Since Zhu Jin and Zhu Xuan's brothers turned against Zhu Wen, they fought back and forth for eight years, and were finally defeated in April of the second year of Qianning.

In Hezhong, Zhaoyi, Hedong, Shandong, the Liang army blossomed in all directions, and the military strength reached its peak.

At this time, Yang Xingmi led a large army in Chuzhou to spy on Huaibei, and Zhu Wen had to temporarily agree to Wang Shifan's begging alliance.

Shouzhou has always been the gate of Jianghuai, if the northern army captures Shouzhou, in front of it is the Jianghuai Plain, which is a flat river, and the surrounding rivers are also gentle, which is conducive to marching.

If the battle is unfavorable, just go back the way you came.

Of course, the Northern Army can also bypass the city without attacking the Shouzhou Fortress, but if Shouzhou has sufficient troops, it can cut off the retreat of the Northern Army, or cut off the Northern Army's grain route.

The Liang army, which was in full swing, naturally did not allow such a heavy town fortress to fall into the hands of the Jianghuai army.

On April 10, the Liang army general He Gui led 30,000 troops from Bian, Cao, and Hua to attack Zhu Yanshou, who had not gained a firm foothold.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Yanshou made a quick decision, and under the absolute disadvantage, he led the black cloud long sword to assault the Liang army that had just crossed the Huai River.

This great victory greatly boosted the morale of the Jianghuai army, and troops and materials from all over the Jianghuai gathered in Chuzhou.

The clouds of the war were over the water.

On April 15 of the second year of Qianning, Yang Xingmi Yang Xingmi officially submitted a statement to the imperial court, forcing Chen Zhuwen to attack Guanzhong's crime, which was a great rebellion, saying that he had the intention of usurping rebellion, denounced him as the ugliness of the yellow thief, and asked the Tang court to issue an edict to the world to beg for thieves.

Before the news was sent to Chang'an, Pang Shi took up the 70,000 troops of Xuzhou, entered Qingkou, and began to establish a large camp here, but was blocked by Zhang Xun, the general of Yang Xingmi's department in Lianshui, and failed to complete the strategic goal of crossing the Huai River, and the two sides were deadlocked on the front line of Qingkou.

At the same time, Ge Congzhou led 10,000 soldiers into Suzhou, integrated the 10,000 remnants of He Gui's army, and advanced to Anfeng and Nanwangshouzhou.

Since ancient times, the Northern Army attacked Jianghuai, there were two routes, one was Xiashouzhou, taking the Jianghuai Plain, and then advancing to the hinterland of Jianghuai, Fu Jian's 800,000 army was this route.

The other is to cross the Qingkou from Xuzhou, go down to Gaoyou, hit Yangzhou, and go straight to the heart of Jianghuai.

The biggest problem with the Shouzhou route is that the fortress of Shouzhou is difficult to capture, and even if Shouzhou is captured, it will have to capture Hao, Chu and other fortified cities along the road in order to reach Yangzhou, the heart of Jianghuai.

Once the Huai crossing is successful, it is like a long sword, piercing the heart of the Jianghuai, and the dense water network in Huaidong is also convenient for transporting troops and grain and grass.

But the shortcomings are also obvious, if the battle is frustrated, the northern army does not know the nature of water, and it is easy to be surrounded and annihilated by the Jianghuai naval army.

With the performance of his wife and brother Zhu Yanshou in Shouzhou, Yang Xingmi's confidence has greatly increased.

There are also the defections of generals such as Zhu Jin, Li Chengsi, and Shi Yan, which gave the Huainan Army wings.

At this time, the situation in Jianghuai was too favorable to Yang Xingmi, the main force of the Liang army in the north was attacking Li Keyong, Qian Gong and Dong Chang in the southeast were fighting, and the feudal towns in the southeast were too busy to take care of themselves, and they did not dare to come to pick Yang Xingmi's tiger beard.

After the Tang Dynasty, the world was endowed with wealth, and Jianghuai has always been the lifeblood of the Tang Dynasty.

The Jianghuai Prefectures of Lirun, Chang, Wu, Xuan and other prefectures are all Wangzhou with a population of more than 100,000 households.

Most of the other prefectures are counties with a population of more than 10,000 households.

With such a situation and strength, how could Yang Xingmi let go of the empty Huaibei?

However, if you want to plot against Huaibei, you must first pull out the two nails of Pang Shigu and Ge Congzhou.

"Pang Shigu is just a slave of Zhu Wen's family, and Zhu Wen is the one who leads the army, and he is sending Xu Si to the king." Yuan Xun said to Yang Xingmi.

Yang Xingmi was not as confident as Yuan Xian, with a worried look on his face, "Pang Shigu is brave, although he commands an army of 60,000, it is not a matter of worry, the only one this king is worried about, only Ge Congzhou, this person is proficient in the art of war, 10,000 Liang troops are strong, Shouzhou is new after all, the foundation is unstable, and the strength of longevity is thin, this king wants to raise a large army, first attack Ge Congzhou, and then attack Pang Shigu!" “

At this time, Chuzhou gathered 80,000 Jianghuai troops, including 9,000 cavalry under Zhu Jin and Li Chenghe, more than 40,000 Jianghuai infantry soldiers, and more than 30,000 naval troops.

Above the Huai Shui, warships are dense.

However, in the face of the world's No. 1 Liang Army, Yang Xingmi still had relatives and did not dare to fight a decisive battle.

Previously, his biggest opponent was Sun Ru, but Sun Ru was also a defeated opponent under Zhu Wen.

All the generals in the hall agreed with Yang Xingmi's strategy, only Li Chengsi said loudly: "Shouzhou is a strong city of Jianghuai, General Zhu Yanshou has strong combat power, even if he can't defeat Ge Congzhou, there is no problem in holding Shouzhou, but it is Qingkou, if the king divides his army and leaves, Gaoyou is lost, 70,000 Liang troops successfully cross Huai, and the soldiers reach Yangzhou City, then Jianghuai is gone!" If the king has the heart of Xu Si, he must severely damage the 70,000 army of Pang Shigu! “

Zhu Jin, who had been silent for a long time, said: "What General Li said is that although Pang Shigu has an army of 70,000 and has no strategy, its combat power is not as good as Ge Congzhou's 10,000 strong soldiers, and Ge Congzhou is both wise and brave, and has a deep plan, the king drives the soldiers forward, and Ge Cong Zhou Bishen ditch and high fortress drag away without fighting, and after a long time, Pang Shigu's army drives straight in, and our army is in a dilemma!" “

Zhu Jin and Zhu Wen have been fighting for nearly ten years, and they know the details of the Liang army best, so Yang Xingmi has to pay attention to what he said.

Yang Xingmi's face was in cold sweat, he breathed a long sigh of relief, and said to Zhu Jin and Li Chengsi: "Fortunately, the two generals, otherwise I Jianghuai will be in danger." “

Qingkou camp.

The Jianghuai army on the other side of the river moved more and more, but the Liang army died down.

Pang Shigu was playing chess with people in the big tent for fun.

At that time, the two Zhu Wen brothers defected to Huangchao, Zhu Zhen, Pang Shigu, and Ding Hui were their confidants and loyal, and later Zhu Wen suspected that Zhu Zhen had different intentions and killed Zhu Zhen.

Since then, Pang Shigu, who was the most obedient, became the first general of the Liang army, replacing Zhu Youyu as the commander of the capital.

Every time Pang Shigu went on an expedition, he followed Zhu Wen's instructions, and never acted rashly without Zhu Wen's orders.

A general broke into the big tent, saw that Pang Shigu was actually playing chess, and said hurriedly: "General, Qingkou is a Jedi in the art of war, the terrain is low-lying, the Huaishui flood season is approaching, but the water level is constantly falling, it should be the southern army to build a dam to block the water upstream, the general must not be unguarded, just move back, and settle on the high ground, you can attack waterproof." “

Pang Shigu squinted at him, "King Liang ordered our army to cross Huai at Qingkou, do you dare to disobey?" “

The general knelt on the ground and said: "The general is not subject to the orders of the foreign monarch, and the king of Liang entrusts the general with the important affairs of the southeast, how can the general be so negligent?" “

Pang Shigu suddenly stood up from the soft collapse, staring at him with a pair of bull's eyes, "Yang Xingmi is no more than a thief who intercepts the river, and the southerners are cowardly, can I be the master of a hundred battles?" You are here to confuse the people, disturb the hearts of our army, come to someone, drag it down and behead it! “

"General—" The general was dumbfounded.

After a short time, the ministry sent the heads into the tent, and the other beams were all frightened.

"Before the fight starts, you have to retreat, doesn't it make the Jianghuai rats laugh shamefully?" Pang Shigu's anger did not subside.

Tun Yu Qingkou is also a last resort, the Liang army does not know the nature of the water, the Jianghuai army cooperated with the water division, several times to repel Pang Shigu to cross the Huai, if the 70,000 army retreats, the army will be scattered.