Huai'an.
As the sound of cannon fire gradually subsided, countless civilians were driven to rush towards Huai'an City.
Inside the city, Hu Zongxian frowned as he looked at the map in front of him, listening to the screams coming from outside the city.
He is now the highest-ranking official of the imperial court in Jiangbei, and also the highest-ranking official in the three towns of Jiangbei.
Among the three towns north of the Yangtze River, Qi Jiguang of Fengyang and Yang Zhiyong of Runing were all under his control.
He was looking at the map in front of him with a serious expression.
Li Qin has now basically taken over the Huaibei region.
The loss of Huaibei was happening much faster than he had anticipated.
Surprisingly, there were hardly any officials resisting in the entire Huaibei region.
They all surrendered smoothly to Li Qin.
Thinking of this, Hu Zongxian couldn't help but sigh.
The nation is facing difficult times.
With the Huaibei region pacified, Li Zicheng should have already crossed the Huai River and arrived in Huainan.
It should be at Qi Jiguang's place in Fengyang.
He knew Qi Jiguang well; he was a good general, and his loyalty was beyond question.
If he holds Fengyang, and as long as he defends the city cautiously, there shouldn't be any problems.
With their troops stationed in Huainan, Li Qin wouldn't be so easy to defeat.
However, what truly worries him now is not Huainan, where he is located.
It was Jiangxi, and the Jin Hu Prefecture in Jiangxi had always been wary of him.
Moreover, the imperial court initially listened to Grand Secretary Shi Kefa and constructed defense lines along the Huai River, the Yangtze River, and the Gan River.
He sensed something was wrong and didn't support these ideas.
After observing for this period of time, he also realized that although Prime Minister Skelfa was undeniably loyal, his abilities were ultimately inferior.
Unfortunately, he was in Huai'an, and now Li's army was wreaking havoc in Huainan.
Amidst the chaos of war, his connection with the imperial court had been severed.
I really don't know how things are in Jiangxi.
Hu Zongxian couldn't help but sigh when he thought about the problems in Jiangxi.
I'm truly worried about national affairs.
Yangzhou.
Qi Duchen led the army assigned to him by Li Qin and charged directly to the walls of Yangzhou.
None of the cities in the middle dared to come out and intercept them.
The banners of Li Qin's army began to flutter outside Yangzhou.
Everyone in Yangzhou immediately went on alert, and countless soldiers on the city walls watched the soldiers in the distance.
Meanwhile, news of Li Qin's army arriving in Yangzhou was quickly sent to the imperial court in Jiangnan.
At this moment, in the imperial court in Jinling, upon learning that Li Qin's army had already reached Yangzhou and was drinking from the Yangtze River.
All the ministers were now even more worried.
It's worth noting that Yangzhou is very close to Nanjing.
Although they knew there was a large river to their north that could block the enemy, they were worried about what would happen if Li's army charged over.
Then this empty Jiangnan region is completely finished.
After Emperor Zhu Jianshen appeared, everyone noticed that the emperor looked extremely haggard.
Zhu Jianshen looked at the assembled officials with a haggard expression. During this period, he had received one bad news after another.
The Huaibei region encountered almost no resistance and was quickly taken over by Li Qin.
Li Qin's army has crossed the Huai River and is wreaking havoc in Huainan, attacking cities and seizing territory.
Now, their troops have reached Yangzhou, drinking from the north bank of the Yangtze River, and are only a stone's throw away from Nanjing.
Meanwhile, in the west, with the surrender of Jinhu Prefecture, the western defense line had completely collapsed.
Li Ze's army has already sailed down the river and is currently engaged in a major battle with Grand Secretary Shi Kefa in Anqing.
He had originally planned to send his navy to support him.
However, after Li's army appeared in Yangzhou and drank from the north bank of the Yangtze River.
The navy is completely paralyzed.
For the safety of Jiangnan, the navy must maintain tight control over the Yangtze River to the north.
We absolutely cannot allow Li Zicheng's army to take the opportunity to cross the river and reach Jiangnan.
Jiangnan is the core; if something goes wrong in Jiangnan...
The situation was completely beyond repair.
Especially the bureaucrats, landlords, and gentry from the south under his command.
He was well aware that many of them had already contacted Li Qin beforehand to prepare for both possibilities.
Many of the ministers under him had already sent their family's young talents to serve under Li Qin.
It's all for the future; even if Li Qin wins, their family will not decline.
He was absolutely certain that many landlords and gentry in Jiangnan already had Li Qin's banners hidden in their homes.
Many are even being embroidered in progress.
The mentality of the bureaucrats, landlords, and gentry in Jiangnan right now.
As soon as Li Qin's army officially sets foot on the land of Jiangnan, those landlords and gentry will immediately gather under their command.
Jiangnan will directly change the king's flag on the city wall.
In fact, if he hadn't left behind Dong Zhonglou, Li Jinglong, and other generals from other regions who had little contact with them, to guard Nanjing and restrain the bureaucrats, landlords, and gentry of Jiangnan, it would have been even more difficult.
The officials and landlords in Jiangnan had no choice but to tie him up and send him to Li Qin's military camp to curry favor.
After sighing and lamenting that the imperial court was beset by both internal and external troubles.
Zhu Jianshen had no choice but to order Zhu Chenggong to lead the navy to defend the Yangtze River north of Nanjing.
We must absolutely not allow Li Qin's army to cross the Yangtze River.
At the same time, he ordered Zhang Huangyan to lead the last 10,000 or so soldiers of the Jingying garrison to Zhenjiang to guard against the rebel army in Yangzhou across the river.
After announcing all this, Zhu Jianshen's gaze swept over the ministers in front of him.
Finally, it fell to Sun Kaiyang's ministers who were inside.
An idea suddenly popped into my head.
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