While Tuo Huan was planning to seize the military and political power of Yangzhou City, the Song army camp had moved forward with the army and went down to the camp five miles away from the city. There were occasional controversy in the emperor's imperial tent, and the guards set up a cordon ten feet outside the imperial tent, forbidding everyone to approach. Even if the tea and water were served, Wang De, the master of the Daouyi, was responsible for the responsibility of serving tea and pouring water. Obviously, this was an extremely secret meeting.

"Your Majesty, my subordinates think that the Mongolian Yuan invaders should go south after leaving Gaoyou and make an attitude of rushing to Yangzhou. After reaching Jiangdu, he suddenly turned east and bypassed Taizhou occupied by our army, drove straight to Taixing, and then set up a floating bridge at the mouth of Mohekou to cross the river. This route is the shortest distance, and you can unexpectedly appear in Jiangnan!" Ying Xi pointed at the sand table and said.

"I dare not agree with the person who is in charge. At present, our navy has already gone to Shaobo Town, and the land brigade has also controlled the ferry along the river. Therefore, my subordinates think that the enemy invading the south will avoid the canal, take the Gaoyi Avenue, and cross the Guyan River in Yiling Town. In this way, we can divide the connection between our army's camp and Taizhou, and also make a rescue to Yangzhou, and then suddenly turn east to Taixing." Chen Fenglin shook his head and gestured on the sand table.

"Tong Chen, it is true that if the Mongol Yuan went to Yiling Town, he could divide the connection between the camp and Taizhou, but also because of our attack, wouldn't he be afraid that we would block the southward path?" Ying Xi waved his hand and insisted on his opinion.

"Well, it makes sense. What does Chief Chen think?" Zhao Bing asked with his chin and turned his face.

"The subordinates insisted that this would be the case. The enemy was mainly composed of the cavalry. They only needed to leave some of the troops to entangle with us and could pass quickly. And they chose this road to marching to cover up the intention of the south invasion and take advantage of the situation to change the way." Chen Fenglin said.

"In this way, the Mongolian army has exposed their intentions and given us the opportunity and time to warn Jiangnan!" Ying Xi smiled.

"Well, it's good. But intelligence shows that in order to speed up the march, the Mongolian army heading south only prepared food and grass for ten days. Only by crossing the river to capture Changzhou at the fastest speed can we obtain supplies and continue to move south." Chen Fenglin frowned and said a little vaguely.

"This is even more impossible. They want to cross the river from here, and Jiangyin is opposite. Our army has tens of thousands of soldiers here. They will find it difficult to succeed without the help of the navy. Even if they succeed in crossing the river by luck, Changzhou's city is solid and it is not possible to conquer it in a short time. If they are long, they will be besieged by reinforcements and will not be able to achieve their purpose of invasion in the south." Tan Fei interrupted at this time.

"Tong Tan is right. The Mongolian and Yuan army will not go along the canal invasion south, otherwise it will be difficult to obtain enough food and forage!" Ni Liang said at this time.

"Tong Ni, the Mongolian army marched to drive away cattle and sheep, as a way to replenish supplies, how can there be food and grass?" Ying Xi waved his hand with a smile.

"When I was in charge, have you heard from Your Majesty that after the Mongols entered the Central Plains, not only would their living habits gradually change, but would also make adjustments in marching and wars. However, if they could not accept it, it would lead to their combat effectiveness being burdened by logistics, resulting in a decline in combat effectiveness, and would eventually be defeated by us!" Ni Liang was very surprised that he could say such words and said in a twisted manner.

"Your Majesty said these words for the first time in Qiongzhou. It is normal that Ying Zheng has never heard of them!" Seeing Ying Xi showing confusion, Chen Fenglin pulled Ni Liang and said.

"No wonder, but these have been edited into a book for military generals to learn. You should check it out in your spare time!" Ni Liang said with a silly smile as if he was aware of it.

"Where will the enemy invading the south take the way?" Ying Xi was still a little dissatisfied. He knew that the little emperor was still a student of his father, so he asked back.

"I thought Yuxi Timur would walk like this!" Ni Liang drew a route on the sand table.

"How is it possible? In this way, the enemy will have to walk half of the distance, which will increase the difficulty of their supply on the way!" Ying Xi curled his lips and said loudly.

"Ni Liang said the most likely!" Zhao Bing smiled. He came with memories of his previous life. Of course, he knew that the reason why the Mongolian army was invincible was that in addition to being king of cavalry and shooting, as nomadic people, the fundamental reason why they were able to carry out such a long-distance high-speed expedition was the lifestyle of the Mongolian army as herders and the structure of the entire Mongolian army, which enabled them to always rely on their powerful mobility to appear in unexpected places where the enemy could not expect.

During the Mongolian army's war, domestic animals often followed the army on a large scale. These domestic animals, whether they are horses, camels, or cattle and sheep, are actually very important production tools. Especially, horses and camels can not only be used to fight and carry goods, but most importantly, these two are often the sources of some necessities for Mongolian soldiers' daily lives.

When Mongolian soldiers went on a war, they would carry a thomas alone. The function of these horses is not only to change cavalry during combat, but also dairy products made from the milk of mares are also an important food source for Mongolian soldiers. Moreover, horsetails and horse mane can also be used to make ropes. Livestock manure is a very important source of fuel, and it can be said that the food is used to the extreme.

Of course, carrying livestock alone is naturally not enough to solve all the problems. Especially the large number of horse herds, camels, cattle and sheep that accompanied the Mongolian army's advance, the forage and fresh water they need are naturally quite large. Therefore, the marching and conquest of the Mongolian army often must rely on abundant pastures to provide support.

It is also because of this that before the Mongolian army set out, they usually send small groups of cavalry, or rely on merchants to collect intelligence to ensure that the army's livestock will not suffer serious losses due to insufficient food and drinking water. If the Mongolian expedition is compared with the migration routes of other nomadic peoples of all generations, they will find that the two have an astonishing overlap, which shows the dependence of the Mongolian march on the grassland.

During the Mongolian conquering the Middle East, a phenomenon often occurred in that the Mongols consciously destroyed the local farmland irrigation system. On the one hand, this was to dismantle the local resistance ability, and another very important reason was to force the farmland to be abandoned, so it was converted into a pasture by the Mongols to facilitate marching and use.

However, this rather "unethical" approach was also used in the early stages of conquering the Central Plains, but not every time it worked. In the Jordan Valley area, Hulagu evacuated the main force only without a single branch, which was largely because the pastures in the Jordan Valley area were not enough to maintain the huge herd of the Mongolian army. The failure of the Mongols in the Battle of Ainjalu was largely because the pastures in the Jordan Valley area were not enough to maintain the huge army of the Mongols.

However, the Mongols actually did not consider the issue of restricted grasslands. In the Middle East, where the terrain is relatively complex and the population is concentrated, the Mongolians' habitual dependence on herds is often difficult to work. Correspondingly, the Mongols can only solve the logistical problems caused by the scarcity of grasslands by establishing administrative means locally and taxing the conquered areas.

To summarize, the reason why the Mongolian cavalry in the Mongolian era of conquest is that in addition to their strong combat effectiveness, their characteristics in logistics support also determine their combat scope and way of maintaining combat effectiveness were difficult for Eurasian countries to fight against. It is precisely because of this that the Mongols could complete such amazing expansion and conquest. Or, if the Mongolian cavalry moved, they would be invincible in the world, so they destroyed one civilization after another, but they could not always move...

"It is still the first time that the Dutong Ni gets the moon near the water tower. After receiving the careful guidance of His Majesty, he can see the paths in it at a glance!" Chen Fenglin bowed to Ni Liang, "The current enemy we are facing has been farming on both sides of the Huaihe River for many years and has given up nomadic life. Nowadays, cattle are used to plow fields, and we all have treasures. How can we bear to kill and make dry food, or fight with the army as supplies. The sheep will eat crops and will not shepherd on a large scale. How can they collect so many cattle and sheep in a short time and go on the road with the army?"

"Well, Ni Dutong was just right." Tan Fei also thought it was a local saying, "Yuxi Timuer moved south this time and mobilized 100,000 troops, and the war horses would be multiples. They could only choose to march away from the military farm, but they would probably send a side division to Yangzhou to numb our army. And they were circling Taizhou because it was eroded by saline and alkaline erosion near the sea canal, and it was not suitable for farming. There were no large-scale military farms, so the land was barren and covered with weeds, which had always been used for horse herding. Moreover, there were many salt fields along the way, forming many towns. They could get food supplies from it, and they did not need to use the supplies they carried, which were used for crossing the river."

"Then where do you think they will cross the river?" Zhao Bing agreed to the analysis of the two, nodded and asked again.

"The subordinates thought that Yuxi Timur would choose to cross the river in Jiangkou Town, Tongzhou. The water surface is narrow and during the dry season, it is very suitable for carrying ships or buoyant bridges. Moreover, there are very few troops stationed opposite us, only a few fortresses as early warnings, and they are unable to resist the army's crossing the river. At the same time, Jiangkou Town is close to Jingzhou and Lifeng Supervisors, which can provide cover for their assembly, and facilitate mobilizing husbands and requisition of ships to assist them in crossing the river." Tan Fei pointed out the route drawn by Ni Liang on the sand table to explain, but his face suddenly changed, "It's broken..."

"What's wrong?" Chen Fenglin was startled by his shock and asked anxiously.

"This place is only a hundred miles away from Changshu. If you force yourself to march, it will only take one day!" Tan Fei said on Changshu on the sand table.

"Your Majesty..." Several people changed their color after hearing this, and looked at the little emperor in surprise.

"That's right, not all the enemies we face are fools. Yuxi Timur is our current strong enemy!" Zhao Bing said with great effort, but his face was quiet, as if all this was long before he expected.

"I didn't expect that the reason why the troops were suspected. It was fake to capture Changzhou, and it was real to capture Changshu!" Ying Xi was not calm and shook his head. The information they received from spies from the affairs bureau said that Yuxi Timuer wanted to seize Changzhou to obtain supplies, and then continued to move south. He never expected that it was real or fake, and even all the generals under his command had deceived him.

"As soon as Changshu loses, it will be difficult to trap them!" Ni Liang also frowned and said.

Although Changzhou and Changshu are only one word different, they are thousands of miles apart. Changshu is bordered by the Yangtze River in the northeast, Taicang in the southeast, Kunshan in the south, Jiangyin in the west, Wuxi in the west, and water transportation is convenient. It is named after the "fertile soil paste and no water and drought disasters every year". It is a famous grain-producing area in the south of the Yangtze River. After the recovery of Jiangnan, Zhao Bing formed the Yangtze River defense line and set up a series of material transit stations in depth to facilitate supply to the front. Changshu is located in a hub and is also a major grain-producing area, so it was selected as a place to hoard materials.

However, Changshu has always been a county town. Although it was built in the Western Jin Dynasty, it was not until the Song Dynasty that it built a moat and had the prototype of a city. However, it was still a small town with a city that was only more than 130 meters in circumference, with a city wall of only one meter high and four feet thick, with bamboo and wood as a barn, and no building. At first glance, this kind of city wall has no defensive ability at all. In fact, without attachments, it can only be considered a large courtyard wall.

After Changshu was selected as a place for material transfer, the city was expanded. However, according to regulations, in the Song Dynasty, except for the capital and prefecture units, county-level city walls were mostly at the level of ten to fifteen feet, and some city walls were less than ten feet. The tops of such city walls were narrow, with low battlements or no battlements at all. The city wall itself basically had no defense capabilities, and mostly relied on the fortifications attached to the city wall such as war sheds to raise the city wall and build a combat platform.

However, this expansion was also built in accordance with the highest regulations of the county town. The city wall was fifteen feet high, the battlements were three feet seven inches thick and two feet thick, the wall was twelve feet wide at the bottom and five feet wide at the top. However, the city wall was still a rammed earth city with no bricks. However, this was already considered a middle-level county-level city wall in the Song Dynasty. In order to hoard materials, the city was expanded and Yushan outside the city also included the part. Moreover, Changshu was originally a water town, and the waterways in the urban area were intertwined like a net. At that time, shipping was developed, and water gates were set up to facilitate the transportation of materials.

After some series of transformations, Changshu City still has the problem of poor city defense facilities, so it can only rely on city walls such as war sheds to conduct defensive operations. However, in the era of cold weapons where the siege lacks siege equipment such as siege machines and lacks the ability to attack, it can be said to have a defensive effect.
Chapter completed!