Xuzhou, at the South City Gate, Hu Zaile watched the soldiers from the Southern Tang Dynasty following the big ships entering Xuzhou City. It seemed endless, but Hu Zaile still didn't think it was enough.
He looked at his nephew Hutai beside him and asked in a deep voice: "Who is leading the army this time? How many imperial troops were dispatched?"
Since defecting to the Southern Tang Dynasty, Hu Tai has grown stronger. He has changed from a brave cavalry commander to an infantry commander of the Wuning Army. He looked at Hu Ci Le with joy and replied.
"The leader of the army this time was Liu Gongyanzhen, a famous general of the Tang Dynasty. The saint deployed Liu Gong as the camp capital in the north and led the imperial guards such as Shenwu, Longwu, Xiongwu, Yaowu, Shenwei, and Weiwei, plus various towns.
Thirty thousand soldiers marched northward, and the boats connected with each other, covering the sky and the sun."
After hearing this, Hu Cile looked up to the sky and sighed, then looked at Hu Tai coldly: "A certain family's letter to the saint, did you submit it?
If others don’t know, don’t you know the power of our Hexi cavalry? How can a mere 30,000 Southern Kingdom’s imperial troops resist Zhou’s cavalry?”
Hu Tai rubbed his hands uneasily under Hu Ciler's gaze, "I heard from Mr. Da Lang that Liu Yanzhen is a famous general who has never been born in the Tang Dynasty.
The Forbidden Army has just defeated Wang Min. They are brave and good at fighting. With 30,000 people and the network of rivers, they have the advantage of boats and naval forces, and we and Du Chongwei's troops are here. It will not be easy to attack the Central Plains, but it will not be difficult to hold on to Huaibei."
Hu Zaile's eyes became even colder. He didn't listen to Hu Tai at all, but continued to ask, "A certain family's letter to the saint, did you submit it or not?"
When Hutai heard this, he also sighed and gritted his teeth and said: "No! How dare I submit it? A few times ago, my uncle wrote a letter saying that the saint's forbidden army of 10,000 was not enough to defeat the Zhou Dynasty's 3,000 army, and he had already severely offended the saint.
, Feng Yanji and others even slandered him.
If it hadn't been for the great man's dealings, the saint would have condemned us long ago. Does my uncle think that all the kings in the world can be as open-minded as the great king and willing to listen to unfaithful advice?"
Of course Hu Cile knew who the king in Hu Tai's mouth was. At that moment, he just felt an unbearable pain in his chest. He wanted to slap Hu Tai, but he felt as if all his strength had been lost. After being depressed for a long time, he could only slap hard.
Cursed.
"If Erlang were here, he would definitely know how dangerous this battle is!
Since your Majesty raised his army, he has won hundreds of battles. Who among Yan Jin, Bai Congxin, Ma Yaozi, Ma Shacai and others is not better than us?
A certain person had long said that the only way to gain the land in Huaibei was to mobilize all the troops from across the country and contact Meng, Shu, Nanping, and Liu Zhiyuan of Taiyuan to attack.
Now, if you send a boastful person like Liu Yanzhen with only 30,000 to 50,000 troops, and rely on people like Du Chongwei, you still want to have the land of Huaibei, but I am afraid that the land of Huainan will not be saved."
Hu Zaile was still capable, and he was keenly aware that this was actually the only chance for Southern Tang to turn around.
Before the battle between Zhang Zhao and Yelv Deguang, the Southern Tang Dynasty only had Chu, Si, Hao, Shou and other states in Huainan. It is said that to defend the river, you must defend the Huaihe River, but the Huaihe River is also divided into Huaibei and Huainan.
Only Huainan is actually equivalent to an extra shield. It still has no strategic initiative and no spear to stick out to stab people. It will be a matter of time before the shield is broken.
Only with Huaibei can we have the spear to take the initiative. Now Zhang Zhao only occupies the area along the Yellow River, and there are no surrenders anywhere. There are also people like Du Chongwei who are forced to cooperate with the Southern Tang Dynasty.
If we can take advantage of this opportunity to capture Songzhou, Bozhou, Yingzhou, Suzhou and other prefectures and counties in Huaibei, and realize the two-fisted attack of Songzhou and Xuzhou, we can change the inherent disadvantage of the Southern Tang Dynasty that they can only defend Huaihe but cannot advance northward.
.
But this strategic goal is not easy to achieve, because Hu Zaile is well aware of Zhang Zhao's ability.
He felt that it might be possible to succeed only if the Southern Tang sent out overwhelming troops and took advantage of Zhang Zhao's diversion by Meng Shu, Nanping and Liu Zhiyuan.
His petition was to talk about this matter, asking Li Jing not to regard assisting Du Chongwei as a military adventure, but to have a decisive battle with the strength of the whole country. As a result, Hu Tai and Hu Wei simply did not submit this petition.
And the generals sent were not only tiger generals like Liu Renzhan, but at least ferocious dogs like Zhu Kuangye, Huangfu Hui, Guo Tingwei, and Li Quanjin! In the end, a pig like Liu Yanzhen was sent.
What are you here for? Are you here to be killed by the Zhou army and eat meat?
Li Jing was worried about Huchile, but on the contrary, he did not feel the danger. At this time, communication was slow. Zhang Zhao was not a general from Dai Beiyong, and had always had a poor reputation in the Central Plains.
To this day, some people in the Southern Tang Dynasty still believe that Zhang Zhao is from Tubo and is a remnant of Tibet. Therefore, it is generally believed in the Southern Tang Dynasty that the people of the Central Plains are resisting Zhang Zhou just like they resisted the Khitans.
Even for Meng Shu's disastrous defeat in Guanzhong, the Southern Tang Dynasty had not received specific information at this time. They thought that the Shu soldiers were still fighting the Zhou army in Qinzhou and Fengxiang.
How should I describe Li Jing? He can be regarded as a slightly lower-ranking person. He likes to listen to good things and likes luxury. He has many shortcomings, but he is not too mediocre and cruel.
If we were in a prosperous dynasty, it would still be possible to be an emperor like Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty.
It's just that in this chaotic era, it's really difficult for him to confront an enhanced version of Zhou Shizong like Zhang Zhao.
.
.
On the tenth day of the second lunar month in the first year of the Shaoming Dynasty, when the Southern Tang army arrived in Xuzhou, Zhang Zhao also offered sacrifices to heaven and swore an oath in Kaifeng Mansion, Tokyo.
He appointed Zhang Xichong as Shangshu Zuopushe, Tongping Zhangshi, and stayed at Kaifeng Mansion in Tokyo.
Yan Jin deployed defense envoys for the northern capital, leading Hanhai and Xiongwu towns and a part of the Zuo Shenwu Army composed of the former Later Jin Forbidden Army, stationed in Chanzhou on the bank of the Yellow River to defend Liu Zhiyuan.
Later, An Shenqi was assigned a battalion from Feng'an Town and more than a thousand people from Yuhou Wu Xingde, the former capital of the Jin Fengguo Army.
With An Shenqi as the envoy of Pinglu Festival in Ziqing, he went out to Qingzhou, and Wu Xingde became the governor of Mizhou to stabilize the eastern part of Henan Road, which later became the Jiaodong Peninsula.
Zhang Zhao then ordered Zhao Cunyi, the general of Zuo Jinwu's guard, to lead three thousand troops to guard Kaifeng Mansion in Tokyo.
He then ordered the left and right Yulin Guards, the left and right Longxiang Guards and the right Jinwu Guards as well as the Shenji Battalion, plus the Forbidden Army Wuwei, Yingyang and other five towns, and the right Shenwu Army, totaling 35,000 troops, and went straight to Songzhou.
Among them, Murong Nobunaga and Hu Guang were the first and second vanguards, commanding 10,000 troops to go ahead.
Zhang Zhao personally led an army of 20,000 men as the central army, and the rear army and the civilian men accompanying the army were handed over to the wild boar Luo Shande for overall planning.
Facts have proved that Du Chongwei and Yang Yan, also known as Yelu Dilu, tried to cut off the water of the Bianhe River in vain.
Because Songzhou is located in the Yellow River impact plain area, the only hills are in the Yongcheng area close to Xuzhou.
Their attempt to cut off the Bianhe River was nothing more than digging a few openings in the Bianhe River to the west of Songzhou. There were no huge rocks to use, which had a slight effect on preventing the Zhou army from using the Bianhe River to transport grain, grass and baggage.
Yelu Dilu sent more than 300 cavalry, and Du Chongwei also recruited hundreds of returned German soldiers to station in Sui County, Xiangyi, northwest of Songzhou, in order to prevent the Zhou army from repairing the Bianhe River.
Murong Nobunaga sent Gao Huaide to lead Han Tong and other generals to attack. The Khitan and Guide soldiers collapsed at the first touch and quickly ran back to Songzhou City.
Murong Nobunaga took the opportunity to station troops in the northeast of Songzhou City. Du Chongwei and Yelu Dilu had about 10,000 troops together, which was more than Murong Nobunaga who wanted to find civilian men to repair the Bianhe River. However, they did not dare to go out to fight in the city and could only send letters one after another.
sent a request for help letter to Xuzhou.
.
.
In the city of Xuzhou, after a period of observation and contact, Huchile basically determined that Liu Yanzhen was just an unlearned and unskilled second-generation soldier.
What's especially scary is that some second-generation soldiers know that they have no ability, and bragging is just to put money on their faces, but they will never rush to lead soldiers on an expedition and risk their lives.
But Liu Yanzhen is not. Others think he is a braggart, but he himself feels that this is not bragging, but that he, Liu Yanzhen, is indeed capable.
This is too terrible. There is no harm in bragging. If you brag even if you believe it, if you treat the lives of tens of thousands of elites and treat the national war as a child's play, then you are finished.
And if the coach is a fool, but if there are capable people under his command, maybe it can be saved.
But when the tiger thorn came into contact, his heart went cold.
The deputy commanders of the Forbidden Army under Liu Yanzhen, including the Yuhous, such as Wu Yanhui, Zhang Yanhan, Cheng Shilang, etc., were either boastful people, or were only personally brave and knew nothing about military strategy.
Only Zhang Quanyue, who led a partial division of the Ningguo Army in Xuanzhou with the title of Chizhou Governor, could be considered brave and resourceful, but his abilities were comparable to those of Hu Tai, who had not gained weight, and he was far from a famous general.
Du Chongwei's letters asking for help came one after another, and it was certainly impossible for Hu Zaile to suppress them all.
At this time, Liu Yanzhen was deployed in the camp in the north. Even if Hu Cile was left behind in Beijing, he still had to listen to Liu Yanzhen.
As soon as Liu Yanzhen saw how urgently Du Chongwei's letter for help was written, he immediately summoned Hu Cile for questioning.
Liu Yanzhen's father, Liu Xin, was originally the leader of bandits in Huaibei, and later he followed Li Ming, the great ancestor of the Southern Tang Dynasty. He still had some ability, but he liked to brag.
In the past, after Emperor Zhuangzong of the Tang Dynasty destroyed the Liang Dynasty and unified the Central Plains, he sent an admonishment official, Xue Zhaowen, to Wang Min. When he passed by Liu Xin's jurisdiction, Liu Xin asked Xue Zhaowen if Emperor Zhuangzong of the Tang Dynasty had ever known his reputation.
Xue Zhaowen thought to himself, where did you come from, worthy of the world-famous Li Yazi to know? So he told the truth that no.
As a result, Liu Xin even said without shame: "Han Xin was in the Han Dynasty, Liu Xin was in the Tang Dynasty, they are all of the same class!"
Liu Yanzhen perfectly inherited his father Liu Xin's characteristic of being ignorant of the world.
Although Liu Xin likes to speak loudly, he at least still has some ability, but Liu Yanzhen has no ability at all.
He held Du Chongwei's request for help, squinted his eyes, and asked Hu Ci Le.
"Du Gong said that the Zhou army had arrived outside Songzhou City. Although its force was huge, it was defeated by the Khitan cavalry. Its morale was low and the weather suddenly turned cold. Please send me troops. We can definitely defeat the Zhou army through internal and external attacks. What do you think if you stay behind?"
Hu Cile smiled coldly, "If the Khitan cavalry could defeat the majesty of the Zhou army's cavalry, how could even the Khitan leader Yao Gu be killed by the Zhou army?
Now that the weather has turned cold and the Zhou soldiers in the north cannot stand the cold, how can we, the soldiers in the south of the Yangtze River, keep out the cold?"
With one sentence, Liu Yanzhen was left speechless. Zhang Quanyue, the governor of Chizhou, also stepped forward to persuade him.
"Du Chongwei is a villain and must be on guard. Songzhou is a fortified city and the Zhou army cannot attack overnight.
Please deploy more You Yi troops to inquire about the information and then make a decision."
Liu Yanzhen thought for a moment, although he wanted to rush forward now and use his unpredictable abilities to defeat the Zhou army in one fell swoop.
But what Hu Zaile and Zhang Quanyue said was very reasonable, and he couldn't refute it, so he could only nod in agreement.
That night, Hu Cile went home, summoned his old wife and eldest daughter-in-law, and said, "You pack your things quickly and go to the manor on Dinggong Mountain to take shelter."
Hu Cile's old wife was also a Dadan in the clan, and the eldest daughter-in-law who was divorced by the eldest son Huwei was from Khotan. She was shocked when she heard this.
"With the arrival of the imperial army, has the situation deteriorated so much?"
Hu Ci's face darkened, and he spoke after a long time: "I originally thought that the king of the world, even if he is not a celestial hero like the Great King, should be able to distinguish right from wrong like the Great Sage and the Emperor, or at least have the ability of Shi Jingtang, but I didn't expect
Most of them are mediocre people like Shi Chonggui.
A mediocre lord and a mediocre general would have deployed Liu Yanzhen since he was in vain, but Han Xin was actually completely incompetent.
When the king leads the army, he likes to encircle a point for reinforcements and lure the enemy deep. This is the case under Suiye City, and it is like this by the Medicine Killing Water. This time around Songzhou, he will definitely not be in a hurry to attack, but will eat the tens of thousands of elites of the Tang Dynasty.
.
I am afraid that I will die without a burial place, but with Erlang by your side, I will definitely be able to protect you."
After hearing this, his old wife burst into tears, held the hand of her divorced eldest daughter-in-law, and yelled curses at the tiger thorn.
"In the past, you were mesmerized by those vixens, and refused to listen to your advice. You even said it was a plan for me to enjoy glory and wealth in the future.
You know, without the king, you and I are just herd slaves in Anxi. If I don’t leave, I will stay in this city waiting for the king to deal with you!"
For the first time, Hu Zaile didn't find his old wife's swearing annoying. He was silent for a long time before he could hold back a sentence.
"It's too late to regret now, so what's the use of saying all this? If you don't leave, then just leave it to fate!"
This chapter has been completed!