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

Chapter 350: The hair is as white as snow and the bow is hard

"Da Lang? Wake up, Da Lang!" After sleeping for a while in Jiangxinzhou's camp, Liu Huai felt someone shaking his arm.

Rubbing his sleepy eyes, Liu Huai supported his back which was sore from the armor and saw clearly that the person in front of him was Xin Qiji.

"Wu Lang, you're here. What time is it now?"

Xin Qiji laughed and said, "It's already 9:00 AM. Dalang has done great things while I was away."

Liu Huai yawned and took out half a dry and hard pancake from his arms. Just as he was about to put it in his mouth, a hot meat bun was stuffed in front of him: "I just got it from the cook. Eat it while it's hot."

Liu Huai finished his meal in a few bites, stretched himself, tied his leather belt, and walked out of the tent: "What big deal did Wu Lang just talk about?"

Xin Qiji, holding the heavy sword at his waist, followed Liu Huai like a bodyguard, his words filled with uncontrollable excitement: "When the army entered the camp, we heard the news spread among the Huaixi army. Dalang fought three battles in two days and directly annihilated the Wuping army's top Meng'an, even capturing their top general. If this is not a big deal, then what is it?"

Liu Huai shook his head: "It's not my credit, it's all thanks to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives."

Xin Qiji was a little surprised: "Why are you so modest? This is not like your style."

Liu Huai, wearing armor, did a few stretches. "Last night, the Huaixi Army lost a commanding officer and two leading officers. They were truly fighting tooth and nail. Putting that aside, how is the Jingnan Army doing? How many have arrived?"

Seeing that the conversation had turned to serious matters, Xin Qiji also responded solemnly: "Three thousand men have already arrived and have entered the Caishi camp. The remaining troops are in the rear, led by He Boqiu. They will be gathering up the stragglers and escorting the baggage train. They should arrive before noon."

Liu Huai nodded repeatedly: "Are there any soldiers who can spare some strength?"

Xin Qiji quickly replied: "One thousand Tianping troops, ready to fight now."

Liu Huai thought for a moment and said, "We don't need so many people. Call 500 to defend Jiangxin Island. Although the Huaixi Army has been reborn after this battle, it still needs some training. I'm still worried about them."

Xin Qiji was about to bow in agreement when Liu Huai grabbed his hands and said, "Let me first explain the risks. Today, the Dongting Lake navy will arrive from upstream to join the battle. I don't know anything about them. If these naval forces are as useless as the Jiankang navy, and the Jin thieves' navy dominates the river, do you know what will happen?"

Xin Qiji nodded, and at the same time couldn't help but look at the floating bridge connecting Jiangxinzhou and the east bank.

By then, the Jin navy will be dominant and will definitely try to cut off the lifeline on Jiangxin Island. If they succeed, the 500 Tianping troops stationed on Jiangxin Island will definitely be isolated and helpless and fight a bitter battle.

However, the geographical location of Jiangxinzhou had to be defended, so Liu Huai and Xin Qiji had to make a difficult decision at this time.

Xin Qiji took a deep breath and said, "Then I will let Da Tieqiang lead the army to guard this place personally."

Liu Huai nodded with difficulty.

This is not a frame-up, but absolute trust.

If Liu Huai was in the same position as Xin Qiji, he could only order Zhang Xiaoyi to lead the army to defend this place. It was not that the others were incompetent, but that they were simply not qualified.

Just as the military order was issued, the sound of trumpets on the river suddenly became one.

Liu Huai and Xin Qiji hurriedly climbed up the watchtower. The first thing they saw was that the Xicaishi Ferry was already shining silver. The brilliance of countless soldiers' armors was reflected in the morning sunlight, and the glittering light even surpassed the rippling waves of the river.

In the center of the area where the armored soldiers gathered, a dirt hill had been built, with a Jinwu flag standing tall.

Two huge fleets were facing each other from the south and north on the main vein of the Yangtze River on the west side of Jiangxinzhou. The Jin navy was located downstream.

Upstream were the Dongting Lake navy that had just arrived.

Unlike what Liu Huai worried about, after the Dongting Lake navy arrived at the battlefield and found the target, they only paused for a moment to organize their formation and pass on orders, and then the horns sounded loudly, urging the entire army to fight head-on.

Li Dao, the commander of the Dongting Lake navy, didn't even want to wait and immediately launched an attack on the Jin navy. Faced with this scene, Liu Huai could only laugh.

The words that Wei Sheng and Lu You had said several times echoed in my ears again.

There are heroes in the Song Dynasty!
Xin Qiji also laughed and said: "This scene should be shown to Mr. Lu and Mr. He Sanye. Maybe Mr. Lu can stand up straighter and Mr. He Sanye can speak more politely."

When Liu Huai thought of the tit-for-tat between Lu You and He Boqiu, he couldn't help but shake his head and laugh.

There are only dozens of small sampans in the Huaixi army now. Although the remnants of the Chaohu navy have manpower, it is impossible for them to quickly organize and join the battle in the case of Sheng Xin's death. Therefore, Liu Huai can only watch from the sidelines.

Just as Liu Huai was looking at the Dongting Lake navy coming down the river from the upper reaches of the southwest, Wang Huai, the deputy commander of the Dongting Lake navy, was also looking at Jiangxinzhou.

Only after he could see the large banner with the Song character on it did Wang Huai breathe a sigh of relief. He turned around, looked at the tall figure on the rudder tower, and shouted, "Brother, those useless people in the Huaixi Army are not completely useless. They have saved Jiangxinzhou!"

On the flagship's helm, the majestic general, looking up at his own flag, seemed to have just come to his senses. He lowered his head, chuckled, and then said angrily, "They are also a bunch of useless people. The two Huai regions are densely networked with waterways and fortified cities, yet they were defeated to this extent. Now I, Li Daolai, have to clean up their mess. The corn we supply them every year is like throwing it into the river!"

Li Dao’s anger was justified.

The confrontation between the Northern and Southern Dynasties was generally divided into three major war zones: Shu, Jingxiang, and Lianghuai. Although these three war zones could support each other along the Yangtze River, the military strength of each war zone was fixed, especially for technical troops such as the Dongting Lake Navy. If they supported other places, it would mean that there would be a gap in the direction originally guarded.

In fact, the Dongting Lake navy was originally going to go north to Xiangfan to block the gateway to Jingxiang with the navy.

The main naval forces of the Jin Dynasty were all in Lianghuai, and the naval forces attacking Jingxiang were all local miscellaneous troops. As long as the navy from Dongting Lake could enter the Han River, Jingxiang would be safe.

But the consequence of the breakthrough of Lianghuai was that Jiangnan was directly under the attack of the Jin army. Zhao Gou had no time to care about the overall situation of the world. He sent three urgent orders a day, ordering the army stationed in Jingxiang to come to the rescue as soon as possible without any mistakes.

Therefore, the Dongting Lake navy, as the vanguard, had to give up entering Xiangyang Prefecture and instead went downstream along the river to Caishi to participate in the battle.

Although this was also the case in history, during the Battle of Cihu in Xiangyang Prefecture, Wu Gong could only send a group of miscellaneous navy to fight against the miscellaneous navy of the Jin Kingdom. The battle was extremely difficult, but in the end the Song army won a great victory.

However, now, Pushan Zhongyi's combat power has been strengthened by more than several times. With the Dongting Lake navy still moving south, no one can predict to what extent the battle situation in Xiangfan will develop.

After mentally calculating the strategic position between Xiangfan and the Lianghuai region, Li Daofu glanced up at his own banner, lowered his head, and donned his helmet, hiding his graying hair and beard. He then gave a cold order: "Raise the White Tiger Banner! Today we'll be upstream, giving Wanyan Liang a good opportunity to see if the Ezhou army still has any minions!"

A moment later, cheers rang out from the 200 Song Dynasty warships, and white tiger flags were raised one after another.

Li Dao made an agreement with the other generals that once the White Tiger Banner was raised, they would fight to the death.

At this time, the Jin navy also reacted and realized that they had finally encountered a Song army that dared to fight, and immediately became a little flustered.

However, the Jin army had just arrived and was unable to build a solid water fort at once. They could only prepare for battle regardless of being downstream.

If we didn't have a water fort and huddled together to defend ourselves, we might be burned to ashes.

Moreover, the Jin army's fleet was continuous, with nearly 500 large and small warships, more than twice the number of the Dongting Lake navy.

Five hundred versus two hundred.

The advantage is mine!

With this thought in mind, the Song army and the Jin army slowly and steadily collided with each other on the river.

(End of this chapter)