After intense discussions, the plan of the Military Aircraft Department was affirmed by everyone, and Zhuo Jing, Xie Jin, and others also expressed their approval. In the end, Zhu Yunwen finally summoned Qi Tai, the secretary of the military department, Yu Xin, the secretary of the household department, and the governor of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies to participate in the discussion. Everyone was shocked by the analysis of the Military Aircraft Department, but in the end they had to admit that it was very likely and had to agree. In the end, Zhu Yunwen finally made up his mind, and issued a holy decree on the same day, and the Military Aircraft Department also issued orders to the Intelligence Department and the Investigation Department, and the Governor's Office and the Military Department of the Five Armies also actively sent personnel to cooperate in an effort to solve the biggest crisis since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

Huang Zicheng did not participate in the secret discussion because he was no longer in Beijing. A few days ago, Zhu Yunwen appointed him as the political envoy of Henan, and he has already left Beijing to take up his post. On the day Huang Zicheng left Beijing, Zhu Yunwen personally sent him off and said goodbye, but Huang Zicheng was very calm and insipid and said to the monarch and ministers: "Your Majesty, please take care of the dragon's body, the old minister has gone." Then he turned and got in the car and left. Looking at Huang Zicheng's slightly gloomy back, Zhu Yunwen was upset, Mr. Huang is not old, but he calls himself an old minister, it seems that he is extremely disappointed in me. Looking at Huang Zicheng's carriage gradually moving away, Zhu Yunwen stretched out his right hand, wanted to grab something, opened his mouth, wanted to say something, but finally gave up, he slowly closed his eyes, and tears flowed down his cheeks. After a long time, Liu Zhen, who was standing next to him, said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, Mr. Huang is gone, let's go back, the road is windy, please take care of the dragon's body!" ”

Zhu Yunwen sighed, turned around and looked at Liu Zhen, then at Fu Rang and Qu Tao and the others who were waiting, nodded, and then got into the chariot. The chariot immediately turned and drove towards the imperial city.

Huang Zicheng sat in the carriage, his heart fluctuated, and unconsciously, his cheeks were covered with tears. He lifted the curtain, looked back at the towering city wall of the capital, and sighed in his heart: Jingshi, maybe I, Huang Zicheng, will never come back! The warm, gracious boy of the past has disappeared and has been replaced by a new emperor, but alas, he has not become the kind of emperor he imagined, alas......

Zhu Neng attacked the river and did not resist, so he immediately gave up and rushed to join Zhu Di. Because they were carrying tens of thousands of people, they did not move quickly, and they only converged under the city of Cangzhou five days later, and the guards of Zhang Lun and Cao Yushu had just arrived at Hejian.

Zhu Di looked at the pontoon bridge composed of small boats on the river, couldn't help but be very happy, and said with a smile: "Yanchun, you are really an all-rounder, not only skilled in the art of war, good at using soldiers, but I didn't expect to be so good at water control." ”

"Hehe, the prince praised it falsely, in fact, it was the prince Hongfu Qitian, when the last general led the army to arrive, just in time for a team of ships that went north to transport supplies to Sheng Yong and anchored at the Cangzhou wharf, the last general immediately sent people to grab the ship, and also got a lot of supplies, as much as 5,000 stone of grain. The Cangzhou guard will come out to snatch it, and he will fight with the last general, and he will be defeated and return. ”

"Then the general ordered the boatmen to bring the grain ashore and then ordered them to build a pontoon bridge over the river."

Zhu Di squinted at the pontoon bridge and said, "Yanchun, can our pontoon bridge block the canal?" ”

"The last general has sunk a few ships into the river, and the canal has been temporarily blocked, but this is only a palliative treatment, and the last general thinks that it is better to dig the river quickly."

"Have you found a place to dig the river?"

"If you find it, the low-lying terrain on the other side of the river, as long as you dig a section, the canal will flow eastward, and the amount of water will decrease, so that the canal will not be able to be navigated."

"Very good, Yanchun, you are really the lucky star of this king, whenever this king encounters difficulties, you can bring surprises to this king! It was like this last time in Juyongguan, and it's the same this time! Hahaha! Zhu Di patted Chen Xuan's shoulder excitedly and laughed!

Chen Xuan's face was full of red light, but he bowed his head and said: "The prince is blessed with all the heavens, and the last general is just obeying the orders of the prince's husband." ”

With the continuous assembly of the Yan army, Wang Zhonghui in Cangzhou City did not dare to go out of the city again, and could only keep observing at the head of the city. A day later, Wang Zhonghui was shocked, he found that the Yan army drove a large number of people across the pontoon bridge, and when they reached the opposite bank, they actually began to dig the embankment of the canal, he immediately understood the intention of the Yan army, and had the intention to report, but there was nothing to be done, the Yan army had already drained the water in the siege of Cangzhou, and the letter could not be sent out at all.

Chen Xuan is worthy of being a water conservancy expert, and the location he chose to dig the river was the famous Jiedi River Reduction in later generations. The river is used to divert the river water during the flood season, and the entrance of the river is equipped with a sluice, when the river overflows, lift the sluice and divert the river water, which can reduce the flooding.

More than ten days later, Zhang Lun and Cao Yushu's First and Second Guards Army approached Cangzhou, and after Zhu Di heard the news, he immediately ordered the people on the other side to dig the embankment, and the canal water was immediately diverted into the dug canal. Seeing that the canal water was diverted, Zhu Di laughed, but he was still not satisfied, so the people on the opposite side continued to expand the gap in the river embankment and diverted as much river water as possible.

For a time, the raging water of the river flowed eastward along the canal, flooding the villages, land, and people downstream......

Not only that, Zhu Di also ordered the Yan army on the opposite side to continue to lead the people to find low-lying places along the river and continue to dig the river.

Zhu Di originally wanted to take advantage of the situation to annihilate the Guards, but when he arrived in front of the battle, he found that it was more difficult. Zhu Yunwen prepared the most sophisticated equipment for the guards, and the number of four-wheeled carriages, steel guns, arquebuses, and tiger squat cannons was amazing. When the battle was played, the guards relied on the defense of the car formation, and the arquebus and tiger squat guns fired a salvo, completely curbing the charge of the Yan army, and what was even worse was that when the Yan army approached the car formation, the guards in the car would also ignite the explosives package and throw it into the Yan army, and the Yan soldiers would turn over on their backs.

Several charges cost Zhu Di more than 2,000 people, and finally Zhu Di had to order to stop the charge. But Zhu Di did not give up, but relied on the mobility of the cavalry to roam around the Guards, and the Guards were helpless, the arquebus was very poor, and they needed to line up to shoot before it was effective; The fire speed of the tiger squat cannon was too slow, the range was not far, and the explosive pack had to be close to the enemy, so the two armies were in a stalemate outside Cangzhou City.

However, Zhu Di could not stop Zhang Lun's contact with the city, and when Zhang Lun learned that Zhu Di had dug the canal, he immediately sent someone to report to Mei Yin, the capital of Shandong, and Tie Xuan, the political envoy, and the two also flew to Beijing.

A few days later, Mei Yin ordered people to go north from the east bank of the canal, killed the Yan army, rescued the people, and prevented the further decline of the canal water level, but the sinking ship and the diversion made the canal temporarily unusable. Tie Xuan, the political envoy of Shandong, and Lian Zining, the political envoy of Beiping, jointly wrote a letter requesting the repair of the canal, but the war in Hebei has not ended, and there are almost no people in Cangzhou, and the people who have been rescued still need relief, but the grain transfer is difficult, so they have to be temporarily settled in the Dezhou area, so they cannot complete the repair task in the short term. Zhu Yunwen had no choice but to order Song Li, a member of the Criminal Department, to inspect the canal, formulate a plan, and start repairing it after the war.

At this time, Zhu Di had to report that Sheng Yong's striker Zhang Hantian would come to Tongzhou again, which made Zhu Di very surprised, he thought that Sheng Yong would return to Cangzhou, but he looked back at the canal where the water level became shallower, and he understood everything. He ordered Huo Zhen to lead 5,000 cavalry to entangle the Guards, and he himself led the remaining cavalry north to reinforce Tongzhou.

At the same time as Zhu Di retreated north, General Zuo Ping'an had already sat in Baoding, but he immediately went north, in addition to waiting for the replenishment of equipment and supplies, he was also waiting for the news of Xifengkou.