Taizhou, Yangzhou, Yizheng and Guabu are almost spread out in the shape of a long snake on the bank of the Yangtze River.

Taizhou is in the east, followed by Yangzhou, Yizheng, and Guabu.

This is the reason why Bian Hao did not believe that Murong Nobunaga could attack him. Now Zhao Kuangyin led his army to defend Yizheng, and Murong Nobunaga of Taizhou had to bypass Yangzhou if he wanted to attack the Southern Tang army that had just landed from Guabu.

This road is not close, it is a small area of ​​200 miles, and the surrounding population is densely populated. It is impossible to come and go without a trace like in the northwest and grasslands.

The Southern Tang Army could completely use the local tycoons to set up short-distance sentinel points everywhere. The whereabouts of Zhou's army would be discovered even more than ten miles away. No matter how fast the war horses ran, they could not match the speed of the smoke.

Li Jingda also quickly adopted Bian Hao's suggestion. He personally led the main force from Guabu to the east to besiege Yizheng.

Then a large number of civilian and military generals who were originally from Dongdu were sent to various places to win over people's hearts. While regaining Dongdu, they also recruited athletes from various places and united rural soldiers to come to help in the war.

It has to be said that at this time, the Southern Tang Dynasty's mobilization power in the core Huainan and Jiangnan East Road was still very strong.

Before the officials of the Southern Tang Dynasty entered Yangzhou City, those Yangzhou officials who had taken refuge with Murong Nobunaga immediately changed their ways.

Feng Yanlu, the judge of Dongdu who had hid in a temple, also appeared on the streets of Yangzhou with a bald head.

It turned out that this guy actually put on silk robes and had his own hair done to pretend to be a monk, so he escaped the Zhou army's search.

This is also a clear proof of which side the people of Yangzhou, the eastern capital, are leaning towards. Feng Yanlu was hiding in Yangzhou, and Murong Nobunaga offered rewards several times but could not catch him.

When they wanted to attack Taizhou, Murong Nobunaga threatened them with a knife and finally managed to recruit less than 10,000 men.

Li Jingda of the Southern Tang Dynasty did not show up, so he sent a few officers and generals, and immediately mobilized more than 30,000 athletes around Yangzhou, plus hundreds of thousands of grains, and thousands of large and small boats.

This time, Zhao Kuangyin, who was stationed in Yizheng, was under great pressure.

About 50,000 people crossed the river from the Southern Tang Dynasty, and after recapturing Yangzhou, another 30,000 people were mobilized within a few days.

Although most of them are rural soldiers with poor training, the momentum is still amazing, and when fighting against the wind, beating the drum is still very useful.

This is also the reason why Zhao Kuangyin chose not to defend Yangzhou. In order to mobilize the Southern Tang Army, Murong Nobunaga could only divide his troops to attract them.

If he leaves 3,000 men to defend Yangzhou, then it is very likely that more than 100,000 people in Yangzhou, plus athletes from surrounding prefectures and counties, will be mobilized.

These people of the Southern Tang Dynasty colluded with each other inside and outside, and drowned three thousand of his people alive in Yangzhou in a sea of ​​people.

But it was different when it came to Yizheng. Zhao Kuangyin used a boat to transport 30,000 shi of grain down the river, so there was no shortage of food. Yizheng was not far from the river, and there was no need to worry about water.

As for the firewood for cooking, Yizheng City is still a small county town with a population of two to three thousand people. After burning its own firewood, it can still demolish the houses.

Of course, the most important reason is that there are no insiders here, they are all our own people, and we can calmly arrange defense.

Zhao Kuangyin also had enough confidence in Murong Nobunaga and these 10,000 comrades. If the Southern Tang Dynasty really came with 50,000 elite soldiers, it is hard to say whether the victory or defeat would be successful, or it would be very difficult to win.

But among the 70,000 to 80,000 people, there are less than 20,000 elites, so there is nothing to worry about.

On the eighth day of the fifth lunar month, the Southern Tang Army's main force was 30,000, with 30,000 rural soldiers recruited, plus 20,000 to 30,000 civilians. It was known as an army of 150,000. It surrounded Yizheng City from the east, west and north.

Yizheng City showed its weakness, with four closed gates and a two- to three-meter earth wall. Surrounded by nearly 100,000 people, it stood alone by the spring-filled river, like a bird about to

Like a skinny sheep eaten by a tiger.

However, Li Jingda's 'tiger' was more like a fat cat. At the beginning of the day (at one o'clock in the afternoon), the army began to gather on all sides, and the civilians and soldiers began to set up strongholds.

However, at the beginning of the Youshi period (five o'clock in the afternoon), not to mention setting up the stronghold, many soldiers and civilians had not even arrived at the designated position.

Most of the villages are just surrounded by bamboo or wooden fences, stone walls, and nothing else.

Li Jingda was also extremely dissatisfied and angrily ordered his guards to urge the officers of each battalion.

But managing so many people is not an easy task. First of all, he didn't make arrangements well.

The guards used chicken feathers as arrows and urged them with false pretense, which immediately made things even more chaotic.

In order to avoid being subject to military law, the officers of each battalion went everywhere to snatch materials that could be used to establish a stronghold. In the end, they even started fighting for civilians. The atmosphere was chaotic everywhere, and the speed was actually slower.

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If Li Jingda had clairvoyant eyes, he would have been shocked, because in Yizheng City, more than two thousand people had finished eating and drinking, and were putting on their helmets and shaking their armor.

Zhao Kuangyin was tightening the leather belt around the waist of a young cavalryman with ape-like arms. The cavalryman looked at Zhao Kuangyin, who was not much older than him, and chuckled.

"General, do you want to squeeze out the beef patty that I just ate?"

Zhao Kuangyin gently punched the breastplate on the young cavalry's chest, with a smile on his fat face.

"Eat some beef patties to see how beautiful you are. I heard that Jiangnan has a lot of delicacies. Once we destroy the army of Nanwu, I'll treat you to a meal of the best Jiangnan cuisine!"

When we were in Hexi, there was actually no shortage of beef, because the Tubo people had many long-haired cattle, and there were merchants who bought them, killed them, and sold them.

But this is rare in the Central Plains, where cattle are the main labor force.

In the current state of Zhou, if someone's cow dies, the meat must be reported to the pavilion chief and the village elder and approved by the county magistrate before the meat can be sold.

Generally, except when the army was about to fight a decisive battle, he could eat a meal of air-dried beef to improve morale, and Zhang Zhao didn't have to eat it.

"Jiangnan not only has delicious food, but also beauties? A certain family doesn't like our big girls from Hexi. No matter how good-looking they are, they can choke someone to death as soon as they speak. They are arrogant at home, and they also like to get physical.

I heard that the beauties from Jiangnan are so gentle. I saved five thousand dollars and decided to marry one back!"

A little man who looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old gathered around Dongxiang and said with a smile. His words immediately resonated.

In the eyes of these young people, Hexi women are indeed boring and cruel, because the Hexi women they can marry with their status are basically from well-heeled families, and both parties have basically equal status.

Moreover, under the influence of their father and brother, many Hexi women are able to wear armor, mount horses, and shoot arrows. They are very fierce. Of course, they are not as gentle as women from the Central Plains and Jiangnan.

Everyone was laughing and joking, not taking it as a big deal that they were about to raid tens of thousands of Southern Tang troops.

Because these cavalry are not ordinary people, 30% of them are from Hexi, and more than 70% are from Longyou, Hexi. The core elites are even Han descendants from Guasha and Shazhou.

These Guasha Erlangs are different from their father's generation. Their father's generation has become a bit older after Zhang Zhaodong returned.

Moreover, he also carries the identity of a traitor to the Zhang family, so both his skills and his closeness to Zhang Zhao are problematic.

But they were different. When Zhang Zhaodong returned, the younger ones were six or seven years old, and the older ones were about ten years old.

Moreover, they suffered hardships in their childhood, and then witnessed Zhang Zhao's rapid rise as teenagers, and experienced the improvement of their own status. Now everyone has a bright future.

Therefore, whether it is their closeness to Zhang Zhao or their own sense of pride and mission, it is very terrifying. In addition, they have received strict military training since childhood, and their combat effectiveness can be imagined.

Zhao Kuangyin looked very happy when he saw that all the soldiers under his command were fully equipped, but his heart was churning.

Because he knew the reason why Murong Nobunaga left the young man with him.

It's not because these young people have the strongest willpower and can complete tasks better, but because he, Zhao Kuangyin, can only command these young people.

In front of these young people, although he, General Zhao Lang, was from Luoyang, the capital of the gods, he was Murong Nobunaga's 'horseman' and was the first Central Plains person to serve in Hexi. Moreover, the saint also admired him very much, so he could be regarded as half

Hexi people.

However, no matter whether they are the Yuan Cong Sect, the Donggui Sect, or the Conglong Sect in Longyou, Hexi Province, no one who is a little older will really obey the command of Zhao Kuangyin, a handsome young man.

Zhao Kuangyin took a deep breath. He knew that if he wanted to make further progress in a short time, he could only take the path of becoming the adopted son of a saint, because in this way, he could convince the public.

However, Zhao Da asked his father Zhao Hongyin to ask all the relatives in the family, but there was no suitable beauty.

Well, it’s not like there are none, it’s just that you got married early and have several children.

Otherwise, he can learn from Li Cunhui and present a beautiful aunt, and then he can be promoted to an adopted son.

Now that there is no beautiful aunt to 'betray', there is only one way.

Rely on military exploits!

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Xue Guizhong, who was born in three families in Xinqiuci, was a small man. He slipped out of the observation cart like a macaque. As soon as he landed, he began to write and draw on the white paper prepared.

Zhao Kuangyin also surrounded him with officers from generals and above, and Xue Guizhong quickly drew out the formation of the Southern Tang Army to the west.

"The Juma on this side is the slowest to stand up. Now there is only one row of Juma from here to here. On both sides of the Juma, there are about two troops commanded by the army on each side.

There were many flags in the formation. We did not see the flags of the main force of the Southern Wu Forbidden Army and the Jiangning Prefecture County Soldiers' Healthy Army. Instead, we saw a large number of flags of the Jing Navy.

If the coach of Nanwu hadn't set up a doubtful formation, the west side would be their weak point."

The so-called Jing Haijun is of course not the Jing Haijun of the Southern Han Dynasty. In fact, the Southern Tang Dynasty, Qian Yue, and Nan Han Dynasty all had the military number Jing Haijun.

The Jinghai Navy of the Southern Han Dynasty was of course located in the hometown of Jiaozhi. It was first established by the Tang Dynasty and later separatized as a vassal town by Qu Chengyu. It was recovered by the Southern Han Dynasty more than 20 years later and then lost again.

Qian Yue's Jinghai navy was Wenzhou, and he was called the Jinghai Jiedushi of Wenzhou.

The Jinghai Navy of the Southern Tang Dynasty was located in Nantong, Jiangsu Province in later generations. Although the Jinghai Navy of the Southern Tang Dynasty was only a zhizhiyuan, it was actually a separatist regime within the Southern Tang Dynasty.

This is because the predecessor of the Southern Tang Dynasty Jinghai Navy Zhizhiyuan was the Dongzhou Zhenjishi of the Tang Dynasty. The Zhenjishi Yao Cunzhi had been separatist here for more than thirty years and had always supported Yang Xingmi in his wars with Sun Ru and Qian Liu.

After Xu Zhigao (Li Min) usurped the throne, Yao Cunzhi went to court in person to confirm the Yao family's status as a separate power in the Southern Tang Dynasty.

You must know that Nantong is not far from Nanjing. There is a semi-separatist regime in such a close place, and the Southern Tang court cannot be unprepared.

Therefore, Jing Haijun's supplementary equipment and salary in the Southern Tang Dynasty were at the bottom.

The Yao family's land of Jinghai and Haijun could not support many soldiers and horses. Not to mention armored men, they didn't even have many cowhide armors. The elite could only have about a thousand people at most.

And he is better at water fighting. If he fights head-on on land, his combat effectiveness will be very low.

Everyone looked at Zhao Kuangyin. Only he could make this decision.
To be continued...