Li Gang's guess was correct. Zhao Kai underestimated the enemy this time, advanced rashly, and didn't take his opponent seriously!
Different from the method of splitting up the troops to attack Yanyun last time, this time he went south to play a wave.
Ten armies were gathered together, including regular soldiers, auxiliary soldiers, and civilians. There were a total of 200,000 troops and 100,000 civilians. They were known as millions, and they took the shortest route south.
Moreover, they did not occupy any territory along the way, did not attack any local tyrants, and did not establish any base areas. They just set their sights on Jinling City.
According to the plan of the Military Affairs Department, the army led by Zhao Kai will build a pontoon bridge to cross the Huaihe River near Xihaoshui in Haozhou.
After successfully crossing the river, Zhao Kai would not divide his troops to attack Zhongli, the capital of Haozhou, nor Dingyuan, but would go straight to Qingliu Pass.
After breaking through Qingliu Pass, they will not divide their troops to guard, but continue to advance south... towards Hezhou on the north bank of the Yangtze River!
After getting enough ships in Hezhou, Zhao Kai would have people build a pontoon bridge on the Yangtze River, and then the entire army would cross the river and fight together to the gates of Jinling City.
This is the only plan formulated by Zhao Kai to pacify Jiangnan!
If you calculate the distance, from Xihaoshui to the bank of the Yangtze River, it is almost 250 miles... If you can travel fifty miles a day, you can reach the bank of the Yangtze River in five days.
Then artillery was deployed to block the Yangtze River waterway, and ships were collected to set up pontoon bridges.
If everything goes well, in just ten days, Zhao Kai will be able to lead 300,000 soldiers and civilians to Jinling City.
Although Jinling City is extremely strong, Zhao Kai believes that as long as his 300,000 soldiers and civilians reach the gates of Jinling City. With Zhao Huan's courage, he will definitely escape... Once he leaves, who can guard Jinling?
Even if Zhao Huan goes crazy and really wants to fight in Jinling City, Zhao Kai is not afraid.
The fortified city of Jinling seemed to be dominated by tigers and dragons, but since the Southern Tang Dynasty, it has become a dregs. It seems that anyone can defeat it!
If Zhao Huan really wants to stay in Jinling City, then he should wait to be a prisoner!
Therefore, in Zhao Kai's opinion, the battle going south was extremely easy... How could it be impossible to win?
The attack by the vanguard troops led by Dong Jingang on the Confederate fortresses in the West Haoshui area seemed to prove this point.
The Haozhou Xiang soldiers guarding those forts had no intention of fighting. They abandoned the forts and left as soon as the Northern Army's cannons fired.
What's more, there are many gentry and landowners living on the banks of the Huaihe River, bringing their tenants and slaves to welcome Master Wang... Not only have they prepared food and drink for Master Wang, but they have also built pontoon bridges. Materials and craftsmen are ready.
The party leading the way was so considerate! I don’t know if anyone is on the bank of the Yangtze River.
Therefore, Dong Jingang only took two days to seize the ferry, build a pontoon bridge, and open up a large bridgehead area.
The only thing that caused some trouble for Zhao Kai's southern expedition army was the sudden heavy rain... I don't know when it will stop?
At this time, a staff officer from Dong Jingang's Ministry rode across the pontoon bridge and arrived in front of Zhao Kai: "Guan family, we just received news from the volunteers who welcomed the king's division. King Wu had led an army of 100,000 to leave Jinling City six days ago. Heading to Yangzhou. The current Jinling City is almost an empty city!"
"An empty city?" Zhao Kai sneered, "Is he going to run away? It's better to run away to avoid brothers killing each other!"
Zhao Huan's running away was completely expected! Over the past few days, the intelligence collected from Zhao Kai showed that Zhao Huan was about to run away.
"Are there any important officials staying behind?" Zhao Kai asked again.
"It is said that King Wu's concubine and Prime Minister Zhang Bangchang stayed behind."
"Are they sister-in-law and Zhang Bangchang?" Zhao Kai burst out laughing when he heard the name, and said to his left and right, "It seems that Jinling City is already in my possession!"
Having said this, he turned around and asked Guo Tiannu: "Tiannu, when can we cross the river?"
He couldn't wait any longer!
"Guan family, it's almost time." Guo Tiannv said with a smile, "When the second army's team is finished, it will be our turn... The army should be ready, and we can rest after crossing the river. The rain should have stopped by early tomorrow morning, and the road will be easier to walk by then."
Zhao Kai nodded and said with a smile: "Very good! If the road is easy, just walk more! Let's finish these two hundred miles as soon as possible... and enter Jinling City as soon as possible!"
At this time, an officer in charge of directing traffic rode over and reported loudly: "Officials, this squadron has joined the army to cross the river!"
Zhao Kai glanced at Guo Tiannu beside him. Guo Tiannu raised her right hand high and pointed forward. The group of Banzhi cavalry who opened the way lined up in neat ranks, drove their horses forward, and headed towards one of the two pontoon bridges.
Zhao Kai followed closely behind, riding his horse forward, and also rushed onto the pontoon bridge. Guo Tiannu waved again, and the rest of Ban Zhi and the staff followed her onto the pontoon bridge.
When Zhao Kai and others crossed the river, the rain had subsided a little. Many soldiers who had already crossed the bridge and were waiting to cross the bridge saw six black banners and two white flags symbolizing the Emperor of the Song Dynasty passing quickly from the pontoon bridge. , then you know that the emperor is crossing the river.
I don’t know who got up first, raised his arms and shouted: "Long live! Long live!"
Then more soldiers heard the cheers and shouted together: "Long live, long live, long live..."
The cheers got louder and louder, and more and more soldiers of the Red Scarf Song Army gave out the loudest cheers. Even the civilian officials accompanying the army were excited - the extremely rich Jiangnan was just ahead. Ten miles away!
Although the government has strictly prohibited looting...but if we really conquered Jinling City, which is as valuable as a mountain of gold and silver, how can everyone get a generous reward?
The mountains on both sides of the Huaihe River shook the earth with their shouts of "Long Live Long Live". Not only were the Huainan gentry and common people who lined up in the rain to greet the king's master in the rain, but also the soldiers sent by the Privy Council of the Southern Song Dynasty who were mixed in the crowd were also shocked by this murderous aura. And the marching team, which could barely be seen to the side, was frightening.
Is there really an army of millions?
Is this too much?
At this time, someone on the side of the official road had already started to bring up the topic.
"There are really millions of troops!"
"Does that need to be said? Going to Jiangnan...is there anything better than this?"
"That's right... How easy is Jiangnan to fight? And it's full of oil and water!"
"All the elite soldiers from the Northern Dynasty are here, right? They've been gone for two days, why are they still coming in a steady stream?"
"Where are we now? The marching team on the official road north of the Huaihe River is still dozens of miles away!"
"Didn't you see? A new pontoon bridge is being built on the Huaihe River... Starting from tomorrow, four pontoon bridges will be crossed together."
Four floating bridges cross the river together!
There are still dozens of miles of troops on the official road in Huaibei!
It seems like there really are a million!
The news of "millions of Northern troops coming" was quickly sent to Jinling City and Jiangdu City by these frightening details.
.......
"No, it's not good, officials, it's not good!"
In the Chongzheng Hall in the Imperial City of Jiangdu, Zhao Huan, who was immersed in reading an article about "original heart" sent by Li Tong, suddenly heard the voice of his teacher Geng Nanzhong.
He hurriedly looked up and saw Geng Nanzhong, dressed in purple robe, running in in a panic without waiting for anyone to notify him.
"how?"
Zhao Huan was frightened when he saw his teacher like this!
"Guan family, Zhao Kai's army has crossed the Huaihe River!"
Zhao Huan's face turned pale and he was relatively calm, "I know..."
"There are so many of them!"
"How many people are there?" Zhao Huan's face turned pale again, "How many are there?"
"It is said that there are... millions of people!"
"One million..." Zhao Huan's face immediately turned blue, "Isn't that too much? Is this impossible?"
"There are really so many!" Geng Nanzhong said, "The details sent by the Privy Council to Haozhou and Chuzhou all reported like this..."
"Chuzhou? Already arrived in Chuzhou?" Zhao Huan asked with a trembling voice, "Then Qingliu Pass..."
"It's lost!" Geng Nanzhong said, "It was lost yesterday...the defenders abandoned the pass and left!"
"Here, what should we do?" Zhao Huan was already in a state of chaos. "I have only prepared 100,000 elite troops, how can I fight against a million Northern troops?"
"Official!" Li Gang's voice suddenly came from outside Chongzheng Hall.
It turned out that Li Gang, He Su, Wu Min and Geng Nanzhong came together. Because Geng Nanzhong was Zhao Huan’s teacher, Zhao Huan gave him the privilege of entering Chongzheng Hall at any time—no notification required!
But the other three people are still waiting for the announcement from Xuanzansheren.
As a result, Xuan Zan couldn't get in the conversation at all, and Geng Nanzhong was heard talking to Zhao Huan.
Li Gang, who was waiting outside, heard the conversation between Geng Nanzhong and Zhao Huan and knew that something was going to be bad - Zhao Huan was timid to begin with, so he didn't want to be scared by the millions of Northern troops and run away on the spot.
"Li Yuanshu is here too?" Zhao Huan then realized that Li Gang was also here, "Come in quickly... Anyone else, please come in together!"
Li Gang, He Su, and Wu Min were not polite when they heard this. They entered the Chongzheng Hall together and saluted Zhao Huan together.
"Stand flat, give me a seat... sit down and talk."
Zhao Huan quickly asked the three of them to sit down, and then asked: "Are there really one million Northern troops? Where have the Northern troops attacked now?"
"Guan Jia," Li Gang still looked confident, "the number of millions is just a false claim. The real number may not be 300,000."
"Three hundred thousand..." Zhao Huan's face was still as green as black.
Three hundred thousand is quite a lot!
Zhao Kai's last Northern Expedition to Yanyun was almost the same number, right? Even the golden thief couldn't resist it!
"The officials don't need to panic," Li Gang said, "Jinling City has strong walls and hundreds of large tubes and hot pots, which are enough to withstand a million-strong army. We don't have to worry. After Zhao Kai's army crosses the river, they can advance by land and water to cut off their return. ...Then we can wait until he runs out of food and disperses his troops.”
"Yes, but what if something happens to the queen..." Zhao Huan has no confidence in Zhu Lian's will to resist!
Of course, if he himself had to stay in Jinling City, facing the 300,000 troops outside the city, he might be more intimidated than Zhu Lian!
Because after Zhu Lian was captured by Zhao Kai, the most he could do was...humiliate! And if he, Zhao Huan, is caught, it will be a conspiracy!
"The officials don't have to worry," Li Gang was still so confident, "With Xianggong Zhang and Vice-Shu Zhang here, Jinling City will be safe!"
