Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 147: The Hero is Not Free

At 9:00 a.m. on August 14, the Jin army in Yizhou collapsed on the banks of the Anzi River.

Jiangyin, which is nearly 900 miles away from Yizhou, has clear skies, howling west winds, fluttering flags, warriors lined up, and warships standing in rows. It is a solemn and murderous scene.

During the Song Dynasty, Chongming Island was much smaller, so Jiangyin was the most important node city in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The sea was only 300 miles downstream to the east.

As the saying goes, the world changes over time. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the Yangtze River's estuary was in Zhenjiang, Yangzhou. During the Three Kingdoms and Jin Dynasties, the Yangtze River's runoff carried silt and accumulated continuously, forming a sandbar at the river mouth. The sandbar merged with the shore, and the two banks gradually narrowed, and the river mouth extended eastward to Jiangyin.

For the next thousand years, the tideland was also located in the Jiangyin area. Below Jiangyin, the river is wide and has many branches.

According to the broad definition of later generations, the area east of Jiangyin is the Yangtze River Estuary. Therefore, Jiangyin is known as the tail of the river and the head of the sea, and the key to the Yangtze River.

Therefore, stationing troops in Jiangyin is both a natural result of the mountains and rivers and a military and political tradition that has lasted for nearly a thousand years.

However, the largest flag with the inscription "Li, Deputy General Manager of the Zhejiang Cavalry and Infantry Army" indicated that these 120 warships and 3,000 naval forces were not local garrison troops in Jiangyin.

The commander of this navy was none other than Li Bao, also known as "Li San", who had once served under Yue Fei and followed Han Shizhong.

At this time, Li Bao was in a house at the dock, sitting opposite Hong Zun, a direct scholar of Huiyou Pavilion and prefect of Pingjiang Prefecture.

Hong Zun, dressed in crimson official robes and looking extremely exhausted, said to Li Bao, who was dressed in a tight suit, "Manager Li, let me give you one last piece of advice. We should wait a little longer before setting out to sea. The hurricane just passed, and the sea isn't calm. How about waiting a day or two?"

Li Bao wasn't particularly tall, but he was incredibly strong, with the air of a warrior. Yet, his speech was remarkably refined. "Mr. Hong, everything in the world needs someone to do it. Today you're afraid of the wind, tomorrow you're afraid of the waves, and the day after that you'll be afraid of weapons and the very thought of going into battle. Many heroes' ambitions are extinguished in this way. Mr. Hong, please don't try to persuade me any further. I, Li Bao, will dispatch the troops today."

Although it can be seen from Li Bao's nickname "Splashy Li San" that this guy is not a decent person, but things have changed, and he has worked under famous generals of the time such as Yue Fei and Han Shizhong, so how could he not learn some perfunctory skills.

Hong Zun could only gaze at the still surging river and sigh, "I've completely emptied the treasury of Pingjiang Prefecture. Chief Steward Li, please know that I'm truly broke and can't even conjure up enough food, fodder, or weapons."

Li Bao laughed heartily: "Mr. Hong, please don't say such discouraging words. Wish me success in this battle, so that I can keep the enemy out of the country, defend the Yangtze River, and defend Lin'an."

As he said this, Li Bao drank the tea in the cup, bowed and left.

Hong Zun just slumped in the chair, shaking his head and sighing.

Hong Zun's concerns are not groundless. In fact, the sea conditions this year are indeed abnormal.

When Liu Huai was free during the battle in Yizhou, he also thought that, logically speaking, Wei Sheng captured Haizhou more than half a month in advance, and Li Gongzuo and others sent the news back half a month in advance, so Li Bao should have arrived earlier.

But in fact, Li Bao still waited until the same day as in real history, that is, August 14th before leading his army to the battle.

The reason is so simple that it is obvious at a glance, because there is a typhoon.

Although this typhoon was not big and did not cause major damage to the coastal areas, it only affected the surrounding weather. For example, the cloudy weather in Yizhou in the north was caused by this typhoon.

But the ships of that era could not withstand the huge waves at sea and could only take shelter in the port.

From a God's perspective, this is a very speechless result.

Because of the butterfly effect caused by Liu Huai, not only did Wei Sheng's loyal army set out early, but even Zhang Rong and Zhang Diwan also joined the Northern Expedition. Therefore, the Northern Expedition Army in the southern part of Shandong East Road was much more powerful than in history.

But Liu Huai, this little butterfly, really can't blow up the fan with just one wing.

This led to a consequence. Li Bao still acted according to the approximate time in history, but the Jin navy had already become alert.

At this time, Li Bao, who knew nothing about the future, bid farewell to the Jiangyin officials who came to see him off, and then took a small boat to the flagship.

The words of encouragement had been said and the rewards had been distributed, so at this time Li Bao did not give any impromptu speech, but simply raised a white tiger flag on the mast.

The White Tiger represents killing, and Li Bao and his generals agreed that as long as the White Tiger flag was raised, they would fight to the end, and anyone who retreated, including him as the general manager, would be killed.

Looking at the white tiger flag rising on the flagship from afar, the naval officers and soldiers who were personally trained by Li Bao cheered loudly and hurried to board the ship.

One hundred and twenty warships and three thousand naval forces.

This was the most elite force of the Song State along the coast. At this time, they followed Li Baohao out of the Jiangyin port and rushed towards the sea.

According to the original plan, this fleet would arrive in Haizhou in a dozen days. After some rest in Qushan and Donghai counties, it would head straight to Jiaozhou Bay to engage in a decisive battle with the Jin navy still staying in the bay.

However, since Li Bao went on the expedition according to the historical time, what happened in history will definitely happen again.

Man can conquer nature, which means that unity can defeat nature, not that unity can make it rain after sunshine or stop the strong wind.

To put it more clearly, Li Bao's fleet had just arrived in the Suzhou waters when it narrowly avoided a second typhoon. Indeed, the weather in August of the 31st year of Shaoxing was so unpredictable that two typhoons struck within mere days of each other.

This time, the results of Li Bao's usual training were finally revealed. Although the navy was blown to pieces, not a single ship sank. They were just blown directly back to Mingzhou, which is near Hangzhou Bay in Ningbo in later generations.

Li Bao was speechless at the result of retreating hundreds of miles instead of advancing. He could only speed up the gathering of the fleet and try to set off again within ten days.

These are all things that happened later. At the same time that Li Bao set out from Jiangyin, another famous general of the Song State, who was over 60 years old, also led his troops from Zhenjiang Prefecture across the Yangtze River and rushed to the Song-Jin front.

However, this man was different from Li Bao who had already set out. He was already very old and sick. Although he had raised the general's flag and was marching with soldiers standing around him and the army was in a neat order, this general could not even ride a warhorse and could only ride in a sedan chair.

Even though this man looked so sick and weak, and did not look majestic at all, the brave generals beside him, such as Liu Si, Li Heng, Wei You, Wang Fang, Jia Hezhong, etc., did not dare to be presumptuous at all. They all restrained their arrogance and held their breath to obey his orders.

Almost all the officials and people in Zhenjiang came out, burning incense and kneeling on the roadside to pray. The smoke was curling up like smoke.

The reason was simple. This person was none other than Liu Xinshu, the governor of Huainan, western Zhejiang, and the east and west routes of Jiangnan, and the commander-in-chief of all the imperial armies in Zhenjiang Prefecture.

He was also the hero of the Battle of Shunchang, a former general of the Western Army, and... a remnant of the old era.

"Mr. Liu, Mr. Liu, please wait a moment."

Just as Liu Qi got off the sedan chair and walked onto the boat with the help of others, a beardless man dressed as an eunuch came quickly with several knights.

Liu Qi slowly turned around and stood still. After coughing twice, he took the lead in bowing and calling himself the chief escort.

The eunuch hurriedly dismounted and rushed forward to support Liu Qi.

"My lord, you are embarrassing me!" The eunuch's shrill voice was now filled with panic.

Liu Qi took advantage of the situation and stood still: "Does the emperor have any orders?"

The eunuch took a few breaths and said, "No, no, the emperor is here to give me medicine. Bring it up!"

Several cavalrymen brought over a chest loaded on their warhorses. The eunuch touched the chest and said, "These are the most precious medicinal herbs in the imperial city, prepared by the imperial physicians. The prescription is also in the chest. The emperor sent this servant to personally deliver it to you, sir. Please take good care of yourself. The defense of Lianghuai and the country of the Song Dynasty rest entirely on your shoulders."

Liu Qi coughed violently a few times, his body swaying slightly. After a moment, he shook the eunuch's hand and asked, "Have you found the medicine I asked the chief guard to find?"

The eunuch was silent for a moment, then he sighed and took out a few square boxes from his sleeves. "The emperor said that if you don't mention this matter now, I will ask you not to take it out. If you bring it up again, I will ask you to persuade you again. This kind of strong medicine can indeed help the injured recover for a few days, but it is too detrimental to their vitality.

If you take good care of yourself, you'll have another ten years to live. But if you take this medicine, you'll only have one or two years left at best, or die instantly."

Liu Qi took the square boxes, opened one of them, and saw a vermilion pill lying quietly in the box. He nodded, and handed the square boxes to the personal soldiers beside him, asking them to keep them well.

After doing all this, Old Liu Qi bowed deeply to the eunuch again, and in the eunuch's panicked expression, he said slowly but firmly: "Please report to the emperor, the Liu family is a general of the Western Army, and has been blessed by the country for generations. At this time when the country is in danger and the country is in decline, it is our duty to step forward and do our part.

Although I, Liu Qi, am already old, I still have great ambition in my heart. Even if I die, I will not let the Jin thieves cross the Yangtze River.

Please ask the chief guard to report to the emperor that if this old minister were to die on the battlefield, wrapped in his horse's hide and unable to come to your majesty alive, one day when the world is at peace, when you watch the tide at Qiantang and see it gathering and the waves cresting, then this old minister has come to see your majesty."

After saying this, Liu Qi bowed again, no longer caring about the eunuchs behind him who were already in a panic, and turned around to board the fighting ship that was crossing the river.

The eunuch stood there in a daze for a moment, and finally bowed deeply to the departing fighting ship, and the officials and people behind him did the same.

Liu Qi didn't know any of this.

After crossing the Yangtze River, he quickly entered Yangzhou and deployed troops based in Yangzhou.

In addition to forcing Wang Gang to move from Baoying to Shanyang, he also sent his general Wu Chao to garrison in Xuyi Army (now Xuyi County) on the south bank of the Huai River.

The defense system of the Huainan East Road of the Song State was gradually established under the command of Liu Qi.

About the same time.

Wu Lin of Sichuan mounted his warhorse and prepared to fight.

Wu Gong and Cheng Min of Xiangfan put on helmets and reorganized their troops.

Li Xianzhong of Huaixi traveled back and forth to inspect and look for a place for a decisive battle, and his troops became the general reserve force of Lianghuai.

The heroes who emerged from the battle of Jingkang with mountains of corpses and seas of blood are ready to burn out their passion in this great battle in the twilight of their lives.

(End of this chapter)