Zhao Yu had a deep conversation with Wang Yinglin overnight and expressed his attitude, but out of prudence and secrecy, he decided to let him return to Beijing to explain the current situation to several rulers in person. The next day, he asked him to return to Lin'an under the pretext that he had a pretense in his body and needed to return to Beijing to recuperate. Before leaving, he repeatedly told him that after returning to Beijing, he must quickly consult with several deacons, find out the bottom number, make a decision on the 5th, and report back quickly without delay.

At the same time, in order to ensure that the enemy who invaded the south led by Timur of Yuxi could be annihilated, Zhao Yu began to adjust the deployment of troops. He informed Zhao Mengqi, the Jiangdong envoy, of the changes in the enemy's situation and Yangzhou's plan for reinforcement, and ordered him to unify the dispatch of all armies and make sure to completely annihilate the enemy who invaded the south. He also ordered him to reformulate the battle plan in light of the changes in the enemy's situation and the deployment of troops, and to make a timely response.

Originally, Zhao Yu was going to report to the Huguang Preparation Division after the DPRK and the Central Committee had made a decision, but after thinking about it again and again, he thought that the time was pressing, and when the results were in Beijing, he would inform the Huguang Preparation Division that the time was too hasty. Although there was a detailed operational plan for the use of troops in Huaixi, the scale of the use of troops this time was large, the combat field was wide, and it required two divisions to cooperate in the operation.

The key point of this battle is to take advantage of the fact that most of the enemy's forces in the Lianghuai region were annihilated, and the Mengyuan court has not yet responded, and when the troops are mobilized to reinforce the Lianghuai, their own side swept the remnants of the enemy in the Lianghuai region with a thunderous momentum, and quickly occupied the strategic point. However, this requires a thorough battle plan in advance and an immediate start of action as soon as the order is received.

However, in this major battle, there were more than 100,000 troops mobilized by the Huguang Formation Division alone, and if there was no clear strategic goal and perfect plan and rapid response, they would rush to collide on the battlefield like a swarm of headless flies, let alone cooperate with friendly forces. In addition, there is a huge logistical support, which also requires the conscription of husbands and the mobilization of supplies to be in place after the outbreak of the fighting, which takes time to prepare.

Thinking about the battle, Zhao Yu still decided to give Jiang Cheng a breath, so as not to be caught off guard for a while. At present, the Huguang Division is undertaking the logistics and troop support tasks of the Western Army, and it is also distracted from the affairs of the conquest of Yunnan. At the same time, it is also necessary to be vigilant against the two 'hooligans' of Annam and Champa who take advantage of the fire to loot and harass Guangxi, which is not without precedent in history.

It is precisely because the Huguang Division is responsible for more onerous military affairs and the deployment of troops is scattered, that Zhao Yu has to give more consideration to the use of his troops, so as not to take care of one or the other. Therefore, in his letter to Jiang Cheng, he asked him to keep the matter of recovering Lianghuai secret for the time being, but the troops should mobilize early in the name of preparing to reinforce the Huaidong battlefield, concentrate in areas with convenient transportation, and distribute ammunition and grain and grass to regimental baggage teams according to the level of a major battle. At the same time, the navy army was gathered, merchant ships were recruited, and preparations were made to cross the river. Strengthen reconnaissance of the enemy in front of you, especially the deployment of enemy troops, transportation, and population in the state capital of Xiangyang, and make a good defense plan after capturing Xiangfan and recovering the Huaixi area.

Zhao Yu also knew that he issued a war mobilization order without consulting the two provinces, which was suspected of being autocratic, and might trigger the admonition of the ministers. But he didn't mean this, and on the surface, he actively consulted the opinions of the two provinces and listened to the advice of the important ministers, but in his heart he already had an idea. Once the time is ripe, even if the ministers oppose it, he will not hesitate to launch a campaign to recover Lianghuai.

In the past, Zhao Yu had always been very cautious about whether to capture the two Huai, and repeatedly dismissed the ministers' prelude to take an offensive against the Jianghuai. First, they are worried that they have just recovered Jiangnan, and their foundation is unstable, so they need to stabilize the interior first; Second, the foundation is too thin, and it is difficult to launch an offensive rashly, and it is difficult to fight down, and the two sides are stuck in a stalemate. Not only is it difficult to recuperate, but it also has to spend huge sums of money to fight against the hostiles, thus returning to the old path, leading to economic collapse, turmoil, and eventual ruin.

Therefore, Zhao Yu agreed to the proposal of the Mengyuan side, during which the two sides clashed, but they were controlled within a certain limit, and only aimed at attacking their idea of southern invasion and destroying their economy, and did not cause a large-scale war. The two sides talk about fighting and maintain a hypocritical peace, but each side is eager to swallow the other in one bite, but they are afraid of each other, and neither side dares to provoke a big war. Even if Zhao Hao took the lead in provoking the border provocation this time, it was intended to combat the 'southern invasion' of Yuxi Timur, so that he would not dare to renew the intention of southern invasion and win time for his own development, rather than aiming to recover the two Huai.

However, caution does not mean that he does not want to, Zhao Yu has always taken the recovery of Lianghuai as a strategic goal, because Lianghuai is too important to Jiangnan. 'Guarding the river must guard the Huai', this has been the consensus of successive southern rulers. The southern regimes are all centered on Jiankang, and even if the Southern Song Dynasty takes Hangzhou as the place of Lin'an, it still can't get rid of it. Relying on Jiankang, the southern regime can enjoy the manpower and food of the Taihu Lake region and the developed water transportation of the Yangtze River region, so as to compete with the northern regime for a long time.

And to keep Nanjing, we must defend the Yangtze River. Although the Yangtze River is a natural hazard, it is not a safe. The Yangtze River is so long from Jingxiang to Jiujiang and then to Nanjing that it is impossible to fortify everywhere. If there is a slight breakthrough, then the army of the north will collapse the entire defense line with a commanding force. The Sui Dynasty destroyed Chen, and the Northern Song Dynasty destroyed the Southern Tang Dynasty.

If you want to hold on for a long time, you can only defend in depth or mobile to expand your strategic depth, and then the Huai River is particularly important. The Huai River to the Yangtze River area has a dense water system and many tributaries, such as Yingshui, Whirlpool, Surabaya, etc., which are tributaries of the Huai River, and Hongze Lake, the end point of the Huai River, is also a large lake in the north of the Yangtze River.

Generally speaking, "northerners ride horses, southerners ride boats". If the army of the north goes south, it will inevitably advance along the three rivers of Ying, Whirlpool, and Sishui. The southern regime built cities at the confluence of the three rivers and the Huai River, forming the three important military towns of Shouchun, Zhongli and Huaiyin. They can rely on the stubborn resistance of the fortified city, and use the current of water to make their naval army move quickly and drag the offensive edge of the northern cavalry.

In order to invade the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the south, the Qin Emperor Fu Jian once sent heavy troops to fight for the Huainan region. As a result, he encountered stubborn resistance from the Jin army in the Shouchun area, and missed the strategic opportunity in vain. At this time, Xie Xuan, the general of the Jin army, commanded the naval army and other mobile forces to use the waterway to start a decisive battle with Fu Jian, and defeated the Qin army with less victory.

In addition, the opening of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal has given a heavier mission to the Jianghuai region, and it can be said that the Grand Canal has turned the Jianghuai region into a more important strategic hub. The founders of the Sui and Tang dynasties were all Guanlong nobles, so their ruling centers were all in Guanzhong. However, with the decline of land fertility and the rapid expansion of the population in the Guanzhong region, the grain produced here can no longer support a megacity like the Qin and Han dynasties.

The Tang Dynasty transferred part of the functions of the capital to neighboring Luoyang, established the "Luoyang New District", and then transported a large amount of grain from the southern grain production area to solve the embarrassing situation of lack of grain in the capital area, which was "grain transportation from the south to the north". If you want to transport a large amount of grain, you can only rely on the Grand Canal left by the previous dynasty. Through the Grand Canal, the grain in the south of the Yangtze River was continuously sent to Luoyang and Guanzhong, alleviating the urban disease of the capital, and the Jianghuai cities along the Grand Canal also became the key to the state.

In the Tang Dynasty, taxes in the Jianghuai region even became the bulk of the revenue of the central government in the Tang Dynasty. The feudal towns of Huaizuo and Huaiyou relied on the Grand Canal to firmly expand and consolidate their spheres of influence, and even did not transport grain to the central government. During the reign of Tang Xianzong, Li Yuxue went to Caizhou at night and attacked the Huaixi Domain in one fell swoop, in order to reopen the connection between the central government and the Jianghuai and Jiangnan regions. Therefore, whether it is for the secession regime or the central government, the Jianghuai region must be taken.

Although it was already possible to transport grain from the south to the north after entering the Yuan Dynasty, the Grand Canal was still an important means of transportation, and this strategy of transporting grain from the south to the north was continued. Even if Jiangnan is lost now, salt and grain in the Lianghuai region can still be sent to the Central Plains through the canal, benefiting the northwest. What's more important is that Meng Yuan has two Huai, so he can firmly jam Da Song's neck.

In this way, Jianghuai is indispensable to the southern regime, and it is precisely "those who want to peek into the Central Plains must get Huaisi." If there is Jianghan but no Huaisi, the country will be weak. "If the southern regime owns the Huai River, it can have the best barrier north of the Yangtze River, even to Xuzhou, Shandong, and even the Central Plains. The northern regime, on the other hand, owns the Huai River, which can firmly block the passage for the southern regime to enter the Central Plains.

Whether it was the Southern Chen, the Southern Tang Dynasty or the Southern Song Dynasty, his decline and even demise began with the loss of Jianghuai. The Jianghuai River is a battleground between the north and the south, and with the Huai River, the southern regime and the separatist regime will turn from passive defense to active attack. However, it is not enough to have the Huai River. If the southern regime wants to fight for a long time, it must also control the Jianghan region in order to maintain the long-term peace and stability of its own regime.

That is, 'Jianghan and Jianghuai are the brothers-in-law', and Gu Yanwu of the late Ming Dynasty of Zhao Yuji even pointed out that "Hou Jingxiang" and "Blocking the Two Huai" are the foundation of the southeast country. Throughout history, it is not uncommon for the southeast to be bound by the loss of the Jianghan region. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Wang Daohuan Xuan and others relied on Jing Xiang to seize the lifeblood of Jiankang downstream. The regime of this dynasty also learned this lesson and sent Lü Wenhuan to stick to Xiangyang and Du Gao to stick to Jianghuai. The two places were at each other's horns, leaving the fierce Mongol army at a loss for a while, and it became the longest regime in the world to fight against the Mongols.

Although Zhao Yu has not yet fully reached the best time in his opinion, he does not want to let go, even if it may affect the development of the country, he will have to live a hard life for a few more years, but he feels that it is worth it if he can establish a solid defense line and strategic buffer zone from the Huai River to Jianghan, and seize the springboard for development to the north......