It turned out that Zheng Yu knew that after his father Zheng Gui was captured, the imperial court had no scruples and would inevitably attack on a large scale, so he also tried his best to prepare for the enemy. He saw that although the Yangtze River was long, there were only a few places that could be used for the army to assemble and land.

Therefore, Zheng Yu did not divide his troops everywhere and guard them everywhere, but heavily armed his subordinates in Jiangyin, Zhenjiang, Jinling and other three important towns in the south of the Yangtze River, thinking that as long as he could hold these key points, even if a small force of troops from other places crossed the river from other places, he could quickly mobilize a large army to annihilate it.

By now, Zheng Yu has long lost the ambition to replace it, and it is also a delusion to divide the river and fight against the imperial court, just hoping to be able to rely on the Yangtze River moat to fight the battle into a pot of gruel, and then he can negotiate the price with the imperial court, and how much can he retain the status of the Lingnan royal palace, which can be regarded as satisfied.

Emperor Zheng Rong did not make such a plan, in his eyes, now there is only one plan to completely exterminate the Lingnan Royal Mansion and completely get rid of this confidant.

Therefore, in line with this principle of "eliminating all evils", Zheng Rong has repeatedly convened the prime minister, the prince, Qiu Yizhi and the former army generals since the army was assembled to discuss the strategy against the enemy.

According to the will of everyone, now that the imperial court is stronger than the Lingnan army, and it is held in Shanshan, Huguang and Jiangnan, as long as the emperor strictly orders to go down, and it is agreed that the Shanxi direction will attack Hanzhong and Huguang in a big way, and the general Wei Hu will go straight into the hinterland, so as to lure the main force of the Lingnan army to the west, and Jiangnan will attack on a large scale, then the overall situation of the war can be firmly in the hands of the imperial court.

But Qiu Yizhi raised objections.

He believes that with the current strength and talent of the imperial court, there is no big problem in defeating Zheng Yu head-on. However, in case the battle situation reached a stalemate, Zheng Yu could not withstand the pressure of the frontal army and chose to shrink his forces and retreat to Lingnan Road, which would form a situation in which several large armies would besiege Lingnan Road.

At that time, although the imperial army could surround the Lingnan rebels from the three directions of Jiangnan, Huguang, and Yunnan-Guizhou, the Lingnan royal palace had been working in Lingnan Road for a long time, and the rugged and tortuous terrain of Lingnan Road alone was enough to cause great trouble to the imperial court. The unfavorable conditions such as the smoke miasma, barbarians, and plague unique to Lingnan will cause great casualties among the officers and soldiers, so that even if the imperial court can successfully take the Lingnan army, it will inevitably pay a greater price, and it will be a major obstacle to recuperation and recovery in the future.

Therefore, Qiu Yizhi suggested that we should concentrate on storming the direction of Jiangnan, and strive to block the main force of the Lingnan Army, especially Zheng Yu, in Jiangnan, so as to catch turtles in the urn and prevent the rebels from escaping into Lingnan, so as to completely eliminate the future trouble.

Zheng Rong listened to the opinions of these two parties, but felt that the first was too conservative and the second was too radical, so he repaired the book and sent it to Luoyang, the capital, to inquire about Zheng Miao, the third son who was sitting in the prison country.

Zheng Miao was also a person who went south with Qiu Yizhi and went deep into the hinterland of the Lingnan Palace, knowing that it was really difficult for outsiders to attack Lingnan Road, so although he did not clearly express his support for Qiu Yizhi's proposition when he replied to the letter, he also had a strong tendency - advocating that the Lingnan Army be closed in Jiangnan Province, reunite and annihilate it, and the major event can be decided.

Zheng Miao is Zheng Rong's favorite successor, since he has spoken, the plan for the use of troops is also determined: starting from Jiangbei, the troops are divided into three routes, storming the three major towns of Jiangyin, Zhenjiang and Jinling, and defeating the main force of the Lingnan Army in one go, and then quickly interspersing and advancing on three roads, quickly occupying the key points of the joint leading to Lingnan in Jiangnan Province, so as to seize all the Lingnan troops attacking Jiangnan Province, and then wait for the opportunity to seek the main decisive battle, completely annihilate the main force of the enemy, and capture or kill Zheng Yu.

The plan was decided, and Zheng Rong divided the 300,000 heavy troops gathered into three routes: one main attack on Jiangyin, commanded by His Royal Highness the Great Prince Zheng Xin; all the way to Zhenjiang, which is led by Zheng Sen, the second highness; All the way down to Jinling, under the personal command of the emperor - the three-way army, agreed to cross the river at the same time on the day of the spring equinox to launch an attack.

The two princes, Zheng Xin and Zheng Sen, received the holy decree and immediately led the army to take office.

In the direction of Jinling, the emperor Zheng Rong personally commanded the town.

Zheng Rongnai was a prince who led the army to fight, and of course he knew that this Jinling City was a fortified city that could be counted among the best in the world, and it would be absolutely difficult to break through without perfect preparation, overwhelming troops and strong will.

However, when Zheng Rong was young, he led the army to fight, mostly in the north against the Turkic cavalry, and he lacked experience in fighting in the south, crossing the river, and besieging cities, so he specially invited Qiu Yizhi, who was familiar with the situation in Jiangnan and Jinling, to discuss the battle strategy.

Qiu Yizhi thought that although the city of Jinling was vast, there was only one Yanziji wharf that could provide a large-scale landing force to quickly start a battle-and this so-called large-scale force was only about a thousand people-if there were too many people, the wharf would be blocked, and their own soldiers and horses would roll against each other, which would have a counterproductive effect.

Zheng Rong listened, pondered for a long time, and suddenly smiled "poof", looked at Zhong Li Kuang, who was sitting with his hands up, and said: "Mr. Zhong Li, after this experience, this Qiu Yizhi has become more intelligent. As he spoke, Zheng Rong moved his gaze to Qiu Yizhi's face again, "Your thoughts are exactly the same as what I and Mr. Zhongli discussed. ”

Qiu Yizhi hurriedly arched his hand and said: "The minister just guessed by chance, how can he be compared with the emperor's foresight?" ”

Zheng Rong smiled again: "When did you Qiu Yizhi become so numb when you spoke?" Do I usually listen to the sycophants of other courtiers? You are my cronies, just say what you think in your heart, what can't I tolerate? ”

Qiu Yizhi hurriedly replied with the word "yes", but he didn't know what to say again.

Zheng Rong continued: "To storm the Yanziji Wharf, only by relying on a small force that is familiar with the terrain and proficient in combat can we succeed in one go......."

Qiu Yizhi heard what his father-in-law Zheng Rong said, but he always felt that there was some meaning in his words, so he peeked at his master Zhong Likuang, but saw that his face was gloomy as if he was covered by dark clouds......

I only heard Zheng Rong say: "Right now, only these two hundred and eighteen people under Yizhi are up to this important task. Therefore, I am fighting in the vanguard of this force under the mobilization instrument, I don't know what the meaning of the instrument is? ”

When Qiu Yizhi heard this, he knew that the emperor's true meaning was that he wanted to use his cronies to be the first to touch the hard stone of Jinling City.

You must know that the team of more than 200 people is the force that Qiu Yizhi can absolutely trust, and it is the foundation of his life. Now that Zheng Rong wants to use it to storm the Lingnan Army, it is difficult to guarantee that these horses will have losses, which really touches Qiu Yizhi's heart.

Although Qiu Yizhi was extremely reluctant, even his own net worth and life were pinched to death by the emperor, not to mention the soldiers under him?

So Qiu Yizhi had no choice but to bite the bullet and say: "The saint can ask Weichen a word, but Weichen can't afford it anymore." These horses under Weichen, although they belong to the village brave regiment, but they are also the people of the Han Dynasty, and the emperor's holy decree is issued, how can there be a reason to fear the enemy? However, the mere 200 men are also overwhelmed, and after a breakthrough is made, the follow-up troops should be replenished immediately in order to consolidate and expand the results of the battle......"

Zheng Rong heard Qiu Yizhi's promise happily, so he also praised: "Good! I want you to say that! On the day of the vernal equinox, you will board the ship with me to watch the battle, and see how good your soldiers and horses are. As for the backup personnel, they will naturally participate in the war, is my forbidden army good-looking? ”

Qiu Yizhi was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and immediately tasted the samadhi in the emperor's words, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, the rules of the old Youyan Dao, there is no reason for soldiers to fight in front of them, and generals to watch the battle behind the battle. I also asked the emperor to issue an edict and order me to participate in the war together, so as to respond to the situation and ensure that I can successfully capture the Yanziji Wharf. ”

But I heard Zheng Rong say: "You can still remember the rules of Old Youyan Dao, it's very good!" I haven't forgotten either. This time, I appointed Zhao Chengxiao as the vanguard officer of the whole army. It is said that he is also quite good at using soldiers, and I also want to see his ability, and if there is real material, I will definitely reward him. ”

At this point, Qiu Yizhi couldn't help but say anything, so he had to agree, but he had already begun to calculate in his heart what kind of tactics he could use to minimize his casualties.

A few days later, it was the spring equinox.

The spring equinox is the middle day of spring on the 90th, when yin and yang are half, day and night are in phase, cold and heat are even, and the weather is extremely pleasant, which is a good day to send troops to fight.

So Zheng Rong ordered Shi Liangzhi, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, to set up an altar, kill the black ox and the white horse to sacrifice the flag, and waved the flag and ordered Li Shengjie's fleet to carry 5,000 elite soldiers and march to the south of the Yangtze River.

At that time, the southeast wind had risen, and the fleet was heading south against the wind. However, Li Shengjie's subordinates had their own experts who were good at handling sails, skillfully moved the direction of the sails, and made use of the water flow of the Yangtze River, and finally made the ship quickly leave the Jiangbei wharf that had been moored for nearly a month, and flew towards the Yanziji wharf in Jinling City.

Although the Yangtze River is wide, Li Shengjie's sea ships sail extremely fast, but in only three or four hours, they have reached the Jinling River.

The Lingnan Army's Zheng Yu side lost all its water power, and there was no large-scale fleet on the river for a long time, only a few sampan-like boats drifting along the ups and downs of the river. In the eyes of Li Shengjie, who was crisscrossing the East China Sea, these small sampans were naturally reluctant to use artillery, and he didn't even bother to fire bows and arrows.

Most of the officers and soldiers on board were on board for the first time, not to mention such a tall and mighty giant sea ship, and when they saw such a huge ship moving forward, they all cheered loudly, and their morale was immediately greatly boosted.

After sailing for another while, the giant ship has approached the side of the Swallow Rock Pier.

Qiu Yizhi stood on the side of the ship and looked over, but saw countless gravel and tiles piled up on the wharf, destroying the originally neat and tidy Yanziji wharf.

Qiu Yizhi remembered that when he left Jinling City, he also went north through this Yanziji wharf, although there was a bloody battle at that time, the wharf was not as dilapidated as it is today, it seems that the Lingnan army guarding here deliberately blocked the wharf, specifically to prevent the landing of the imperial army.

This Yanziji Wharf was not very spacious, but now it has been piled up with so many obstacles by the Lingnan defenders, and it seems even more chaotic and cramped, even if there is only a team of two hundred people, it may not be able to carry out the battle smoothly.

Seeing this, Qiu Yizhi hurriedly retreated to the side of the ship and reported to Emperor Zheng Rongyu, who was sitting on the deck: "Your Majesty, the Lingnan Army seems to be prepared, and the minister implores the emperor to make another decision. ”