The county town of Dehua, where Jiangzhou Prefecture is located, looks unusually tall in the night, and its solidity is one of the few along the river, and the two-foot-square stone bricks are wrapped in thick mortar, and even the blue moss is not common.

At the beginning of Chunyou, Jiangzhou was flooded, and the old city wall was mostly washed away, and the retainer Zhang Zaihou asked the imperial court to rebuild the city on the current site. The successive county guards have been continuously strengthened, and it has become what it is today. ”

Liu Yu didn't look back, what he was thinking about was something else, but he could still hear the implication of Li Tingzhi's words, no matter how strong the city was, it had to be defended, otherwise it would just be a cheap enemy.

This is the most famous "Xunyang Building" on the second floor of Jiangzhou City, just at night, there is no hustle and bustle outside the building on weekdays, and there is not even a waiter who runs the hall, there are two sergeants standing in front of the door, the standard forbidden military uniform color, holding a spear and looking vigilantly at the street, although the street is empty.

It was only a day before the Song people took over the city defense, and although there was no night ban in the city, how did the people, who were already accustomed to the rule of the Yuan people, know that they returned home early as usual to avoid running into the night guards.

"Gotta get it."

What broke this tranquility was the sound of horses' hooves galloping, and the person at the head was a red robe with wings and hats, and a jade belt around his waist, and he turned out to be a third-grade master!

"Is it there?"

Zhao Yingding threw off his horse in front of the door of the building, threw the reins in his hand to his soldiers, and asked anxiously. The guards didn't answer, just nodded and stepped to the side, pushing the door behind them open with a "creak".

"From the beginning of Susong, but half a day can go to Huangmei, out of the middle road, day and night, but ten days can reach Qichun, break the city and cross the water to the mouth of the river, it takes less than five days."

"Even if everything is as you wish, the Tartars lost Qichun City by surprise, don't forget, there are at least more than 10,000 horses on the side of Xishui, just need to block you for two days, the reinforcements of Yangluo Fort can surround you between Qi and Xi's two waters, when the time comes, you can't advance or retreat, there is no backup, you have to cross the water under the nose of the Tartar cavalry, and it is a fluke that 30,000 troops can come back alive."

"Huaixi, Huaixi soldiers out of Dabie Mountain, can always contain most of the Tartars, I don't believe it, then Ali or something dares to ignore it, and go out of Yangluo Fort lightly."

"Ali Hague has 40,000 people in his hands, even if he divides 20,000, there are still 20,000, and most of them are cavalry, and they are advancing on light horses, how can you not stay?"

As soon as he walked to the entrance of the building, there was a noise from above, and Zhao Yingding heard that a younger voice was Liu Yu's, and the content of it made him more and more shocked the more he listened, it turned out to be such a military event, so casually announced it.

"Vice Envoy Zhao has arrived, come here, and introduce you to you."

Liu Yu first noticed his arrival, stopped the dispute in his mouth and greeted him, Zhao Yingding nodded with him, but walked towards Li Tingzhi in the middle by himself.

"But Xiangfu Xianggong? Xiaguan Zhao Yingding, it's too late, and I hope to forgive my sins. ”

"You're welcome, this is Deputy Envoy Zhang, you two live next to each other, and you are about to be close and close."

Li Tingzhi let him to the edge of the big table in the middle, pointed to the other person at the table and said. The man saw that someone was coming, and seemed to be a little reluctant to get up, so he hurriedly greeted him, but he still knelt on the table, frowning and staring at a map spread on the big table, holding something that looked like a small soldier in his hand, Zhao Yingding didn't think it was angry, and stepped forward to take a look, but it was a map of the situation in the Jianghuai area, which was very finely drawn, and he knew that it was not from the cardinal at a glance.

"You are"

"Ziqing just argued with him about an idea, but it's just talk on paper, and it can't get into the eyes of you, an old expert, what's the matter, is the handover still smooth?"

"I'm not embarrassed, it's just a thousand things, it's a headache, and I can't get out until now, and I still have to be busy tomorrow. Let's not talk about this today, you haven't eaten yet, Zhao is the landlord, please don't excuse yourself. ”

There was nothing in the building, Zhao Yingding could only send someone to bring wine and food from other places, and after a while, they were sent up one after another with food boxes, and the big table where the picture was put was full, and when he entered the table, Zhang Shijie's mind still didn't seem to come back, and he kept muttering something.

"Don't pay attention to him, the devil is stunned."

"Listening to what the two of you said, it seems that you mean Ezhou?"

After three rounds of drinking, Zhao Yingding unsurprisingly mentioned the previous topic, which was clearly marked on the map, and he understood it at a glance, but what he didn't understand was, what was the point of such a dispute? Do you still think that you can recover the lost ground?

"Putting this matter aside for the time being, Zhao Shuai thinks that what is the most important thing in Jiangzhou at the moment?"

Liu Yu held the cup and asked, several of the people here are all princes of one side, the reason why Li Tingzhi did not return with the army, and the reason why Zhang Shijie entered the city at night are all to take advantage of this rare opportunity to increase contact and prepare for future wars.

"Is this it?"

Zhao Yingding fell into thought, there are too many things to do in a newly restored state capital, household registration, population, acres, lawsuits, taxes, and of course, the deployment of the entire army discussed before, but even with this answer, Liu Yu only shook his head slightly, which made him a little confused.

"Zhao Shuai is a vassal, and he is a shepherd for the Son of Heaven, if he says something, the most important thing at the moment is not to let this Jiangzhou be taken by the Tartars, but I don't know if Zhao Shuai thinks so?"

"The meaning of the book, the Tartars intend to go south?"

Zhao Yingding was stunned by Liu Yu's words, you must know that he just took over Jiangzhou from the Yuan people a few hours ago, and now suddenly someone said that the Yuan people would resume the war, if it wasn't for Liu Yu, and everyone here was an important minister of the country, he would have thought it was alarmist at all.

"It's not intentional, it's about to go south, and it's about to be between September and October."

Li Tingzhi took over the conversation and said in a very firm tone, this news came too suddenly, and Zhao Yingding was stunned all of a sudden. He glanced at the people on the table, Liu Yu had a straight face, Zhang Shijie bowed his head and was silent, no one joked with him, holding on to the edge of the table, he stood up suddenly.

"Is there any basis for the relationship?"

As if he had known that he would ask this, Li Tingzhi took out a handful of paper from his sleeve, a thick roll, and handed it to him. Zhao Yingding took it and sat down, slowly looked at it, the room was quiet, only the sound of "rustling" turning the paper, and gradually his face began to turn white, then turned blue, and finally turned red.

"So so, so"

"Does Zhao Shuai want to say, so sensational, why not present it to the court?"

Zhao Yingding's face turned red and became incoherent, and after listening to Liu Yu's explanation, he nodded heavily.

"It's reported, but you don't believe it."

In fact, it's not that he doesn't believe it, it's just that he doesn't want to believe it, Zhao Yingding is not a stupid person, he reacted when he heard it, he stared at the military newspaper in his hand with a dull gaze, knowing that these are true, there is no need for those present to lie to him, and they are so troublesome.

What made him unbelievable was that he had already considered that this might be a chore when he left Beijing, but he never thought that this was a fatal errand, and it all came so fast that he couldn't digest it at all.

There is no need to look at that map, Zhao Yingding also understands that Jiangzhou is just in the way of the Tartars going south, and he is the first to bear the brunt, he has just arrived, and he has almost nothing, what to use to stop the army of the Tartars?

"Is it really that critical?"

"Maybe sooner than you and I expected."

Liu Yu's straightforwardness pierced the last trace of fantasy in Zhao Yingding's heart, the time was too tight, and he didn't need such drastic means, he was worried that the latter would not pay attention to it, but the current effect seemed to be a bit counterproductive.

"Zhao Shuai has been in Shuzhong for a long time, how is this Jiangzhou compared to Chongqing Mansion?"

Zhao Yingding shook his head, how can this be compared, whether it is the steep terrain or the personnel garrison, the two are not the same, he can stay in Chongqing Mansion until Zhang Jue comes to help, here, I am afraid that he will not be able to hold out for a day.

"Ziqing's northward journey this time, or he can strive for January to February, Deputy Envoy Zhao, the general trend is like this, the prime minister does not have any responsibility with you, only that the people of Jiangzhou, they suddenly surrendered and rebelled, with the past practices of the Yuan people, it is very likely to use thunderous means to set an example."

"Zhao's brain is messed up, and I still hope that the public will teach me."

"Time is a little tight, we can't do things as usual, not to mention recruiting troops and recruiting people, and clearing the wilderness. Although this Dehua county is tall, but not as dangerous as the lake, the two are close to each other, only separated by the lake road, as long as the waterway is guarded, the Tartars can not calmly encircle, just like Xiangyang and Fancheng in those years. ”

Liu Yu told the results of the previous discussion, Jiangnan is not as good as Shuzhong, there are not so many mountains, but the rivers are vertical and horizontal, so it is natural to make a fuss about this, and fight against the Yuan people, it is impossible to think about it on land, and water war has become the only possibility, of course, if even water war is not helpful, then it is not far from the death of the country.

"Leaning on the city to fight, persevering, Benxiang and Zhang Shuai will not sit idly by, it will only take more than ten days, the army will arrive, Deputy Envoy Zhao, are you so confident?"

"Xianggong said so, Zhao will do his best not to teach the Tartars to cross the river, and I hope you will see today's meeting to save hundreds of thousands of lives in Jiangzhou from fire and water, Zhao is here to thank you in advance."

Zhao Yingding raised his head and drank it all, raised his glass and made a salute, I don't know if it was courage or the smell of wine, his face was flushed, Liu Yu and Li Tingzhi both stood up and returned the salute, only Zhang Shijie was drinking himself, and he didn't seem to hear what they were saying at all.

"Haha, if a certain army is sent from Taihu Lake and crosses the Xishui River to Luotian, he can arrive at the line of the Ba River by surprise, and then he can attack Huangzhou and retreat into Macheng, what can Ali do to me?"

Suddenly, he slapped the table and got up, his face was happy, and the three of them were stunned when they heard it, but they didn't expect him to remember this after a long time.