Tang Jianlong listened and nodded incessantly-he was really a peasant, knowing that if a peasant harvested 100 catties of grain, he would nominally hand over 10 catties to the imperial court, but in fact, he would have to hand over 30 catties together with the loss apportionment, and then remove the seeds reserved for next year, remove the public grain handed over to the ancestral hall, etc., and what was left in his hands was only forty or fifty catties of grain. And this less than 50 catties of grain, not only to eat themselves, but also to raise livestock, the wind and rain in the good year can barely ensure that the whole year to eat a full meal, in case of a flood, drought, locust wind and other disasters, then can only be resigned to fate. If these measures of Qiu Yizhi are implemented, it is equivalent to letting these people here grow grain in vain, one by one, and they all belong to themselves, as long as they are a little diligent and thrifty, God will help a little, they will definitely be able to make a small fortune, and maybe they can take this opportunity to buy a few acres of land for the elderly.

Thinking of this, Tang Jianlong couldn't help nodding: "I didn't expect Lord Qiu to be able to think of the people's suffering, it's really admirable." ”

Zhao Chengxiao answered: "That's nature. Lord Qiu Yizhi and the last general have known each other since childhood, they are both from poor families, and the people live a hard life, and he also empathizes, of course, he can't do that kind of thing to abuse the small people. ”

Tang Jianlong was sighing with emotion, when he suddenly saw Zhao Chengxiao, who was leading the way, stop, so he quickly tightened the reins and asked, "General Zhao, what's wrong?" ”

Zhao Chengxiao pointed to the ground and said, "General Tang, have you seen this pole?" ”

Tang Jianlong looked in the direction of Zhao Chengxiao's finger, and sure enough, he saw a pole more than one zhang high and the thickness of the mouth of the wine glass sticking straight into the ground, and the pole was also painted with tung paint into a striking color of red and white; Looking up, the left and right sides of this pole were separated by a distance of three or four zhang, and a similar pole was inserted, extending to both sides one by one.

So Tang Jianlong asked: "I saw it, but I don't know what these poles are used for?" ”

Zhao Chengxiao replied: "This is the place designated by Lord Qiu for a decisive battle with Zheng Xin, and in front of it is the territory of our army, and I also ask General Tang not to take a step beyond the Lei Chi, otherwise our army will be punished for the crime of espionage." Military law is ruthless, and there can be no accommodation, and General Tang should pay attention. ”

Tang Jianlong listened to Zhao Chengxiao's reply with a little warmth, and instantly became extremely cold, his heart was frightened, and he hurriedly replied immediately: "There will be a number, there will be a number at the end." ”

Seeing Tang Jianlong's nervous appearance, Zhao Chengxiao suddenly smiled and said, "Why does General Tang have to be like this? Lord Jian Guoqiu has already issued an edict, and the battlefield situation can be inspected by you. As long as you don't cross this line, everything is free. However, there is the camp of our army at the back, and in order to keep it secret, I also ask General Tang not to go to investigate at will, in case I am caught, I am afraid that my face will be ugly. ”

Zhao Chengxiao's words were soft and reasonable, so that Tang Jianlong couldn't help nodding yes, and said a few more nonsense words, and then went back to the camp.

Back at his own camp, Tang Jianlong only took a breath, and immediately ordered someone to take a pen, ink, paper, and inkstone, and lay on a few cases to write down what he had seen and heard in the past day. Most of the generals who lead the army to fight are illiterate martial artists, but Tang Jianlong studied private school for a few years when he was a child, and he knew a few words, so he didn't need to fake his hands to others, and he could write a letter smoothly, and then send someone to take a fast boat to Zheng Xin in Jiangnan.

Zheng Xin's side.

He has been the eldest son of the king and the eldest son of the emperor for an unknown number of years, and he has many cronies and eyes in the court. Some of these people were transferred from critical posts by Qiu Yizhi, and they harbored resentment in their hearts; Some people feel that the general trend of the world is undecided, so it is better to diversify their investments; Some people feel that Qiu Yizhi is a person with a foreign surname after all, and it is still awkward for him to be in charge of the imperial court - so he communicates all kinds of information with Zheng Xin through various channels.

Crossing the surging Yangtze River, the news reached Zheng Xin's ears like a thread, making him feel that Qiu Yizhi's foundation in the imperial court was very weak, and as long as he shook it slightly, he could be uprooted.

Soon after, Tang Jianlong's second letter also came from Jiangbei, saying that Qiu Yizhi had met Tang Jianlong on the third day of his arrival in Jiangbei, and had received the battle letter, and agreed to fight a decisive battle on the day of "Xiaoman".

Zheng Xin thought about it for a while, and felt that there was less than a month left for the "Xiaoman" solar term, although the climate was a little hotter at that time, it was expensive that there was generally no heavy rain and storm invasion, which was suitable for his army to fight, and he didn't have to worry about any conspiracy by Qiu Yizhi using the change in climate.

So Zheng Xin turned his heart sideways, and immediately added a few words at the back of the war book: "But, you should clean your neck and wait to be killed." Then he sent someone to Jiangbei again.

Qiu Yizhi couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief after receiving the reply, but he couldn't help but get nervous - the reason why he arranged such favorable conditions would undoubtedly lead to the home advantage he occupied would be greatly weakened, and the chances of winning against Zheng Xin would inevitably be reduced; However, without such conditions, it may not be possible to induce Zheng Xin to immediately cross the river to the north for a decisive battle - the strategy he used is a double-edged sword in a dilemma.

Zheng Xin is not a stupid person without knowledge, nor is he a coward who is too cautious, he knows that after all, it is Qiu Yizhi who occupies the center of the imperial court and supports the new emperor. Although he is a serious descendant of the Zheng family, he is actually a challenger, and only by defeating Qiu Yizhi head-on can he occupy the orthodoxy of the royal family in a dignified manner, otherwise he can only accept the result of dividing the river and ruling at most.

Neither of these two parties was sure of victory, but they both had the confidence to win, and the air on the Yangtze River suddenly became tense.

After waiting in such a nervous atmosphere for more than half a month, Zheng Xin never stood still, except for the thousands of men and horses sent by Tang Jianlong's department in advance, not a single soldier crossed the river.

Qiu Yizhi was a little surprised by this, but he was suffering from Zheng Xinjiang's increasingly strict defense, and Dai Luanxiang, Zheng Tinghang, Xu Rong, Huang Wangang and others who were secretly in contact with him did not send news for a long time. He wanted to contact Li Shengjie, who had moved to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and asked him to drive down the river to investigate Zheng Xin's movements, but he was afraid that Zheng Xin would shrink back in fear when he saw the Li family's fleet, so he could only give up.

In this way, Qiu Yizhi waited for another three days, and suddenly heard information from the front, saying that countless ships had suddenly appeared on the Yangtze River, and they were transporting a large number of soldiers, horses, grain and grass to the north of the river.

Qiu Yizhi was shocked when he heard this, and immediately called Zhao Chengxiao, Wei Chi Jiming and others, rushed to the riverside to observe the situation, and sure enough, he saw that countless boats suddenly appeared on the originally empty and boundless Yangtze River.

Some of these ships were large, some small, and some were just improvised rafts made of dozens of logs or stout bamboos tied together. Although these rafts are rudimentary, they are extremely large and difficult to count at a glance, and even if there are thousands of them, it is not necessarily an exaggeration.

And on these large or small rafts, most of them carried hundreds of people, and there were more than 100 people, all of whom were unsheathed and fully armed, which was Zheng Xintun's army in Jiangnan.

Qiu Yizhi was shocked when he saw such a scene of hundreds of people competing for the stream, and said to Zhao Chengxiao beside him: "Zheng Xin is really not an ordinary person, looking at the situation today, it seems that he wants to ferry all 300,000 people to Jiangbei in one fell swoop." Go and gather your troops, get out of camp, and don't make any ugly appearance that you will be caught off guard by the landing force. ”

Zhao Chengxiao hurriedly agreed, turned the horse's head, and headed north.

Qiu Yizhi looked at the Yangtze River, which was almost filled with large and small rafts, and felt that he would have no other benefit from staying on the edge of the Yangtze River, so he also turned around and went to his own camp.

It turned out that Zheng Xin did not sit idly in Jiangnan for most of the month, but saw that the water network in Jiangnan was dense, and there were many boats and bamboo rafts in large and small rivers, harbors, lakes and ponds, and I didn't know how many boatmen who were proficient in water and good at boatmanship. So Zheng Xin spent a lot of money to collect all these rafts and boatmen, and took advantage of the fact that Li Shengjie's fleet was thousands of miles away and the current and wind direction were suitable for crossing the river, and immediately ordered the whole army to board the ship and cross the Yangtze River north.

Although he did it both confidently and suddenly, he had to take great risks behind it, not to mention that the command was unfavorable, and even if there was a slight change in the flow of water and the direction of the wind, it would completely blow away these improvised rabble on the water like a plate of loose sand.

Fortunately, Zheng Xin was lucky, and he transported all his 270,000 elite soldiers to the north bank of the Yangtze River in one adventure, and the operation went so smoothly that it was like a dream.

Tang Jianlong, who had been stationed in Jiangbei for nearly a month, got the news and hurriedly hurried his 3,000 brothers to line up by the river to greet the lord Zheng Xin.

Zheng Xin asked Tang Jianlong a few words, and asked him to be his guide, but instead of camping on the spot, he arranged a formation on the predetermined battlefield, in order to prevent Qiu Yizhi from taking advantage of his unstable foothold, launching a surprise attack, and driving himself down the river again.

However, when Zheng Xin arranged the formation neatly, Qiu Yizhi led the army to be late, and the garrison began to arrange the battle formation in a hurry outside the range of Zheng Xin's bow and arrows.

Zheng Xin really wanted to take advantage of the temporary chaos of the enemy army, so he led the army to fight over, but he remembered that his men and horses had just crossed the river, and they were still a little tired and tired, and he was afraid that Qiu Yi would use a suspicious strategy to lure himself to attack in the past, so he resisted his impulse and quietly observed the formation on the opposite side.

Qiu Yizhi's movements here can be regarded as fast, but in a quarter of an hour, the formation is neatly arranged.

Zheng Xin rode on his horse and looked into the distance, and saw that the troops on the opposite side were about 70,000 or 80,000 people, more than half of the soldiers and horses under his command, but the battle formation was quite tight, and the banner and golden drum were also very distinct.

Qiu Yizhi didn't dare to act rashly, and only after a while did he send a general, ran between the two armies, and shouted: "The army is tired and unbearable to fight, and today has not yet reached the 'Xiaoman' solar term, why don't we wait for a decisive battle after resting and recuperating?" ”

Zheng Xin saw that although this general was not good-looking, there was a bad aura on his body, and his voice was extremely loud, so he didn't dare to underestimate him, let alone Qiu Yizhi behind this general, so he sent a general next to him and sent a message out: "It's not in a hurry to destroy your little thief, let you live a few more days, Rong Er will go back and explain what happened behind you, and it's not too late to send him to death." ”

The person sent by Qiu Yizhi to spread the word was the bandit soldier under him who was nicknamed "Black-necked Toad". He Qiu Yizhi was in charge of issuing orders on the battlefield, but he couldn't do anything about it, so he took Zheng Xin's message, and then turned his horse back to report to Qiu Yizhi.