The internal controversy between Xuan and Ning could not affect the change of the war situation for the time being, and the confrontation between the two sides had reached a state of imminent eruption.

At the beginning of August, Emperor Ning Xiao Yu changed the name of the year to Dingding in Jinling, and the change of the name of the year can only show that Xiao Yu has a determination to unify the Central Plains, but the holy decree of King Qing Guanzheng made the Daning court talk a lot, and this discussion has been discussed in the court of Daxuan until the end of October.

From midsummer to late autumn, the confrontation between the two sides maintained restraint, which made Xiao Yu very helpless, and he repeatedly issued edicts to let Gan Ming, Xiao Ye and others fully launch the battle against the Xuan army, but Gan Ming and others all said that they did not find the right time, only the battle between Xiao Zhan and Xuan Song was white-hot, but Xiao Zhan's ability was indeed very flawed, and many attacks on Shucheng were in vain.

Xiao Yu can't blame Gan Ming and others, nor can he reprimand Xiao Zhan, Gan Ming and others have a very good reason not to attack comprehensively, whether it is Meng Huan in the northwest or Tan Ji in Nanyang, they are all well prepared, if they enter the army, they will definitely lose both, and no one will be able to take advantage of it in a short time.

As for Xiao Zhan, Xiao Yu can't erase his fighting heart, Xiao Zhan is a representative in Daxuan, and he is a firm representative who supports Xiao Yu's domination of the world, although many battles have been fruitless, but Xiao Yu still added 5,000 households above the Huai King, which can already be on par with Xiao Han who was crowned the King of Jin in September of the first year of Dingding, and the Huai King and the Jin King are already the top existence among the Xiao royal princes.

"Storage, the river is cold, is there enough food and grass in the army?" Xiao Yu asked with a sigh.

"Your Majesty, according to reports from the garrisons in various places, the food, grass and ordnance are sufficient, but many officers and soldiers in the army have some complaints." Chu Cheng hesitated for a moment or told him about his emotions in the army, he was taking precautions, and the development of such emotions would affect the morale of the army.

"Oh? Let's talk about it. Xiao Yu is getting less and less angry now.

"One person feels that there is no point in continuing such a confrontation, it is better to see the real chapter on the battlefield, and they strongly demand to fight."

Xiao Yu nodded and said: "These people should be appeased and reasoned with them, it's not that we don't fight, but the time has not come, is there anything else?" ”

"There is also a voice that does not want to fight, wants to go home, many of these people are people who have experienced the war, and the three-year repair has made them a little slack, and we have already ordered all the armies to trace the source of this sound." Duanmuyang stood up and said.

Chu Cheng glanced at Duanmu Yang dissatisfied, but did not attack.

"We must pursue it deeply, I think this is Meng Yan's propaganda, they have always had a set of demagoguery in the army, and this situation must be contained." Xiao Yu said solemnly.

"Father, the sons and daughters think that they can't be suppressed by force, we should channel their thoughts." Xiao Xie, the king of Qing, who watched the government, arched his hand.

Xiao Yu just glanced at him, ignored him, and then said, "Chen Zhuo, how is Teng Han's training on Bengdao?" ”

"Your Majesty, General Teng has sent the first batch of recruits from Bengdao to Haizhou, Zuo Qing has received it, Zuo Qing is now moving closer to Songjiang, and now Zuo Qing's camp has moved from Haizhou to Sheyang." Chen Zhuo said respectfully.

"Well, tell Zuo Qing that no matter what, I must solve the Songjiang problem a year ago, and I don't want to worry about my sailor every day!" Xiao Yu said sternly.

After the military arrangement, everyone except Xiao Xie retreated, Xiao Yu saw that Xiao Xie's expression was a little ugly, and said with a smile: "What? Still wondering why your father just ignored you? ”

Xiao Xie puffed out his cheeks, rubbed his toes on the ground, and said hesitantly: "Father, the sons really don't understand why they want to suppress the emotions of those soldiers. ”

Xiao Yu is not angry, he knows how to think and find problems, which is a good thing, after all, Xiao Xie is just a teenager.

Xiao Yu thought for a while, and said in a harmonious voice: "First, you are just watching politics, you have no power to discuss politics, and the people above the hall are all your uncles, you must know how to respect them; Second, most of the soldiers in our army are from ordinary people, they don't understand the government, they are easy to be bewitched, demagoguery is what Meng Yan is best at, do you know that once this war-weariness is transmitted to the whole army, we will be defeated without a fight, before we have no better way, we can only contain this emotion from the source, so as not to explode in the army, do you understand? ”

"Father, why can't we also proclaim our own attitude? We can also convince people with reason. Xiao Xie still couldn't accept it.

"Demagogy is not the right way, to put it bluntly, it is a deception, if the rule of a dynasty is only deceptive, it cannot last long, only victory will convince everyone, the army is the basis of a dynasty's rule, so the army can only have one voice, that is, obey orders, there are too many ideas in the army, can the dynasty rule be stable?" Xiao Yu patiently explained to Xiao Xie.

Xiao Xie fell into deep thought, he did not deny that what his father said was right, the army was the basis of the dynasty's rule, but if the army was full of thoughtless wooden people, it didn't seem to be interesting, he fell into a tangle, he thought that there should be a better way to deal with the army, not such a simple and rude.

Xiao Yu looked at Xiao Xie thinking and ignored him, teaching children is a matter, and there must be a solution to the war ahead, he has to concentrate on military affairs now.

On the seventh day of the first month of November, Daning Zuoqing led 70,000 Chen soldiers to the north bank of the Dajiang River, pointing directly at the Songjiang Xuanjun garrison.

On the eighth day of November, the Jing Mu Department of the Xuan Army responded, and Jing Mu personally led 30,000 people to garrison the south bank of the Dajiang River to form a confrontation, and at the same time, Di Xin and Long Tingfei also dispatched the Xuan army stationed on the Gusu line to move closer to Songjiang.

On the tenth day of November, Zuo Qing sent people to secretly cross the river to attack Long Tingfei's reinforcements in the north of Chang County, and Long Tingfei had no choice but to lead his troops to retreat to Chang County to garrison.

"Master Hou, we lost more than 3,000 people in this attack, did you report reinforcements to Di Hou's side?" Long Tingfei's lieutenant Zeng Xi asked.

Long Tingfei thought for a while and said: "Zuo Qing is not so easy to deal with, he is also a peculiar existence in the Daning army, first rebel and then surrender, when the Donghai people are raging in Jiangdong, he can actually make the Donghai people fearful, this person's ability is not ordinary, he dares to risk crossing the river to attack us, he may not dare to have strange thoughts about Gusu, so Di Hou also has pressure." ”

"So what do we do? Continuing eastward? Zeng Xi was very depressed.

Long Tingfei was a little embarrassed, the order given to them by the imperial court was to stick to the line from Gusu to Songjiang, but it could be decided on the spot in the Great Xuan Army, and Long Tingfei's old mistake was committed again.

"Send someone to Xihou to ask how the battle is going?" Long Tingfei's final decision was this.

Zeng Xi secretly pursed his lips, he knew this Shangguan quite well, his command ability, and the ability of the nine changes were all first-class, even in the star-studded Great Xuan Army, he was second to none, and he was the county horse master personally appointed by His Majesty, and his grace was needless to say, but he had a problem that he liked to listen to orders.

Like to listen to orders has been a traditional virtue since ancient times, but there are indeed different views in the Great Xuan Army, listening to orders is naturally the duty of a soldier, but making decisions on the spot is also the quality that generals in the Great Xuan Army should have.

Jingmu of Songjiang has not been able to wait for reinforcements, although the loss is not much, but the support is very difficult, Songjiang is actually an island, and the only way to communicate with the mainland is Kunxian, now the problem is that Zuo Qing is forced to his own high pressure, at the same time, Daning's sailors also entered the waterway of the river from Tangang to attack themselves, Jing Mu is very sober Zuo Qing's intention is not to eat himself but to force himself to retreat westward, what Zuo Qing wants is to swallow the entire 60,000 Xuan army from Gusu to Songjiang.

"Yongle, is there any news for Longhou's reinforcements? When will Jiaolong's side arrive? Jing Mu tried his best to keep himself calm, he couldn't mess around at this time.

Yongle is the eldest son of Yonghe, Jing and Yong's families were friends in Zhaonan, Yongle has been fighting with Jing Mu everywhere, and now he has been promoted to colonel, and he was named Changle Bo, although it is not a brilliant battle, but it is also a good general.

"Master Hou, although it is not normal, Long Hou has always been a trustworthy person, and now there are two days left before the agreed date, why don't we wait?"

Jing Mu frowned, he always felt that the direction of the situation was not quite right, and after asking Di Xin for help, Jing Mu also wanted Xuansong and Hanyang to report the battle situation, but he did not get a reply, this can only show a problem, maybe this information did not go out of Songjiang, maybe Kunxian has fallen into the hands of Zuo Qing, everything is unknown.

Now that it is winter, the river is cold, and the lack of food and grass is the biggest problem of the Songjiang garrison, Jing Mu clenched his fists with both hands and ordered: "Don't wait, wait until the river freezes, we will be the meat in Zuo Qing's mouth!" Withdraw your troops tonight! ”

"Do you want to go to Kun County?" Yongle can't judge whether Jing Mu's decision is correct or not.

Jing Mu thought for a while and said, "Don't go to Kunxian, cross the Pujiang River to Pingjia County." ”

Yongle was stunned, retreating to Pingjia County was to give up Songjiang, which was not in line with the established strategy of the cardinal.

"Master Hou, do you think about it again, we still have the ability to fight, even if we retreat, we have to go in the direction of Gusu! I'm afraid it's not appropriate to go to Pingjiajun. Yongle still expressed his opinion.

"Zuo Qing can't wait for us to retreat in the direction of Gusu, I just want to do the opposite, needless to say, I am the chief general of the Songjiang garrison, and I have the right to decide!"

Seeing Jing Mu, who was about to break out, Yongle opened his mouth, but he still didn't say anything after all, but this doesn't mean that Yongle doesn't have his own ideas.

On November 16, Jing Mu, the general of the Xuanjun army stationed in Songjiang, led his troops to retreat in the direction of Pingjia County at night, Zuo Qing was shocked when he learned that he had secretly captured Kunxian when he attacked Long Tingfei, but he did not notice, and he did not even report to Jinling, he wanted to force Jing Mu to retreat east to Gusu and then blockade Kunxian, so that he would have a way to turn Gusu into a place of death.

Jing Mu chose to retreat according to Zuo Qing's idea, but what Zuo Qing couldn't guess was that Jing Mu retreated without a fight, and at the same time did not retreat to the west, but chose to retreat south.

By the time Zuo Qing's soldiers and horses chased to Pujiang, it was too late, and he could only watch the figure of the Xuan army to the south, and Zuo Qing's younger brother Zuo Ping ordered the pursuit when he didn't get the order, and he never thought that Jing Mu left a hand in the river and buried a lot of water ghost gunpowder.

The water ghost gunpowder was invented by Jiaolong in order to deal with the big warships in the East China Sea, and he used special means to keep the black fire under the water for an hour, and if there were people left on the shore, he could also throw the ignited water ghost into the water and instantly cause an explosion at sea.

Nearly 5,000 people from Zuo Ping boarded the river boat to strengthen the Pujiang River, and when they arrived at the center of the Pujiang River, the flames suddenly broke out, and the explosions were transmitted one after another, which made Zuo Qing, who was watching from the shore, shocked.

After asking about the matter, Zuo Qing hurriedly ordered people to go into the water to save people, he was not worried about the death of these soldiers, he was nervous about his younger brother, poor November The river was cold, many soldiers were hesitant to go into the water, and when Zuo Ping was dragged up, he had already lost his breath, and a piece of wooden stick that was blown up was pierced into Zuo Ping's chest.

Zuo Qing fainted directly with a back breath.

It can really be said that the river is cold, and the battle is about to die.