With the Liangjiang New Army and the Tiger Army stationed on both sides of the Yangtze River outside Jinling City declaring their loyalty to Prince Chen Huai'an of Jin and raising the banner of the Dragon City Pacification Army, the capital city of the Great Xin Dynasty, Jinling City, became an isolated city.
Besieged on all sides, facing numerous crises.
The so-called natural barrier of the Yangtze River crumbled at this moment.
At this time, Prince Chen Huai'an of Jin had as many as 330,000 troops outside Jinling City.
Meanwhile, Chang Yuchun, the deputy marshal of Longcheng and the general in charge of the southern expedition, sent someone to report that his 150,000-strong southern expeditionary army would soon arrive at the north bank of the Yangtze River.
Another force of 150,000 men, led by Liu Ziyu, the deputy general of the Southern Expeditionary Army, marched south after capturing Kaifeng. Their vanguard was already engaged in fierce fighting with a portion of the Tiger Warriors led by Zhao Kui, another deputy general of the Tiger Warriors.
Just as the two armies were engaged in fierce fighting in the Tiger Beach area on the north bank of the Yangtze River, Tang Ziyi personally led an army of 100,000 to come and help.
Upon seeing the banners bearing the character "武" (martial) fluttering in the wind, Zhao Kui immediately raised his sword, raised his arm, and shouted: "Heaven has not forsaken me, Zhao Kui! Heaven has not forsaken my Tiger Army!"
The next moment, Zhao Kui witnessed a bizarre scene.
The reinforcements who had originally been holding up the "Wu" banner suddenly abandoned it and instead raised huge "Jin" banners!
The banner of the Prince of Jin was so large that it was clearly not owned by the infantry or cavalry of the rebel army in Longcheng.
In fact, Tang Ziyi, the deputy general who was stationed in the camp and acting as the general, was too hasty in deciding to lead his troops to surrender to His Highness Prince Jin.
Furthermore, the fierce battle between another deputy general, Zhao Kui, and the southward-bound Longcheng expeditionary army broke out too suddenly after he received military orders;
As a result, Tang Ziyi did not have time to issue an order for the commander of his personal guards in charge of logistics and supplies to speed up the production of the Prince of Jin's flag. In order to avoid friendly fire on the battlefield, he had to temporarily borrow the Prince of Jin's flag from the Longcheng naval fleet.
The huge Jin King flag hanging on the mast of the warship was naturally not comparable to the Jin King flag used by the infantry and cavalry of the Longcheng army.
Therefore, a strange scene appeared on the Tiger Beach battlefield—several flag bearers of the Tiger Warriors had to work together to hold up the Prince of Jin's flag, and they had to exert all their strength to keep the flagpole from being blown down by the river wind.
It wasn't until then that Zhao Kui, the deputy general of the Tiger Warriors New Army who had followed General Wu Sanjia in establishing the Tiger Warriors New Army, finally realized that he had fallen into Tang Ziyi's trap!
Tang Ziyi, under the guise of a general, ordered Zhao Kui to lead his troops north to meet the enemy.
Tang Ziyi himself had long been secretly colluding with the rebels in Longcheng, working together from within and without, intending to annihilate the Tiger Army in one fell swoop!
However, even if Zhao Kui realized this at this moment, it was too late.
He and his thousands of elite Tiger Warriors were caught in a pincer movement between the vanguard of the Longcheng Southern Expeditionary Army and Tang Ziyi.
Zhao Kui, on horseback, roared to the sky, "Tang Ziyi, you treacherous villain, you will die a horrible death! You disloyal and unjust scoundrel, when the General returns from Jiangyin to welcome the Emperor back, he will surely not spare you!"
"Tang Ziyi, I, this general, have fallen into your hands today. Even as a ghost, I will not let you go. Just wait, you will surely suffer a terrible death—"
Before the battlefield of Tiger Beach, where the river wind howled, Zhao Kui, the deputy general of the Tiger Warriors New Army, appeared so insignificant and powerless in his impotent rage, which was swallowed up in an instant by the roar of the Yangtze River.
Tang Ziyi, eager to prove his loyalty to Prince Jin and pledge his allegiance, was unwilling to waste his precious time on the dying Zhao Kui.
He simply waved his hand expressionlessly and then issued the general order for the general offensive: "Pass down the order, the entire army will attack and quell the rebels!"
"Move the entire army out to quell the rebellion—"
Almost simultaneously.
In the Liangjiang New Army camp across the river, Liangjiang Governor-General Su Chen, who was personally leading the charge, also issued the battle order from horseback: "Pass down the order, the entire Liangjiang New Army will launch an attack, cooperating with the Longcheng naval fleet on the river, to annihilate the rattan armor rebels in one fell swoop!"
"All troops, launch an attack and annihilate the rattan armor rebels!"
As the general gave the order to launch a full-scale attack, the war drums throughout the Liangjiang New Army camp were simultaneously beaten, accompanied by the stirring sound of bugles.
Already fully equipped and gripping their swords and spears, the soldiers of the Liangjiang New Army, spurred on by the sounds of war drums and bugles, charged out of their camp one after another towards the rattan armor army camp outside, which was ostensibly there as reinforcements but in reality intended to encircle them.
The incident happened so suddenly that the generals and soldiers in the rattan armor army camp hadn't even figured out what was going on when the soldiers of the Liangjiang New Army rushed into the camp.
The rattan armor soldiers in the camp had no choice but to hastily engage in battle.
boom!
Boom!
Rumble!
The next moment, thunderous sounds, like bolts from a clear sky, resounded one after another within the rattan armor army's camp.
Just as the generals of the rattan armor army were wondering why there would be thunder in the scorching July sun, they suddenly discovered that the tents in the camp caught fire all at once with the sound of thunder, and thick smoke billowed out, and the fire spread throughout the camp.
Only then did these early "mercenaries" of the rattan armor army from the Nanzhao Kingdom realize that this was not thunder at all, but some kind of powerful, never-before-seen weapon that was indiscriminately reaping the lives of the rattan armor army soldiers.
On the Yangtze River waterway outside the rattan armor army camp, warships flying the Jin King's flag were recklessly pouring cannon fire into the rattan armor army camp.
Finally, someone with sharp eyes recognized it and ran around shouting: "On the river, what's swimming on the river is the Longcheng Navy of Prince Chen Huai'an of Jin! The monster that bombarded the camp is on the warships of the Longcheng Navy!"
"Everyone, run!"
In an instant, the rattan armor army's camp was thrown into chaos.
The fighting that broke out simultaneously on both sides of the Yangtze River gradually subsided after several hours.
Shen Shi Shi Fen.
The Longcheng naval fleet, which was sailing on the Yangtze River to support the Liangjiang New Army, finally docked at the Tiger Beach Wharf on the north bank of the Yangtze River.
At this time, Chang Yuchun, the deputy marshal of the army who had received the order from the Prince of Jin, and Liu Ziyu, the deputy general of the southern expeditionary army, had already arrived at Tiger Beach Wharf ahead of the main force to welcome the Prince of Jin.
Accompanying him was Tang Ziyi, the deputy general of the Tiger Warriors New Army, who had just surrendered to the Prince of Jin's command on the Tiger Beach battlefield, using the life of his colleague Zhao Kui as a pledge of loyalty.
"This humble general pays his respects to Your Highness Prince Jin! Long live Prince Jin! Long live Prince Jin! Long live Prince Jin!"
As they spoke, Chang Yuchun, Liu Ziyu, and Tang Ziyi knelt down and bowed to the Prince of Jin, shouting "Long live the Prince!"
"No need for formalities!"
This time, Tang Ziyi, the deputy general of the Tiger Warriors, finally stood up like Chang Yuchun and Liu Ziyu, and even straightened his back.
Chen Huai'an didn't waste any words and went straight to the point: "I have assisted the Liangjiang New Army on the south bank in clearing the last obstacle for my Longcheng expeditionary army in crossing the river."
"By order of the King, the three armies shall unite, cross the Yangtze River, and seize Nanjing!"
"Your subordinate obeys!"
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