"Your Highness!"

The steamship slowly docked at the Baima Ferry. Soon, Zhao Xu got off the warship.

At this time, the generals had already arrived at the ferry from the south gate.

When they saw the King of Yan get off the boat, they saluted.

Zhao Xu returned a military salute and entered Baima County with the generals.

When he arrived at the command room, Zhao Xu looked at the sand table in Jinling and nearby areas, and said, "Have you found out the deployment opposite?"

"Go back to Your Highness and find out." Chang Wei said.

After controlling Jiangbei, he placed a team of hot air balloon soldiers in Baima County, which was specifically responsible for detecting the deployment information of the opponent's army from the air.

I know them well.

Picking up the teaching stick, he pointed to the sand table, "The army of the Shi tribe established two arc-shaped trenches outside Jinling City, deployed 300,000 troops, and at the same time, using sandbags to build fortifications in Jinling City, stationed 100,000 soldiers, with a total of 300,000 troops inside and outside."

"400,000 troops? They really invested a lot." Zhao Xu frowned.

Chang Wei said: "These are mainly soldiers of the Xie family, Han family and Wang family. At present, the Xie family is only three major cities, Jinling, Sucheng and Songcheng. There is basically no way out. They can only take a single bet and fight us to the end."

Zhao Xu nodded.

The Jinling, Sucheng and Songcheng are contemporary Nanjing, Suzhou and Shanghai respectively.

Although these three cities do not occupy much territory in Ningzhou, they are the richest and most densely populated areas in Ningzhou.

Because of the dense water network and the plains, there is also a lot of grain production.

Because of this, the Xie family and others were able to maintain their current status with such a small area.

After retreating to Jinling, he could even expand the remaining more than 200,000 troops to 400,000.

"Also, the mercenaries from the Western Land are also in Jinling." Thinking of this, Chang Wei added.

When Zhao Xu heard this, his brows frowned slightly.

Jiujiang flows from west to east, and there is a twist in the area of ​​Jinling, showing a triangle.

Jinling is at the vertex of this triangle.

Moreover, except for the area near Jinling, which is a plain, the rivers along the far away are all over the mountains and ridges, so it is impossible to land.

Therefore, if you want to go south from the east, you cannot avoid the Linjiang barrier of Jinling.

Of course, he also thought about going south from Jingzhou to Xiangzhou, but he gave up.

Because this would leave the royal family's personal army sandwiched between Nanliang and Wu.

If they cut off the food route in Xiangzhou, the royal family will be in trouble.

Although Nanliang and Wu are now in disagreement, he cannot ignore all the situations.

Furthermore, Xiangzhou was really a remote countryside in this era, and there were many mountains in the area.

After occupying, not only would we have to disperse our troops to garrison, but we would not have any threat to the State of Wu or Nanliang.

This is because Xiangzhou is also a mountain to the east, and to the west, it is also a mountain to the west.

When marching south, transporting food and grass is also a problem.

It’s better to go south from the eastern Jiujiang area.

Although this must be a tough battle, they had a solid base in Jiangnan after taking Jinling.

By advancing one after another, we can take down all the plains in southern Ningzhou and Zhejiang, and control the most important grain-producing areas in Dasong.

The powerful clans naturally realized this and arranged heavy troops here to fight for his inch of land.

"They must have made arrangements for other counties along the river." Zhao Xu thought for a while and said again.

Since the mercenaries from the Western Land are here, they will definitely provide the powerful people with the war experience of the Western Land and consider it more in detail.

Chang Wei nodded, "That's true. Trench fortifications were also built around the county towns along the river. Wu State supported 200,000 troops and horses to guard the wealthy families in Ningzhou. If these county towns along the river were attacked, Jinling's troops may be supported at any time."

Clearing his throat, he continued, "The most important thing is that in order to prevent us from winning over the people like in Qizhou, they recently issued an order that once we launch an attack, they will let the people bring food into the city."

"In order to resist me, they have no longer cared about the lives of the people." Zhao Xu's brows were locked deeper.

Combined with Liang Kai's order to migrate the coastal people, he figured out some current strategies of the powerful tribes.

It was to increase the burden on food and grass for him, and he had to maintain the food route during his journey south.

In this way, they could hinder his attack by attacking the food channels.

I have to say that their current strategy is not a problem.

This method is often used in wars between countries.

As he paced back and forth, Zhao Xu's expression gradually became firm.

In history, every time I attacked Jinling, there were no strange plans and could only attack hard.

It was his turn this time, and the same was true.

After all, since the county town has also built fortifications and there are troops stationed.

Each city can support each other at any time.

He might as well ate Jinling directly.

First, taking down Jinling can severely defeat the arrogance of the powerful clan.

Secondly, the royal family's personal army had a stable bridgehead in Jiangnan, transporting the food and grass to Jinling City.

Only by relying on Jinling City to capture the nearby city, there will be no pressure on the grain road.

Thinking of this, he said to Chang Wei: "The ship crossing the river is ready, so he launched an attack on Jinling City. This is a tough battle. You must show your mightyness to me, especially the mercenaries from the Western Land, so that they can taste our power!"

"Yes, Your Highness." Chang Wei shouted loudly when he heard this.

The prelude to the Great Song Unification War is about to begin.
Chapter completed!