After sending Ma Renwang and Ma Zhi away, Yelu Yanxi sent Xiao Fengxian to the Northern Court Privy Council and the Palace Capital, Xiao Taosuwo, and Xiao Wuna, the Imperial Camp Commander, all of Khitan confidants to the imperial tent to discuss the arrangements for entering the military Lushun Mansion.

"Your Majesty, the wilderness has built an iron cable pontoon bridge on the Liao River and a bridgehead on both sides of the Liao River. There are also whirlwind cannons and bed crossbows in the bridgehead, which can ensure that the Liao River will not be penetrated by Wu Haogu's warships."

As soon as several people entered the tent, Xiao Fengxian reported good news. His son Xiao Naye built an "iron cable pontoon bridge" on the Liaohe River in Chenzhou to block the river. He tied hundreds of wooden boats with two iron chains as thick as bowls to form a pontoon bridge, which stretched across the Liaohe River. At the same time, he built a very strong bridgehead at both ends of the pontoon bridge. The bridgehead was also equipped with stone generators and bed crossbows to block the river surface, and thousands of Khitan cavalry were stationed. They fought back at any time to attempt to land on the Youzhou army in the estuary of the Liaohe River.

"Okay!" Yelu Yanxi nodded with satisfaction, "On land, I, the Great Liao, always have a way to compete with the Youzhou thieves. Now all I am worried about is the Liaohe River. I am stationed in Chenzhou to defend against the Youzhou pirates. Now that the Liaohe River has been blocked, I can finally feel at ease."

There are actually two purposes for Yelu Yanxi to station in Chenzhou. One is of course aimed at Ma Renwang. Ma Zhi has to take their Ma family army to the battlefield!

The second purpose is to rectify the coastal defense of Chenzhou. Yelu Yanxi was not stupid either. Of course, he knew that the Youzhou Navy was very powerful! On land, the Liao army could also rely on its troops to deal with the Youzhou Army. But at sea, let alone the Youzhou Navy, even the sea merchants and pirates of the Song Dynasty could defeat the Liao Dynasty's navy.

Therefore, the coastal defense of Chenzhou must be rectified, otherwise once Yelu Yanxi's army penetrated into the Liaodong Peninsula, Wu Haogu's navy could land behind him!

There are two centers of focus for Chenzhou’s coastal defense, one is the estuary of the Liao River; the other is the seaport of Chenzhou.

At this time, the Liaohe River had a strong navigation capacity and was not under the Yangtze River. The Youzhou Navy could directly follow the Liaohe River to penetrate into the hinterland of Liaodong, so it must be blocked.

Not to mention Chenzhou, it is a commercial port. Once it is occupied by the Youzhou army, the consequences will be even more unimaginable.

"Tao Suwo." Yelu Yanxi then pointed out the name of Xiao Tao Suwo, who was born in the Tulubu tribe. The Tulubu tribe is one of the crest tribes of the Khitan, but it is not a royal tribe. He can naturally have some skills to climb to the palace and deputy capital to deploy such a high position.

Xiao Taosuwo got up from the bottom step by step, starting from the small bottom of the pen and inkstone, and climbing to his current high position step by step. During this period, he had been a horse quintaibao who had been working as a horse quinting officer for many years. He worked in the Mobei Water Skiing Horse Qunsi and Monan Horse Qunsi. This was not a job as a breeder, but had to fight and kill horse thieves on the grassland. Those who could do it were all skillful.

"I'm here." Tao Suwo came out to answer.

Yelu Yanxi glanced at him. His tall and stout beard was like a steel needle. His weather-beaten face was clearly angular. At first glance, he looked like a man who could withstand setbacks and was not easily knocked down.

"After I go south, I will hand Chenzhou over your defense and give you ten thousand tribal soldiers." Yanxi said, "Chenzhou is a must-see for the future. You must not make any mistakes. Do you understand?"

"I dare to use my superiors to guarantee Chenzhou's unrest." Xiao Taosuwu replied loudly. "But I still want to ask for an elite soldier."

"Tell me, which army I want?" Yelu Yanxi asked.

"I want to follow the cavalry of the country's daughter."

The Shun Kingdom's daughter Zhi was a close neighbor of the Wanyan tribe of the Hushui River. She had a long-term disagreement with the Wanyan tribe, so naturally she did not follow the Wanyan tribe to rebel against Liao. After Xiao Sixian and Xiao Tabu were defeated by Ningjiangzhou and Huanglongfu, the leader of the Shun Kingdom's army, Aguchan, and Zhao San led his troops to follow the Liao army south. Now he has also arrived in Yelu Yanxi's army. Although there are only hundreds of elite cavalry, he is a powerful force that cannot be underestimated.

"Okay, I will let Zhao San lead 300 cavalry of Shunguo and his daughter to follow you to guard Chenzhou." Yelu Yanxi was not willing to hand over all the cavalry of Shunguo and his sons to Xiao Taosuo, and only gave half of them. He brought the 300 cavalry produced by Ah Yu with him.

He then said to Xiao Fengxian: "Fengxian, the three armies have not moved, and food and grass will go first. This time the army headed south to Lushun, and I am afraid that there will be a long-term struggle. There must be no mistakes in the supply of food and grass for hundreds of thousands of people. I will entrust this important task to you now. It is necessary to divide half of the food and grass stockpiled in Chenzhou into Fuzhou within a month. As long as the troops and food are sufficient, we can always waste the Youzhou army in Liaodong!"

"I respectfully receive the imperial edict."

Yelu Yanxi chose Lushun as the offensive target, but in fact he still had the idea of ​​fighting for logistics. Although he dispatched 400,000 troops, he had some advantage in logistics supply to the large granary backed by the Liaohe River Basin.

Although Wu Haogu controlled the sea route, Yan land had always lacked food and needed to buy grain from Liaodong. After Yelu Yanxi decided to attack Lushun, the route of Liao grain shipping was naturally completely cut off. Without more than 2 million stones of Liao grain a year, Wu Haogu's Youzhou would inevitably lack food, and perhaps there would be no enough food to supply the Liaodong frontline.

In this way, Yelu Yanxi can rely on a protracted battle to consume Wu Haogu Youzhou!

After arranging the defense and transportation of grain and grass at the mouth of Chenzhou and Liaohe River, Yelu Yanxi could finally feel at ease to go south to Lushun Prefecture.

On the first day of the eighth day of the second year of Tianqing in the Great Liao Dynasty, Yelu Yanxi's imperial tent was set off from Chenzhou. Under the escort of more than 200,000 Khitans, Bohai and Han soldiers, he went south in a mighty way. In just three days, he arrived at Fuzhou City next to Lushun Prefecture on the fourth day of the August 2018. On the fifth day of the August 2018, the sun and moon divine flag symbolizing the Emperor of the Great Liao stood high on Bijia Mountain, which was far away from Daheishan.

...

Just as Yelu Yanxi stationed in Bijia Mountain, more than 300,000 Liao soldiers pressed towards Lushun Prefecture, Wu Haogu, who was far away in Youzhou, encountered an unexpected trouble, and it was quite small.

Too many soldiers!

To be precise, it is not that there are too many soldiers, but that there are too many heroes coming to the conquest!

Wu Haogu originally thought that only the young citizens of Youzhou would stand up and defend the Youzhou Republic. After all, they are the little masters and successors of the Youzhou Republic regime. Who will defend if they don’t defend?

But beyond his expectations, the poor and lower-middle peasants who belonged to the ruling class in Youzhou also burst out with great enthusiasm. They cried and shouted to defend the Republic and fight against the Khitans...

In front of the recruiting sites set up in various parts of Youzhou, there were long queues of poor and lower-middle peasants, and the number of people who were excited and enthusiastic, must have exceeded 200,000! If we included the knights who were recruited, the "little masters" who were recruited, the total strength of the Youzhou army would probably be close to 400,000.

Now I really don’t know if there are more Liao soldiers or Youzhou soldiers?

"King, this is a good thing! How easy is soldiers to fight, and this is what people want!"

"King, the equipment is easy to handle, so save a little more. If the iron armor is not fully equipped, use paper armor to make do with it. If the iron in Tianjin is not sufficient, use Wuzhou iron to build weapons... It's enough to use it."

"There is no need to worry about military pay. The Republican Government has issued a notice that no knights or soldiers who are not gathered will be paid. However, there are not many warriors who are recruited at all. It seems that they are all good men who truly support the Republican government!"

"Yes, we can't let the heroes' hearts be disappointed! Recruit as many soldiers as possible, and at least we can attack in several ways!"

In the convention hall of the Republican government, the leaders of the Three Divisions, Six Rooms and Six Supervisors were expressing their opinions in a slight manner. They all mean to recruit all the poor and lower-middle peasants in Youzhou who supported the Republic into the army.

No matter if he is 400,000 or 500,000... he still thinks there are too many people to conquer the world?

Moreover, the poor and lower-middle peasants in Youzhou all love the republic and realize that they are so high! They are willing to join the army without military pay. What else do you have to say?

Tao Jiefu and Zhang Kegong were recruiting troops at high prices, but how many Youzhou people went to apply for the recruitment? Very few!

What does this mean? It means that republicism is popular! The people are all in a republic. Who can bear to push them into the fire pit of evil monarchy?

Definitely not!

"But we don't have that much food and grass!"

Wu Haogu frowned slightly and raised a difficult problem.

According to the original plan, after the Youzhou Army recruited the "little citizens" and some knights, the total strength (including auxiliary soldiers) should be more than 200,000.

But now it’s at least 400,000, and you’ll be five more.

The money is okay, but the cavalry is not paid by the military soldiers. We can make do with weapons. But the food is for people to eat!

Because Yelu Yanxi blocked Chenzhou Port and Liaohe, the grain supply in Youzhou was tight. Inventory must be used to maintain the supply in several major cities.

If the number of troops doubles from the planned number to reach 400,000 or 500,000, the food supply will be very tight.

Moreover, because there are too many people joining the army, there will be problems with grain production in Youzhou. This year's winter wheat planting area will definitely decline, and the harvest will be reduced in the coming year.

"King, the food matter is easy to handle." Zuo Sitong Magistrate Mi Youren took over Wu Haogu's problem, "First use inventory, then borrow grain from the Hailu Maritime Control Department... When Yelu Yanxi cut off the transportation of Liao grain, Ji Yizhi was raising grain from Annan and Java Island to fill the gap. By next summer, he would definitely have a lot of stocks on hand to borrow 2 million stones."

"Borrow two million stones?" Wu Haogu was stunned, "How could he be willing?"

Mi Youren snorted and laughed: "Why would you refuse? By next spring, we should have eighteen 'truth' ships. They are all sent to Haizhou and Ji Yizhi to reason well. Are you afraid that one or two million stones of grain will not be borrowed?"

"That's right!" Wu Haogu nodded slightly, "I'll let you go and reason with Ji Yizhi at that time... discuss with him carefully, do you know?"

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Chapter completed!