The Song army's vanguard met the released prisoners, and the army stopped.
The general of the Song army asked someone to come forward to inquire and learned that they had been released by the Qi army.
On the one hand, he sent people to report to Shi Songzhi, and on the other hand, he sent cavalry to control the prisoners and not allow them to approach the military formation.
Under the banner of the Song Army, Shi Songzhi rode a war horse and walked slowly surrounded by many generals.
During the march, the Song generals looked around from time to time and watched the surrounding situation vigilantly to avoid being attacked by the Qi army.
At this time, a group of messengers came galloping over and immediately reported, "Xiang Shi, tens of thousands of horses are found in front of us. They are the Huai Army brothers who were captured in Pizhou!"
Shi Songzhi frowned slightly, "Have you found Qi Jun?"
The cavalryman shook his head, "No Qi troops have been found so far. They are all brothers of the Huai army. They said that Zhao Tai took the initiative to release them."
This surprised Shi Songzhi. He did not expect that Zhao Tai actually released the prisoners, and he was a little confused about Zhao Tai's intentions.
"Let's go and have a look in front!" Shi Song pinched the horse's belly and urged the horse to gallop forward, and the generals behind him quickly followed.
When Shi Songzhi arrived at the former army, the prisoners had already been controlled by the former army and were ordered to assemble in one place to wait for him to deal with them.
"Historical Prime Minister!" The former military general saw him coming and quickly stepped forward to salute.
Shi Songzhi glanced at the prisoners under guard and asked, "How is the situation?"
"Reporting to the Prime Minister, all the generals have asked, and it is indeed the brother who was let go by the Qi thieves!" the general said, cupping his fists.
The Song army had more soldiers and Zhao Tai had fewer soldiers. He should try his best to consume the Song army's troops. How could he release the prisoners?
Shi Songzhi frowned and ordered: "Control them first and conduct a strict investigation to see if the Qi army is mixed among them."
The general immediately understood Shi Songzhi's worries, clasped his fists and said, "I humbly obey my orders!"
Shi Songzhi glanced at the prisoners in the distance again and ordered the army to continue moving forward.
Soon, the Song Army arrived at Pizhou City, and the army set up camp one after another. At this time, the Song Army had completed its investigation of the prisoners, and found that the people released were indeed Song Army and Huainan civilians.
This made Shi Songzhi full of doubts. He asked several generals who had been released for questioning. He only knew that Zhao Taijiao offered sacrifices to heaven and earth, recited a proclamation and scolded him, then led his cavalry to leave and released all the prisoners.
Shi Songzhi thought for a long time, and finally found only one explanation, that is, Zhao Tai did not have enough food, and he was worried that bringing the prisoners to Pizhou would consume food and grass. At the same time, he did not have enough troops, and he was also worried that the prisoners would riot in the city, so the Song army outside the city should cooperate with the outside, so he simply The prisoners were released.
After giving Zhao Taixing an excuse, the Song Army happily accepted the tens of thousands of returning Song soldiers and civilians.
Shi Songzhi and Shi Zhaizhi were actually happy that Zhao Tai released the prisoners.
After all, when these prisoners come back, they can replenish the strength of the Song army and make the previous losses less ugly.
If these prisoners were not released, the Song army would lose 35,000 people, but if they were released, they would only lose 5,000 people.
In this way, whether the news reaches Mongolia or Lin'an, it will look much better.
After dealing with the prisoners, the next thing the Song Army had to do was to win a battle and regain some face.
After Shi Songzhi learned the content of Zhao Tai's message, he was quite angry. When he saw Zhao Tai leading the cavalry to leave Pizhou, he decided to capture Pizhou to teach Zhao Tai a lesson and at the same time restore the morale of the Song army.
When the main force of the Song army arrived at the Pizhou line, the 20,000 Qi army navy who retreated to Donghai Island, after receiving Zhao Tai's military order, lifted anchor and sail from the port and headed south along the coastline.
The warships of the Qi army were the same as those of the Song Dynasty, which were mainly chariots and boats.
The Southern Song Dynasty focused on the south of the Yangtze River. In order to defend the Yangtze River and Huaihe River, naval warships developed rapidly.
In order to allow warships to sail unimpeded on inland rivers, the ships were equipped with sails and the hulls were equipped with wheels, so that they could sail at high speeds against currents and winds.
The warships of the Song Army are divided into grades based on the number of wheels. A group of two wheels is called a vehicle. The warships of the Song Army can reach up to more than thirty vehicles.
The more warships there are, the larger the hull. The main warship of the Song Army has a hull that can reach 36 feet, has three layers of parapets, is as tall as a city, and can accommodate thousands of warriors.
In water battles, the larger the hull, the greater the chance of victory. Compared with the Song Army's thirty-carriage warships, the Qi Army's warships are generally small and medium-sized warships of eight or nine chariots.
This is not because Zhao Tai does not want big ships, but because the Qi army does not have the strength or technology to build a big ship more than thirty feet tall.
The main warships of the Qi army are still captured warships from the Southern Song Dynasty, which is far behind the navy of the Southern Song Dynasty.
At present, Shi Songzhi is more cautious. With 300,000 Song troops gathered together, it will be difficult for Zhao Tai to defeat the Song army. The only way is to try to cut off the Song army's food routes so that the Song army will collapse without a fight.
In order to achieve this goal, Zhao Tai could only put his treasure on the navy. He first attracted the main force of the Song Army to the Pizhou line and lengthened the Song Army's supply line, making it impossible for the Song Army to retreat across the Huaihe River in a short time. Then he handed it over to the navy of Qi Army.
After Zhao Tai arrived in Jinan, he sent the navy an order to attack.
Because of the distance, when Zhao Tai raided the camp outside Pizhou City, Wang Xiu, Lu Wende, and Lu Wenhuan received Zhao Tai's military order.
The navy of the Qi army made some preparations and set sail southward at night. They sailed along the coastline for three days and arrived near the estuary of the Huaihe River.
At this time, Shi Songzhi ordered his troops and horses to march northward. He did not pay attention to the Qi army and navy, and had quietly arrived at the mouth of the Huaihe River.
The Song Army's naval force was so powerful that the Song Army never considered the possibility of the Huaihe River being controlled by the Qi Army.
Shi Songzhi arranged 30,000 naval troops on the Huaihe River. With the huge ships of the Southern Song Dynasty, it can be said that it is quite easy to defeat the Qi navy.
North of the estuary of the Huaihe River, 20,000 Song navy sailed slowly. In the flagship of the Qi navy, Wang Xiu, Lu Wende, and Lu Wenhuan were discussing the invasion plan around the map.
Lu Wenhuan pointed at the map, "Although the distance from Pizhou to Chuzhou is twice the distance from us to Chuzhou, the Song army did not have soldiers to block it on its way back from Pizhou to Chuzhou. However, when we went upstream, we needed to defeat it. Only the navy of the Song Army can do that."
Wang Xiu nodded, frowned and asked: "The Song Navy has 30,000 soldiers and more than 300 warships, all of which are large ships. However, we only have 20,000 people. Our warships and water warfare capabilities are far inferior to the Song Navy. Now the king wants us, To cut off the Song Army's retreat, we must first defeat the Song Army's navy. What are the two generals' plans?"
Lu Wende pondered: "This battle must not only defeat the Song Navy, but also move quickly. Because once there is a confrontation with the Song Navy, Shi Songzhi realizes that the retreat will be cut off, and the Song Army on the north bank may retreat to the south bank! If they are allowed to withdraw, Huainan, then we won’t be able to defeat the Song army quickly!”
"In this case, there is only one way. Regardless of everything, go upstream and rely on our secret weapons to directly defeat the Southern Song Navy." Lu Wenhuan raised his arms and pumped his fist.
