziling said: "Your mood swings are indeed ups and downs. Just now, you looked like you wanted to die, but now you are full of ambition, and you look optimistic that you have a chance to win."

Shen Mu smiled wryly and said, "Because I know that if I don't pull myself together, I will be exhausted! Boy Li on the battlefield will not joke with you, he will be more ruthless than anyone else, and this is exactly what he came to do. The reason why they are still so successful now. If Jiancheng and Yuanji hadn’t been supported by the Turkic people and the Momen respectively, they might have been assassinated by him long ago.”

Xu Ziling sighed: "I wish he was such a cruel and ruthless person as you said, but unfortunately it is not the case."

Shen Mu said: "Let's get down to business, according to our rough estimation, the food and daily necessities sent to Luoyang by Duke Yang and I for the first time are only enough for the army and civilians in Luoyang for ten days at most. grain."

Xu Ziling suddenly said: "You want me to be in charge of supervising the transportation of food."

Shen Mu said: "Our first shipment of grain has the greatest chance of success. First of all, because there is a plan to attack the west, Li Xiaozi is unprepared, and the Tang army has not had enough time to dig trenches and build fortifications around Luoyang City, and the younger brother has no name. Exploring the way can avoid the eyes and ears of the enemy and break through the siege into the city."

Xu Ziling agreed, "It makes sense!"

Shen Mu said: "But when Li Xiaozi became alert, not only did it become more and more difficult to transport food, what was even more worrying was that Li Xiaozi ordered Li Shiji to attack our town, so we must not only continue to supply Luoyang's needs, but also deal with Li Shiji's main focus on tiger prisons. Under the circumstances of the army's attack in the base area, only Young Master Ling can take on this heavy responsibility." Then he patted Wuming lightly, and said: "Except for me, this baby only listens to your orders, and you are the only one who understands the eagle's words."

Xu Ziling frowned even more when he heard this, and thought to himself that since Shen Luoyan had arrived in the tiger prison, wouldn't he be waiting to fight her?

Shen Mu said: "It should be considered a good job for you. I don't want you to confront Li Xiaozi, but to rescue the innocent people in Luoyang who are starving and sick. Right?"

Xu Ziling sighed: "Li Shiji is the number one general under Li Mi. If he sends an army to attack, I can stop him and be a blessing. I don't have time to send food. It's not good to surround him heavily. I will be the food."

Shen Mu said confidently: "Young Master Ling, don't worry, your elder brother is worried because he doesn't know the real situation. I guarantee that Li Shiji will not dare to use his best men to attack. Who doesn't know the relationship between us and Dou Jiande, if Li Shiji finds time Guarding the troops on the front line of the Hulao, the Dou Army can send troops across the river to make a surprise attack at any time. If the Hulao is trapped, our army can join the Dou Army. At that time, Li Shimin had no other way but to withdraw his troops. Therefore, Li Shiji can only be harassing at best. raid."

Xu Ziling nodded in agreement.

(End of this chapter)

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