Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

Chapter 157 Take Shouzhou Sizhou
At the end of March, Shi Congyun changed into a mountain armor used as a guard of honor, and took two hundred soldiers to the south of Shouzhou City.

In the south, a landing platform has been temporarily built with wooden boards and stones. The construction is relatively simple, just a platform with a height of more than three meters, which can be seen clearly by all soldiers standing on it.

In charge of escorting the prisoners of war were Shi Congyun's most trusted commanding crane left chamber, Zhu Yuan, envoy envoy to the north of the Southern Tang Dynasty, envoy Bian Hao to supervise the army, envoy Xu Wenzhen and other senior generals. More than 2 soldiers surrendered. Among the soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty, about 5000 people were captured.

Shi Congyun thought that all these prisoners of war could not be sent home. There are still many cities downstream that have not been taken, and they may become a new force if they are sent back. Even if they do not want to join the army, they will be forcibly taken away by the government.

So he wrote a letter to the officials in the north, requesting that after the armor and weapons of these soldiers were collected, the prisoners of war in the Southern Tang Dynasty would be used as auxiliary soldiers to take charge of the logistics of the army, help build siege equipment, repair armor and swords, transport food and grass, etc.

Instead of labor, tens of thousands of peasants from Huaibei states outside Shouzhou City were sent home to farm.

These civilian husbands have not returned home for more than a year since they were conscripted after the start of the war last year. They were trapped on the battlefield in Huainan, which caused great damage to the production and life of ordinary people in Huaibei.

The officials were probably delighted by the strategic victory at the front line. Shi Congyun agreed to everything he said, and the next day came a verbal order to approve his actions.

This move made Shi Congyun gain a great reputation among the many civilians. It was he who defeated the Southern Tang army that had so many prisoners, and it was he who let the Southern Tang prisoners replace the auxiliary soldiers and civilians, so that these ordinary people could go home young and strong.

At the end of March, the spring breeze was just right, and the morale of the well-armored Crane Control Army was high. They escorted many prisoners of war across the Feishui River.

Early the next morning, in the south of Shouzhou City, many Southern Tang soldiers who had disarmed and put down their weapons gathered in one place, surrounded by soldiers from the Crane Control Army.

Zhu Yuan, Bian Hao, Xu Wenzhen and more than [-] high-ranking generals of the Southern Tang Army boarded the surrender platform, and in full view of the public, handed over the scriptures, military talismans, and acceptance letters to Shi Congyun one by one.

Shi Congyun was dressed in beautiful ceremonial armor, with a sword hanging on his waist, and his height looked majestic. He accepted the documents and utensils presented by Zhu Yuan and others, and then took out the imperial edict sent by the government, and presented them in front of everyone. face to read.

The general idea is to forgive the generals of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and give them the title of official and make a wish. All the soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty will be temporarily organized as auxiliary soldiers, waiting for the arrangement of Shi Congyun, the recruiter of Huainan.

At the same time, Zhu Yuan and others also brought him more than a dozen heads. Among the generals of the Southern Tang Army, there were also men who would rather die than submit. They firmly opposed surrendering to the Zhou Dynasty.

But the general situation is set, and they have become a different kind. The hearts of the soldiers are to surrender, and if they are determined not to surrender, they can only die.

Shi Congyun understood the truth that these generals still had prestige in the Southern Tang army, and it was always dangerous to let them stay with the army, so he said to them, "The official family is in Huaibei, and there are orders and rewards for you. Go to the official's house early to listen to the seal, someone will send you there."

The generals nodded their thanks and said again and again: "Thank you, Commander."

Shi Congyun then ordered Shen Zhiyi to lead the crowd across the Feishui Huaihe River to meet the officials.

Shi Congyun was relieved to take over these prisoners of war after transferring these middle and high-level generals away. Shi Congyun asked Luqiu Zhongqing to arrange and dispatch these prisoners of war, and at the same time transferred Shao Ji and Wang Zhong to assist.

Two days later, all the prisoners of war were taken over, and it was time for the next major event to begin.

At this time, the entire Huainan and the Southern Tang Dynasty were in a period of empty forces, and it was time for a full-scale attack and expand the results of the battle.

However, the direction of the attack has to be changed. Instead of attacking where it is easy to attack like last year, it is to give priority to taking the islands along the Huaihe River, Haozhou, Sizhou, Chuzhou, Haizhou and other places, and then along the canal Go south, take Taizhou, Yangzhou.

The advantage of this is that the Tu Shanshui army in the Southern Tang Dynasty was wiped out, and now the navy has the advantage in Zhou, and marching along the river can amplify this advantage.

Shi Congyun then ordered to move the pontoon bridge directly from Xiacai to Wokou, move the supply line forward, and ordered Li Chuyun's and Sichao's navy to attack downstream Haozhou, Sizhou and their surrounding areas along the Huaihe River.

Shi Yanchao's Longjie cavalry, Wang Shenqi's crane-controlling infantry, Zhao Kuangyin's troops, Xiang Xun's troops, marched along the Huaihe River, and launched a full-scale attack on Haozhou, Sizhou, Chuzhou and other places.

Gao Huaide led the cavalry army across the Huaihe River to the north bank of the Huaihe River, and marched eastward along the river bank, because it was heard that some Southern Tang troops crossed the Huaihe River and reached the north bank of the Huaihe River, and they also needed to be cleared at this time.

Zhang Yongde led his army to Dingyuan to protect the rear of the army.

Shi Congyun himself personally commanded Shao Ji and Wang Zhong, and was in charge of the Shouzhou siege camp.

Originally, he planned to let Li Chongjin join the attacking army. Li Chongjin led the elite Hujie, and they were still very capable of fighting.

However, it suddenly occurred to him that in history, Guo Rong conquered Huainan three times. The first two times were because Shouzhou could not win for a long time, so he was forced to conquer Huainan himself. Why was the third time?
He didn't remember very clearly, but it must be that Zhou Jun suffered a big loss again, which caused the battle to go wrong, and Guo Rongcai was forced to go to the front again.

Shi Congyun's biggest advantage is that he has a comprehensive view of history, has read many famous works on war, and has a much higher understanding of overall strategy than ordinary people.

He thought about it carefully, until now, most of the Southern Tang's vital forces in Huainan had been defeated by him, and they were completely unable to compete with the Zhou army in terms of military strength.

Under such a situation, even a few local defeats will not change the overall situation, and it will not be to the point where Guo Rong must personally conquest. After thinking about it, there is only one possibility, that is, the Southern Tang army launched a counterattack, the pontoon bridge was destroyed, and the army's rear The road is broken.

If that was the case, it would indeed be enough to influence the overall strategy with a small number of troops, and all the Zhou troops in Huainan would be hit.

Out of this concern, Shi Congyun asked Li Chongjin to lead the elite tiger army to guard the vortex pontoon bridge, just in case.

After Li Chongjin got the order, he was very displeased at that time, and he came to quarrel with him personally, thinking that this was public revenge and didn't want him to make meritorious deeds, so he arranged for him to guard the pontoon bridge.

In the eyes of outsiders, it is really overkill to let more than ten thousand tigers and elites guard the pontoon bridge, but Shi Congyun has his own intentions, and when it comes to quarrels, he has never been afraid of anyone!Of course Li Chongjin was no match for him.

In the end, he could only accept the order with a black face angrily.

For a time, the Zhou army launched a full-scale attack along the banks of the Huaihe River, while the Southern Tang Dynasty experienced a disastrous defeat at Tushan and the Battle of Zijinshan. At this time, the entire Huainan army was empty and unable to resist.

On the sixth day of March, Si Chao led the water army to break through the Haozhou water village, captured more than [-] warships, and beheaded hundreds of them.

On March [-]th, Xiang Xunbing surrounded Haozhou and broke through the Nanguan City of Haozhou.Long before this, the marshals of the soldiers and horses in Haozhou, Qi Wang Li Jingda and the supervisor Chen Jue had been frightened by Shi Congyun's military power, and they could not escape back to Jinling early, leaving Haozhou alone, and the soldiers and horses in the city were controlled by Haozhou. Guo Ting, the supervisor of the army, is called the commander in chief.

Haozhou was the main garrison of the Southern Tang army, and the outer garrison camp was quickly breached. There were almost no defensive troops inside. More than 1000 soldiers surrendered directly, seized a lot of food, grass, and supplies, and then surrounded Haozhou to train soldiers.

However, Wang Shenqi's, Zhao Kuangyin's, and Shi Yanchao's troops continued to march eastward, capturing many counties one after another, and their troops pointed directly at Sizhou.

In late March, the Sizhou Water Village was breached by Li Chuyun, and more than [-] ships were captured. At the same time, the eastern detection report was sent to Shi Congyun's desk.

The Southern Tang sent reinforcements again, from the Yangtze River up the canal north to Chuzhou, and then marched west along the Huaihe River, with a total of more than [-] ships of various sizes and an unknown number of people.

Shi Congyun knew in his heart that this should be Nan Tang's final counterattack.

So he ordered the generals in the east to start slowing down the attack across the board. Si Chao and Li Chuyun's water army defended near Sizhou, echoing the land army, advancing both water and land, and not rushing towards Chuzhou, lest they rush into the Southern Tang Dynasty. reinforcements.

Sizhou is where the Bianshui River and the Huaihe River meet. If Sizhou is captured, the food and grass of the army can go directly from Daliang to Bianshui River to reach Sizhou in the future, which greatly shortens the supply line and supply difficulty, which is of great significance.

As a result, tens of thousands of land and water troops from the Zhou army gathered in Sizhou and attacked the city day and night. Sizhou had few soldiers and was unable to resist.

In mid-April, the city of Sizhou was broken, and Wang Shenqi took the lead in leading the army to enter the city from the south of the city and burn down the city gate. The follow-up army drove straight in and took Sizhou.

Then Wang Shenqi accepted Shi Congyun's order and temporarily led troops to garrison Sizhou.

At the beginning of May, the remaining ministries made some adjustments in Sizhou. After taking over the surrounding counties, they continued to cooperate with Li Chuyun and Si Chao on the waterway.

Chuzhou's status in the Huaihe River was comparable to that of Shouzhou, and it was also a very tough city.

However, at this time, the entire Huainan army was wiped out by Shi Congyun, and there should not be many defenders in Chuzhou. Even if a batch of reinforcements were added later, it would not be enough to change the overall situation.

On the Shouzhou side, at the end of March, Liu Renshan surrendered.

It’s not that the Southern Tang ruler really agreed to Liu Renshan’s surrender, but that the messenger was intercepted by the cavalry sent by Shi Congyun as soon as he left the city, and then asked Luqiu Zhongqing and other officials to forge a letter for Liu Renshan, allowing Liu Renshan to surrender. The imperial edict, the soldier who delivered the letter was bought with great benefits and sent back to him.

Shi Congyun didn't know whether Liu Renshan was really deceived or pretended to be deceived. In short, Kaesong surrendered two days later.

Liu Renshan surrendered, and Shouzhou City was taken, but it was a big deal. Even the officials from the North Shore came to Shouzhou City in person to accept Liu Renshan's surrender, and paid homage to the officials on the spot. Balance Jiedushi!

It made Shi Congyun feel a little sour. When will I be able to worship a Taiwei, Zhongshu Ling or something?
Later, Liu Renshan thanked the emperor and asked the officials to let him go back to Daliang to recuperate. For more than a year in Shouzhou City, drinking clear porridge and chewing bark, his body in his 50s couldn't hold on anymore.

The officials agreed to his request and arranged for him and his family members in the city to return to Daliang for recuperation.

In addition, the government treasury was opened to help the soldiers and civilians in Shouzhou City, so that the soldiers and civilians of Shouzhou who had been hungry for a long time finally had enough to eat.

At the same time, Shi Congyun ordered Wang Zhong to lead troops into Shouzhou and take over Shouzhou City.

In May, the time entered the summer, and the weather was getting hotter and hotter. The official camp was set up on the south bank of the Feishui River, and an imperial edict was issued to let him go to see him.

On the banks of the Feishui River, Luanyu Camp is guarded by many guards from the East and West. The official family stands on the bank of the Feishui River and looks very good. The scenery is beautiful, the sun hangs high, and the Feishui is sparkling. It is a beautiful scenery of rivers and mountains, but it is covered with a handkerchief from time to time. Mouth cough.

Wang Pu has returned to Beijing to preside over government affairs, the emperor is not in court, and the prince is too young to be in charge, so it depends on the prime ministers. Before the prime ministers, only Fan Zhi was in Beijing, and now Wang Pu has also returned.

Previously, Xiang Xun worked in the Kaifeng mansion of the Prime Minister in Beijing. Later, Xiang Xun was also transferred to the front to lead the army. There was not enough manpower in the court, especially when the emperor was away, so Wang Pu was also transferred back by the officials.

Only Li Gu is still on the front line, because the frontline army cannot do without him in the preparation and dispatch of supplies, and since the Battle of Zhengyang, he has become more and more important to the officials.

Next to him was the Deputy Envoy of Xishanggemen, and Pan Mei, the envoy of the Huainan Supervising Army, reported to the officials the results of the battles in the past few days.

"The water villages outside Sizhou were breached by Yuhou Li Chuyun, the capital of Yulang Zhidu. Afterwards, Wang Shenqi, the commander of the land control crane left chamber, took the lead in entering the city from the south of the city and burned the city gate. The follow-up army drove straight in and captured Sizhou. State.

At present, all the armies are heading towards Chuzhou and Haizhou after rectifying according to Shi Zhaozhuo's order. Shi Zhaoshuo said that Haizhou is easy to get, and the key is Chuzhou. In the last battle, we will fight steadily, and wait until all the armies have gathered before entering the army, in case the orders of the various armies are different, and someone will take the lead and suffer a disadvantage.

I hope the officials will forgive him for his delay. " Pan Mei relayed one by one.

Guo Rong nodded, with no displeasure on his face, "Since Shi Congyun took over the army, he has never lost a single defeat. Now he has taken Shouzhou, Tushan, Sizhou and other places, and wiped out the main force of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Of course I can trust you." Him, tell him to do as he pleases."

Li Gu also said with emotion, "If he hadn't asked Pan Jianjun to say that Huainan's priority lies in Shouzhou, and the Tang Army's priority lies in the navy, the old man would not be able to see the situation clearly for a while.

Shi Congyun is indeed talented, he has insight into the overall situation, the troops are dispatched properly, and no one is dissatisfied with the arrangement of his subordinates. Even Li Shuai obeys his command without complaint.

At first, when the officials appointed him as a recruitment envoy, the old man was worried, for fear that he would miss a big deal because he was young and frivolous, but now it seems that the officials are as insightful as a torch, and they have a clear understanding of people. "

Guo Rong laughed, and then said: "From the time he posted the statement "To guard the river, we must guard the Huai River", I feel that he is a young man with a strategy, but he lacks polishing.

In this way, I am relieved. There is a huge backlog of government affairs in Beijing and China. Fan Zhi and others wrote me early to let me return to Beijing. I have not left before because I am worried about the war in Huainan. Now it seems that as long as Shi Congyun sits in Huainan, I will have nothing to worry about. .

However, Li Xiang has to work harder, and you need to be in charge of the dispatch of the army's food, grass and supplies, so that I can really rest assured. "

Li Gu hesitated to speak, but he still agreed.

Guo Rong was pacing by the river, thinking silently about things that outsiders don't know, "If I use him early, I'm afraid Huainan will be pacified long ago."

For Shi Congyun, he always has a trace of complicated emotions, whether it is annoyance or other things, he can't tell, it is always indescribably subtle, probably because of human instinct, but also because of other things in his heart, such as ambition, Dreams and the like are suppressed.

But people's hearts are complicated, and things are not easy to talk about. If people are really like that, they will be no different from grass, trees, mountains and rocks.

But this time, he fully understands a truth, he needs Shi Congyun, Da Zhou needs Shi Congyun, if there is no Shi Congyun, how many years would he have expected to fight in Huainan?Can it be successful.

Once I had this understanding in my heart, I became lenient towards Shi Congyun.

So when Shi Congyun saw Guo Rong again by the Feishui the next day, he suddenly felt that the emperor who had made him trembled was especially like a spring breeze. He didn't know what went wrong, but the kindness probably came from his speech , revealed between gestures.

Even Shi Congyun couldn't help but reflect in his heart at a certain moment, is he a loyal minister of Da Zhou?

(End of this chapter)