Li Yanqing did not understand Xiang Fayou's plan to lure the enemy deep and then cut off his rear route, but Li Yanqing also had a clear strategic plan, and it took only one day for 20,000 people to cross the river, and they rested overnight in Dantu County, but the 20,000 Jingzhao army ignored the Jiangnan army in Jiangning Mansion, and Li Yanqing immediately led the army to the south and marched to Changzhou.

Xiang Fa seemed to have expected that Li Yanqing would go south directly, which was also what he expected, Li Yanqing went deep alone, too risky, and would eventually be annihilated by himself.

Half a day after Li Yanqing sent his troops south, Xiang Fa also ordered to send troops, and he led 90,000 Jiangnan troops to kill along the official road in the direction of Changzhou.

Changzhou in the Song Dynasty and Changzhou in the Tang Dynasty had similar jurisdictions, including today's Changzhou in Jiangsu Province and Wuxi in Jiangsu Province, which was the famous Shangzhou land in the Jiangnan region in history, with a developed economy and a large population, especially rich in grain.

The 20,000 Jingzhao army went south along the canal, and in the canal was a fleet of 500 tugboats, which contained grain, armor, oil, and all kinds of firearms.

The army marched very fast, and entered the border of Changzhou in just one day, when the twilight had fallen, and Li Yanqing ordered the whole army to garrison in place.

Li Yanqing has just received the information sent by Yan Qing, the Jiangning Mansion army has also set off, about half a day later than himself, and it will take at least one day from Jiangning Mansion to Changzhou at the earliest, if the Jiangning Mansion army does not rest and marches overnight, then they will catch up with them at noon tomorrow, but at that time, the opponent's physical strength is seriously overdrawn, and it should be the end of the crossbow.

If the other party also camps and rests, it will still be one day away from his own time, which is just enough for him to deal with the 30,000 new troops going north.

The army did not carry a camp tent, the weather in Jiangnan was already a little hot at this time, and there was no need for a camp tent at night, and the soldiers could sleep with blankets, but another trouble could not be shaken off, that is, mosquitoes appeared, and one night, the soldiers kept hearing the low cursing and swatting of mosquitoes.

The next day, before dawn, the muffled sound of the trumpet, the soldiers were awakened from their deep sleep, ran to the river to wash, and gathered together to drink hot soup and eat dry food.

The marching time is in a hurry, in addition to burying the pot to cook at night, the dry food is used to satisfy hunger during the day, but the dry food of the Jingzhao army is not bad, each soldier has steamed buns, minced meat and sauce packets, and hot broth is also provided in the morning, with steamed buns sandwiched with minced meat and sauce, and then drink a bowl of hot broth, the soldiers basically have no complaints, even the commander Li Yanqing eats the same dry food.

Just when the soldiers gathered together to eat dry food, Li Yanqing received information from Yan Qing that the other party had also camped last night and did not seem to be in a hurry to catch up.

"Dutong, the other side doesn't seem to be in a hurry to fight us?" Wang Gui stepped forward and said in a low voice.

Li Yanqing said with a smile: "The other party's intention is obvious, I hope that we will go deep alone, anyway, we don't have many troops, only 20,000 people, and when the time comes, 100,000 troops will attack us, and we will be helpless, and finally the whole army will be annihilated, this is their wishful thinking." ”

Wang Gui hesitated and said, "But..... We really don't have many troops, if it's 30,000 people, then we are not afraid of them at all. ”

Li Yanqing smiled slightly, "We have three thousand cavalry, but the other side has no cavalry, we still have the earth-shattering thunder, and the other party does not have either, these are our advantages, not to mention that I have never considered a big battle with the other party, and then I will drag them to death, not them to drag me to death." ”

"Ignorance, understood!"

Li Yanqing patted him on the shoulder, "I'll hand over the three thousand cavalry to you." ”

Wang Gui nodded, turned around and left, and Li Yanqing immediately ordered: "Pass the order to the three armies, set off!" ”

The army quickly lined up and set off south, and five hundred tugboats followed the army south.

.........

The army went south along the canal, at noon the army passed through the state of Jinling County, at dusk, the army arrived at Henglin Town, which is about 30 miles away from Wuxi County, Li Yanqing ordered the soldiers to rest in place, the soldiers have buried the pot to rebel, ready to have a full meal.

At the same time, several clippers have passed through Wuxi County, this is Zhang Shun led more than a dozen men along the canal to find the traces of the new army in the north, from the time calculation, this army of 30,000 people should also enter Changzhou, but the clipper has left Wuxi County thirty or forty miles, but still no trace of the new army has been found, and ten miles ahead is the Wangting Town of Suzhou.

"General, it's a bit unreasonable!"

One of his subordinates said to Zhang Shun suspiciously: "We knew that this army had entered the territory of Suzhou two days ago, why did they still go north in Suzhou after walking for two days, didn't they go north along the canal?" ”

Zhang Shun shook his head, the main official road in the north and south is close to the canal, the other party needs supplies, it should also be a boat, even if it does not carry logistics supplies, then it is even more necessary to walk along the main official road, there is an old official road twenty miles to the west, but the road conditions over there are not good, and it is too far away from the canal and various county seats, and it is not easy to supply, Zhang Shun feels that it is unlikely that the other party will take that official road.

At this moment, the sound of horses' hooves was heard in front of the shore, and in a moment, the man on horseback approached the river, waved to them, and looked at them by the moonlight, which was one of the two cavalrymen they had sent to the front to investigate the situation.

Zhang Shun hurriedly ordered his subordinates to dock the ships, and after a while, the cavalry stepped forward and hugged his fists and said: "General cavalry, Wangting Town has found the enemy's main force of 30,000, and they are camping outside Wangting Town. ”

"Do they have tents?"

"Yes! They carried hundreds of large tents, but there were no barracks, and hundreds of outlying guards were deployed, and they approached them by water, and they were not discovered. ”

The cavalry handed a map to Zhang Shun, "This is the enemy's garrison map, please check it carefully!" ”

Zhang Shun immediately left the two boats to continue to monitor the front, while he himself turned the bow of the ship and sailed towards the north.

..........

At the end of the watch, Zhang Shun returned to the camp of the Jingzhao Army, and 20,000 soldiers of the Jingzhao Army were still lying on the ground, but the military doctor found a large amount of wormwood, and the soldiers smeared their hands and faces with wormwood juice before going to bed, which effectively prevented mosquito harassment, and the soldiers slept very sweetly.

A marching tent was erected in a small forest, and Li Yanqing took an oil lamp in the marching tent at this time to carefully check the garrison map sent by Zhang Shun, the garrison camp of 30,000 troops was in the west of Wangting Town, and the canal was in the east of Wangting Town, the distance between the two was about hundreds of steps, and a town separated the canal from the military camp.

"Judging from the degree of vigilance of their camp, the defense is relatively lax, there are no guard towers, there are no trenches dug around the camp, and the number of guards on the periphery is relatively small, indicating that the other side has not entered a state of war, and we should not have been discovered yet, Captain, this is our chance."

It was Deputy General Liu Jian who spoke and who had followed Li Yanqing for many years, and he was also experienced in a hundred battles and had very rich combat experience.

Li Yanqing carefully checked the map of the march in the south of the Yangtze River again, they are now about sixty miles away from Wangting Town, this distance is not close, but it is not far away, it is more embarrassing, if the infantry rushes to sneak attack, I am afraid that the sky will already be bright when they get there, and the gains outweigh the losses.

At this time, Zhang Shun said: "The humble duty takes the fast boat, which can guarantee that he will arrive at Wangting Town at the fourth watch, and the humble duty feels that he can use the cover of Wangting Town to use fire attack." ”

It is the consensus of everyone in the tent to attack with fire, and they can launch fire crows into the opponent's camp from a mile away.

Li Yanqing nodded, "It's okay to attack with fire, but just by attacking with fire, I'm afraid the killing effect is not significant." ”

This is also a lesson of the sneak attack on the water village, they burned the dry village, and the result was basically no casualties, and the army must cooperate to be effective.

Wang Gui next to him immediately said: "The infantry is too late, you can use the cavalry to ensure that you arrive in Wangting Town before the fourth watch." ”

Li Yanqing hesitated and said, "But the sound of the horse's hooves is too loud, and it is easy to alarm the enemy. ”

"The cavalry can make a detour to the south, and the cavalry will have a soft cloth to slow down when approaching the enemy's camp, and wrap the horse's hooves with a soft cloth, so that the other side will not detect the cavalry."

Li Yanqing pondered for a long time and said: "There is indeed no chance to be lost, just follow the above plan and act immediately!" ”