Li Gang understood that Jinling City would not surrender... because everyone in Jinling City, including Zhu Lian, Princess of Wu, Zhang Bangchang, Right Chancellor of Wu State, and Shengdou, a commoner living at home, regarded Zhao Kai as the master of the world. .
Zhao Kai is the lord of the world, and of course he is also the lord of Jinling. Is it necessary for Jinling City to surrender to its master?
Moreover, although Zhao Kai came south with "millions of troops", he never issued a major edict to remove Zhao Huan from the throne and launch a crusade. He came in the name of welcoming Zhuangzong's Zi Palace, as well as Zhuangzong's concubines and princes and princesses who had taken refuge in Jinling, back north.
The ancestral mausoleum of the Song Dynasty was not in Jinling, so the Zi Palace of Emperor Zhuangzong is still not buried. In Yong'an County, Luoyang Prefecture, Henan Road, where the ancestral mausoleum of the Song Dynasty is located, the large tomb used to bury Emperor Zhuang Zong has been built, and is waiting for the arrival of Zhuang Zong's Zi Palace.
As for Zhuangzong's concubines, they should have been taken care of by Emperor Zhuangzong's successor Zhao Kai.
And those princes and princesses were not Zhao Huan's ministers, but Zhao Kai's ministers...
In addition, there are many eldest sons of Zhao and Song Dynasties who followed Zhao Huannan, as well as heroes and honorable ministers of the Song Dynasty. They are the eldest son of the Song Dynasty and the empress of the Song Dynasty, not the eldest son and empress of the Wu Kingdom!
As for the Bianliang people living in Jinling Prefecture and the ordinary people in Songzhou and Xuzhou, they did not settle in Jinling in the first place. In order to win over these "righteous people", Zhao Huan followed the Eastern Jin Dynasty's system of overseas Chinese prefectures and established three overseas Chinese prefectures in Jinling Prefecture: Nan Bian Prefecture, Southern Song Prefecture and South Xu Prefecture, to govern Kaifeng Prefecture, Song Prefecture, and Xu Prefecture. The people who moved here and their descendants (people from the three states living in Jiangdu are also under the jurisdiction of these three overseas Chinese states).
Scholars from these three overseas states did not take part in the examinations of Jinling Prefecture (originally Yingtian Prefecture), but took part in the examinations of three overseas prefectures - the three overseas prefectures retained the original Kaifeng Prefecture, Yingtian Prefecture (Songzhou) and Xuzhou has all the quotas for examinations, so scholars can easily pass the examination. In comparison, the test in Jinling Prefecture is extremely difficult. It is the hometown of problem solvers!
Therefore, in the past many years, the Bianliang people living in Jinling and the people of Songzhou and Xuzhou were very grateful to Zhao Huan... But no matter how grateful they were, they were not Wu people!
When Zhao Huan became the king of Wu, they were no longer Zhao Huan's subjects, but Zhao Kai's subjects!
How can it be considered surrender when the subjects welcome the emperor?
Therefore, Jinling City, which is loyal to the official family, will not surrender, but will only open its doors to welcome the Emperor of Song Dynasty.
Of course, the premise is that Zhao Kai can lead hundreds of thousands of troops to the gates of Jinling City!
Thinking of this, Li Gang stamped his feet and said with tears in his eyes: "Alas! The old man has wronged the country again... If Zhao Wenzheng was still here, this would not be the case!"
Alas, how pitiful, I accidentally lost my country again!
Zhu Lian smiled and said: "Yuanshu doesn't have to blame himself. How can a corner of the southeast resist a million soldiers from heaven? Moreover, the official family is a benevolent master. All the king's nine sons can be favored as kings, and they can enjoy endless wealth and glory... . All the princes of Gongun have official positions, so why go to war and let the people suffer? And even if they go to war, with the king's ability, how can he be the opponent of the officials? If he is defeated and dies, it will not only be the people who suffer. ”
Zhao Kai's "Ping Wu Strategy" is indeed satisfactory to everyone, except Zhao Huan... So as long as Zhao Kai shows an overwhelming advantage, the Southeast Seventh Army will inevitably surrender.
Li Gang gritted his teeth, "Mother, we cannot let General Tiance's troops cross the river!"
Zhu Lian smiled bitterly and said, "Why is Yuan Shu doing this?"
Li Gang said: "I have given you such kindness to the king, so I must devote myself to it and die!"
As soon as these words came out, the two people who followed Li Gang into the palace frowned.
Zhang Suo said: "The section of the Yangtze River from Jinling to the west to Jiangnan West Road is a thousand miles long, and the narrowest point on the river is only more than one mile. As long as artillery is set up on the north bank, it can be completely blocked. As long as the river is locked, the Northern Army will It is not difficult to build a pontoon bridge. In the past, when the imperial court defeated the Southern Tang Dynasty, they built a pontoon bridge at Caishiji..."
Zhang Bangchang also said: "Now in Jinling, only 50,000 elite soldiers on Zhongshan Mountain can fight in the field, but how many miles of river bank can 50,000 people defend? In the current situation, sending the Northern Army to Jinling City for a decisive battle is actually the only way... ..As long as the king has the strength to swallow thousands of miles, he can still win."
The "strong man who can swallow thousands of miles" he said refers to Liu Yu. During Liu Yu's Northern Expedition to the Southern Yan Dynasty, Lu Xun and Xu Daofu of the Five Dou Rice Sect raised their troops from Lingnan and fought all the way to Jiankang City, where they stationed troops at the mouth of the Qinhuai River. After Liu Yu learned the news, he returned thousands of miles to help, and defeated Lu Xun and Xu Daofu with only a small number of troops.
The situation facing Zhao Huan now is more critical than when Lu Xun and Xu Dao attacked the Qinhuai River mouth. Zhao Huan must have Liu Yu's ability to have any chance of winning.
Zhu Lian also read history books, and of course he knew this allusion. He smiled bitterly and said: "The king is not Liu Jinu, the officials are the heroes who can swallow up thousands of miles like tigers...The king is Lu Xun! Yuanshu, you should Xu Daofu is the king!"
What she means is that Zhao Huan should learn from Lu Xun...run to Lingnan quickly!
Li Gang gritted his teeth and said, "Your Majesty, please allow me to make a last ditch effort and lead the troops to set up defenses from the Qinhuai River to Caishiji... until the king personally leads the navy to return for reinforcements!"
What? Everyone in Kunning Hall was stunned. Are you Li Gang crazy? Do you want your Majesty to personally lead the navy to help? The last person who personally led troops to help you seems to have become the late emperor. Do you still want to trick another former king now?
Zhu Lian just shook his head and said, "Take the 50,000 people on Zhongshan Mountain to set up defenses... If you can't do it, don't force it. Go to Jiangdu as soon as possible to protect the king's southern patrol."
Li Gang sighed and saluted: "I have remembered what I said... I also ask your Majesty to temporarily close the city gate after I leave, and don't let a random general take Jinling."
...
"Officials, a large group of Wu troops marched out from Jinling City last night and are now slowly deploying defenses along the river bank to the west!"
The news that Wu Jun had deployed defenses along the Yangtze River reached Zhao Kai's residence at Huiji Temple, located on the north bank of the Yangtze River and north of Laoshan, on the seventh day of July in the ninth year of Hongwu.
Zhao Kai, who had just finished breakfast, was standing by the map table, looking at the military camps just marked on the map with several generals. Huang Wubing, the commander of his army camp, came in hurriedly and reported to him.
"It's finally here..." Zhao Kai smiled upon hearing this, "I thought King Wu had fled to Guangdong, but I didn't expect that he still had the courage to fight!"
Guo Tiannv on the side reminded: "Guan family, after all, we don't have a navy, and we don't have many ships... And the Yangtze River on the Hezhou side is still very wide. If the Wu army sets up defenses along the river, we will It’s not easy to cross the river.”
She had just accompanied Zhao Kai to see the "River View" yesterday... The water surface of the Yangtze River was indeed not comparable to those in the north!
Zhao Kai smiled, "It doesn't matter..." Then he pushed the problem to Yu Yunwen, "Father Bin, where do you think we should cross the river? You must know this!"
It's impossible for Yu Yunwen not to know about this, just because he is Yu Yunwen!
Yu Yunwen is now a bachelor of the Imperial Academy... He has been promoted very quickly and is about to become a general! Therefore, his position has also changed. He has stopped working as a spy for the Wu Kingdom a long time ago, and his father Yu Qi, who sent him as a spy, also retired from officialdom not long ago.
However, Yu Yunwen's heart was still a little bit weak. When Zhao Kai asked him, he was even more frightened - How could I know for sure? Do the officials know something?
Although he felt guilty, Yu Yunwen did not dare to push this matter out... otherwise he would be suspected of delaying the military plane.
"The officials," Yu Yunwen said, "I suggest that a pontoon bridge be built in Tongling, two hundred miles away... The river in Tongling is very narrow, only a little over a mile. We only need to build a 25-pound hot pot cannon in the north of the river. We can use explosive bombs to bombard targets in the south of the Yangtze River. If we use the ten-pound long-barreled cannon installed on the north bank to fire chain bullets and bar bullets, it will be enough to block the river."
The Yangtze River in Tongling is very narrow. The narrowest point is only more than 300 paces (more than 500 meters). A shell fired from a 25-pound cannon can reach the other side.
By the way, the blooming bomb has been developed!
And it is a copper-shelled shell with a wooden support and a wooden tube fuse... Although it is expensive, its power is still very satisfactory. The ten-pound shell fired by the ten-pound long-barreled gun is enough to destroy the iron armor of the Wu Kingdom Navy. Turtle ship!
It is precisely because of such a sharp weapon that Zhao Kai "rashly" starts a war!
While developing explosive bombs, Zhao Kai also had people create "chain bullets" and "lever bullets"... In fact, they use an iron chain or an iron rod to connect two artillery shells. At the same time, this ammunition is specially designed to deal with sails.
Although ships on the Yangtze River can be driven by wooden oars and water wheels without sails, their speed will still be affected. Moreover, broken masts and sails will also cause damage to the ship and damage morale.
"Okay!" Zhao Kai nodded, then nodded Yue Fei's name, and then said with a smile, "Pengju, you lead four armies to continue camping in Hezhou, bluffing to attract the attention of the southern army, I will lead the other four The army is heading to Tongling. What do you think?"
Yue Fei thought for a while and smiled: "Guan family, you don't need four armies to bluff in Hezhou...one army is enough. It's better to let King Kong stay here, and I will lead three armies to attack Jiangdu!" King Wu is timid, so he may have been scared away by his younger brother’s army.”
Zhao Kai smiled and said: "That's fine... let's rest for another day and divide our forces after dark tonight. And it's only over a hundred miles from here to Jiangdu, so we can arrive there in three days. But you have to remember, There is no need to storm the city, you just need to frighten King Wu away. If King Wu wants to leave, you don't have to stop him... His crime is just to be demoted to the island. Now he has gone further, Why should I stop you?"
According to Zhao Kai, if Zhao Huan is caught, he will be guilty of watching the sea in Hainan Island... And if Zhao Huan runs away by himself, it will definitely be further away, and he may go to Malacca to manage the "toll station" . Therefore, if Zhao Huan wanted to travel far to Nanyang, Zhao Kai would not stop him. This would be an "increased punishment" for himself!
