Back in the Privy Council, Zhang Chao immediately convened the generals to discuss the matter.

The second minister, Ma Zhou, also heard the news and rushed over.

"How could this happen?"

Zhang Chao is already very calm, war is like this, no one can control the whole situation, there will always be accidents.

"This time it's mainly Cui Yan's dereliction of duty." Zhang Chao very unceremoniously pointed to the responsibility of his protégé, he was originally stationed in Jiuzhi Mountain, and also guarded Guizhou Yuechengling. But seeing that our situation was smooth, he underestimated Li Ji. He dispatched a lot of troops and horses from Guizhou and other places to attack Guizhou, and as a result, Guizhou and Yuechengling were empty, allowing Li Ji to take advantage of it. ”

"In addition, the defenders of Yuechengling and Guizhou were too light on the enemy and did not strengthen their defenses, so they were defeated."

Li Ji broke through Wuling, and Zhang Zhongjian hurriedly responded to the battle, but he was also a little caught off guard, and did not intercept in Wuzhou, but went north to fight in the field, and finally lost to Li Ji.

Cui Yan and Zhang Zhongjian are both responsible this time.

If the two of them can do their job well, it will still be difficult for Li Ji to break through the Wuling defense line. The Southern Army had a dangerous pass to rely on, and Li Ji could not break through at all when his troops were equal.

When Zhang Zhongjian rushed to the field battle in Fuzhou, he didn't even have time to bring heavy artillery. As a result, the two armies fought, and Zhang Zhongjian's troops lacked cavalry, and Li Ji, who had elite cavalry, broke through the flank, resulting in the rout of the whole army.

It's a lesson.

It also made it clear to everyone that in fact, the southern army was not better than the northern army when it really wanted to fight. At least, the soldiers and horses of the Northern Army are more elite, especially the cavalry of the Northern Army, which is not comparable to the Southern Army.

"So what now?" Ma Zhou asked. Previously, Zhang Chao deployed three lines of soldiers and horses on the front line of Wuling, with a total of 100,000 soldiers, which was considered a strong soldier and horse, relying on the artillery of Guancheng, which was enough to block Li Ji from going south.

In fact, the army, Zhang Chao was transferred to the north, all the way to the north, it can be said that it was like a bamboo, successively captured Zhejiang, Jiangnan, Huainan and Jiangxi, and invaded Hubei and Huaibei, but now, Li Ji has hit Lingnan.

At the beginning, the Lingnan Third Route Army, Zhang Zhongjian's 50,000 main force, now only 8,000 are left in Cangwu.

The 20,000 people of Liu Renliang and Gao Kan are now in Jiangxi, and they have all arrived in Fuzhou. And Cui Yan's 30,000 invaded Qianzhong.

In Lingnan, there is a great emptiness, and only the township regiments, militia and reserves of the cities are left.

Guangzhou, as Nanjing, still has a team of soldiers and horses, but there are only 10,000.

Now the key is that after Hezhou is lost, Li Ji can drive directly to Guangzhou, even if Wuzhou has not been lost, it can't be stopped. Cangwu is mainly blocked on the Xijiang River upstream of Guangzhou, but if it is from the direction of Hezhou in the north to Guangzhou in the south, then no matter how well Cangwu guards, it doesn't matter to the overall situation.

"Send troops to reinforce Cangwu."

Zhang Chao groaned, he looked at the sand table.

Hezhou and Cangwu, two offensive lines, Zhang Zhongjian of Cangwu is still a new force, and he can't sit back and watch Li Ji be eliminated.

"Mobilize the local soldiers of the Guangxi slang tribes, as well as militias from all over the country to rush to reinforce Cangwu, but be careful, don't go over, gather outside Wuzhou, and prevent Li Ji from besieging the city to send reinforcements."

After a pause, Zhang Chao said again, "Urgently transfer Liu Renliang and Gao Kan to return to Lingnan via Shaozhou to quickly reinforce Guangzhou." Transferred troops from Fujian and Liuqiu to reinforce Guangzhou. ”

"If Guangzhou is stable, we are ready to recapture Hezhou."

Zhang Chao's intention was obvious, to block Li Ji's troops in Guangxi, not to let him enter Guangdong, let alone let him get close to Guangzhou. Reinforcements from all walks of life, and militia groups from all over the country have also been recruited and armed, even if Li Ji is now in full swing, then every city must be held on, so that he can't go south quickly.

"Tune Cui Yan to lead the headquarters back to recapture Guizhou, so that he can atone for his crimes. We are going to cut off Li Ji's rear supply line and seal his retreat. ”

"Then transfer Xue Rengui to march west from Jiangxi to Hunan, since Li Ji has already broken into Lingnan, this time we will besiege and kill Li Ji first."

Originally, Zhang Chao was also going to block Li Ji and surround him in Hunan, but unexpectedly, he suddenly rushed into Guangxi.

"Can you prevent Li Ji?"

Li Ji's lone army went deep into Lingnan, with neither reinforcements nor supplies, and could not last long by plundering on the spot. Although its soldiers are sharp, they are also imposing. Its most elite is the cavalry, but Lingnan, especially in Guangxi, is mountainous, and his cavalry is also limited. In the end, although he caught us off guard, we didn't have no choice.

However, Li Ji broke up two group armies once, which was also the first major defeat since the Southern Army started its army.

Of the more than 40,000 people Zhang Zhongjian was scattered, it is estimated that many of them were just dispersed, but Zhang Chao had already decided to cancel Zhang Zhongjian's two group army numbers.

His remaining 8,000 soldiers are regarded as Cangwu militia, when Li Ji is repulsed, then Zhang Chao will consider rebuilding.

"Let Zhu Zhendong temporarily offensive, and hold the two states of Qi and Huang."

Zhang Chao issued several military orders one after another, and connected the two armies to reinforce Jiangxi and Hunan.

Li Ji invaded Lingnan, but he was afraid that the imperial court would be very happy, and perhaps in order to consolidate the results of the war, the imperial court might increase its troops into Hunan, or even send troops to reinforce Lingnan.

Zhang Chao must fight with the imperial court for Hunan.

When the southern army captured Hunan, Li Ji was a lone army. If the imperial court keeps Hunan, it will continue to supply grain and grass and even send additional troops to support Li Ji.

Once Lingnan was captured by the imperial court, it would be quite a heavy blow to the southern army.

"Old Ma, I am going to personally lead the naval division to attack Ezhou, let the fleet sail into Dongting Lake, block the Yangtze River, and prevent the Northern Army from going south to reinforce Li Ji."

Ma Zhou groaned.

"If Hua gets married soon, how can you, the father, not be there?"

"Let the fleet go first, and I'll rush over as soon as the wedding here is over. Also, the offensive in Huaibei was suspended, and the troops were reduced to defend the front line of the Huai River. Next, we have to fight with the imperial court in Hunan and Guangxi, which is a decisive battle that is forced to be advanced, and we must go all out. ”

Zhang Chao hesitated, and then said, "When I go to Hunan, you let His Highness transfer to Jiankang." ”

Jiankang is not as prosperous as Runzhou, but this place has a stronger defense capability in the south of the Yangtze River. Leaving Yangzhou to go to Jiankang is also to consider that it is safer to go south of the Yangtze River.

Zhang Chao was still worried that as soon as the water receded, the imperial court would exert its strength and send troops from Huaibei and Henan to Yangzhou.

The time has entered August, and this once-in-a-century flood is slowly showing signs of receding, and there is not so much rain falling.

The floods were naturally good in the past, but for the imperial court, it was more beneficial.

"Do you want to fight a decisive battle in advance?"

"Yes, the situation is forcing it." Zhang Chao said, he originally wanted to take a break, but now the situation has been broken.

"I sent a letter to the eldest princess, Cheng and Su, asking them to unite Subi and Tuyuhun and immediately march from Longyou to Hanzhong."

"Now?"

"yes, all the way."

The geographical location of Hanzhong is relatively unique, in the north of Yizhou and the south of Guanzhong. It is separated from the Qinling Mountains in Guanzhong, and the traffic is more convenient in Shuzhong. At the same time, Hanzhong may be connected to Longyou and be able to move south to the Jingxiang region.

In the art of war, Hanzhong is the place of the situation, the division of the six roads in front of the front, according to the Su of the two rivers, the talent of Jingxiang on the left, and the horse of Qinlong on the right, and the order of the Central Plains must be based on this.

Liu Bang was based on Hanzhong to become a foundation, and Liu Bei and Cao Wei of the Three Kingdoms competed for the Central Plains, and they also took Hanzhong first, and then went out of Longyou.

Now Zhang Chao also has a strong allied army in the northwest, capturing Hexi Longyou Qinghai, and then Subi and Yunnan.

Zhang Chao didn't plan to let them attack Guanzhong, Guanzhong's defense was stronger. On the other hand, Longyou marched into Hanzhong, although the road was more difficult and dangerous, but if the road was opened, then this army would occupy the land where the Han River could not be traveled.

For the Han Jing court, which is now the capital in the middle reaches of the Han River, if Cheng bites Jin and they are killed, it will be equivalent to the Turks entering Guanzhong in the past.

Li Shimin had to send a large army to intercept it, which would also relieve Zhang Chao of a lot of pressure.

If Cheng Yanjin successfully attacked Hanzhong, it would be better, Zhang Chao directly followed him to Xiangyang, in one step.

After discussing for a long time, everyone also agreed with Zhang Chao's deployment.

The army in the southeast attacked Hunan, while the army in the northwest attacked Hanzhong, all the way to besiege Li Ji to save Lingnan, and all the way to threaten Hanjing and contain the imperial court's soldiers and horses.

At the end of the discussion, Zhang Chao went to see Cheng Qian.

Although he is the prime minister, and now he decides all the major affairs of the Southern Army, Zhang Chao still respects Cheng Qian, and will report everything to Cheng Qian, and ask him for his opinion.

Cheng Qian is also trying on wedding clothes.

This is about to be his second wedding, and he is still married to the daughter of the Zhang family. For him, the wedding was already familiar, but he still attached great importance to it, although it was in the time of war, and there was still a flood outside the city, but he still asked for the wedding to be grand, and he also paid for it out of his own pocket, and did not use the taxes in the treasury.

"It's underestimating Li Ji." Cheng Qian looked at himself in the mirror on the floor, the nineteen-year-old prince of the prison country was already very tall, not fat or thin.

There is even a bit of an emperor in his eyebrows.

"But the teacher's arrangement is very good, and I believe the teacher is better."

"But it's not necessary to move to Jiankang after the wedding, right?" Cheng Qian said with a smile.

"It's good to stay in Gangnam."

"I would rather go to Hunan with my teacher."

Zhang Chao shook his head, "His Royal Highness has just gotten married, so naturally it's better to stay and accompany Ruohua more." Besides, now that we have half of the country, in addition to fighting, there are also many internal affairs and other affairs, which also require His Highness to work more. ”

"Teacher, recently, many ministers have come up to persuade Gu to ascend the throne and succeed to the throne, and respect His Majesty as the emperor, do you think the time has come?"

Zhang Chao was a little surprised, about this matter, he had communicated with Cheng Qian before, and reached a consensus. I was not in a hurry for a while, but now Cheng Qian brought it up again.

He estimated that Cheng Qian might have changed his mind a little.

"What does Your Highness mean?"

Cheng Qian smiled, "I listen to the teacher, if the teacher says it's okay, then he will ascend the throne." If the teacher says it's not time yet, then talk about it later. ”

Zhang Chao looked at the prince thoughtfully, the prince has really grown up.

"Your Highness, on this matter, the minister thinks that His Highness's thoughts are the most important, if His Highness is still a little hesitant, you can ask the cabinet ministers, if the majority opinion is in favor of ascending the throne now, then the minister has no opinion."

Cheng Qian laughed, "Forget it, I think it's better to wait." ”

Zhang Chao smiled.

My eyes are inflamed and hurt terribly. Welcome everyone to join the readership: 656118488 656 --118---488