Not counting the defenders in various places along the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River, Sheng Yong alone has more than 100,000 soldiers and horses along the Huaihe River. In Huai'an City, there are even 400,000 troops from the consort Mei Yin, of which 200,000 are elite troops of the Forbidden Army.

, the former Xu Huizu relied on 100,000 of the 200,000 elite Forbidden Army troops to confront him at Lingbi for a long time, almost forcing him to return to Peiping.

Zhu Di only had 150,000 soldiers and horses in his hands at the moment, and after repeated battles, the soldiers were extremely tired. If it weren't for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Zhu Di, who cherished the limited troops very much, would not have considered such a head-on confrontation. He expected what would happen next.

The battles must have been extremely difficult, and breaking through Nanjing's outer defense line would have required hard, fierce, and bloody battles. Therefore, before setting off, we conducted a comprehensive mobilization of the entire army to encourage the soldiers.

After fighting all the way, Zhu Di realized that his worries were in vain.

In the four years since Zhu Yunwen took the throne, he has implemented a series of unrealistic policies and a series of measures to suppress military power and promote civility. At this time, the negative consequences have fully emerged.

After Zhu Di defeated Sheng Yong's troops on the Huai River, he immediately sent troops to Xuyi.

Zhu Di's army had never fought so close to Nanjing. The soldiers crossed the Huaihe River. This was a psychological line of defense. The defenders who were unwilling to die to protect Emperor Jianwen originally only sympathized with and leaned towards the King of Yan. This was a psychological line of defense.

Once he was defeated, the psychological balance that had been fermenting for a long time completely tipped towards Zhu Di.

The Xuyi garrison surrendered at Kaicheng. Zhu Di was overjoyed. He didn't even have time to recruit his troops, so he directly asked the Xuyi garrison to follow him southward under the original banner. Zhu Di's troops reached Sizhou, and the Sizhou garrison did not lag behind.

Without firing an arrow, he immediately surrendered the city.

Zhu Di rushed to Yangzhou without stopping. Wang Bin, the Yangzhou military supervisor and supervisor, originally wanted to resist, but the Yangzhou garrison, including his brother Wang Li, tied him up and presented him in front of Zhu Di.

A series of surrenders served as an example. Zhu Di was like Napoleon who escaped from Elba Island. He traveled all the way without firing an arrow. Gaoyou, Tongzhou, Taizhou, and Jiangzhou all changed their banners and surrendered, including Zhu Di's troops.

Before he arrived, he rushed over to contact him about the surrender.

The battle continued until Yizhen, and the defenders here offered a symbolic resistance. However, the general had the will to fight, but the soldiers had no fighting spirit, and it was a small battle. Zhu Di made the most arduous preparations for the battle before the battle, but the result was almost

They reached the north bank of the Yangtze River without losing any blood.

Zhu Yunwen was shocked when he heard the news in the city of Nanjing, and immediately issued an edict, ordering Huang Zicheng, Qi Tai, Yushi Lian Zining, Minister Huang Guan, editor Wang Shuying and other conscripts from all walks of life to return to Nanjing immediately to protect Nanjing, especially those stationed in Huai'an.

The consort Mei Yin has an army of 400,000 in his hands. If he can return in time, the siege of Nanjing will be lifted immediately. Even if Mei Yin is not good at fighting, as long as he leads his army in front, the soldiers and horses of King Qin from all over the country will arrive one after another. Therefore, he specially targets Mei Yin.

The urgent edict among urgent edicts was issued.

At this time, we can see the difference between Zhu Di and Zhu Yunwen in their employment of personnel. Zhu Di led troops to fight and used military men. All civil servants stayed in Beiping, Baoding and other places to manage government affairs. Zhu Yunwen even sent generals to various places to recruit and train troops.

All of them are civil servants. Among the above people, except for Qi Tai, who was a civil servant and the Minister of the Ministry of War, the others are all civil servants without exception.

Scholars die for those who know them well. Zhu Yunwen placed such great emphasis on civil servants, and the civil servants naturally wanted to be loyal to him. The above civil servants who went out to recruit soldiers had no time to rush back. Yao Shan, the prefect of Suzhou, Ningbo, who had not received the imperial edict but already knew that the Yan army was approaching the Yangtze River.

The magistrate Wang Jing, the magistrate of Huizhou Chen Yanhui, the magistrate of Leping County Zhang Yanfang and other civil officials all agreed to lead the officers and soldiers of the guards and the people under their jurisdiction to rush to Nanjing to serve the king.

At this time, Xia Xun and Xu Ming'er had arrived at Xiangshan in eastern Zhejiang, and the sea was right in front of them!
Chapter completed!