The first quarter moon can only be seen in the first half of the night, and at midnight the moon recedes in the west. The Yangzhou army, under the command of Ma Zhong, broke through to the north gate.

The Runzhou Army and Lu Jiangbu had just completed the adjustment of the attack deployment, and the soldiers were all asleep, recuperating for tomorrow's decisive battle. The breakthrough of the Yangzhou Army was caught off guard for a while, and the main forces of the two brigades of Cui Feihu of the Ningguo Army outside the north gate were also in a hurry.

In the dark night, the Yangzhou army took the battalion as a unit, and after leaving the north gate, it spread out along the moat to the east and west, and then filled the moat with the trench cars prepared in advance, and then dispersed to break through.

Under such a deployment, the Yangzhou army has no combat power. The 1st Division also fought with battalions and torches. It's just that the night is very dark, and it is inconvenient to intercept.

A night of wave fighting. Most of the Song soldiers were defeated, but the Ningguo Army, the Runzhou Army, and Lu Jiang's three armies came out together, and there were still very few prisoners, and there were only more than 5,000 people by Tianming, and more than 10,000 defeated soldiers were scattered in the countryside.

Under the heavy losses of the Yangzhou army, Ma Zhong, under the escort of Sun Yongwang, still managed to escape to the Yangtze River, and was lucky to find three or five small boats. It's just that there are many small boats, and there are hundreds of soldiers and horses who fled to the river with Ma Zhong, and these small boats can only carry dozens of people. And the Tang army captured prisoners everywhere, and it was also a high probability that they would chase them here, and they would never allow small boats to go back and forth between the north and south shores.

Ma Zhong and Sun Yongwang's troops took the lead out of the city, and when He Shengrong went out of the city, Ning Guojun also went out of camp with most of them to intercept the Song army. Ma Zhong waited for dawn by the river, but did not wait for He Shengrong. At this time, the Tang army was chasing from afar, and Ma Zhong ordered all the soldiers to abandon their weapons and surrender, so he and Sun Yongwang and others fled to Jiangbei in a small boat.

By the morning of the next day, most of the Song army, which was scattered outside Runzhou, was captured. It was He Shengrong, the commander of the left wing of the Yangzhou Army, who was also seriously injured and captured in the process of escaping. However, the two officers and deputies of the Yangzhou army were deployed, but they both fled.

Li Congyi thought about it for a while, and then asked people to bring Hou Zhi, the prefect of Yangzhou, up.

Hou Zhi entered Runzhou City yesterday night, and looked at the situation of the Song army camp at the east gate, and knew that the Yangzhou army was not lucky. How can I sleep at night, I just desperately pondered the rhetoric, that is, I wanted to be able to escape, and I could get Zhao Kuangyin's forgiveness after I went back.

In the second half of the night, I heard the voices of people inside and outside the city, speculating that the Yangzhou army might break through at night. In the morning, the city was calm. Hou Zhi was restless in the house in the morning, and at noon, he heard that Jiang Guogong had summoned him. Hou Zhi knew that the other party was Ning Guojun in Taohuadu Water Village, and he was not surprised to see that Jiang Guogong was in Runzhou.

When I arrived at the Yamen of Runzhou Thorn Mansion, I saw Jiang Guogong with black circles and red eyes, and I also knew that Jiang Guogong had not slept all night. Hou Zhi remained silent, and made the salute of his subordinates to see the chief, and just said: "Lord Guogong......"

Li Congyi interrupted him: "Hou Zhi, you are so bold! ”

Hou Zhi opened his mouth and stammered, not knowing why for a while.

"You don't salute your father-in-law! Directly reprimanded the Duke for ignorance of current affairs, and used his mantis arm as a car, he actually wanted the Duke to immediately release the Yangzhou sergeants, and to lead his generals to surrender immediately, so that the Emperor of the Song State could still give the Duke a marquis in the future! ”

Hou Zhi was stunned. I secretly thought, I didn't even say a word, why was I pressed so many names! Could it be that this Jiang Guogong wants to kill me to sacrifice the flag? My brain was buzzing for a moment, and I almost fainted.

"This prince respects you as a man, so he endured your nonsense, and ordered the soldiers to slow down, and Zong Ma Zhong and the others returned to the north. Please bring a word to my father: This prince is going to take the soldiers and horses of Xuan, Chang, and Run to the west of Jinling to fight a decisive battle with the Song army, and I want you to see the result in Jiangbei! ”

Li Congyi finished speaking, and Hou Zhi couldn't react for a while.

Li Congyi smiled slightly, "Lord Hou doesn't want to leave?" ”

Hou Zhi came back to his senses, and his first thought was to leave quickly, and just as he was about to turn around, he thought of the important place, and hurriedly asked: "Dare to ask Lord Guogong, how is the situation of the Yangzhou army now?" ”

"The Yangzhou army is gone. However, Ma Zhong grabbed a small boat, and he should have arrived in Jiangbei by this time. Wang Lezheng fled from the battlefield in the morning, and his whereabouts were unknown, and he thought that he had fled to the north shore. Li Congyi said slowly. The right chamber commanded Jiang Feiyu to die in battle, and the left chamber commanded He Shengrong to be seriously injured, and life and death were unpredictable. However, the military capital Yu waited for Tang Yuankai to die, our army admired it very much, and after Lord Hou returned to Yangzhou, he could bring his body back. ”

Yangzhou is now that the leaders of the civil and military generals are not there, Jiang Guogong wants to let himself go back, and even go back to Yangzhou before Ma Zhong. And when he goes back, in order to save his life, he can even climb up, this Ma Zhong is really a person who has to step on death. In this regard, Hou Zhi is good at it.

At this time, Li Congyi said again: "After Lord Hou returns to Yangzhou, remember to send a person with a thorn in the head, so that the emperor of Shangguo knows that letting Lord Hou go is not because my father's temper is too good." ”

Hou Zhi looked at Li Congyi in shock. At that moment, he just bowed and saluted, and left in a hurry.

The Tang army really acted quickly, Hou Zhi went out of the city, and boarded the boat from the canal wharf, and the oarsmen spared no effort to rush to the Taohuadu wharf. The Tang army guarded the water village and gave Hou Zhi and his entourage a 200 stone boat, and let Hou Zhi go. Of course, when Hou Zhi came, Li Congyi was naturally disrespectful.

The first battle of Runzhou was a more hearty victory than the battle of Changzhou.

The 30,000 Yangzhou army of the Song army was exhausted, and only about 100 generals such as Ma Zhong, Wang Lezheng, and Sun Yongwang escaped alive, and more than 22,000 people were captured.

30,000 Runzhou troops, with no more than 4,000 casualties; Lu Jiang's department had 8,000 people, and the casualties were less than 2,000. The 15,000 people of the Ning State Army fought a tough battle in the reconnaissance battalion during the attack on Shuizhai, and after several battles, the casualties were less than 2,000, and hundreds of people were accidentally injured in the night wave battle, in the field and ditch pursuit, or after the friendly army penetrated the Yangzhou army.

For the army and generals, being able to lead everyone to victory is the king.

Although Liu Jingming, the commander of the left chamber, was Liu Cheng's confidant, he was brought to Yangzhou by Liu Cheng, but Liu Cheng brought everyone to death, and he had to coerce everyone to surrender together, which was a clean fold in the past.

Chen Yangyan, the commander of the right wing, was also promoted by Liu Cheng to sit in this position, but Liu Cheng didn't want to attack, he just wanted to surrender, and Chen Yangyan, as a military general in Runzhou, was also quite disdainful.

The war was decided at the beginning, but what to do after the war? The two came to Jiang Guogong in the afternoon. However, Li Congyi lay on the chair and squinted for a while, but he was too sleepy and fell asleep. The two didn't dare to wake up Jiang Guogong, and when they met Cui Feihu who also came to assassinate Shifu, they took Cui Feihu to the side box for lunch.

Cui Feihu was also the commander of Ning Guojun's Xiangdu, but now he is the division commander, so the two inquired about the situation. Of course, Cui Feihu knew that Jiang Guogong would definitely recruit the Runzhou soldiers, and at the moment, he also talked about the situation of the first division and said everything he could.

Cui Feihu can know everything, and Liu Jingming and Chen Yangyan are relieved. What the two of them are most afraid of is that Jiang Guogong will pat his ass and leave after this battle, and when the time comes, there will be another Liu Cheng from Jinling City, and everyone will still have no good fruit to eat.

Liu Jingming said: "The Runzhou Army originally had 30,000 people, and with General Lu's headquarters, it was enough to form three divisions. ”

Cui Feihu smiled: "You two have a good plan!" "If it is organized into three divisions, it is possible for Lu Jiang, Liu Jingming, and Chen Yangyan to each be in charge of a division, without having to consider competing with each other.

Jinling is surrounded on all sides, but it is not difficult for the messenger to sit in a bamboo basket from the city wall straight up and down.

The day after the end of the Runzhou War, the letters of the two battles of Changzhou and Runzhou, the letters of guilt of the Ningguo Army and the Changzhou Army stationed without authorization, and the documents of the Jiangguo Gong requesting Lu Jiang to be the assassin of Runzhou were sent to the Jinling Imperial Court.

"The three-way army of the Song Kingdom, now the East Road has been abandoned. Congratulations to Your Majesty! Seo Hyun was the first to speak. So everyone congratulated Li Yu one after another.

At this time, Li Yu knew that the Song army had besieged the city, and when he saw the good news from Runchang and Changzhou, he felt very good. He said: "If Ning Guojun and Chang Guogong leave the garrison without permission, don't pursue it." The Ning army has returned to the station, so let the Changzhou army also return to Changzhou as soon as possible to deter Wu Yue. ”

Zhang Xun observed the words, and then said: "Lu Duyu Hou has made great contributions in the battle of Runzhou, and naturally needs to be rewarded. However, General Lu's qualifications are quite insufficient, and the minister thought that what Jiang Guogong said was slightly inappropriate. ”

Li Yu only praised Zhang Yu in his heart. Appointing a state assassin history, how can Jiang Guogong do it? Li Yu said: "What does Zhang Qing suggest?" ”

Zhang Xun said: "Previously, Duke Yin asked to resign from Runzhou Jiedu, which was a wartime measure, and now that the war in Runzhou has ended, and Duke Yin is still in Runzhou, if Yin Gong is restored, he is still the envoy of Runzhou Jiedu." ”

The Yin Gong that Zhang Yi talked about is Yin Chongyi. After Yin Chongyi resigned as the envoy of Runzhou Jiedu, Li Yu appointed him as Sikong Zhizhi about internal history. Yin Chongyi is old and senior, and has been a privy envoy, and he has also served as a left servant and a flat chapter (the position of prime minister). is worthy of Zhang Xun calling him "Duke Yin". Although Yin Chongyi stepped down, he didn't leave, and he was afraid that he would die if he entered Jinling.

Li Yu said: "Zhang Qing's discussion is very good. And so it was the final word.

Li Yu said again: "Changzhou and Runzhou won two battles and two victories, although the twenty brothers did not ask for credit for themselves, but they made great contributions and could not be rewarded." ”

Zhang Xun preemptively said: "Now that the Song and Tang dynasties are at war, Jiang Guogong can be reinstated as a prince, and in order to show his merits, the minister suggested that Jiang Guogong be canonized as the king of Wei." "Since the Five Dynasties, King Feng Jin has almost been a precursor to the establishment of the crown prince; can't be crowned the king of Qi, because Yuanzong of the Southern Tang Dynasty was the queen of Qi and enthroned as the emperor; The reason why King Wu and King Yan cannot be crowned is because Prince Hongji had sealed these two kings back then.

Zhang Xun didn't hide any bad intentions in this suggestion. The main thing is not to disgust Li Yu on this issue. The crowd was speechless.

Chen Qiao said: "Jiang Guogong is originally a prince, if the court's reward only stops here, I am afraid that the generals below will have something to discuss." Why don't we discuss the rewards for meritorious service this time. ”

Zhang Mi, the envoy of the three divisions, immediately said: "Now the reserves of the three divisions need to be used for the Jinling war. It is better to ask the three prefectures of Xuan, Chang, and Run, to consider the treasury reserves, formulate the reward rules for meritorious generals, and then report to the imperial court. ”

Chen Qiao sighed secretly, knowing that everyone didn't understand what he meant. Now that Jinling is besieged, Changzhou Runzhou has won a big victory, if the imperial court reward has not been decided, I am afraid that Jiang Guogong's actions will be more self-serving, and he will not take Jinling in his eyes.