Chapter 9 Chapter 9 The Falling Sun

The time soon came to the next year, 957 AD, when Chai Rong and Hou Zhou both faced a decision-do you still want to take Jiangbei again?Attack or retreat was imminent, because the situation on the front line was a mess, and Li Chongjin had already messed things up. The ruthless reality proved Guo Wei's brilliance back then.He clearly judged that Li Chongjin was not a suitable successor to the empire, and passed the position to Chai Rong, who had a foreign surname.Because Li Chongjin's personality is too distinct, he is unstoppable on the battlefield, but outside of the battlefield, he is too incompetent.Chai Rong took away most of the army. In order to shrink the front line, he voluntarily gave up Yangzhou, Taizhou, and Chuzhou that Han Lingkun had already taken back, and gathered almost all the main forces under the city of Shouzhou.This is all right, and this move is extremely ruthless.

Put the main force on the throat of the Nantang people, and those who have the guts will rush out to fight for their lives, otherwise they will send a large number of reinforcements to the city to decide the outcome. There is no other way.In other words, this is equivalent to forcing the Southern Tang people to a decisive battle, but who would dare?So the situation became that the Southern Tang people seemed to have taken back a lot of towns, but the initiative in the war was still firmly in the hands of the Hou Zhou people. However, Li Chongjin only knew that soldiers do not care about the people, and thus completely exposed his bad roots. He never regarded the "war zone" south of the Huaihe River and north of the Yangtze River as his own land. The style of the army in the country, so the common people were not polite to him, and there were wars everywhere, and the army of the later Zhou Dynasty was beaten everywhere.

And Li Jingda came again, this time he brought 50,000 people, it is said that they are even more elite than before.And he learned his lesson, no more temptations, and aimed directly at the vital point of Hou Zhou people - the pontoon bridge.He sent general Lin Renzhao (remember this name, even Zhao Kuangyin deeply taboos him) to take a battleship to Xiacai (now Fengtai, Anhui) to burn down the pontoon bridge of the Zhou people. If it is cut off, Li Chongjin will be cut off in Jiangbei. At that time, I don't believe that the soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty can't deal with him! What's more, he also found out in advance that the person guarding the Cai floating bridge was Zhang Yongde, a well-known honest man in Houzhou.According to reliable information, this person is neither vicious nor cunning, and his moral character is so good that he has never violated military discipline.Where else can you find such an enemy?Lin Renzhao, you must seize this opportunity!

But it is estimated that they would never have thought of it beforehand, and they died the worst in front of Zhang Yongde. Lin Renzhao sailed down the river in a warship, heading straight for the middle of the river on the pontoon bridge. Before the warship arrived, a hundred or so small boats were released first.As for what was in the boat, Kong Ming knew it, and everyone on Earth knew it.I saw the fire raging, and a hundred or so big fireballs scattered towards various positions of the pontoon bridge and rushed towards them continuously. Zhang Yongde and all the Houzhou soldiers stood on the bridge at a loss. No matter how much determination and courage they had, they could only watch. Watching the fire boat crashing into it, there is nothing to do!

Because the huge Hou Zhou army doesn't even have a small boat... But don't be afraid, there is always something different about a person who can occupy a high position.Although Zhang Yongde is not as good at playing as Li Chongjin or Zhao Kuangyin, but he was lucky enough in his life (this is not acceptable, his end is ten thousand times better than Li Chongjin).At this critical moment, the wind direction suddenly changed, and it made a sharp turn of 180 degrees. The fire boat turned around, went where it came from, and burned towards Lin Renzhao's Jiangnan Navy! The process and result of this battle is that Zhang Yongde has been standing on the pontoon bridge without moving a finger, watching the people of Nantang busy with his own work.Watching them set fire, watching the fireball turn around, and then Lin Renzhao desperately drove the boat back, but still couldn't outrun the maneuverable boat, it was burning, this time it was really burning... Hou Zhou The soldiers shook their heads unanimously, saying that this matter was caused by trouble, and they were all embarrassed. How come the lives of people in Southern Tang Dynasty are so miserable...

Li Chongjin is not as lucky as Zhang Yongde. He hit Shouzhou, the most deadly part of the Southern Tang people, and made the Southern Tang people stick in their throats. On the erupting crater, no matter when Nantang attacks, he will bear the brunt. Li Jingda ran towards him.An army of 50,000 was stationed in Haozhou, echoing Shouzhou, and then summoned Zhu Yuan and other generals to move closer to Shouzhou.Zhu Yuan, this is the real strong general of the Southern Tang Dynasty. When Chai Rong returned to China and Li Chongjin shrunk the front line, he took back Shuzhou (now Qianshan, Anhui), Hezhou (now Hexian County, Anhui), and Xinzhou (now Hubei Xinshan). Chun), after a series of victories, he came to the outskirts of Shouzhou, ready to encircle Li Chongjin and completely deal with the Zhou people.

At this time, Li Chongjin's situation was quite bad. Rather than saying that he was leading troops to besiege Shouzhou City, it would be better to say that Shouzhou would counterattack and explode at any time in his arms, and his periphery was surrounded by more Southern Tang people. In this way, the inside should cooperate with the outside, and if there is any accident, he will be completely eaten. But the more this happened, the more Li Chongjin's strong character was revealed.He kept Liu Renshan firmly in Shouzhou City, let alone a human, even a mouse would not even think about passing through his barracks; as for the outskirts, no matter who came or how many soldiers he brought One step beyond the thunder pool.History proves that the people of the Southern Tang Dynasty set up eighteen chain camps in Zijin Mountain outside Shouzhou City (northeast of Shou County today, on the south bank of the Huaihe River), overlapping each other and forming horns with each other. Correspondingly, but it is so close to the world, no matter what you say, you can't get any closer.

In the end, the city of Shouzhou was so hungry that people could eat people. The reinforcements of the Southern Tang Dynasty had no choice but to come up with a solution that was not a solution.They thought of the Great Wall—let's start from Zijin Mountain and build a Great Wall to the head office under Shouzhou City.Using the function of both offense and defense of the Great Wall, repairing and fighting at the same time, I believe we can always deal with Li Chongjin and send food into the city! So the people of Southern Tang began to rush to build the Great Wall day and night.For the brothers in the city, for the victory of Nantang, brothers, let's work hard!Li Chongjin also seemed to have a kind heart, and he ignored it until the Great Wall was finally built for more than ten miles. Seeing that it was almost under the city of Shouzhou and was about to be completed, the goddamn Li Chongjin suddenly changed his face and attacked violently. Destroyed the Great Wall, and killed more than 5,000 people in the Southern Tang Dynasty...

At this time, as if to torture the people of Nantang again, another piece of sad news came.Zhang Yongde, who was said to have a very good moral character and never lied to others, has also turned bad.After he experienced the luck of the last battle on the pontoon bridge, he deeply felt that life could not be like this again.After learning from the painful experience, he first did his duty. He used iron chains more than a thousand feet long to seal off the water surface within tens of meters upstream and downstream of the pontoon bridge, and then tied huge logs to the chains for safety Increase the buoyancy so that the iron chain will never sink, so as to completely intercept the warships of Nantang.After that, on a dark night, he quietly sent someone to sneak into the Huai River in the dark.

There were still a few who could swim in the next week. Taking advantage of the darkness, everyone slowly swam to the bottom of the Nantang warship moored in the Huaihe River near Xiacai. At this time, there were still some iron chains used to block the Huaihe River. Zhang Yongde Very generous, I gave them all to the people of Nantang... The next day before dawn, Zhang Yongde suddenly launched an attack. At this time, the people of Nantang found that their warships could not move. I don’t know when they had been used. The chains were fastened together firmly. Lin Renzhao, a famous general in the south of the Yangtze River, didn't believe that the navy army he was famous for would be wiped out by such a wimp.Fortunately, he himself escaped again and survived. It was not until five or six years later that Zhao Kuangyin weaved the final fate for him.

But all of these combined are not enough to shake the huge advantage of the Southern Tang people in Jiangbei. Whether it is Li Chongjin or Zhang Yongde, they just remain undefeated, especially the Shouzhou City standing in front of them, no matter how they attack, A siege means that it cannot be taken down.Moreover, in the first month of 957 A.D., an astonishing news spread from the city-Liu Renshan killed his son.Because his son wanted to escape from the starving city of Shouzhou.No matter who came to dissuade him, even Zhou Tinggou, who was sent by Li Jing to supervise the army, could not save the child's life by personally interceding. Liu Renshan executed his son by beheading in half.After that, there was a lot of crying in Shouzhou City, and the army and the people were united, and there was no mention of fleeing and surrendering. Li Chongjin, who was outside the city, was in despair. He looked at Shouzhou City, which was close at hand, and couldn't understand it.He really wanted to ask Liu Renshan face-to-face, what kind of benefits did Southern Tang give you to make you so loyal and stubborn! Apart from resentment, Li Chongjin, who had been on the battlefield for a long time, knew that with his own strength, it seemed that he really couldn't win Shouzhou City. On February 17, 957 A.D., Emperor Shizong of the Later Zhou Dynasty Chai Rong left Bianjing City for the second time to conquer Jiangbei in the Southern Tang Dynasty.Although Zhao Kuangyin, the commander of the capital in front of the palace, was in mourning for his father, the battle was urgent, so Chai Rong regained his composure and set off together.This time, Chai Rong chose the Xiacai Ferry that Zhang Yongde had just won, and everything went well. He crossed the Huaihe River in early March and arrived at the city of Shouzhou again. At this time, the flames of war had just ignited again, and there had been no real confrontation between swords and soldiers.But whether it was Hou Zhou or Southern Tang, both the enemy and us had unanimously confirmed that the victory was firmly in Chai Rong's hands, and would not waver no matter what. Because before Chai Rong set off, the vanguard general You Raowei General Wang Huan had completely frightened the Southern Tang army.They were stunned to discover that the people of Hou Zhou did not come on horses this time, but on huge warships, sailed all the way from Yingshui, broke through their water villages, and entered the Huaihe River. There will never be a return, after only half a year later, Houzhou has a powerful navy! This is what Chai Rong really did after returning to China last time. History has proved that the reason why he left the battlefield was not because he was tired, or because he was timid and tired, but because he wanted to quickly make up for his own shortcomings. When he appears again, he will have an overwhelming advantage! In the early morning of March 3 of that year, Chai Rong personally put on a battle and appeared on the battlefield. Zijin Mountain was the first target of attack. To completely isolate Shouzhou again, it must be captured first.As the arrow of the whole army's attack, Zhao Kuangyin took the lead in climbing the mountain to attack.At this time, the emperor came in person, and the whole army paid attention. Everyone saw with their own eyes what kind of combat power Zhao Kuangyin possessed. According to historical records, in just one morning, Zhao Kuangyin destroyed all the Qianfeng and Shanbei camps in the Southern Tang Dynasty, beheaded three thousand enemies, and completely destroyed the "Great Wall" from Zijin Mountain to Shouzhou City.The consequences of this battle were astonishing. That night, there was a mutiny in the Southern Tang barracks. Zhu Yuan, the leading general in the Southern Tang Dynasty, surrendered without a fight, and surrendered to Hou Zhou with more than 10,000 men under him. So far, there was no suspense in this battle, and Chai Rong launched a general attack the next day.The Southern Tang army completely collapsed. They habitually ran from the mountains to the river, and felt at ease when they boarded the boat, but this fell into Chai Rong's arms. We also have boats!The newly built naval army in the later Zhou Dynasty set sail and chased after it. Chai Rong himself rode his horse and galloped. According to historical records, "The emperor led his own horses to chase the bandits along the Huaibei bank. In the afternoon, he galloped for more than two hundred miles." From three to five o'clock in the afternoon, that is to say, Chai Rong personally chased the enemy on horseback, galloped all day, and chased for a hundred kilometers! The emperor took the lead and everyone fought bravely. In just one day, nearly 40,000 soldiers of the Southern Tang Army were killed, drowned, and surrendered on both sides of the Huaihe River and on the waterways! In just two days, the Shouzhou reinforcements that the Southern Tang people had prepared for nearly a year were completely wiped out. Shouzhou was desperate, and Liu Renshan witnessed the disintegration of his country's army from the top of the city.He understands that he has worked so hard that Shouzhou, which is waiting for help, can no longer hold on.The pain and despair caused Liu Renshan, who had been supporting himself all the time, to suddenly collapse. He had a stroke and passed out all of a sudden.His courage and steadfastness were no longer available to his colleagues, and he was dishonorably betrayed.When he was unconscious, Zhou Tinggou, the army supervisor, Sun Yu, the deputy envoy of Yingtian, and others jointly drafted a letter of surrender in his name, and Kaesong surrendered. The poor unconscious Liu Renshan was carried in front of Chai Rong, and Chai Rong immediately comforted him, and made him the inspector Taiwei, Zhongshu Ling, and Tianping Army Jiedu envoy in public. , it is really out of reach for others, but for Liu Renshan, is this a respect or an insult to him?According to historical records, Liu Renshan never woke up since he fell into a coma. He didn't accept Chai Rong's "good intentions" and died. But in any case, with the fall of Shouzhou City, the Southern Tang Dynasty's portal in Jiangbei was completely opened, and the territory of the Central Plains has been re-planned. But no one expected that Chai Rong suddenly retreated.Facing the great opening of the Southern Tang Dynasty, he threw away the opportunity that he had worked so hard to gain in exchange for countless lives. The troops were dispatched on February 17, and Chai Rong returned to Kaifeng in mid-April. All this is puzzling, and everyone in the next week feels sorry for it!But Chai Rong knew that he had to come back, otherwise his backyard would suddenly catch fire.Because of Li Jing, because of the Bohai Strait, and because of Khitan. Li Jing showed advanced political skills that Chai Rong could not match. Facing the powerful Hou Zhou, he regarded himself as Liu Bei, so where is Sun Quan?Where is the person in this world who dares to say no to Chai Rong?Don't worry, there are still people, it's just too far away.And across the entire land of Hou Zhou.However, God has never left no way for people to survive. It has long equipped Li Jing and Zhao Ji with an extremely concealed diplomatic communication channel - the Bohai Sea between the Shandong Peninsula and the Liaodong Peninsula. strait. The Southern Tang people used their advanced navigation technology to easily break through the blockade of the Later Zhou people, and reached a consensus with the Khitan and the Northern Han Dynasty - Chai Rong has become Cao Cao, and we must unite to survive! So Chai Rong had no choice but to give up the hope of just getting it, and immediately retreated back to his backyard to build a wall.At this time, the Southern Tang side began to rejoice throughout the country, and finally escaped this catastrophe... It seems that Hou Zhou is not irresistible, and their king still has a way! However, what they didn't know was that Li Jing, the king of the Southern Tang Dynasty who won the diplomatic victory, was in great pain and extremely remorseful at this time. He forgot what his father Li Min said to him before his death. All his actions over the years were all wrong. ! Li Min, the founding emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty, has a long story to say about him.First of all, if this person does not die, it is hard to say whether Chai Rong can or dares to develop south.History has a conclusion that Li Min can be ranked far ahead of Guo Wei, Liu Zhiyuan, Li Cunxu or the Great Terminator Mr. Zhu Wen in the list of emperors in the Five Dynasties and Eleven Kingdoms. He can be number two or number one. Of course, the reason for counting to second is because Chai Rong came later.But Li Min is smarter or more difficult than Chai Rong, that is, he is almost a real self-made man, unlike Chai Rong, who can take over the class of his adoptive father Guo Wei even though he is unpopular. Li Min was originally a helpless orphan who lost his parents in the war, so he could only enter the temple as a young monk to survive with his life (it was quite similar to Zhu Yuanzhang later, but Zhu Yuanzhang was eighteen years old when he became a monk, and Li Min was brutally disorganized I was only six years old!) At that time, the territory of the Southern Tang Dynasty was still called "Wu", and the king was Yang Xingmi, the famous Emperor Wu of the late Wu Dynasty.Yang Xingmi captured Haozhou and took away an unexpected spoil, this little monk named Peng Nu.Peng Nu was very beautiful, with a pair of lovely big eyes, flickering at Yang Xingmi who was holding a butcher knife, which made him unable to do it anymore.Not only that, but also accepted Peng Nu as an adopted son. But Yang Xingmi’s sons seemed to have a premonition, and hated Peng Nu when they saw them (history proves that these children really should have killed Peng Nu at that time, so that they would not have the result of being lonely later. Note that it is loneliness, and not miserable).No way, Yang Xingmi handed Peng Nu over to his general Xu Wen, and the child became Xu Wen's adopted son.Changed his name and surname from here to Xu Zhigao. Briefly speaking, Xu Zhigao grew up, first helped his adoptive father Xu Wen win the military and political power in Later Wu, and then pushed Xu Wen's descendants aside after Xu Wen's death, and became a great treasure himself.From then on, he changed his Yuan and changed his name, and restored his glorious surname "Li" that had been honored for two or three hundred years. Regardless of whether the dead would like it or not, he claimed that he was the tenth grandson of Li Ke, the son of King Wu, the son of Tian Khan Li Shimin. "Don".He changed his name to Li Min. In history, in order to distinguish it from the "Tang" established by Li Cunxu who coexisted at that time, it was called "Southern Tang". What needs to be emphasized is that although Li Min has walked all the way on the road to power, he has not had a few drops of human blood on his hands.He is deeply grateful to his adoptive father, and treats his adoptive father's descendants as preferentially as possible. Even the last king and grandson of Hou Wu, most of them did not end too tragically (of course, Yang Pu, the last emperor of Hou Wu, and his family members still had to suffer. There is really no way not to kill). And Li Min's real brilliance is his extreme rationality.When he was alive, he was already the monarch of the most powerful country in the south, and his subordinates advised him to seize the opportunity to wipe out all the small countries around him as soon as possible. After unifying the south, he began the Northern Expedition to unify the whole country.But Li Min just smiled slightly, and spent his whole life in self-cultivation, waiting for an opportunity. When he was dying, he told his son Li Jing that he must keep in mind that when using troops in the Central Plains, the small countries in the south must not dare to act rashly; but when using troops in the small countries around the Central Plains, the Central Plains Dynasty must send troops to the south.Therefore, don't regard the small countries in the south as a serious threat, and try to maintain a good-neighborly relationship, so that when you compete with the Central Plains in the future, the rear will also be stable. As for the Central Plains Dynasty in the north, no matter who wins or loses, they are all enemies of the Southern Tang Dynasty.For example, the South Expedition to the North is full of difficulties, so don't act rashly, the north is getting more and more chaotic, and opportunities will always come, but at that time, you must be prepared and have no burden.For this reason, he left Li Jing with a huge stockpile of military supplies. His Guangdechang Palace alone had a stockpile of more than seven million coins (a huge number that Zhao Kuangyin had never accumulated in his entire life). As for himself, his clothes are simple, he wears sandals and an iron washbasin, and he only wears linen clothes in the inner palace in summer, and the palace has not been expanded until his death, at most he has only added some bonsai... But for some reason, his son Li Jing's genetic mutation didn't look like him at all.From Li Jing onwards, the Southern Tang Dynasty became more and more literary and romantic, and he did everything he could, and the specific extent of extravagance and corruption reached its peak in Li Yu's time.We'll talk about it later, but at this point I just want to say something: Li Yu's subjugation should be deserved, it is reasonable, and he is not worthy of any sympathy.Who stipulated that if you can compose a few jingles, you can eat, drink and enjoy yourself forever? ! Moreover, he also killed the heroes and credited treacherous evildoers! Back to Li Jing, this second ancestor has been ambitious since he came to the throne, and used troops to his neighbors, throwing his father's words out of the sky.He conquered the two small states of Fujian and Chu, and the state increased from twenty-eight states to thirty-five states. All of a sudden, the army was powerful, and all the states looked at it.But since then, he has also been burdened. These looted places will rebel at any time, and he must continuously send troops to suppress them, so the vicious circle is endless.When the golden opportunity that Li Min could not have waited for before his death appeared, the Southern Tang Dynasty had no time to spare to develop northward. That was when Yelu Deguang led the Khitans to capture Kaifeng, and after the fall of the Jin Dynasty, he died killing Hu Lin on the way back to the north in a blink of an eye.Remember how Liu Zhiyuan became emperor?There was simply no hindrance, and I picked up the emperor when I arrived in Kaifeng like a walk. If at that time the Southern Tang Dynasty was capable and clean, without any burden, and rushed straight from the Huaihe River to the north of the river, who would own the world? And during Liu Chengyou's period, the north was also in chaos, but Li Jing was completely powerless, and his character of a poet was outburst, and he didn't want to pay attention to these annoying "ordinary things" at all.He is very busy, very busy, he devotes himself to artistic creation, and encourages the whole country to sing poetry! He himself walks in light clothes, leaning on a railing on a moonlit night-"A hook of the first moon is facing your mirror, and the cicadas and phoenix hairpins are languid... The grassy path on the willow embankment, the dream breaks the potter's wheel well. Last night, I woke up from the wine, and the spring sorrow passed away and I was sick. .” Yes, Li Jing is the kind of man who goes all out, then declines, and finally exhausts himself. His early efforts are like a struggle of spirits unique to young people. When you are young, you must show some limelight.When he really meets the enemy and is invincible for a long time, he will become four again and again. What is four?It is to hide one's ears and steal one's bell, and muddle along. In any case, as long as you can survive. This irredeemable character trait was passed on to his son without exception, and it has been carried forward even more in Li Yu.Just enjoy the present! Will Chai Rong let it go?It was a joke, but after half a year, Chai Rong made a comeback.The Khitan people, as well as the Northern Han people, are insignificant.After Chai Rong paid a little attention in northern Xinjiang, the waves calmed down immediately. This is not an exaggeration at all, the Liao Kingdom is also the hero of a lifetime, but it depends on whose hands the imperial power is in.At this time, Yelv Shulu, the king of the Liao Kingdom, was a very wonderful person. After this brief contact, Chai Rong already wanted to communicate with him further.But the most urgent task is still to completely uproot the power of Southern Tang in Jiangbei. There is nothing to say about what happened next. On October 16 of that year, Chai Rong once again marched in person, and the whole journey was invincible, and nothing could stop him.The first battle against Haozhou made the Southern Tang people regard the Houzhou people as devils, because when the Houzhou people broke through the giant wooden water barrier they set up in the Huaihe River, they did not use warships, but directly rode across the river on camels (God, not to mention people from the Southern Tang Dynasty, even I just saw this paragraph, and I don’t believe that animals in the desert can be used as boats).Li Chongjin, Zhao Kuangyin, Wang Shenqi and other generals scrambled to defeat the enemy first, and none of the water villages, dry villages, warships, and Haozhou City in the Southern Tang Dynasty were spared.When the battle is over, it will be October 18th. On October 19th, the people of Nantang continued to struggle. To be honest, they had worked very hard and sent hundreds of warships from the east of Huanshui (now Huihe) to rescue Haozhou.It's a pity that before they arrived, Chai Rong personally waved his army to meet them, and completely defeated them at the entrance of the cave (today's Fengyang East, Anhui).Please look at the record - beheading 5,000, capturing 3,000, and capturing more than 300 warships.After that, regardless of fatigue, Chai Rong immediately led his army eastward, mopping up the remaining Southern Tang routs, and chased them all the way to Sizhou, the next important military town of the Southern Tang people. Nothing could stop Chai Rong, and Sizhou surrendered without holding on for long.Chai Rong never stopped, not only forcing the soldiers, but also forcing himself to actively look for fighters.This time it was the disaster of the Southern Tang Navy. All their remaining hundreds of warships retreated hastily from Qingkou (the place where Surabaya enters the Huaihe River, southwest of Jingjiang, Jiangsu today), but unfortunately they were discovered by Zhou Zhou.Chai Rong immediately mobilized and sent a navy to chase after him on the Huaihe River. He and Zhao Kuangyin led the cavalry to pursue on both sides of the Huaihe River, all the way to the northwest of Chuzhou.This is here, according to historical records, when Chen Chengzhao, the governor of the Southern Tang Dynasty, was captured by Zhao Kuangyin, the entire Southern Tang navy was wiped out, and only four or five of the hundreds of warships escaped. Since then, the water army of the Southern Tang Dynasty has never been seen in the water system north of the Yangtze River. It's Chuzhou's turn.At this time, Chai Rong was exhausted to the extreme, and he suddenly encountered unexpected and stubborn resistance. Zhang Yanqing, the guard of Chuzhou, vowed not to surrender to the death. Survival.He did what he said. After the city was broken, he and more than a thousand soldiers under him fought in the street with the Houzhou people. No one surrendered, and all died in battle.Then Zhou Yi suffered heavy casualties as a result. Chai Rong is furious! Since the dispatch of troops, he has not stopped for a moment, and Chai Rong, who has always been running at full speed by himself, can no longer control himself. In his excitement and irascibility, he exposed the biggest flaw in his character. He ordered to massacre the city of Chuzhou, leaving no one behind! This was the only atrocity committed by the "First Mingjun of the Five Dynasties".I don't know if he regretted it afterwards, but I can only judge the flaw in his character - impulsiveness from this sudden abnormality. Impulse, one of his sources of strength, makes him brave and brave in everything he does, but he is also eager for success.As far as this matter is concerned, I think he definitely had no intention of massacring the city before, and he has never done such a thing.But he did it in a fit of rage.Just like in the battle of Gaoping between him and Liu Chong, although he was in command, he definitely didn't intend to take the lead in the vanguard, but he did it in a fit of anger. Impulse is an extraordinary motivation. Combined with his extraordinary talent, it makes him even more powerful and unstoppable, but it is also a true double-edged sword.It quickly hurts others as well as oneself. If you are strong, you will be humiliated, and if you are deeply in love, you will not live long.Chai Rong's short life is not because the heavens are unfair to him, but because he has not grasped the rhythm of life well. After the bloodbath of Chuzhou, no matter what the history books said, no one dared to resist Chai Rong at that time, at least south of the Huaihe River and north of the Yangtze River.Wherever the Zhou army went, it was like boiling soup and snow. Haizhou (southwest of Lianyungang, Jiangsu), Tianchang (now Anhui), Jinghaijun (now Nantong, Jiangsu) and other places watched the wind and descended. Further south, Chai Rong's The target has been locked on Jinling, the capital of the Southern Tang Dynasty, south of the Yangtze River. Chai Rong spent the Spring Festival of this year on the battlefield. Just after the Spring Festival, at the end of the first month of 958 AD, Chai Rong ordered the recruitment of local civilians to dredge the Stork River (now the Old Stork River in Huai'an, Jiangsu Province). Hundreds of warships approached Yangzhou from Chuzhou, further sweeping Jiangbei down.But it turned out afterwards that he was completely superfluous and wasted his time in vain.Because the city of Yangzhou has been deserted, except for the common people, there are not half of the soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty in the city. At the beginning of March, Hou Zhou’s navy finally rushed out of the Huaihe River, and rushed into the misty Yangtze River—finally rushed out of Jiangbei, and finally saw the Yangtze River... Chai Rong stationed at the bow of the ship and led thousands of troops , Raise the long sail to strengthen the scull, hit the water in the mid-stream, strong and fierce! So far in life, no regrets! In the middle of the month, Chai Rong, Emperor Shizong of the Later Zhou Dynasty, went to Jiangkou in person and defeated the naval forces stationed in Guabu and Dongpeizhou (Dongzhou, today's Lusi Town, Qidong, Jiangsu Province) in the Southern Tang Dynasty. Bravely crowning the three armies, he actually led his army straight to the south bank of the Yangtze River, broke through the natural danger of the Yangtze River with his own strength, killed and dispersed the Southern Tang garrison troops, and set the Southern Tang people's camp on fire after landing, and then calmly withdrew the troops Return to the North Shore. Li Jing was completely desperate, all his cards were lost, and even the last bottom line of psychological safety - the Yangtze River, was broken through like a child's play by the Houzhou people. Can this battle be fought again?At this time, he was generous and happy, and sent an envoy to bring the following conditions to Chai Rong: To Zhou Jinxian, who were still under the control of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Lu (now Hefei, Anhui - damn it, such an important town in hand, actually surrendered!), Shu, Qi, and Huang (now Huanggang, Hubei), four prefectures, bounded by the Yangtze River , year-old tribute; And reward the teacher with one hundred thousand liang of silver, one hundred thousand pieces of silk, one hundred thousand guan of money, five hundred thousand catties of tea, and one hundred thousand stones of rice and wheat; Remove the title of Emperor, and change it to the Lord of Jiangnan; remove the title of Southern Tang Dynasty, and change it to the Year of the Later Zhou Dynasty. All of the above, as long as Chai Rong nods to stop fighting, it will take effect immediately. Chai Rong was silent.But what else is there to think about?The men and horses are brave, the navy is strong, and the Yangtze River is no longer a dangerous obstacle. What reason is there not to rush across it in one go?What's more, at the beginning of the founding of the country, Wang Pu had already set the basic national policy for the Later Zhou Dynasty-first the south and then the north. After the south was unified, he could go further to think of southwest or north. So what are you still hesitating about?Chai Rong has let the whole world clearly see his true colors, he will advance but never retreat, and he will never give up until he achieves his goal!Could it be that he suddenly changed his gender? But history has proved that Chai Rong really stopped there.He agreed to Li Jing's peace request and returned north.This is the end of the third personal expedition to the Southern Tang Dynasty.His eyes have already turned away from the Jiangnan where the water is thick and the trees are full of lush greenery, and turned to the north, facing the desert grassland with thousands of miles of wind and majestic passes. Khitan, you still want to play tricks behind my back... Quer Xiaomin, a savage in Huawai, dare to be so rampant while my China is in chaos!Do you think that no one in China would dare to challenge you from now on? ! I will let you, and everyone in the world, remember what I, Chai Rong, have done... Chai Rong returned to Kaifeng, and all the news he wanted arrived-about the Liao Kingdom and the Liao Emperor Yelu Shulu. You must know yourself and your enemy before going to war. Yelv Shulu, whose Chinese name is Yelujing (God, what a coincidence), his father is the famous Yelu Deguang, and he is the eldest son.But between him and his father, there was another emperor of the Liao Kingdom, Liao Shizong Yelu Wuyu, whose Chinese name was Yelu Ruan.His father was the eldest brother of Yelu Deguang, Emperor Yelubei of Rang Kingdom. When it comes to the word "letting", it is really an insult to Yelu Deguang. Yelu Deguang's nickname is Yaogu. He never asks others to let him do anything. There was nothing he dared not grab.History has concluded that his achievements surpassed his father Yelu Abaoji and became the most powerful emperor in the history of the Liao Kingdom.But it was such a good emperor who tried his best to fight for the living space of his nation and added various tributes. Once he died suddenly, he was immediately forgotten by the tribe, and he made the son of his enemy brother Yelubei the emperor. You can imagine the days of Yelu Shulu.This laid the fuse for the civil strife in Liao.Only five years later, Yelu Wuyu was suddenly assassinated. Although there was no sign that Yelu Shulu sent people to kill him, he became the biggest beneficiary. The imperial power of the Liao Kingdom returned to the hands of Yelu Deguang once again. inside. Yelv Shulu began to take revenge. This person didn't understand that the entire Liao Kingdom belonged to him, and he should cherish everything.He cleaned up all the ministers that his uncle's elder brother Yeluwu wanted, and then started a nightlife full of novelty and excitement.From then on, everything passed with ease, and the sun and moon in the pot grew long. He only knew about hunting, drinking, and sleeping. He was called the "Sleeping King" of the three wonders. The tiger's father gave birth to a dog son. It is estimated that even Yelu Deguang, who has been dead for more than ten years, would not have thought that his son was such a material.Under the governance of this treasure, the Liao Kingdom has brought a golden opportunity to the Han people who have been bullied for half a century. What are you waiting for?Chai Rong, with a fiery personality, will never allow opportunities to slip away in his hands.He ordered the whole country to mobilize urgently again and go all out to prepare for the next war.But fate started from this moment, and suddenly put away its smiling face towards Chai Rong.When he was about to challenge his greatest enemy Khitan, his most powerful talent, Wang Pu, died suddenly. Wang Pu was exhausted from life to death, although his reputation is not well-known in the history books, it is because he did what Xiao He did.He sits in the rear, comforts the people, keeps the supply of grain flowing, and enables Chai Rong to fight in front with peace of mind.Not to mention how exhausted he was usually, when he died he was on his way to inspect river defenses and passed by the house of Minister Li Gu. Fourteen. Wang Pu died, and a like-minded and similar-tempered helper left Chai Rong.This dealt a huge blow to Chai Rong. At Wang Pu's funeral, Chai Rong disregarded the honor of the emperor and came to offer his condolences. According to historical records, he fell on Wang Pu's coffin and wept bitterly. No one could persuade him. At that time, there was also a child standing in front of the coffin. His name was Wang Yu, and he was Wang Pu's youngest son.Aiwujiwu, Chai Rong and later Zhao Kuangyin all loved and trusted Wang Yu, but no one would have guessed that it was this child who caused the biggest loss of loyalty in the early Northern Song Dynasty. But no matter what, Chai Rong is going to follow the path of his destiny, the war machine is rumbling into motion again, and everything is ready.This time, head north!Overwhelmed!As long as the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun can be regained, the Han people will restore the Great Wall, the line of defense that maintains the lives of the whole nation, and they will no longer have to worry about the bullying of the northern barbarians! And at that time, with his military prestige in defeating Khitan and regaining the lost land, whether it is the Southern Tang Dynasty or the Later Shu Dynasty, they will surrender without a fight... How wonderful, I want to rejuvenate the Han Dynasty! Chai Rong, who was exhausted and at the end of his strength, was deeply moved by this grand goal. This is what I want to do, this is what I want to do... I must make it happen! Set off! In the sixth year of Xiande, that is, on March 28, 959 A.D., Emperor Shizong of the Later Zhou Dynasty, Emperor Chai Rong put on his armor again and set off from Kaifeng, the capital city, to issue an edict to personally conquer Khitan in order to recover the lost land of Yanyun. Ordered Yiwu Jiedu to send Sun Xingyou to Dingzhou (now Hebei) in advance to strengthen the security of Xishan Road, so as to prevent the Northern Han Dynasty from aiding Khitan; Chai Rong has been staying in the capital to help Wang Pu to control the rear. Although his reputation is not obvious, he has a high position and weight, which is extraordinary) and led the water army to set off as the vanguard.然后招集所有后周众将，包括淮南李重进所部，都快速向沧州集结。 南方已经没有威胁了，京师已经不必戒备，这已经是后周所有的家底，柴荣已经起倾国之兵与辽国决战！ 千载一时，不容错过！ 柴荣率军疾进，于4月16日抵达沧州，兵行迅速，他没有休息，当天就率兵骑数万直趋契丹边境。为了隐蔽，他走的全是山野荒路，数万大军掠境而过，连当地的居民竟然没有发觉。第二天，柴荣就出现在了乾宁军（即辽国的宁州，今河北青县）城下。 宁州刺史王洪进大惊失色，不敢抵抗，马上就开城投降了。 宁州城外，后周的水军已经到达。随后柴荣命韩通为陆路都部署，赵匡胤为水路都部署，水陆并进，毫不停留向契丹内部继续挺进。 后周战舰如云，旌旗蔽空，首尾相连，绵亘数十里……柴荣率当时中原最强的军队顺流而行，直逼辽国南院重镇幽州。两天之后，越过独流口（今天津西南独流镇）、再溯流而西，直抵幽州前哨益津关（今河北霸州）。 益津关与瓦桥关（今河北雄县旧南关）、淤口关（今河北霸州东信安镇）合称三关，是幽州方面正南防线上的三座重要关隘。 不下三关，难抵幽州。 但从来都是契丹骑兵从三关出发南下侵略汉地，从来都没有过汉人军队主动出击，攻到三关之下。一点防备都没有的契丹守军一哄而散，世宗皇帝到达关前，益津关守将终延辉就出关投降了。 益津关向西，水道变得狭窄了，柴荣弃舟登岸重上战马，迅速向下一个关口瓦桥关挺进，当天日落时只得停驻稍歇，柴荣露宿在旷野荒地，与众将士同宿同起。 次日清晨，太阳又一次升起了，柴荣振奋精神，命赵匡胤向瓦口关挑战。赵匡胤率部直抵关前，刀兵未动，瓦桥关守将姚内斌出降。进驻瓦桥关，柴荣稍微歇息了一下，这时辽国莫州刺史刘杨信和辽淤口关守将不敢抵抗，直接遣使归降。 5月1日，后周强大的后援部队到达，而且战场上锋锐难当，所向披靡的李重进终于从淮南赶到了。柴荣终于有了强大的实力可以和契丹人正面对冲，而这也可以看出，柴荣对自己的苛刻，他又一次充当了全军的先锋，就像高平之战那样，不等主力齐集，就已经先期出发。 李重进等后援部队的威慑力极其强大，辽国瀛州刺史高彦晖不堪重压，主动投降了。至此，三关以南所有失地，都被后周迅速收复。 此时，距后周世宗皇帝柴荣下诏亲征只有区区四十二天，而从京师出发开赴战场，实际只有三十二天。短短的一个月里，契丹边关守将望风归顺，无人撄其锋，一举收复三关三州十七县，共复民一万八千余户，为大唐中期以后汉人从所未有之胜利！ 5月2日，柴荣在瓦桥关行宫大宴众将，将士们，前面就是幽州，即为古之燕地，为燕云十六州之首…… 但是出乎柴荣的意料之外，几乎所有的将士都沉默了下来，包括以悍勇无敌著称的李重进。他们向柴荣报告了最新的情报——辽国王耶律述律已经率领契丹精锐骑兵来到了幽州附近，他不再喝酒了，此时就屯兵在燕山之北。契丹的前锋部队马上就要到瓦桥关了。 耶律述律……柴荣默默地念着这个异族酋长的名字。是的，幽州，辽国绝不会轻易放弃，而耶律璟更不是李璟……但这又有什么关系，这次进攻并不是偷袭，本来就是要与契丹分出个输赢胜负！ 但是随军的大臣和众将们却不这么想，这些人的心理完全符合唐末以来汉民族的心态——“陛下离京才四十二天，兵不血刃，北举燕南之地，此不世之功也。今虏骑皆聚幽州，未宜深入。若贸然进军，一旦有失，则前功尽弃矣。” 柴荣听得忍无可忍，奋然而起——“乘胜长驱，正如破竹之势，怎可中辍？！” 就在当天，柴荣即令先锋都指挥史刘重进率军先发，就在瓦桥关以北，与契丹先锋相遇，一场激战，斩其数百游骑，进而攻占距离幽州仅一百二十公里的固安（今属河北）。到第二天，柴荣亲自来到了最前线，他到固安的安阳水（即今永定河）视察军情。然后命令立即架桥，以备全军迅速通过。不等耶律述律前来，他就要主动去向契丹兵团挑战。 请记住这一天，公元959年5月3日，柴荣从前线返回瓦桥关，准备下一天的征战……这一天是柴荣命运的分水岭。就像古希腊国王亚历山大东征波斯得胜，会宴将士；也像是神话传说中无敌的勇士阿喀硫斯最后一次冲击特洛亚城门，他们都到了命数终止的那一天。 传说柴荣当天心神激越，纵马驰上一片高坡，他要“驻马高阜，以观六师”。是的，他看到了他雄壮的军队在他面前源源不断地开赴战场，也看到了当地的父老牵牛举酒来欢迎他。他顺口问道：“此地何名？” “回陛下，故老相传，谓之病龙台。” 柴荣愕然，既而黯然下坡，当天夜里就突然发病，就此卧床不起。 当然，这是传说，出自《五代史补》。但细查史书，此时柴荣即位已经五年了，五年之中他五次亲征，鞍马劳顿，事必亲躬，有迹象表明，就在此次出征以前，他就已经有病。因为有大臣上疏劝他——“待圣体稍安之后再行北伐，亦不为晚。” 但柴荣毫不理会，终于在和契丹国王决战的前夕，他突然倒下了。但就是这样，他倒在了床上，仍然不肯罢休。史有记载，5月4日，有义武节度使孙行友攻破易州（今属河北），擒获契丹刺史李在钦，献于柴荣帐下，柴荣为表示决无退军之意，令押赴军前斩首。 5月5日，柴荣下诏以瓦桥关为雄州，以益津关为霸州，征发数千民夫来修筑霸州的城墙。既以得之，决不放弃； 5月6日，柴荣命大将李重进统兵出土门（今河北获鹿西南）攻击北汉，进一步削平契丹的援军，一切仍然为了与契丹兵团决战作准备。 但是到了7日，柴荣终于支持不住了，他的身体背叛了他，让他知道他终究还是一个凡人……群臣苦苦劝说，他无可奈何只能回京养病。临行前，他命令韩令坤为霸州都部署，陈思让为雄州都部署，各率本部驻守二州。 一定要守住！等我回来……我还要回来，这是我们进攻契丹，收复燕云的基地…… 5月8日，柴荣从雄州起程南归，于30日回到了都城开封。自离京北征到此时返回，总计才有六十天，但柴荣身体的健康已经有了天壤之别，多年的积劳，平时的大喜大怒，让他的身体彻底崩溃，再也无法康复。而到了6月2日，命运再次给了柴荣剧烈的打击，他的女儿突然死了，柴荣悲恸难当，他不懂，上苍为什么要这样对待他！ 接二连三的打击让他了无生趣，柴荣真的再也支撑不下去了，在公元959年6月19日晚，他死了，带着无尽的遗憾，带着未完的理想，在年仅三十九岁的时候，就离开了人间……