"Generals, we have been here for more than half a year, and now it's time to move our muscles, otherwise the soldiers will probably grow fat, right?" In the camp of the Jin army in Yang Liubeicheng, Li Cunqiao made a rare joke.

"What the king said is that after such a long time without fighting, the last general feels that he will not be able to ride a horse soon!" A general replied, causing the generals to burst into laughter.

"Can't ride a horse? Tie you to a horse for a bumpy day, and it will be! Li Shaorong said with a smile on the side.

Since the main force of the Jin army stayed here, Li Cunqiao has used this place as his temporary palace for more than half a year; During this period, although there were many heavy setbacks in the battle situation in Zhenzhou, the same pressure brought by the Wu army's attack on Hebei, and even Li Jitao's self-reliance as the Jie Du Envoy, no matter how important things happened, the main force of the Jin army led by Li Cunqiao has always stayed here.

And all of this is for the next decisive battle in Henan.

Yes, although the money and grain reserves in Nancheng can still support it for a few months, Li Cunqiao no longer intends to wait.

The blockade of the Yellow River by the Wu State Navy has become stricter and stricter, and there has been no new news for a long time recently.

In addition, although Yang Liu Nancheng's reserves are sufficient, and it is no problem to hold on for a while, don't forget that in addition to Yang Liu Nancheng, which is now surrounded by the Wu army in Henan, there is also a Yunzhou City garrisoned by Li Siyuan.

Compared with Yang Liu Nancheng, which is on the bank of the river, the situation in Yunzhou City worries Li Cunqiao even more.

After all, since the Wu army surrounded Yunzhou in March, there has been no news for nearly ten months, and the situation is only more dangerous than that of Yang Liu Nancheng.

What's more, Yang Liu Nancheng is on the bank of the river, and the defenders in the city are very clear about the situation and deployment of the two sides fighting, knowing that soon the Jin King Li Cunqiao will personally lead the army to relieve the siege; However, Yunzhou City is located in the heart of Wu State, surrounded by enemies, and the news is completely blocked.

In addition to the urgent military needs, the financial pressure was also the reason why Li Cunqiao had to choose to cross the river now for a decisive battle.

The siege of Zhenzhou for more than a year has consumed too many resources, coupled with the resources lost in the Wu army crossing the river in the last half a year, the current Jin State has borne a huge burden, and Zhao Jiliang, who was in charge of the financial affairs some time ago, kept reminding him that the burden of the people has reached the limit and needs to end the war as soon as possible.

Of course, Li Cunmiao's decision to cross the river for a decisive battle now was not made in a hurry, but was made out of consideration in all aspects.

First, it's December, the coldest time of the year. For the Wu army, which was dominated by southerners, the severe cold would inevitably weaken the opponent's combat power to a certain extent; The Jin army, which was dominated by northerners, was relatively less affected.

Second, at the end of October, the Jin army reinforcements arrived in Hezhong Mansion and defeated the Wu army with the defenders in the city, which greatly boosted the morale of the Jin army.

As for the third reason, it was just recently found out from Henan, just two days ago, the Wu army in the outer city of Yang Liu Nancheng had just undergone a rotation!

The rotation of tens of thousands of troops is obviously not something that can be done in just a day or two, and it is easy to be chaotic in the process, and this is a good opportunity for the Jin army to take advantage of it; If you use it well, it won't be difficult to achieve a big victory!

In the tent, Li Cunmiao looked at the generals with burning eyes, and after the generals regained their calm from the excitement of the battle, he said in a deep voice: "Since the destruction of the pontoon bridge in May, we have been waiting for the opportunity to cross the river for a decisive battle, and this is half a year; I won't say much superfluous, and I think the generals also understand the importance of this battle to our army; Lone is directly talking about the deployment of this battle. ”

As he spoke, the guards walked in and hung up the large map.

"The first thing in this decisive battle is to cross the river! Sending as many troops across the river as possible was the key to this battle. However, the strength of the Wu army's navy is already known, although because of the blockade of the iron cable, the Wu army's big war ships cannot come, but even if the Wu army has a small boat, it is difficult for us to compete with it. ”

"So Lone decided to choose this place to cross the river!"

"Majiakou?" The generals stared at each other and spoke out one after another, with a solemn look on their faces.

Most of these northern generals were landlubbers, and it was not difficult for them to ride on war horses and gallop through a million armies; But to let them engage the Wu army and the water army on the wide river, they will be blinded.

"Yes, this is it. Lone had already ordered people to secretly collect and hide a large number of ships here, and ordered people to build rafts, which were enough to transport a large army across the river. Of course, the most important thing is that Lone has trained a group of sailors here! Li Cunqiao said in a deep voice.

In the past six months, he has not been idle, not only collecting intelligence on Henan from all aspects, but more importantly, strengthening the construction of the navy.

If before the war with Wu, he was still dismissive of the construction of the water army, but after seeing the Wu army, he understood that if there was no strong water army, the Yellow River would become a nightmare for the Jin army.

Therefore, in the past six months, he secretly ordered people to select more than 3,000 soldiers who could swim from the army to form a Jin army and a navy, and asked people to build warships and train day and night, in order to expect them to compete with the Wu army in the future.

It is a pity that there are not many people in the Jin army who can swim after all, and even if there are, their water nature cannot be compared with that of southerners; What's more, the combat of the navy is not just enough to be able to swim, there are other important factors that determine the combat strength of the navy.

In addition, it has only been more than half a year, even if it is training day and night, the results achieved are still limited; At least Li Cunmiao understands that the current Jin army and navy are far from being able to compete head-on with the Wu army.

However, although the head-on confrontation was not successful, considering that the large warships of the Wu army were cut off by iron cables and could not be put into the battlefield, and the only ones that could really be used were small ships, this was always good news for the Jin army.

In addition, the direct purpose of Li Cunmiao's formation of the naval army was not to compete head-on with the Jin army, but to buy time for the army to cross the river.

He didn't expect this navy to be able to resist the Wu army for long, he just hoped to buy enough time for him to transport the army safely to Henan.

"If there is a naval army that can contain the enemy army, and our army can cross the river at night, then the possibility of our army successfully crossing the river will definitely increase!" The generals obviously also knew that it would be difficult for the Jin army to confront the Wu army head-on, so they didn't expect much from them.

"Well, crossing the river at night will buy you at least one night's time; In addition, it takes time for the enemy to rush over after getting the news, and our army's naval army can buy a certain amount of time, and it will take two or three days before and after! Li Shaorong and other generals echoed, and at the same time, their faces became more relaxed.

Li Cunqiao nodded and said solemnly: "Although there is enough time, in order not to have an accident, the elite soldiers and cavalry will give priority to crossing the river, and the old and weak soldiers will be put last; In short, the key to this battle is to be fast, to launch an attack before the Wu army reacts, and defeat them! Otherwise, if we wait for the Wu army to react and besiege our army on all sides, our army will be outnumbered and lack rear support, and we will eventually be defeated! ”

The generals looked solemn, obviously understanding this.

In this decisive battle, if the Jin army wins, it will not only be able to lift the siege of Yunzhou and Yang Liu Nancheng, but also open up the situation and gain a firm foothold south of the Yellow River, so as to have the opportunity to encroach on all parts of Henan; But if the Jin army is defeated, then not only will Yang, Liu, Nancheng and Yunzhou be gained and lost, but more importantly, the elite of the Jin army will be lost!

Without these elite soldiers who have fought for more than ten years, coupled with the fall of famous generals such as Li Sizhao, the strength of the Jin army will inevitably suffer a big setback, and it will be difficult to keep Hebei in the future, let alone enter Henan.

After being silent for a moment, Li Cunqiao looked at the generals and asked slowly: "The specific deployment for crossing the river will be sent to you next; Do you have any doubts? ”

Zhu Shouyin hesitated for a moment and asked, "The last general wants to ask a little bit, how should our army act after crossing the river?" The last general heard that the Wu army in the outer city of Nancheng City had built a large number of camps, and it was only difficult for our army to break through many camps in a hurry! ”

"Yes, the king, I don't know how the king arranged this matter?" The generals listened and said.

Although because of the victory in the battle of Hezhongfu to boost the morale of the generals, but the war is never a child's play, after so many battles, these battlefield veterans present know that the Wu army is not easy to provoke, if the Jin army can not quickly break through the Wu army camp after crossing the river, and wait until the Wu army reinforcements arrive, the Jin army will fall into the siege of the Wu army.

Li Cunmiao showed an incomprehensible smile on his face and said, "Who said that Lone was going to attack the besieging Wu army?" ”

"This ......"

"In this battle, Lone's real target is not Yang Liu Nancheng, but here!" Li Cunmiao pointed to Pingyin City on the map and said, "Lone's target is the main force of the Wu army led by King Wu himself!" As long as the main force of the Wu army is defeated, will the remaining enemy forces still threaten our army? ”