"How is the military situation inside and outside the city?"

The next day, after capturing Changge City, Wanyan Wushu led the main force of tens of thousands of Jin soldiers to continue south. In the afternoon, they arrived at Changshe City. Before ordering the complete encirclement of Changshe City, he immediately summoned Wanyan Balisu, who had set out earlier, and carefully inquired by the Yi River outside the city.

"Han Shizhong seems to have fled into the city, but he should be injured." After the meeting the other day, Balisu appeared much more honest, and his replies were extremely detailed. "Four to five thousand men entered the city with him. There were already four to five thousand soldiers left behind by him in the city, totaling…about ten thousand…As for the remnants of the battle the other day, according to scouts, his general Wang Sheng led three to four thousand men to flee to Yanling in the east, where they joined forces with Zhang Yong, the guard general sent by the Tokyo Garrison Command, to gather the defeated soldiers."

Many of the surrounding military officers and staff rejoiced at the news that Han Shizhong was trapped in the city. Only Wanyan Wushu himself, sitting on a fur-covered stool, frowned slightly:

"I just arrived and haven't investigated thoroughly, but I can see that this city has been reinforced and repaired a lot...The soil color of the moat looks newly dug, right?"

"Indeed."

Wanyan Balisu didn't pay attention to Wushu's expression and continued to report the military situation without looking back. "We captured several junior officers from Han Shizhong's army on the road, and also forced several local officials to surrender in the surrounding villages and towns. According to these people, not only Changshe City in front of us, but also the five or seven large cities near the five rivers of Ying, Wei, Yi, Shang, and Ru Rivers, such as Yancheng, Xiangcheng, Linying, Xiping, and Wuyang, have all been reinforced and repaired over the past few months, and have received a large amount of military equipment and grain…"

"What about the soldiers and civilians?" Wanyan Wushu's brow furrowed even tighter.

"Naturally, they were also prepared long ago." Balisu shook his head and smiled, obviously not understanding why Wushu would ask such a superficial question. "The Zhao Song official in Nanyang has been stable there for several months, and is obviously not someone who will sit and wait for death. Since they want to defend here, how can they only repair the city and transport grain, but not prepare soldiers? I have already asked clearly... Several large cities have generals of the commander level leading troops to garrison them, and before that, they recruited civilians from the refugees in the north to repair the city on the spot. After the repairs were completed, they stayed with the army in the city. For example, Xiangcheng is garrisoned by Lü Qing, formerly of Sisui Pass; Xiping is garrisoned by Zhai Chong, a commander from a local tyrant family, who seems to be related to the large and small Zhai families of Xijing. I call him Old Zhai; Yancheng is garrisoned by Xu Shi'an, a major general of Han Shizhong's main army; even Changshe in front of us already has Wang Shan, a commander sent by Zong Ze."

Wanyan Wushu's face grew increasingly gloomy, but Balisu still didn't care...Because since joining forces with this Fourth Prince in Henan, he had never seen him show any good expression.

After a long pause, seeing that Wanyan Wushu didn't speak, Balisu couldn't help but clasp his hands and said, "Fourth Prince, according to the rules, I should have sent someone into the city to persuade them to surrender, but I don't dare to easily decide what rewards to offer to a general of Han Shizhong's level…"

Wanyan Wushu finally squeezed out a hint of a smile, which was even uglier than not smiling at all: "If Han Shizhong surrenders, plus the four prefectures of Huaixi under his command, and the credit for these cities, it wouldn't hurt to give him the title of Emperor of Henan. But judging from the rumors about the belt he wears, if I expect him to surrender, I might as well expect the Zhao Song official in Nanyang to surrender in person…"

The surrounding Jin soldiers burst into laughter, and even Balisu laughed.

"But Fourth Prince, should we still send someone to persuade them to surrender?" After laughing, Balisu composed himself and asked. "After all, it is the rule of this campaign, and you have never broken it…"

"Of course we can't break the rule." Wushu turned his head and pointed to a Han Chinese scholar who was still smiling, who was the newly surrendered person who had flattered him during the fierce battle that night. "You go and tell 'Scoundrel' Han Wu, if he opens the city and surrenders before sunset today, I will risk my future to promise him the prospect of seceding western Jing and becoming the Emperor of Zheng. But if he doesn't surrender, after the city is broken, I will definitely massacre the city!"

The man was immediately stunned, then panicked, and the people around him were also stunned at first, but then sneered.

As dusk approached, an hour had passed since Wang Shan, the commander of the Tokyo Garrison Command defending the city, personally threw the head of the man who had been sent to persuade them to surrender outside the moat. Inside the slightly crowded and noisy Jin military camp, Wanyan Wushu was discussing military affairs with Wanyan Balisu, Han Chang, Da Tao, and other battalion commanders.

"The Fourth Prince is right. The moat has been newly expanded, the city has been newly reinforced and heightened, and as long as Han Shizhong doesn't die, don't expect the city's defenders to lose their morale. Therefore, in the end, there is only one way…" At this point, Han Chang, who had a solemn appearance and was sitting cross-legged, rubbed his eye sockets, paused slightly, and then said the sentence. "Launch the cannons and bombard the city!"

"If we're launching the cannons, then launch the cannons." Da Tao, who was the younger brother of the former Bohai battalion commander Da Tabuye, had been promoted to battalion commander due to his brother's death. He was the least experienced person in the room, but the Da family represented the Bohai people who had been marrying into the Jurchen Wanyan clan for a long time, so his status was not low. "We have strong soldiers and horses, and a large number of people. The villages and towns of Zhengzhou and Kaifeng behind us also have no shortage of southern people to fill the trenches. Drive those people over, launch cannons from three sides, and smash Changshe City!"

"This is the only way to break the city." Han Chang continued to rub his eye sockets and echoed. "But I have to say first, people like 'Scoundrel' Han Wu can never be judged by ordinary standards. What if we break through the city walls? Are we not going to prepare for street fighting? What if we succeed in capturing the city through street fighting? Can we really keep this person? Do we have to continue like this in the next city? We must have the plans for the Battle of Taiyuan in this battle…"

"How can this city be compared with Taiyuan City?" Balisu, who was nestled in front of a group of the Fourth Prince's confidants, didn't want to interrupt much, but hearing Han Chang's words, he still gave a dry laugh and retorted instinctively. "The terrain of Taiyuan City, the making of cannons with cannons inside Taiyuan City, and the fierce battle under Taiyuan City are experiences that I will never forget in my decades of military service. The Jingkang Incident could succeed in the past entirely because of the Battle of Taiyuan…"

"I'm not saying that General Balisu didn't work hard or didn't make contributions, nor am I saying that this mere Changshe City, but I'm talking about these five rivers and six cities, or five rivers and seven cities…" Han Chang put down his hand and said calmly. "These cities are the second pass that the Tokyo Garrison Command, the Jingdong Pacification Commissioner, and the Song official after Li Yanxian of Shanzhou have prepared for us. I'm not saying that the Zhao official in Nanyang is just relying on these few cities to stop us, but although our army seems to be advancing rapidly and with overwhelming momentum, how long will it take and how much will it cost to break through these cities one by one, and how much strength will we have left? And if Nanyang City becomes a fortress by then, are we going to spend the summer there, waiting for a plague to break out in the army? This should have been the plan of that Zhao official in Nanyang, right?"

Balisu remained silent, and everyone around him was thoughtful… This was not only because Han Chang was a veteran in the army, nor was it just because what he said made sense, but the key was that everyone knew that Han Chang was Wanyan Wushu's confidant general, and there was no doubt whose intentions these words represented. And what the Fourth Prince intended by sending away his old generals Ali and Elubu this time, and acting with a few confidants and a battalion commander from the disgruntled Western Route Army, didn't need to be said.

"Send a Meng'an personally to Puzhou to tell Talan." Wanyan Wushu, sitting at the head of the table, suddenly looked at Balisu. "Tell him, I don't care how he handles it, whether he breaks through Huazhou and comes over from the north, or defeats those soldiers of the Tokyo Garrison Command from the south, as long as he sends reinforcements here within ten days…"

Balisu helplessly asked, "Is Tokyo really not going to be taken care of?"

"Didn't you say Zong Ze is dying soon?" Wushu replied coldly. "Don't say Zong Ze is dead, even if Zong Ze can't get up to command, wouldn't the Tokyo Garrison Command be useless? Wouldn't Tokyo City still be an empty city, a useless city? What's the use of taking it? Do I have to say it directly? The reason why the Tokyo Garrison Command is the direct barrier for Zhao Song is not because of Tokyo City, but because of Zong Ze alone!"

Balisu was helpless and could only lower his head and think, and then ask: "How many reinforcements does the Fourth Prince want?"

"I don't care, you just tell Talan that I want to lead you, Han Chang, Da Tao, and at least four of my own battalions to raid Nanyang City, and while I am leading four battalions to attack Nanyang City, Talan must watch Tokyo, watch Han Shizhong, and watch these five rivers and seven cities for me!" Wushu replied calmly.

Balisu was silent for a long time, wanting to refute, but had nothing to say… Because this was exactly the operational thinking of the Jin people during the two most fruitful southern expeditions.

At that time, the Jin army besieged Taiyuan City while desperately heading south to Bianliang, which was the only way to succeed in one fell swoop and destroy the Song Dynasty in two fell swoops. At this time, even if Wanyan Zonghan came over, he couldn't say that Wanyan Wushu's strategy had any problems.