The old Marshal Qu Tutong stood in the hall like an iron tower, his eyes bright and his voice was like a bell.

"Your Majesty, I would like to transfer back to Prince Dong, Li Ji, and return to Jiangxia."

When Zhang Chao led his army to the north from the coast and bypassed the Wuling Pass, Li Ji, the imperial court, could not conquer the Wuling again, so it was no longer necessary for Li Ji, a 100,000 army, to continue to stay in Jiuyi Mountain.

Especially the Southern Army had already attacked Jiangxi, and Raozhou and Hongzhou were seized one after another. The next step was Hongzhou. At that time, Jiangxi was occupied by the Southern Army on three sides of the north and south, but in fact, Jiangxi was lost.

If he doesn't withdraw Li Ji's elite troops quickly, he will be trapped in Hunan and cannot get out.

For the current court, Li Ji is extremely rare to be a loyal general, and the 100,000 elite soldiers under his command are also extremely important.

"Qu Tongtu, do you mean that you still have to take the initiative to give up south of the Yangtze River?" Li Shimin asked, with a bad expression.

"Your Majesty, you really have to make the worst plan now. If we take the initiative to deploy heavy troops in Jingxiang, we can still have the initiative. If we still go to Jiangxi and Hunan to compete, once we are defeated, the court will have no room for buffering."

"Northern Tang, Southern Tang."

Li Shimin laughed loudly, the more he laughed, the more ferocious he became.

"I want the important town of Jingxiang and the fortress, how could I be afraid of Zhang Chao?"

"Your Majesty, there is no danger in the world that cannot be defeated. Although Tongguan is dangerous, Xiang Yu once entered it, Cao Cao once entered it, and Liu Yu also entered it."

"Although Qutang is dangerous, Cen Peng once entered it, and Huan Wen once entered it."

"Although Jiange is dangerous, after all, Xing Luan once entered it, and Yuchi Jiong once entered it."

"Even if the Yangtze River is dangerous, the Jin army once crossed it, and the Sui army once crossed it."

"Although Jingxiang is dangerous, you should not rely on it!"

The old coach said nothing to the emperor.

a long time.

"Let Li Ji organize another big offensive. If he really can't defeat it, he will retreat and retreat to Tanzhou, Jiangzhou and Ezhou, thinking it is the barrier of Xiangyang."

········

Yangzhou.

The imperial court of the State Responsible has moved here from Guangzhou.

Yangzhou Yacheng.

It has recovered its vitality and has even returned to the prosperity before the turmoil this year. As soon as the Southern Army arrived, large amounts of gold and silver from the ground were raised, and a large number of gold and silver coins and new notes transported by ship ended the financial chaos in Yangzhou.

The market is stable and people are at peace.

The artillery battle a month ago only collapsed a corner of Yangzhou City.

The artillery battle did not last long. After the Southern Army collapsed a corner of Yangzhou's outer city, Cheng Mingzhen and Yang Hongli finally chose to surrender.

Since the city has been destroyed, even if you forcefully resist, it will only increase casualties.

When Zhang Chao entered the city, he did fulfill his promise and did not kill a single person in Yangzhou.

The officials basically served as usual, but the Southern Army took over the city defense barracks, and the treasury supplies were handed over to the Southern Army.

Cheng Mingzhen and Yang Hongli did not choose to leave, but were willing to stay.

Anyway, everything will get better quickly.

Even the bombed city wall was quickly repaired.

Zhang Chao also sent people to strengthen the embankment, and also accepted the resettlement of victims, transferred grain, established resettlement camps, etc.

Everything is orderly.

The Right Army led by Prince Chengqian also swept across most of Huainan. Now the entire Huainan has been captured by the Southern Army, and Chengqian has also returned to Yangzhou City.

There is also excellent news that Zhang Chao's wives, concubines and children have also returned to Yangzhou one after another. Thanks to the actions of the Southern Army, they were able to arrive in the Southern District in advance and there was no need to work hard to travel to Guangzhou.

During this period, wives, concubines and children rushed to Yangzhou to reunite.

Everyone was very happy, only Cui Yingying and Lu Siniang were much haggard. One lost his daughter and the other lost his son.

When Cui Yingying saw Zhang Chao for the first time, she said the first thing she said was, "We must avenge Xia Hua!"

Zhang Chao agreed to her.

The temporary cabinet yamen in Yangzhou.

A cabinet meeting is being held.

The cabinet meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Zhang Chao, and the Hanlin Academy, the Censorate, Dali Temple, Parliament and other departments that were not affiliated with the cabinet did not participate, and the prince did not add it.

Under normal circumstances, the prince does not attend the cabinet meeting.

The six ministries led by the cabinet, the temple supervisors and the heads of various departments of the Privy Council attended the meeting.

Today's meeting mainly discusses the next steps.

Is it an offense or a timeout?

If you attack, where to attack?

"The Hanjing court has sent an envoy to come and proposes to temporarily quit the war, saying that the floods are raging and the people are suffering. The court hopes to consider with us for the people of the world, stop the war and rescue the victims together."

Zhang Chao sat there and said to everyone with a smile.

"This is just a delaying strategy for the court, and we must not be fooled by them. If we agree to a quit, they will definitely dispatch troops and generals from all over the country, adjust their deployment, and even mobilize various foreign troops from the northern grasslands and the northeast to move south."

"Yes, we should not give Han Jing this breathing opportunity. We should take advantage of the momentum and attack Han Jing directly."

Zhang Chao and Cheng Qian basically reached a consensus, that is, not to directly attack Hanjing for the time being. The closer they get to Hanjing, the more elite the soldiers there are, the more loyal the soldiers are to the emperor. Moreover, in the capital area, not only are there a large number of elite imperial guards, but many military prefectures have been established, and these prefectures are the most elite.

However, he had to get the ministers of the governor's court to agree with his strategy.

First, he had to convince his cabinet.

"I can understand your idea of ​​conquering Hanjing in one fell swoop, but we must also consider that it has been only half a year since we started the army and have captured nearly half of the country. The road is smooth and unexpected. However, our expansion is too fast and our foundation is unstable. At the moment, the south is flooded and the people are suffering from disasters, so we cannot ignore the people at this time. Otherwise, even if we take Hanjing, it will be very difficult to clean up the mess this time."

"It is reported that the flood in the south has now drowned more than 200,000 people, which is quite amazing. If we do not rescue it in time, we are afraid that the number of deaths will be even greater, especially the famine after the disaster, and the plague will be quite serious."

Several cabinet ministers frowned a little.

They didn't understand why Zhang Chao had to pour cold water at this time.

"Of course, if we do not attack Hanjing immediately, it does not mean that we will stagnate. The people in Jiangxi and Hunan are still suffering from floods, but the court is unable to rescue them. We have this responsibility to help them. Our next stage is to organize fleets and rescue personnel to rush to Jiangxi and Hunan to rescue the people affected there."

"If one side is in trouble, all sides will support you."

"Didn't Hanjing say that he would have to truce the war to rescue the people? I think we can talk about it. We proposed a disaster relief area with Hanjing, and each of them was divided into pieces. If we can do more, we will complete the two areas south of the Yangtze River, Huainan and Huainbei."

"The court can evacuate their personnel in these places and hand them over to us to organize disaster relief."

"Disaster relief is divided into pieces!"

A group of ministers admired Zhang Chao's mouth very much. It was clearly divided into spheres of influence, but it sounded so nice, such as the disaster relief area.

But if the court can really agree, then this matter is really a big deal.

In this way, the imperial court will completely lose its sea estuaries south of the Yangtze River and coastal areas.

"I'm afraid the court won't agree."

If you really can agree, there will be ghosts. If you agree, will it become the two courts of the Northern and Southern Tang dynasties?

"It doesn't matter whether we agree or not. Anyway, they are the ones who proposed a ceasefire and disaster relief. When we responded to their proposal, they refused, and that's them. The people will see how insincere the court is. And we will take practical actions and immediately organize ships, manpower and disaster relief supplies to the disaster area in Hunan, Jiangxi for rescue."

This is to take action first and then report.

Whether the court allowed it or not, Zhang Chao was already determined to annex the Jiangxi and Hunan.

From a military geography perspective, if you want to gain a foothold in Jiangnan, then there is a prerequisite: defending the river must defend the Huai River. The defense pattern in the southeast is a multi-level defense system based on the Yangtze River and Huai River.

In the confrontation between the north and the south, the south mainly relies on the Yangtze River and the Huai River. The Huai River and the Yangtze River are in the opposite direction and play a dual role in barriers. Managing the Huai River also has the dual significance of defense and active offense. Those who have protected the Jiangnan in the past dynasties were very clear about the relationship between the Huai River and the Yangtze River. To defend the river, one must defend the Huai River, which is a consensus among the Southern Dynasty.

There are two places where the Yi Ferry is in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, one is Caishi Ferry, and the other is Guazhou Ferry, which is located in the upstream and downstream of Jiankang. On the south bank of these two ferries, there are Jingkou and Caishi, respectively, and Guangling and Liyang, respectively, on the north bank. These have always been guarded by heavy troops.

On the Huaihe River line, there are also important military towns, mainly guarding the intersection of the Huaihe River tributaries and the Huaihe River.

In Huaixi, it is mainly Zhongli and Shouchun, and in Huaidong, it is mainly Shanyang and Xuyi. Shouchun is opposite Yingkou, blocking the enemy coming from the upper reaches of the Ying River and Huai River, and Zhongli is opposite Wokou, blocking the rush of Wohe River.

The main tributary of the lower reaches of the Huai River is Sishui.

In ancient times, the Si River flowed southeast of Shandong and entered the Huai River near Huai'an. The Huai-Si River Road has been a major water transportation route between north and south since ancient times. Shanyang and Xuyi controlled the direction of Si River. In this direction, if you take a positive attitude, you can also manage Xuzhou to explore the Huanghuai River. When you have strong strength, you can go out to Huaibei to advance to the Central Plains.

Generally, if the Southern Dynasty threw the Huaihe line, it would be almost over.

Of course, if you want to conserve the south, there is another important condition, which is to control Jingxiangyang and Bashu in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Especially Jingxiang, if Jingxiang is lost, the southern court will not be able to defend it.

Because Jingxiang is located in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, it has a natural strategic advantage.

For this reason, after Zhang Chao seized Jiangnan Road, he immediately took advantage of the flood and dispatched his entire army to seize Huainan first, and then send troops to attack Jiangxi.

Even if Xiangyang cannot be taken, at least Jingzhou must be taken down.

This is a major strategic point. After taking Huainan, if Jiangxi and Hunan are taken, they will no longer be afraid of the counterattack of the court.

Jianghuai and Jingxiang are the two major foundations that the southern court must seize.
Chapter completed!