Different from the defensive posture in the western battlefield, the strategic deployment of the combined forces of the Emperor and the Dongfang in the Yangtze River area is an aggressive offensive posture.

Within a few days, the Northern Coalition had gathered nearly 300,000 troops along the Yangtze River, and at the same time collected thousands of sailing ships, assuming a posture of wanting to cross south.

The marshal of the Nangong family in charge of the Yangtze River defense line was called Meng Wu'an, and he accurately predicted the ferry port chosen by the northern coalition army to the south, and laid an ambush around the ferry early.

At this time, on the western battlefield, the southern pass had been captured by the Xicheng army, and Yelu Qicai was besieged in front of the Zheng Renhuang in the central fortress, and there was a dilemma.

To the south, once the central fortress is captured, the vast hinterland of the Central Plains will be threatened by the Xicheng army. After the central fortress, there is no danger to defend, and the hinterland of the Central Plains is an important place for the royal family to supplement soldiers and grain and grass, and there is no room for loss.

However, if you don't retreat directly to the south, it will give the Nangong family a chance to go north. At present, Nangong Shangde has arranged more than 200,000 troops on the south bank of the Yangtze River, once the emperor orders the withdrawal of the army, Nangong Shangde is very likely to lead the army north, and then the emperor will be burdened

After weighing the pros and cons, the Emperor of the People set a battle plan to concentrate his forces south, defeat the Nangong army, and then lead the army north to fight a decisive battle with Han Chongyan.

After all, Yelu Qicai still has nearly 40,000 elites in his hands. Moreover, the central fortress is impregnable, and if nothing else, it will not be a problem to hold on for a month.

Even if Han Chongyan took the central fortress, there was still Dongfang Wuxian who led the southern army in the north to the north, plus there were almost 150,000 reinforcements from the imperial family, which was enough to hold on to Han Chongyan for a while.

Therefore, in order to gain the absolute advantage of crossing the river, the emperor continued to transfer men and horses from Dadu and expanded the Nandu army from 300,000 to 400,000.

After the reinforcements arrived, the Emperor did not wait for the reinforcements who had just arrived to rest, and ordered hundreds of thousands of people to force the Yangtze River to attack the Nangong army on the south bank.

It's a pity that although the human emperor is full of confidence, his intentions have already been seen through by Meng Wu'an. He had already sent a force to cross north to the north of the Yangtze River to ambush, and when the Renhuang army crossed the river more than halfway, suddenly the Jiangbei ambush troops were dispatched, and at the same time, Meng Wu'an personally led the southern naval army to meet the battle.

The army in Jiangbei did not expect to be attacked in the base camp at all, because it was not known how many troops were attacking, and a large number of northern troops were in chaos. As a result, the soldiers who had already crossed the river had no backup.

And the northerners are not accustomed to water, and they are not the opponents of the Nangong army on the water, and now they have lost their numerical advantage. led to being surrounded and annihilated by Meng Wu'an.

Although he suffered a defeat in the early stage, the Emperor of the People led by the elite of the royal family and the Oriental family after all, quickly stabilized his position and began to counterattack.

Although the ambush soldiers arranged by Meng Wu'an to Jiangbei were experienced in a hundred battles, after all, there were not many people, and after the emperor stabilized his position, he began to show weakness and was forced to retreat.

And after eliminating the human emperor's river-crossing army, Meng Wu'an also began to lead his troops to retreat. After all, the Nangong army is only good at water warfare, and it can't take any advantage at all when it comes to hand-to-hand combat with the Emperor's forbidden army on land.

In this way, the first battle between the two sides on the Yangtze River ended, and the emperor lost nearly 50,000 soldiers, but he still had an advantage over Meng Wu'an. And Meng Wu'an did not dare to turn defense into attack after the victory, and continued to use the Yangtze River trench to arrange defense.

Although he lost the first battle, the emperor still changed his decision to go south. Just as he was regrouping and preparing to attack again, he received the news that the central fortress was lost and Yelu Qicai was defeated and killed himself.

After reading the letter, the Emperor found that he was now surrounded by the Xicheng family and the Nangong family, and he was at risk of being attacked at any time.

Now there is only one way out in front of the human emperor, withdraw the army.

The withdrawal of the army and the decisive battle with Han Chongyan was a decision recognized by all the generals, but at this time, the emperor was unusual, he rejected the proposal of the generals and decided to continue south.

"But Han Chongyan is menacing, if we don't defend back, I'm afraid most of them will be difficult to defend. Under the tent, the advisor reminded the emperor.

"Don't worry, although the central fortress has been taken, but because of the resentless containment of the East, Han Chongyan will not launch an attack on Dadu in the short term. ”

"But aren't you Dongfang Hateless, this person can't be trusted?"

"He can't be trusted, but we have what he fears in our hands, and it's time for Old Fourteen to show his trump card. After the emperor of the people, he personally wrote a letter and asked people to bring it to the fourteen princes who were in charge of the defense of the capital.

After receiving the news that Han Chongyan had captured the central fortress, the Nangong army on the south bank of the Yangtze River cheered, and everyone thought that the Emperor of the People would definitely lead the army to retreat north, including Meng Wu'an, the commander-in-chief of the defense line on the south bank.

At this time, Meng Wu'an's father happened to be ill, and saw that the Yangtze River defense line he had arranged had been completed, and the human emperor would definitely retreat north, so he decided to take leave from Nangong Shangde and return to his hometown.

For Meng Wu'an's request, Nangong Shangde immediately agreed and gave him a lot of rewards.

In this way, the commander-in-chief of the Yangtze River defense line changed from Meng Wu'an to Nangong Shangde's younger brother Nangong Shangwu.

Strictly speaking, Nangong Shangwu can be regarded as an experienced veteran general, and if he defends normally, it is difficult for the emperor to take advantage of it.

But Nangong Shangwu brought his brother's order and went north.

Now that Han Chongyan's army has threatened the safety of Dadu, the emperor will definitely lead his army north to fight a decisive battle with it, so the Xiangfan area north of the Yangtze River can be easily obtained.

Therefore, when he reported on his work in Nangong Shangwu, he began to prepare to go north.

And all the actions of Nangong Shangwu did not escape the eyes of the human emperor. He had already laid a pocket for Nangong Shangwu, and he was waiting for Nangong Shangwu to drill it.

Soon the coalition forces in Jiangbei began to slowly retreat north.

The coalition forces withdrew very hastily, leaving behind a small number of soldiers to defend and a large amount of baggage.

After receiving the spies' return, Nangong Shangwu immediately decided to attack.

At first, the attack went well. The Emperor's camp in Jiangbei was all lost, and looking at the piles of baggage in the camp, many people couldn't help but start grabbing it.

And at this moment, the imperial forbidden army, which had already withdrawn, suddenly appeared. Nangong Shangwu's army was snatching the baggage left by the forbidden army at this time, and was caught off guard by the imperial forbidden army, and everyone trampled on each other, killing and wounding countless people.

Seeing that the defeat was decided, Nangong Shangwu had no choice but to order the soldiers to retreat.

However, the two-legged soldiers couldn't outrun the cultivators who flew on the edgeworth, and many of them were driven into the river before they could get on the boat

At this time, the forbidden army of the imperial family took the opportunity to snatch the ships of the Nangong army, and rushed to the south bank with the defeated Nangong army.

Although the resistance of the Nangong army stationed on the south bank was very tenacious, it was a pity that it was far inferior to the forbidden army in terms of numbers. The Yangtze River defense line, which Meng Wu'an had painstakingly built for several days, was breached in one fell swoop.