The navy's warship arrived three days later than expected. This rarely happens to the Black Banner Army with such strict military discipline. Although it is already summer, the rain is not frequent this time, and there is less wind and waves on the river. The estimated time has already passed. It is quite ample, but the navy is still late, which makes people a little puzzled.
What was even more puzzling was that Fang Jie didn't blame Zheng Qiu, the navy general, at all.
The main generals in the Black Banner Army all know Fang Xie well. On weekdays, Fang Xie joked and chatted with these subordinates without any distinction of superiority or inferiority. back. But as long as it is designing military affairs, Fang Jie has extremely strict requirements on his subordinates. This time, it is uncharacteristically confusing.
Moreover, when Zheng Qiu arrived, he was called into the study by Fang Jie, and stayed there for more than half an hour before coming out, and he didn't know what the conversation was about.
Although many people have discovered that this matter is extraordinary, Du Dingbei's mind is not on it at all. At this time, besides nervousness, he is excited, unparalleled excited. In the world of Central Plains, it has been too long since there has been an example like him.
More than a hundred years ago, after Emperor Taizong of the Great Sui Dynasty succeeded to the throne, he promoted a little man from a poor family, Li Xiao, who was only in his teens at the time. At that time, the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty did not understand why Emperor Taizong made such a choice. Not to mention that Li Xiao came from a poor family, and there is nothing glamorous in his resume.
At the beginning of the Sui Dynasty, there were many talents of the younger generation. Emperor Taizong chose a person who was not outstanding to be promoted, which caused an uproar at the time. At that time, although Taizu Yang Jian killed many heroes, there were still many founding generals alive after all, and the descendants of these people had grown up because of the teachings of their fathers, and they sprung up like mushrooms after rain.
Li Xiao, who was in his teens, was entrusted by the Emperor Taizong with the important task of training the new army, which was an errand only given to veterans with meritorious service at that time. Moreover, this area has been with soldiers for ten years, Li Xiao lived and ate in the barracks for the past ten years, and has never fought a battle, and the criticism in the court has never stopped in the past ten years. Perhaps in order to silence those courtiers, Emperor Taizong asked Li Xiao, who was already in the military, to take part in the entrance examination of the Martial Arts Academy, and won the championship in one fell swoop. The excellent results in nine subjects really shocked people's jaws.
Ten years later, Li Xiao, who had not achieved an inch of merit, was promoted by Emperor Taizong to be a general of the third rank, which was simply unacceptable to the civil and military of the Manchu Dynasty. As a general of the third rank, how many of the veterans who followed the emperor Taizu in the war did not reach this position
A young man with no family background and no military achievements at all, was promoted to one of the sixteen generals before he was thirty years old. This is like a dream.
After Emperor Taizong promoted Li Xiao as a general, he asked him to take a new army of 100,000 people to Fanhu to train sailors and supervise the building of warships. For another five years, Li Xiao, who was already thirty years old, led the army for fifteen years without any disturbance.
On the day of Li Xiao's 33rd birthday, the imperial court suddenly made another decree. Emperor Taizong promoted Li Xiao to be a first-class marquis, and the whole court was shocked!
But before the courtiers objected, Emperor Taizong suddenly ordered a southern expedition!
Li Xiao was appointed as the general manager of the South Expedition Army, Marshal of all the soldiers and horses, commanding the 100,000 new troops of the Southern Expedition and the ten guards who participated in the war. Some veterans must be restrained by him! Emperor Taizong pointed out very seriously in his edict that whoever opposes Li Xiao is against him, and whoever keeps giving orders is disrespecting the edict.
Everyone knows what happened next. Thirty-three-year-old Li Xiao led his army to the south. The navy he built defeated the Nanchen navy, which was known as the unparalleled in the world. The Yangtze River, which Nanchen regarded as a natural barrier, became The tomb of Naval Master Nanchen. After crossing the river, although the new army trained by Li Xiao had entered the battlefield in a real sense for the first time, the sharpness of who else could it be was immediately revealed.
The 100,000 new army took only one month to level the current Huainan Road and approach Jiangdu City.
It was an era when famous generals came out in large numbers. After the founding heroes of the Sui Dynasty, dozens of people emerged in this war, shining like stars in the sky. Afterwards, none of these generals would admit defeat in the battle against Chen, and charged forward with all their strength. The army of the Sui Dynasty crushed the Nanchen army into powder, and these young generals were impressive in the war.
However, there is no doubt that if there are bright stars behind those generals, then Li Xiao is a bright moon in the sky, and no one can cover his light. Emperor Taizong was the red sun that gave the bright moon the light.
Li Xiao spent five years in the south of the Yangtze River, conquering more than half of the country in the current Sui Dynasty.
He spent fifteen years dormant, five years of shock!
Although later, because of Li Xiao's great contribution, Emperor Taizong had to withdraw him from the south of the Yangtze River and send him to guard the bitter cold land in the northwest, but Li Xiao's experience is undoubtedly an encouragement to all the poor disciples.
Du Dingbei's thoughts now are probably exactly the same as Li Xiao's appreciation and trust for Emperor Taizong back then. Before coming to Xinyang City with the army, Du Dingbei never thought that he would be reused like this. The first battle of crossing the river is of great significance to the conquest of Subei Road!
Fang Xie didn't care that he was young or that he had no commanding experience. This kind of trust was not something anyone could give. Therefore, Du Dingbei's gratitude to Fang Xie in his heart was beyond words, and he told himself over and over again that he must never let the Lord's trust down!
The fact that Fang Jie wanted to use an inexperienced poor family who was only sixteen years old to command the war was publicized a few days ago, and the entire Xinyang City and even the people within hundreds of miles heard about it. On the day the battle was scheduled to start, hundreds of thousands of people gathered to watch the battle on the west bank of Luoshui River. Long time Mr. Nishiyama.
"Hey!"
An old man stroked his beard and said: "I have experienced two major wars in my life. The first time was when the Sui army destroyed the merchants. At that time, I was still young and saw the power of the Sui army. This is the second time. The Sui Dynasty is already in chaos, but with the Black Banner Army in our southwest, who dares to make trouble? Only people like the Duke of the State will use people from our poor family. Have you heard that the Duke of the State is also from a poor family? Woolen cloth!"
"How come you haven't heard of it?"
The person next to him raised his jaw with a proud face, as if Fang Jie was his acquaintance and good friend: "Who in the whole Central Plains doesn't know about the Duke of the State? He entered Chang'an as a teenager and became a blockbuster. Not to mention winning the Yanwu Academy for the exam." The excellent results of the Tongming Nine Gates are the small-character calculation method that has been circulated in the world, and the pinyin notation method can only be imagined by a genius? With the Duke of the State in our southwest, no monsters dare to come over!"
"In the past, when there were wars, we could hide and run as we could. How could we be talking and laughing and watching?"
A middle-aged man said with a pipe in his mouth: "Today I put down all the work in the field, just want to see how the young man appointed by the Duke can make the Duke look good!"
"Drumming!"
At this time, the sound of drums came from the river, and the people looked at the river from a height. A man in a red cloak rode to the front of the battle, shouting something loudly.
"forward!"
"forward!"
"forward!"
The soldiers of the Black Banner Army waiting in formation on the shore let out deafening roars, like a group of tigers.
…
…
Du Dingbei clenched his fists hard, and quietly wiped the sweat from his palms on his clothes. He quickly climbed up to the high platform built by the river, and took over the big flag from the messenger around him. Behind him, thirty-six huge cowhide war drums were already beating, and the soldiers were ready to go to the opposite bank to let the enemy have a taste of the black flag sabers and guns.
"Admiral Zheng Qiu, please clear the river!"
Du Dingbei shouted loudly.
The horn blew, and it didn't take long for the flagship of the navy to respond to the horn, followed by dozens of Huanglong warships and two large warships, which began to move slowly. The archers are already ready. Before crossing the river, the navy had to clean up the northern Jiangsu fleet on the river and suppress the archers on the other side.
Standing on the bow of the flagship, Zheng Qiu also had a solemn expression. This was the first battle after he led the army to submit to Fang Jie, and he felt pain for Du Dingbei because of one thought. This battle must not be ugly, otherwise the future status will be worrying. And if Du Dingbei failed Fang Jie's trust in this battle, he might not be able to stand out in the Black Banner Army in the future.
It's about the future, and no one dares to be careless.
"General."
Lieutenant General Xu Shubao stood beside Zheng Qiu and pointed at the Northern Jiangsu Army on the opposite bank, saying: "The enemy troops are all small boats, and it seems that they want to rely on their agility to approach and destroy the boats."
Zheng Qiu raised his clairvoyance to look, and then sneered: "Water ghosts? I have led the army for so many years and I have not been sunk by a water ghost. Let them see, the real navy and the patchwork army What's the difference! Let our water ghost go down from the other side of the big boat first, so as not to be seen by the people on the other side, use a new semaphore!"
"Here!"
Xu Shubao turned around and gave some instructions, and the flag bearer standing on the mast immediately waved the command flag.
On the other side, in the North Jiangsu Army.
A middle-aged man with clairvoyance frowned and couldn't help muttering to himself: "What kind of semaphore is this? Why is it different from the semaphore of the Tai Sui Navy?"
Sun Yingdian sat beside him and looked at the middle-aged man: "Mr. Xishan, what did you say?"
The middle-aged man who looked to be in his thirties and behaved elegantly shook his head: "It's nothing, it's just some usual tricks. Zheng Qiu's navy thought that with a big boat, they could run wild on the river. I have already recruited hundreds of The fisherman with excellent water skills is ready to scuttle his two big boats when the time comes, so he will not dare to be so arrogant."
Sun Yingdian nodded, and asked after a while: "Mr. Xishan... you can't lose this time! The Black Banner military solution is so arrogant that they use a brat to command the crossing of the river. If they win this battle , not only your face is not good-looking, but I also have no face to meet people!"
Mr. Xishan said coldly: "I thought Fang Jie was a great person, but from this incident, it can be seen that he is just a person who has made a name for himself. He just wanted to use this young man to anger us. He also wants to use this method to force us to fight a decisive battle by the river, he has a navy, and he thinks that he can defeat our team in one battle, which is too beautiful."
"It's all up to you."
Sun Yingdian looked worried, but at this moment there was no other way.
west coast
Seeing the launch of the warship, the people on the high place cheered, and the sound even overshadowed the sound of the war drums. Even the soldiers of the Black Banner Army experienced this kind of scene for the first time. It has never happened that hundreds of thousands of people cheered along the coast when the team went out to fight. The fighting spirit in the soldiers' hearts was summoned by the cheers, and everyone was gearing up.
"Dingbei."
Fang Jie walked to Du Dingbei and stopped, pointed to the defense line of the Northern Jiangsu Army on the opposite side and said, "What's on the other side?"
"It's the enemy army!"
Du Dingbei replied.
"No."
Fang Jie shook his head: "On the other side is the golden plaque outside the main entrance of your house, an ink pen that can be used to write in history books, the cheers of your hometown folks, and the first stone steps you climb up the mountain."
"The subordinate understands!"
Du Dingbei was completely aroused by these words, he glanced at Fang Jie and said loudly: "My lord, this subordinate wants to honor the lintel!"