Having made up his mind to fight with Meng Yuan's southbound guards in Xuzhou, Zhao Yu breathed a sigh of relief. And he is not the general in charge of one side, but the emperor who controls the overall situation, so he shifted his attention to several other battlefields.

At present, the Sichuan-Shu battlefield Wen Tianxiang's march was relatively smooth, and after successfully crossing the Three Gorges, he continued to move north along the Yangtze River to capture Kuizhou, Yun'anjun, Wanzhou, Zhongzhou and other counties along the Yangtze River. However, because the Jialing River has entered the dry season, the water is shallow and dangerous, and the warships cannot continue to move forward, so they are currently stopping at Fuling to rest and recuperate, and at the same time raise grain and grass, recruit soldiers, renovate the warships, and prepare for another battle.

Wen Tianxiang has always been straightforward, and he mentioned many times in the war report that due to the continuous deepening, it is difficult to raise baggage in the local area, and the new recruits are untrained and unusable. Moreover, after a long journey, many warships were damaged, and the newly recovered prefectures and counties also needed troops to defend them, and they urgently needed to replenish their troops and baggage. In addition, the enemy forces of Sichuan, Shu, Mengyuan, and Yuan have now been mobilized in Chongqing from all over the country to prepare for a decisive battle. He expected that as long as the current enemy was defeated, he would be able to continue to advance the battlefield and go straight down to the Chengdu Plain, posing a threat to Shaanxi and Gansu from the flank, so he repeatedly asked for reinforcements.

The Huguang Army led by Jiang Cheng attacked Huaixi, and the progress is also quite smooth. One is that the Huaixi garrison was all transferred by Yuxi Timur, and the troops were empty, and it was difficult to resist their attack; The Mongols successively demolished the walls of cities in the Huai River Valley, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and only a few cities were spared for various special reasons.

All the cities between the Jianghuai and the Huai, because there were no city walls, there was no city to defend in the Mengyuan region, and once they were defeated in the field battle, they scattered in all directions. When Boyan was presiding over the Shandong and Henan provinces, through several encounters with the Song army, he realized that the Song army had sharp weapons, lost the protection of the city, and could not resist the attack of the Song army. In order to strengthen the defense, he asked for a proposal to rebuild the city wall, but because of his departure, some states and counties rebuilt the city wall, but in some places it was a ruined project.

Due to the serious flooding in the Jianghuai region, the walls of some cities not only had the role of resisting invasion, but also assumed the function of flood control, and were not demolished, and also became an obstacle to the advance of the Song army. Moreover, since there was no major battle on the Huaixi side, there was no way to implement the conditions for large-scale encirclement and annihilation, and it was impossible to drive into the Huaidong battlefield for a long time, and there was only a city-by-city battle, which affected the speed of the march. Zhao Yu still recognized Jiang Cheng's steady and steady tactics, because of the restrictions of communication conditions, the two armies could only echo each other from afar, unable to communicate in time, and it was difficult for each other to reinforce each other in time.

In addition, the siege of the city will be greatly restricted. Because many cities are mostly built at dangerous passes, a radius of tens of miles of land is included. If you want to go around it, you have to go over the mountains and take the path. It may not be difficult for an individual or group to fight, but if tens of thousands of troops all go around the city, the battle line will be stretched and the logistics will be consumed.

And in the process of surrounding the city, it is difficult to guarantee that it will not be raided by the defenders. If you go around the city to fight, and it is difficult for friendly troops to rush around the city, the army will be in a situation where you will be attacked from the back, and the rear army will be separated from the front army by a city, and it will be difficult to communicate. At the same time, if the grain and grass were cut off, it would have a huge impact on the army, the Song army relied heavily on water transportation, and the cities were often built on rivers, and fighting around the city would have to risk being cut off from logistics.

In addition, once the battle at the front is tense, the rear reinforcements will not be able to provide effective support. Cities tend to have large populations, weapons stockpiles, and even weapon workshops, and even small troops, large state capitals can arm thousands of Ding Zhuang to defend the city in a short period of time. Therefore, even if they can't defeat the siege troops, it will not be a problem to drag on for dozens of days. Once the forward army is wiped out, they are free to deal with reinforcements in the rear.

In the end, if the city were to become an isolated city, the defenders would be on the verge of death. If the army is lucky enough to encircle the city and capture the city in front of it, it will eventually return and attack the city again. The people of the city knew that this was the only city left in the country and had not surrendered, so they would live and die with the city. Once they have made up their minds to die, attacking the city will only cause more unnecessary casualties.

Because the Huguang Division also undertook the task of supporting Yunnan and Sichuan and Shu and defending against the invasion of Zhancheng, it was unable to put troops into the battlefield on a large scale like Jiangdong. In this way, with the extension of the battle line, the Huaixi side is also facing the problem of insufficient troops. In addition, with the extension of the battlefield and the stationing and management of local officials, there is also the problem of unjustifiable names, and it is necessary to adjust and smooth out the relations between all parties.

Now that the war in Jiangdong is over, these problems need to be resolved. Zhao Yu thought about it again and again, and immediately ordered Ni Liang to command the first brigade, the second brigade, the third brigade, the fifth brigade, the cavalry brigade and the artillery brigade of the imperial front protection army, move troops to Pingjiang to rest for three days, replenish the shortage of soldiers and baggage grain and grass nearby, and take the ships of the imperial navy to Xuyi to prepare to meet Meng Yuan's guards. The 4th Brigade returned to Lin'an to guard the safety of the Beijing Division.

The government affairs are complicated, Zhao Yu simply ordered Wang Yinglin, the governor of the council, to concurrently serve as the pacification envoy of Huainan East Road, to lead the affairs of Huaidong government, and to grant him the power to form a state army, appoint and dismiss officials, complete the construction of political power in the newly acquired land in Huaidong as soon as possible, start the census and registration of the population and land as soon as possible, and collect the displaced people and pacify the people. And he concentrated on planning the next battle.

He also issued an order to abolish the Jiangdong Establishment Division, remove Zhao Mengjin from the post of Jiangdong Establishment Envoy, and reappointed him as the head of the Huaidong Marching Army, and the ministers and directly subordinate teams of the original Division were transferred to the Governor's Office. After the handover of Zhao Mengjin was completed, he immediately led the Fifth Army of the Forbidden Army and the First Artillery Division and the First Cavalry Division to take the ships of the First Naval Division to Shanyang.

The Huguang System and Administration Department was abolished, Jiang Cheng was dismissed from his post as an envoy, and he was reappointed as the head of the Huaixi Marching Army, and the chief military and political commander. In addition to placing the Sixth Army and the Seventh Army, which had entered Huai in advance, under his command, the Eighth Army stationed in Yuanjiang, the Second Cavalry Division, and the Second Artillery Division were assigned to his command. still took Xie Fangde as the pacification envoy of Huguang, and transferred Cai Qiao as the prefect of Ezhou and concurrently served as the Huaixi transit envoy; The Ninth Army was transferred to the Privy Council, and was still stationed on Nanning Road, still with the main task of defending Zhancheng and Annam, and suppressing the slang; The Tenth Army was transferred north to Jiangling, preparing to enter Sichuan to reinforce the Western Army, and was controlled by the right minister Wen Tianxiang.

Zhao Yu asked Ma Duanlin to draft the edict, and just wanted Wang De to use the seal, but suddenly waved his hand to stop him, took the edict and looked at it. Then I picked up the pen and wanted to change it, but I put it down again, and I hesitated again and again. Ma Duanlin and Wang De both knew that the little emperor had always thought twice before acting, but once he thought about it, he would firmly order it to be executed. But this time he hesitated, obviously still weighing in his heart, and it was difficult to make a decision for a while.

"Order Ni Liang and Zhao Mengjin to stop resting, and immediately lead the army north after receiving the order, without delay, replenish heavy ammunition along the way, and be ready to enter the battlefield at any time!" Zhao Yu thought about it again and again and said decisively, "Order the Second Navy Division Liu Wenjun, and the Second and Third Marine Brigades to go north to stand by in Yanzhou!" ”

"Your Majesty, is it too hasty, the losses of the imperial guards in this battle are large, and they have been fighting for a long time, and they are already tired and tired, and they may affect their combat strength without rest. And after the war, tens of thousands of corpses were left on the battlefield, and now that the weather is getting warmer, if it is not dealt with in time, it may cause an epidemic of epidemics! Tan Fei, who was on the side, reminded, "Moreover, the troops of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Liangguang have basically been exhausted, and once something happens, it may be difficult to suppress only the state army!" ”

"I know that the scale of this battle has exceeded expectations, and if we can't defeat the Mengyuan reinforcements from the south, the two Huai will be gained. But by winning this battle, we can win several years of stability, and the two Huai can recuperate. Zhao Hao explained slightly, and asked Ma Duanlin to redraft the edict and take out the troop transfer talisman.

Of course, Zhao Yu understood the significance of the rest of the troops after the war, and also knew that the imperial front guard in this battle assumed the role of reducing the enemy's front in the early stage of the battle, facing the impact of the enemy cavalry, so the losses were extremely large, with nearly 10,000 casualties. Now that the soldiers are not yet replenished, and the consumed baggage has not been replenished, they must immediately start a continuous long march and be pulled into the next battlefield, which is really a major test for them.

However, the military situation is like fire, both the enemy and us are mobilizing troops to rush to Xuzhou, the enemy army is mostly cavalry, and there is the convenience of the canal, the speed of the march will not be inferior to their own. Whoever arrives first in the battle will have the first opportunity, but they who are closest to Xuzhou also have a few days to travel, but because of the lack of troop carriers and the lack of troops, he had to make such a decision.

Consideration was also given to the dispatch of the Second Navy Army stationed in Quanzhou to participate in the war. At present, although the infantry troops in Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions have almost been withdrawn and are ready to be put into the Huaidong battlefield, Jiangdong does not have to be wide, and the east is full of sea, which has become a natural barrier to isolate the enemy's invasion. And the most threatening Mengyuan naval army was almost annihilated, and it was no longer able to cross the sea and reach the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions. And Zhao Yu needs a surprise soldier in his hands to put into the battlefield at a critical moment to turn the tide of the battle.

In addition, Zhao Yu had already learned from the war report that there were 100,000 corpses of people and horses on the battlefield, and the stench could be smelled for ten miles. And after the catastrophe war, the plague epidemic has almost become a fixed pattern, and if the battlefield is not cleaned up in time and the enemy corpses are buried, the plague will occur. Moreover, the battlefield is located near the most densely populated area of Koto, and once it becomes popular, it will quickly sweep through Koto. But he had already planned and left the state army to assist the local government in dealing with the matter, and these had already been planned, and with Jiang Xuan sitting in Pingjiang, he should be able to deal with the aftermath......