On the second day, under the surveillance of tens of thousands of Mongolian troops, thousands of defenders from Lituo Ridge carried all weapons and began to retreat back to Xiangyang. Liu Zhengsai used gunpowder to blast any heavy equipment that could not be moved, and at the same time destroyed the city gate of Lituo Ridge to prevent the Mongolian army from entrenching Xiangyang for a long time. Under the gaze of the vast iron cavalry formation like black clouds, a small army of more than a thousand people advanced towards Xiangyang with neat steps and vigorously. They were a group of soldiers worthy of boasting, especially the hundreds of elite soldiers guarding Lituo Ridge. Surrounded by tens of thousands of Mongolian troops, they only fought desperately with the city wall and firearms, and saved the key points of the southern wing from beginning to end in the hands of the Song Dynasty.

On the other hand, Meng Gong also sent people to make an appointment with Tasi and began to withdraw their troops at the same time. The first thing the Mongolian army retreated was the Jurchen Wanhu Liuqi troops, which was the troops responsible for transporting the capture and baggage, and then the Yan Shi army and Shi Tianze troops. Meng Gong arranged 500 warships to put half of the troops and baggage on the ship and retreat to the downstream.

The outer periphery of Xiangyang City suddenly changed from a murderous battlefield to a large construction site with noisy people. Some were dismantling tents, some were leading carriages and horses, and some were carrying wooden boxes and leather bags of all sizes. In the camps of the Song army, soldiers and husbands kept rushing between ships and camps, packing luggage of all sizes. More and more residents of Xiangyang began to believe that this time the war was really over and peace had arrived.

The only shortcoming today is that the Mongolian army did not receive the peace talks that needed Qu'er to criticize. Tasi sent people to wait in front, waiting for the arrival of the Song envoy who was sending peace talks. But after waiting for most of the day, he welcomed a Song envoy who was not well-dressed and in a very embarrassing manner in the afternoon.

The Qixue and others took him to meet Tasi. Tasi asked in surprise: "Why did you look like this? Where is the peace talk?"

The man bowed to the ground and said furiously: "We waited for a group of five people, escorting the North Gate of the messenger carrying the agreement, and came along the main road to the Mongolian camp. But he didn't know that less than half a mile away, dozens of men with black veils suddenly jumped out of the grass, each with swords and weapons to stop us from going to the road. When the villain saw that it was not good, he hurriedly rode his horse and left in the desert. The messenger and the other brothers were unable to escape and were all captured alive by the group of masked men. I walked along the remote path before I could escape the danger and come to the king."

Tasi frowned slightly and asked casually: "Where are these bandits coming from?"

The man lay on the ground and didn't dare to raise his head. He said in a regular manner: "Listen to them, it should be the Mongolian saying you said, the king."

Of course, his words were a bit offensive to the noble king. They did not dare to translate them literally, so they had to modify them before translating them to Tasi.

When Tasi heard this, he believed in himself three points. For the sake of the stability of the empire, he had to withdraw from the north, but many people were unwilling to withdraw their troops. After all, the overall interests of the Mongol Empire were not the first priority they considered.

Zhang Rou, headed by Shi Tianze, Liu Yi, and Zhang Zhongren, each occupying one side, being the powerful warlords in the ten routes of Yanjing. They were not very concerned about the stability and strength of the Mongol Empire. Naturally, as ministers of a great country, they also had some ambitions to strive to repay the master, but they were ranked first and would always get benefits for themselves. For now, one was to obtain as much wealth and slaves as possible from the Southern Dynasties, and the second was to establish enough merits in front of the Khan. Therefore, many people in the camp were reluctant to see the peace talks.

But the whole thing may be a trick made by Zheng Yunming. It is necessary to strengthen surveillance of Xiangyang. Relying on the Han people is not advisable. He had to order the Weiwuer troops of Zhaosi's subordinates to launch in front and be vigilant about Xiangyang's every move at any time.

But Xiangyang City still did not have any abnormal movements. In addition, Zheng Yunming also sent an envoy to apologize and promised to send additional personnel to escort the next day, and the peace agreement will be delivered on time.

The day of this day was spent in the calm and peaceful weather.

But at night, the lights were brightly lit near the Gate of Hell, and the lights were lit from the boat to the shore. Because there were Mongolian whistle riders watching in the distance, the soldiers tried to be careful and cautious, and did not reveal signs of a war coming soon.

In the temporary central army tent, Meng Gong and his generals were discussing the offensive strategy around a topographic map.

"Although the Tartars were mostly plundered fishing boats, they were numerous after all. If they wanted to cut off the enemy's retreat, they had to catch all these thousands of fishing boats in one go. This was not an easy task." Meng Gong raised his head and glanced at the generals around the table. Among these people were his subordinates, the generals of the Zhenjiang Navy who joined the reinforcements with Jiangzhou Dumai Jianghai, and the commanders of the Ezhou Navy stationed naval forces. How to arrange the attack is very knowledgeable.

Meng Gong's plan was to let his subordinates take the lead and take the lead in defeating the enemy ships' resistance, and the rest of the troops continued to advance in order to achieve their full results.

"Where is the commander of the navy?" he shouted loudly.

A sturdy general responded loudly.

"Tomorrow, lead the Huangzhou naval army to take the lead. Deputy General Tong Ding and Chi Shan are behind. If there is any mistake, I will come to see this commander!" Although Meng Gong pretended to be stern, he also believed that the strong combat power of his subordinates would never be overwhelmed by the Mongolian army's boats on the Han River.

Qu Shen was about to reach out to receive the order talisman, but the fat general Zhang Lian, who was standing beside him, opened his mouth to stop him in a muffled voice: "Pioneering, please leave the vanguard to our Jingchu navy."

If it is an ordinary war, some people will inevitably think that Zhang Lian is stealing the limelight from the Huangzhou navy. But tomorrow it will face more than 100,000 Mongolian troops, which is very likely to be a matter of going but not returning. At this time, it is definitely not to show off.

Meng Gong was not surprised. Zheng Yunming's subordinates were young and energetic. Most of them were young men in their twenties and thirties. They were certain to be warlike and greedy for merit. He said to Peng Man seriously: "The battle tomorrow is related to the safety of Xiangyang. If it is defeated, the Mongols will come to the Han River, and they will inevitably launch a large army to attack the city in revenge. Zheng Guanren and Jingchu army will immediately have their lives. Do not treat this as a joke."

Peng Man also responded seriously: "The Jingchu naval army is not our bloody words, but letting our warships be ahead, just to win the victory of tomorrow's battle."

"When Peng Man went to war, Zheng Guanren told me that in the final decisive battle in the future, the naval army must be one of the protagonists. At that time, I must ask Meng Shuai Chen to serve as a vanguard to fight, not because the Jingchu naval army is braver and good at fighting, but for other reasons."

Qu Shen snorted and shouted, "It's just because you Jingchu has many arms."

Needless to say, the generals present have already realized the role of firearms from actual combat, especially in water battles. The longer the range, the more powerful weapons have the advantages. Firearms have unique advantages in this regard, and their arson attributes have them, which restrain wooden warships. Zheng Yunming has now become the promoter of the development of firearms in the entire Song Dynasty, and the Jingchu army has also become the core of the firearms of the Song army. The firearms of the Jingchu army have highlighted two key parts, namely the city defense and the naval army. The firearms at this stage are very bulky and have poor power, and can only fire primitive shotguns and grape bullets, which do not pose enough barrage threats to the cavalry. Therefore, the field battle is more powerful than bows and arrows and formations. The city defense and firearms on ships can fully exert their effectiveness, so there is no need to worry about the heavy and inability to maneuver.

To a certain extent, the firearm configuration of the Jingchu naval army even exceeded that of the city firearms. In terms of light ships alone, there were a total of 150 light warships with bamboo general artillery installed on the bows. These light ships, as the protagonists of the pilot war and the guards to cover the big ships, increased their power exponentially after adding firearms. In the past, a multi-oat warship full of Song army might not be the opponent of a fishing boat full of Mongolian archers, because although the Mongolians were not accustomed to water warfare, the bows and horses were sharp after all, and both armies were not allowed to be.

In the long and close combat, in addition to familiarizing themselves with the advantage of ship warfare, the Song army did not have an absolute advantage in boat warfare. But now the boat is equipped with cannons. Before each battle, warships lined up on the river like military formations, and thousands of cannons were lit up. The Mongolian army was dazed before they could use their shooting skills, and then they were shot by musketeers. Before the two armies fought, they had already left 50% of their momentum. The Song army rushed into the fight with one go, which was often unscrupulous. This had already revealed signs of this in the previous battle.

But the deadly weapon of the Jingchu army was not a small boat, but a large warship unit composed of vehicles, ships and sea loach ships. In the early decades of the Nandu Desert, the court was shocked by the power of the Jurchen cavalry, and often invested in the navy at all costs to create a lot of large and unscrupulous equipment. Among them were twenty-four and thirty-two giant car ships. The facts proved that these giant beasts were only suitable for driving on open lakes. Once they entered the river channel, they would not work immediately, and it was quite difficult to turn around.
Chapter completed!