After Zhu Jianshen finished speaking, the many ministers below looked at each other in bewilderment.
No one stepped forward to tell Zhu Jianshen that they had a good plan to repel the enemy.
Looking at the silent ministers below, Zhu Jianshen could only sigh and sit back on his throne.
According to intelligence from the front, Li Qin's southward expedition this time involved almost all of his elite troops.
Various regional military governors, including those from Datong, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi, and Sichuan, declared that they would personally send troops to follow.
Even the Tatars outside the Great Wall, under Li Qin's orders, have been conscripting men to prepare to march south and fight alongside him.
This can be said to be Li Qin's most well-prepared and largest-scale offensive since he raised his army.
According to some ministers' calculations, Li Qin's army this time heading south may have reached a scale of up to one million.
Zhu Jianshen did not believe their calculations.
Because if it were truly a million, Li Qin's provisions simply wouldn't be able to keep up.
Even if it's not a million, the total amount from all parties combined is probably over 500,000.
The troop strength was roughly the same as what Hu Zongxian's men had estimated.
Moreover, Li Qin could not possibly gather hundreds of thousands of troops in one place, because the pressure on food supplies would be too great, and he simply could not sustain it for long.
There are too many problems.
Li Qin will definitely deploy his troops separately to alleviate the pressure on logistics and supplies.
Based on Li Qin's current deployment, he is indeed preparing to deploy his forces in a dispersed manner.
Even so, it was still unprecedented pressure for them.
It left everyone helpless.
Because the gap in strength between the two sides is too great.
Finally, it was Shi Kefa who stepped forward and said to Zhu Jianshen:
"Your Majesty, according to intelligence, the traitor Li has concentrated his troops mainly in Shandong, Henan, and Huguang."
Li Ze was strong on land, but weak at sea.
Our navy is weak, but our military navy is strong.
If we want to resist Li's army, we can only rely on the navy.
To our north are two major rivers, the Huai River and the Yangtze River. To our west, although there are no major rivers, Jiangxi Province has the Gan River and numerous mountain ranges as its support.
Jinhu Prefecture in Jiangxi has already submitted a petition to the imperial court to surrender.
We can deploy our navy at several key points, such as Poyang Lake, which connects the Yangtze and Gan Rivers in Jiangxi Province. This would prevent Li Zicheng from entering Jiangnan and the Gan River, and also block him from entering the area east of the Gan River.
As for the Huai River, after being eroded by the Yellow River, and despite the efforts of Duke Hu to manage it, many places are still only navigable by small boats.
However, we have already deployed three towns in the upper and lower reaches of the Huai River.
However, it is unrealistic to expect them to completely stop the enemy army at the Huai River.
Therefore, my suggestion is to let Li's army cross the Huai River.
Meanwhile, the soldiers of the three towns consolidated their forces, relying on the city walls to defend and block the enemy army. As long as they held their ground like nails, they would threaten the enemy army's rear supply lines.
They dared not attempt to cross the Yangtze River.
Zhu Shen listened to Shi Kefa's words with a hesitant expression.
Right after Skofa finished speaking.
Immediately, a minister stood up and questioned Shi Kefa: "Grand Secretary Shi, you said you would rely on the Huai River, the Yangtze River, and the Gan River to build a defense line."
What about the Huaibei region now controlled by the imperial court?
Don't you want it anymore?
"Your Majesty, I second your opinion. Grand Secretary Shi's suggestion is for the court to abandon the vast Huaibei region and other areas."
This is treasonous talk.
Your Majesty, this approach must not be adopted.
At the same time, I, your humble servant, have just heard the Grand Secretary's traitorous words.
Just after that minister finished speaking, another censor stood up and opposed Shi Kefa's words.
He also said he wanted to petition the Grand Secretary, S. K.
To say such things to an imperial censor at this time.
Zhu Jianshen, unable to bear it any longer, stood up from the throne.
He angrily pointed at the censor.
He knew what these ministers were thinking, and making suggestions meant taking responsibility and risking being held accountable later.
But if someone else offers a solution, they refute it.
If that proposal succeeds, they'll be fine.
If the proposal fails, they will say they were prescient and opposed it long ago.
Zhu Jianshen looked at the last censor to step forward.
He certainly knew what those people standing on the other side were thinking.
But to my surprise, they're still doing this now.
Therefore, Zhu Jianshen angrily stood up from the throne and pointed at the censor who had stepped forward, saying angrily:
"Drag Imperial Censor Qiao out and have him flogged in court."
As soon as he finished speaking, the unfortunate Imperial Censor Qiao was immediately dragged out.
Inside the main hall, all the ministers who supported Imperial Censor Qiao knelt down to plead for him.
After witnessing this scene.
Zhu Jianshen also took a few steps back and sat back on the throne.
With a final wave of his hand, he said:
"Dismiss the court and do as Grand Secretary Shi said."
Yan Yingyuan was ordered to lead his 35,000 elite troops from the Beijing garrison to Nanchang, Hongdu, to assist Jin Hufu in Jiangxi in resisting the rebel Li.
After saying that, he left the main hall.
These officials were still fighting amongst themselves at this point.
Knowing full well that in this extremely urgent time, internal strife could lead to the downfall of the nation, they still risked national annihilation by engaging in internal conflict.
Based on my understanding of those ministers, I estimate that many of them have already begun contacting Li Qin, right?
Looking at the intelligence reports about Li Qin's aggressive attack.
Zhu Jianshen sighed. "Can I protect the last piece of Jiangnan land for the Great Wu this time?"
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