Yuxi Timur led his army from Gaoyou several days ago and made great efforts to reinforce Yangzhou along the way, but he still did not dare to let his horse go quickly, but marched at a speed of 40 miles a day. However, the army did not go south along the canal, but wanted to go west first, then turn south, and make the Song army that surrounded the north from the flanks, cut off their supplies and return routes, and encircled and annihilated Jiangbei.

The reason why the army slowly moved was not to scare away the Song army that invaded the south, but out of caution. Because the news from Yangzhou was completely cut off after the fall of Jiacheng, and the Song army stationed in Taizhou and Zhenzhou on both wings of the battlefield also continued to send patrol teams to ambush the reconnaissance cavalry that were reconnaissance, which made Yuxi Timur unable to accurately grasp the situation in Yangzhou.

Yuxi Timuer also understood that the Song army could not know nothing about his troops and would definitely respond. He was not worried about his tactical arrangements, because he did not want to have a direct conflict with the Song army that invaded the northern region, but intended to cross the river and attack Jiangnan. What he was most concerned about was the strategic dynamics of the Song army, whether to quickly withdraw to Jiangnan or continue to siege Hangzhou.

In fact, as early as the beginning of Yuxi Timur's order to preside over the military affairs of the Jiangbei Province in Henan Province, he began to reconnaise the deployment of troops in the Jiangdong province of the Southern Dynasty. In the past year, he has basically figured out the situation:

The Jiangdong Defense Line is built with the First Army of the Southern Dynasties as the backbone to defend the Jiang defense. The three subordinate divisions are stationed in Dantu, Jiangyin and Kunshan, and the direct teams are stationed in Jiankang. In addition, the Song Army's Inland Naval Division squadron under the jurisdiction of the Jiangdong Control Department. The First Naval Division of the Imperial Army stationed at Jiangkou and its subordinate land brigades are only responsible for assisting in the defense of the Yangtze River Line. The main task is to prevent the enemy from attacking Lin'an from the sea and protecting the maritime route.

Anyone knows that only tens of thousands of imperial guards could not take into account the long Yangtze River defense line, so the prefecture of Yanjiang Prefecture also formed a wing army to be responsible for the defense of the ferry crossings and key areas along the river. Due to their combat effectiveness and mission limitations, most of them were stationed in various places, and they played a role in early warning and maintaining public order. At best, they could only fight against small-scale enemy attacks and were unable to fight against large-scale invasions. However, during the war, the Jiangdong Division was dispatched and commanded to cooperate with the imperial guards to fight.

The Kuli area in Jiangdong was defended by the imperial guards. As far as Yuxi Timur knew, this was also the most combative army of the Song army. It was directly commanded by the young emperor of the Southern Dynasty. After several expansions, there were eight brigades and a navy army, with an estimated number of nearly 100,000. They were stationed in Huzhou, Jiaxing, Lin'an, Qiantang, Shaoxing and Hangzhou Bay, respectively, and guarding the capital.

Since the war started, the military names of the First Army of the Song Army of the Song Dynasty, Changzhou Army, Runzhou Army, Pingjiang Army, the Second Division of the Second Army, and the Third Division have appeared in Yangzhou one after another. The military names of the guards of the front guards, the First Brigade, Fourth Brigade, Fifth Brigade, and Artillery Brigade were all the first batch of crossing the river to participate in the war, and the First Division of the Navy Army escorted the outer sea. In this way, the main forces of the Song Army of the Song Dynasty gathered at the city of Yangzhou, and the main forces left behind were the Second Brigade and the Third Brigade of the Guards of the Front Guards of the Imperial Army of Shaoxing, which was obviously insufficient to defend Jiangdong and Jingji areas with less than 50,000 troops.

Yuxi Timur dared to formulate a plan for invasion of the south when he saw this "loop", but boldness is different from recklessness. After all, the Song army is stationed along the canal and can quickly withdraw from Jiangnan by maneuvering on the water. Once the young emperor of the Southern Dynasty found that he had the intention of moving south, he could quickly return to defense, and even cut off his way back and trapped him in the Jiangdong area, which would become a trap. So while slowing down the marching speed, he observed the movements of the Song army, he was preparing for response, changing the direction of the battle at any time, and pointing his finger at the retreating Song army.

What made him very anxious was that the Song army was unable to convey information about the Yangzhou encirclement. The patrol cavalry he sent was intercepted by the Song army and could not get close to the enemy camp at all. The information he received was very limited. After the war, the Song army blocked the Yangtze River more tightly. Unless there were tokens issued by the Ministry of War and the Privy Council, the board would not be launched, making it very difficult to transmit information from Jiangnan.

But even after slowing down, the vanguard of the army had arrived in Rugao, and the central army led by Yuxi Timur had already reached the Jiangyan area more than 60 miles west of Taizhou City. He knew that it was difficult for the army to hide its whereabouts for a long time, and Jiangyan was the place to divide the troops before, and it was time to decide the strategic direction. Fortunately, he finally contacted the people sent by Ma Shao.

According to news from Ma Shao, he was ordered by King Tuo Huan of Zhennan to discuss peace with the Southern Dynasty and was able to enter the Song camp to check the situation. He saw with his own eyes that the Song army stationed in Yangzhou had not decreased, and Yuxi Timur checked it with the information he had obtained before. In addition, he found that the Song army had accumulated a large amount of food and grass in the camp, and obviously had been prepared for a long-term siege and long-term battle, and there was no sign of withdrawing the troops. According to what he thought, the Song army seemed to have the intention to continue to go deep into the Huai River after capturing Yangzhou, otherwise it would not continue to transfer grain from Jiangnan.

In addition, Ma Shao repeatedly urged Yuxi Timur to lift the siege of Yangzhou as soon as possible. His peace talks with the Southern Dynasties were originally a false conspiracy, and the conditions proposed by the Southern Dynasties were also very harsh. In terms of this, neither the Khan nor the court would agree. However, the ten-day deadline was approaching, and the Southern Dynasties would attack the city with all their might, but they had no confidence in defending Yangzhou. The Southern Dynasties' firearms were too sharp and the city walls could not stop their full-strength attack.

In addition, although there is no shortage of food in the city, it can last at most for more than half a month under control, and food will be cut off. However, the Song army is now blocked, and the people cannot go out of the city to collect wood, and the dirt in the city cannot be transported out of the city. It is winter, in order to keep warm and cook, the city has begun to cut down trees, demolish houses and burn firewood. Tens of thousands of people in the city and tens of thousands of war horses, the dirt produced every day can only be thrown into the river, or accumulate everywhere, and the casualties can only be buried shallowly in the open space, resulting in the stench in the city. If it still cannot be relieved, it will inevitably lead to unrest and epidemics.

Yuxi Timuer dared not believe Ma Shao's reward. He knew that the thief in the Southern Dynasty was very treacherous and used suspicious soldiers and liked to attack the east and west. Perhaps what he saw was just the intentional arrangement of the thief, but he secretly dispatched troops to Jiangnan. But he felt that he could not. The plan for the invasion of the south was planned by himself, and the insiders were limited to two senior generals of the Wanhu Mansion. Even Ma Shao was not aware of it, and there was no possibility that others would disclose it unless the thief was able to know the gods before he could see through his plan.

Although he felt that there was no mistake in what he did, Yuxi Timur was still worried about it, so he called the messenger to the big tent to inquire in person. He asked in detail how they entered the Song army camp, how they learned about the situation in the army, and how they broke through the Song army's blockade to report the news. In addition, how they dealt with the Southern Dynasties peacekeepers, thus delaying the time of the Song army's siege.

The messenger sent by Ma Shao was his own guard. He didn't trust others, and no one else could get involved in the team. Therefore, he could be said to participate in the whole process, or listened to Ma Shao's words and understood the whole story, so he told Yuxi Timuer one by one. However, Yuxi Timuer still asked the details of how he was able to leave the team under the surveillance of the Song army, and asked the details of the letter, and even did not let the Song army go after him when he left.

The messenger was a little annoyed, but he still gave an explanation. Yuxi Timuer heard that they were bribing the people around the Southern Dynasty's young emperor and bribing the Song army soldiers who were surveillance with him, so that they could get the opportunity to return the peace talks to the court. As the saying goes, despite his cunningness, he never thought that his trusted subordinates were bribed, and it was legitimate to be able to leave the seclusion under this name, but if it was achieved without any twists and turns, it would be suspicious.

Although he learned the whole story in detail, Yuxi Timur still dared not believe it easily. He also knew very well that this war was related to the situation between the two Huaihe Rivers. In the long run, it was even related to the national destiny of the two countries, so he naturally had to be cautious and cautious. So he ordered Zhahuertai to turn to Taizhou first, pretending to be the entire army to make a test of aid to Yangzhou. As a result, an encounter with the Song army stationed here outside Taizhou City. He was defeated by the Song army and retreated in a hurry.

Yuxi Timuer sent the generals of Zhahuertai who fought with the Song army to the big tent to understand the situation of the battle. When he learned that at first, he fought with the patrol Song army only when he was pursuing the surrendered people, but was strongly blocked by the Song army when he had the advantage. But just when they were about to break through the temporary defense line built by the Song army, the Song army who came out of Taizhou arrived and broke up their array with continuous bombardment of artillery, which rescued the surrounded Song army and the defected people. The scout found that the dust was flying in Taizhou, and the Song army came to reinforce. At this time, they had lost their military advantage and were forced to retreat to avoid being surrounded.

Yuxi Timuer understood that the defeated generals might have exaggerated words in their words, but they would never hide the truth. At least he knew that the troops stationed in Taizhou were the military numerals of the Song army informed by Ma Shao. With a little analysis, he could determine that there were quite a few troops in the city. Only in this way could he send battalion-level troops to patrol the surrounding area and send reinforcements in time when a battle occurred, and he could again increase his troops to try to encircle and annihilate the enemy in the offensive territory. As a veteran on the battlefield, he understood that when he found that there were strong enemies around him, even if he sent reinforcements, he would leave sufficient troops in the city to prevent the enemy from luring the tiger out of the mountain and taking the opportunity to sneak attack the city.
Chapter completed!