Zhang Huangyan stood in the middle of the army, looking through his binoculars at Li's army opposite him, who was actually about to split up their forces.
He immediately realized that something was wrong, and then led his troops to attack and intercept Li Xuanshang's forces.
However, due to the disparity in troop strength, they were easily defeated by Li Xuanshang.
They were then relentlessly pursued by the Jin Hufu troops and were unable to continue attempting to intercept Li Xuanshang's army.
Li Xuanshang looked at Zhang Huangyan's army, which was being held back behind him.
Having served in the military for many years, he saw the army formation and the arrangement of banners of the opposing force again.
He knew that the ten thousand men opposite him were all elite troops.
Although his men are also elite, they could defeat the enemy if they were to fight against them.
But it takes too much time.
As the commander-in-chief, he must consider the overall situation.
His primary task now is to capture Nanjing, thus securing victory for the hundreds of thousands of troops marching south.
Instead of wasting time here trying to eliminate these 10,000 people.
Moreover, once he takes Nanjing and destroys the Nanjing court, most of the 10,000 soldiers in the capital garrison will either collapse or surrender.
There was absolutely no need for him to continue fighting them to the death here, after all, given the elite status of the opposing force, even if he could take them down.
Their own troops will also suffer some casualties.
This is completely unnecessary.
Instead, it would be most advantageous to hold them off while launching a surprise attack on Jinling, which is vulnerable and has an inside ally.
So after Zhang Huangyan's army was tied up by Jin Hufu.
He immediately led his army to continue marching towards Jinling.
They encountered almost no resistance along the way and arrived at the gates of Jinling City.
Moreover, Li Xuanshang deliberately avoided the Qinhuai River area and instead bypassed Zijin Mountain, heading towards Jinchuan Gate in Jinling.
Within the city of Jinling, chaos erupted as Li Jun's army approached the city.
Zhu Jianshen summoned ministers, including Sun Kaiyang, to the inner palace. Looking haggard, he asked the assembled officials:
"Li's army is already at the city gates. Does anyone have any good strategies?"
After Zhu Jianshen finished speaking, a minister stepped forward and said:
"Your Majesty, the rebel army is currently outside the gates of Jinchuan City, with the Yangtze River to the north."
Your Majesty, I humbly request that Your Majesty issue an edict to summon the Duke of Zhu's naval forces, allowing them to attack the enemy from behind. This will surely result in a great defeat for the enemy.
After the minister finished speaking, Sun Kaiyang stood up and said:
"Your Majesty, I have something to say. As far as I know, the commander of this rebel army is none other than Li Xuanshang, the nephew of the rebel Li. Li Xuanshang has been in command of troops under the rebel Li for a long time."
He was also an extremely knowledgeable military strategist, and when he led his army from the south, he did not choose the nearby Qinhuai River or other places, but instead chose to bypass Zijin Mountain.
Go and attack Jinchuan Gate, which is located to the north and close to the Yangtze River.
The commander guarding Jin Chuan Gate was none other than Li Jinglong, who had previously fled from the west; therefore, I have my suspicions.”
Sun Kaiyang paused at this point and stopped talking.
The ministers present understood what Sun Kaiyang had said and also noticed the point he made.
Yes, why did Li Xuanshang choose Jinchuan Sect?
And why not attack the other, easier gates?
Could it be that Li Jinglong of Jinchuan Sect really has a problem?
After realizing this, many ministers, including Zhu Jianshen, broke out in a cold sweat.
Zhu Jianshen then fell silent.
The current commander of Jinchuan Gate is Li Jinglong, but even if Shi knows that Li Jinglong might have problems, what can he do?
Can I remove him from his position at this time?
You should know that the garrison at Jinchuan Gate was all brought by him from Huguang, so even if he dismissed him...
A new commander has been appointed, but will the soldiers listen to him?
Let's hope that Li Jinglong didn't actually collude with the traitor Li, and that their actions completely reverse the truth.
In the end, Zhu Jianshen only gave the order for Zhu Chenggong to lead the navy back and attack Li's army from the rear.
No orders were issued regarding the handling of Li Jinglong, because he knew that at this time...
They simply didn't have the ability to deal with Li Jinglong.
The only thing they could do was order Zhu Chenggong to lead the army back to provide support as soon as possible.
But before they could send out their orders, a young eunuch rushed in in a panic.
Facing the emperor before him, Zhu Jianshen said in a flustered manner:
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, the rebels, the rebel army has entered the city."
Upon hearing this news, Zhu Jianshen immediately stood up, staring at the young eunuch in front of him with a shocked expression.
The minister standing nearby stepped forward and asked directly:
"What happened? How did the rebels get into the city? They just arrived at the gates of Jinling, and with such a rapid march, it's unlikely they were carrying artillery."
Siege equipment couldn't be built so quickly, considering we purchased a lot of cannons from the Hongyi.
How could they have entered the city so quickly?
The young eunuch looked at the minister tremblingly and said:
"The rebel army entered through Jinchuan Gate. Li Jinglong, the commander of Jinchuan Gate, took the initiative to open the city gate to welcome the rebel army into the city."
The rebel army, led by the traitor Li Jinglong, is now marching towards the palace.
After the eunuch finished speaking, everyone present fell silent.
Sun Kaiyang closed his eyes; they knew that their worst fears had come true.
Emperor Zhu Jianshen closed his eyes in despair, then suddenly opened them, his eyes filled with determination.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
