Demoness, Where Are You Fleeing To?

After a short rest of seven days, Li Xuan led the army and left Jiangxi by water.

At that time, thousands of sails were like clouds, and thousands of large-scale canal boats rode the east wind and sailed away from the mouth of the Ganjiang River like arrows from the string.

Lei Li, the governor of Jiangxi, kept his word. In less than five days, he had prepared 140,000 troops for Li Xuan, which was 20,000 more than planned.

Basically, it was still the original establishment of Ning Wangfan, but Lei Li incorporated a large number of Jiangxi Guards Corps, Jiangxi Standard Barracks, and Liaodong Cavalry Army generals and officers into it.

There are also some officers who were retained in their posts after being screened by him, and they have made meritorious deeds.

This ensures the reliability and combat effectiveness of these military horses to the greatest extent.

Although these criminal soldiers were still civilians a month ago, Ning Wangfan had been harboring rebellion for decades.

The people under the rule are called Baojia system, but in fact it is the law of guarding.

Every year during the slack season, the people under King Ning would call these people under various names to practice military formations and learn combat skills.

In terms of combat effectiveness, they are even stronger than most of the guard troops, and they also have relatively strong organizational power.

Li Xuan didn't worry that these people were unwilling to fight to the death. The families and children of these people were all under Lei Li's control.

If they want to avoid being exiled to the frontier in the future, they must make contributions in this battle.

At this time, in addition to the 140,000 criminal army, the 40,000 divine machine battalion under Li Xuan, and the 20,000 Liaodong knights. There are also 30,000 well-equipped Nanzhili Imperial Guards who joined Li Xuan's army, bringing the total number of troops under his command to 230,000.

As the army went northward, escorting this large army were the 50,000 Yangtze River Navy troops who were successively summoned by Zhendong Marquis Duandong.

It is worth mentioning that at this time, in the naval fleet, there were six three-story river gunboats with a capacity of 12,000 yuan, and as many as 14 warships with a capacity of 8,000 yuan.

The former has forty-eight large and small Franco machine guns, while the latter has thirty-six large and small Franco machine guns.

In addition, there are sixty two-story gunboats with three thousand materials, equipped with twenty-four large and small Franco machine guns.

The battle at the mouth of the Ganjiang River a few days ago can be said to have enriched the Yangtze River Navy.

At that time, more than 170 warships were captured. Later, dozens more were desperate and surrendered. In total, there were more than 200 warships.

Most of them were newly built, and their condition was much better than those of the old ships of the Yangtze River Navy.

After all, since the Tumubao Incident, the imperial court has not spent money on the navy for more than ten years, and the battleships have almost never been replaced.

Forty of them are large ships with more than 3,000 materials, and they were all built within ten years.

To Li Xuan's surprise, King Ning's shipbuilders kept pace with the times and imitated the Western gunboats. The battleship is low and narrow, with all the cannons placed on the sides of the ship.

In Li Xuan's world, there are various opinions about ancient 'materials'. There is load theory, volume theory, and material theory.

But in this world, ‘material’ refers specifically to displacement.

Three thousand materials, that is, three thousand stones, is also one hundred and fifty tons, which is already quite large in an inland river.

Those 12,000-material gunboats have a displacement of 600 tons, which is close to the level of battleships in the age of sail.

It is necessary to know that the British battleship "Sea Sovereignty" in the age of sail had a displacement of 1,500 tons.

Therefore, Duan Dong's capture in the Battle of Ganjiang directly doubled the number of main battleships owned by the Yangtze River Navy.

After they left Panyang Hukou, they went up the Han River and gathered 40,000 local Huguang standard troops and 30,000 elite soldiers and horses selected from the guard station near Wuchang.

It was not until near Qianjiang Mansion that Li Xuan's infantry and cavalry army, which had swelled to 300,000, was released ashore and spread out along both sides of the Han River.

At this time, the river bed of the Han River had not yet been raised as it was in later generations, so it was easy for warships of two thousand tons to pass, and it was no problem to sail directly all the way to Xiangyang.

The problem is that the 'Zhongxiang Mansion' in front of them has been occupied by the Xiangyang rebels, with about 70,000 troops stationed in an attempt to intercept and hold on to Zhongxiang's dangerous terrain.

In order to guard against the Yangtze River Navy, the Xiangyang rebels on the opposite side blocked the Han River with more than a dozen iron locks across the river.

"They are planning to defend in layers to weaken our army."

Li Xuan stood on the platform of a large ship with all kinds of materials. He had his hands behind his back and his eyes were looking forward calmly.

What he was looking at was not the Zhongxiang Mansion City in front of him, but a figure floating in the air opposite.

The woman was dressed like an ancient priest, with a bronze mask on her face. She stood there as if the Emperor of Heaven had descended, with infinite majesty.

A powerful spiritual thought from afar suppressed Li Xuan.

Li Xuan knew that this woman must be the ‘Da Siming’ of Jinque Tiangong.

Since he was canonized as the 'Prince of Fenyang' and the 'Commander of the Five Armies', few people have been able to surpass him in terms of military will and momentum, but this woman in front of him can do it.

The person speaking to Li Xuan at this time was a middle-class layman.

He did not appear directly on the warship, but hid on a mountain peak on the shore and talked with Li Xuan from a distance.

"Prince, you have to be careful. In the past ten days, I have personally watched them reinforce the city walls and dig high fortresses and deep ravines. Jinque Tiangong also invested in more than a dozen powerful void magic weapons, and transported a large number from the Taihang Mountains. The 'black iron stone' is placed outside the city wall."

The middle-class layman then changed his voice: "If the prince plans to attack by force, I will help you contain the great commander and several palace masters under her command."

Li Xuan knew that the middle-class layman was not alone.

His method of 'confusion' can also 'confuse' the number of days. During these hundreds of years, a team of powerful heavenly warriors has also been built.

"This city is dangerous and difficult to attack, so a strong attack is a last resort."

Li Xuan knew that in ancient times, Zhongxiang and the Jingmen next to it were integrated. They were both called "Jingmen" in the Han Dynasty and were the gateway to Jingzhou.

In the Ming Dynasty in another world, the fiefdom of Emperor Jiajing before he ascended the throne was here, so Zhong Xiang changed its name to 'Chengtian Mansion' in later generations.

Li Xuan took a quick look just now and knew that if he attacked by force in this battle, he would suffer heavy losses.

At this time, although he has 140,000 King Ning's criminal troops in his hands, these criminal troops cannot be used in this way.

Ning Wang's criminal army is completely different from the Jingying rebel army in Chaobai River.

King Ning's criminal army has been under King Ning's rule for nearly two hundred years. They have had no choice but to serve King Ning since they were born.

As for the rebellious troops in the Beijing camp, they were instigated by Liang Heng to stir up rebellion after eating enough food and pay from Emperor Jingtai for thirteen years, and their nature was even worse.

It was impossible for Li Xuan to plunge such an army into such a quagmire of flesh and blood.

Fortunately, the Zhongxiang River was still quite wide at this time, and the two Jiangxin Islands formed by silt erosion and sedimentation had not yet taken shape, so they would not affect the battle.

There is also Zhongxiangfu City, which is very strong, but there are not many artillery positions on the side of the river, only more than 20 large and small artillery pieces.

I don’t know if the enemy defenders ignored it or if they lacked artillery.

"Send an order to the entire army to form a siege around the city! Be careful when the enemy comes out of the city to attack."

Li Xuan thought about the dozens of secret surrender letters in his sleeves, and took his eyes back from 'Da Siming': "Uncle Duan, you can command the navy under your command to form a line array and head towards Zhongxiang City. Fire a few cannons and then ask them if they will surrender."

Duan Dong immediately accepted the order and left, while Li Xuan's eyes flashed brightly, and he asked leisurely: "Buddha, you just said that most of the heavenly thrones in Jinque Heavenly Palace have come here. So at this time, it is expected that in the Heavenly Palace, How many heavens are there left?”

"The number of heavenly people in Jinque Tiangong is between four and fifty all year round. They have suffered a lot of losses recently, and coupled with the previous purge, I estimate that there are still six to seven people guarding the Tiangong."

When the middle-class layman said this, his expression suddenly changed: "Is this what you mean, Prince?"

He didn't say any more, and after taking a look at Da Siming in the sky above Zhongxiang Mansion City, he stopped talking.

The middle-class layman guessed Li Xuan's thoughts, but he was worried that he would reveal the secret and be discovered by Da Siming.

Li Xuan asked with a smile: "So, layman, do you think we have hope?"

The middle-class layman said "Hmm" and fell into deep thought, then said in a cold voice: "If it was a few months ago, even if there was only one person left in Jinque Tiangong, it would not be underestimated. Now, maybe we can give it a try. But the premise is, We can't let him get away."

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While Li Xuan and Li Xuan were talking, Da Siming was also looking down.

She saw the Jin army's warships lined up in a row on the wide river.

"What are they doing?"

Da Si Ming was not familiar with the art of war, so she asked the new White Tiger Palace Master.

This man's name is Shi Tianze, who was a famous Han general in the BC Yuan Dynasty and was recruited into the Jinque Tiangong hundreds of years ago.

Over the years, this person has been serving as a military staff and advisor in Tiangong, and his military judgment has never failed.

However, the White Tiger Palace Master looked at the river, his eyebrows slightly condensed; "It seems that he wants to bombard the city wall?"

At this time, those ships roared. More than 40 gunboats and more than 170 Fran cannons on the river fired fierce fire in the direction of Zhongxiang City.

Shi Tianze's face turned pale for a moment: "Da Siming, UU Kanshu www.uukanshu.net I'm afraid we have to retreat, Zhongxiang City can no longer be defended."

In his time, no one attacked a city in this way.

At that time, there was no such low-profile gunboat that could withstand the recoil of dozens of cannons without falling apart and capsizing.

"Why?" Da Siming looked puzzled: "Zhongxiang Mansion is one mile away from the river, and there are many defenses in the city. We must hold on to this city for twenty days!"

Shi Tianze couldn't explain it for the moment, but just after three rounds of bombardment by the warships, he saw the 300,000 Jin troops outside the city. At the same time, he slapped the armor with the weapons in his hands, or hit the ground with the roots of his spears, and let out an overwhelming roar. sound.

"Down! Down! Down! Down!"

Amidst the roaring sound, he saw countless people on the walls of Zhongxiang Mansion City, clanging and clattering down their weapons. White flags were erected for nine miles of the twelve-mile-long city wall.

They are opening up the remaining three miles of wall section——