Guo Song received an urgent report from Luoyang at dusk, and Qiu Jingzhong held the crown prince Zhu Sui hostage and rebelled.

Guo Song immediately convened the left and right Xiangguo and the military department Shangshu to discuss countermeasures.

In fact, Guo Song had already understood the other party's plan, and with Yang Mi's internal response, at least on Liu Feng's side, there was no secret at all.

"Where does Your Highness think Qiu Jingzhong will retreat?" Zhang Qiu'an, the secretary of the military department, asked.

Guo Song groaned and said: "Zhu Sui once told Liu Feng that Luo Shengwang of Songzhou Assassin Shi, Zhou Jian of Xuzhou Assassin History, and Wang Qilian of Bozhou Assassin Shi all support him, I estimate that Qiu Jingzhong's 80,000 troops will withdraw to these three states, and use these three states as the foundation to confront Zhu Jun!" ”

Du You laughed, "If you really withdraw to these three states, a civil war will inevitably break out!" ”

"Why is that?" Zhang Qiu'an asked puzzled.

"It's very simple, Songzhou is the first grain-producing state of the Zhu Dynasty, the second largest state is Xuzhou, Henan Province, where Luoyang is located, ranks third, and Bozhou is the first major iron-producing land of the Zhu Zhu Dynasty.

Guo Song smiled and nodded, "Du Xiangguo is right, these three states are very important to Zhu Zhu, Zhu Zhu will never tolerate it, the civil war will break out soon, I asked the three to come to discuss, just to see, what role can we play in this civil war?" ”

Pan Liao asked, "First of all, what is the principle of His Highness?" ”

Guo Song said lightly: "I am not afraid of big things when I see the excitement, I hope that their civil war will be fought more fiercely, the losses of troops will be a little heavier, and the time will last a little longer, until Zhu Zhu completely collapses." ”

Du You pondered and said: "In terms of military strength, Qiu Jingzhong is not the opponent of Zhu Zhu's army, unless we help him a little, this civil war will not last long." ”

Guo Song nodded and smiled: "If necessary, we can indeed help him, we have captured a large number of Qi armor, the quality is relatively poor, it can be used to support Qiu Jingzhong, if Qiu Jingzhong is unfavorable on the battlefield, we can even pretend to be Qiu Jingzhong's army to fight, of course, I can't give it to Qiu Jingzhong in vain, I want to take Bozhou!" ”

"Why does Your Highness want to take Bozhou?" Pan Liao asked puzzled.

Guo Song pondered for a moment, and said with some concern: "I think we may have to be prepared to accept a large number of refugees. ”

Pan Liao and Du You looked at each other, which was actually what the two of them were worried about.

"Let's go see the sand table map!"

Guo Song took the three of them to the staff room, and the Central Plains territory map had been put together in the staff room.

Guo Song picked up the wooden pole and pointed to Songzhou and said: "If I am not mistaken, once a war breaks out, the battlefield is mainly in Songzhou, and the people of Songzhou will inevitably flee with their families in order to avoid the war. ”

Zhang Qiu'an pondered for a long time, and he pointed at Sizhou with a wooden pole: "Your Highness, if Qiu Jingzhong's army occupies Xuzhou, Sizhou will basically be out of Zhu Jun's control. ”

Guo Song nodded, "If they fight in Songzhou, we will not only take Sizhou, but also Chenzhou, and we can also assure Zhu Zhu that we will not participate in their civil war, so that he can rest assured to exterminate Qiu Jingzhong." ”

"Your Highness, the humble position means that you will take it now, and cut off Qiu Jingzhong's peep into Sizhou in time."

Guo Song readily agreed, "You have a point, I'll inform Li Bing!" ”

...........

Qiu Jingzhong's army left Luoyang and marched south, marching along the borders of Henan, Zhengzhou, Bianzhou, Chenzhou, and Xuzhou, although these states were garrisoned by scattered troops, and they also received Zhu Zhu's order to intercept Qiu Jingzhong's army.

However, the garrisons of this state were afraid of Qiu Jingzhong's 80,000 army, and Qiu Jingzhong's army was walking in the border area of the three regardless of the three, and the garrisons of each state all passed the buck to each other, and no one was willing to go to intercept them, so that Qiu Jingzhong's army marched very smoothly, and four days later, the 80,000 army entered Songzhou.

Songzhou is the first grain-producing state of the Zhu Dynasty, fertile fields for thousands of miles, many rivers, sufficient water sources, it is precisely because of the important strategic position of Song Zhou, Zhu Zhu sent 10,000 troops to stationed in Songzhou, stationed in Songcheng County.

However, these 10,000 troops are scattered troops, the so-called scattered army, that is, the non-descendant army other than the four main armies of Tiger Benwei, Flying Bear Guard, Leopard Taowei, and Qianniuwei, there are about 120,000 people, stationed in various states, with Xuzhou and Sizhou having the largest number, with 20,000 each, and other states with 10,000 or thousands of troops stationed in each state.

The scattered army is the lowest level of the army, with poor equipment, low salary, poor quality of soldiers, and low combat effectiveness.

At this time, it has entered June, the weather is very hot, the wheat has just been harvested, and it has not had time to be transported to Luoyang, Qiu Jingzhong led an army of 80,000 to march day and night, but entered Songzhou, the army began to march during the day, and in the afternoon of this day, the army arrived at the official road about ten miles away from Songcheng County.

A spy had already discovered and reported the news to Ji Da, the general of Songzhou, and Ji Da also received the order of the Son of Heaven, ordering him to intercept Qiu Jingzhong's army, where did he dare to intercept, he hoped that the Flying Bear Army would be the same as other states, passing through the border, and he pretended not to find out.

But it backfired, Qiu Jingzhong's 80,000 army came to Songcheng County, and the news scared Ji Da's legs.

He knows very well what the level of his 10,000 troops is, he is an expert in eating, drinking, prostituting and gambling, and if he talks about fighting, it is estimated that no one is willing to go to the battlefield.

He immediately summoned his generals to discuss countermeasures, and sure enough, when everyone heard that the Flying Bear Army was about to reach Songcheng, they immediately fried the pot and demanded to withdraw immediately.

"General, it's not that the brothers are unwilling to sell their lives, you look at our equipment, we don't even have leather armor, we have hundreds of years of broken knives and guns, and the treatment is even worse than pigs and dogs, as soon as we go to the battlefield, we are guaranteed to run clean, no soldier is stupid enough to die, and it is only right to retreat to Xuzhou quickly!"

"General, or surrender! That's 80,000 people! Let the brethren fight eight at a time, and no one is three-headed and six-armed. ”

There was a lot of noise in the lobby, and Ji Da shouted, "Quiet! ”

Only then did dozens of generals quiet down, and Ji Da said: "The withdrawal of the army must be withdrawn, the key is where to withdraw?" I think so! There are already 20,000 troops in Xuzhou, and we used to be concubines, so it is better to withdraw Bozhou, there are only 5,000 troops in Bozhou, and we can stiffen our waists in the past, what do you think? ”

Everyone agreed, and Ji Da immediately ordered, "Order the whole army to abandon the city and retreat south immediately!" ”

The 10,000 troops retreated south in panic, and when they heard that there was going to be a war, the soldiers ran faster than rabbits.

Not long after the 10,000 scattered troops retreated south, the Flying Bear army approached the city, and Thorn Shi Luo led the officials out of the city to welcome the arrival of His Royal Highness the Prince.

.........

Sizhou is currently the southernmost territory of the Zhu Dynasty, stationed along the Huai River 20,000 scattered troops, 20,000 troops did not treat a little better because it is a border army, 20,000 troops wear cloth armor, this cloth armor is not a standard cloth armor that is repeatedly soaked in oil and dried, it is a cloth armor made of coarse cloth simply cut, which cannot block the penetration of bows and arrows a hundred steps away, and has no appearance.

Of course, the treatment is also the worst, only 300 yuan per month, the only advantage is that they can eat enough, three meals a day, many farmers are tired and tired and can't eat enough, they are all for this to come to the army.

In the past two days, the troops stationed in Sizhou have been in a state of tension, they heard the news from Songzhou and Xuzhou, Songzhou has been occupied by the rebellious Qiu Jingzhong, and it is said that the defenders of Xuzhou have also surrendered, so the next step, will Qiu Jingzhong's army kill Sizhou, if so, what should they do?

While the defenders of Sizhou were paying attention to the situation in Xuzhou in the north, they did not know that behind them, an army of 30,000 cavalry had silently entered Chuzhou from Haizhou and killed the enemy camp along the south bank of the Huai River.

This army was the 30,000 army commanded by Yang Meng, and Yang Meng received an order from Li Bing to seize Sizhou as quickly as possible.

Although Yang Meng is powerful and rugged, but he is very fine, he took advantage of the Huai River water army, built a pontoon bridge to the south bank of the Huai River, entered Chuzhou, and then traveled west along the south bank, to Linhuai County camp still twenty miles, he stopped moving forward, he patiently waited for the arrival of the water army.