The beacon smoke was transmitted from Jingkou to Jiankang from one beacon to another, bringing emergency military information: Jingkou was attacked.

The cavalry who rushed to Jiankang for help brought bad news to the king and minister of Chen: the Zhou navy came from the sea outside and attacked Jingkou without declaring the battle. The Jingkou garrison caught off guard and suffered heavy casualties.

Then, Jingkou fell.

The news spread quickly, causing storms all over the city. Both officials and civilians were shocked by the news: Why did the Zhou Kingdom fight without proclaiming it?

Zhou State sneaked into Jingkou, should we attack Jiankang next?

When the news arrived in Jiankang, it was already afternoon. Then the city became excited. The soldiers of various military camps were dispatched to guard the outer gates of Jiankang. The envoys of Zhou army arrived in Jiankang not long after and submitted documents to the Chen State.

Or is it a manifesto? Anyway, outsiders don’t know what the document/prompt is about, but they only know that many ministers entered the palace, and it seems that they are going to discuss something big.

For ordinary people, the most concerned thing is whether the Zhou army will be at the city of Jiankang. They really can't figure out why the official army in Jingkou was defeated so quickly.

Jingkou is the gateway to the northeast of Jiankang, and the two places are less than 200 miles apart. If the enemy who captured Jingkou sent a light cavalry, it would not take long to arrive in Jiankang. What happened later confirmed the concerns of many people.

The Zhou army cavalry indeed appeared in the northeastern suburbs of Jiankang. Looking at the thick smoke and firelights rising from the foot of Jiangshan, the defenders in the city knew that Jiangshan’s military camp was finished.

Jiangshan, located in the northeastern suburbs of Jiankang, is a must-pass place for Jingkou and Jiankang. Now that Jiangshan’s troops are attacked, it means that the enemy is about to be at the city of Jiankang.

The situation was urgent and night fell, and the curfew in Jiankang City was particularly severe. The people were listening to the movements outside the door anxiously at home. The sound of a large number of soldiers and horses mobilizing sounded terrifying.

More than four years have passed since the last time the enemy was at the city. The enemy was blocked by the government army that year. The rainy season that followed caused the enemy's offensive to collapse. Now it is the middle of winter and there will be no long rainy season.

The weather is unreliable, so many people place their hopes on the government army: Can the government army attack the invading enemy head-on as before?

"Kung Gong! Now the situation is clearly that the enemy sent elite troops to attack Jiankang. The opponent wants to fight quickly. If the official army rashly leaves the city to fight, it will hit the opponent's thoughts!"

"What about you?"

"The officials thought that keeping Jiankang was the best strategy."

In the Confucius Mansion, Yu Zhongwen was expressing his views to Kong Fan. Although he was not Kong Fan's assistant, he was actually dependent on Kong Fan and had previously made suggestions for him one after another and made great achievements.

The situation is now critical. After Kong Fan returned from the palace, he summoned a group of confidants to the mansion to provide advice, including Yu Zhongwen.

Since the demise of the Yuchi family, Yu Zhongwen has lost his target of revenge. With the friendship between Chen and Zhou, Kong Fan no longer went out to fight, nor did he need Yu Zhongwen to provide military advice, so Yu Zhongwen became "obscurity".

The situation is now critical, and the Zhou army fought undeclaredly to capture Jingkou. Even though Yu Zhongwen felt that it had nothing to do with him, he was given a face from the leader Kong Fan and made some suggestions like others, at least to deal with the situation.

Yu Zhongwen was not qualified to enter the palace to discuss matters, and Kong Fan looked a little tired after returning from the palace. He just told his confidants about the enemy situation, so Yu Zhongwen just expressed his opinions based on these military situations.

First of all, the Zhou State did not declare a war and launched a sneak attack. The troops that captured Jingkou must be strange soldiers. Our side must not fight hastily, because the enemy just wants to fight quickly.

For the sake of Chen State control, the invading enemy troops must have entered the Yangtze River by sea. In fact, this approach is very risky, because it is considered to be a lonely army, so there may not be any support.

Then the longer the opponent stays in Jiangnan, the greater the danger of being cut off by the Chen army and being trapped in a heavy siege. Therefore, the enemy must hope that the Chen army will attack, so as long as the opponent wins the decisive battle, Jiankang will be at his fingertips.

Therefore, Yu Zhongwen believes that his side should not be anxious and should be guarded by Jiankang. Even if the opponent's troops are at the city, do not fight easily. When the king's troops arrive, the enemy has no chance to take advantage of it and will inevitably withdraw his troops.

This is the safest way, but looking at the overall situation, Jiankang cannot just defend himself, because once Zhou State attacks with all its strength, Chen State will be difficult to resist, so this Zhou army that has entered Jiangnan must find a way to solve it as soon as possible.

The key to the problem lies in the river defense. To ensure that the river defense must first solve the Zhou Navy that occupied Jingkou. Therefore, on the one hand, the Jiankang garrison must not defend on land, and on the other hand, the navy on the riverside outside the city of the river must take the initiative to attack.

Together with the navy in Guangling, Jiangbei, we will fight the decisive battle with the enemy navy in Jingkou. If we say that, we will defeat or defeat it.

If the enemy navy is defeated, the troops who have already landed will inevitably be in chaos due to the discontinuation of the future. In this way, the next battle will be easy to fight.

Only after solving this enemy army that sneaked into Jingkou and tried to attack Jiankang could Chen's army go all out to face the Zhou army that would attack in full swing next.

When the Zhou army invaded south, its main force would inevitably attack from two directions: crossing the Huai River from north to south to attack Huainan, and attacking Jiankang from west to east through the Yangtze River. This is an inevitable result, and even a blind man can see it.

Now, this surprise soldier who came from the east to sneak attack Jingkou cannot be rushed to solve the problem, otherwise it would hit the opponent's mind, but it would not be allowed to be nailed to Jiangnan, because this would constrain the main force of the Chen army.

Therefore, defending Jiankang on land and defeating the enemy navy in Jingkou on water is the safest way to deal with it.

Yu Zhongwen is not thinking of making contributions in such a hard work. He is simply doing his best, because he is protected by Kong Fan, and he will always be rewarded in an emergency.

Kong Fan listened silently to Yu Zhongwen's long speech without much expression. After Yu Zhongwen finished speaking, he remained silent for a moment and said "I understand."

Yu Zhongwen felt a little strange when he saw this, but he didn't ask much. He saw that Kong Fan had no intention of continuing to ask for advice, so he looked a little excited, so he knew the other people and left.

After everyone left, Kong Fan sighed, got up and walked back and forth in the room, then sat down and fell into deep thought.

What Yu Zhongwen said does make sense, but for Kong Fan, it has no meaning.

Just now, the Empress Dowager summoned important officials to discuss matters, and asked for advice on the enemy's undeclared battle and sneak attack on Jingkou. Kong Fan was present, and thus learned the content of the manifesto sent by the Zhou army. In short, the other party came to raise troops to question and rescue the expatriates.

A few days before the incident, the eunuch Cai Tuoer offered a fairy pill. After taking it, the emperor fainted after taking it. Cai Tuoer fled for fear of guilt and was said to have fled to the "Zhoufang" where Zhou people gathered at the mouth of the Qinhuai River.

Chen State sent troops into the yard to search, and confronted the Zhou people in the yard. Although the soldiers eventually broke through the block and entered the yard to search, they found the body of Cai Tuoer who committed suicide fearlessly. The Zhou people had a ship fled, escaped from the interception of Chen's warships, and fled eastward.

To the east was the sea, but the ship actually encountered the Zhouguo Maritime Fleet returning north from the sea outside Kuaiji.

This huge fleet was originally stationed on the islands outside Kuaiji, intending to raise an army to punish Zhou Guohai's ship for the previous detention in Kuaiji.

The commander of the navy and the admiral Wang Jun had to flee to the Zhou people, saying that the Zhou merchants in Jiankang were brutally massacred, so they entered the Yangtze River west and launched a military force to punish them. The capture of Jingkou was only the first step. Next, they would face Jiankang and ask Chen to give an explanation and compensation.

The relevant responsible officials must also be handed over to Zhou State for disposal. If they do not receive a satisfactory reply, the Zhou army will enter the city to arrest people.

Of course, Chen Guo would not accept this extremely shameless and unreasonable request, and the other party clearly wanted to attack Jiankang, so he ignored the fact that Zhou Fang was fine and found an excuse, and offered extremely harsh conditions, waiting for Chen Guo to refuse.

The Empress Dowager summoned important officials to the palace to discuss matters, and Kong Fan was also present, but he found that his opinions were no longer important because the Empress Dowager did not intend to listen to what he said.

In other words, the Queen Mother did not trust him.

This is a matter of course. Kong Fan’s current status is entirely due to the trust of the officials. When Zhou’s army was outside Jiankang City, the reason why Kong Fan was able to lead the army out of the city as a military supervisor was because he was trusted by the officials.

But now, the official family is unconscious, and the Empress Dowager believes in the martial arts honors such as Xiao Moha, Ren Zhong, and is more willing to ask old ministers such as Yuan Xian. As for the official family's honors, Kong Fan and other officials, they have become listeners.

Of course, the Empress Dowager did not deliberately show her face to Kong Fan and others, because they were indeed not military and could not express any insights.

But for Kong Fan, this means that the situation is indeed not good. If the government cannot wake up, it will be a matter of time before they stand aside. If the new king succeeds to the throne, their doomsday will come.

So, since the surprise soldiers sent by King Bin have approached Jiankang City, why should I help the court to keep them out?

Thinking of this, Kong Fan's frown stretched out his frown. Just now, on his way out of the palace and back to his mansion, someone handed a letter to him.

The man was the eyeliner of Zhou Guofeng, Wang Yuwen Wen's arm in Jiankang City. After reading this handwritten letter from Yuwen Wen, Kong Fan probably knew how to deal with the next situation. Now he is no longer worried.

For him, the rise and fall of Chen State has nothing to do with him.

Even if what Yu Zhongwen said just now is reasonable, so what?
Chapter completed!