Dahan Pirate Air Force

Chapter 318 Beacon Road

In the lower reaches of the Ganges River, a mighty army was boarding ships and leaving the land. Most of these so-called "ships" were rafts, and only a few were serious wooden boats.

This is the pirate group's third expeditionary force, the force led by Azar.

After starting from Peshawar, the team headed eastward.

At the beginning, the journey was very smooth. Protected by the Southern Legion of the Inpa Empire, they passed the war zone easily.With his hands itching, Azar also helped the Southern Legion fight a battle with the Kingdom of Andalo. It was both satisfying and a thank you to the Southern Legion.

It wasn't until after passing the war zone and heading east along the south bank of the Ganges River that all kinds of troubles began.

This well-equipped force frightened the small countries along the way.

First came the Andalo troops who were pursuing them. They did not dare to attack openly and made sneak attacks at night, which made Azar, Chen Huo and Zheng Chuo upset.

After discussion, they felt that they should speed up their march and head east quickly in order to get rid of the Andalo people.

The method worked, and the Andaro Kingdom's army retreated.However, after a few days of happiness, the army of the Sugar Cane Kingdom in the Ganges River area came again.

This kingdom is relatively strong and has more than 50 elephants, so it dares to take a stand and fight directly.

Azar's heavy cavalry could not defeat them at first because the horses were frightened by the sight of the elephants and did not even dare to move forward.

The cavalry could not advance or retreat. During the hesitation, the Sugarcane Kingdom's best archers took advantage of the situation and attacked, scaring off the cavalry.

Fortunately, most of the pirate group's men were heavily armed, and the bows and arrows only caused some minor injuries, and no one was killed.

So Azar changed his tactics and sent only elite light cavalry to attack proactively. The opponent would retreat as soon as they pursued him, shooting arrows as they retreated.

War elephants are not as fast as war horses, and cavalry can easily escape pursuit every time.However, if the opponent stops chasing, the light cavalry will rush forward and shoot arrows again.

The weakness of the Sugar Cane Kingdom was that it did not have a large number of war horses. As a result, they suffered heavy casualties. Even their precious war elephants were knocked down on both ends, and they no longer dared to block the road casually.

After this battle, Azar's trip was delayed and some personnel and supplies were lost.The main reason is that some slaves have escaped. The original slave team of more than 300 people now only has more than 150 people left.

However, Azar was still a little lucky. As long as the casualties were not soldiers, he didn't care.

Slaves can be replenished on the spot.

However, you cannot catch slaves and escape at the same time.After much deliberation, there was only one way, and everyone took the water route.

The Ganges River is not turbulent. It has a wide surface and flows slowly eastward through the plains.

Azar stationed himself in the upper reaches, established a camp, and rested the entire army. At the same time, he dug deep trenches and built high camp walls to guard against enemy attacks.

At the same time, he ordered another group of soldiers and slaves to start cutting down trees in turns and build a large number of rafts in preparation for going down the river.

Chen Huo and Zheng Chuo took Azar's letter and took advantage of this quiet period to return to the headquarters of the Southern Legion of the Inpa Empire. They used the small amount of silver coins left by Zhang Bai to purchase a batch of grain to increase their reserves.

Stop for two months.

In addition to the batch of grain and grass requested by Chen Zhuo and Zheng Chuo, Azar also often led small teams of cavalry to search for various ships and people in the surrounding area. In order to replenish slaves, he basically arrested everyone he saw.

This era was still the era of slavery. Even the most progressive Central Plains was dominated by serf tenants, let alone the Indian subcontinent.

The number of slaves captured by Azar has increased day by day, and the number has exceeded the original number, reaching nearly 400 people.He asked the slaves to build rafts during the day and tie them tightly with ropes at night.

These slaves worked hard during the day and were tied up at night until their blood flow was blocked and their bodies ached.Their condition was miserable, and soon people began to fall ill and die.

After all, Chen Zhengchuo was from the Central Plains, so he really couldn't bear to see such a scene.

But they didn't dare to let the slaves go, so they thought of a compromise.They simply drew a pattern and asked military craftsmen to build a batch of wooden shackles according to the law and put them on the slaves' heads instead of forcibly binding them with ropes.

This somewhat alleviated the slave's suffering, but that was the end of it.

After the rafts and wooden boats were assembled, Azar asked people to put the food on the boats, while the soldiers, craftsmen and slaves got on the rafts and marched eastward.

This was in April.

In the Indian subcontinent, the weather is hot, but in Chengdu, it is just getting warmer.

Zhang Bai specially sent a letter to Zhuge Qiao, pretending to ask him to forward it to Prime Minister Zhuge as a farewell and explaining that he was going to greet his brother and would be back soon.

Then, Zhang Bai and Daolao rode out of the city and hurried to Jiangzhou.

Jiangzhou during the Shu Han Dynasty was Chongqing in later generations.Before Zhang Bai left, he actually went to Zhuge Liang to learn more about the situation in Jiangzhou.

The governor of Jiangzhou at this time was Fei Guan, whose courtesy name was Bin Bo. According to Zhuge Liang, he was the clan father of Fei Yi, who was later known as one of the four prime ministers of the Shu Han Dynasty.

He is said to be the father of the clan, but in fact he is only 34 years old. However, this man is Liu Yan's son-in-law. He is considered to be the same generation as Liu Zhang and Liu Bei, and has a very high seniority.Even Li Yan, who was 20 years older than him, was considered an equal in front of Fei Guan, and the two had a close relationship.

Li Yan and Fei Guan both belonged to the four major military governors of the Shu Han Dynasty. One was the Yong'an governor and the other was the Jiangzhou governor, which was equivalent to the commander of the military region in later generations.

This Jiangzhou defense zone is in the Shu Kingdom and has a transit function connecting the previous and the next.It is located at the intersection of Jinsha River and West Hanshui (Jialing River), with water and land extending in all directions, and is an important town in the rear.

Jiangzhou is a hub of waterways. It can lead to Yong'an to the east, to Nanzhong to the south, and to the northwest. There are waterways crisscrossing it, and the transportation is extremely developed.

Setting up a defense zone in Jiangzhou can not only fill the gap left by the Shu Han in the southeast of the Sichuan Plain, but also connect the two defense zones of Yong'an and Lajiang so that they can support each other in case of trouble.

Moreover, this is also a food distribution center, and the food needed for the Northern Expedition in the future will also need to be transported from here.It is extremely important for Shu Han's defense in all directions.

When Zhang Wen and Deng Zhi came to Shu, they took the water route and must stop in Jiangcheng.Therefore, Zhang Bai asked Daolao to buy a good horse. Relying on the speed of the horse, the two rushed to Jiangzhou to intercept Zhang Wen.

Two days later, Jiangcheng was already in sight.

Daolao's horse is a local horse. Although it is pretty good, it is not as good as Zhang Bai's Western Region war horse and is much slower.

For this reason, Zhang Bai deliberately slowed down, but when he was about to reach Jiangcheng, the horse was sweating profusely and was almost dying.

Zhang Bai was impatient, so he asked Daolao to rest his horse and follow him slowly. He took the lead and entered the city first. The two temporarily communicated through messages.

This Jiangzhou City was blessed by two rivers and was built on a mountain. The terrain was very dangerous.

The population in the city is average, only a few thousand households.

In Zhang Bai's opinion, this was too small, but he also knew that Jiangzhou was not yet the Chongqing of later generations. This place where thousands of families gathered was already considered an important city in Shu.

As soon as he entered the city, he immediately rushed to the dock by the river and inquired about Zhang Wen's whereabouts.

However, he also kept in mind that if Wen came to Shu, he would not be welcomed by some people, and it might not be convenient for people to inquire in public.

So he found a tea house near the river and pretended to enjoy the scenery, but in fact he used his spiritual consciousness to closely monitor the dock.