Chapter 5 The Conspiracy of Five Snakes and Elephants

Zhao Kuangyin led two thousand light cavalry, traveling day and night, and when he rushed to Liuhe, some Zhou soldiers stationed in Yangzhou had retreated.As the saying goes, "The defeat of an army is like a mountain."Zhao Kuangyin saw very clearly that if this momentum of defeat was not quickly curbed, the war situation would be out of control.In an extraordinary moment, without extraordinary measures, it is not enough to achieve great things. After he arrived at Liuhe and set up camp, he waved the sword in his hand, with a livid face, and said decisively to the two thousand soldiers: "You split up and guard the intersection, and stop the retreating Zhou soldiers from Yangzhou. Who dares to cross?" Liuhe one step, whether it is a general or a soldier, cut off his feet, if anyone dares to let go, behead!"

For a moment, a murderous atmosphere permeated the entire barracks. Two thousand soldiers, armed with weapons, guarded every intersection and stood ready. Zhao Kuangyin quickly revised another book, and sent someone to Yangzhou on a fast horse to hand it over to his friend Han Lingkun. He said in the letter: ... I am an old friend with you, I know you are a loyal and brave person, why did you become a coward today, before the enemy soldiers arrived, you ran away after hearing the news, it was really beyond my expectation.If you take a step away from Yangzhou without permission, first, you have nothing to report to the Lord; down, you have nothing to say to your friends, and your reputation for the rest of your life will be ruined in one fell swoop.Where to go, you have to make a decision, don't be confused!If you mess up again, I can show you some sympathy here. Your majesty will never pass that test. It is an absolute hell!

Han Lingkun is not a foolish person, he fled the battle, he might be a fool, a man is not a god, there are always times when he gets muddleheaded, when he received a letter from Zhao Kuangyin, he woke up suddenly like being enlightened and showered with cold water.Knowing this, I have become a person who is unfaithful, unfilial, benevolent, and unrighteous. I am going from heaven to hell, from the world to the gate of hell.He thanked Zhao Kuangyin from the bottom of his heart for reminding him in time, quickly led his troops, quickly turned the horse's head, and returned to Yangzhou City. Work together to stick to Yangzhou.

Zhao Kuangyin saved Han Lingkun and Yangzhou. Coincidentally at this time, the Southern Tang Dynasty killed Lu Mengjun and his troops from Taizhou.Tanma detective got the news and reported it to coach Han Lingkun. Han Lingkun summoned all the soldiers and held a swearing-in meeting. At the meeting, he gave a generous speech and said loudly: "Everyone listen carefully, the southern Tang general Lu Mengjun raised his troops to attack Yangzhou. I decided to lead my troops out of the city to fight with the invading enemy. Fight to the death. Live, we live together, die, we die together, vow to live and die with Yangzhou, and never be a coward. If anyone flees, it's a son of a bitch. Whoever wants to be that son of a bitch, I will kill He will never be merciless. I will say the ugly words first."

Han Lingkun's words can be regarded as knowing the shame and then being brave. At the same time, it also inspired the fighting spirit of the soldiers. Han Lingkun ordered the defenders to open the city gate, and rushed out at the head of the horse.Seeing that the commander rushed out first, all the soldiers rushed out of the city together with Han Lingkun. Lu Mengjun, a general of the Southern Tang Dynasty, had just arrived outside the city of Yangzhou, and his formation was not stable. He suddenly saw Zhou soldiers rushing towards him from the city like crazy, and he panicked for a while.

This is what Han Lingkun wanted. Taking advantage of the hesitation of the enemy soldiers, he led his troops to kill them like tigers down the mountain.Poor those Tang soldiers, before they came to their senses, they were killed by Zhou soldiers like chopping melons and cutting vegetables. Those who survived by chance only regretted that their parents lost two legs and ran away like rabbits. Lu Mengjun wanted to stop, how could he stop, even if some people heard him, it is important to escape, who cares about you.Seeing that the general situation was over, he could only follow the general trend and flee after the defeated army.

Han Lingkun's eyes were very poisonous, and the other soldiers and crabs ignored him and only stared at the Southern Tang Lord General Lu Mengjun all the way to kill him. Seeing Han Lingkun chasing after him, Lu Mengjun became even more flustered, and beat his mount viciously in an attempt to get rid of the pursuit. Han Lingkun persisted and tried his best to catch up.Seeing that he was approaching the place where an arrow could be shot, Han Lingkun took out the carved feather arrow from his quiver, bent his bow and set the arrow, stretched his ape arm lightly, and shot it out with a whoosh.

Lu Mengjun fled like a headless fly. In the panic, he could not hear the sound of bows and arrows. The iron arrow flew towards him and hit his back. Lu Mengjun turned over and fell off the horse.Seeing that the enemy general fell off his horse, Zhou Bing in the back rushed forward, knocked him to the ground, took out the rope, and tied him tightly. When Han Lingkun saw that the enemy's main general had been captured and the enemy brigade had fled far away, he immediately ordered Mingjin to withdraw his troops. Han Lingkun defeated Lu Mengjun and saved Yangzhou, thanks to Zhao Kuangyin. If it wasn't for Zhao Kuangyin, how could Han Lingkun have such a chance?Han Lingkun!It's really a cold one, and it's shit luck.

Han Lingkun returned to the city victoriously, pushing Lu Mengjun up from left to right.He ordered people to lock Lu Mengjun into the prison car, and planned to send someone to escort him to the prison car, send him to Zhou Shizong's place, and hand him over to Zhou Shizong for disposal. Suddenly, a woman flashed out from behind the tent, crying and said to Han Lingkun: "Please, general, be the master of this concubine, cut this thief into a thousand swords, and avenge my concubine." Han Lingkun raised his eyes and saw that the woman who came in crying was the newly adopted concubine Yang Shi.He asked inexplicably: "What is the deep hatred between you and Lu Mengjun that you want to cut him into pieces?"

Yang cried and said: "I am from Tanzhou. In previous years, the bandit Lu Mengjun led a band of thieves into Tanzhou and killed more than 200 members of my family. Only my concubine was hidden by Tang general Ma Chong. I just escaped a catastrophe. The enemy met today, and I was extremely jealous. Such bloody enmity, how can we not avenge it?" It turned out that Yang Shi has always been beautiful, flamboyant, charming and charming, she is a natural beauty.When Lu Mengjun killed Yang's family, Tang General Ma Chong rescued her from the knife and took her as a concubine. It is indeed good for a woman to be beautiful, and it was only because of her beauty that Mrs. Yang was able to escape from death.

Han Lingkun conquered Yangzhou, and the defender Ma Chong fled without a trace.The Yang family was also acquired by Han Lingkun.Yang Shi is indeed a natural beauty, everyone loves her.Han Lingkun saw that such a beautiful flower turned into a flower without an owner. He is also a flower lover, so how could he bear to let her wither.Even if it is the flower of the owner, so what? When Zhou Bing conquered Yangzhou, Han Lingkun was a celebrity and general under the coach Zhao Hongyin. He wanted to pick a flower and make a woman. Who can interfere?Who dares to interfere? Ever since, Han Lingkun accepted the remnant flower as a side room and became his concubine.After a night of cloud and rain, it really is very pleasant.From then on, Han Lingkun really doted on the Yang family and obeyed. After hearing Yang's words, Han Lingkun turned around and asked Lu Mengjun, who was locked in the prison car, if what Yang said was true. The sufferer was right in front of his eyes, Lu Mengjun couldn't deny it, so he could only admit that what Yang said was true, but he wanted to die quickly, but please do it quickly. Twenty years later, he will still be a man. Han Lingkun turned his head and asked the soldiers around him: "Tell me, what should we do about this matter?" "Kill him, cut him into pieces, kill him." The soldiers said in unison. It has been a custom since ancient times that the two armies do not kill prisoners of war.Han Lingkun couldn't care less about it now, he was the flower protector, and he wanted to avenge his concubine's death. This prisoner could not be sent away, and he wanted to execute him on the spot to avenge the more than two hundred people who died. . Han Lingkun ordered the sergeant to set up an incense case, on which the tablets of Yang's parents were enshrined.Burning candles and burning incense, he ordered Yang to pay homage to the memorial tablet first, and then ordered the soldiers to open the prison car, lift Lu Mengjun out of the car, strip off his clothes, revealing his hairy chest, and then ordered the soldiers to bring several buckets of cold water to wash him thoroughly. Clean it up and push it to the front of the case. Han Lingkun pulled out his waist knife, stepped forward, grabbed Lu Mengjun's hair with his left hand, raised the knife with his right hand and stabbed it down, cut open Lu Mengjun's chest with a sound, took out his heart, liver and internal organs, put them on the case, and paid homage to the Yang family. parents.Then ordered Lu Mengjunling to be finely chopped up with knives, and all the flesh and bones were cut off, and thrown into the wilderness to be fed to wild boars and dogs. Although Han Lingkun's actions were a bit cruel, they also relieved hatred.Evil is rewarded with evil, and good is rewarded with good. This is the retribution of reincarnation.It must be a deterrent to those villains. Zhao Kuangyin learned that Han Lingkun had won the battle in Yangzhou, so he hurriedly wrote to Zhou Shizong to plead for Han Lingkun's merit.Zhou Shizong allowed Han Lingkun to make up for his mistakes and not to be held accountable. Li Jingda, Marshal of the Southern Tang Dynasty, was terrified when he learned that Lu Mengjun was captured alive by Zhou Bing and tortured by thousands of knives.He quickly discussed with his subordinates how to deal with the enemy.Some people say that Han Lingkun's garrison in Yangzhou is too powerful, it is better to abandon Yangzhou and attack Liuhe.If Liuhe can be captured, Yangzhou will be in the bag. If you can't take Yangzhou, how can you take Liuhe.It's a pity that these people in the Southern Tang Dynasty are just a bunch of poor people. How did they know that in Liuhe City, there is another character who is more powerful than Han Lingkun waiting for them. Li Jingda is also a brainless person, he actually listened to the words of his subordinates, led 40,000 troops, pulled out the stronghold to set up troops, bypassed Yangzhou, crossed the river from Guazhou, and rushed to Liuhe in a mighty manner. Dangerous. Zhao Kuangyin was stationed in Liuhe City, with only 2,000 troops under his command.His main task in coming to Liuhe was to prevent the Zhou army in Yangzhou from retreating. He never thought that Li Jingda would bypass Yangzhou and attack Liuhe after losing the battle in Yangzhou.This force, which was originally here for law enforcement, suddenly became a head-on confrontation with an enemy force twenty times its own.Zhao Kuangyin and his 2,000 troops were suddenly pushed into an extremely dangerous and desperate situation. If 2,000 men and 40,000 tigers and wolves confront each other head-on, it is like fighting a tiger with a sheep or a stone with an egg. Zhao Kuangyin was very calm in the face of the sudden danger. When Tan Ma reported that the Tang army was still 20 miles away from Liuhe, Zhao Kuangyin ordered the soldiers to withdraw their tents and move to a forest near the foot of the mountain to set up camp.Some tents are set up at the foot of the mountain, and some tents are set up in the woods.The camps outside the woods can be seen clearly, and the camps inside the woods are faintly visible. There is a sense of mystery, which makes you wonder how many soldiers are hidden in the woods.Zhao Kuangyin also ordered the soldiers to drink on the ground outside the camp. They were all bare-handed, with their chests exposed, screaming and drinking, and stumbling around.While revising a book, he sent a fast horse to Han Lingkun in Yangzhou, asking him to send troops to reinforce Liuhe. Zhao Kuangyin sang the empty city plan. After Li Jingda crossed the river from Guazhou, he wanted to go straight to Liuhe, so he was a spy who reported that the Zhou army had set up camp at the foot of the mountain.Li Jingda was very surprised when he heard Zhou Bing's state. When he learned that Zhou Bing's commander was Zhao Kuangyin, he hurriedly sent an order to stop the advance, set up camp ten miles away from Liuhe City, dug trenches and fences, and stabilized the camp. All the generals came to ask for a fight. Li Jingda told everyone that setting up a camp in the forest is already a taboo for military strategists, and it is even more absurd to drink and revel in the imminent battle.Zhao Kuangyin is a famous general of the Zhou army, and he will not fail to understand the basic common sense of using soldiers.But he is confident, and must have his ulterior motives.I have heard that Zhao Kuangyin used his troops deceitfully, and often played cards not according to the rules in battle.By doing this, he obviously wanted to lure me into the bait. Can I be fooled by him?Immediately issued an order, without a military order, no one is allowed to march without authorization, and those who violate it will be dealt with according to military law. Li Jingda switched from offense to defense and waited and watched for several days.Zhao Kuangyin is also sitting firmly on the Diaoyutai, the enemy does not move, I do not move.The two engaged in psychological warfare.Psychological warfare compares wisdom and patience. Whoever has the highest resourcefulness and the best patience will win.The two armies held each other for several days, but no one took the initiative to attack. Some of Zhao Kuangyin's generals couldn't sit still anymore, and they all spoke to Zhao Kuangyin and asked to fight. Zhao Kuangyin smiled and said to everyone: "The enemy has 20,000 soldiers, and we have 2,000 soldiers. There is a big difference in strength between the two sides. The reason why the enemy army set up camp and did not dare to attack is because they did not know the details of our army and were afraid. If we take the initiative to attack, it will expose the strength of our army. At that time, he will attack with tens of thousands of people, and the outcome will be hard to predict. Now our army stands still and waits for them to come to challenge us. It’s called waiting for work with ease.” The generals thought that although what Zhao Kuangyin said was reasonable, if the enemy retreated without fighting, how would the battle be fought? Zhao Kuangyin smiled and said: "The commander of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Li Jingda, is the younger brother of the Southern Tang Emperor. He was appointed to be the Generalissimo of the Army and Horses. Now that he is here, it is impossible for him to retreat without a fight. Brother, explain? In a few days, they will definitely come to challenge." The generals were half-believing and skeptical, so they had no choice but to come here in good spirits and return in disappointment. Four days later, Li Jingda really decided not to wait any longer. He decided to attack the Zhou army tentatively to see what kind of medicine was sold in the gourd of the Zhou army. Zhao Kuangyin received the military report that Tang soldiers were attacking, and specially decorated his mounts with bright red tassels, which made the mounts extraordinarily dazzling among thousands of troops. It is particularly eye-catching.The generals were puzzled, thinking that such a dress was too dazzling and would attract enemy arrows to shoot. Zhao Kuangyin laughed loudly and said, "I just want them to know me, Zhao Kuangyin." After that, he led all the elites, set up a formation, and waited for Tang soldiers. After a while, the brigade of Tang soldiers swarmed in. Zhao Kuangyin took the lead and directed all the soldiers to fight.Tang Bing saw a general in the Zhou army, with bright tassels and fresh armor, which was particularly eye-catching. If he knew him, he said that this was Zhao Kuangyin, the general of Zhou. .Before Zhou Bing fought, he was the first to win the battle. In the formation of the two armies, the golden drums sounded together.On this side, he was ordered by the emperor to pacify Huainan;The armies on both sides are desperately fighting until the sky is dark and the sun and the moon are dark.From Chenshi to Weishi, he was still invincible.Both soldiers were exhausted. Zhao Kuangyin saw that it was difficult to distinguish the outcome for a while, so he ordered Mingjin to withdraw his troops.Li Jingda didn't force him, so he withdrew his troops and went back to the original village. Zhao Kuangyin returned to the city and counted the troops, but there were only dozens of casualties.Immediately, he ordered all the soldiers to present their leather hats.All the officers and men didn't know what they meant, so they all held up their leather hats for Zhao Kuangyin to inspect in person.Zhao Kuangyin walked and watched, calling out one or two soldiers from the team from time to time, and stood aside.After the inspection, a total of twenty-eight people were called out. Zhao Kuangyin came in front of the twenty-eight people and shouted angrily: "You people, when fighting, are greedy for life and afraid of death, and shrink back. On the battlefield, either you die or I die. Will the enemy be defeated by himself?" After speaking, he ordered the twenty-eight people to be tied up and pushed out to be beheaded for public display. The bound people shouted their innocence, and the generals also looked bewildered.We are usually brothers who were born and died together, so how can we cut it off?No one can do this.So they all interceded on behalf of Zhao Kuangyin, imploring Zhao Kuangyin to keep him under the sword. Zhao Kuangyin said to the generals: "Are you saying that I wronged these people and killed innocent people indiscriminately?" The generals didn't dare to answer, but it could be seen from their eyes that it was really incomprehensible to kill all these twenty people like this.It is not too much to say that they killed innocent people indiscriminately. Zhao Kuangyin pointed to the leather hats in the hands of these twenty-eight people and said: "All the people who went into battle wore leather hats, and the other people's leather hats were clean and undamaged. Look at the leather hats of these people. There is a sword mark." Everyone stretched out their heads to watch, and it was indeed so. Even so, they still looked at a loss and couldn't understand it. Some people asked, does this have anything to do with the beheading? Zhao Kuangyin explained loudly: "In today's battle, the enemy is outnumbered, and we rely on our true spirit. If we all work together and take the lead, it will never be such an invincible situation. One effort, then decline, three exhaustion , That’s what I’m talking about. When I was supervising the battle, I found that some people were opportunistic and held back. I specially cut a sword on the leather hats of these people as a mark. Fighting for life and fear of death, and shrinking, if everyone It’s all like this, how to fight this battle?” After hearing Zhao Kuangyin's explanation, everyone was speechless in fright, and no one dared to say a word of intercession.In a blink of an eye, twenty-eight bloody human heads were brought up. Zhao Kuangyin ordered the head to be passed on to each battalion, and then buried together with the corpse. At dawn the next day, Zhao Kuangyin raised his tent and ordered soldiers. He warned the soldiers that today's battle is a battle of life and death, and success or failure depends on one action.Everyone should not be intimidated.If everyone takes the lead bravely, one of our troops can stand up to ten, or ten to a hundred. Even if the enemy has many soldiers, they will surely kill them all. All the soldiers were passionate and expressed that they must fight the enemy bravely regardless of their own lives. Zhao Kuangyin called the tooth generals Zhang Qiong and Wen Yan and said: "You two, in the last battle of Shouchun, you killed Chenghao together with me. The enemy's strong bows and crossbows in the city are like locusts. You can both risk You will not retreat even when you are dead, and you will not be afraid even when an arrow penetrates your bones. You are indeed loyal and brave. Today, I will divide up five hundred troops, led by the two of you. First, I will detour from the enemy's side and rush to Jiangkou to ambush, cutting off the retreat of the Tang soldiers. Wait for the enemy When you are retreating and preparing to flee across the south of the Yangtze River, you take the opportunity to fight out. I will lead a large group of people, and I will arrive soon. I expect that Li Jingda will be drowned in the river if he is not killed. If he is not worthy of death, call him Take off a layer of skin." Zhang Qiong and Wen Yan took orders and left. Zhao Kuangyin ordered all the soldiers to have a full meal, and sent orders to send troops just after dawn. The generals and soldiers of the Zhou army were all gearing up to fight enthusiastically.After walking for a long distance, it happened that Tang Jun came to kill him.Zhao Kuangyin ordered the flag officer to wave the flag, and Zhou Jun quickly changed his formation. Everyone was like a tiger on the mountain, and everyone was like a dragon flying out of the sea, and they all rushed towards Tang Jun.Wherever there are many enemies, the swords and guns will greet there.Tang Jun was frightened by this fearless style of attack, and couldn't resist, so he had to retreat. Li Jingda thought he had a large number of soldiers, so he divided his troops into two groups and surrounded them from the two wings, trying to surround the Zhou army and make dumplings for the Zhou army.Unexpectedly, when this side was surrounded, a hole was opened there, and when the torn hole was sealed, this side was opened again by Zhou Bing.At this moment, suddenly a group of people and horses, each holding a spear, went straight to the Tang army's tent.Li Jingda ordered people to go to resist, how can they resist.In an instant, this group of people broke through the siege, rushed to Li Jingda's horse, rushed forward, and cut down Li Jingda's handsome banner. Li Jingda was shocked, and hurriedly reined in his horse and retreated. Zhou Bing wanted to take Li Jingda's life, so he chased after him. Fortunately, Li Jingda's soldiers stepped up in time to stop Zhou Bing, so that Li Jingda survived. When the two armies were fighting fiercely, Han Lingkun led 5,000 fresh troops to fight out from the slanting stab, blocking the way of the Tang army. It turned out that after Han Lingkun received Zhao Kuangyin's request for help, he knew that the military situation was urgent, so he led five thousand elite soldiers to rush to Liuhe overnight. In the ravine, secretly sent someone to inform Zhao Kuangyin.It was because of this strong support that Zhao Kuangyin had confidence in his mind, so he went out to fight calmly. When Tang Bing saw that the commander-in-chief's flag fell and the commander-in-chief ran away, he suddenly became a headless fly, fleeing east and west, each fleeing for his life, and the military equipment was thrown everywhere. Zhao Kuangyin ordered that even if there is a piece of gold on the ground, no one is allowed to pick it up. Whoever picks it up will cut off his hands and head.Thinking of the twenty-eight bloody heads in front of them, the soldiers knew that Zhao Kuangyin was a man of one word, and no one dared to try the law by himself.Therefore, the whole army worked together to hunt down and kill the fleeing enemy. Li Jingda, marshal of the Southern Tang Dynasty, led the remnant troops and retreated desperately to Jiangkou.Seeing the Jiangkou, he hoped that by crossing the river by boat, he would be able to escape from the tiger's mouth and save his life.Who knew that as soon as he fled to Jiangkou, he heard the sound of a cannon, and a Zhou army rushed out from the slanting stab to block the way.Li Jingda's shock was no small matter, he almost fell off his horse.Fortunately, Tang General Cen Loujing had some guts, brandishing a big knife, rushed out of the formation to resist Zhou Bing. The leader of Zhou's army was Zhang Qiong. Zhang Qiong held a shield in his left hand and a knife in his right. He patted his horse forward and shouted: "Come on, don't go. I, Zhang Qiong, are here. Quickly leave your head behind." .” Cen Loujing was furious and didn't answer. He swung his saber and jumped on his horse, and went straight to Zhang Qiong. Zhang Qiong raised his saber to meet each other. Difficult solution. At this moment, Zhao Kuangyin led a large group of troops to fight there. Generals Mi Xin and Li Huaizhong saw Zhang Qiong was fighting with a general of Tang Dynasty, so they slapped their horses to help them out. Cen Loujing is not stupid, he fights if he wins, and runs away if he can't win. I saw him feint a shot, turn his horse's head and lose the battle. Li Jingda had already run to the riverside, he found a small boat and crossed the river without caring about the remnants of his defeated soldiers.Tens of thousands of Tang soldiers crowded the riverside, and they could only look at the river and sigh. Where else could they find a ferry? Zhou Bing rushed to the riverside, mercilessly killed people, like chopping melons and vegetables, killing corpses all over the field, blood flowed everywhere, and even the rolling river was dyed red.Those who could swim disarmed and threw themselves into the river, and swam desperately to the opposite bank, while those who could not swim were forced to jump into the river when they were in a hurry. Sinking into the water, the Dragon Lord went. Cen Loujing ran to the riverside with his horse, but he had no choice but to whip his horse and leap into the river. It turned out that the horse could also swim, took Cen Loujing with him, half submerged and half floating, and swam to the opposite bank.All the Tang soldiers followed suit one after another. Some wanted to survive. A few people hugged a horse, some pulled the horse's tail, and some grabbed the saddle. Horses didn't have such great skills. In the river.Those who have no horses to borrow, those who can't swim, and those who can swim but are too late to jump into the river, become Zhou Jun's ghosts. In this battle, Zhao Kuangyin won a complete victory, capturing about 15,000 soldiers from the Southern Tang Dynasty.There were still more than 20,000 people in the Southern Tang Dynasty, who fled to Jiangkou, fought for the boat to cross first, and drowned most of them.So far, the elite soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty were beheaded and killed by the Zhou army. In the Battle of Liuhe, Zhao Kuangyin defeated the 40,000 elite troops of the Southern Tang Dynasty with 2,000 troops, creating a miracle in the history of wars in the Five Dynasties period. Snakes cannot swallow elephants. This is common sense, but if you use some tricks and tricks, you can sometimes create miracles.In the Battle of Liuhe, 2,000 people defeated 40,000 enemies, which is a miracle of a snake swallowing an elephant.It's just that, to make such a miracle happen, it is necessary to engage in a little trick. The Battle of Liuhe destroyed the last bit of confidence of Li Jing in the Southern Tang Dynasty, and it was also the third time that Zhao Kuangyin made great achievements. After the Battle of Liuhe, the Jianghuai area entered the rainy season. It was often overcast and rainy, and the roads were muddy and difficult to trek. This brought great difficulties to Zhou Bing's marching operations.In addition, the soldiers had been fighting for a long time, and they were already tired. Due to the continuous rain, the roads were difficult to walk, and the supply of food and grass also encountered great difficulties. Chai Rong attacked Shouzhou for several months, and summoned Prime Minister Fan Zhi to discuss, intending to change his army from Yangzhou, join forces with Zhao Kuangyin, and send troops to the south of the Yangtze River. Fan Zhi remonstrated and said: "Your Majesty sent troops in the early spring, and now it's midsummer, the troops are exhausted, and the supply of food and grass can't keep up. If we send a tired army to the south again, it may not be a perfect strategy. It's better to return to the court and rest the troops for a few days." It is the best policy to wait until the troops have recovered and the food and grass have been prepared before going on an expedition.” Chai Rong believed that he led the army to attack Shouzhou for several months and spent countless soldiers' pay. He was really unwilling to return empty-handed like this. Fan Zhi was about to remonstrate again, but Li Chongjin, the recruiter, came out to speak. He asked Chai Rong's class teacher to return to the court, and he stayed to continue fighting. Chai Rong agreed to Li Chongjin's suggestion, leaving more than 10,000 troops behind, and ordered Li Chongjin to continue to besiege Shouzhou, while he himself led Fan Zhi, Zhang Yongde and others to return the capital.Considering that Zhao Kuangyin had been away for a long time, he was also ordered to return to court.Another faction will succeed Zhao Kuangyin and be stationed in Chuzhou and Yangzhou. Zhao Kuangyin received the imperial edict, explained everything, and transferred from Liuhe to Chuzhou. When Zhao Kuangyin returned to Chuzhou, his father, Zhao Hongyin, recovered completely under Zhao Pu's careful care.Zhao Kuangyin thanked Zhao Pu again.From then on, out of gratitude, Zhao Kuangyin completely treated Zhao Pu as a "family member" and regarded him as his own family. A few days after Zhao Kuangyin returned to Chuzhou, the person who replaced him in guarding Chuzhou arrived. After the handover, he returned to Bianliang immediately.Zhao Hongyin, Zhao Pu and others also returned to Beijing together. Bianliang After Zhao Kuangyin returned to the capital, he immediately went to see Zhou Shizong. Chai Rong told Zhao Kuangyin that Zhao Kuangyin had contributed the most to this expedition, and his father Zhao Hongyin also contributed a lot, saying that he would reward their father and son. Zhao Kuangyin was a man who would repay his kindness. Zhao Pu took care of his seriously ill father in Chuzhou. After returning to the court, he recommended Zhao Pu to the emperor.Zhao Kuangyin said: "The judge, Zhao Pu, has come up with a lot of good ideas for my ministers. He is a talent and can be put to great use. Your Majesty, please promote and reuse this person!" Chai Rong nodded in agreement.After retiring from the court, an imperial edict was issued, and Zhao Hongyin was appointed as the school inspector and the Tianshui County Office; Zhao Kuangyin was the Jiedu Envoy of the Dingguo Army and the commander of the front of the palace; Zhao Pu was the Jiedu Tuiguan. From then on, Zhao Kuangyin ranked among the generals of Jieyue by virtue of his military exploits in bloody battles, and became one of the important court officials of the Later Zhou Dynasty.