Just as Fang Guozhen guessed, after the Yuan army gathering in Qing learned that Fang Guozhen was leading troops towards Tongzhou, they began to prepare to cross the river.
After the fall of Hangzhou, Jiqing became the political center of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces in the Yuan Dynasty, and many important decisions were made from Jiqing.
But having said that, most of the important officials followed Dong Tuanxiao to attack Peng Yingyu. Among the officials who stayed in the city, the highest-ranking one was King Yahansha of Xining.
There are three other troops left behind, one is the naval force controlled by Kang Maocai, one is Chen Yexian's militia, and the last one is Wang Mengge's Yangzhou soldiers.
Kang Maocai and Chen Yexian, like Chahan Timur, were local rebel armed forces. Due to their repeated defeats of the Red Turban Army, their strength continued to grow and they were awarded the title of Rebel Marshal of Ten Thousand Households and Capital Marshal respectively.
The King of Xining is a man who loves great achievements. When the imperial court asked Dong Tuanxiao to lead Jiangsu and Zhejiang troops to deal with Peng Yingyu, he was dissatisfied and felt that he should lead the troops.
Later, Dong Tuanxiao won consecutive battles, which made him feel even worse. After Jiangdu fell, he kept thinking about regaining Jiangdu and letting the emperor know that he could still fight.
However, he only had three remaining troops at his disposal, numbering only about 50,000. Among the three generals, except Wang Mengge who agreed to send troops, the other two were somewhat resistant.
This is easy to understand. Most of Wang Mengge's men are Yangzhou soldiers. They are looking forward to returning to their hometown day and night to reunite with their parents, wives and children. They are all eager to fight back to Jiangdu.
Kang Maocai and Chen Yexian were both natives of Jiangnan, and so were their teams. Those volunteers responded to the call to protect their hometown.
If they are allowed to fight far away from their homeland, their morale will be greatly reduced and their soldiers will have no fighting spirit.
Therefore, neither of them wanted to cross the river.
As a result, the four of them had been arguing for several months over the attack on Jiangdu. Finally, the King of Xining became impatient and scolded Chen and Kang: "Are you refusing to fight because you are afraid of Jiangdu's rebels?" Chen Ye first advised: "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Tuotuo is gathering troops in Xuzhou for the purpose of going south to attack Gaoyou and Jiangdu. If we attack rashly, it will only affect the Prime Minister's strategy!"
Brother Wang Meng sneered: "If we can capture Jiangdu, the Prime Minister will only be happy. How can he blame us?"
Kang Maocai said angrily: "General Wang, what you said is easy, what if we lose? You want to attack Jiangdu, don't you want to avenge your son?"
Wang Mengge was furious: "I'm going to give up before the war starts. If you are in our military camp, I will chop off your head first!"
Kang Maocai showed no sign of weakness: "General Wang has lost his prestige now! When the bandits had just taken Jiangdu and their foothold was unstable, who gave up Jiangdu and retreated to Zhenjiang?"
Wang Mengge said angrily: "I was already fighting one after another, my troops and horses were exhausted, and I had no logistical support. How could I attack the city?"
Chen Yexian said: "Now there are 50,000 traitors, and our three troops add up to only more than 50,000 people. How can we win?"
This was the most common excuse used by the two of them. Wang Mengge was moved in his mind and said: "Fang Guozhen from Taizhou is very powerful and has just surrendered. If he can lead the navy to attack Tongzhou, he will definitely be able to contain a large number of traitors. Let's talk to Zhenjiang again
The army joins forces and attacks Jiangdu together, the success is huge!"
Kang Maocai sneered and said: "Fang Guozhen is a capricious person. He is not really loyal at all. Even if he is asked to send troops, he will definitely make excuses!"
Wang Mengge said: "Didn't the imperial court send an envoy south a few days ago, saying that they were going to reward Fang Guozhen? We can contact the envoy and ask him to order Fang Guozhen to send troops before awarding the reward. I believe he will not resist!"
Before Kang Maocai had time to refute, King Xining had already patted his thigh and said: "Okay, I will send someone to contact the court envoy right now!"
That's why the imperial officials asked Fang Guozhen to send troops to Tongzhou.
Later, Fang Guozhen agreed. King Xining and Wang Mengge were so happy that they immediately sent troops to attack at the same time as Fang Guozhen.
As a result, Kang and Chen began to object again. They both said that the risk of crossing the river was too high, especially since Jiangdu was too far away from Jiqing and it was necessary to cross the river for supplies. If the supplies were attacked, the consequences would be disastrous!
Wang Mengge was very angry, but he had to rely on the strength of the two men, so he could only compromise: "Then we can attack Zhenzhou first, have a foothold, and then attack Jiangdu!"
Kang Maocai still objected: "There is no big difference between attacking Zhenzhou and Jiangdu. Our supplies will be very difficult. If the war goes wrong, the soldiers will not even be able to cross the river and return!"
King Xining had long been impatient and said angrily: "If you don't want to lead the army, then hand over the military power!"
Kang Maocai was secretly angry and thought: "I pulled up my men and horses myself, why should I give them to you?"
When he was about to retort, Chen Ye stopped him first and persuaded him: "I have a compromise method. We can let soldiers and horses from Chuzhou and Hezhou participate in the battle at the same time. This way, the chance of winning is much greater!"
If it were in the past, Chuzhou's troops would have to guard against Haozhou, and Hezhou's troops would have to guard against Wuwei.
However, Jia Lu is currently attacking Haozhou, and Xu Shouhui has used many of Wuwei's troops to defend Jiangzhou.
In this case, it is indeed possible to mobilize the armies of the two places.
The king of Xining said: "This is true. I will convey the order to them now."
So we went back and forth and wasted a lot of time. After the King of Xining made an agreement with Chuzhou and Hezhou, the news of Fang Guozhen's defeat came.
While the King of Xining stepped up his efforts to urge Fang Guozhen to continue the attack, he led the soldiers and horses gathered in celebration towards Dacheng Port.
When the King of Xining marched, Zhao Desheng also followed Zhang Yangquan's order and led three thousand troops to support Zhenzhou.
Xu Baisheng took the initiative to ask for these reinforcements. When he wrote to Zhang Yangquan, he believed that the soldiers and horses in Jiqing would give priority to attacking Zhenzhou, so he hoped to send more reinforcements.
Zhang Yangquan doesn't have many troops now, so he only sent 3,000 men.
When Zhao Desheng led 3,000 people to Zhenzhou, Xu Baisheng had already organized his troops and prepared for the expedition.
The soldiers gathered near the north gate, numbering 7,000, and another 3,000 were sent to the border of Chuzhou by Xu Baisheng very early for other purposes.
When Zhao Desheng came to the north gate and saw Xu Baisheng's troops, he couldn't help but secretly praise them.
The army was arranged neatly, and the soldiers had sharp eyes. Apart from the sound of armor clashing, no noise could be heard in the team, and it was filled with a silent and chilling atmosphere.
Xu Baisheng's training method should be the same as Qin Lingjun's, but I don't know what method he used to achieve better training results than Qin Lingjun.
Before Zhao Desheng could think more, Xu Baisheng walked over and said in a deep voice: "General Zhao, Zhenzhou City will be handed over to you. Please guard it for me for a few days!"
Zhao Desheng said blankly: "I defend the city? What do you do?"
Xu Baisheng said: "I will lead the troops to fight."
Zhao Desheng said hurriedly: "It's up to me to charge into the battle, and I will be stationed in the city!"
Xu Baisheng did not object immediately, but asked: "Can you tell me General Zhao's battle plan?"
Zhao Desheng's dark face turned slightly red. He had no battle plan. If the enemy came from somewhere, he would just go over and destroy it.
Xu Baisheng said: "According to my analysis, the enemy will attack from three directions: Chuzhou, Hezhou, and Jiqing. The total force may reach 50,000. Is General Zhao sure of retreating from the enemy?"
Zhao Desheng smiled forcefully and said: "Since there are so many enemies, is it better for us to hold on?"
Xu Baisheng shook his head and said: "Although I have been building more city walls in the past few months, the time is too short. Given the current city defense situation, standing firm is the next best option."
Zhao Desheng raised his head and glanced at the Zhenzhou City Wall. It was indeed built several feet higher. It was light gray in color and the surface was uneven.
He sighed and said: "It's a pity that all the cement has been transferred to Tongzhou. Otherwise, if I transfer some to you, the city wall will definitely be built stronger!"
Xu Baisheng said: "Even if Zhenzhou City is built as strong as Jiangdu, defending the city is still a bad idea. Zhenzhou's terrain is not high, and if they dig canals to divert water to attack, it will still be difficult to defend!"
Zhao Desheng said in surprise: "Isn't that very dangerous?"
Xu Baisheng looked calm and said: "General Zhao, don't worry, I have a way to retreat the enemy, but I need you to help me defend Zhenzhou City."
Zhao Desheng hesitated and said: "Are you really confident that you can defeat 50,000 enemy troops?"
Xu Baisheng said: "Although they are large in number, they did not attack at the same time. General Zhao just waits for good news."