Chapter 442

Liu Zongmin had indeed fallen into a Ming Army ambush. Thanks to the tactical deployment of Lü Daqi, he was now completely surrounded by the Ming forces. Lü Daqi had prepared meticulously to lift the siege of Fengyang. He first ordered the naval forces to break through the Huai River estuary, then sent Pu Congshan and Zhu Gubi south. He had gambled that Liu Zongmin would be unable to resist attacking these two "soft targets"—though, in reality, whether Liu Zongmin took the bait or not mattered little to his broader strategy. While Pu Congshan and Zhu Gubi acted as decoys, the main force advanced rapidly westward along the river. After pinning the enemy down for a day, Lü Daqi ordered Liu Kongzhao to use his naval forces to extract Pu Congshan and Zhu Gubi’s troops. Realizing he had been tricked, a horrified Liu Zongmin galloped through the night toward Fengyang.