Marco Polo Bridge.
It is named after it crosses the Lugou River (ie Yongding River).
Li Jinglong rode his horse up to the bridge. Seeing the unusually quiet Marco Polo Bridge, he couldn't help laughing and said: "In the past, when General Xu Da attacked Dadu of the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan army set up a defense line here, but General Xu Da wasted no time. A lot of tricks."
"The Marco Polo Bridge is the gateway to Beiping City, but the Yan army retreated into the city and did not defend the Marco Polo Bridge. This shows that the Yan army is weak and incompetent. They will definitely lose this battle!"
As soon as Li Jinglong finished speaking, the generals of the Southern Army began to flatter him one after another.
After all, this is the truth. Marco Polo Bridge is the last gateway to Beiping City, but the Yan army directly abandoned it without garrisoning it. This is obviously a sign of weakness and incompetence.
In this way, the imperial army can march straight in and arrive directly outside Peking City!
As long as Beiping City is captured, this war will be declared over!
Under the flattery of the generals, Li Jinglong was in a good mood.
At this moment, the soldiers of the Confederate army could almost hear the sound of wind trampling on the grass. Looking around, it seemed that the river had also fled because of the sight of the Confederate army. This was the time when morale was at its peak.
Li Jinglong did not hesitate and immediately ordered the entire army to cross the river and attack Beiping City.
Although he, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, had never fought a decent battle, Li Jinglong had read a lot of military books.
For Li Jinglong, the key to victory is undoubtedly time!
As the saying goes, "Soldiers need speed," but since October has entered, the weather is getting colder and colder.
The soldiers of the Southern Army were thinly dressed, and almost all of them came from the south. If they could not capture Peiping quickly, until it snowed heavily or King Zhu Di of Yan returned for reinforcements, then our army's chances of winning would be greatly reduced.
Therefore, Li Jinglong led the southern army across the Marco Polo Bridge without hesitation and attacked Beiping City directly.
Half a day later, the main force of the Southern Army arrived at Zhengcunba, and Li Jinglong held a military meeting.
In the Chinese army commander's tent, Li Jinglong was sitting high on the throne. Guo Ying, Ping An, Chen Hui and other generals of the southern army were all here. Even the vanguard general Qu Neng rushed over after receiving the news.
As soon as Qu Neng walked into the handsome tent, he quickly noticed a lot of malicious looks, but he didn't care at all.
He, Qu Neng, would definitely be credited with being the pioneer general, and he might even be able to win a hereditary title for the Qu family.
As long as the army conquers Beiping City and then sets up a defensive line to capture Yan King Zhu Di alive, then the matter will be done!
"General, according to the last general's investigation, the traitor Zhu Di led the main force of the Yan army to Daning. At this moment, there are only some old, weak, sick and disabled people left in Beiping City!"
"As the saying goes, soldiers are valuable and quick, so I would like to ask the general to send out troops immediately to capture Beiping City!"
Qu Neng spoke enthusiastically, bringing good news to Li Jinglong.
Li Jinglong nodded upon hearing this, quite satisfied with the performance of Qu Neng and his son.
"In that case, there's nothing to discuss."
"I intend to divide my troops into three groups, one to surround the nine gates of Peiping, one to attack Tongzhou, and the last to garrison Zhengcunba to prevent the Yan army from returning for reinforcements!"
"In this way, the three armies are at odds with each other and can help each other. The east and west armies will attack Beiping City fiercely, striving to break through Beiping in the shortest possible time and capture Yan Ni!"
When the generals of the Southern Army heard his arrangement, they didn't think much about it.
After all, the imperial court has half a million troops. Even if the troops are divided into three groups, they can still crush the Yan army. On the contrary, the Yan army will be overwhelmed by this, and the day of breaking the city is just around the corner!
Tongzhou has always been an important transportation route between Beijing and East, as well as an important place for water transportation and warehousing. Taking Tongzhou will cut off the Yan army's food and retreat!
So, the question now is who will lead the east and west armies.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the general who commanded the east and west armies was definitely the first to break through Beiping City, and he could definitely compete for the top spot.
Therefore, the generals of the Southern Army were very moved and asked for battle one after another.
On the other hand, veterans such as Guo Ying and Yu Tongyuan were indifferent. They just hoped to end the war as soon as possible and then go back to retire.
When Li Jinglong saw all the generals asking for battle, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed for a moment.
He himself will definitely sit in Zhengcunba and remotely control the offensive on the east and west fronts.
Then the east and west armies must choose a good general to lead them.
After thinking for a moment, Li Jinglong made up his mind.
"General Qu Neng, in addition to the 50,000 vanguard troops, I will send another 200,000 elite troops to you. You will be your commander to surround the nine gates of Peiping and launch a fierce attack on them!"
Hearing this, Qu Neng nodded ecstatically and immediately knelt down to accept the order.
It seems that his previous performance has been recognized by General Li Jinglong, and he has once again won the position of commander of the east-route army.
Then Li Jinglong looked at Ping'an again and said sincerely: "General Ping'an, I will transfer an army of 50,000 to you. Tongzhou will be handed over to the general. We must cut off the Yan army's food and grass arteries and trap them in Beiping City!"
Ping An nodded when he heard the words, his expression neither sad nor happy.
"Don't worry, General, we will definitely conquer Tongzhou!"
Seeing this, the other generals could only sigh secretly.
They definitely can't fight for Ping'an. He is the adopted son of Emperor Taizu Gao. Just this special status is enough for people to take a high look at him.
As for why Qu Neng was able to succeed, it was not because he could fight and led the vanguard army to fight all the way. The Yan army was defeated like a mountain. Maybe he, Qu Neng, could really attack Beiping City in one go!
Now that the identity of the general was confirmed, all the generals could only do the next best thing and asked to follow Qu Neng to attack Beiping City.
Even if we can't eat meat, we still have to let us drink soup. Otherwise, why would everyone be so miserable following you, Li Jinglong, on the expedition?
Li Jinglong also understood this truth and simply assigned all the generals to Qu Neng with a wave of his hand.
Anyway, Zhengcunba is only more than 20 miles away from Beiping City, so they can rush to each other's aid at any time. Moreover, he left an army of 200,000 just in case Yan King Zhu Di returned to help in time.
"I hope all generals will work together to conquer Beiping City as soon as possible!"
Li Jinglong stood up and shouted in high spirits, and the generals followed the order and left.
By the time Qu Neng led an army of 200,000 to arrive outside Peiping City, the total strength had reached 250,000.
Naturally, this scene could not avoid Yan Jun's eyes. Zhu Gaochi once again led the civil and military forces to the top of the city. He saw countless enemy troops densely packed outside the city, and he couldn't help but take a breath of cold air.
"The enemy's main force has arrived!"
"It looks like there are no less than three hundred thousand people!"
Dao Yan and Jin Zhong looked at each other, and both saw the solemn look in the other's eyes.
Chen Heng and Gu Cheng also looked solemn, and their heartstrings were tense.
"This day will come sooner or later!"
Monk Dao Yan said in a deep voice: "More than a month has passed since the prince left for Daning!"
"If everything goes well, the prince should be on his way back to Peiping with his army at the moment!"
"So from now on, we must defend Beiping to the death and wait for the prince to lead his army to return for reinforcements!"
"As long as we wait until that day, our Yan army will be able to coordinate internal and external counterattacks to kill the enemy and decide the outcome in one battle!"
Zhu Gaochi and the four others nodded, feeling a little confident in their hearts.
"Command the officers and soldiers of the three armies to keep their armor and swords from their hands, and prepare for battle!"
"A strict curfew is enforced in the city, and no one is allowed to go out at will!"
"Anyone who violates the rules will be shot without mercy!"
