It turned out that Zheng Yu knew that after his father Zheng Gui was captured, the imperial court would have no scruples and would certainly launch a large-scale attack, so he also made preparations to meet the enemy. He saw that although the Yangtze River was long, there were only a few places where the army could gather and land.
Therefore, Zheng Yu did not divide his troops and guard everywhere, but instead deployed heavy troops in three important cities in the south of the Yangtze River, namely Jiangyin, Zhenjiang and Jinling. He thought that as long as these key places could be defended, even if a small number of troops from the imperial court crossed the river from other places, he could quickly mobilize a large army to annihilate them.
By now, Zheng Yu no longer had the ambition to replace the emperor. It was also wishful thinking to divide the country by the Yangtze River and compete with the imperial court. He only hoped to rely on the natural barrier of the Yangtze River to make the war a mess. Then he could negotiate the price with the imperial court and more or less retain the status of the Lingnan Palace, which would make him satisfied.
Emperor Zheng Rong, however, did not make such plans. In his eyes, the only plan now was to completely wipe out the Lingnan Palace and completely eliminate this threat.
Therefore, in line with the principle of "eradicating all evil", after the army was assembled, Zheng Rong summoned the prime minister, the prince, Qiu Yizi and the generals of the front army many times to discuss strategies against the enemy.
According to everyone's opinion, the imperial court is now more powerful than the Lingnan Army. Instead of a stalemate in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Huguang and Jiangnan, the emperor only needs to issue a strict order, agreeing to launch a large-scale attack on Hanzhong from Shanxi and Shaanxi, and General Wei Hu from Huguang to attack the hinterland, thereby luring the main force of the Lingnan Army to the west, and then launching a large-scale attack in Jiangnan. Then the overall situation of the war can be firmly controlled by the imperial court.
But Qiu Yizi raised objections.
He believed that with the current military strength and talents of the imperial court, it would not be a big problem to defeat Zheng Yu head-on. However, if the battle situation reached a stalemate, Zheng Yu could not withstand the pressure of the frontal army and chose to withdraw his troops to Lingnan Road, which would lead to a situation where several armies would besiege Lingnan Road.
By then, although the imperial army could encircle the Lingnan rebels from the three directions of Jiangnan, Huguang, and Yunnan and Guizhou, the Lingnan Palace had been working in Lingnan for a long time, and the rugged terrain of Lingnan alone was enough to cause great trouble for the imperial court to suppress. The unique unfavorable conditions in Lingnan, such as miasma, barbarians, and plague, would cause great casualties to the official army. Even if the imperial court could successfully defeat the Lingnan army, it would inevitably pay a greater price, which would be a major obstacle to recuperation and recovery in the future.
Therefore, Qiu Yizi suggested that they should concentrate their forces to attack the south of the Yangtze River and strive to block the main force of the Lingnan Army - especially Zheng Yu - in the south of the Yangtze River. In this way, they could catch the turtle in the jar and prevent the rebels from escaping into Lingnan, thus completely eliminating future troubles.
After listening to the two opinions, Zheng Rong felt that the first one was too conservative and the second one was too radical, so he wrote an urgent letter, which he sent eight hundred miles away to the capital city Luoyang, to inquire about his third son Zheng Miao who was serving as regent.
Zheng Miao was also one of the people who had followed Qiu Yizi southward and deep into the heart of the Lingnan Palace. He knew that it was extremely difficult for outsiders to attack Lingnan Road. Therefore, although he did not explicitly support Qiu Yizi's proposal in his reply, he also had a strong tendency - he advocated that the Lingnan army should be sealed off in Jiangnan Road, and then reunited and annihilated, and the outcome would be settled.
Zheng Miao was Zheng Rong's ideal successor. Since he had the final say, the military plan was determined: starting from Jiangbei, the troops would be divided into three routes to storm the three important towns of Jiangyin, Zhenjiang and Jinling. They would defeat the main force of the Lingnan Army in one fell swoop, and then quickly advance in three routes to quickly occupy the key points leading from Jiangnan Road to Lingnan, thereby catching all the Lingnan Army invading Jiangnan Road, and then wait for an opportunity to seek a decisive battle with the main force, completely annihilate the main force of the enemy, and capture or kill Zheng Yu.
With the plan decided, Zheng Rong divided the 300,000 troops he had assembled into three routes: one route would attack Jiangyin, commanded by the eldest prince Zheng Xin; one route would attack Zhenjiang, commanded by the second prince Zheng Sen; and one route would go straight to Nanjing, commanded by the emperor himself. The three armies agreed to cross the river and launch the attack at the same time on the day of the spring equinox.
After receiving the imperial edict, the two princes Zheng Xin and Zheng Sen immediately led their troops to take up their posts.
In the direction of Nanjing, Emperor Zheng Rong personally took charge of the command.
Zheng Rong was a prince who had led armies in battle. He certainly knew that Jinling City was one of the strongest cities in the world. Without perfect preparation, overwhelming military force and strong will, it would be absolutely difficult to break through.
However, when Zheng Rong was young, he led troops to fight mostly in the north against the Turkic cavalry. He lacked experience in fighting in the south, crossing rivers, and sieges. Therefore, he specially summoned Qiu Yizi, who was familiar with the situation in Jiangnan and Jinling, to discuss combat strategies.
Qiu Yizi thought: Although Nanjing is a vast city, the only place where large-scale landing troops can be deployed quickly for combat is Yanziji Wharf - and this so-called large-scale force is only about a thousand people - if the number of people is too large, the wharf will be blocked, and the troops will fight against each other, which will have a counterproductive effect.
After hearing this, Zheng Rong pondered for a long time, and suddenly laughed. He looked at Zhongli Kuang who was sitting upright, and said, "Mr. Zhongli, Qiu Yizi has become more discerning after this experience." Then, Zheng Rong moved his eyes to Qiu Yizi's face, "Your thoughts are exactly the same as what I discussed with Mr. Zhongli."
Qiu Yizi hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "I just happened to guess it, how can I compare with the emperor's foresight?"
Zheng Rong laughed again and said, "When did you, Qiu Yizi, become so cheesy? Haven't I heard enough flattery from other ministers? You are my confidant, just tell me what you think. Why can't I tolerate you?"
Qiu Yizi hurriedly replied "yes", but didn't know what to say next.
Zheng Rong continued, "To capture Yanziji Wharf, we can only succeed by relying on a small force that is familiar with the terrain and skilled in combat..."
Qiu Yizhi listened to his adoptive father Zheng Rong's words, which were very logical and progressive, but he always felt that there was something behind his words. He stole a glance at his master Zhong Likuang, but saw that his face was so gloomy as if covered by dark clouds...
Zheng Rong said, "At present, only the 218 men under Yizhi are capable of this important task. Therefore, I would like to mobilize Yizhi's men to fight as the vanguard. What do you think?"
When Qiu Yizi heard this, he realized the emperor's real intention. He wanted to use his trusted soldiers to be the first to tackle the hard rock of Jinling City.
You know, this team of more than 200 people is a force that Qiu Yizhi can absolutely trust, and it is the foundation of his life. Qiu Yizhi used it very carefully in several battles, fearing that a single soldier would be lost. Now Zheng Rong wants to use it to attack the Lingnan Army, and there is no guarantee that these people and horses will not be lost. This really touched Qiu Yizhi's heart.
Although Qiu Yizi was extremely reluctant, his own life and property were firmly in the hands of the emperor, let alone the soldiers under his command
So Qiu Yizi had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, "Your Majesty can ask me a question, but I can't bear it. Although these people under my command are militiamen, they are also Han people. Since the emperor has issued an order, how can we be afraid of the enemy? However, a mere two hundred people are not enough. After the breakthrough, the follow-up troops should immediately make up for it in order to consolidate and expand the results of the battle..."
Zheng Rong heard Qiu Yizi's quick agreement, so he praised: "Okay! I want you to say this! On the day of the spring equinox, you will go on board with me to watch the battle and see how good your soldiers are at fighting. As for the backup troops, they will naturally join the battle. Are my imperial guards just for show?"
Qiu Yizhi was stunned when he heard this, and immediately understood the meaning of the emperor's words, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, according to the rules of the Old Youyan Dao, there is no reason for soldiers to fight in the front and generals to watch the battle from behind. Please issue an order to order me to join the battle, so that I can respond to the situation and ensure that we can successfully capture Yanziji Wharf."
But Zheng Rong said, "You can still remember the rules of the old Youyan Dao, very good! I haven't forgotten them either. This time I personally appointed Zhao Chengxiao as the vanguard of the entire army. It is said that he is also quite good at commanding troops. I also want to see his ability. If he is really capable, I will definitely reward him."
Having said this, Qiu Yizi had no choice but to agree. However, he had already begun to think about what tactics he could use to minimize his casualties.
A few days later, it was the Spring Equinox.
The Spring Equinox is the middle day of the ninety-day spring. Yin and yang are equal, day and night appear, cold and heat are evenly balanced, and the weather is extremely pleasant. It is an excellent day to send troops to fight.
So Zheng Rong ordered the Minister of Rites Shi Liangzhi to set up an altar and kill a black ox and a white horse as a sacrifice. Then he waved the flag and ordered Li Shengjie's fleet to march south of the Yangtze River with 5,000 elite soldiers.
At that time, the southeast wind had risen, and the fleet was heading south against the wind. However, Li Shengjie had his own skilled sailors who skillfully moved the sails and used the current of the Yangtze River to finally enable the ships to quickly leave the Jiangbei Wharf where they had been moored for nearly a month and move towards the Yanziji Wharf in Jinling City at a rapid speed.
Although the Yangtze River is wide, Li Shengjie's ship sails very fast. In just three or four hours, it has reached the surface of Jinling River.
The Lingnan Army's Zheng Yu had lost all its water power, and there was no large fleet on the river. There were only a few sampan-like boats drifting along the river. These small sampans were not in the eyes of Li Shengjie, who roamed the East China Sea. Naturally, he was reluctant to fire artillery, and even too lazy to shoot arrows. He just rushed over and smashed these small boats into pieces.
Most of the officers and soldiers on board were taking a ship for the first time, let alone such a tall and mighty giant warship. Seeing the sight of such a tall and mighty warship moving forward, they all cheered loudly, and their morale was immediately boosted.
After sailing for a while, the huge ship was approaching the Yanziji Wharf.
Qiu Yizi stood on the side of the ship and looked into the distance, only to see countless broken stones and tiles piled up in a haphazard manner on the dock, making the originally tidy Yanziji dock extremely messy.
Qiu Yizi remembered that when he left Jinling City, he also went north through the Yanziji Wharf. Although there had been a bloody battle at that time, the wharf was not as dilapidated as it is today. It seemed that the Lingnan Army guarding this place deliberately blocked the wharf to prevent the imperial army from landing.
The Yanziji Wharf was not very spacious to begin with, and now with so many obstacles piled up by the Lingnan defenders, it seems even more messy and cramped. Even a small team of only 200 people may not be able to launch a battle smoothly.
Seeing this, Qiu Yizhi hurriedly retreated to the side of the ship and reported to Emperor Zheng Rong who was sitting on the deck: "Your Majesty, the Lingnan army seems to be well prepared. I beg Your Majesty to make a decision again."