Li Jingda came again, he learned the lesson of the last defeat, and sent the general Lin Renzhao to directly burn the pontoon bridge of the Later Zhou people, cutting off Li Chongjin's back road. Then take a boat and go straight to the important town of Xia Cai, he saw it very accurately, as long as Xia Cai was guarded, the Hou Zhou people would not be able to cross the Huaishui curse anyway, and he had already inquired clearly, it was the well-known honest man Zhang Yongde who guarded Cai.

In July of the third year of Xiande, Empress Xuanyi Fu died, Zhou Shizong temporarily returned to Bianjing, and regrouped troops to aid Shouzhou. Lin Renzhao, the naval envoy of Nantang Town, led his troops to attack the Zhengyang Bridge in Xia Cai (now Fengtai, Anhui), intending to cut off the supply line of the Zhou army. The Southern Tang people sent an elite naval army, and sent dozens of small boats loaded with fire-burning objects in advance to quickly approach the pontoon bridge. Zhang Yongde led the army to meet the battle, and Lin Renzhao personally led four warriors to break through the Zhengyang Bridge, and raised fire against the wind to prepare to burn the bridge. Zhang Yongde is at a loss, someone said, why is Zhang Yongde at a loss. This is because Zhang Yongde had no way to intercept the fireboat, and the huge Houzhou army did not even have a small boat. Although Zhang Yongde is not as good as Zhao Kuangyin and Li Chongjin, Zhang Yongde has a more powerful trick, he is lucky enough, anyway, he is much better than other Hou Zhou generals, just at this moment, the wind direction suddenly changed, and it was a 180-degree turn, and the fireboat rushed directly towards the Jiangnan Navy Division of the Southern Tang Dynasty. The final result of this battle was that Zhang Yongde didn't do anything, just watched Lin Renzhao take the work there, first set fire to the boat, and then suddenly the wind direction changed greatly, and the Jiangnan sailor set himself on fire, and then Zhang Yongde won. The soldiers of Hou Zhou were embarrassed, why was the life of the Southern Tang Dynasty so bad.

But the Southern Tang people did not give up so much. The next day, Lin Renzhao led the elite soldiers to raid Zhang Yongde again, Zhang Yongde hurriedly ordered the arrows to be released, Lin Renzhao was not afraid, waved his sword to remove the arrows, and continued to burn the bridge. Zhang Yongde couldn't help but sigh that Lin Renzhao was brave. In the end, they were outnumbered and evacuated from the battlefield. Zhang Yongde commanded the navy to break the ** fleet and ensure the supply line. Zhou Shizong of Bianjing continued to receive good news, and once again prepared to drive the expedition in person, but before leaving, he found that Sun Sheng was constantly transmitting information to the Southern Tang Dynasty, Zhou Shizong angrily reprimanded: "Last time, you didn't persuade Liu Renzhan to surrender, I have spared you from death, and now you are secretly sending information, how can I not kill you?" Sun Sheng said unhurriedly: "I am trapped here now, and I can no longer be loyal to the country, what is the use of leaving this body?" Please let Your Majesty fulfill me. Zhou Shizong knew that it was impossible to recruit him, so he gave him death, but then regretted that he should not have killed this loyal minister, and it was a lifelong regret.

Zhang Yongde's life is good, but Li Chongjin is different, Li Chongjin surrounded Shouzhou, so that the Southern Tang people were like a fish in their throats. Although Li Chongjin is very brave, once the two countries start a full-scale war again, Li Chongjin must bear the brunt. It is true that Li Jingda personally commanded the 50,000 main forces of the Southern Tang Dynasty.

Li Jingda himself sat in Haozhou, and sent Zhu Yuan and other generals to surround Li Chongjin, Zhu Yuan is also one of the best generals in the Southern Tang Dynasty, and now he is also moving closer to Shouzhou, planning to encircle Li Chongjin and defeat the Hou Zhou army in one go. Now, Li Chongjin's situation is getting worse and worse, not so much that Li Chongjin is besieging Shouzhou, it is better to say that Hou Zhou is like a timed **, which may explode in Li Chongjin's hands at any time. And Li Chongjin's periphery was more of the main forces of the Southern Tang Dynasty that were constantly gathered, and in this way, Li Chongjin was joined by the inside and outside. If he is not careful, Li Chongjin may be completely dumped by the Southern Tang Dynasty.

But the more this is the case, the more Li Chongjin shows his true character as a strongman. Li Chongjin trapped Liu Renzhan in Shouzhou City, and no one wanted to rush out of Shouzhou City. Then, no matter how many troops Nan Tang had gathered outside, he didn't want to rush in from his barracks. History proves that Li Jingda of the Southern Tang Dynasty set up eighteen chain camps on the Purple Mountain outside Shouzhou City, overlapping and overlapping each other, and even the beacon fire in Shouzhou City can be seen every night, but he can't rush in. In the end, Li Jingda came up with a solution that was not a solution, Li Jingda ordered the soldiers to start building the Great Wall, wanting to build a Great Wall from the Purple Mountain to connect Shouzhou City, taking advantage of the characteristics of the Great Wall to attack and defend, fighting while repairing, always be able to deal with Li Chongjin, and send reinforcements into Shouzhou City.

So the people of the Southern Tang Dynasty began to rush the project day and day, for the victory of the Southern Tang Dynasty, for the brothers in the city, cheer up.

Li Chongjin also thought that he had a good heart, since Li Jingda began to build the Great Wall, Li Chongjin ignored it and did nothing. It wasn't until Li Jingda finally repaired more than ten miles, and immediately repaired it to Shouzhou City. Li Chongjin suddenly became ruthless, and attacked fiercely, not only demolishing the Great Wall, but also killing more than 5,000 Li Jingda.

At this time, an even more sad news came, after Zhang Yongde experienced the battle of the pontoon bridge. Suddenly felt that life could not go on like this, he seemed to have done a very responsible thing, Zhang Yongde used a large iron chain to block the water surface around the pontoon bridge for dozens of miles with iron chains. After that, I felt uneasy, and I reinforced the wood on the iron chain to ensure that the iron chain would not sink under the Huai River, and could fully intercept the Jiangnan sailors of the Southern Tang Dynasty. After that, Zhang Yongde personally led a small number of people who were proficient in water in the Later Zhou Dynasty, and took advantage of the night to go to the bottom of the fleet of the Southern Tang people stationed in Xia Cai to tie the fleet of the Southern Tang people together. Then the next day, Zhang Yongde launched an attack, and Lin Renzhao, a famous general in Jiangnan, did not believe that the navy on which he relied to become famous was wiped out. Fortunately, Lin Renzhao came out of the siege by himself.

But that's it, the Southern Tang people still have a huge advantage in Jiangbei, and the situation of Li Chongjin and Zhang Yongde is getting worse and worse, they are only undefeated, but they have never been able to win. Especially in this year, there was even more bad news in Shouzhou City. What's the news? Liu Renzhan killed his son, what happened? Here's the thing.

Li Jingda once again gathered a large army to help, but was severely attacked by Zhang Yongde and Li Chongjin on both land and water, and suffered heavy casualties. Shouzhou has been besieged for more than a year, the military rations in the city have been exhausted, and the reinforcements from all walks of life have been repulsed. Liu Renzhan's youngest son, Liu Chong, was afraid of death, so he ran out of the city alone and was about to surrender, but was arrested. Liu Renzhan did not hesitate and immediately announced that he would correct the Fa! The soldiers cried and begged to be spared death, and Liu Renzhan's wife, Mrs. Xue, shed tears to the soldiers: "The soldiers fought bloodily, but the son of our Liu family was greedy for life and afraid of death, and surrendered to the enemy army. Liu Renzhan endured the pain and beheaded his son, and inspected the whole army at the first level, and the whole army wept bitterly, and expressed their willingness to die with General Liu! There is a story of Yang Yanzhao and Qi Jiguang beheading in the history of later generations, but there is no record of the official history, which may be the interpretation of the historical facts of Liu Renzhan's beheading, and the prototype of the story, General Liu Renzhan, is little known, which is very regrettable.

After Liu Renzhan beheaded his son, Shouzhou City was concentric for the army and the people, and no one said that we were going to surrender. Li Chongjin outside the city was also desperate at this time, he was puzzled, he really wanted to ask Liu Renzhan, what benefits did Nantang give you, so that you are so loyal to your duties and stubborn. Li Chongjin finally understood that with his own person, it was really possible that he would not be able to take Shouzhou City. He had no choice but to ask Chai Rongsu to send reinforcements.

There is no way, Chai Rong, who is sitting in Kaifeng, once again drove the personal expedition, and the second personal expedition to the Southern Tang Dynasty. and appointed Zhao Kuangyin as the vanguard, Xiang Xun, Li Gu, Han Lingkun and others as generals, and sent troops to the Southern Tang Dynasty. Chai Rong chose the Xia Cai ferry that Zhang Yongde had just won to cross the Huai River, everything went well, and Chai Rong arrived at the city of Shouzhou. At this time, Li Jingda and Chai Rong had not yet fought, and Li Jingda knew that his hope of winning was very slim. Because when Chai Rong set off, he also brought his own secret weapon, which is the secret weapon that we said before to completely change the balance of forces between Zhou and Nantang. This is the Later Zhou Water Division led by Zhao Chao, the commander of Hujie's left wing. This Hou Zhou naval army rode the wind and waves all the way and completely defeated the various naval strongholds of the Southern Tang Dynasty in the Huai River, and the Later Zhou only took more than half a year to train a naval army that was not inferior to the Southern Tang Dynasty.

History proves that Chai Rong's return to Kaifeng was by no means tired or tired of the battlefield, but that he wanted to quickly make up for his own shortcomings. He believed that the reason why the Later Zhou army was unfavorable in battle was that it lacked a naval division that could conquer and fight. As a result, Zhou Shizong built hundreds of warships in Bianshui, west of Daliang City. A few months later, under the ** of the Southern Tang Dynasty, the combat skills of the Later Zhou Water Division have been greatly improved. When he reappears, he will regain the overwhelming advantage. In view of the lack of naval forces during the first southern expedition, which led to unfavorable operations, Zhou Shizong ordered hundreds of warships to be built on the banks of Bianshui, so that the surrendered officers and soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty could teach the Later Zhou soldiers to practice water warfare. A few months later, Hou Zhou also had a strong naval army and invested in the second expedition to Tang.

Under the leadership of Zhao Chao, the commander of Hujie's left wing, the Later Zhou Navy went east along the Huai River and pursued the south. Later Zhou Longwu commander Zhao Kuangzan ambushed at the mouth of the vortex and defeated Guo Tingzhi's troops of the Southern Tang Dynasty who attempted to break the pontoon bridge. After that, Zhou Shizong led a heavy army to surround Shouzhou. At this time, at the request of the following week. Chu and Wu Yue also sent troops to assist in the attack on the Southern Tang Dynasty. Wu Yue Shangzhidu commanded Lu Yanbai to attack Xuancheng, and Luo Sheng led the naval army to attack Jiangyin. The Southern Tang Jinghai system made Yao Yanhong lead 10,000 people to surrender.

After that, Chai Rong chose the next offensive target, and this target was the Purple Mountain. The famous Battle of the Purple Mountain is about to break out.

Specific to the Battle of Purple Mountain, can Chai Rong win? Can Shouzhou be breached? We'll talk about that next time.