On the tenth day of the seventh month in the ninth year of Hongwu, in the Chongzheng Hall in the Imperial City of Jiangdu.
A struggle to criticize Li Gang, a traitor to the country, is underway.
"Li Gang has harmed the country! To defend the river, you must defend the Huai River... Is there any reason to abandon the Huai River and defend the Yangtze River?"
"Li Gang didn't just abandon the defense of the Huaihe River? He also divided a hundred thousand troops into two places... dividing the troops is weak! How come he doesn't understand such a simple truth?"
"Alas, if Mr. Zhao Wenzheng were here, things would not be like this!"
"Yes, Li Gang is not as good as Zhao Wenzheng...but now that there is no Zhao Wenzheng in the Song Dynasty, what should we do?"
While criticizing Li Gang for harming the country, these ministers all missed Zhao Mingcheng, whom Zhao Huan regarded as "Zhao Kuangyin's second". I thought that if Zhao Mingcheng didn't die, he would be able to break this deadlock.
After hearing what they said, Zhao Huan felt really guilty!
What does he feel guilty about? Because he must also bear some responsibility for Zhao Mingcheng's death.
Earlier, because he suspected that Zhao Mingcheng wanted to be Zhao Kuangyin's second, he cursed Zhao Mingcheng in the palace every day for several years. He also stole his daughters' dolls, pasted them with Zhao Mingcheng's birth date and pierced them with embroidery needles... Now it's better, I have "cursed" my important minister to death, and no one can help resist Zhao Kai.
Zhao Huan felt guilty for a while, and then suddenly thought: But... I also once cursed Zhao Kai, that rebellious official and traitor! Before the war broke out, I asked an expert to make a puppet, put Zhao Kai's birth date on it, and stabbed his head with needles every day, cursing him to lose his soul. Why didn't it work at all? Is it possible that Zhao Kai is really Lao Shizi's chosen one and is "curse-proof"?
Thinking of this, Zhao Huan could only sigh: "What should we do? Now there are only 50,000 land troops in Jinling Mansion. How can we defend such a long stretch of the Yangtze River?"
"Guan family," Zuo Privy Envoy He Su stood up and said to Zhao Huan at this time, "I have three strategies, upper, middle and lower, that can solve today's difficulties!"
"Say it quickly!"
He Su said: "The best strategy is to gather all the armies in Jiangdu City and the Guazhou navy, march westward along the river, and join forces with the Jinling army. We can get 150,000 soldiers on land and water. If we fight to the death by the river, the outcome is still uncertain!"
The central strategy was to urgently order Li Gang to retreat to Zhongshan City and Shogunate Mountain City, and use the mountain dangers to contain the Northern Army. At the same time, I personally supervised the land and water troops to attack the Jiangbei camp along the river and force the enemy to return for reinforcements.
The next step is to urgently order Li Gang to abandon Jinling and retreat to Zhenjiang Prefecture, across the river from Jiangdu, for the horns..."
After Zhao Huan listened to He Su's suggestion, he missed Zhao Mingcheng even more.
He Su's three strategies have no merit at all!
Combining 150,000 troops and fighting to the death at Pingjiang seems good, but now the initiative to fight or not to fight does not lie with the Southern Song Dynasty, but with the Northern Song Dynasty.
Once Zhao Huan brought all the troops from Jiangdu to Jinling, Zhao Kai could easily go to Jiangdu and then send a message to decide on the two Huaihe rivers.
Once Lianghuai is owned by Zhao Kai, Jinghu will collapse... After Jinghu is Jiangnan West Road!
Before long, Zhao Huan will only be left with Jiangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangxi... But with these territories, can Zhao Huan's Wu State (Southern Song Dynasty) continue to support it? The answer is definitely no!
And let Li Gang retreat to the fortress, and let He Su lead 100,000 land and water troops to march westward to die... Oh, in Zhao Huan's view, it was to die!
Because if Zhao Kai crosses the river by himself, Yue Fei will definitely be left behind in the north of the river! There are countless famous generals from the Jin Kingdom who have fallen into Yue Fei's hands over the years. Why do you, Su, defeat him?
As for abandoning Jinling... the situation is similar to abandoning Jiangbei, or even worse. Because Zhenjiang and Jiangdu are separated by the Yangtze River, can the north and the south really correspond to each other? Don't let each of you fight alone!
Just when Zhao Huan didn't know what to say, there was a sound of hurried footsteps, and then he saw Cao Xun, the magistrate's minister, coming in from the outside, panting, with a panic look on his face.
"Cao Xun, what happened?" Zhao Huan knew that something was wrong, and his voice trembled when he asked.
"Guan Jia, we have just reported that the Northern Army from Hezhou is coming in force towards Jiangdu!"
"What......"
Cao Xun's words almost frightened Zhao Huan out of his wits. He shook his head on the throne, which made the servants of the Royal Medicine Academy nervous for a while.
However, Zhao Huan had suffered too many blows now, and his nerves were a bit strong, so he just shook and did not fall down.
Seeing that Zhao Huan did not fall, the courtiers in Chongzheng Hall finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Zuo Privy Councilor He Su quickly asked: "Cao Zhige, have you brought the military report from the Secret Academy?"
Military reports from the front line were of course sent to the Privy Council. Cao Xun is the one who knows the affairs of the pavilion, and is in charge of the etiquette of attending court meetings, greetings, going to the palace, attending classes, and ranking officials. A court meeting was currently being held in the Chongzheng Hall, so after receiving the emergency military report, the secret court sent someone to hand it to Cao Xun, who then took it to the Chongzheng Hall.
"Bring it, this is it." Cao Xun quickly handed a handwritten military report to He Su.
He Su frowned after taking a look at the military report.
"How is it?" Zhao Huan asked, "How many Northern troops came?"
"I don't know... there should be a lot!"
Zhao Huan asked again: "Who is the general leading the army? Is he General Tiance?"
"have no idea......"
Zhao Huan frowned, "How come you don't know anything about everything? How did you become the Zuo Privy Councilor?"
How do you say "I don't know three things"? He Suxin said: Obviously there are only two people who don't know!
"So that the officials will know," He Su said with a bitter face, "There are many cavalry troops in the Northern Army. Each army has a cavalry general. Each cavalry general has two thousand regular soldiers and one thousand auxiliary soldiers. Everyone has You can ride and shoot to kill. Moreover, the Northern Army's war horses are excellent, long and powerful, charge quickly, and have good endurance. They are definitely not comparable to our horse soldiers. Therefore, once the Northern Army sends a large number of cavalry to clear the way, our army's rangers will not be able to detect them hard. Once we are close to the Northern Army brigade, we naturally cannot find out the enemy’s true identity.”
Yue Fei dispatched three armies this time. Not counting the generals' personal soldiers, the cavalry generals of the three armies alone had 9,000 cavalry, of which 3,000 were light cavalry, 3,000 were red scarf cavalry, and 3,000 were red cavalry. The auxiliary soldiers of the Turban Cavalry.
However, whether regular soldiers, auxiliary soldiers, light cavalry, or iron cavalry, they can all serve as light cavalry and undertake chores such as opening roads, searching, and shielding.
Although the armored infantry of the Southern Song Dynasty Army Division was very strong, their "vegetable cavalry" was really not good enough. They could only undertake short-term assault missions under the cover of the infantry. If used as light cavalry, they would be very weak. Moreover, when dealing with enemy cavalry, the "cavalry cavalry" are also extremely weak. Their short-legged horses are nicknamed "rabbit horses". They cannot run too far or fast with a cavalry on their backs, so they cannot defeat them. Enemies riding tall horses.
In addition, the number of cavalry in the Southern Song Dynasty was also small. Although the Southern Song Army currently assembled in Jiangdu has more than 50,000 troops, there are only 3,000 cavalry, only one-third of Yue Fei's cavalry...
Zhao Huan frowned even more after hearing He Su's explanation.
"The Art of War says: Know yourself and your enemy, and you can fight a hundred battles without danger... Now we don't even know the number of enemies, how can we fight this battle?"
He Su thought for a while and said: "Guan family, no matter how big or small the enemy's troops are, since they are coming towards Jiangdu, we must fight a battle. I suggest that we fight a last-ditch battle first!"
"Carry water? How to carry it?"
He Su said: "Line up between Jiangdu Castle and Guazhou Castle with your back to the canal!"
After Zhao Huan listened to He Su's suggestion, he thought to himself: Isn't this nonsense? Jiangdu City is more than 20 miles away from Guazhou, and 50,000 people have been arrayed for more than 20 miles. What the hell...why do I just carry it like that? Only one of my men, Zhao Mingcheng, can fight, and none of the others are useful. No, it seems that Zhao Mingcheng has never been on the battlefield.
"No, no..." Zhao Huan said, "The Northern Army in Hezhou is said to be one million, but the actual number is only hundreds of thousands! If we fight together, how can we defeat the 50,000 land divisions here in Jiangdu?"
"Then divide the troops to defend Jiangdu and Guazhou." He Su came up with another idea.
Zhao Huan's face darkened when he heard this, "Dividing your troops makes you weak! Isn't the lesson enough? My one hundred thousand elite troops have been split into two by Li Gang, and you still want to divide them?"
He Su added: "Then join forces and defend Jiangdu to the death!"
Zhao Huan shook his head like a rattle, "If you don't defend the lone city... not to mention that I am a noble, how can I wait to die in this lone city?"
Seeing that He Su was out of action, Zhao Huan gritted his teeth and stamped his feet, "I'm going to Guazhou Town to fight the Northern Army to the death!"
Going to Guazhou?
Guazhou is a small town on the Yangtze River and a port town. To the south is the Yangtze River, and to the north is a city wall. There are of course trenches outside the city wall.
But what should Jiangdu do?
No more?
You are abandoning the city and running away!
"Guan Jia, Guazhou City is small and narrow, so it is difficult to last long!" He Su said, "And once the army moves to Guazhou, Jiangdu City cannot be defended..."
Zhao Huan glared and said, "Can we save Jiangdu by standing firm in Jiangdu and annihilating all the troops? That would only result in the loss of both the people and the city... I will not do such a stupid thing! I have made up my mind and immediately go south to Guazhou." , with our backs to the Yangtze River, fight the enemy to the death!"
Everyone in Chongzheng Hall looked at each other, and for a moment they didn’t know what to say?
Because they know that Zhao Huan's idea is relatively safe... Although they gave up the impregnable Jiangdu City, they can ensure that the entire army can evacuate safely. This is the best way to protect the entire army!
The only bad thing is that I'm a little too timid...
Zhao Huan moved towards Guazhou, and when Yue Fei captured the capital of Jiang without a fight, Zhao Kai's army was galloping westward along the Yangtze River. And it’s both land and water!
Zhao Kai's army obtained dozens of boats on the shore of Hezhou, and also recruited some fishermen to welcome the king's division, and asked them to drive the boats to the west with the army. During the march, fishermen, gentry, and businessmen from the coastal areas of Hezhou and Wuweijun continued to "take boats to join". When his army approached Dukou Town, Lujiang County, under the jurisdiction of Wuweijun on the other side of Tongling, the number of boats There were more than 200 people, and they were marching westward in a mighty procession on the river. It was so spectacular.
On the other side of the Yangtze River, Li Gang was leading a land division of less than 30,000 people to follow them all the way, and also collected some ships, which were also traveling by land and water.
A water battle is about to begin on the narrow Yangtze River near Tongling.
