Yuxi Timur led his army a few days ago and set out from Gaoyou, making a big gesture to reinforce Yangzhou along the way, but he still did not dare to let his horse go fast, but maintained a speed of forty miles a day. However, the army did not go south along the canal, but first wanted to go west, and then turn south, making a flank to encircle the Song army that invaded the north, cutting off its heavy supplies and return routes, and encircling them to the north of the river.

The reason why the army moved slowly was of course not to scare away the Song army that invaded south, but out of caution. Because the news of Yangzhou was completely cut off after the loss of Jiacheng, and the Song army stationed in Taizhou and Zhenzhou on both flanks of the battlefield also constantly sent patrols to ambush the reconnaissance cavalry that reconnoitred the enemy's situation, so that Yuxi Timur could not accurately grasp the situation in Yangzhou.

Yuxi Timur also understood that he sent troops with great fanfare, and the Song army could not be ignorant, and would definitely respond to it. He was not worried about its tactical arrangements, because he did not want to directly clash with the Song army that invaded the north, but intended to cross the river and attack Jiangnan. The most concerned was the strategic dynamics of the Song army, whether to quickly withdraw to Jiangnan or continue to besiege Hangzhou.

In fact, as early as the beginning of Yuxi Timur's order to preside over the military affairs of Henan Jiangbei Province, he began to reconnoiter the deployment of troops in the south and Jiangdong. In the past year, he has basically figured out the situation:

The Jiangdong defense line is to defend the Jiangdong defense with the First Army of the Southern Forbidden Army as the backbone, and its three subordinate divisions are stationed in Dantu, Jiangyin and Kunshan, and the direct team is stationed in Jiankang, in addition to the Song Army's inland water division sub-fleet under the command of the Jiangdong Formation Division, and the first naval division of the forbidden army stationed in Jiangkou and its subordinate marine brigade are only responsible for assisting in the defense of the Yangtze River defense line, and the main task is to prevent the enemy from attacking Lin'an from the sea and protecting the sea route.

Everyone knew that only a few tens of thousands of forbidden troops could not take care of the long Yangtze River defense line, so the government along the Yangtze River also formed a box army to be responsible for the defense of crossings and important places along the river. Due to the limitations of their combat effectiveness and tasks, most of them are scattered and stationed in various places, and they play more of a role in early warning and maintaining public order, and at best they can only resist the attacks and harassment of small-scale enemy forces, and are unable to meet large-scale invasions. However, in wartime, it was also under the dispatch and command of the Jiangdong Division, and cooperated with the forbidden army to fight.

The hinterland of Jiangdong is defended by the imperial guards, known to Yuxi Timur this is also the most effective army of the Song army, directly commanded by the little emperor of the Southern Dynasty, after several expansions have eight brigades and a naval army, estimated to have nearly 100,000 people. They were stationed in Huzhou, Jiaxing, Lin'an, Qiantang, Shaoxing and Hangzhou Bay and other surrounding important places, guarding the capital.

Since the beginning of the war, the military numbers of the First Army, Changzhou Army, Runzhou Army, Pingjiang Army and the Second and Third Divisions of the Jiangdong Song Army have appeared in Yangzhou successively, and the military numbers of the First Guard, the Fourth Brigade, the Fifth Brigade and the Artillery Brigade of the Imperial Front Guard Army are also the first to cross the river to participate in the war, and the First Division of the Navy Army is escorting in the open sea. As a result, the main force of the Jiangdong Song army gathered under the city of Yangzhou, and the main forces left behind were only the 2nd and 3rd brigades of the Imperial Front Protector Army, and the 5th Army of the Forbidden Army stationed in Shaoxing, which was obviously insufficient to defend Jiangdong and Gyeonggi with less than 50,000 troops.

Yuxi Timur also saw this 'hole' before he dared to formulate a plan for the southern invasion, but boldness is different from recklessness, after all, the Song army is currently stationed along the canal, and can quickly maneuver to the south of the Yangtze River by water. Once the little emperor of the Southern Dynasty found out that he had an attempt to cross to the south, he could quickly return to defense, or even cut off his own way back and trap him in the Jiangdong region, it would become a self-imposed net. Therefore, while slowing down the pace of the march to observe the movements of the Song army, he made contingency preparations, changed the direction of the battle at any time, and pointed the spearhead at the retreating Song army.

What made him very anxious was that the Song army could not pass the news of the Yangzhou siege, but the patrol cavalry he sent was intercepted and killed by the Song army, and he could not get close to the enemy camp at all, and the information he obtained was very limited. After the start of the war, the Song army blockaded the Yangtze River more strictly, and unless there was a token issued by the Ministry of War and the Privy Council, the board could not be launched, making it very difficult to transmit information from Jiangnan.

But even if it was slow, the vanguard of the army had already arrived in Rugao, and the Chinese army led by Yuxi Timur had also reached the Jiangyan area more than 60 miles west of Taizhou City. He knew that it was difficult for the march of the army to conceal its whereabouts for a long time, and Jiang Yan was the place where the troops were divided before, and it was also time to decide the strategic direction, so he was glad that he finally got in touch with the people sent by Ma Shao.

According to the news from Ma Shao, he was ordered by the king of Zhennan to make peace with the Southern Dynasty and was able to enter the Song camp to check the situation. The strength of the Song army stationed in Yangzhou that he saw with his own eyes had not been reduced, and Timur of Yuxi checked it and matched the information he had obtained before. In addition, he found that the Song army had accumulated a large amount of grain and grass in the camp, and it was obviously ready for a long-term siege and a protracted battle, and there was no sign of withdrawal. According to his thoughts, it seems that the Song army still has the intention of continuing to penetrate deep into Lianghuai after capturing Yangzhou, otherwise it will not continue to transfer grain from Jiangnan.

In addition, Ma Shao repeatedly urged Yuxi Timur to relieve the siege of Yangzhou as soon as possible, and his peace agreement with the Southern Dynasty was a false and unjust snake, and the conditions put forward by the Southern Dynasty were also very harsh, so it seemed that the Great Khan and the imperial court would not agree. But the ten-day deadline is approaching, and the Southern Dynasty will attack the city with all its might, but it has no confidence in holding Yangzhou, and the firearms of the Southern Dynasty are too sharp, and the city wall cannot stop their full force at all.

In addition, although there is no danger of food shortage in the city at present, it can maintain more than half a month at most under control, and it will have to run out of food. But at present, the Song army closed the city, the people could not go out of the city to collect wood, the sewage in the city could not be transported out of the city, and it was winter, in order to heat and cook, the city had begun to cut down trees, demolish houses and houses to make firewood. The hundreds of thousands of people in the city and tens of thousands of war horses, the filth produced every day can only be thrown into the river, or piled up everywhere, and the casualties of the soldiers and civilians can only be buried in the open space, resulting in the city is now stinking, if the siege is still not lifted, it will inevitably cause turmoil and epidemics.

For Ma Shao's return, Yuxi Timur did not dare to believe it all. He knew that the thieves of the Southern Dynasty were very treacherous, used suspicious soldiers without permission, and liked to attack the east and west, maybe what he saw was only deliberately arranged by the thieves, but he secretly transferred troops back to Jiangnan. But he didn't think it would be, the plan to invade the south was planned by himself, and the people who knew about it were limited to the two senior generals of the Duwanhu Mansion, and even Ma Shao didn't know about it, and there was no possibility for others to leak it, unless the thief really had the ability of a god to predict the prophet and see through his plan.

Although he felt that there was nothing wrong with what he had done, Timur was still not at ease after thinking about it, and called the messenger to the big tent to inquire personally. He asked them in detail how they entered the camp of the Song army, how they learned about the situation in the army, and how they broke through the blockade of the Song army and came to report the news. In addition, how did they negotiate with the peace envoys of the Southern Dynasties, thus delaying the Song army's siege time.

The messenger sent by Marsho was his own bodyguard, and he did not trust others, and no one else could have blended into the ranks of the mission. Therefore, he can be said to have participated in the whole process, or listened to what Ma Shao himself said, and understood the beginning and end of the matter, so he recounted what he saw and heard to Yuxi Timur one by one. But Yuxi Timur still inquired about the details of how he was able to break away from the team under the supervision of the Song army and came to deliver the letter, and even did not let go of whether the Song army tracked him when he left.

The messengers were a little annoyed by the question, but they still explained. Yuxi Timur was relieved when he heard that they had bribed the people around the little emperor of the Southern Dynasty and bribed the Song soldiers who accompanied him to monitor him, so that he could get the opportunity to report the peace talks to the imperial court. As the saying goes, despite his cunning, he didn't expect that his most trusted subordinate was bought, and it was justified to be able to get out of the customs in this name, but if it was achieved without twists and turns, it would be suspicious.

Although he had learned the whole story in detail, Timur still did not dare to believe it easily, and he also knew very well that this war was related to the situation of the two Huai wars, and in the long run, it was even related to the national fortunes of the two countries, so he naturally had to be cautious and cautious. So he ordered Zahuertai to turn to Taizhou first, pretending to be the whole army to send aid to Yangzhou to probe, but there was an encounter with the Song army stationed here outside Taizhou, and his side was defeated by the Song army and retreated in a hurry.

Yuxi Timur sent the general of Zahuertai, who had fought with the Song army, to the Great Tent to learn about the battle, and when he learned that at first he was only chasing the defective people before fighting with the patrolling Song army, but was strongly blocked by the Song army when he had the advantage of his own side. But just as they were about to break through the defense line temporarily constructed by the Song army, the Song army from Taizhou arrived and broke up their array with continuous artillery bombardment, which rescued the besieged Song army and the defecting people. The scouts found that the direction of Taizhou was dusty, and the Song army came to reinforce them, and they had lost their advantage in strength at this time, and they were forced to retreat in order to avoid being surrounded.

Yuxi Timur understood that the defeated generals might be exaggerating in their words in order to exonerate themselves, but they would never hide the truth. He at least knew that the troops stationed in Taizhou were the Song army numbers told by Ma Shao, and after a little analysis, he could judge that there were a lot of troops in the city, so that he could send battalion-sized troops to patrol the perimeter, and send reinforcements in time in the event of a battle, and he could once again increase his forces to try to encircle and annihilate the enemy who invaded the territory. As a veteran of the battlefield, he understands that even if he sends reinforcements, he will leave enough troops in the city to prevent the enemy from moving away from the mountain and taking the opportunity to sneak attack and seize the city.

In addition, news also came from Tongzhou, but it was not found that the situation on the other side of the strait was as usual, just as it was before, and it was not found that the Song army had moved, and the number of troops had not increased. In addition, the Song Navy stationed at the mouth of the river was still escorting the sea and did not return to Hong Kong, and only the patrol ships of the inland water army patrolled back and forth on the river, the number of which was greatly reduced compared with before, and the frequency of patrols was also longer......