However, Zheng Yu returned to his own camp that night and asked Sun Hao to transfer the command of the entire army to himself.
Zheng Yu was the second prince of the King of Lingnan, and although Sun Hao had seniority, he was only temporarily in charge of the entire army. When Zheng Yu asked to transfer power, Sun Hao naturally had no reason to object, and without hesitation handed over the command flag, seal, tiger talisman and other items to Zheng Yu.
Zheng Yu counted the troops and found that the losses were not too great. There were still more than 70,000 troops in the camp. Except for leaving tens of thousands of people to continue monitoring the movements of the defenders in Jinling City, he still had a considerable numerical advantage against Qiu Yizhi's troops - what's more, his men were all elite soldiers from Lingnan Road, and their combat effectiveness was much higher than that of most of Qiu Yizhi's Jiangnan Jiedushi troops.
Therefore, Zheng Yu's confidence in defeating Qiu Yizhi was no less than Qiu Yizhi's information that he would defeat Zheng Yu. So he ordered the army to prepare for battle that night, and wait for two days to have a decisive battle with Qiu Yizhi.
Sun Hao was shocked when he heard this order. The current situation was different from the siege of Shanyin County. At that time, his food supply was cut off and he had to find a way to fight quickly because he had little food and grass. But now the food and grass stored in the Jinling camp was enough for the winter, so there was no need to fight a decisive battle with the enemy. Moreover, most of Jiangnan was under his control. As long as he waited until the next spring when there was enough food and grass, he could gather troops from all over the country and form an overwhelming advantage over the enemy, and then he could completely defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.
Therefore, under the current circumstances, as long as we monitor and encircle the Nanjing defenders, preventing them from leaving the city and attacking them from the front and back with the defenders outside the city; and then continue to harass and tie up the frontal opponents with small forces, we will always be able to remain invincible.
It was for this reason that when Zheng Yu proposed to have a decisive battle with Qiu Yizhi as soon as possible, he immediately raised his objection, and explained the above reasons clearly and earnestly, and even repeatedly explained, and pointedly said: "Although Qiu Yizhi is young, he is cunning in using troops, and he must not be taken lightly."
Sun Hao didn't know that Zheng Yu wanted to fight him to the death after being provoked by Qiu Yizi. His words just touched Zheng Yu's heart.
Zheng Yu's fat face flushed red as he said, "What's so great about Qiu Yizi? He's just a cunning and mean little thief. He succeeded temporarily and relied on luck to succeed. How long can he continue to be so rampant?"
Sun Hao was still explaining: "Qiu Yi's use of troops was not a fluke. Take the battle in Shanyin County for example. He dared to leave the important place lightly, which shows his extraordinary courage. He was able to come up with the idea of robbing our army's food supply, which shows that he knows the essence of using troops. In the end, he captured the second prince, which also shows that he knows the pros and cons of the importance and can capture the enemy's leader..."
Zheng Yu was already furious when he heard Sun Hao constantly praising Qiu Yizhi. The last sentence was particularly piercing. He didn't care that Sun Hao was a veteran of the same generation as his father. He immediately slammed the table and cursed: "Since Qiu Yizhi is so powerful in your words, why don't you just surrender to him? Why are you still fighting?"
Sun Hao suddenly burst into tears when he heard this, and said, "Second Prince, I have been following the old prince since I was old enough to understand. Although I have no ability, my loyalty is known to all. If you say something like this, how can I deal with it? How can I stand between heaven and earth?"
After saying that, Sun Hao actually drew out the sword in his hand, put it across his throat, and prepared to commit suicide.
Sun Hao's leadership was very popular among the people. Upon seeing this, the generals on both sides immediately rushed up, some wrestled with his hands, some hugged his waist, and finally took the sword from Sun Hao's hand - the central army tent was already in chaos.
One of the lieutenants held Sun Hao's sword in his hand, fearing that Sun Hao would snatch it away and commit suicide again, so he respectfully held it up and placed it on Zheng Yu's desk.
Zheng Yu sneered, stroked his sword and said, "After all, you would rather commit suicide than fight alongside me? Well, I will replace you with someone who is willing to obey my orders."
Then Zheng Yu shouted, "Which general is willing to serve the Prince of Lingnan? I will appoint him as the commander-in-chief of the three armies!"
All the important generals in the Lingnan Army are now gathered in the central army tent. When they heard Zheng Yu speak so coldly, they couldn't help but gasp and felt a chill in their hearts, but none of them dared to respond.
Zheng Yu was slightly embarrassed when he saw this, and quickly raised his voice again, saying, "Which general dares to appoint me? Regardless of victory or defeat, I will first appoint him as the commander-in-chief of the three armies. After the battle is victorious, I will naturally vouch for him in front of my father, and give him a promotion and other generous rewards!"
Fighting on the battlefield is the most dangerous. Whether you are a general or an ordinary soldier, you need to have a good start. Now, hearing Zheng Yu's words, there is a hint of invincibility. Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, and was even more unwilling to accept the order to be the commander who might be in big trouble.
The atmosphere in the big tent was so gloomy that it seemed to be frozen.
In this dead silence, someone suddenly said loudly: "I am willing to be the commander-in-chief of the three armies."
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw it was veteran general Sun Hao speaking with tears in his eyes and his hands clasped.
Although Zheng Yu was not a very smart person, he was not completely unsympathetic. He knew that the old general would inevitably shake the morale of the army when he saw that no one was willing to take over as the commander-in-chief, so he stepped forward and wanted to take over the job again.
This could not fail to move Zheng Yu. He picked up the sword on the table in front of him, stood up and slowly walked to Sun Hao, tied the sword around Sun Hao's waist with his own hands, and helped Sun Hao sit down with his own hands. He said: "Strong winds reveal strong grass, and turbulent times reveal heroes. After all, the old general is the role model for all generals! My words just now were too hasty and too harsh. I will first bow to the old general and apologize! The old general, please don't bear a grudge."
After saying that, Zheng Yu bowed deeply to Sun Hao.
Sun Hao wiped his tears and tremblingly supported Zheng Yu, saying: "I was brought up by the King of Lingnan. Without the King, there would be no me. At a time like this, if I don't step forward, who else can?"
Zheng Yu was even more moved after hearing this. Just as he was about to thank him, he saw Sun Hao raise his right hand and said, "Second Prince, I still want to advise you that if you can avoid fighting this war, then don't fight it. This is what I really think..."
Zheng Yu sighed and said, "Old General, this battle must be fought. It's not because of my personal grudge with Qiu Yizhi. Think about it, my father took over Jiangnan Road to make it a base for great achievements, but now half a year has passed, and Jiangnan Road has not had a single day of peace. Not only has it not been able to transport a grain to Lingnan, but it has also needed support from other places. As winter is coming to an end and spring is coming, if it is still in such a corrupt state, delaying the spring plowing and harvest, what should we do?"
Zheng Yu paused, then continued: "Then how can we pacify Jiangnan? I think the key lies in this kid Qiu Yizhi. As long as he is captured or killed, the mob in Jiangnan will become a pile of loose sand and there will be no need to worry. Old General, what do you think, is this the truth?"
Although these words were thought up by Zheng Yu on the spur of the moment, they were said in a very thoughtful and appropriate manner. Not only did they convince the veteran Sun Hao, but even he himself was touched by some of the words and a few tears welled up in his eyes.
However, when Zheng Yu thought about the upcoming battle, his weak appearance might not make the three armies surrender, so he stood up and returned to his seat, pretending to tidy up his clothes but secretly wiping away tears with his sleeves, and raised his voice and said: "In this battle, our army has the advantage in numbers and combat power. No matter what tricks Qiu Yizi, the little thief on the opposite side, uses, as long as our army is steady and takes me as the main force, we will definitely win."
Zheng Yu had a rough understanding of military tactics, but he only had a vague understanding of military tactics or was just talking about it on paper. However, this strategy was very correct, which made the veteran general Sun Hao stand up and said to the generals under his command: "Second Prince's words are the way to victory. Generals should carefully discipline their soldiers and follow his instructions. Anyone who underestimates the enemy, is greedy for attack, lingers on the battle, or advances rashly will be killed immediately!"
When Sun Hao said these words, he actually had other plans in mind - it was true that his army had an advantage in manpower, but when Qiu Yizhi defeated him several times, which one was not a victory of the weak over the strong? Now, the opponent had a force advantage of at most one-fold, which was not enough to guarantee a complete victory.
Therefore, the meaning of his saying these few words is to tell the generals to leave room for maneuver when fighting, and even if the opponent uses any tricks, they must be able to identify them in time; even if they happen to fall into the trap, they must be able to correct it in time and not get deeper into trouble.
The generals in the tent had fought with the King of Lingnan for half their lives, and many of them had fought against Qiu Yizhi before. They knew that he was an unexpected warrior and should not be underestimated. So when some of them heard the hidden meaning, they immediately felt that Sun Hao was a veteran general that the King of Lingnan could trust, and they immediately bowed and said in unison: "As ordered!"
When Zheng Yu heard the generals agree to Sun Hao's order, his tone was filled with joy. Suddenly, a trace of jealousy arose in his heart. He quickly coughed twice to cover it up and said loudly: "Well, since the generals have decided on their plans, you can tell us everything you have. This battle, our army must succeed in one fell swoop!"
The two days of preparation passed in a flash, and just after midnight on the third day, Zheng Yu could no longer wait and quickly urged his soldiers to go out of the camp and form a battle line.
There was no need to line up the troops overnight like this, and Sun Hao wanted to dissuade them. However, he thought it would be good to prepare in advance to prevent the enemy from launching a surprise attack and catching themselves off guard. So he helped Zheng Yu light the lamp to count the troops, assign tasks, and line up the troops in the open space in front of the Jinling camp to meet the enemy.
There used to be a large paddy field in front of the camp. But now there was chaos and the winter was just over, so the paddy fields had dried up, and even the paths between the fields had been trampled by people and horses and almost flattened to the ground, which happened to be an excellent battlefield for the army to fight.
However, although the terrain here is flat, it is not very wide and can only accommodate a queue of 3,000 people in front.
However, this was exactly what Sun Hao wanted, so he left more than 10,000 troops in the camp to monitor the movements of the defenders in Jinling City, and the remaining 60,000 troops all went out of the city, forming a huge formation with only 3,000 people in front and 20 people in depth. Although such a formation was a bit clumsy and slow when attacking, it was very stable and solid. Even if the enemy's 30,000 troops rushed left and right to make a breakthrough, they would be swallowed up by the huge numerical advantage of our side.
The Lingnan Army was well-trained, with strict orders and neat formations. But the scandal had just happened and the soldiers were eager to try, but they saw that the camp of Qiu Yizhi's troops opposite was pitch black, and there was no intention of organizing the army for battle.
Zheng Yu was commanding the central army. Seeing that the opponent seemed to be completely unprepared, he wondered if he could send an army of 10,000 or 20,000 to raid the enemy's camp by surprise. However, he had no idea of the strength of the opposing camp, and his own formation was already in a state where it was difficult to move, so he had to give up.