Chapter 468 Three-Pronged Approach

"Good news!"

A message from Xiangyang arrived. Wei Qing and Yang Zhi breathed a sigh of relief after hearing the news.

However, Zhang Shijie, Li Tingzhi and others who were former officials of the Southern Song Dynasty in the tent looked shocked, as if they couldn't believe the news.

In the original history,

After the Empress Dowager Xie Daoqing surrendered in Lin'an, Lu Xiufu and Zhang Shijie established a separate Southern Song Dynasty government-in-exile. Until the Battle of Yashan, there were still many loyal ministers who died fighting the Mongolian army, and Li Tingzhi was one of them.

This man is well versed in military strategy, and the soldiers under his command swear to serve him to the death.

When he was trapped in Yangzhou, he held on to the city with only 7,000 people until the food in the city was exhausted, and then the Mongolian army broke through the city defense.

Even after being captured, he still preferred death over Xie Daoqing's two strict orders to surrender, and finally died heroically in Yangzhou.

Such deeds were not isolated after the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty.

Therefore, after Lin Chen replaced the Southern Song Dynasty generals, he intended to be promoted to these buried Southern Song generals, and Li Tingzhi was also among them.

"His Royal Highness, Prince Tang, did you really capture Xiangyang?"

Li Tingzhi asked in a deep voice as he stared at the map of South Beijing Road hanging in the tent with blazing eyes.

In the Song Dynasty, the Central Plains was divided into twenty-five administrative districts, and Xiangyang was an important city on the South Beijing Road.

Zhang Shijie was even more unbelievable when he heard the good news.

When he first learned that His Highness the Prince of Tang was going to risk his life and sneak into Xiangyang, Zhang Shijie had 10,000 objections.

However, others' gentle words could not persuade His Highness the King of Tang, who had already made up his mind.

Unexpectedly, in just three days, Xiangyang fell into the hands of the Tang army!

"His Royal Highness the King of Tang, you really use your troops like a god."

I don’t know who in the tent sighed sincerely, causing everyone to subconsciously nod in agreement.

"Now that Xiangyang has been decided, it's time for us to act as planned." Wei Qing spoke in a deep voice, breaking the silence in the tent.

According to the planned Northern Expedition,

Lin Chen divided the 280,000 Tang troops from the Northern Expedition into three armies: left, center, and right. They advanced in three directions, approaching the north.

The Left Route Army, with a total of 70,000 troops, led by the brave Yang Zhi as the main general and Long Xiangwei as the vanguard, marched along Fangzhou towards Junzhou and Dengzhou, aiming to intercept the Han princes in the North who might pose a threat to the Northern Expedition.

Although Yang Zhi is not considered a general, compared to the green-faced beast in the original book, Yang Zhi in Li Tang's world followed Lin Chen in the north and south, and learned the art of military warfare from Wei Qing, so he was enough to shoulder this important task.

certainly.

Just in case, Lin Chen also asked Li Tingzhi and Zhang Shijie to join the army to assist Yang Zhi.

The Right Army was commanded by Wei Qing, with a total of six guards and 170,000 troops!

The military supplies on the right started from Xiangyang, passed through Sui and Tangzhou, crossed the South Jing Road, and marched towards the North Jing Road.

And this Beijing Northwest Road is where Kaifeng, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, is located.

One can imagine.

Once the right army enters the northwest route of Beijing, it will inevitably face Kublai Khan who leads the army southward.

Therefore, Lin Chen handed over this important task to Wei Qing.

As for the Middle Route Army, the 40,000-strong Middle Route Army with the smallest number was personally led by the King of Tang himself. The naval army took the Cao Canal and headed north to Kaifeng Mansion!

Even though there are only 40,000 troops in the middle route army, they are all elite cavalry!

With the actions of the Tang Army, the entire south began to operate in an orderly manner like a huge gear machine.

In order to supply the 300,000 troops for the Northern Expedition, Qiao Xuan even recruited nearly 500,000 civilians to transport grain and grass.

This is due to the geographical advantages of the dense water network and convenient shipping in the south.

Otherwise, more people will be needed just to transport food.

This is also the reason why in ancient Chinese history, hundreds of thousands of people were killed in the slightest war.

It can be said that only about one-third of the soldiers actually fight, and the rest are civilians.

"Brother, why did we not see any reward for winning Biao Yang, but were demoted to the third level instead?" Wang Gui, one of the eight people who joined the Tang army with Yue Fei, couldn't help complaining.

When Dong Xian heard this, he also whispered angrily: "Could it be that this Tang army also regards us northerners as aliens and is unwilling to promote them?"

Only Yue Fei glanced at the eight people who were his brothers in life and death, and instead smiled and said: "Do you know which army and which guard we have been transferred to?"

Um?

Everyone looked puzzled when they heard this, especially Niu Gao and Yue Yun, who had simple personalities.

It's interesting to say.

Yue Yun, the original historical figure, was the son of Yue Fei.

However, under the system settings, Yue Yun is an orphan whom Yue Fei adopted in his early years and grew up with him. He is considered a nominal adopted son.

When Yue Fei saw this, he stopped talking and explained the reason.

"I heard that His Highness the King of Tang personally set up a bodyguard to carry the Wei army. The whole army is a brave and capable cavalry!"

"Although we appear to have been demoted three levels in rank, in fact we have joined this enviable Beiwei Army!"

When the eight people heard this, they suddenly realized it, and their faces showed joy.

After all, although they don't know the name of 'Beiwei Army', they know the benefits of the Emperor's Imperial Guard.

This Beiwei Army was obviously the Prince of Tang's own personal army!

"I wonder if we will be lucky enough to see His Royal Highness the Prince of Tang's true face." Yang Zaixing chuckled, looking forward to it.

Unexpectedly, Yang Zaixing's joke soon became true.

After Yue Fei and others followed the Tang army to Xiangyang, they learned that the Beiwei army would stay here for a few days before heading north.

There is no other reason. At this moment, His Highness the King of Tang is busy appointing officials to govern Xiangyang City.

I heard that the newly appointed governor of Xiangyang is an old minister of the Southern Song Dynasty, named Wen Tianxiang.

And they were also arranged to go to Prince Tang's Mansion the next day to meet Prince Tang.

The so-called Tang Prince's Mansion was the original Mongolian Prefect's Mansion.

In order to facilitate the handling of government affairs, Lin Chen chose this place as his residence.

In addition to being too lazy to choose, he was more familiar with this place.

It must be said that the wealthy family in Xiangyang really spent a lot of effort to build this house in order to please this Mongolian nobleman.

The decoration inside the house is magnificent, with waterside courtyards and flower pavilions.

Its layout design is even more ingenious and unique.

"Meet His Majesty the King of Tang!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Chen put down the memorial in his hand and looked at the people in front of him with interest.

The leader had a stern face and bright eyes. Just looking at him made people sigh that he was a good man!

It was Yue Fei!

As for some unofficial history saying that Yue Fei had different eyes, it was pure nonsense.

After all, official history may be false, but unofficial history must be wild enough.

Looking at the other eight people, they were also majestic, showing the iron bones of Han men.

Lin Chen couldn't help but look at Yang Zaixing a few more times.

This man is a first-class cavalry general who led only more than ten cavalrymen to attack the Jin army's 10,000-man camp and almost killed the enemy's main general.

Such a record is not an exaggeration to say that he is cheating.

Of course.

When Lin Chen looked at these people, Yue Fei and others couldn't help but raise their eyes and secretly glanced at the high-ranking His Majesty the King of Tang.

The King of Tang was wearing a black fish dragon python robe. Although he looked young, his deep and sharp eyes made people feel awe and dared not neglect or despise him.

In the end, Yue Fei and the other nine walked out of the gate of the King of Tang's mansion in a daze, as if they were in a dream.

It was because the nine of them had been incorporated into the personal guard camp of the Beiwei Army by the King of Tang!

Lin Chen looked at the backs of the people leaving and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

"If I wasn't afraid that I couldn't convince the public, I really wanted to let Yue Fei be the main general of the army directly."

...