Song Dynasty: Yuan Dynasty, you didn't expect this, did you? I'm still alive.

The Song army camp.

Inside the central command tent, Cui Du was sitting behind a desk peeling oranges.

The oranges were sent from Jiangxi; they have thin skins, are very juicy, and have a refreshing fragrance when peeled.

Fighting is fighting, and living is living.

Neither should be neglected.

As he peeled the map, he would occasionally look up and say to his staff, "We need to build another bridge here" or "We need to put two more camps there."

His tone was casual, as if he were arranging a spring outing.

One of the Ming Dynasty's advisors couldn't hold back any longer.

This advisor was a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) who had read many military books and possessed a vast knowledge of military strategies from Sun Tzu to Liu Bowen.

However, it had little use in the Ming Dynasty.

In the early Ming Dynasty, military affairs were valued more than civil affairs. The core of the military was military generals, meritorious officials, and princes, while civil officials were basically excluded from the military system.

Only a few were exceptions, such as Liu Bowen, but even he did not directly lead troops, but rather strategized and participated in major military decisions.

Could the Song Dynasty really entrust the command of a million-strong army to a civil official?

It would be one thing to hand it over to a civil official to command, but the overall approach is really a bit off.

That's a bit too relaxed.

Although this was the scene the staff dreamed of, they still felt somewhat uncomfortable when they actually saw it.

Cui Du popped a segment of orange into his mouth, chewed it twice, and swallowed it.

Unfortunately, the staff did not ask any questions.

Otherwise, Cui Du would definitely have looked puzzled.

What's so difficult about leading troops?

Isn't it just about distributing grain, recruiting surrendered soldiers, and coordinating resources?

Cui Du wasn't pretending.

He genuinely believed that.

He worked in the Ministry of War for more than ten years, and his daily work consisted of allocating grain, disbursing salaries, verifying troop numbers, and assigning garrisons.

Now that he's the deputy commander, he's still doing the same work—only on a larger scale. Instead of procuring grain from Java, he's now procuring grain from various colonies, and instead of allocating funds to hundreds of thousands of troops, he's now allocating funds to a million troops.

There is essentially no difference.

He even brought over the Ministry of War's official document templates, using one when distributing grain, one when recruiting surrendered soldiers, and one when coordinating overall operations.

He simply used the Ministry of War's official document template to easily bypass the Zhejiang and Fujian routes.

Be patient and steady, take steady steps.

Today we'll take over two military garrisons, tomorrow we'll distribute a batch of grain, and the day after tomorrow we'll wipe out a few bandits who were looting in the chaos.

The rhythm was as steady as a wound-up clock.

Zhao Qian governed the local area from the rear, opening markets, issuing land deeds, and registering households; the two worked together seamlessly.

The only thing that required Cui Du to put some effort into was suppressing bandits.

It wasn't that he thought petty thieves were dangerous; he just thought—he was just idling around anyway.

The army is stationed and resting. Soldiers can't be idle all the time; if they're idle for too long, something bad can easily happen.

So he sent out several battalions for training exercises, and incidentally wiped out the bandits along the way.

After the campaign was over, the soldiers had improved their legwork, the people were at ease, and Cui Du added another line of merit to the battle report.

Three birds with one stone.

One evening, Cui Du sat in his tent, reviewing the reports on bandit suppression submitted by various battalions.

As he flipped through the report, he suddenly put it down and stared blankly at the moon outside the tent for a while.

His staff assumed he was contemplating some major strategy and dared not utter a sound.

Cui Du spoke up.

"Tell me, why has leading troops always been entrusted to military generals throughout history?"

The staff member was taken aback.

Cui Du didn't wait for his reply and continued talking to himself.

"What military generals can do, civil officials can also do. What civil officials can do, military generals may not be able to do. Look—warfare requires overall planning, governance requires overall planning, and bandit suppression requires overall planning. Isn't overall planning the kind of work that the Ministry of War does every day?"

He picked up an orange, peeled another one, but didn't eat it. He put it on the table and continued talking.

"In ancient times, there were powerful clans and aristocratic families who used their bloodlines to prey on the common people, causing immense suffering to the Chinese nation. Later, there were regional military governors who ate people and drank blood, causing even more suffering to the Chinese nation. Now things are better."

He held up the orange to the candlelight, the segments glistening. "China has waited a thousand years, and finally its savior has arrived. Do you know who it is?"

The aide opened his mouth.

Cui Du stuffed an orange into his mouth and mumbled the second half of the sentence: "We—the scholar-officials."

The staff remained silent for a long time.

He felt that if these words were spoken in another dynasty, it would be considered a great act of treason.

But coming from Cui Du, from this civil official who swept through two provinces with pen and paper, won over hundreds of thousands of people with flour and eggs, and casually wiped out thirty-seven bandit gangs—you can't find fault with it.

Spring of the eighteenth year of Cheng'an.

After a winter of rest and recuperation, Cui Du felt it was about time.

He finished the last segment of orange, wiped his hands, spread out a map, and drew a circle around the location of Yingtian Prefecture.

Then he picked up his pen and began to write the troop deployment order.

The handwriting is neat and the format is standardized.

Three hundred thousand Song troops marched north simultaneously from Zhejiang and Fujian.

On the Yangtze River, the Azure Dragon Fleet stood in a single column, its cannons pointing towards the north bank.

Blockade the Yangtze River!

Yingtian Prefecture was sealed off.

It wasn't that we didn't want to strike at the heart of the enemy, but rather that we deliberately gave the Ming Dynasty time to gather its forces so that we could devour them in one fell swoop, in order to avoid getting bogged down in guerrilla warfare!

The time has come.

On the shore, the infantry advanced in alternating protective formations, while the artillery disassembled their cannons and loaded them onto mule carts, with supply trains following closely behind.

The entire team was so long that you couldn't see the beginning or the end of it, and you couldn't see the beginning or the end of it either.

At the foot of Nanjing.

Cui Du had an observation post set up on Zhongshan Mountain.

He personally climbed to the top of the mountain and looked into the city through his binoculars.

The Nanjing city wall is indeed high. It took Emperor Hongwu twenty years to build. It is both high and thick, and horses can run on the bricks.

The city walls were lined with soldiers, their flags fluttering and their armor reflecting the sunlight, creating an imposing sight.

Cui Du stared for a long time. Then he said something to the messenger behind him.

"One thousand cannons, aimed at the city wall."

. . .

On the Nanjing city wall, Zhu Di held a telescope he had taken from Zhao Qian and observed the Song army's formation.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

The generals behind him were all puzzled.

Why is Your Majesty laughing?

Zhu Di, however, said: "The Song army's commander-in-chief is too impatient. Hundreds of thousands of infantry besieged the city, yet not a single cavalryman was deployed. Since ancient times, cavalry has been the sharpest weapon on the battlefield. Even though the area around Yingtian Prefecture is full of hills and waterways, making large-scale charges difficult, cavalry can still supplement the infantry: hold the fortified city to control key points, send light cavalry to divide the enemy's forces, scout near and far, harass supply lines, and strike at the weak points when opportunities arise. On the battlefield, the one who moves first gains the opportunity, and the one who seizes the opportunity gains the advantage. Abandoning cavalry is like tying one's own hands and feet; how can defeat not follow?"

Zhu Di's military thought and tactics were deeply influenced by Lan Yu and his brother-in-law Chang Yuchun.

Lan Yu's combat style was deeply influenced by Chang Yuchun. The two were known as "Chang the Ten Thousand" and "Lan the Bold," respectively. They both relied heavily on cavalry for long-range raids and swift assaults, and their combat style was always known for "daring to penetrate deep into enemy territory and being good at surprise attacks."

The pinnacle of his military career—the Battle of Buyur Lake—in which Lan Yu led his army deep into the desert, and despite the lack of water and food, he launched a surprise and devastating attack on the enemy by relying on his amazing mobility of "traveling by indirect means," annihilating the remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

They seized the opportunity precisely—winning by refusing to hesitate.

Although Zhu Di was a prince at the time, he was very humble towards the generals with deep military experience. He humbly learned from veteran generals such as Lan Yu and Fu Youde about training troops and commanding troops.

He inherited the core military thought of Lan Yu's school: on the battlefield, initiative and rapid assault capability are the key to victory.

To gain the initiative, cavalry is indispensable!

Although the Song people had the advantage of firearms, how many shots could they fire against a high-speed cavalry charge?

The odds of winning this battle are already 100%.