On the first day of March in the 3rd year of Zhou Xiande (956), Chai Rong was still unable to advance or retreat under the city of Shouzhou. At this time, he was extremely anxious, he wanted to capture Shouzhou City as soon as possible, so that he could have more bargaining chips to negotiate with Li Jing. He even started as a porter with the respect of the emperor, and personally moved stones and cannons to Shouzhou City, but Shouzhou City was still indestructible. This annoyed Zhao Kuangyin, he drove a small boat to Shouzhou City, and shot a rain of arrows as thick as rafters on the city. The future Emperor Taizu endured the test of life and death under the city of Shouzhou. He was able to escape this death-defying desperate situation because a person named Zhang Qiong took the initiative to lie on top of him to block arrows for him. An arrow hit the thigh, and Zhang Qiong fainted. After waking up, Zhang Qiong showed the same spirit as Guan Yunchang who scraped bones to cure poison in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" (Guan was only recorded in the novel, but Zhang was really recorded in "Tongjian") drank a big sip of wine, and let people directly pull out this arrow that went deep into the bone marrow, bleeding several liters, and looking calm. While admiring Zhang Qiong's bravery, I have to be more impressed by Zhao Kuangyin's ability to convince people's hearts. You must know that Zhao Kuangyin at this time is only a 30-year-old young general, what kind of means can he use to subdue a flesh-and-blood person to replace life with death, and he does not hesitate. And future history will prove that this Song Taizu's ability to convince the hearts of the people can definitely be ranked among the top three of all Chinese emperors, and Zhang Qiong is just his small test.

But Zhao Kuangyin couldn't subdue Liu Renzhan in Shouzhou City, so Shouzhou City couldn't be attacked, Chai Rong, you should save it. Chai Rong, who was helpless, could only use the old method: attack other states. On March 3, He Chao captured Gwangju. On the 4th, Guo Lingtu captured Shuzhou, and was later expelled, Wang Xianqi recaptured Shuzhou, and Lingtu returned. The Tang general of Qizhou, Li Fu, killed Zhizhou and surrendered Kaicheng.

Against this backdrop, the two sides began a new round of negotiations on 13 March. Li Jing's conditions were 1,000 taels of gold, 100,000 taels of silver, 2,000 taels of Luo Qi, and he went to the emperor's name to cut the land of Shou, Hao, Si, Chu, Guang, and Hai. But Chai Rong thinks that he now has 6 states in Chu, Yang, Tai, Shu, Guang, and Qi. And the other states can be broken in a few days, so Chai Rong said, "If you cut off the 14 states in Huainan, you can strike the army and make peace" Sun Sheng did not answer, and Li Deming said, "Our Tang lord does not know that Zhou's troops are strong, please forgive me 5 days." I will go back to report to the Tang Lord, and I will definitely dedicate the land of Jiangbei to His Majesty" Chai Rong let Li Deming and Wang Chongzhen go back, but stopped Sun Sheng" and so on. You are the chief negotiator. Help me persuade that Liu Renzhen. You Tang lords have decided to cede Shouzhou to me as one of the 6 states, persuade him not to defend it" Sun Sheng went to the city of Shouzhou, opened his mouth and shouted, "The general is favored by the country, and you can't open the door to Nakou" turned around and said to Chai Rong, "The minister is the prime minister of the Tang State, how can you teach your own moderation to make treason" Chai Rong choked and couldn't speak.

After Li Deming came back, he was very angry with Li Jing, extinguished his prestige, and made Li Jing angry. If Jiangbei is lost, what do I rely on to protect myself? Li Deming was immediately beheaded and sacrificed to the flag!

Li Jing was ready to fight to the death, and ordered his third brother, Li Jingda, the king of Qi, to be the commander, and Chen Jue to be the supervisor, and went north to fight a decisive battle with Chai Rong's main force. Ordered Lu Mengjun to seize the 2 states of Thailand and Yang. Pan Chenghu was sent to Quan, Jian and other places in Fujian to recruit brave soldiers. Got a group of generals such as Xu Wenzhi, Chen Decheng, Zheng Yanhua, and Lin Renzhao.

The Tang soldiers, who jumped over the wall in a hurry, burst out with strong combat power at the beginning. Taizhou couldn't resist in just one day, and was recovered by Lu Mengjun, and Han Lingkun of Yangzhou immediately abandoned the city and left. Halfway through, I ran into Zhang Yongde: "General Han, where are you going?" Yangzhou has no danger to defend, so he has to retreat "De nodded" to ask the general to attack Lu Mengjun's army of more than 10,000 troops with thousands of troops, it is really difficult for you. However, the emperor is there, I am afraid that General Han will not be able to go, "Kun is strange", for what "virtue" is Lu, the emperor has ordered Zhao Kuangyin to guard the main road in Liuhe. If there is a general's soldiers who escape from Liuhe, they will all cut off their legs first, and then make a theory "Kun has a cold sweat on his back"... How is it good, "Dezheng Sedao" General still wants to retreat? The emperor also knows your difficulties. No, let me lead the troops to help you" There is no way to retreat, but there are reinforcements in the war. Han Lingkun turned the horse's head, "Thank you Commander Zhang for coming to the rescue." Let's go to Yangzhou to fight to the death", capture Lu Mengjun alive, and recover Yangzhou. temporarily curbed the counterattack momentum of Nantang.

But Shouzhou City couldn't be attacked for a long time, and Li Jingda's army came again, Chai Rong had to sigh, "Liu Renzhan, I've convinced you." I'm gone! Let's go to Haozhou to the east of you to fight" On April 13, Chai Rong came to the city of Haozhou. However, Chai Rong is divided into four places, and now there are really not many soldiers around him. Call Zhao Kuangyin: "Li Jingda's army will arrive in Liuhe in a few days, what should I do" Zhao Kuangyin replied, "I am willing to go to resist the enemy" Rong nodded: "But I can only give you 2,000 soldiers at most." I heard that there are 20,000 Tang soldiers! Can you use one as ten?" Zhao Kuangyin replied, "The enemy has set up a village to consolidate itself, because he is afraid of my Zhou soldiers." As long as the minister has 2,000 elite soldiers, he will definitely live up to the trust of His Majesty" Chai Rong is overjoyed "2,000 elite soldiers are selected by you, go"

Zhao Kuangyin's third solo show - the Battle of Liuhe, Emperor Taizu defeated Li Jingda with 2,000 elite soldiers, killing nearly 5,000, and more than 10,000 people rushed to escape, drowning many people, and the elite soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty were lost. However, there was a huge disparity in the strength of the battle, and there were some ineffective soldiers in the Zhou army. Zhao Kuangyin personally supervised the battle, cut marks on their skins, and the next day they inspected the skins, and all those who had marks were beheaded! From now on, no soldier dares not to die!

The counterattack of the Southern Tang Dynasty was a complete failure. Chai Rong was relieved. On the 25th, he came to the vortex mouth from Haozhou. I also want to go to Yangzhou on the Yangtze River. Fan Zhen stepped forward to dissuade him, "The emperor has been driving in person for more than three months, and now the soldiers and horses are tired. If I go further, I am afraid that it will be unfavorable to our army" Chai Rong did not listen" I should be angry, cross the Yangtze River, and take down the "quality" of Jinling, can you know the defeat of Emperor Wu of Wei Chibi back then? At present, it is the rainy season in the south of the Yangtze River, and the river water is rising sharply. And the Northern Army did not have large ships. That is, when we arrive in Yangzhou, what do we use to cross the river and take Jinling? Shouzhou has not been able to attack for a long time, also because it has a water village. We can't completely cut it off from the outside world, and it will be a siege. The city is full of food and grass."

Chai Rong understood. Without a water army, it is true that you can't take Jiangnan. All right. Yangzhou is not going. Drive back to Beijing!

On May 7, the 3rd year of Xiande (956), Chai Rong left Li Chongjin to continue to besiege Shouzhou. Xiang Xun and Han Lingkun were stationed in Yangzhou. He returned north from the vortex mouth and returned to Bianliang on the 24th. This is the end of the expedition to Huainan!

Back in Bianliang, Chai Rong recruited craftsmen in Bianshui and built hundreds of ships. With the Southern Tang Dynasty as the instructor, the sailors were trained day and night. Chai Rong wants to build a king who can also run rampant in the water town!

As soon as Chai Rong left, Xiang Xun and Han Lingkun felt that it was not interesting to defend Yangzhou, so they gave up on their own, joined forces with Li Chongjin, and competed with Liu Renzhan. Before Han Lingkun arrived, in June, Li Jixun in the south of Shouzhou City was taught a lesson by Liu Renzhan out of the city, and Li Jixun was defeated. Li Chongjin, who was in the east of the city, could not be saved. What do you mean? Too late to save? Don't want to save? Or is there also someone in Dongzhai who raids and takes care of himself? In short, this time the Zhou camp suffered heavy losses. The siege equipment was burned. History of the Five Dynasties (Zizhi Tongjian) Records: Hundreds of dead. Song Historical Records: Tens of thousands of people died.

After investigation, the record of the history of the Song Dynasty should be to brush gold for Emperor Taizu. How so? Because of this defeat, the Zhou soldiers in Waishou Prefecture didn't want to play with this old Liu Tou, and they all wanted to retreat to Bianliang with Chai Rong. At this time, Zhao Kuangyin was returning from Liuhe, passing through Shouzhou, Zhao Kuangyin made a speech, and the army's heart was revived! In order to show Zhao Kuangyin's extraordinary appeal, this defeat is naturally as miserable as possible, so hundreds have become tens of thousands.

Well, the morale of the army is stable. Li Chongjin, Zhang Yongde, Xiang Xun, Han Lingkun, you continue to surround Shouzhou City, you will definitely not be able to attack it anyway. I'll see you later, now let's go back to the capital Bianliang, something big has happened......

On July 21, the 3rd year of Zhou Xiande (956), Chai Rong's empress Miss Fu died, leaving behind her 4-year-old son Chai Zongxun. What will happen to such a young son in the future? Broke a mother's heart. Miss Fu was not at ease about handing over Chai Zongxun to any woman in ** to bring, so she reluctantly dragged her heavy sick body to recruit her second sister into the palace, and asked Chai Rong to make Miss Fu Er a concubine in front of her sickbed. Until I saw the second sister change into the costume of a concubine and move in**, Queen Dafu's wish was fulfilled and she returned to the west...... After holding a grand funeral for Queen Fu, Chai Rong also fell ill in bed, but fortunately, Miss Fu Er followed her sister's will, taking care of the young Chai Zongxun while being considerate of the old and sick Chai Rong...... More than a month later, Chai Rong recovered from his illness.

In order to reward Zhao Kuangyin for his great victory in Chuzhou and Liuhe, on October 25, the 3rd year of Xiande (956), Chai Rong promoted Zhao Kuangyin from the Marquis of Yu in front of the palace (the fifth old) to the commander of the palace (the third), and crowned the envoy of the Dingguo Army in the same state. This year, Zhao Kuangyin was 30 years old. In the entire Song Dynasty in 319, only Yue Fei became a jiedu envoy at the age of 32 (Emperor Taizu was not in the Song Dynasty as a jiedu envoy), which will become one of the 'trumped-up' charges for his unjust killing. It can also be seen from this that Zhao Kuangyin, who was 30 years old at this time and had already been the envoy of the festival, had indeed achieved the second sentence of the four prophecies given to him by Chen Tuan's ancestor, 'the beginning of the week'. So what is the meaning of the sentence 3 and 4 'two days of light, and the sac wood should be prophesied'? On December 14, Zhang Yongde, the former commander of the front of the palace, was promoted to the front of the palace (boss). In November, the name of Huashan Chen Tong also reached Chai Rong's ears, and Chai Rong summoned him and asked him how Taoism is best at fooling people and becoming immortals. Chen replied, "Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven, and you should take governing the world as your business, and you should use this as your business" Chai Rong was depressed. In fact, he had consulted Wang Pu on the issue of his lifespan, and Wang Pu told him that he had a 30-year life expectancy as an emperor, so Chai Rong set up a grand wish of "ten years to open up the world, ten years to raise the people, and ten years to govern the peace", but in the face of the chaos in the world, there are enemies on all sides, and a peaceful and prosperous world is required, how can 30 years be enough? Of course, the longer the better. Unexpectedly, he was coldly treated by Chen. On November 20, Chai Rong repatriated Chen Jun. At this time, Chai Rong would not have thought: What kind of immortal is this Chen Jun? What is the relationship with the general surnamed Zhao under him? If 30% of the responsibility for the Chen Qiao mutiny lies with Zhao Kuangyin, and 40% lies with Zhao Guangyi and Zhao Pu, then the remaining 30% should definitely be held accountable to Chen Kuangyin. It was this Chen Qian who created a mysterious wooden plaque (this matter will be analyzed in detail in the mysterious wooden plaque chapter), which directly affected Chai Rong's personnel arrangements when he was dying, and also directly sent Hou Zhou into history......