The confrontation between the Song and Jin dynasties lasted less than four days, and the vanguard of the Jin army, consisting of 20,000 soldiers, suffered heavy losses.

Wanyan Lou Shi, known as a great warrior of the Jin army, only managed to bring back a small boat with about ten followers and returned to the north of the river.

Meanwhile, the body of his son was hung outside the water fortress of the Song army, serving as a deterrent to every Jin soldier daring to cross the Yangtze River.

This significant defeat made Jin Wuzhu furious, and he nearly beheaded Lou Shi. However, the other generals pleaded for mercy, ultimately saving him from a death sentence.

Realizing that the current Song army was no longer what it used to be, this cunning prince of the Jin dynasty made up his mind to establish a large camp and start building warships, preparing for another attack in the spring of the following year.

For a while, a stalemate ensued between the Jin and Southern Song forces.

After several unsuccessful attempts to lure the enemy, Cao Guo came up with another idea.

Once they crossed the river and even in the future, when they reclaimed their lost territories, they would inevitably face the Jin cavalry and engage in field battles.

Therefore, having an excellent cavalry force was essential.

But with the loss of the northern lands, where could they acquire warhorses?

Thus, Cao Guo had no choice but to search for relatively talented warhorses throughout the entire army, amassing more than a thousand of them. If they could be trained well, it would be a force not to be underestimated.

What should they be called?

In the past, I, personally, led the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to roam across the Central Plains, annihilating Lv Bu, suppressing Yuan Shu, defeating Liu Bei, slaying the Wuhuan tribe. How magnificent it was.

If not called the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, then what?

So, throughout the winter, Cao Guo returned to Hangzhou, focusing all his efforts on training the cavalry, while Yue Fei was entrusted with the defense of the Yangtze River.

However, just when everyone thought there would be no warfare during this winter, an unexpected event occurred.

After encountering resistance in Chuzhou, Wanyan Chang chose not to continue the siege but instead left a detachment to hold off the defenders while he led an army of over 60,000 soldiers southward, approaching the border of the Liangzhe Circuit.

In less than half a month, the Jin forces would reach the banks of the Yangtze River, cross it, and flank Jiankang.

By that time, with the dual attack from him and Jin Wuzhu, no matter how impregnable Jiankang was, it would not be able to withstand the assault.

At this moment, it would be time-consuming to report the situation to Cao Guo in Hangzhou and await his response.

Therefore, Yue Fei made a bold decision.