"What's the story?"

"Gu Zhi, it can also be considered a story, it is something that people have done and it is recorded in the book."

"If there is such a story...why didn't Gao Jingshan think of it?"

"Because there are too many stories like this, this idea is actually not very impressive. The key is to be decisive and prepare early... I said before that I had this idea on the first day I arrived."

"Go on."

"As for my idea that day, it was after arriving at Daming City on the first day. I was worried that the Jin army might attack from the north. Our army was too large, and there were so many civilians coming and going. Daming and Gucheng could not accommodate them, and there would be loopholes. So we prepared a ten-mile-long fortress, connecting the east and west to the river, tightly fitting, to protect 40,000 to 50,000 front-line troops of the imperial camp, naval soldiers, 50,000 civilians, and even the boats in the river." Yue Fei continued. "It was also at that time that I realized that Daming Prefecture was well defended, and the Jin army might gather in winter, so I wanted to use this to survive the winter and survive the possible siege by the Jin army..."

"I understand!" Zhang Rong suddenly interrupted. "You must have been standing in the hot air balloon, looking at the terrain on both sides of the river, thinking about setting up a camp and attacking the city, and suddenly you thought, since you can set up a huge camp on this side of the river, why not set up a huge camp on the other side of the river? You can also isolate the Jin army and take advantage of the situation to attack the city?"

"Yes!" Yue Fei looked at the other party seriously, as if he had more to say.

"I know what decision you have to make." Zhang Rong unbuttoned his new coat, put it on, and shook his head. "I also know what you mean by asking me to tug the boat on land... But if we do this, will we have enough food and supplies?!"

"Brother Zhang, you are the most familiar with the Yellow River. Tell me, how long will the frozen period be, including the ice flood?" Yue Fei asked back.

"The earliest freezing will happen is early next month, and the latest thawing will be after the Lantern Festival next year, which will be no more than forty days...but in fact, it has not exceeded thirty days in recent years." Zhang Rong couldn't help feeling a little nervous again.

"Forty days!" Yue Fei continued in a serious tone. "The troops we have gathered here now are 70,000 soldiers, which is a little less than 50,000 civilians... We already have cotton clothes, food, weapons, fuel... Do you think we can collect enough before the freezing?"

"It's the middle of the month now, let me calculate it." Zhang Rong thought for a moment and gritted his teeth. "This place is only 300 miles away from Tokyo by water, and only 200 miles away from Wushan Camp by water, and most of it is downstream, but the river mouth itself is still inaccessible, and you have to go through Gucheng... Let's put it this way, there will definitely be enough food and weapons, but I'm really unsure about coal and firewood for heating in winter!"

"You don't have to go through the old city again." Yue Fei reminded. "And there may not be only these ships."

Zhang Rong was startled for a moment, then realized it, nodded heavily, and lowered his voice again: "First, it's not safe to say this now, we have to take it one step at a time, but I think it's feasible... But even so, the other thing is that I still need the cooperation of the husbands in Tokyo..."

Yue Fei was silent for a moment, then said seriously: "The ministers in Tokyo may be angry, and there will be quarrels in the secret cabinet, but Zhao, Zhang, Hu and Lin will never disobey the emperor, and the emperor gave me full authority for the war before he left... These four people plus Prime Minister Lu will never make mistakes."

"The other three are fine, but Zhang, I heard from my son-in-law in private, is a kind-hearted person with a bad temper, and is prone to making mistakes." Zhang Rong continued to remind. "I'm afraid he will interfere, trying to help but end up making mistakes..."

In the dark night, there was suddenly some commotion in Yuancheng, which was across the river. It was obvious that the movement in the north of the city still caused unrest in the city.

Yue Fei and Zhang Rong stopped talking at the same time and looked at each other. Then Yue Fei turned around and continued to discuss with Zhang Rong, holding the steel knife on his waist: "What do you mean, Brother Zhang?"

"Write a letter to your advisor, Minister Hu. Don't mention official business. Just put your attitude on the table and clearly say that you are worried about Zhang Jun. He is a ruthless person who can help you restrain Minister Zhang... If you ask Minister Zhao to come forward, it will be more likely to cause trouble."

Yue Fei thought for a moment, nodded heavily, then turned around and walked down the stairs.

Zhang Rong didn't care at first and just put on his cotton jacket again, but he immediately came to his senses and turned around and shouted to the other person: "Pengju, where are you going?"

"Since there is movement in Yuancheng, we should cross the river to supervise the battle just in case!" Yue Fei, who was walking down the stairs, did not turn his head. "We should also urge the entire army to speed up the construction of the fort, cross the Yongji Canal, and continue to build westward."

Zhang Rong wanted to persuade her, but he felt helpless after thinking about it. He felt frustrated and turned back to look at the hot air again. But he soon thought of something and asked again, "Where is Yue Yun?! Where is your husband?!"

"I crossed the river from the south of the city along with the Beiwei Army following Tang Huai. We should have reached the west side of the Yongji Canal now..." Yue Fei, who had already walked to the ground, still did not look back.

Zhang Rong was stunned for a moment before he realized that Yue Yun and the front army of the Imperial Camp were truly isolated and were the first to bear the brunt of the attack.

This is because the Yongji Canal runs from east to west and then from north to south on the land sandwiched between two rivers twelve or thirteen miles north of Yuancheng. It first passes through the west branch of the Yellow River North Road from the west, and when it arrives at Yuancheng, it takes advantage of the situation to go around the city wall to the north, parallel to the east and west branches of the Yellow River North Road, directly dividing the land sandwiched to the north of Yuancheng into two...With this kind of terrain, if the two Wanhu of the Jin State in Guantao had come together, the wall fortifications would have been built several miles east of the canal, and the flaw must be on the west side of the Yongji Canal.

Although Yue Fei did not say anything, he threw a troop of his own roots and his son to the most dangerous place on land, just like Zhang Rong threw his most trusted brother Xiao En into the river full of ship wreckage.

"Yes, there is a large army, but don't worry about it!"

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!