Li Jing of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and the courtiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty, your good life is coming to an end.

In the second year of Zhou Xiande, that is, in 955 AD, Chai Rong appointed Li Gu, the deputy envoy of the Privy Council, as the commander of the Huainan Dao camp, and Wang Yanchao as the deputy deployment, commanding twelve soldiers and horses to attack the Southern Tang Dynasty.

Later Zhou's troops and horses advanced rapidly, quickly defeating the Southern Tang defenders north of the Huai River.

Because it was winter, the water of the Huai River was shallow, and Li Jing judged that Zhou would take the opportunity to cross the river, and specially ordered cavalry patrols on both sides of the Huai River, which was called "shallow". Later, Wu Tingshao, the supervisor of Shouzhou, saw the frequent turmoil in the Zhou Dynasty, and thought that Zhou Shizong must have no time to look south, so he abolished the "shallow" system. As a result, the vanguard of the Zhou army easily crossed the Huai River in November 955 and built a pontoon bridge in Zhengyang Town. The vanguard of the Zhou State defeated several forces of the Southern Tang Dynasty one after another. and surrounded Shouzhou, an important town in the Southern Tang Dynasty. As long as Heshou Prefecture is taken, the soldiers will reach Hefei, Hefei is being breached, and the south of the Yangtze River will have no place in the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, Shouzhou is a barrier of the Southern Tang Dynasty, the lifeline of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and the lifeline that must not be easily given to others. But for Chai Rong, Shouzhou must be breached, otherwise the previous series of victories will be meaningless.

Who is the defender of Shouzhou at this time? Everyone must remember this name, the Shouzhou guard of the Southern Tang Dynasty was the general Liu Renzhan. History proves that this name gave Chai Rong a headache for two years. Moreover, in addition to Liu Renzhan, the Southern Tang Dynasty had already reacted quickly, sending Liu Yanzhen, the commander of the Shenwu Army, to deploy the camp in the north, leading 20,000 troops to reinforce quickly, and ordering Emperor Fuhui of Tongzhongshu Pingzhang and Yao Feng to lead 30,000 troops into Dingyuan (now southeast of Dingyuan, Anhui) to respond.

Rescue soldiers are like fighting fires, at this time, Shouzhou has been attacked by Hou Zhou for nearly a month, the battle situation is urgent, and time requires Liu Yanzhen to enter the army quickly, so after receiving the order, this person did not run to the war horse at all to prepare to run day and night, but rushed to the river first. Later proved that this trick was extremely shrewd and ruthless, he wanted to use the first trump card of the South ** team, the water army, to fundamentally defeat the Hou Zhou army in one fell swoop, so that they would have no return, and completely die on the south bank of the Huai River!

Liu Yanzhen took hundreds of huge ships from the waterway to Zhengyang, where there was a pontoon bridge on which the Later Zhou army depended. As long as the pontoon bridge is destroyed first, all the Later Zhou troops that are all cavalry and infantry and other land services can be intercepted.

Li Gu panicked, he didn't expect that after only attacking for a month, the back road would be cut off. His response was to immediately return to the army and save the lifeline of the pontoon bridge. Therefore, after considering the situation on the battlefield, Li Gu urgently asked Zhou Shizong for help, and at the same time took the initiative to give up the encirclement of Shouzhou and returned to Zhengyang Town. You have to use the two feet of the infantry or the four legs of the cavalry to compare the speed with the long sail that the Southern Tang pulled up in the water, and you can't bring anything except the necessities of life.

Li Gu ordered that all the grain, grass and baggage brought with the army to prepare a long-term plan be burned, and never left for the Southern Tang Dynasty. Then immediately retreat, without further delay. But he didn't expect that the light of the fire when burning the grain and grass made Liu Renzhan at the head of Shouzhou City see it clearly. Liu Renzhan, who had been besieged for a month, was not afraid at all, and when Li Gu retreated, he suddenly rushed out of the city and warmly greeted Li Gu, and reduced Li Gu's team again and lightened it, so that the Hou Zhou army could run faster. Liu Yanzhen, the commander-in-chief of the southern ** front, was anxious to make meritorious service, and when he heard that the Zhou army was retreating, he led his headquarters to launch an attack on Li Gu's army without waiting for the armies to gather.

But Liu Yanzhen's luck was not good, he met Li Chongjin, a fierce general sent by Zhou Shizong.

In the history, "Li Chongjin crossed the Huai, fought against Zhengyangdong, broke it, beheaded Yanzhen, captured Xianshi Lang, etc., beheaded more than 10,000 people, ambushed the corpse for 30 miles, and collected more than 300,000 military equipment. ”

When the news of the destruction of the main force came, the Southern Tang generals Huang Fuhui and Yao Feng, who were wandering in Dingyuan, were frightened, and they led their troops to flee to Chuzhou Qingliuguan overnight, regardless of the danger of Shouzhou City.

In this way, just one month after the start of the war, the offensive and defensive posture of the enemy and us made a 180-degree turn, and the two sides of the victory and defeat were completely tilted and subverted.

After receiving such a battle report, Chai Rong didn't say a word, and once again drove in person. In fact, he had long wanted to go out in person, but there was something more important that kept holding him back. It is the newly recovered four prefectures of Qin, Feng, Cheng, and Jie, where it is necessary to re-station troops and select officials, and also take this opportunity to subdue foreign forces such as Tuyuhun and Dangxiang in the west, so that they do not dare to make trouble behind the back of the Later Zhou. Then he can compete with the Southern Tang Dynasty with the army of the country.

In the turn of the year, on the sixth day of the first month of the third year of Xiande (956 AD), Chai Rong announced that he would conquer the Southern Tang Dynasty. Due to the urgency of the military situation, he sent a general to Zhengyang in advance, and he must seize the pontoon bridge in front of Liu Yanzhen of the Southern Tang Dynasty, which is the bridge of life for the Later Zhou army to inherit the past and the future, and there must be no mistakes. And so the real contest began. The name that first resounded on the battlefield was this general who opened the way for the emperor and saved the war.

His name is Li Chongjin.

Yes, it is Guo Wei's nephew, who has outstanding military achievements, is proud and strong, and is unwilling to be subordinated to Li Chongjin. Li Chongjin traveled into the starry night and marched quickly, and the speed was so fast that he was ahead of Liu Yanzhen, who was sailing on the waterway. When Li Gu retreated in a hurry and did not know his safety, when Liu Yanzhen was full of ambition and devoted himself to meritorious service, Li Chongjin had already sharpened his knife on the edge of the Huai River pontoon bridge in the Zhengyang section and was ready for battle.

As soon as Liu Yanzhen got off the boat, Li Chongjin immediately launched a fierce effort. In this battle, the Southern Tang reinforcements were completely defeated, and the Southern Tang Dynasty commander Liu Yanzhen and his more than 10,000 people were beheaded, nearly 30 miles south from the battlefield, all of which were the corpses of the Southern Tang people. This battle fundamentally hit the morale of the people of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and its consequences were amazing, no one expected that Li Chongjin's combat effectiveness was so terrible, which was completely different from Li Gu and others before. Huang Fuhui and Yao Feng, another reinforcement from the Southern Tang Dynasty, immediately retreated when they heard the wind and retreated to the dangerous Qingliu Pass. Chuzhou's assassin Wang Shaoyan was even more thorough, he threw down the city and ran away, never wanting to see the demons again.

By the time Chai Rong came to the war zone on the 22nd of that month, the situation had reversed 180 degrees again, and he could reach the city of Shouzhou unimpeded.

Shouzhou City, Liu Renzhan, and Chai Rong stood under the city and watched silently. His order after a long silence shocked everyone, and the soldiers of the Later Zhou did not expect that their Emperor Majesty's determination would be so great. Chai Rong ordered to use the fastest speed to levy hundreds of thousands of strong men in Songzhou, Bozhou, Chenzhou, Xuzhou, Suzhou, Xuzhou, Caizhou and other places, and from now on, they will attack Shouzhou day and night, and the city will not be broken and attacked! Li Jing of the Southern Tang Dynasty, I must break through Shouzhou City in the shortest possible time, and then we will meet across the Yangtze River.

But something even more amazing happened, after the Zhou hundred battles, the elite soldiers, plus hundreds of thousands of strong men who were recruited, attacked day and night for more than a month, and Shouzhou City was unmoved!

Liu Renzhan, a person who did not leave much reputation in history, with the strength of a city, actually resisted the offensive of the Later Zhou Dynasty strongly. This greatly boosted the morale of Nan Tangben, who had become desperate. The panic caused by Liu Yanzhen's defeat in one fell swoop disappeared, and the Southern Tang Dynasty continued to send reinforcements, and the warships were parked on the edge of the Huai River, deterring the military camp of the Later Zhou not far away, and Huang Fuhui and Yao Feng, who had retreated to Qingliu Pass, also re-dispatched, forming a counter-encirclement circle against the Later Zhou from the north and west.

All of a sudden, the battle situation became unclear.

But Chai Rong, who was getting stronger and stronger, broke out again at this time, and after attacking continuously for nearly a month, Chai Rong suddenly ordered that the attack be suspended, and he wanted to change his way. Chai Rong recruited craftsmen to "build hundreds of warships on the west side of the Bianshui in Daliang City, and ordered the Tang Dynasty to teach the northerners to fight in water." A few months later, the vertical and horizontal haunts were wiped out, and the Tang soldiers were killed. "In other words, Chai Rong built a huge fleet and set off from Feishui to attack Shouzhou in the Southern Tang Dynasty. Loading a cannon with a ship, this cannon is not an artillery, it is a huge trebuchet. Use this to launch huge stones into the city of Shouju. In order to boost morale, Chai Rong personally carried a stone, you can think about how far the ancient catapult could shoot, and how close Chai Rong was to Shouzhou City at this time. All the officials around Chai Rong participated in the carrying of stones, and you can imagine that the regular army of the Later Zhou Dynasty plus the people recruited from all over the country, even if each person issued ten stones per day, it would be nearly a million meteor showers per day. If you take the number of days of the attack in the coming week, you can imagine that there must be no place to put your feet in Shouzhou City.

But even so, Shouzhou City, which saw the ghost, still stood still. If you can't beat it, you just can't beat it, which is also strange. Gradually, the army of the Later Zhou Dynasty began to fluctuate, and the people of the Later Zhou no longer believed in the nonsense that Shouzhou had been trapped for a long time and had no food, and it would inevitably be captured. They were full of anger at this time, grabbed a few small boats and knives and guns, and the soldiers of Hou Zhou launched an attack on Shouzhou City. Among these people, there is this young and vigorous Zhao Kuangyin, who dares to show his teeth at death. As soon as Zhao Kuangyin rushed through the moat, Shouzhou City seemed to have expected this situation, and shot countless sharp arrows from top to bottom. It was as dense as rain, and the arrows shot were specially made, according to the history books, this kind of arrow was as thick as a roof beam. It is conceivable that Zhao Kuangyin just relied on the courage of the moment, and it was impossible to bring enough protective gear. In the face of such a rain of arrows, ordinary people can commit suicide, you don't have to shoot, and you can smash people to death. But at this time, Zhao Kuangyin actually escaped a catastrophe, and the unique charm of Zhao Kuangyin that we talked about earlier was reflected.

How did Zhao Kuangyin escape this catastrophe? Can Shouzhou be breached? We'll talk about that next time.