History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 938: Southern Tang 1
In April of the sixth year of Kaibao (973), Zhao Kuangyin sent Hanlin scholar Lu Duosun to the Southern Tang to celebrate Li Yu's birthday. He was received with high standards by the rulers and ministers of the Southern Tang and had a very pleasant conversation with each other. When sending Lu Duosun back to China, Lu Duosun suddenly made a small request, saying that Zhao Kuangyin was redrawing the latest version of the map of China, but the only thing missing was the information of the Jiangdong states, and he hoped that Li Yu would cooperate.

Li Yu was unaware of the deception and readily agreed to hand over the detailed information of the various states in the south of the Yangtze River to Lu Duosun without reservation. These data included the topography of mountains and rivers, hydrological data, military strongholds, population, etc. in the Southern Tang Dynasty, revealing the true situation of the south of the Yangtze River.

Lu Duosun studied it carefully on the way, and then came to a conclusion: Jiangnan is weak, it is desirable! He reported it to Zhao Kuangyin as soon as he returned home.

Zhao Kuangyin was overjoyed and praised Comrade Lu Duosun for his resourcefulness. From then on, he began to respect him.

Not long ago, Southern Tang suffered a great famine. This famine was not only a natural disaster, but also a man-made disaster, which was closely related to Li Yu's failed economic reforms. The Song Dynasty provided humanitarian assistance and donated 100,000 bushels of rice and wheat to Southern Tang.

In May, Li Yu sent an envoy to visit Bianzhou to express his gratitude. The envoy brought back bad news to Li Yu: the Song Dynasty had already put military reunification on the agenda!

Li Yu was terrified and quickly submitted a petition, expressing his willingness to accept the title bestowed by the Song Dynasty, which was actually equivalent to further demotion. Li Yu had previously given up the title of "Lord of Jiangnan", but now he didn't even want the title of "Lord", was that ok?

No.

In the seventh year of Kaibao (974), an international event took place in March of that year, namely, the reconciliation between the Song Dynasty and the Khitan. At that time, Zhao Kuangyin had conquered the Northern Han twice without success. After weighing the pros and cons, he decided to first pacify the south of the Yangtze River and then deal with the Northern Han.

Li Yu knew that he should no longer have any illusions at this time. He was worried that the Song Dynasty would play the "imperial brother card" first, so he sent envoys to the Song Dynasty again to beg for the return of his brother Li Congshan.

Zhao Kuangyin flatly refused and replied to Li Yu, saying that I am going to have something to do in the southern suburbs this winter (performing a firewood burning ceremony), and I hope Comrade Li Yu can come to help with the sacrifice. Come on, I miss you a lot.

In order to show respect for the Celestial Empire, Li Yu was ready to send you out of the village and personally go to the dock to see off the Song Dynasty envoys. At that time, there was a rumor circulating among the people that the Song Dynasty envoys were ready to kidnap Li Yu, and as long as Li Yu arrived at the dock, he would be forcibly pulled onto the boat and cross the river to the north.

Li Yu was so frightened that he dared not show up. He pretended to be ill and missed the farewell ceremony.

Zhao Kuangyin sent another envoy to deliver an ultimatum to Li Yu:

"The Emperor, in compliance with the Will of Heaven, proclaims: Li Yu is coming to Bianzhou to assist in the sacrifice. He can come if he wants or not. The royal army has already assembled. Don't hold him back or force him to retreat. I decree this."

Li Yu could only continue to pretend to be sick, and gave his final attitude: Brother, I have been acting like a grandson for so many years, haven't I? I only want to preserve the ancestral temple, and you... Isn't this bullying an honest man? Don't push an honest man to the edge! (I served the great court and hoped to persuade the ancestral temple, but I didn't expect this. Now I am dead.)

Once the carriages and books of thousands of miles are mixed, how can there be separate borders in the south of the Yangtze River? The Chinese nation will definitely be unified. This is a historical mission, a general trend, and a historical necessity that cannot be discussed. Since you insist on resisting to the end, I have to make the loyal and brave soldiers suffer.

In September 974, the Song Dynasty set out from southern Jing with Yingzhou militia commander Cao Han as the vanguard, and then ordered Xuanhui Southern Courtyard envoy Cao Bin as commander-in-chief of the Southwest Army Group and Pan Mei as chief military commander, and followed with a main force of 9.

The Song Dynasty had previously built thousands of warships of various types in Jingnan, and had gathered heavy troops, ready to advance into Jiangnan at the order of the imperial court. Zhao Kuangyin had no excuse and no reason to go to war. So, the "merchant" mentioned above revealed to Li Yu the secret of the Song Dynasty's shipbuilding in Jingnan, and suggested that he send a death squad to secretly burn and destroy it.

Now it seems that it was really Zhao Kuangyin's sting operation. Li Yu did not take the bait.

Zhao Kuangyin then came up with another plan, which was to detain Li Congshan and order Li Yu to come to Bianzhou to pay homage and assist in the sacrifice. After Li Yu refused, Zhao Kuangyin had a reason to mobilize troops. In addition, listening to slander and killing loyal ministers (Pan You and Li Ping) were also manifestations of Li Yu's incompetence and became the reason for the Song Dynasty to mobilize troops.

It happened that Wuyue Kingdom also sent envoys to pay tribute, so Zhao Kuangyin asked the envoys to bring a message to Qian Hongchu of Wuyue Kingdom, asking them to prepare their troops and cooperate with the Celestial Empire to attack Southern Tang. Zhao Kuangyin also took the envoys to visit a luxurious manor in the capital, saying that this was a palace built by Hanlin Chengzhi Tao Gu a few years ago, now named "Lixian House", prepared for Li Yu and Qian Hongchu, first come first served, and those who are slow will miss out.

In October, seeing that the Song Dynasty was ready to take real action, Li Yu hurriedly sent his younger brother Li Congyi to pay tribute and seek peace, sending 10 kilograms of tea (some say it was white gold) and pieces of silk. He also sent his attendant Pan Shenxiu to send pieces of silk and million yuan as "banquet money". Both were detained by the Song Dynasty, and they did not respond to the request for peace. Zhao Kuangyin ordered Qian Hongchu of Wuyue State to be the commander-in-chief of the Southeast Army Group, and sent troops to attack Southern Tang, and sent Ding Deyu as the military supervisor, leading a thousand elite imperial guards to help, to ensure that Qian Hongchu effectively implemented the imperial edict.

In the minds of the rulers and ministers of the Southern Tang Dynasty, the Southern Tang Dynasty still had a "heavenly army" that could compete with the great country of the Central Plains, and that was the natural barrier of the Yangtze River. The belief in the Yangtze River was the spiritual pillar of Li Yu.

However, what shocked the Southern Tang was that the Song Dynasty actually built a floating bridge in a very short time.

Building a floating bridge is an old trick, but building one on the vast Yangtze River is simply a pipe dream. When Li Yu heard that the Song Dynasty was planning to build a floating bridge, he asked his subordinates how to deal with it. His confidant Zhang Li laughed and said that since the year when dogs were born, he had never heard of building a floating bridge on the Yangtze River! Li Yu also laughed at himself and said: I think it is nonsense.

In fact, when someone proposed to build a floating bridge, even the officials of the Song Dynasty thought it was a fantasy. The person who helped the Song Dynasty complete this miracle was a talent buried by the Southern Tang Dynasty - Fan Ruoshui (also known as Fan Ruobing).

Fan Ruoshui, a native of Chizhou in the Southern Tang Dynasty, once participated in the imperial examination of the Southern Tang Dynasty, but unfortunately failed. After failing, Fan Ruoshui submitted a petition to the Southern Tang court, hoping to be appreciated by the leaders, but unexpectedly, his petition fell on deaf ears. Fan Ruoshui, who felt that his talent was not appreciated, stamped his feet and beat his chest, saying, "Today you ignore me, tomorrow I will make you out of reach, you make me fail, and I will destroy you." Fan Ruoshui began to plan to help the Song Dynasty destroy the Southern Tang Dynasty.

Fan Ruoshui would go fishing or quarrying stones at night. He would first tie a thin rope to the south bank, then row quickly to the north bank, and go back and forth dozens of times. He finally measured the width of the Yangtze River. Then in 970, he defected to Bianzhou and wrote to Zhao Kuangyin, offering a detailed plan for building a floating bridge to cross the river.

Zhao Kuangyin made great use of Fan Ruoshui and ordered Li Yu to send Fan Ruoshui's entire family of dozens of people in Jiangnan to the Central Plains, thus solving Fan Ruoshui's worries.

The Yangtze River is dangerous, with high winds and rough waves. Only a set of numbers cannot guarantee the smooth construction of the floating bridge. However, Fan Ruoshui was confident about this. With his participation, the Song Dynasty built large ships in Jingnan. These ships were not used for direct combat, but engineering ships.

After the war broke out, thousands of large ships carrying large wooden stakes and planks sailed downstream from Jingnan to the quarry. Under unified command, the warships were arranged in parallel and connected with iron locks and wooden boards in the middle. In less than three days, the first Yangtze River Bridge in history was completed and opened to traffic.

According to unofficial historical records, Fan Ruoshui had a close relationship with the "Little Elder" mentioned above, and the "Little Elder" also made an indelible contribution to the construction of the floating bridge. When Fan Ruoshui was fishing and quarrying stones to measure the river surface at night, the "Little Elder" persuaded Li Yu to build a pagoda in the quarry. The pagoda was built with huge stones, several meters wide and several meters high. When the Song army built the floating bridge, this stone pagoda became the base for tying ropes on the south bank, and also served as a construction reference system.

How was the trafficability of this floating bridge? Historical records say that the Song army crossed it as if it were walking on flat ground.

When the Song army appeared in Chizhou, the Southern Tang garrison in Chizhou thought it was a routine harassment, because since the Later Zhou Dynasty, the Central Plains had been reviewing and exercising on the border for many years, and the Southern Tang garrison had long been accustomed to it. Whenever the Song army crossed the border to provoke, the Southern Tang garrison would close the city and send people to send fine wine and delicacies to reward the army. This time was no exception, but soon the garrison found something wrong, so they scattered and abandoned the city.

Chizhou was easily captured by the Song army.

In this battle, the Song army seized more than 300 war horses from the Southern Tang. The Southern Tang was good at naval warfare but not at land warfare. Due to geographical and other factors, the Southern Tang did not produce war horses. After the Southern Tang surrendered to the Central Plains, the Central Plains would send some war horses every year to help the Southern Tang build a cavalry unit. When the war started, Li Yu transferred almost all of his cavalry to the front line, and after this battle, they were almost completely wiped out.

Afterwards, the Song army advanced by land and sea, heading straight for Shengzhou. The Southern Tang defenders responded hastily and were defeated at the first blow, with more than 800 people and more than 200 warships captured by the Song army.

In the past, the Yangtze River would experience a flood season every spring and summer, and the river water would surge. People called it "yellow flower water". However, when the Song army arrived, the river water dropped sharply, saving the Song army a lot of trouble. The morale of the Southern Tang army and civilians was low, and they believed that the Song army would have divine help.

When the country was in crisis, the poet Li Yu believed that professional matters should be left to professionals, so he handed over the command of the army to Huangfu Jixun, and the power of internal affairs to Chen Qiao and Zhang Li. He also appointed Xu Yuanyu and Diao Xin to convey imperial edicts in the inner palace and be responsible for communication and liaison.

Thanks to my old friend "江湖刘白" for the monthly ticket support. I was busy moving in the past few days, so I will update twice today to show my gratitude!

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(End of this chapter)