Chapter 620 [First Update]

Let me start from the beginning. Liu Tan's New Year's celebration in the Northern Kingdom was basically just a formality. He came back to give everyone a year-end bonus and organize an event.

Although the activities have been finalized since the first year and are held the same way every year, they are still very lively every year - probably no one doesn't like the feeling of giving out money.

Especially Liu Tan often gives out practical money and commemorative horseshoe gold together, which gives both money and appearance. Add to that the atmosphere of the New Year and the atmosphere is naturally more lively.

Liu Tan also received "year-end bonuses" from his parents and brother, oh, and actually from Princess Dangli as well.

However, Princess Dangli's original words were to give Liu Tan some New Year's money.

Liu Tan, who is already 23 years old: ...

Well, I heard that in some places the custom is that unmarried people can always get lucky money.

Liu Tan held up the account book and smiled at Lu Xuan, "Looks like I'll be able to get New Year's money from my family for the rest of my life."

He said this in a normal way, but to Lu Xuan it sounded like the most beautiful love words in the world. In a fit of excitement, he hugged Liu Tan, who was still settling accounts, and went back to the room.

Liu Tan was having fun fiddling with an abacus, but he and the abacus were carried away together. He was a little confused.

What followed was a night of indulgence.

Or perhaps it could be said that Liu Tan stayed in the palace for as long as he stayed in the Northern Border Kingdom, and he didn't even go to see the lanterns.

Even if he and Lu Xuan didn't party every night, they would still get together and talk.

After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Liu Tan once again set out for the State of Yan. In front of everyone, Liu Tan couldn't help but hug Lu Xuan, resting his chin on his shoulder and saying, "I'll come find you when you worship your ancestors in the summer."

Lu Xuan said, "Don't be too impatient. We still have a lot of time. There will always be a chance."

Liu Tan didn't know what was wrong with him, but he really wanted to go over there, so he smiled and said, "Your royal city should be taking shape by then, so I'd like to go over and take a look."

Lu Xuan persuaded him without saying anything more. He believed Liu Tan must have his own ideas, so he smiled and replied, "Okay."

The two of them were being affectionate with each other, while the others around them were forced to look up at the sky.

After they finally finished being intimate, the King of the North finally got in his car and left. Everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Lu Xuan turned to look at Huo Guang and said, "If Ah Tan encounters any trouble, please tell me."

Huo Guang naturally wouldn't be polite with him: "Okay."

In the past, he was indeed somewhat repulsed by Lu Xuan, but now he found that he could feel at ease with Lu Xuan around.

Without Liu Tan and the elite regiment, the military strength of the entire Northern Border Kingdom has dropped a lot - of course, in fact, their soldiers have been trained almost according to the new training methods. Although these soldiers are slightly worse than the elite regiment, it is limited. In addition, with enough people, the strength of the Northern Border Kingdom has actually increased rather than decreased.

But without Liu Tan, everyone seemed to have no backbone when it came to military affairs.

Huo Guang was okay at handling other affairs, but he really lacked talent in leading troops and fighting battles.

Now that they have Lu Xuan to watch over them and help them, at least they will have reinforcements if they encounter danger.

But who would have thought that the Huns did not come here to cause trouble for them, but instead went to Yan State to cause trouble for Liu Tan?

After Liu Tan arrived in Yan State, Li Xi had already made final preparations. After Liu Tan returned, he directly launched the wartime plan.

But before that, Liu Tan went to take a look at the port of Guangyang County.

The ports of this era are different from those of later generations, because they only need to be able to accommodate ships, and the requirements for transporting goods are not very high, so they do not need to be built too well. They are already good now, and if there is a need for transportation in the future, they can be expanded.

What concerned him were the warships. The ships he had made before were used for long-distance voyages and transportation, but there were no warships.

This warship was actually based on the previous ship that picked up Liu Che, with the addition of positions for pedal crossbows and crossbowmen, as well as some catapults, which were smaller than catapults and were mainly used to throw black gunpowder.

However, unless it is absolutely necessary, Liu Tan actually doesn't want to use this thing on the ship. On land, the catapults can be dispersed. Even if there is a problem with the catapult or the gunpowder barrel, at most it will only blow up that area, but on the ship, the entire ship may be destroyed.

Fortunately, the Wuhuan people’s ships were not very advanced, and they probably would not go to the sea to fight a naval battle. As long as there was no naval battle, this ship would only be used for landing.

Liu Tan walked around and, after making sure all the equipment was in place, turned to ask Li Xi, "Are the food and fodder supplies sufficient?"

Li Xi's eyes lit up: "Don't worry, Your Highness, there is enough food and grass."

Now most of their food and grass are provided by the Northern Border Country. He did not expect that the Northern Border Country has developed to its current level in just a few years. I heard that the arable land in the Northern Border Country has expanded by more than 30% compared with before. The grain output is very terrifying.

In other words, the processing industry of various soy products in the Northern Country is very developed, otherwise so many soybeans would have been wasted.

As for other food, the Northern Border Kingdom also has it, and a large part of it is provided by the Zhongshan Kingdom.

It is rumored that Liu Fuling, the King of Zhongshan, had a very bad relationship with the King of the Northern Territory. It was said that the King of the Northern Territory was involved in his change of title from the King of Qi to the King of Zhongshan.

So even though Zhongshan State bordered Yan State and Northern Border State, Liu Tan had little contact with him before.

Unexpectedly, Zhongshan State sold its grain and grass to Yan State at a very low price.

After hearing this, Liu Tan turned to Li Xi and asked, "Did he say anything?"

Li Xi shook his head: "The ones who sold us food and fodder were all merchants, saying they were doing their part to drive out the Wuhuan. Your Highness, please take a look..."

Liu Tan shook his head and laughed: "It doesn't matter. If he doesn't say anything, then just pretend he doesn't know. We can talk about this later."

Because Zhongshan State quoted a very low price for grain, the military rations reserves were invisibly sufficient. Li Xi estimated that it would be enough to last at least a year.

However, even if he could really hold on for a year, Li Xi would never do so. He was worried that His Royal Highness the King of the Northern Territory's patience would run out after more than three months.

Liu Tan turned to look at Li Xi and asked, "How did you arrange it? Who will lead the two groups?"

Li Xi hesitated for a moment before saying, "Your Majesty... Your Majesty, I think that Wei Deng and Li Ling should lead the sea route, while I should be the one to lead the northern drive towards the Wuhuan. After all, we need to be cautious when going deep into their territory."

According to Li Xi's idea, since it was Bo Xi who did it, he could just beat Bo Xi.

But his Highness had clearly set the blame on the entire Wuhuan, so what else could he do? He could only obey orders.

Liu Tan asked with a smile, "Don't you want to show off on the warship? This will go down in history."

He really wasn't talking nonsense. This warship was the first warship built after the improvement of shipbuilding technology, and it was also the first warship to go into battle. As long as they could win, and the Han Dynasty could gain hegemony at sea in the future, then this warship and the person who led it for the first time would surely be recorded in history.

Li Xi was conflicted for a moment. The temptation of being able to leave his name in history was greater than anything else.

Even if he had gone on the Western Expedition against the Xiongnu, he would definitely have left his name behind, but the more dazzling ones were Wei and Huo. He was the kind of person who followed behind these two people and was easily beaten.

Being recorded as a general, no one can resist him.

However, after a period of silence, he still said: "Forget it, there will always be opportunities in the future."

After weighing the pros and cons, he felt that the most important thing was to win, and he had to help Liu Tan vent his anger.

After listening to this, Liu Tan looked at him for a moment and said, "If you can capture the Wuhuan's capital, I will allow you to enter first."

Li Xi's eyes lit up. This was much more useful than being the first to lead the warships to the expedition. Anyway, the main purpose of this expedition was to launch a multi-faceted attack on the Wuhuan. There would be no competition with the Wuhuan at sea. In comparison, it would be more useful to capture the royal city.

Before he could say anything, Liu Tan continued, "It just so happens that Shoujiang City should be very quiet recently. Let Li Buyan come over. I feel more at ease with the three of them keeping an eye on that place."

In this way, even if Li Buyan's name really goes down in history on this ship, he will be able to get a record of it. If Li Buyan has achievements in the future and can get his own biography, his father's name will definitely be written in it, which can be regarded as a roundabout way to save the country.

But this time, Li Xi was not thinking about something so far in the past. He was thinking that if his son could get this military achievement, it would definitely be better than anything else.

He thanked Liu Tan very sincerely.

Liu Tan stood in front of the window and took a deep breath: "Now that everything is ready, let's set off tomorrow."

Because the troops were divided, Liu Tan hesitated for a while and decided to stay in Jicheng to see off the army. Guangling County would be advancing in a straight line by sea, which would definitely be faster than marching by land, so it would be a few days later. It was just the right time to wait for Li Buyan to come quickly, and then he would go to Guangling County to mobilize the army.

On the day of seeing off the army, Liu Tan stood on the city wall and only then realized what an army of 100,000 meant.

And this is not the entire 100,000-strong army gathered here, only a part of the representatives. If the 100,000-strong army really stood at Chen Wang, there would be no space left. He looked at the black sea of ​​heads below, and for a moment his blood boiled.

The only thing that made him feel a little bit flawed was that the armor of these soldiers was not very good. As for weapons, only a small number of elite soldiers had the best and most advanced weapons of the Northern Kingdom, and the rest were not good enough.

There's nothing we can do about it. When the Northern Border Kingdom was making these weapons, it was impossible for them to be made based on an army of 100,000. Do you want to rebel?

It is impossible for a vassal state to support an army of 100,000. At most, it can only support 20,000 to 30,000 troops.

What has been delivered now are all spare sets, only about 10,000 to 20,000 sets, which is just a drop in the bucket compared to the 100,000-strong army.

Unfortunately, Liu Tan couldn't wait any longer.

He turned to Li Xi, drank the wine bowl in his hand, and threw it on the ground. Without using any official rhetoric, he simply said: "May the general win the battle and return safely."