The number of enemy soldiers reported by the marching thousand households was 100,000, but according to Tath, there were even more than 100,000 men. There is no doubt that this must be the main force of the Song Dynasty in Jinghu, and Tasi heard that the Emperor of the Song Dynasty had 70,000 elite troops in Beijing, and maybe all of them were put into the battlefield this time. On the spot, the adjutant general expressed his opinion: "We should send the quiver soldiers to the Zaoyang army to invite the king of Quchu to come and sit in the town, and gather the army to annihilate Sinansi's main force here!" ”

Tath refuted without thinking: "Do you want our 100,000 cavalry to be crowded in this place where the water network is dense and it is impossible to carry out a more unfavorable operation to fight a decisive battle with the Sinan Si people!" Our army does not have to compete with the Sinan Si people here, as long as there are 20,000 or 30,000 elites here to hold the land route, the army of the Sinan Si people will not be able to pass, I patrol along the river with 20,000 or 30,000 horses, no matter where the enemy lands, the first attack will be launched, the enemy's vanguard will be broken, so that the enemy's army will not find a chance to go ashore at all, so that we only need these 20,000 or 30,000 people to contain the Sinan Si army. The king can calmly mobilize troops and food to attack Xiangyang, and form a siege point near Xiangyang to send reinforcements, this is the best way! ”

On that day, an envoy was sent from the Mongol army in Fuzhou to summon Xiao Zharaer, a Khitan Wanhu who was responsible for the rescue of all places, to gather up the military horses scattered and plundered everywhere, and hurried to Fuzhou to meet with the headquarters of King Tasi, and gathered a powerful field corps on the border between Fuzhou and Suizhou, and began to monitor every move of the huge Song army group in Jiangnan.

However, the Song army on the south bank of the river seemed to be backed by the two cities of Ezhou and Yueyang, and there was no appearance of preparing for an attack at all. The Mongols went out to the river in small boats several times to reconnoitre, and saw thousands of civilian ships docked by the Song army in the south of the Yangtze River, and the Song army only sent warships to drive these small boats away, and did not seriously engage these small boats.

Even the Meng Heng army in Fuzhou did not seem to dare to confront the Tasi troops head-on, and took the initiative to retreat to the water network area on the border of Fuzhou to rely on the terrain to defend, and monitor the movements of the cavalry corps in Fuzhou at any time.

Everything was as Tasi expected, although the river was wide and he could not see the real situation on the other side, he could conclude that the more than 100,000 Song troops staying in Jiangnan were only wasting grain and grass, and there was no active action at all. Although he couldn't take care of Yingzhou behind him at this time, as long as he could contain the absolute main force of this Song army, he could win time for Qu to attack Xiangyang, and after conquering Xiangyang, the Mongolian army or the camera would fight a decisive battle with the main force of the Song army in the Xiangfan area, or return north with a load of booty, and all the initiative would be in their own hands.

His Royal Highness's deployment seemed foolproof. At this moment, the large Song army faced the frequent Hu cavalry on the opposite bank, and did not dare to arbitrarily send reinforcements elsewhere. The ships on the Han River and the Yangtze River shuttled back and forth, most of which were empty ships driven by only a few sailors, which shows that the Song army was caught in a confrontation with the Mongol army here, and could neither go north to Xiangyang nor west to Jiangling. Because once they left from here, a large number of Mongol ships might arrive from the Han River and carry cavalry across the Yangtze River to besiege Ezhou.

The Mongols used only a small part of their forces to fully grasp the initiative in the battle. There is no more favorable situation for a commander.

Like other Mongol generals, he didn't care about what was happening on the entire thousand-mile front, and all he could see was the current ten miles in radius, that is, the city of Yingzhou and the surging Hanshui River to the west of Yingzhou.

When the Tasi army left Yingzhou and headed south, the Song Dynasty defenders in the city also followed the example of Xiangyang's army and came out to fight the Mongol army. But their quality is obviously not as good as the defenders in Xiangyang City, although the northern army can also be called brave and good at fighting, but after seven or eight rounds of fierce fighting, they were driven back to the city by the Mongolian cavalry with many fewer people than themselves, and lost as many as one or two thousand people.

All the changes came from the early morning of the seventh day, when the autumn wind rose lightly, and there was a rare feeling of dryness in the air because the wind carried away the moisture. The Mongolian soldiers who woke up in this rare good weather were attracted by the strange scene on the other side of the Han River and gathered on the bank of the Han River one after another.

On the opposite shore is tall and dense grass, which is mostly withered and yellow when winter is coming to an end. Further inland, there are continuous cedar forests, which are bleak in winter, and there is a dead silence in the woods, and it seems that even wild boars and hares have disappeared. In this silence, there is a red umbrella in the woods, which stands motionless in the grass near the edge of the cedar forest under the blows of the ball wind, and in the decaying yellowness and bleak gray, the red umbrella cover dyed with cinnabar is extremely eye-catching, as if it is the only bright color in the heavens and the earth, attracting the Mongolian officers and soldiers on the left bank to look around.

"Minhan, there will be no dragons on the grassland, there will be no camels in the sea, at this time, not even a single Sinan Si person can't be seen, but such a red umbrella suddenly appears, there must be something strange!" The lieutenant general said to Yeli, who had rushed to the shore to see what was going on: "Please give me a hundred warriors and ten boats, and I will cross the river to see what is going on!" ”

"As you said, there must be a strange appearance of a red umbrella for no reason, maybe there are a large number of Sinan Si's soldiers in ambush in the grass, waiting for you to go to die" also forced thousands of households to say nothing, suddenly the woods on the opposite bank sounded the sound of war drums, and suddenly a hundred and ten red flags were erected in the withered yellow grass, shaking violently, the Song army rushed out of the grass, came to the shore one after another, roared loudly and danced the weapons in their hands to demonstrate towards the opposite bank, and saw someone in the distance trying to shoot arrows at the bank where the Mongols stood, But apparently the arrows could not fly over the wide river, and they fell into the Han River halfway.

"The so-called ambush, but that's it." Ye Li sneered: "Tell the wooden platoon fortress and warships to get ready, and the soldiers will line up on the shore!" As long as they dare to cross the river to die, send them all to see Changshengtian~"

In the low bushes, Zheng Yunming and Yang watched as the Mongols rushed to the riverbank to line up to meet the Song army on the opposite bank. Yang Luo said in a low voice: "The general's strategy has been sold, and this is the time to attack!" ”

Zheng Yunming waved his hand decisively: "Order the soldiers to fall into battle, and the whole army will charge!" ”

Zheng Yunming's strategy was to subvert the conventional idea of the Great Song Dynasty to reinforce the prefectures and counties, and instead of using military ships to transport, he took shortcuts by land to surprise attack the Mongol army garrison.

"In the battle of Huilongshan, the Mongolian army knew the power of our army's navy, how could it not be guarded on the front line of the Hanshui Yangtze River? Even if Meng Shuai and Jiang Shuai led tens of thousands of powerful men and horses up the river, once the enemy found out, they would gather a large cavalry corps and prepare to attack when our army landed on the shore. In this way, the head-to-head duel is head-to-head, and the outcome is unpredictable. Zheng Yunming said to Meng Heng: "The current plan is to use a suspicious army to contain the main forces of Yingzhou, Fuzhou, Suizhou and the Mongolian army, and let them all mobilize to the north bank of the Yangtze River." Then our army took advantage of the weakness to enter, marched east by land, and went straight to Yingzhou, suddenly appeared behind the Mongolian army, and relieved the siege of Yingzhou in a battle. ”

His words were sonorous and powerful, but Jiang Hai was puzzled, and asked hesitantly: "Entering the army by land?" ”

Meng Heng also shook his head and disagreed: "The officials have not experienced a great setback in capturing the flag all the way. But don't underestimate the combat power of the Mongols because of this, if you rush to fight in the wilderness, no army in the Great Song Dynasty is the opponent of the Mongol cavalry, not even the ranks of officials. ”

"How could I not know the truth?" Zheng Yunming sighed: "The Zhenwu army of Wang Jingsong, which I call myself, is definitely the best army in Jinghu in terms of discipline and drills, and to put it mildly, it is definitely not inferior to the first-rate elite under Meng Shuai, but it can only fight ten rounds in front of the Mongolian cavalry." If you want to collide head-on with the main force of the Mongols in the wilderness, at least this year, it is the way to die, so we must use tactics. ”

He tapped the map with his index finger: "Attract the enemy here, Fuzhou, here is densely populated with waterways, adjacent to the Yangtze River, there is a barrier in front of it, and there is a big lake in the way, it is difficult for the enemy's cavalry army to deploy here, and even the movement will be slow." ”

Jiang Hai raised his eyelids and asked: "It is easy to meet the enemy, but it is difficult to deceive the enemy, what strategy are the officials going to use to make the Mongols move to Fuzhou?" ”

"About that." Zheng Yunming replied calmly: "Before I set off for Huangzhou, I had already prepared a set of plans in Ezhou. It should already be in the process of being executed by now. ”

Long before the naval army supported Huangzhou, Zheng Yunming left a task for the officials and people of Ezhou, and after receiving the signal sent by Zheng Yunming, he immediately organized the people of all cities and villages to set up a false camp on the south bank of the Yangtze River with the banners and torches prepared in advance, making it look like the army was about to cross the river. If this set is used in the Central Plains in the north, it is a trick that even a three-year-old child can't fool, but don't forget, between the small trick of the reconnaissance horse Chijun and Zheng Yunming, separated by a wide Yangtze River, the Yangtze River not only blocks the fierce Hu iron cavalry on the north bank, but also blocks the Mongols' almost terrifying reconnaissance ability.

Tarth, who had lost his powerful reconnaissance skills, had to rely on the available intelligence to judge the situation, and like most people, he miscalculated. At the king's beckoning, the Mongol cavalry from the north came in a steady stream and gave way to the northeastern part of Fuzhou. Except for a small number of cavalry activities, there is basically no large cavalry here. Tens of thousands of enemy cavalry were in a stalemate with more than 100,000 "Song troops" in Fuzhou, completely unthinking that the real main force of the Song army would choose a different route to march.