Chapter 196: The Battle between the Temple (24)

On the bank of the Yangtze River, crescent moons are like hooks, the river water is filled with clear waves, and the wet air flows slowly in the sound of waves hitting the shore. Several fast horses run quickly from the riverside path, and the rapid sound of horse hooves alarmed the fish in the Yangtze River. Only the sound of "pu" is heard constantly, and a Yangtze River fish weighing several pounds jumped out of the water.

Chai Rong sat alone in the tent, twelve large oil lamps shining the military tent as daytime. In the past two days, dozens of memorials from all over the capital have been recorded. Chai Rong must carefully review each one. Going to bed late and getting up early has become Chai Rong's living habits. Fortunately, his long-term military career has polished a good figure, otherwise he would have been exhausted by the heavy military affairs and government affairs.

Fan Zhi, Wang Bo, Hou Dayong, Li Chongjin, Zhang Yongde, and Zhao Kuangyin were the people Chai Rong relied most, and they enjoyed the special right not to inform him when they met Chai Rong. When Zhao Kuangyin came to Chai Rong's tent, the imperial guards directly brought Zhao Kuangyin who had rushed to the tent.

Zhao Kuangyin untied the cloth bag, which was full of jewelry, which looked extremely dazzling in the light. Then he knelt on the side and said, "This is a jewelry sent by Nan Tang, with the intention of gamblering Yu Chen."

Chai Rong rubbed his temples and looked at the jewelry piled on the table.

Seeing that Chai Rong was not angry, Zhao Kuangyin continued, "The visitor was named Ma Xian, which was my old acquaintance when I was in Luoyang. I have not met for more than ten years since I joined the army. Today I suddenly visited and said that Li Jing, the lord of the Southern Tang Dynasty, wanted to meet the heroes of Jiangbei." After seeing Zhao Kuangyin, the middle-aged man, Ma Xian, made a clear explanation that he was entrusted by Li Jing, the lord of the Southern Tang Dynasty, came to meet the heroes of Jiangbei and presented jewelry worth thousands of gold. Zhao Kuangyin was shocked when he heard this. He did not dare to neglect the visitor, and stabilized the visitor in the army, and then personally brought the jewelry to Chai Rong's tent.

Chai Rong grabbed a crystal clear gem and looked at the light. He saw that the gem emitted a soft blue light under the light. It looked like a cat's eye. He had never liked these useless things, but he also praised: "What a cat's eye gem. Hu Shang liked this cat's eye gem the most. I guess it was right. This kind of cat's eye gem can be exchanged for fifty war horses." Seeing that Zhao Kuangyin was still kneeling on the ground, he smiled and said, "Get up, you know, Master Nan Tang is already in vain. He would use such a childish trick to distract me from the king and minister."

Hearing Chai Rong's conclusion, Zhao Kuangyin's stone hanging in his heart fell down steadily, and stood up and said, "This Ma Xian was originally from Luoyang, Central Plains, but he acted as a lobbyist for the Lord of the Southern Tang. After I returned, I killed Ma Xian for the crime of spy." Chai Rong put down the cat-eye stone in his hand and said, "No need, Zhao Dalang asked Ma Xian to bring a message to Lord of the Southern Tang. Tell him that I also know about this matter. Even if I send it many treasures, I will accept them."

Zhao Kuangyin retreated with a smile, and rushed along the way. He was in a very happy mood: the Southern Tang Dynasty was already setting, and the country was about to be destroyed, so I would not get on this broken ship.

Chai Rong received another secret letter, which was a secret letter from the Khitan. The content was very simple: "Ensemit Li Jing of the Southern Tang Dynasty has arrived in Shangjing."

During the second southern expedition, the Lord of the Southern Tang had frequent contacts with the Khitan through sea routes. Now, the contact between the two sides has become closer. The Navy of the Great Zhou had intercepted envoys from the Southern Tang and the North to the North at sea several times. This matter made Chai Rong quite anxious. If the Southern Tang and the Khitan truly united and attacked the Great Zhou from the north and south, the Great Zhou would immediately fall into a passive position.

After reading this letter, Chai Rong was a little upset for a moment and kept walking back and forth in the tent.

The next day, the Great Zhou army went upstream, with the military flags running for more than ten miles. The soldiers of the Southern Tang who stood on the south bank of the Yangtze River could clearly see the Great Zhou army in progress.

Soon, the Southern Tang soldiers who reported the news came to Jinling, and the Southern Tang lord Li Jingzheng and Feng Yanyi and others were singing about plum blossoms in the garden.

Feng Yan was wearing a light green long gown. He shook his head and said, "The poems of the Tang Dynasty's plum blossoms are indeed not comparable to those of the previous dynasty. For example, Li Yishan's poem, 'The roads are pale and beautiful. It is not the time when the fragrance is swaying. The green girl is only with the moon, and the green girl does not let go of frost. Giving her hands far away, it is heartbreaking. Who is the early and beautiful? She is not waiting to be the fragrance of the year.' It is actually the leader in the poem of plum blossoms."

Li Jing did not agree and said, "Otherwise, otherwise, Du Zimei has several poems about plum blossoms, and the artistic conception is more profound and broader than that of Li Yishan's poems."

Du Zimei is Du Fu, Li Yishan is Li Shangyin, both of them have many poems about plum blossoms. As the saying goes, vegetables and carrots have their own love, and Li Jing and Feng Yan have argued about this matter many times. This is the so-called joy of local literati. Those who have not entered the house will find it difficult to understand the joy in it.

At this moment, Cha Wenzheng and Wei Cen rushed into the palace with a panic expression and said, "Hurry up, the Zhou army and the land and the Zhou army set off from Taizhou and will reach the other side of Jinling tomorrow."

Li Jing has been ascending the throne for a long time. Although his belly is slightly raised, he is still a elegant person with clear eyebrows and eyes. Hearing this, he sat under the Hu chair and murmured: "Is this good? Is this good?"

Feng Yan was already the prime minister of the current dynasty, and he was in control of the important military and national affairs, so he said: "I don't know if the envoys sent to the Khitan and the Northern Han will do the work. If the Khitan or the Northern Han really send troops, they can solve today's difficulties."

Li Jing was always a little suspicious about borrowing troops to Khitan. Although Shi Jingtang became the emperor, there were constant curses behind him. However, if he did not join forces with Khitan or Northern Han, the current dilemma would be impossible to resolve.

Cha Wenzheng saw Li Jing not saying a word, and said, "In the past few days, some refugees have fled from Chuzhou. After the Zhou army captured Chuzhou, they massacred the city for one day. Less than a thousand people in the city fled to their lives. If the Zhou army invaded Jinling, there might be another massacre."

Wei Cen, who was on the side, was anxious about this matter and added: "Thousands of soldiers and civilians in the city knew that the Zhou army was approaching Jinling. They surrounded the palace and asked to release Zhang Heyuan, the doctor of the Ministry of War, to lead the army to resist the Zhou army."

Zhang Heyuan is one of the few generals in the Southern Tang Dynasty who dared to fight tough battles. He is well-known in the Southern Tang army. He is known as the three heroes of the Southern Tang army together with Liu Renshan and Zhang Yanqing. At present, Liu Renshan surrendered to the enemy and Zhang Yanqing was killed. Only Zhang Heyuan was left alone, but he was taken to the Heavenly Prison for the defeat at Luanjiangkou.

Li Jing was a literati with extraordinary intentions. He was obsessed with talking about essays all day long. He felt that government affairs were boring. All government affairs were handed over to Feng Yanyi and others, and Zhang Heyuan was imprisoned. It was Feng Yanyi who handled them all.

When Wei Cen talked about Zhang Heyuan, Li Jing did not remember who this person was.

Feng Yanyi quickly explained: "Zhang Heyuan was the deputy general of Bian Hao. During the Battle of Changsha, Bian Hao did not listen to Zhang Heyuan's dissuasion and left the city to fight decisively, resulting in a defeat in the army. Zhang Heyuan was dismissed from his military post as a doctor. This time, the Luanjiangkou naval defeated, and Zhang Heyuan and Wang Yanling were on the Central Army ship. The two of them escaped by chance. After returning to Jinling, they were taken to the heavenly prison by their ministers." In fact, Zhang Heyuan was not a general who commanded the navy to fight on the Central Army ship that day, but an envoy who followed Chen Jue to send tributes. However, Feng Yan and Liu Cong, the general of the Luanjiangkou naval army, were cousins. In the defeat of Luanjiangkou, there must be a scapegoat. Therefore, Zhang Heyuan and Wang Yanling became the first prisoners of the defeat at Luanjiangkou.

Li Jing then remembered who Zhang Heyuan was. He asked, "Zhang Heyuan is the three heroes of the Southern Tang Army. He is a powerful general, why is he in the Heavenly Prison?"

"Zhang Heyuan and Wang Yanling will bear the main responsibility for the defeat in Luanjiangkou." Feng Yan said calmly.

Li Jing looked at Feng Yanyi, Cha Wenzheng, Wei Cen and others, and knew that they were not suitable for fighting. After thinking for a while, he said, "Now is an extraordinary time. Let Zhang Heyuan be the general of the Imperial Guards, command the Jinling and the land armies, and prepare to resist the Zhou army."

Feng Yan had already thought about it. At this time, except for Zhang Heyuan, there was no other general in Jinling City who was used to fighting. He said, "I will personally invite General Zhang Heyuan."

The heavenly prison was filled with a gloomy smell. Although there were some straws in the prison, sleeping on the ground, letting the arrows on the back cut like a knife, although it was injured for several years and the air conditioner was soaked in the air conditioner, it still felt unbearable. Zhang Heyuan was very stubborn and gritted his teeth without making a sound, but he did not dare to sleep on the ground. He could only sleep on the wooden fence.

At this time, the pain in Zhang Heyuan's body was far less than the pain in his heart. People in the court loved to be extravagant in their voices and colors, talked about Buddhist principles and poetry every day, did not ask about the suffering of the people, and ignored government affairs and military affairs. After a few years, there were no wise ministers in the court and no good generals in the army. Thinking of the powerful navy of the Great Zhou who fell from the sky, Zhang Heyuan sighed several times in the Tianzhuo: The Southern Tang Dynasty will not perish, and the laws of heaven will not exist.

Feng Yan had already walked into the prison with the prison. When he reached the prison, he felt a rotten corpse aura coming to his nose. He couldn't help but ask, "Why does it smell like this?"

The warden nodded and bowed to the prime minister of the current dynasty, saying, "The prison is all dead prisoners in this day. Some people have not been settled for several years, so it is inevitable that there is some rotten flesh on their bodies."

Feng Yan knew what the warden said. Although it was the first time he had entered the Tianzhu, he had a great fate with the Tianzhu. Because he had many of his former political enemies in it. In other words, at least half of the prisoners were sent in through him. Although he knew that the Tianzhu was like hell, he was still a little disgusted when he smelled this smell, and said, "The people in the Tianzhu were once important officials of the court. You should leave some decentness for them and let them take turns to let out the air every day. Next time I come, if you smell the smell of rotten corpses again, you can go in and stay there, don't you hear it, okay."

The warden was so scared that his legs became weak and said tremblingly: "I remember it."

Zhang Heyuan did not expect that the prime minister would meet in prison. He had always looked down on this boastful prime minister. Bian Hao's defeat back then was closely related to the prime minister's poor dispatch.

Feng Yan turned a blind eye to Zhang Heyuan's cold and arrogant attitude, took a step forward, took out the imperial edict, and said, "Zhang Heyuan received the edict."

Although Zhang Heyuan could ignore this powerful minister, he did not dare to be rude to the emperor. In desperation, he could only kneel at Feng Yanyi's feet.

After reading the imperial edict, Feng Yan smiled and said, "Respect General Zhang." Zhang Heyuan did not expect that things would suddenly change so dramatically. He suddenly thought of the already powerful Dazhou Navy. He was shocked and asked, "Is it because the Dazhou Navy arrived on the other side of Jinling?"

Feng Yan's face was calm and he became serious, and he said, "That is, the Great Zhou and the land armies went upstream along the river and had arrived on the other side of Jinling."

Zhang Heyuan's mouth showed a faint sneer: This is the retribution of heaven. The court was controlled by these five ghosts, and half of the wise and brave generals died in this prison. Now that the Zhou army is invading, there is no general available, and they need to find the leader of the troops from the prison.

Feng Yan was best at observing words and expressions. He seemed to know Zhang Heyuan's thoughts and said: "The Zhou army was like a wolf or a tiger. After the Zhou army broke through Chuzhou City, there were only a thousand people who escaped. General Zhang. For His Majesty and for the hundreds of thousands of people in Jinling, you must also take on the responsibility of Jinling's defense."

These two big hats were covered, and Zhang Heyuan could only accept his post unconditionally. After being released from prison, he immediately started to defend the south bank of the Yangtze River.

The Jinling Navy of the Southern Tang Dynasty gathered seven large ships in Xijiang, sixty medium-sized ships, and more than 300 small boats of various types. Zhang Heyuan ordered the boats to be concentrated in the upper reaches of Jinling, with sharp subway spikes on the pointed spikes. Black gunpowder, fierce tinder and dry firewood were placed in the cabins. If the Dazhou Navy attacked, the boat would flow down the upstream and rush into the Dazhou Navy with the momentum of the water. As long as the bow of the small boat could be nailed to the large ship, there would be a chance to burn the enemy ship.

In addition, hundreds of catapults used to defend the city were mobilized to the shore. The warships used to attack the Zhou army from a long range. During the Luanjiangkou Water War, the catapults placed on the Zhou army's warships became a powerful weapon for water battles. At this time, it was too late to place the catapults in the ship. Zhang Heyuan placed the catapults on the shore.

After the water was arranged, Zhang Heyuan mobilized all his troops to concentrate on the south bank of the Yangtze River. If the Zhou army got up the shore, they would block the Zhou army on the river beach.

There were nearly 100,000 defenders near Jinling of the Southern Tang Dynasty. When Zhang Heyuan, one of the three heroes of the Southern Tang army, was in charge of defense, he immediately saw hope of defending the riverbank. Under such a harsh battle situation, the Southern Tang court also rarely refused to restrain the generals on the front line and let Zhang Heyuan be prepared to fight.

After the navy from the Luanjiangkou arrived on the other side of Jinling, he set up camp and set up a ground-mounted attack on the south bank.

Hou Dayong followed Chai Rong closely during this period. Chai Rong was an emperor who liked to do everything and had to ask about all major and small matters. In this way, Hou Dayong could basically be considered idle. Following Chai Rong was like watching a battle. His most concerned opponent Zhao Kuangyin was the commander of the front enemy, and he marched and fought every day. He was so busy that he could not help but say in his heart: The army is a place where strong people dominate. Zhao Kuangyin led his troops to defeat the enemy many times. No wonder he had such a high prestige after the war in the Southern Tang Dynasty.

At this time, Shuzhou, Jizhou, Huangzhou and other places on the north bank of the Yangtze River were under the control of the Southern Tang army. The Great Zhou navy made a strong attack on Jinling, but the intention of the Zuiweng was not in Jinling, but in Shu, Ji, Huang and other places in Jiangbei. If these states were obtained, according to the Chuzhou night talk plan, the battle of the Southern Expedition would be completed.

The Great Zhou navy tried to attack the Southern Tang Army Navy on the south bank of the Yangtze River. The Southern Tang Army Navy did not fight. When the Great Zhou navy approached, the scattered planes on the shore would be launched, and dozens of small boats would flow down the upstream. As long as these small boats were nailed to the Great Zhou warships, the South Tang sailors lit gunpowder and burned the Great Zhou warships. After several fierce battles, the Great Zhou navy was sunk three Xuanlong ships, more than ten Xuanjiao ships and countless small boats, but it was difficult to attack the south bank of the Yangtze River.

After Zhao Kuangyin angrily killed the two commanders who retreated in the battle, he changed his tactics and did not attack the south bank. Instead, he replaced all the stones of the trencher with pots filled with hot tinsel oil. He took advantage of the heavy fog and sneaked into the Nantang Naval Camp and burned down the main warship of the Nantang Jinling Naval Division in one fell swoop.

After this battle, the Southern Tang Navy was no longer able to compete with the Great Zhou Navy. The Great Zhou Navy traverseed the Yangtze River. The Yangtze River was no longer a natural danger to the Great Zhou army, and it could be used at any time.

At this time, what the emperor and ministers of the Great Zhou Dynasty were most unwilling to see happened. The Northern Han lord Liu Jun suddenly sent the Northern Han army to set out from Shizhou and penetrated into Zhou territory. He had already arrived in Xizhou. The Great Zhou was in a dilemma on both sides of the battle. After learning about this, Hou Dayong immediately thought of the whole army attacking and oppressing the Southern Tang Dynasty with all his might, so that he could surrender without fighting. When Hou Dayong arrived in front of Chai Rong's tent, Chai Rong had issued an order to launch an oppressive attack on the entire line.

The Great Zhou Navy chose several landing sites with weak troops in the Southern Tang Dynasty. Several small Zhou troops appeared on the south bank of the Yangtze River. At the same time, they obeyed the separatist forces of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Jingnan Gao Baorong and Wu Yue Qian Chu, who were under the command of the Great Zhou Dynasty, respectively sent troops to assist in the war. The Jingnan army's power was approaching Ezhou. Wu Yue and Southern Tang Dynasty had been fighting for many years, and were originally a feud. At this time, they sent 400 large and small warships and 17,000 naval troops, and also marched towards Jinling.

The Southern Tang Army had always been afraid of the Zhou army. When they saw the Zhou army, Jingnan army, and Wuyue army gathered in the Yangtze River, the army was suddenly in panic and all kinds of rumors spread. However, Zhang Heyuan was not panicked. The main force was still stationed on the spot, defending the important areas along the river, and sent another cavalry unit of 5,000 people to search for the landing area along the Yangtze River.

In Jinling City, many leaflets suddenly appeared overnight, and the leaflets were divided into two types. One listed Zhang Heyuan's casual remarks on military affairs, which caused the Zhou army, which was unfavorable to fight and destroyed the navy, and the other was that it showed that as long as the Great Zhou army did not want to attack Jinling, as long as it was sacrificed to the north of the Yangtze River, Zhou and Tang could become allies and never raise troops.

These two kinds of leaflets are extremely large in number, all posted in downtown areas and in official offices, and soon reached the Southern Tang Palace. Li Jing and Feng Yan had already feared the Zhou army like tigers. Seeing that Zhang Heyuan could not resist the Zhou army, they had already become interested in peace. After receiving the leaflets, they naturally knew that this was the message conveyed by the Zhou army. They lost the Yangtze River Jinling Navy and the Luanjiangkou Navy. The prefectures in Jiangbei will be lost sooner or later. Therefore, Li Jing had no objection to the proposal to "cede the states in Jiangbei and exchange for peace". He then sent Chen Jue, the Minister of War, to take the map of the fourteen states in Jiangbei and Huainan, and to the Zhou army in Jiangbei to discuss peace.

At this point, the Great Zhou Dynasty's campaign to the Southern Tang Dynasty finally achieved initial results: from the third year of Xiande, the Zhou army fought against Nande three times to the third year of Xiande, and the alliance was officially signed in the third year of Xiande. The fourteen prefectures, sixty counties of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and all the 226,574 households were returned to the Great Zhou Dynasty. The Southern Tang Dynasty regarded the Great Zhou as the main story, and since then it has been the minister of the Great Zhou.

Zhang Heyuan, the general of the Southern Tang Imperial Army, resisted the Zhou army and was escorted to the Zhou army. Feng Yanyi, Chen Jue and others retreated to the enemy and each received countless rewards.

Chen Jue only made one request, that is, the south of the Yangtze River did not produce salt, and hoped to obtain the salt field in Hailing, Jiangbei to supply the needs of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Chai Rong flatly rejected this request, just to obtain a temporary stable rear, and agreed to give the Southern Tang 300,000 hu of salt every year. From then on, the Southern Tang lost the fourteen prefectures in Jiangbei and all the salt fields. One of the three heroes of the Southern Tang army surrendered and one died in battle and the national strength further weakened.

After three years of war, the Great Zhou stabilized the south and turned his attention to the Khitan in the north.
Chapter completed!