Zhao Bing and Wang Yinglin had a late talk overnight, expressing his attitude, but out of caution and confidentiality, he decided to let him return to Beijing to report the current situation to several priests. The next day, he asked him to return to Lin'an because he had a physical condition and needed to go back to Beijing to recuperate. Before leaving, he repeatedly reminded him to quickly discuss with several priests after returning to Beijing, find out the bottom line, make a decision in five days, and give it a quick return and do not delay.

At the same time, in order to ensure that the enemy invasion led by Yuxi Timur could be wiped out, Zhao Bing began to adjust his troops deployment. He informed the changes in the enemy situation and the Yangzhou return plan to the Jiangdong commander Zhao Mengqi, and ordered him to uniformly dispatch all the troops and to wipe out the enemies invading the south. He also ordered him to re-formulate a combat plan based on the changes in the enemy situation and the allocation of troops and report in a timely manner.

Originally, Zhao Bing was going to inform the Huguang General Office after a decision was made in the court, but after thinking about it over and over again, he thought that time was tight. After the results were found in Beijing, he realized that the time for the Huguang General Office was too hasty. Although there was a detailed combat plan for the use of troops in Huaixi, the scale of the troops was large and the combat field was wide, and the two units needed to cooperate in combat. Obviously, the combat plan formulated previously was no longer applicable and had to be modified and adjusted.

The key point of this battle is to take advantage of the fact that most of the enemy troops in the Huaihe River were annihilated and the Mongolian Yuan court had not yet responded and mobilized troops to reinforce the Huaihe River. Its side swept across the remaining enemy troops in the Huaihe River region with a thunderous force and quickly occupied the strategic key points. However, this requires a complete combat plan in advance and to take action immediately as soon as the order is received.

However, in this major battle, the Huguang Control Department alone used tens of thousands of troops. If there is no clear strategic goals, perfect plans and quick response, it will rush around the battlefield like a group of headless flies, let alone cooperate with friendly forces. In addition, huge logistical support is required, which also requires recruiting husbands and mobilizing supplies, and being able to be in place after the battle breaks out, and this requires time to prepare.

Considering the battle plan, Zhao Bing decided to give Jiang Jian a piss so as not to be caught off guard for a while. At present, the Huguang Division is responsible for the logistics and military support tasks of the Western Army, and is also distracted from the matter of conquering Yunnan. It is necessary to consider how many troops can be drawn to participate in the recovery of the two Huai Rivers. At the same time, we must be wary of the two "rogues" of Annan and Chameng taking advantage of the situation to rob and harass Guangxi. This is not without precedent in history.

It is precisely because the Huguang Division was responsible for more heavy military affairs and the deployment of the troops was scattered, Zhao Bing had to make more considerations when mobilizing his troops to avoid losing sight of the other. Therefore, in his letter to Jiang Jin, he asked him to keep the matter of regaining the two Huai Rivers for the time being, but the troops should mobilize in advance in the name of preparing to reinforce the Huai East battlefield, concentrate in areas with convenient transportation, and distribute ammunition and food to regiment-level baggage teams at the level of the battle. At the same time, he gathered the navy, collected merchant ships, and prepared to cross the river. Strengthen the reconnaissance of the enemy in front of the enemy, especially the deployment, transportation and population of the prefectures in Xiangyang, and make a defense plan after the capture of Xiangfan and the recovery of the Huaixi region.

Zhao Bing also knew that he issued a war mobilization order without the negotiations between the two provinces. It was suspected of being autocratic and might trigger the advice of the ministers. But he did not intend to do so. On the surface, he actively solicited opinions from the two provinces and listened to the suggestions of the important officials, but in his heart he had already had an idea. Once the time was ripe, even if the ministers opposed it, he would launch a battle to recapture the two Huai Rivers without hesitation.

In the past, Zhao Bing was very cautious about whether to conquer the two Huaihe Rivers, and repeatedly rejected the ministers' memorials about taking offensives against the Jianghuai River. First, he was worried that the foundation had just been recovered, and the foundation was unstable and he needed to stabilize the internal situation first; second, his foundation was too weak, and he was unable to launch an offensive rashly, and it was difficult to fight in one battle, and the two sides were in a stalemate. Not only was it difficult to recuperate, but he also had to consume huge amounts of money to fight against the hostilities, thus re-taking the old path, leading to economic collapse, constant turmoil, and eventually the country was destroyed.

Therefore, Zhao Bing agreed to the proposal of the Mongolian Yuan. During this period, the two sides had constant conflicts, but they were controlled within a certain limit. They only aimed at the idea of ​​cracking down on their southern invasion and destroying their economy, and did not lead to a large-scale war. The two sides maintained hypocritical peace when they talked about fighting, but they wanted to swallow each other, but they were afraid of each other, and neither side dared to provoke a big war. Even though Zhao Bing took the lead in provoking the border this time, it was intended to crack down on Yuxi Timur's "southern invasion" and prevented him from resurrecting the southern invasion and gaining time for his own development, rather than regaining the two Huaihe Rivers as the goal.

However, being cautious does not mean not to think about it. Zhao Bing has always regarded the recovery of the two Huai Rivers as his strategic goal, because the two Huai Rivers are too important to Jiangnan. "Defending the river must guard the Huai River" has been a consensus among the rulers of the south of the country. The southern regimes all took Jiankang as the core, and even if the Southern Song Dynasty took Hangzhou as the land of Lin'an, they were still unable to get rid of it. Relying on Jiankang, the southern regime could enjoy the manpower and food in the Taihu Lake area and the developed water transportation in the Yangtze River area, so as to compete with the northern regime for a long time.

To protect Nanjing, you must guard the Yangtze River. Although the Yangtze River is a natural danger, it is not a safe. The Yangtze River is so long that it cannot be defended everywhere. If there is a little breakthrough, the army in the north will collapse the entire line of defense with a high-level perspective. When the Sui Dynasty destroyed Chen, the Northern Song Dynasty destroyed the Southern Tang Dynasty.

If you want to stick to it for a long time, you can only defend in depth or mobile defense to expand your strategic depth. At this time, the Huaihe River becomes particularly important. The Huaihe River to the Yangtze River has dense water systems and many tributaries, such as the Yingshui River, Woshui, Sishui, etc., and the end of the Huaihe River, Hongze Lake, is also a large lake in the area north of the Yangtze River.

Generally speaking, "the northerners ride horses, and the southerners ride boats." If the northern army goes south, it must advance along the Ying, Wo and Si Rivers. The southern regime builds the city at the convergence of the Sanhe River and the Huai River, forming three important military cities, Shouchun, Zhongli and Huaiyin. They can resist stubbornly with the strong city, use the water flow to make their navy move quickly, and drag the attacking edge of the northern cavalry.

In order to attack the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the south, the former Qin Emperor Fu Jian dispatched heavy troops to compete for the Huainan area. As a result, he encountered the tenacious resistance of the Jin army in the Shouchun area and missed the strategic opportunity in vain. At this time, the general of the Jin army, Xie Xuan, commanded the navy and other mobile forces to use the water route to fight Fu Jian, defeating the Qin army with fewer defeats the Qin army.

In addition, the opening of the Grand Canal in Beijing and Hangzhou has given a heavier mission to the Jianghuai region. It can be said that the Grand Canal has turned the Jianghuai region into a more important strategic hub. The founders of the Sui and Tang Dynasties were all Guanlong nobles, so their ruling centers were all in Guanzhong. However, with the decline in land fertility and the rapid expansion of population in Guanzhong, the grain produced here can no longer support a megacity like the Qin and Han Dynasties.

The Tang Dynasty transferred some functions of the capital to the nearby Luoyang, established the "Luoyang New District", and then transported a large amount of grain from the southern grain production area to solve the embarrassing situation of grain shortage in the capital area. This is the "transport of grain from the south to the north". If you want to transport a large amount of grain, you can only rely on the Grand Canal left by the previous dynasty. Through the Grand Canal, grain from the Jiangnan region was continuously sent to Luoyang and Guanzhong, alleviating the urban disease of the capital. The Jianghuai city along the Grand Canal also became the national key.

Taxes in the Jianghuai region of the Tang Dynasty even became the main income of the central government of the Tang Dynasty. The vassal states on the left and right of the Huai Dynasty could firmly expand and consolidate their sphere of influence with the Grand Canal, and even did not transport grain to the central government. During the reign of Emperor Xianzong of the Tang Dynasty, Li Ju went to Caizhou at a snowy night and broke through the Huaixi vassal states in one fell swoop in order to re-open the central government with the Jianghuai and Jiangnan regions. Therefore, whether for separatist regimes or the central government, the Jianghuai region must be taken.

Although it can be transported by sea after entering the Yuan Dynasty, the Grand Canal is still an important means of transporting grain in the south and north. Even if the Jiangnan is lost now, the salt in the Lianghuai region can still be sent to the Central Plains through the canal, benefiting the northwest. More importantly, the Mongolian and Yuan dynasties have the Lianghuai River, which can firmly stuck the Song Dynasty's neck.

In this way, the Jianghuai River is indispensable to the southern regime, which is precisely "those who want to see the Central Plains must obtain Huai and Si. If there is Jianghan but not Huai and Si, the country will be weak." If the southern regime has the Huai River, it can have the best barrier north of the Yangtze River, and even spy on Xuzhou, Shandong and even the Central Plains. If the northern regime has the Huai River, it can firmly block the southern regime's access to the Central Plains.

Whether it was the Southern Chen, the Southern Tang, or the Southern Song Dynasty, his decline and even destruction began with the loss of the Jianghuai River. The Jianghuai River is a place that must be fought for between the north and the south. With the Huai River, the southern regime and the separatist regime became passive defense and proactive attack. However, possessing the Huai River alone was not enough. If the southern regime wanted to confront each other for a long time, it would also have to control the Jianghan area to maintain the long-term stability of its own regime.

That is, "Jianghan, Han, Jianghuai are brother-in-laws". In the late Ming Dynasty, Gu Yanwu recorded by Zhao Bing, even pointed out that "heavy Jingxiang" and "blocking the two Huaihuai" were the foundation of the southeast's country. Throughout history, examples of self-binding in the southeast caused by the loss of the Jianghan region were common. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Wang Dao Huan Xuan and others seized the lifeline of the downstream Jiankang with Jingxiang. The dynasty's regime also learned this lesson and sent Lv Wenhuan to defend Xiangyang and Du Gao to defend the Jianghuai. The two places were supporting each other, leaving the fierce Mongolian army as fierce as a tiger for a while, and became the longest-time regime in the world against Mongolia.
Chapter completed!