Chapter 1,076 Destroy the Southern Tang, Ma Chu, and Reunify
It’s the twelfth lunar month.
The Imperial City Department reported the losses suffered by Southern Tang Dynasty due to floods and epidemics this year.
The newly appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial City, his eyes glowed with blue light:
"Your Majesty, the Southern Tang Dynasty will definitely be severely weakened by this great epidemic, and I, a hundred thousand naval forces, are ready to attack..."
Looking at the somewhat radical commander, Su Mingzhe just smiled slightly.
On the contrary, Wan Hou couldn't bear to listen, coughed slightly and backed away from him.
This year in the Southern Tang Dynasty, Ma Chu was indeed hit by disasters, but the disaster in Han Dynasty was not small either.
How can you just go to the south and go to war if your brain gets hot?
When the commander retreated, Wan Hou suddenly felt a heat in her palms. When she raised her head, she saw the man slowly stroking her little hand. His eyes were unfocused, and he was obviously thinking about something...
"Your Majesty, you don't really want to take advantage of this opportunity to attack Southern Tang, do you?"
"Why not?"
Su Mingzhe slowly opened his eyes, and his eyes began to exude a dazzling light:
"The commander-in-chief is right. Now is indeed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Everyone is in a difficult situation now. We, the Han people, may be able to succeed in this battle!"
"Then, when will Your Majesty prepare to go on an expedition?"
"Leave after the Spring Festival!"
He said he would leave after the Spring Festival.
However, when marching and fighting, it is always important to ensure that food and grass go first before the troops and horses are moved.
Therefore, in the twelfth lunar month, the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of War began to mobilize supplies of food and troops.
Jianwu five years.
The Spring Festival has passed.
Su Mingzhe led 50,000 Yinu troops in Luoyang and went south.
Before the Lantern Festival, Su Mingzhe led his army to the Jiangbei Camp of the Navy.
The next day, 100,000 naval troops and thousands of warships, which had been prepared long ago, headed towards the south of the Yangtze River to attack.
Last year, the Han Dynasty fought three battles with the Southern Tang Dynasty, resulting in three victories, forcing the Southern Tang Dynasty to move its capital to Hangzhou.
Although the capital was moved, the defense of Jinling did not relax. Even without the emperor, the defender Chen Bao tightened the defense.
Chen Bao, a general under Li Sheng, has a strict nature. He has been an official and general for more than 20 years. He has always been neither greedy nor occupying, and has won the support of his generals.
Su Mingzhe took thousands of warships and circled Jinling, but he couldn't find any loopholes.
If we attack by force, we will definitely suffer heavy losses.
In desperation, Su Mingzhe could only lead 50,000 naval troops in a forceful attack on the surface. In fact, he sent 50,000 naval troops to take advantage of the darkness of night, go down the river, and directly attack Zhenjiang. A small ferry.
Early the next morning.
Fifty thousand Han naval forces captured Zhenjiang City.
The defense line across the river was declared broken.
Seeing that the natural barrier of the Yangtze River was no longer useful, Chen Bao sent an alarm to Hangzhou while shrinking his troops and preparing to fight the Han army in Jinling City.
Su Mingzhe, however, took his time and waited until all the 150,000 troops had finished crossing the river, then slowly approached Jinling City.
Without the need to consider the natural dangers of the Yangtze River, it is actually very easy to break through the city.
Zhenjiang, Jinling, Changzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou, Jiaxing, Huzhou and more than a dozen cities were almost all defeated in one battle.
End of January.
Su Mingzhe led his troops to besiege Hangzhou, the new capital of the Southern Tang Dynasty.
The first day of February.
Su Mingzhe refused to send peace envoys from the Southern Tang Dynasty, and chose to attack the city the day after arriving in Hangzhou.
Facing the powerful Han army, for a time, countless ministers asked to surrender in the Southern Tang Dynasty.
Emperor Li Sheng of the Tang Dynasty looked at the panicked ministers and sighed secretly.
After all, the founding of the country was too short.
If the Han Emperor had given him a few years, he would have definitely been able to make the Southern Tang Dynasty impregnable and fight to the death against the Han army.
But now...
Even the ministers in the court were already panicking, not to mention the people of Hangzhou who had only been captured for half a year.
Li Sheng slowly turned pale as he looked at the noisy people in the court.
Half an hour later.
Under the persuasion of his ministers, Li Sheng came to the city gate tower and prepared to ask for surrender.
However, when Li Sheng saw the Han Emperor personally leading the army, pushing the siege vehicles, and preparing to attack the city, he was so excited that he couldn't help but screamed and asked:
"Emperor Han, why did you attack the Tang Dynasty for no reason?"
"Li Sheng, don't you find it funny when you say this?"
Su Mingzhe couldn't help but feel happy when he saw that Li Sheng dared to appear in front of him. He quickly took two steps forward, appeared in front of the siege vehicle, and replied:
"Then what's wrong with the Yang family (the royal family of Southern Wu)? You want to usurp his inheritance?"
Seeing that he could not communicate, Li Sheng could only bite the bullet and continue to preach:
"Emperor Han, I have an army of 200,000 in my capital city with countless provisions and fodder. Although your siege vehicles are sharp, they may not be able to attack my capital! If you, Emperor Han, are willing to withdraw your troops right now, I am willing to withdraw my imperial title from now on. , the Tang State paid tribute to the Han Dynasty and never betrayed..."
"Li Sheng, don't have any illusions. Since ancient times, the unification of the nine states has been the general trend of the world."
Su Mingzhe flatly rejected Li Sheng's begging, roared loudly, and shouted:
"If you can see the current situation clearly, you should know that even if you Southern Tang, Ma Chu, and Dali form an alliance, you can't stop our Han army from unifying the world. Those who understand the current affairs are heroes. If you surrender now, I am willing to seal you For the Duke of Tang, I will reward you with iron coupons of alchemy..."
Li Sheng saw that the Han Emperor vowed to destroy the country, and the Tang army had no fighting spirit, so he had no choice but to surrender heartily.
This is Li Sheng.
He has always been a wise man who knows the current affairs.
Knowing that he couldn't do anything, he retreated bravely to save himself.
Su Mingzhe was naturally very happy when he saw that the Tang Emperor surrendered and swallowed up the Southern Tang Dynasty without using a single sword or soldier.
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Immediately ordered the army to take over the city defense of Hangzhou, and then ordered people to notify Luoyang to send officials as soon as possible to take over the various state capitals in the Southern Tang Dynasty.
The official administration of the Southern Tang Dynasty was actually quite clear.
During the reign of Emperor Li Sheng of the Tang Dynasty, he always adopted the method of selecting talents with light corvee and small gifts.
Prime ministers such as Song Qiqiu, Wang Lingmou, Zhou Zong and others of the Southern Tang Dynasty were all masters with outstanding talents and knowledge.
Su Mingzhe picked and selected these people and selected some people to serve as his temporary adviser group.
Among them, Zhou Zong was not only the prime minister of the Southern Tang Dynasty (Tong Ping Zhangshi), but he was also the father of the great Zhou Empresses of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.
It's a pity that the baby is still not born yet.
After arranging the government affairs, Su Mingzhe stayed at the palace that night.
Li Sheng originally wanted to move out of the palace with his concubines and children.
However, Su Mingzhe had no choice but to take his wife and son away with Li Sheng, while several of his women were left behind by Su Mingzhe.
The four sisters, Princess Li Suqing of Fengcheng, Princess Li Suwei of the Tang Dynasty, Princess Li Suning of Taihe, and Princess Li Suyi of Yongxing, have all been betrothed to others by Li Sheng.
But these princesses have not yet consummated their marriages, either because of their age or for other reasons.
Su Mingzhe directly cut off Hu, kept these princesses, and directly occupied them by force and pocketed them.
In addition, Su Mingzhe also snatched Zhong Taizhang's second daughter Yu Niang into the palace.
Zhong Yuniang had been very beautiful since she was a child, with icy muscles and jade bones. When she was five or six years old, she was married to Li Jing, the son of Li Sheng, by Xu Wen.
Concerning the matter of his wife being robbed, thirteen-year-old Li Jing looked at his father who was like a coward, but did not dare to make a sound after all.
He robbed the four Li sisters and then Empress Zhong.
Su Mingzhe was so satisfied that he led his army towards Ma Chu Kingdom.
The Ma Chu State, which had only a few hundred thousand troops in the country, faced an all-out attack by a hundred thousand Han troops and retreated steadily.
The territory of Ma Chu State was very vast, including Hunan, Jiangxi, Guizhou, Guangxi, Yue, "South Vietnam" and other places in later generations.
These areas are rich in mountains and rivers, and there are many toast masters.
In order to avoid trouble in the future, the Han army chose to fight slowly and steadily.
Three months passed in a flash.
Midsummer is coming.
The 'epidemic' that King Ma Chu expected to appear never appeared.
Seeing that Jiaozhi County was behind him and he could retire, the leader of the Ma Chu Kingdom finally chose to surrender.
Because Ma Chu surrendered too late, Su Mingzhe only gave him the title of Anlebo.
June.
When the army returned to the court, Su Mingzhe took the opportunity to go to the Liuzhao land, wiped out the Dayi Ning Kingdom, and established the two states of Yunnan and Dali.
At this point, except for Tubo, Su Mingzhe had reunified the territory of the prosperous Tang Dynasty.