Let’s take a look at the situation on Li Xiucheng’s side. After reading Wu Chaoyue’s extremely vicious instigation letter with Hong Xiuquan, Li Xiucheng, who is familiar with Hong Xiuquan’s suspicious personality, knew that there was no way to persuade Hong Xiuquan to leave Nanjing early, and also understood that he would definitely fight a strategic decisive battle with the main force of the Wu army in Nanjing. Although Li Xiucheng knew very well that he was not sure of winning the decisive battle, Li Xiucheng could not let the army and the Nanjing Taiping Army sit and wait for death, so he could only do his best to prepare for this decisive battle that concerns the future and destiny of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Of course, with more than 300,000 Taiping Army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Feng Sanbao's troops, which had only more than 10,000 people, Li Xiucheng did not dare to dream of defeating the Wu army head-on for reinforcements. Therefore, for the decisive battle in Nanjing, Li Xiucheng could only decide to stick to the main point and use favorable terrain and solid fortifications to block the Wu army's reinforcements. He survived until the Wu army failed to defeat the long-term attack and retreated on his own. He also survived until Feng Sanbao on the Yuhua Platform broke through the siege and won the victory of the Nanjing defense battle, and then made other plans.

After meeting with the generals under his command to discuss and finalize this tactical policy, Li Xiuzhen immediately set out a defense plan and decided to build eleven large camps around Yuhuatai based on the existing camp, and build the fortifications to the most solid. In conjunction with dozens of small trenches and intercepting trenches, he surrounded Yuhuatai and completely cut off the contact between the Wu army's Feng Sanbao unit and the outside world, forcing the Wu army's rear army to launch a frontal attack, opening the road to rescue the Wu army's Feng Sanbao unit, who could not get supplies.

In addition, in order to ensure smooth communication with the friendly forces in the rear of Jiangsu and Zhejiang and Jiangbei, Li Xiucheng also attached great importance to the protection of the two important military areas of Moling Pass and Jiulizhou. He arranged his younger brother Li Mingcheng to lead his army to guard Moling Pass to prevent the Wu army from cutting off the land aorta of his contact with the rear of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. He also arranged for his general Fu Zhenggang to lead an army of 20,000 north to Jiulizhou to help Liang Fengchao, Liang Fengchao, who was originally stationed in Jiulizhou, strengthen his defense. At the same time, he built ten floating bridges between Jiulizhou and the north bank of the Yangtze River to facilitate the Taiping army in Jiangpu and Pukou to go south to reinforce Jiulizhou at any time.

Although Li Xiucheng attached great importance to the defense issues of Jiujiuzhou, Li Shuxiang, the think tank, was worried about Li Xiucheng's arrangements and warned Li Xiucheng: "King Zhong Qiansui, Jiujiuzhou is the northern gate of Tianjing and the throat of our contact with the Jiangbei Tianguo army, Jiujiuzhou is just a river center island after all, surrounded by water and not high terrain. Our garrison camp is easily covered by the firepower of the demon soldiers' naval forces, and it is very difficult to defend. It is not only a waste to arrange heavy troops there, but it may also be completely trapped on the island by the demon soldiers' advantages, and it is difficult to retreat. Is it too risky and wasteful to arrange so many troops in Jiujiuzhou?"

"What are you afraid of?" Li Xiucheng said confidently: "The waterway on the north side of Jiujiuzhou is narrow and shallow (only a few dozen meters wide), and the demon soldiers' steamships cannot enter. We just need to guard the five pontoon bridges connecting the north bank of Jiujiuzhou, and then build more anti-aircraft artillery fortifications on Jiujiuzhou Island, so that we can attack and retreat and defend, and ensure that our communication with Jiangbei is smooth."

"But what if the demon soldiers and navy send a small boat into the northern waterway of Jiujiuzhou to destroy the floating bridge?" Li Shuxiang was still uneasy and said, "Also, the terrain of Jiujiuzhou is not high. When the Yangtze River rises and floods, the entire island will be flooded. If the demon soldiers encounter this situation when they come, then our troops on Jiujiuzhou will be in trouble."

When I was in Nanjing, Li Xiucheng did see the situation where the Yangtze River flooded the entire island of Jiujiuzhou. So after listening to Li Shuxiang's warning, Li Xiucheng could not help but hesitate and shake. However, after careful consideration, Li Xiucheng shook his head and said, "It is impossible. Now summer is almost over. The Yangtze River cannot rise and fall again. There is no need to worry about such natural disasters. The location of Jiujiuzhou is important. It can not only allow us to communicate with Jiangbei, but also use a fort to block the Yangtze River channel and restrain the demon soldiers and naval forces for us. We must station heavy troops to protect it."

"As for the problem of the demon soldiers' boats, just strengthen the defense." Li Xiucheng said again: "The demon soldiers' boats cannot accommodate many people. As long as we guard them tightly, we can let the demon soldiers' boats die one by one. Moreover, the waterways over there are not wide. As long as we prepare more iron chain boats, even if one or two floating bridges are blown off by the demon soldiers' boats, we can set them up immediately, so there is no need to worry."

Seeing Li Xiucheng's firm attitude, Li Shuxiang didn't dare to say anything more. She could only look up and look at the scorching sun in the sky and said intimately: "Blessing the Father, don't rise and fall in the Yangtze River during this period, otherwise we will be miserable."

Facts proved that Li Shuxiang was really worried. In the next few days, the weather in Nanjing was not only kept sunny, but the water level of the Yangtze River had not changed much. The Jiangsu and Zhejiang Taiping Army, with sufficient manpower, also took advantage of this good weather to quickly build the solid fortifications required by Li Xiucheng, and dug four deep and wide trenches to surround Yuhuatai. What made Li Xiucheng even more happy was that his rear of Jiangsu and Zhejiang still sent a large amount of food, grass and ammunition to the Nanjing battlefield during this period, replenishing the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Taiping Army, which consumed a lot of ammunition in the previous battle in the Yuhuatai Battle, and also made Li Xiucheng let go of the big rocks and no longer worry about the ammunition problem in the decisive battle with the Wu army.

On the underground battlefield, the Taiping Army also did a very good job in spying. The Taiping Army lurking in Wuhu area reported the situation of the Wu army Cao Yanzhong corps almost every day, allowing Li Xiucheng to basically grasp the general movements of the Wu army Cao Yanzhong corps. Even the important information that Cao Yanzhong corps had already begun to prepare for the eastward advance was sent to Li Xiucheng first by the Taiping Army, giving Li Xiucheng plenty of time to deal with it.

However, Li Xiucheng was also a little greedy. After receiving the report that Wu Jun Cao Yanzhong was preparing to set off, he immediately asked the report, "Do you know that the Wuhu demon soldiers are going to set off on that day? Which route will they take to Tianjing?"

"King Zhongsheng forgives his sins for a thousand years, we can't find out." Xiaozai replied truthfully: "We just heard the demon soldiers accompanying the military and civilians and sailors say that they were going to set out for Tianjing. As for the day to set out and which road to go, the demon soldiers and sailors didn't know."

"What a pity." Li Xiucheng felt a little regretful, but did not blame Xiaozhu. He just waved his hand to leave Xiaozhu to rest and receive the reward, and then asked Li Shuxiang next to him: "Shuxiang, in your opinion, how will the demon soldiers advance eastward and which road will they take to Tianjing?"

"The most likely is to go to Jiangning Town, Dasheng Pass. If you follow this road, the navy and the Lu army of the demon soldiers can advance together and cover each other, which is the most beneficial for the demon soldiers." Li Shuxiang replied, and said, "But it is not ruled out that the navy and the Lu army of the demon soldiers act separately. The navy goes east to attack Jiuqianzhou, and the Lu army takes Zhumen to attack Moling Pass, cutting off our connection with Jiangbei and southern Jiangsu."

"Does the demon soldiers dare to divide the troops?" Li Xiucheng said contemptly: "Their troops are not large at all. We have stationed heavy guards in Jiujizhou and Moling Pass. If they divide their troops to attack these two places at the same time, aren't they afraid of being alone?"

"I'm afraid not." Li Shuxiang still said incredibly, saying: "The army of demon general Cao Yanzhong and the navy of demon soldiers are much more powerful than Feng Sanbao's demon soldiers, both foreign guns and foreign cannons. He has never lost a single battle after killing from Jiujiang. He is very arrogant and it is definitely not impossible to divide his troops boldly."

It was quite good for Li Shuxiang, who was not good at speaking. Li Xiucheng was a person who could hear his unpleasant words. After hearing his rebuttal and bold speculation, he not only did not mind, but also nodded after careful calculations and nodded, saying: "It is possible, but it is a good thing for us to take the risk of division of troops. We are far easier to fight against the navy and land divisions of the demon soldiers, no matter how we are, we are much easier to deal with the navy and land parallel to the demon soldiers."

"King Zhong Qiansui, if you want to see the demon soldiers split up and advance, then we can think of a way to lure the demon soldiers to make this decision." Li Shuxiang said with a smile.

"What's the solution?" Li Xiucheng asked.

"Give the orders to the Zhumen. As long as the demon soldiers approach, they will immediately give up the man and retreat to Jiangning Town." Li Shuxiang replied: "Let Gui Tianyi Fu Zhenggang come forward and send a deadly demon soldiers to surrender in front of the demon soldiers. He said that he was not good at attacking Yuhuatai. He was punished by King Zhong Qiansui. After being sent to Jiujizhou for his crime and made meritorious service, he was repeatedly bullied by Liang Fengchao, who belonged to Meng Shiyong. He was discouraged and wanted to surrender. He was willing to serve as an internal support for the demon soldiers and help the demon soldiers navy take down Jiujizhou. In this way, the possibility of the demon soldiers being divided into their troops will definitely be much greater."

Li Xiucheng thought about it and said in a deep thought: "It doesn't matter if he sent a dead man to surrender. Even if he couldn't succeed, he would just lose a messenger. Is it a pity to give up the rich sect voluntarily? After all, it's a town and the camp has been repaired hard, so I give up directly..."

Thinking about this, Li Xiucheng stopped by himself, shook his head and said, "So many important cities in the upper reaches of Tianjing have been lost, so there is no need to care about such a small town. As long as it can attract demon soldiers to divide the troops, it is worth losing such a small town, so that's what it takes."

Li Shuxiang responded to the promise and quickly went to Wenjiuzhou and Zhumen Town according to Li Xiucheng's request to let them act according to their plans. At the end, Li Shuxiang, who was quite superstitious, also muttered habitually, saying: "Blessed by Heavenly Father, it is best to let the demon soldiers divide the troops, so that we can be much easier."

The Heavenly Father, who was believed in by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, finally showed his spirit this time. After more than a day, the Taiping Army first confirmed that the Cao Yanzhong corps of the Wu army set out from Wuhu and marched eastward, heading straight to Nanjing on the Jinzhu Pass Road; then another day passed, Fu Zhenggang also sent a happy letter, saying that his personal soldiers had contacted the Wu army naval commander with the letter of surrender. Wang Fu, the chief general of the Wu army naval commander, personally agreed to accept Fu Zhenggang's request for surrender. Then another day passed, a greater happy letter came. The main force of the Cao Yanzhong corps of the Wu army was far away from the river bank and turned directly into the road to the Zhumen. The Wu army naval commander was confirmed by the Taiping Army that evening that day that the Taiping Army was confirmed to set out from Wuhu and heading towards the Jiangning battlefield alone.
Chapter completed!