The source of the news was already complicated, as if it was true or false, and the news brought back by Ma Hemu made Yuxi Timuer's judgment of the situation mess again, as if he had penetrated into the thick fog, with a vast white area everywhere, unable to tell the direction, and did not know where to go. This made him fall into painstaking thoughts again, trying to clarify his thoughts and find a way out.

The news brought by Ma Hemu that although Yuxi Timuer was watery, it was certainly true that the Song Shujun participated in the war and fought fiercely with Yangzhou. What made him depressed was that the enemy's waters have blocked the Yangtze River again, cutting off the news and unable to know the outcome and direction of the war. This also concerns how he chose the direction of attack, even advance or retreat.

The Song army delayed for nearly two months before suddenly launching a battle to attack Yangzhou City. Yuxi Timur judged that the reason was that Yangzhou City was strong and forcibly siege would cause major casualties. Therefore, the young emperor of the Southern Dynasty hoped to surrender the defenders in the city through negotiations and siege, so he never launched a strong attack. Another possibility was that he wanted to consume his own troops by siegeing the city to attack aid. There are only two reasons for the attack at the moment:

First, he learned that his army had not rescued Yangzhou City, but smuggled across the Yangtze River and entered Jiangdong and approached the capital. Such a small thief was so angry that he wanted to forcibly break through the city to vent his anger. Second, after learning that he led a large army across the river, he was eager to return to Jiangdong, but he was worried that the defenders in Yangzhou City would follow and pursue. You should know that there are still three teams of 10,000 people and thousands of troops of the Qinxue army in the Zhennan Prince's Mansion. If they were chased afterwards, they would inevitably be defeated, so they covered the withdrawal of the troops under the guise of siege.

Of course, Yuxi Timur hoped that the first result was. You should know that his 100,000 army surrounded the small Changshu City and failed to succeed after four or five days. The Yangzhou city is several times stronger than the small city in front of him, and the population is much larger. It is almost impossible to seize the city in one battle. If he vented his anger and attacked the city with anger, he could constrain them to Jiangbei, so he could calmly dispatch the attack on Jiangdong.

But Yuxi Timuer knew that as long as people were not angry, no one would do such a foolish thing that would ignore. The cunning thief would naturally call back the army to rescue Jiangdong. This would explain why the navy troops who had been operating outside the sea suddenly entered the river. Their purpose was to return from the canal to the south of the starry night in the canal and return to Jiangdong or Lin'an through water transportation. This method was several times faster than marching by land.

However, Yuxi Timuer felt that his judgment was difficult to explain, because he made the conclusion based on the setting that most of the Song army in Jiangdong was still in Yangzhou. This could not explain why the Fifth Brigade of the Song Army's Imperial Front Guard suddenly appeared in Changshu, and there was no way to explain the information brought back by the reconnaissance cavalry. They should have been outside Yangzhou City, rather than Wuxi, Pingjiang and Kunshan.

"Impossible!" If so, unless Ma Shao was bribed by the Southern Dynasty and became an enemy spy, leaked his combat plan, lied about military information, and concealed the news that the Song army quietly withdrew. Yuxi Timur quickly gave up this idea and shook his head and said softly.

The details of the entire battle plan for the south of the expedition were known in addition to himself and the Khan, there were only a few close staff members. Even the generals who accompanied him only knew about it before going to the expedition. Even if the secret was leaked at that time, the Song army had no time to withdraw. As for Ma Shao, although he maintained contact with him, he did not reveal a word to him, but just asked him to try to delay the time of the Song army's siege and buy time for mobilizing reinforcements.

"Are you going forward or backward?" Yuxi Timuer was troubled by this problem and was confused. He was walking around like a trapped beast in the tent, and he didn't walk out of the tent until late at night...

…………

The Yuan army did not attack the city for a day, which made the Song soldiers who had fought hard for days with a rare relaxation for a day. Seeing the destroyed stone throwing machines and siege equipment outside the city, they all thought that the effect had been achieved. However, they did not dare to slack off, because they could see the Yuan army leaving early and returning late, and transporting a large amount of wood back. At night, the enemy camp was also brightly lit and the sound of axes was constantly making siege equipment overnight.

After waiting for a night, the Japanese yen army did not attack the city, and only the cavalry kept approaching the city to reconnaissance. It was not until the evening that they discovered that another brigade of Yuan army was coming, but the personnel were numerous, not only soldiers riding horses and bows, but also herders driving livestock and women riding large wheels. The carriage was full of equipment and food, and there were also brigades of infantry guards. In this way, everyone understood that the Mongolian Yuan cavalry that had advanced consumed a lot of weapons and food in siege for several days, and was waiting for the infantry who were more good at siege wars to come.

However, on the third day, the enemy still did not wait for the enemy to attack the city. What is even more strange is that the Yuan army camp was quiet, and they could not see the herd of horses grazing by the river and in the fields, and even smoke from cooking was not rising. The abnormal situation was quickly reported to the brigade headquarters. Luo Datong quickly went up to the city to observe after hearing the news. He was also confused about this, but he did not dare to open the city easily. Because he knew that when the Mongolian army could not capture it for a long time, he often used withdrawal to confuse his opponents, and when he thought that he had withdrawn to open the city, the ambush suddenly attacked the city.

It was not until midnight that there was no movement in the enemy camp, so Luo Datong sent the scouts out of the west gate to investigate. The scouts quickly reported that there was no one in the town, and all the empty tents were left in the camp. The Yuan army had withdrawn its encirclement and was unknown where to go. He was shocked when he heard this, and then sent the scouts to follow the traces left by the Yuan army to investigate whether there were any ambushes around.

It was not until the scouts who had been tracking for thirty miles in the evening that they had returned. The Yuan army brigade had already gone to Kunshan along the main road. Luo Datong was displeased and was surprised when he heard this. He hurriedly released a carrier pigeon to report the enemy situation to the Pingjiang Control Department, and asked whether to pursue him later...

At this time, a solemn atmosphere was also filled with the second hall of the Pingjiang City Control Department. The commander Zhao Mengjin, the commander of the Fifth Army Ran Anguo, the political governor who came from Lin'an to cooperate with the military and local operations, and the commander of the imperial guards Ni Liang, and the commander of the imperial guards, stared around the huge sand table in Jiangdong area and fell into deep thought. The quietness in the hall made the guards who served tea and water hold their breath and let their steps lightly, for fear of disturbing everyone.

"Zhao Zhishuai, the enemy suddenly appeared on Changkunyi Road and did not enter Changping Road as expected. Do they want to avoid the important and attack Kunshan?" After a while, Jiang Qi broke the silence and pointed at Kunshan.

"What Governor Jiang said is not impossible, but it is still impossible to conclude that they are attacking Kunshan at this moment. After all, the only one who appears here is the enemy vanguard army. No central brigade is found to follow up. Maybe it is a trick to attack the west!" Zhao Mengjin replied after pondering for a moment, but he still gave a vague answer.

When formulating a combat plan, Your Majesty predicted that the enemy troops would not carry a large amount of baggage and food and grass, and would inevitably use the usual method of plundering the people and capturing the granaries of prefectures and counties to obtain supplies. Based on this, the policy of defending Changshu City and implementing a policy of strengthening walls and clearing the fields made it difficult for the enemy to obtain material replenishment, forcing the enemy to continue to go south to attack Pingjiang.

The 100,000 army, especially the cavalry-based army, consumes a huge amount of supplies every day. In the grasslands in Jiangnan, there is a lack of horse-grazing, a certain amount of food must be fed as a supplement, otherwise the strength of the war horses will not be maintained. Therefore, the food alone can drive the commander crazy. Based on this, it is judged that if the long-term attack on Changshu, the food and grass they carry with them are almost exhausted, and the weapons and arrows are also consumed in large quantities. If the army cannot be replenished in time, there is a possibility of being forced to return.

Therefore, His Majesty arranged a navy army outside the sea, and appeared on the Yangtze River at the right time, seizing the ferry and cutting off the enemy's retreat, and also cutting off the possibility of their hope of obtaining supplies through Jiangbei. In this case, Pingjiang, which is richer than Changshu, became an attractive target. They can not only obtain all the supplies they need, but also serve as a rear base for continuing to advance south. Even if the attack is blocked, they can hold on to the city for a long time to wait for reinforcements or as a condition for peace talks. After all, there is a tiger and wolf soldier in their hinterland that is not comfortable.

At that time, everyone agreed with His Majesty's plan, and based on the above predictions, the battle plan for the decisive battle under Pingjiang City was made. The Fifth Army of the Imperial Army was the main force to set up defenses and defend the outer edge of Pingjiang as an anvil, and the main force of the imperial guards arranged in Kunshan and Wuxi were the "hammer". The enemy attacked the enemy from the east and west wings and surrounded and annihilated them outside Pingjiang City. However, there was a deviation at the moment. The enemy did not come to Pingjiang, but appeared in the direction of Kunshan on the right wing, making it difficult for them to judge the intentions of the enemy for a while.

"If the enemy is fighting east and west, and want to mobilize our troops arranged in Pingjiang, if we rush to Kunshan, we will hit the enemy's plan and it will be difficult to return to the army in time. So I think it's better to be quiet than to move. Let's wait until the enemy's further movements are being made." Jiang Xu looked at Zhao Mengjin and said.

"Governor Jiang said very much. The situation is unclear and the army is rash, which will disrupt our position. Even if they really attack Kunshan, their existing forces can block them outside the city for many days, so as to win the transfer of troops to encircle and annihilate us." Jiang Yu's suggestion is obviously conservative, but it is the best choice when the enemy's movements are unknown. Zhao Mengjin nodded to agree with his opinion.

"I thought it was inappropriate!" Ni Liang, who had been silent at this time, raised objections, "The enemy's reconnaissance cavalry frequently appeared in multiple directions recently. It should have been discovered that our army's main forces were gathered in Wuxi, Pingjiang and Kunshan respectively. So will they still attack rashly?"
Chapter completed!