The problem of the imperial heir of the Northern Dynasty intensified, and it was not until later that Han Jian specifically mentioned that he would not discuss the establishment of the crown prince for the time being when he summoned the gentry of Jiangdu, and the matter gradually calmed down. But before Han Jian expressed the attitude of not establishing the crown prince and not sending troops, it made people feel that he had no intention of using troops against the Southern Dynasties, but now Jiangdu and Yuzhou have gathered troops and horses, and it has reached the point where it is necessary to fight.

In the city of Yangzhou, Sima Yi's life is still very dull. Although the court of the Southern Dynasty has issued an edict, with Zhu Tongjing, the king of Linjiang, as the commander of the army, the first to use 20,000 soldiers and horses under the command of the king of Linjiang to cross the Jiangbei and fight with Su Tingxia's troops, and at the same time order the soldiers and horses of the town guards to be transferred to Jiangjiang and Jiangxi to stand by at any time.

In this series of arrangements of the Southern Dynasty court, only the defenders of Jiangbei did not make arrangements, that is, Yangzhou soldiers and horses were still stationed around Yangzhou City, after all, Yangzhou City was the throat of the north of Jinling City, once Yangzhou was lost, the soldiers and horses of the Northern Dynasty would be able to directly cross the river south to attack Jinling.

Because of the movements of the Southern Dynasty court, Yangzhou City was also turbulent after May, first the southbound city residents returned to the north, which made the city revitalized, and then the northern scouts deepened, and Yangzhou Taishoufu checked the local people. It is said that it is a careful investigation, but it is basically a suppression of the voices of dissent among the people, and anyone who dares to talk about the affairs of the court will be imprisoned on the charge of fornicating with foreign enemies, and some are even beheaded to show the public.

Sima Yi only has a chessboard by his side every day, and a sketch of the terrain of the south of the Yangtze River, in this sketch, the main thing is the deployment of soldiers and horses of the Southern Dynasty on the Yangtze River, although there are errors and omissions, but most of the marks are personally investigated by Li Shanye, which can be said to be the biggest secret of the Southern Dynasty. Even Xiao Yang may not know so much about the soldiers and horses under him, and Xiao Ling doesn't care about military affairs. It seems that the national fortunes of the Southern Dynasties are completely pinned on the two "idlers" in Yangzhou City, Sima Yi and Li Shanye.

Although Li Shanye is in Yangzhou, his main thing he does every day is to go out to "play" in Yangzhou City, and he doesn't want to know what he is doing, he only knows that this old friend will definitely come to talk to him on his knees when it is close to dusk in the afternoon, and the discussion is about the consideration of the situation between the north and the south in this day. More often than not, Li Shanye is talking, saying something that is not. The customs and customs, including the habits and behaviors of the emperors of the Northern Dynasties and the generals at all levels of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and even the question of whether they were corrupt and perverted the law can also be discussed.

The things that are talked about all point to a key point, that is, how Han Jian, the emperor of the Northern Dynasty, will use troops in this battle. By the end of May, the Northern Dynasty still only had Su Tingxia sending troops, and the soldiers and horses were still defending instead of attacking, although Li Shanye could pretend to be unfathomable. But Sima Yi could also feel that this person was also at a loss for Han Jian's use of troops.

“…… The Northern Dynasty first proposed the establishment of the crown prince, but someone mentioned this matter in front of the emperor's retainers of the Northern Dynasty, which caused everyone to think that the emperor first set up the crown prince and then personally conquered, but in the end it was a farce. The initiator of the matter is Ning Yuan, who also does not know that there will be difficulties, and has repeatedly challenged the emperor's prestige, but he is afraid that after the world is calmed down, his position will not be preserved. ”

Li Shanye was talking about the political affairs of the Northern Dynasties. It is also the most powerful thing in Yangzhou City now. The Jiangdu Lichu turmoil had just passed, and the news was laughed at by the people of the Southern Dynasties. The emperor of the Northern Dynasty first said that he wanted to establish the crown prince, but later blocked his own words, and felt that this was the emperor of the Northern Dynasty digging his own grave, but in the hearts of some well-intentioned people, they naturally had to consider the information behind this matter, and analyze how this matter was directly related to Han Jian's use of troops to go south.

Sima borrowed a chess piece in his hand. But he didn't land on the chessboard for a long time, his eyes suddenly fell on the edge of the map, and asked: "Where is this move most unlikely to be played?" ”

Li Shanye was slightly stunned, and smiled: "If you talk about this game of chess in front of Brother Sima. Nature is a place where you know the place of death and will never be able to live again. ”

Sima Yi nodded and said: "If the Northern Dynasty directly sends troops to Yuzhou Jiangdu, it will not contradict the expectations of the imperial court, and the war may drag on for some time. ”

"So the Northern Dynasties want to bring this war to a quick end. The best way is to attack Jinling directly. Li Shanye also agreed with Sima Yi's statement.

Although the soldiers and horses are strong now, the biggest problem is that the local people have been miserable under the reckless use of military force for several years, and they have to support the southward movement of the army, so it is difficult to sustain the food, grass and logistics. If the war is dragged down by the Southern Dynasties, the Northern Dynasties will naturally be dragged down, and the war will have to develop in the direction of a quick victory in order to be effective against the Northern Dynasties.

Sima Yu said suddenly: "Then what if you don't fight? ”

Li Shanye said with a smile: "What Brother Sima said, I haven't thought about it. But if there is no war, with the troops and horses stationed in Jiangdu and Yuzhou now, it will be wasteful, not a good deed, so that the soldiers have the heart to make meritorious contributions and avoid the war, and the next day will also frustrate their sharpness, and the generals who really know how to use the army will never do such a stupid thing. ”

The question of war or not war should not be discussed. Han Jian had already issued an edict to Jiang and Jiangxi to use troops to fight for thieves, and Su Tingxia, as the vanguard of the thieves, also sent troops south from Yuzhou first, and three or four hundred thousand soldiers and civilians of the Northern Dynasties had already gathered on the front line of the use of troops against the south.

Since the war, there must be a main battlefield, as Zhu Tongjing led the troops out of Jiangjiang, it is very likely that the Southern Dynasty court will take the opportunity to occupy Jiangjiang, so that Zhu Tongjing has no way to retreat, and then let Zhu Tongjing and Su Tingxia's troops lose both, and then the war between the Northern and Southern Dynasties will officially begin, and the main battlefield between the two sides will not be the main point of contention in the previous north-south war is the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, but will become the middle reaches of the Yangtze River between Chu and Jiangxi.

The development of things now seems to be a matter of course and will follow this direction, but the problem is that if it continues like this, it will put the soldiers and horses of the Northern Dynasties in a quagmire, and they will not be able to solve the problem quickly. If the Northern Dynasty soldiers and horses cannot capture Jinling before the end of autumn, everything will be in vain, and if the war is fought again next year, the situation will suddenly reverse, and it is still unknown whether the north will unify the south or the south and the north.

Sima Yi asked again: "Then judging from the current situation, the Linjiang Wang's department will become a victim of the war between the two dynasties, and his belly and back will be affected by the enemy. ”

Of course not, but he didn't have a choice. At the moment, if I were Zhu Tongjing, I would rather fight with the soldiers of the Southern Dynasty in the rear than take the initiative to fight with Su Tingxia's soldiers and horses. It was a real army of tigers and wolves, who had subdued the Balhae Kingdom with more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, drove away tens of thousands of soldiers and horses from Goryeo Silla, and then marched into the Guanzhong to destroy the Western Palace. drove straight into the grassland for 3,000 miles, causing the Xianbei barbarians to flee north in a hurry. Such a strong division, let alone 20,000 soldiers and horses, even if there are only 2,000 people, it is definitely not something that Zhu Tongjing can shake, not to mention that now Su Tingxia led the soldiers and horses to besiege the city and send reinforcements, besiege Jiangling City without attacking, and wait for work, how can Zhu Tongjing compete with the soldiers and horses of the Northern Dynasty after crossing the river and going north? ”

Now that I know that I can't fight the enemy. When Zhu Tongjing sent troops, he was by no means going to die as cannon fodder, this is an obvious reason.

Although the Southern Dynasty is now the empress in charge of state affairs, the power of soldiers and horses is in the hands of Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling knows little about military affairs, and now it is those ambitious ministers under King Hui who are really making plans and mercenaries. What these people want to do is obviously not to help King Hui achieve great things, but to muddy the situation in the Southern Dynasties, and it is best to make the Southern Dynasties, the Northern Dynasties, and the soldiers and horses of the King of Linjiang fight in a chaotic manner. In the end, someone came out to reap the profits and replace King Hui.

Sima said: "There are no warships in Chudi. Crossing the river in a hurry, even if the Northern Dynasty marched south to guard the ferry with thousands of garrison troops and horses, Zhu Tongjing's troops would return with a feather. It is better to take the opportunity to lead the troops to cross the river south and advance in the direction of Yangzhou Jinling. ”

"Oh?" Li Shanye's expression suddenly became solemn, "Listen to Brother Sima's meaning, it's that Zhu Tongjing." Will he first take his soldiers and horses down the river to invade Yangzhou Jinling? ”

Sima Yi shook his head, it was just his guess. He still can't completely guess Zhu Tongjing's intentions, if Han Jian's use of troops is based on this foundation, then there are too many bends in the middle, and now the defense lines of Jinling City and Yangzhou City are integrated. Even if Zhu Tongjing's troops went down the river by boat, they would not take advantage of this defense line, but would make Zhu Tongjing miss the rear.

"Alas!" In the end, Sima Yu let out a long sigh, these days he has used all his mind to think about the details of the use of troops in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, but unfortunately even if he exhausted his mind, he could only consider the possibility of multiple changes, and after all, he still did not find a reason why Han Jian could easily win now in peace.

Sima Yu sighed: "It's a pity that I am a fool, I never thought about the way to use soldiers when there was nothing to do in the north, and now I haven't even read a few military books." Now in this situation, we can only defend Yangzhou and wait for the army to come. ”

Li Shanye next to him laughed and said, "Brother Sima is too modest. If you want to say that this Jiangdu is only more than 300 miles away from Yangzhou, if the Sima brothers can't figure it out, why don't they go to Xinjiang and ask this old friend in person? ”

"Huh?"

Sima looked at Li Shanye with a strange look, now that the two dynasties are in a state where a big war is about to break out, he, as the general of the Southern Dynasty, wrote to ask the emperor of the Northern Dynasty how to use troops, isn't this clearly collaborating with the enemy?

Li Shanye said with a smile: "Brother Sima, forgive me, I also have something to say." Rather than speculate here out of thin air, it is better to try to ask, if Brother Sima is afraid that the matter of the letter will arouse the suspicion and suspicion of others, if Brother Sima hands over this letter to me, I will send it to the north, and will never let the fourth person know. ”

Sima squinted at Li Shanye and said, "Sir's intention, is he going to the north in person?" ”

Li Shanye smiled and nodded, "Exactly." In fact, I have long wanted to see this young king who can pacify the north in a few years and is about to dominate the rivers and mountains, but I have not had the opportunity, so I took the opportunity of this letter to go to the north, if I am lucky, I can talk with him and listen to his insights, it is also worth the trip. ”

"I'm afraid it's hard." Sima excused himself.

"No, with Brother Sima's letter, I believe that the emperor of the Northern Dynasty will definitely give it. He will avoid the shortcut road of Yangzhou for Brother Sima and turn to Jiangzuo, can't you still read Brother Sima's letter and have a glass of water and wine with me, an old horseman? ”

Li Shanye seemed to be very longing for going north to Jiangdu, but Sima Yi couldn't even guess how he could leave Yangzhou.

Now that Yangzhou City is closed, it is difficult for Li Shanye to leave Yangzhou City, not to mention the heavy soldiers and horses between Yangzhou and Jiangdu.

"If Mr. insisted, he couldn't be persuaded in the next place, then he would repair a book in the next place and let the master take it to the north. This trip is difficult, and I can't send each other off, and I can only wish Mr. this trip to go and return. ”

Li Shanye couldn't help laughing when he heard this: "Brother Sima is also looking down on me too much, I can even find Brother Sima going north to Jiangdu, how can I have a safe way to Jiangdu?" Brother Sima is waiting for my good news, my trip will be as little as three or five days, and as long as ten years, and I will definitely return safely. At that time, the Sima brothers may be able to solve their doubts. ”

Sima calculated that the road from Yangzhou to Jiangdu was three or four hundred miles, and even if he didn't sleep for ten days, it was definitely not enough. That is still based on the fast horse, if Li Shanye did not speak wildly, then Li Shanye must have a special way.

Sima Yi didn't say anything else, since Li Shanye was so insistent, it was not good for him to brush off this gentleman who taught him the art of war and strategy and made him admire a little. Sima borrowed a pen and paper to write a letter at the moment, this is the second time he wrote a letter to Han Jian after he chose to stay in Yangzhou, the first one is a break book, and this one brings up the old things, but Sima Yi also knows how to be measured, but it seems to have asked some recent information about the old feelings, and only at the end did he ask a sentence about the way to use soldiers.

When Sima gave his faith to Li Shanye, he did not close the envelope. Li Shanye didn't seem to be interested in seeing what Sima Yi had written, so he put it directly into his arms, looked at the sky that was about to darken outside, and said, "While it's not too late, I'm going to set off too." Brother Sima, I advise you, if someone is really unfavorable to you, no matter what the righteousness of a monarch and a minister should be, you can do what you want. ”

This is very subtle and ambiguous. After Li Shanye left for a while, Sima Yi pondered carefully, as if Li Shanye was reminding him that he could rebel at any time.

But he is now in Yangzhou, and he has no soldiers and horses in his hands, and if he wants to transfer troops and send generals, he must also pass through the Taishou Mansion, how easy is it to rebel? But it's like Li Shanye said, there are many people who have ill intentions towards him, and even Yangzhou Taishou Suihua will be unfavorable to him at any time, but what to do, Sima Yi really can't figure it out.

"I hope he'll go and come back soon. I can borrow the confusion in my heart, and I don't have to sleep every day to be restless. (To be continued.) )