Chapter 3 183 Empress Li dies

Song Taizu stabilized the interior and was ambitious to send troops to unify the country.At that time, the "Ten Kingdoms" of the Five Dynasties period left the Northern Han Dynasty in the north, and the Southern Tang, Wuyue, Houshu, Southern Han, and Nanping in the south.To unify the country, where should we start?Should we fight the Northern Han first, or the South first?Song Taizu thought about it for a few days, but still couldn't make a decision. One night, there was a snowstorm.Zhao Pu was warming himself by the fire at home when he suddenly heard a knock on the door.Zhao Pu wondered, who else would come to him in such a cold night?He opened the door and saw a man in a cloak standing in the snow.Zhao Pu took a closer look and was taken aback. It turned out that it was Song Taizu who came.

Zhao Pu hurriedly invited Song Taizu into the house, turned on the charcoal fire, stewed meat on the charcoal fire, and asked his old wife to bring out wine to entertain him. Zhao Pu asked, "It's snowing so hard, why does Your Majesty come out?" Song Taizu said: "I remembered something. I can't sleep anyway, so I came to discuss it with you." Zhao Pu thought for a while and said, "If we conquer the Northern Han first, we will be threatened by the Liao Dynasty. It is better to flatten the South first, and then attack the Northern Han later. A small Northern Han, but as big as a projectile. I can't run away even if I pack up."

Song Taizu said with a smile: "We want to go together." After Song Taizu and Zhao Pu decided on the plan of going south first and then north, it took about ten years to dispatch troops to wipe out Nanping, Houshu, and Nanhan successively.In this way, only the Southern Tang and Wuyue were left in the separatist regime in the south. The Southern Tang Dynasty was the largest separatist regime among the "Ten Kingdoms". The land there was fertile and was not damaged by war like the Central Plains, so the economy was prosperous and the national strength was rich.However, the rulers of the Southern Tang Dynasty were all politically incompetent people, and the national power gradually weakened later.

The last lord, Li Yu (sound yu), was historically known as the empress of the Southern Tang Dynasty. He was a famous poet who was very proficient in poetry, music, calligraphy and painting, but he just didn't know how to deal with state affairs.After the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty, Li Yu paid a large amount of gold and silver treasures to the Northern Song Dynasty every year in order to maintain his status.Later, when he saw that Song Taizu wiped out three small countries around him one after another, he panicked, and quickly sent an envoy to Song Taizu to send a letter, expressing his willingness to cancel the title of the Southern Tang Dynasty and change his name to "Jiangnan Lord".But how can this small concession change Song Taizu's determination to unify China.

In September 974 AD, Song Taizu sent generals Cao Bin and Pan Mei to lead an army of 100,000 to attack Southern Tang by land and water.Cao Bin led the navy from Jingnan to the east along the river, and soon occupied Chizhou (now Guichi, Anhui) and stationed in Caishiji (now Ma'anshan, Anhui).The infantry led by Pan Mei arrived in Jiangbei, but was blocked by the vast river. Someone suggested to the Song army that if bamboo rafts and large boats were used to build a pontoon bridge, all infantry could cross the river smoothly.After hearing this plan, Pan Mei rushed to build the pontoon bridge immediately.The news spread to Jinling (now Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province), the capital of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and the monarchs and ministers of the Southern Tang Dynasty were drinking.Queen Li asked the surrounding ministers what to do?The minister said: "Since ancient times, I have never heard of crossing the river on a pontoon bridge. It must be impossible!"

After hearing this, the Empress laughed and said, "I said earlier that they were just children playing around." Three days later, the Song army built the pontoon bridge, and Pan Mei's infantry crossed the Yangtze River as if they were marching on land.The defenders of the Southern Tang Dynasty were defeated, and those who surrendered surrendered.One hundred thousand Song troops soon reached the edge of Jinling City. At that time, Empress Li was still reciting scriptures and preaching to a group of monks and priests in the palace. When the Song army arrived outside the city, he was still in the dark.One day, he visited the top of the city and found that the flags of the Song Army were flying everywhere outside the city. He was shocked. After returning to the palace, he sent his minister Xu Xuan (sound xuan) to Tokyo to seek peace.

Xu Xuan met Song Taizu and said: "Li Yu treats your majesty as filially as a son treats his father. Why do you want to attack him?" Song Taizu asked back: "Then tell me, can father and son be divided into two families?" Xu Xuan had nothing to say, and returned to Jinling to report to Empress Li.After a month, the siege of the last army became tighter and tighter, and Li Houzhu sent Xu Xuan to Tokyo again. Xu Xuan begged Song Taizu not to attack Jinling. Song Taizu was impatient, held the sharp sword in one hand, and said angrily: "Don't talk too much. Li Yu has no crime. But now the world is one family, beside my bed, How can you let someone else fall asleep and snore!"

Seeing that it was useless to plead again, Xu Xuan had no choice but to return to Jinling.After listening to the report, Li Houzhu knew that there was no hope for peace, so he quickly mobilized the 150,000 troops stationed in Shangjiang to rescue him.When the soldiers arrived at Wankou, they were attacked by the Song army from two directions.The Southern Tang army set fire to the Song army.Unexpectedly, just as the north wind was blowing, the fire burned himself.The Southern Tang army was wiped out. Cao Bin sent someone into the city to tell Empress Li and persuade him to surrender as soon as possible, so as not to destroy the lives and properties of the people in the city.The queen master wanted to drag on, so Cao Bin ordered to attack the city.

The next day, the city was captured.Cao Bin led the Song army into the city in order.Empress Li asked someone to pile up firewood in the palace, and was about to set fire to commit suicide, but she didn't have the courage after all.In the end, he took the minister out of the palace and surrendered to Cao Bin. Empress Li was taken to Tokyo, and Song Taizu treated him preferentially.However, Empress Li changed from a happy king to a captive of subjugation. He was very bitter in his heart and lived with tears every day.He was originally an expert at writing words. During this period, he wrote some emotionally sad words. "Ask how much sorrow you can have, just like a river of spring water flowing eastward." This is a famous line in his poems during this period.