Chapter 382 Returning to Lin'an

After thinking for a while, Zhao Chen agreed to Wu Jie's request!

Indeed, there is no need for so many troops stationed in Jiangnan now! On the contrary, they are going north to fight, and now they need soldiers and horses! Moreover, after the Northern War is over, the army will go north to attack Huanglong, completely wipe out the Jurchens, and even clear the grasslands. All these require soldiers and horses!

Wu Jie's navy was only used to pacify the south of the Yangtze River, which is really overkill.

In the next few days, Wu Jie, Wu Lin, Liu Guangshi, Li Qiong and others led an army of more than 100,000 to attack the remaining Dongting Lake rebels.

Almost effortlessly, the remnants of Dongting Lake's rebel army were wiped out.

In fact, most of the Dongting Lake rebels had no intention of fighting again after hearing the news that Zhong Xiang and Yang Mo had been killed.

Over the years, they have lived enough of this kind of fearful life. With Zhao Chen's decree, as long as they surrender, all their sins will be forgiven, so no one is willing to resist anymore.

By July 15th, the hundreds of thousands of troops in Dongting Lake were either wiped out or surrendered, and the fighting here was basically over.

So far, the chaos in Dongting Lake has been settled!

At noon, the bright red sun was baking the earth, and the weather became extremely hot again.

Zhao Chen had come to Dongting Lake from Miluo County at this moment, and he was sitting on a big boat with Wu Jie, Wu Lin and others.

The sparkling light is very dazzling, but the three of them are discussing the strategy of calming the Huaihe River at this moment.

"Leave 20,000 soldiers and horses in Dongting Lake, Wu Lin, you lead an army of 30,000 to the north, which is enough to pacify the two Huaihe Rivers!" Zhao Chen said.

"Your Majesty, I also want to go north with you." Wu Lin said.

"That's not acceptable. At least Jiangnan must be guarded by a general." Zhao Chen smiled wryly.

He can understand Wu Lin's thoughts. Wu Lin also wants to make contributions, but Jiangnan is so important that there must be no turmoil. Therefore, it is certain to send a large army and generals to garrison! Both Wu Jie and Wu Lin were famous generals in the history of the Southern Song Dynasty. Since Wu Jie followed him to the north, Wu Lin had to stay.

"Just let Wu Gong stay here." Wu Lin said.

Wu Gong is the eldest son of Wu Jie, only fifteen years younger than Wu Jie. He also joined the army with Wu Jie early on, and is now a general in the army.

"He can't, he's too young to handle big things." Wu Jie said without hesitation.

Wu Gong is actually a famous general in history! In the original history of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Wu family guarded Sichuan and Shu for three generations. It was not until the Mongols finally came that the Wu family perished together with the demise of Sichuan and Shu! Three generations of the Wu family have produced a large number of generals, and they are a famous family of famous generals in history. However, as Wu Jie said, Wu Gong is still too young now, only twenty years old, not enough to guard such an important place in the south of the Yangtze River.

"Got it." Wu Lin felt a little unhappy.

"The pacification of Lianghuai is mainly to pacify the six counties of Xiangyang! As long as the six counties of Xiangyang are pacified, Lianghuai will naturally be stable, and the remaining bandits can only hide in the mountains. At that time, they can be slowly wiped out." Wu Jie said.

"I understand." Wu Lin nodded.

He was quite disapproving. There were about 100,000 bandits in Lianghuai, but they were divided into countless groups. These bandits also occupied several cities, but they didn't know how to develop the economy, they only burned, killed and looted. The local people treated these bandits Abhorred. These bandits didn't have any organization, and they fought like the Dongting Lake Rebels. Under the leadership of the leader, the gangsters swarmed up. In Wu Lin's view, such a mob is vulnerable, and he is confident that the Lianghuai will be wiped out within a few months. Originally, in history, Yue Fei led an army of 30,000 to completely wipe out the Lianghuai bandits within two months. The strength of the Lianghuai bandits was indeed too weak.

"After the two Huai Rivers were pacified, there were also bandits in Henan and other places. You also have to exterminate the bandits in these places! In addition, if the Central Plains Jurchen is completely defeated, some remnants of the army may go south, and you should also be responsible for eliminating them! Also, there are also bandits in Jiangnan. Some pirates, these are also under your management! In short, your task is also very heavy! If you can handle these well, the credit will not be less than the pacification of the Central Plains! After all, there is hundreds of thousands of troops in the pacification of the Central Plains, and there is no problem in eliminating Jurchen. It's a foregone conclusion, but you led 50,000 troops to garrison Jiangnan, so that the people in the south of the Yangtze River can live and work in peace, which is a great contribution." Zhao Chen said with a smile.

"The general will understand." Wu Lin said.

"Wu Jie, let's return to Lin'an in the afternoon. After arriving in Lin'an, we will go to the sea and go north along the sea road! Originally, I wanted to bring Liu Guangshi, Miao Fu, Liu Zhengyan and others back to the north from land. Now Liu Guangshi, Miao Fu, Liu Zhengyan and others have also been handed over to Wu Lin!" Zhao Chen said.

"Okay!" Wu Jie agreed.

*** ***

In the afternoon of this day, Wu Jie led an army of 50,000 to sit on the big ship, take the big ship to the north of Dongting Lake, and then enter the Yangtze River from there.

Wang Shu went north with Zhao Chen! During his three months in Jiangnan, he has established a branch of the Propaganda Department here, and has also sent elite personnel to manage it! Now that the Central Plains War is about to break out, once the Central Plains is conquered, the tasks of the Propaganda Department will be even more arduous, so he will also bring the remaining elites of the Propaganda Department into the Central Plains, ready to work at any time.

Kang An originally led the 10,000 imperial battalion to go south with Zhao Chen into the south of the Yangtze River, but now he left 5,000 people under Wang De's command, and he returned to the north with the remaining 5,000 people with Zhao Chen.

Originally, Kang An was only responsible for Zhao Chen's safety, but now he has taken over the intelligence department and is responsible for reporting important information to Zhao Chen at any time.

The fleet headed northward with great strength, and the breeze was blowing. After all, it was autumn, and at dusk, the weather had become cooler.

Zhao Chen and Song Qingyao stood at the bow of the boat.

Zhao Chen held Song Qingyao's hand and gently kneaded it. Song Qingyao gave him a reproachful look.

"I also stayed in Dongting Lake for a long time, and now I want to say goodbye, and I feel a little bit sad." Song Qingyao said.

"The scenery here is really beautiful. There are many reeds over there...Look, there are so many water birds!" Zhao Chen said in surprise, pointing to the front.

"Well, the products here are also very rich. There are a lot of fish in the lake! It has a radius of eight hundred miles, and I don't know how much it produces in a year!" Song Qingyao said.

"Eight hundred miles of Dongting! In another thousand years, I'm afraid we won't be able to see these scenes!" Zhao Chen said.

"One thousand years? How do you know you can't see it?" Song Qingyao argued.

"I guessed it." Zhao Chen laughed.

In fact, there will still be Dongting Lake a thousand years later, but the area of ​​Dongting Lake has been reduced by more than half, far less than it is now! In later generations, due to ecological damage, many lakes and rivers can no longer be found! Like the Yellow River, which originally had great currents and rolling waves. It is called the mother river of the Chinese nation. It floods almost every year. After the reform and opening up, the ecology was destroyed. Not to mention the flooding of the Yellow River, it is already very good to be able to keep flowing. ! Of course, there may be other factors as well! For example, Liangshan Po in the Song Dynasty had a huge area and was the largest lake in the north. It was called the "Little Dongting", and it was hundreds of miles in size. The Songjiang Uprising in the late Northern Song Dynasty took place there! Later, when the Jin Kingdom invaded and the Mongols invaded, there were rebels there fighting guerrillas and resisting against the foreign Tartars. It was only because the Yellow River changed its course that Liangshanbo had completely disappeared!

Zhao Chen hopes that the Han people will stop following the old path of ecological destruction, and hope that these beautiful scenery can stay!

He secretly vowed that in the future, he would urge the people to protect the ecology and make China's ecology consistent.

"Husband, you have captured several of my junior sisters! They only practiced martial arts with me in the past, and hardly participated in the rebellion. You let them go." After a while, Song Qingyao said suddenly.

"Okay! I'll let them go. They're just little girls. There's no point in locking them up! After I let them go, when I leave Jiangnan, someone will accompany you." Zhao Chen said.

"I don't want to stay in Jiangnan alone." Song Qingyao gritted her silver teeth and said.

"I'm going to the north, I have important things to do! I'm the emperor of the Song Dynasty, so I have to go! You are pregnant now, if you follow me all the way, I'm afraid that the child will be affected! Besides, the war in the north may be dangerous Even if it happens, I can't let you go to risk! You stay in Lin'an, wait until the end of the Central Plains war, or after the child is born, and then you come to the north, or I send someone to pick you up, or I may return to Jiangnan by myself," said Zhao Chen. .

"I can't bear you." Song Qingyao said with slightly red eyes.

She didn't know what was wrong with herself. She didn't meet Zhao Chen before, and although she missed her, it wasn't to the point where she couldn't let go. But in the past few days, I was with Zhao Chen every day, feeling Zhao Chen's tenderness, caring and considerateness. It was only a few days, but I didn't want to be separated from Zhao Chen no matter what, I just wanted to be with Zhao Chen.

In the past, she was just unrequited love, but now she is passionately in love, so it is naturally different.

She didn't understand all this, but she just didn't want Zhao Chen to go.

"You only have three or four months now. In a few more months, you will follow me to the battlefield with a big belly?" Zhao Chen said.

"Hate it." Song Qingyao said angrily.

"Okay, you stay here! I miss you every day in my heart. I will write to you about some things that happened in the north, and you can also write to me." Zhao Chen said.

"Okay." Song Qingyao nodded slightly.

Although she was reluctant, she also knew that Zhao Chen was definitely going north. She leaned on Zhao Chen's body now, and she knew that she and Zhao Chen could stay together for more than ten days, and the real parting would be when they arrived in Lin'an.

"Can you let the master go?" Song Qingyao suddenly raised her head and asked after leaning against each other for a while.

"Queen?" Zhao Chen frowned slightly, and said, "We can't let her go now! But don't worry, we won't abuse her either. I will imprison her in Lin'an Prison, a separate prison! After arriving in Lin'an, you can also go to see her, talk to her, bring her some books and other things, but you can't let her go! When the world is truly unified, the court is stable, and the White Lotus Sect has nothing to do with the court. Threat, I will let her go."

Song Qingyao sighed softly and nodded.

She knew that this was the best ending for Master.

She and her master grew up together and treated him like a mother. As long as the master can live and be free in the future, she can rest assured. As for the master's ambition, she will never help him realize it.

"I really don't want to let you go!" After a while, she turned around, hugged Zhao Chen tightly, closed her eyes gently, Zhao Chen reached out and hugged her tightly, and kissed her gently on the face, Only then did I let go.

The boat went north like this, and it didn't stop even in the dark. After arriving at Yueyang, the fleet entered the Yangtze River, and then went all the way south.

On July 25, the fleet arrived at Lin'an, Hangzhou from the Qiantang River.

Zhao Chen brought Song Qingyao to the palace, and placed Song Qingyao in the Lin'an Palace.