Unexpectedly, since then, the emperor has not summoned Qiu Yizhi for several days. Qiu Yizhi felt strange and found a reason to ask for peace, wanting to test the emperor's attitude. But the emperor seemed to be very busy, and in the "Qingya View", he only let Qiu Yizhi kowtow and casually pull two homely sentences, and then asked him to go back, without mentioning anything else.

Qiu Yizhi was uneasy, so he went to ask his master Zhong Li Kuang.

The prime minister of Zhongli was also very busy, saying that the progress of the landing operations in Jiangyin and Zhenjiang was also very smooth, so together with the soldiers and horses commanded by the emperor himself on the Jinling side, the three-way army had a total of 300,000 people going south. These 300,000 people are 300,000 mouths, everyone has to eat, every day, and it is the time when the south of the Yangtze River is in full swing, so hundreds of thousands of people eat, drink, and use must be transferred from the north of the Yangtze River.

The transfer of grain and grass for thousands of miles is a major event that mobilizes the power of the whole country - a grain is sown and harvested by the peasants from the land, sold to the local grain merchants, and the silver in exchange is handed over to the imperial court as a tax, and the imperial court then uses the silver handed over by the peasants to buy from the merchants, and then stored, transported, and sent to the mouths of the front-line soldiers...... Such a complex work is carried out in the north and south of the Han Dynasty all the time, and even a talented and hard-working prime minister like Zhong Likuang is very busy.

In particular, the people in Jiangnan are precious, and the cost of one worker is comparable to the labor of two or three people in Guannei. When there is less money for the labor to carry the grain and grass supplies, there is no one to work at all; There are too many out, and the imperial court finances can't stand it. Therefore, Zhongli Kuang thought of countless methods, but he still couldn't mobilize all the transportation capacity, and a large amount of food supplies were temporarily hoarded in Caoyun Yamen, unable to be sent to all parts of Jiangnan.

Therefore, at present, the imperial court can only guarantee the food and drink of the 300,000 troops, and ensure that they will not mutiny and rebellion because of the lack of food and wages of the imperial court—and how to use these 300,000 horses and horses to quickly carry out operations to achieve the goal of blocking the main force of the Lingnan Army in Jiangnan Province is another matter.

Fortunately, the current emperor Zheng Rong was originally a prince who was born in a war, and he was proficient in strategy and tactics. Therefore, under his personal deployment:

The eldest son, Zheng Xin, immediately went south from Jiangyin, seized the Quzhou Prefecture, which was dominated by hills, and together with Wei Hu, the right general who guarded the junction of Yuezhou and Huguang, together blocked the connection between Jiangnan and several roads to the west;

The Jinling side made full use of the horses recently transported from Jiangbei, and did not engage the Lingnan army, but directly killed the boundary of Wenzhou Prefecture, occupied several dangerous passes, and cut off the passage from Jiangnan directly to Lingnan;

Zheng Sen, the second son of the emperor in Zhenjiang, was responsible for finding the main force of the Lingnan Army, and whenever he encountered a large number of Lingnan Army troops, he would immediately launch a surprise attack, and if he could break it, he would immediately break it, and if he could not break it, he would immediately fight with them, and what he wanted was to delay the speed of the Lingnan Army's southward recovery and buy time for the completion of the entire interception operation;

Fortunately, Zheng Miao, the third son of the emperor who supervised the country in Luoyang, the capital city, was loyal to his duties, sorted out the daily government affairs in an orderly manner, and the military supplies were constantly sent to Jiangnan, ensuring that the emperor personally led the army without fail.

At this time, the place where Emperor Zheng Rong was better than Lingnan King Zheng Gui was finally revealed unabashedly - after all, he was a man of the righteous and unjust, and the emperor had so many powerful and reliable assistants by his side, compared to the military affairs of Lingnan King Zheng Gui, he had to do everything himself, and he didn't know how many times stronger.

As a result, good news kept coming from the south of the Yangtze River - several important checkpoints in Quzhou and Wenzhou were seized by the imperial soldiers and horses as soon as possible, and there was no large Lingnan army to escape through these passes before; Zheng Sen successively defeated several Lingnan armies with a number of about two or three thousand people, although he did not capture Zheng Yu's main force, but also severely damaged the morale of the Lingnan army and consumed the strength of the Lingnan army - the battlefield situation is getting better and better, and the rebellion of the Lingnan palace is just around the corner.

At this time, although Zheng Yu has not yet been discovered by the official army, he can look at the entire Jiangnan Province has been besieged by the officials and soldiers like an iron bucket, and he himself is like a mouse in the iron bucket, although he can still move freely to a certain extent, but in fact he is desperate in the net of heaven and earth, only waiting for the final catastrophe.

Zheng Yu knew that what he had committed was a great crime of rebellion, and that his father, Zheng Gui, the king of Lingnan, was the brother of the current emperor's mother, and the emperor might be able to spare him for the sake of this affection. And he, the second son of the Lingnan prince, has never met the emperor, and the emperor has no reason to spare him.

Therefore, as long as it is held by the imperial court, there is only a dead end waiting for Zheng Yu.

At this time, Zheng Yu needs someone to take ideas and talk about suggestions for him, but his father Zheng Gui, the king of Youyan, left his generals and strategists, who died and fled, and the few people left were only planning for their future, who still had the time to give advice to Zheng Yu?

However, the dog has to jump over the wall when he is in a hurry, and the rabbit has to bite when he is in a hurry.

Zheng Yu saw that the encirclement of Jiangnan Province was getting tighter and tighter, and it was shrinking smaller and smaller, and he knew that he could only take this road with a desperate gamble, and only by taking advantage of the opportunity that he still had nearly 100,000 soldiers and horses in his hands to fight with the imperial court could he have any hope of survival.

So he summoned the whole army and held what might be the last combat meeting.

At this moment, Zheng Yu has almost reached the point of exhaustion, where can he dare to stay in the big city for a long time, and the place where he holds a meeting is only in a dilapidated Buddhist temple in the remote countryside for an unknown period of time.

He leaned on the incense platform covered with a thick layer of ash, and impassionedly chanted a series of meaningless clichés, and finally gritted his teeth and said: "Everyone, we are all brothers in life and death now, and we might as well say something directly." We are all rebels, and we are committing the great crime of rebellion, and the court has absolutely no mercy. Therefore, it is also a death to fight and surrender, so it is better to fight to the death with the imperial court, and maybe you can win in danger! ”

When the generals heard this, their hearts did not fluctuate at all, and with a suspicious look on their faces, they looked at Zheng Yu, as if asking: "Why do you live and die with the court?" The old Lingnan King may still be able to say this sentence with these elite soldiers and strong generals in Lingnan Dao. You Zheng Yu is an uncompetitive son who has been looked down on since he was a child, why do you say the word 'win'? Besides, now that the imperial court has announced to the world, this time it is the emperor who personally drove the expedition and personally led the army, and our army has not yet fought, and the morale has already fallen. ”

Zheng Yu was furious by these suspicious eyes, so he had to continue to take care of himself: "If you want to win in danger, there are only two ways to go. The first is to attack the emperor, capture or kill him, take advantage of the chaos in the court, and the big thing can be decided! ”

When everyone heard this, there was an uproar—

Do you think the emperor is an aunt who goes to the street to buy vegetables? Or the uncle who came home from drinking? How can it be swaggered in front of everyone? I don't know how many guards and horses are guarding around me, and if you want to attack the emperor, how many soldiers and horses do you have to move? And such a large army action must be quite powerful, how can it hide from the eyes and ears of the imperial court?

As long as one of these series of problems is not taken into account and realized, the so-called "attack on the emperor" is tantamount to a fool's dream.

Everyone was in shock, but they heard Zheng Yu continue: "It's a pity that there are many troops and guards around the emperor, and it is too difficult to attack head-on. Tianzun Sect Wen Honghui had a few martial arts masters in his hands...... It is a pity that this snobbish cult leader has no idea where to run when he sees that our army is in decline, so our army now has no suitable candidate to assassinate the emperor. Therefore, it is difficult to attack the emperor, so there is no need for us to take this risk. ”

Everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when they heard this, only to hear Zheng Yu say again: "There is another way, that is, our army will fight a decisive battle with the imperial court, and no matter what the price is, we must break out of the encirclement and return to Lingnan Road." My father has been in business for a long time in Lingnan Province, and the imperial court is not familiar with its terrain and climate, and it can support it for at least four or five years. During this period, as long as there is a change in the imperial court, our army will be able to take advantage of its unpreparedness and make another northern expedition to achieve great achievements......"

Speaking of this, a smile suddenly appeared on Zheng Yu's face, as if he was moved by the magnificent blueprint he had depicted.

At this moment, I saw a general trembling and stepped forward half a step forward and asked, "The last general, Meng Xianli, has something to say." Seeing Zheng Yu nodding, he continued, "Your Highness, the prince is still in the hands of the imperial court, if we fight like this, and regardless of victory or defeat, the imperial court will inevitably be angry, if it is not good for the prince...... That's a good ......."

Zheng Yu was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and suddenly sneered: "Hmph! My father is now in the hands of the court, and whether he kills or kills can only be at the mercy of the court. Whether we fight or not, my father is afraid that he will not be able to survive the disaster, so he simply fights and retains his father's inheritance, which can be regarded as comforting his old man. ”

Everyone listened to this with a palpitation in their hearts: the old Lingnan King is still alive in the world, and his son is actually mentally prepared for his death, although the truth is also a matter of course, but speaking so ruthlessly cannot help but make the listener feel cold.

The general named Meng Xianli felt that he couldn't listen to it, so he said: "Your Highness, there is a saying that 'the arm can't reach the thigh'. When the old Lingnan prince was here, it was also a brotherly dispute with the emperor, and maybe he could still fight. Now His Royal Highness's sons and nephews, how can they compete with the emperor? I think no matter how hard you fight, you can't win......"

Zheng Yu's eyes were horizontal, he glanced at the man, and said, "Then what do you say should be done?" ”

Meng Xianli thought for a while and replied: "I think it's better to take advantage of the fact that our army is still strong and strong, talk to the emperor and the court, and don't think about restoring the Lingnan Palace, as long as we hand over the army and save the life of the old prince, it will already be a great grace." ”

Zheng Yu asked coldly: "We have soldiers and horses in our hands, so we have room to discuss with the emperor." If we have a good agreement with the emperor, after handing over the army, the emperor repents, can't I wait to become a fish and meat? How good is that? ”

Meng Xianli only asked Zheng Yu sincerely to himself, and said: "There are risks here, but the current emperor has a promise of a thousand gold, and this was the case when he was the king of Youyan, I am afraid that he will not break his word and gain weight." What's more, the emperor, Chrysostom said a word, and everyone in the world pricked up their ears to listen, so why don't you be embarrassed to turn around and say it? ”

Although Meng Xianli is not a veteran, he is also a bold and careful general in the Lingnan army, and Zheng Gui, the king of Lingnan, intends to train him for his son's use, and his words are also reasonable, so that Zheng Yu cannot refute it for a while.