On the day of Jiang Cheng's departure, good news came from Fancheng, and the Eighth Army under the command of Tian Zhong recovered the Guanghua Army and annihilated more than 3,000 enemies. The remnants of more than 500 people fled to Gucheng on the other side by boat, but were intercepted by the navy, and fled down the river to Xiangyang in a panic. However, when he arrived at the pier of Xiangyang Beicheng, Shi Bi was worried that the Song army would pursue him into the city, refused to open the water gate and gave up entering the city, and was caught up by our army and annihilated under the city.

The recovery of the Guanghua Army was the right time for Jiang Cheng, who had left his post and returned to Beijing, and it could be regarded as a relatively perfect end to his tenure in Huguang. Zhao Yu led the generals to the dock outside the city, and sent two warships to escort him, and repeatedly told him to take care of his body, and when he returned to Beijing to recuperate, he would contribute to the imperial court. Jiang Cheng didn't know whether he felt the emperor's grace or felt ashamed, and said goodbye to everyone with tears, Yang Fannan went to set out on the way home.

Bidding farewell to Jiang Cheng, Zhao Yu issued an edict to merge the Jingxiang Marching Governor's Mansion with the Imperial Protector's Mansion to form the Offensive Xiang Marching Governor's Mansion, which he personally commanded and commanded all departments on the Jingxiang battlefield, with Ni Liang as the deputy marshal to handle daily military affairs, Zhang Ba as the assistant military affairs of the Senate, Wang Yinglin and the commander of the marching army to supervise the military administration, and ordered Lin Zhiwu to concurrently lead the Governor's Office of the Baggage Department to coordinate grain and grass and prepare military supplies.

At the same time, Zhao Yu ordered all his troops to suspend all military operations and stay on the spot to strictly guard the defensive line, waiting for the next order. The Seventh Army and the Eighth Army, which were still outside, were summoned to command the commanders of all the departments above, and ordered them to come to Yicheng within two days after receiving the order to discuss the plan to conquer Xiangyang. ordered Pan Nian's ministry to send out a guard to ensure the smooth flow of communication lines between various ministries; The navy was ordered to step up patrols to prevent the enemy from attacking across the river.

Zhao Yu ordered all departments to start their work step by step, and he knew that the way each commander led the troops was different, and his style would also affect his subordinates. In addition to loyalty, the emphasis is on efficiency and obedience, and after the order is issued, whether it is a sword on the fire in front of it, or an abyssal river, it will not hesitate to complete.

Of course, Zhao Hao's meticulous thinking, prudence in planning and then acting, and the guiding ideology of exchanging the greatest victory at the lowest cost also affected the generals of the protectors, and this required them to pay attention to principles and be flexible and mobile in battle. Therefore, the generals of the escort army not only have a view of the overall situation, but also are good at grasping the details, and they like to be clever in battle, but they will never back down in tough battles.

However, people are not deducted from a mold, and the styles of the brigade commanders and generals of the Guardian Army must be different, but they all bear the deep imprint left by Zhao Yu whether they lead the troops or fight. On the contrary, Jiang Cheng's personality will also affect his own deployment, he was born in Xiangmen, and his patriotic thoughts are deeply rooted in the bone marrow, which determines that he will not do anything against the monarch and treason, and it is also one of the reasons why Zhao Yu trusts him.

Born in a family of Confucian eunuchs, Jiang Cheng has developed a temperament of acting cautiously, being lenient and paying attention to reputation, and will also form a forward-looking and hesitant style of doing things. This kind of temperament naturally has no problem in peacetime as a military and political official on the side of the commander-in-chief, and can handle all aspects of the relationship well, that is, he will take into account the needs of the emperor and take into account the feelings of his subordinates. Because 'harmony and mud' is the basic skill of the prime minister, otherwise how can you make the court feel harmonious!

And Jiang Cheng's personality seems to be a bit 'face' in the eyes of his subordinates, and he doesn't have to be in a hurry to do things, as long as there are no problems. And if there are some small problems, it doesn't matter, and Du Shuai's punishment will only be raised high and gently fallen, and he will cover up for himself. Such leniency also made the generals develop the temperament of not making big mistakes, not making small mistakes, procrastinating, and not hurrying.

In Zhao Hao's view, Zhang Ba's various performances can be said to be the most incisive expression of his style of leading troops. Zhang Ba stood out in the battle against Mengyuan, and at that time it was the time when corruption was rampant in the army and military discipline was most corrupt. As Zhang Shijie's subordinate, he was naturally deeply affected, not only loving money and power, but also being loyal to him by money and power, and naturally developed a greedy and power-loving temperament.

However, after Zhang Ba entered the new army system, he served under Jiang Cheng for a long time, and he knew the bottom line of his actions, so he would never tolerate his subordinates doing things that betrayed the monarch and treason, and everything else was easy to say. Therefore, he felt that after he took over the military power, he thought that it was not a big deal not to welcome the holy driver, and if something happened, Jiang Cheng would try to exonerate him for the sake of fame. And his greedy nature made him want to get some benefits in it, and even though he was in crisis, he still didn't dare to commit treason and kill the king.

Zhao Yu co-located the Imperial Protector Army with the Jingxiang Governor's Office, one was to facilitate dispatch and command, and the other was to change their style of action. So as to reverse the current situation of attacking and passive. And this is not something that can be changed overnight, the two sides also need to run in, and promote each other to learn from each other's strengths.

"Your Majesty, yesterday the Third Division of the Sixth Army reported that the baggage team transporting supplies was attacked on the way, and lost more than 500 stone of grain, and several others, resulting in a shortage of food at the front!" On this day, Zhao Hao had just finished breakfast, and Lin Zhiwu and the others said.

"Oh, where was the attack?" Zhao Yu asked with a frown.

"Your Majesty is in Qingping Town, thirty miles northeast of Yicheng." Ni Liang walked to the map, looked for a little and pointed the way.

"Haven't the enemy forces here been cleared yet?" Zhao Yu looked at the map, Qingping Town was north of the Han River, across the river from Yicheng. In order to prevent the enemy from crossing the river and attacking the camp, the Third Division deployed defenses in the north of the river and blocked the passage northeast of Xiangyang.

"Your Majesty, the southwest of Xiangyang is full of mountains, the enemy army has built a dense fortress on Quemen Mountain and Phoenix as a screen, Meng Yuan has built two forts in the southeast of Qingping Town, Fengling and Bazhang Mountain, and the middle valley road is the passage to Qingping Town!" Pan Nian explained.

"Oh, how many troops are there in the two cottages?" Zhao Yu nodded and asked. He knew that Xiangyang City was surrounded by water on three sides and surrounded by mountains in the west, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack. The soldiers have always believed that "if you want to attack Xiangyang, you must first take the mountain, the mountain will be saved, and the mountain will be lost, and the city will die", and they were not surprised that Meng Yuan set up a fortress here, but they felt that it was difficult to understand why the fortress that could block the way to march was not uprooted.

"Your Majesty, come to Fengling and stand across the valley from Bazhang Mountain, and each other is a horn. Laifengling cottage is larger, with three hundred-person teams; Bazhang Mountain is small, lacks water sources, and has only two centuries. Pan Nian replied.

"The terrain of these two hills is not high, and there are few garrisons, why not pull them out in time to ensure the safety of our army's entry and exit, and clear the way for the attack on Xiangyang?" Zhao Hao looked at the marks on the map, the elevation of Laifeng Village was only thirty zhang, and the slap village was only twenty zhang, and the number of troops was very small, so it would not be too difficult to defeat them.

"Your Majesty, because the river water swelled sharply in summer, Jiang Shuai thought that it was not conducive to the use of troops, and then Zhang Dushuai proposed a strategy to besiege the city, and rashly pulling out the village would arouse the enemy's vigilance, so he did not rush to use troops." Pan Nian pondered for a moment and explained with some embarrassment.

"What's this reason called?" Zhao Hao laughed angrily when he heard this, "These two fortresses are less than thirty miles away from the Yicheng camp, so they can block the passage of our army to the north into Xiangyang, and they can also spy on the movements of our army. And our military soldiers Xiangyang have long been known, will they still be known to the enemy because of the use of troops in two small fortresses? ”

"This ......" Pan Nian snorted twice, and then fell silent.

"Order the three divisions to quickly uproot the two villages and improve the situation of the two armies." Zhao Yu nodded on the map, then thought about it and said, "Pan Dutong, how many days do you think you can go down?" ”

"Your Majesty, within five days...... Within two days, there will be two villages! Pan Nian wanted to say that it took five days, but thinking that it took only five days for the Eighth Army to defeat the Guanghua Army, and it took five days to attack two small cottages by himself, it was really impossible to say.

"Okay, from noon today, if you can't take the two villages at noon the day after tomorrow, I will be punished!" Zhao Yu asked because he was worried that they would be procrastinating, and he would be nailed to death after getting the guarantee, so as to force them.

"Yes, if you don't resist for two days, the last general will be punished by himself!" Pan Nian Shi Li said......

Zhao Yu thought that attacking such two small hills with few garrisons would give him an advantage in strength and be familiar with the terrain, and the grass and trees were in full bloom at this time. Simply sneak in front of the fortress under the cover of night, then suddenly charge, and settle the battle with grenades and muskets. He estimated that one hour was enough for the whole operation, and two days was already very sufficient, so he did not pay attention to such a small battle.

"Your Majesty, the Third Division of the Sixth Army failed in the attack on Bazhang Village, and suffered heavy losses!" In the evening of the next day, Ni Liang hurriedly came in and delivered a battle report, with a very ugly face.

"Failed?!" Zhao Yu was surprised when he heard it, and after taking the battle report and reading it in a hurry, his face was also ugly.

"Your Majesty, after Pan Dutong learned the news, he has crossed the river to personally go to supervise the battle, and I think there will be good news back tomorrow." Ni Liang sighed and said with relief.

"Fighting a small hill with the strength of a regiment, the casualties amounted to more than 100 people, and it failed. And then you need a military commander to supervise the battle, which is really a big joke! Zhao Yu angrily threw the battle report on the ground and said.

"Your Majesty is angry, this may be the reason why they are in a hurry and they are not well prepared!" Ni Liang looked at the angry little emperor and persuaded him, but he forgot that he was not good at this job at all.

Sure enough, as soon as his words fell, a teacup was smashed to the ground by His Majesty and shattered, followed by the emperor's angry roar: "In mountain warfare, it is important to get as close as possible, so as to avoid being blocked by the enemy in front of the battle with the help of the terrain, and it is conducive to launching a surprise attack while the enemy is unprepared, and quickly breaking through the enemy's defense line." However, they bombarded them with heavy artillery first, lest the enemy not know that they were coming, but did they not understand that the dense forests and deep grass would obstruct their line of sight, and the terrain would restrict the difficulty of erecting heavy artillery? It's really hard for them to carry heavy artillery up the mountain, and they are not afraid of dying of exhaustion! ”