After Zhao Tai arranged the defense of Shandong, he immediately led his army southward.

Both Li Fen and Wu Xian wanted to show off and strive to be the vanguard. Zhao Tai thought twice and asked Li Fen to lead his troops first.

Among the three towns of the Qi army, Zhongyi and Wuwei are relatively strong, while Ninghai's equipment and training are much worse.

Zhao Tai did not let the more powerful Wu Xian be the vanguard, but chose Li Fen. First, Li Fen had just expressed his surrender, and Zhao Tai wanted to give him a chance to make meritorious deeds so that he would have a sense of participation.

In addition, they will definitely encounter the main force of the Mongolian army this time when they go south. Zhao Tai hopes that Zhongyi and Wuwei can have more time to recharge their batteries.

On the other hand, although Zhao Tai sent troops southward, he knew that he was still no match for the main force of the Mongolian army.

If the Qi army's vanguard is too strong, it will inevitably attract the Mongolian army's attention and attract more Mongolian troops to fight against the Qi army.

If the strength of the attracted Mongolian army exceeds the limit that the Qi army can handle, it will be difficult for Zhao Tai to win.

Because the Mongolian army adjusted its strategy and attacked the Southern Song Dynasty with all its strength, hoping to force the Southern Song Dynasty to withdraw from the war first, there was almost no defense on the north bank of the Huaihe River.

The Mongolian troops stationed on the north bank saw the Qi army approaching and did not dare to resist. They retreated to the pontoon bridge on the Huaihe River and destroyed the pontoon bridge connecting the north bank.

On the south bank of the Huaihe River, outside Chuzhou City, is the Mongolian army camp.

The Mongolian army saw that the city of Chuzhou was fortified and difficult to capture, so they left Wanhu Sawu'er and nearly 10,000 cavalry to monitor the Song army in Chuzhou. Kublai Khan and Wu Liang joined forces and led the army south to attack Yangzhou.

At this time, Sawur was in the tent, having sex with the kidnapped woman. A soldier came in through the curtain and reported urgently, "Wanhu, Zhao Taina is fighting on the other side!"

"Ah!" Sawur was a little surprised and pushed the woman in his arms to the ground.

After the Mongolian army withdrew from Shandong, they expected that Zhao Tai's fellow would come out to cause trouble, but they did not expect that he would not be satisfied after regaining the prefectures and counties in Shandong, and would dare to go south to intervene in the war between Mongolia and Song Dynasty.

Sawur stood up with a sinister look in his eyes, "How many people are here?"

"Report to thousands of households, the warriors who have withdrawn reported that the bandits were overwhelming, marching down the east bank of the Yellow River, with banners covering the sky and smoke billowing, and there were tens of thousands of them." The soldier said urgently.

Sawur's expression became serious, and Zhao Tai led his army over, obviously to rescue the Southern Song Dynasty.

Now Prince Kublai Khan is in a hurry to attack Yangzhou. The Southern Song Dynasty is about to be frightened out of fear. It is just a matter of time before the Southern Song Dynasty surrenders.

At this time, allowing Zhao Tai to cross the Huai River and influence Prince Kublai Khan's attack on the city would affect the plan of forcing the Southern Song Dynasty to surrender.

Sawur thought of this and stood up abruptly, "Send the order to destroy the ships immediately to prevent the southerners from secretly communicating with the Zhao thieves, and then send a messenger to inform Prince Kublai Khan that the Zhao thieves are approaching the Huaihe River."

"Yes!" The soldier obeyed the order and hurried out.

After the invasion of the Southern Song Dynasty, Sawu'er relaxed for a while. Now that Zhao Tai led the troops, he could no longer calm down and enjoy. He turned around and picked up the saber and helmet hanging on the shelf, and hurried out of the tent, leading the

The cavalry went on inspection.

Sawul led the cavalry to the shore. Looking from a distance, he could vaguely see a huge camp on the north shore.

Sawur reined in his horse, stared at it for a while, then turned around and shouted: "Send the order, and ask each thousand households to send sentries and patrols. Once they find the enemy crossing the river, they must not have a stable foothold, and they will be defeated in one fell swoop and the enemy will be driven away.

Go into the river and feed the fish.”

.........

As the vanguard of the entire army, Li Fen first arrived at the north bank of the Huaihe River and stationed himself at the camp.

One day later, Zhao Tai led the main force to arrive. Tens of thousands of horses entered the camp, and then led several cavalry to the edge of the Huaihe River to check.

Everyone found a high ground and stationed their horses. They glanced at the Huaihe River and saw that the river was wide and misty.

Li Fen pointed at the remaining wooden piles and planks on the river with his riding whip, "Your Majesty, when the Mongols retreated, they burned down the pontoon bridge erected on it."

The Yellow River takes the Huai River and flows into the sea, making the water surface of the lower reaches of the Huai River extremely wide, no less than that of the Yangtze River.

Such a wide water area was originally the place where the navy could use its force. However, the Mongolian army attacked Yangzhou and captured Guazhou and other ferries, directly threatening the south of the Yangtze River. The navy of the Southern Song Dynasty concentrated on the Yangtze River to set up defenses, so there was no Song army navy on the Huaihe River.

Zhao Tai frowned, "The pontoon bridge has been destroyed. Are there any boats nearby to cross the river?"

Li Fen shook his head, "Most of the ships along the coast were taken away by the Mongolian army. I sent soldiers to search, but only found some small boats."

Just as he was saying this, thick smoke suddenly rose from many places on the south bank. Wu Xian was startled and said: "Look, Your Majesty!"

Zhao Tai raised his hand to look, but could not see clearly, so he reached for the telescope, pulled it away and looked, only to find that the Mongolian army on the south bank was burning ships.

"They are burning the boat!" Zhao Tai said in a deep voice.

Li Fen frowned, "The Mongols must be sick! The boats on the south coast are also on fire!"

Zhao Tai stroked his short beard and said, "The Mongolian army burned, killed, and looted on the south bank. They committed all kinds of evil and were unpopular with the people. When the people knew that Gu was coming with his troops, there would be warriors coming in boats. The Mongolian army was afraid that the people would quietly drive away the boats, so

Burn it with fire."

Zhao Tai was born in Shandong, but he had a high prestige in Jianghuai, and his legend began to be popular among the people very early.

Wu Xian looked at the rolling river, "Now that the pontoon is destroyed and there is no ferry, how can we cross the river?"

Wang Bin shook his feather fan, stared at the river, and suddenly saluted: "Your Majesty! The Huaihe River is thousands of miles long. It is impossible for the Mongols to destroy all the ferries. For the people who make a living by fishing and ferrying, the boats are their entire property.

There must be people who will hide the boats. I think that the king can post a proclamation to recruit ferries, and all the people who bring boats to cast a boat will be given a certain reward, and there will definitely be fishermen with boats to help."

Zhao Tai nodded slightly, not only could he get a boat to cross the river, but he could even get a naval army.

The future defense strategy of the Three Qi Dynasties is to change the course of the Yellow River and surround Qi with rivers and seas.

In this way, it is imperative to build a navy.

Zhao Tai was quite satisfied with Wang Bin's strategy. If fishermen and boat owners were summoned to help, the Qi army would be able to form a water camp, which would be of great use in the future whether it was to defend Mongolia or to counter the Song army.

"This is a good strategy!" Zhao Tai muttered: "But there are Mongolian troops patrolling the other side. The army must cross enough people and horses at one time to gain a foothold on the south bank. I'm afraid the ships gathered are not enough!"

Although Kublai Khan attacked Yangzhou, it was impossible not to set up defenses against Zhao Tai.

Therefore, Zhao Tai guessed that there must be Mongolian cavalry stationed on the south bank.

Although the Mongolian army was not used to water warfare and could not stop the Qi army on the Huaihe River, it could defend itself on the beach.

If there were too few boats, thousands of people would be ferried at a time, and they would be driven into the river by the Mongolian army as soon as they got off the boat.

After all, the landing soldiers had just landed and could not establish a position or formation. If the Mongolian cavalry charged, the landing troops would surely die.
Chapter completed!