Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

Chapter 482 The Southern Tang Chess Game
Jiangnan was not without strategy in the face of the Northern Expedition.

After seeking peace to no avail and not daring to go north to Daliang, Li Yu was really scared.

However, Chen Qiao, Zhang Ji, Xu Xuan, Xiao Yan and other important officials all felt that they should stick to Jiangning and seek victory. There are also precedents in history. More than ten years ago, Zhou attacked Taiyuan, and 10,000+ troops approached the city. The siege was impenetrable. Forced to withdraw troops.

Jiangning City is high and deep, and it is as solid as gold. The Qinhuai River outside the city can be used as an important line of defense. As long as it sticks to it, it will definitely replicate the victory of Taiyuan City back then.

After repeated assurances from Chen Qiao and others, Li Yu finally let go of his heart, and at the same time made an arrangement that Huangfu Jixun would be responsible for the defense of Miyagi, Chen Qiao would be the main defense, and the prime minister would be the military.

At the same time, he wrote a letter to the Liao Kingdom in the north by sea to ask for help, because people around him said that the relief of Taiyuan more than ten years ago was forced by the Liao Kingdom to send reinforcements, and Zhou Jun was forced to retreat.

But soon, Qin Jun's West Route Army broke through one after another, and news of Qin Jun's forced crossing in Dangtu and other places followed one after another, which made people tremble.

At the beginning, when they heard that they were building a bridge opposite Dangtu, no one in the court believed it. Many people even made fun of the Qin army who came from the north. They didn’t know the depth and width of the river.

At that time, many people vowed in front of the king that the Qin army's attempt to build a bridge was destined to be a waste of effort, and it would take time and effort, and consume their manpower and material resources. The Land West Route Army from the west.

As a result, six or seven days later, the news that stunned everyone came.

The Qin army actually built a bridge on the Yangtze River. Their troops have already crossed the river by walking directly along the bridge. They defeated them and assembled in Lishui. The 800 army that was originally going to support Jiangning was killed by Li Xiong.

After several verifications, it was confirmed that the news was indeed true. Everyone was inexplicably horrified, and even had a sense of fear of "not being able to fight against the sky". There were many discussions in private, because bridges can be built to cross even big rivers, what else is there in this world? This is something Qin Jun can't do!
Many Southern Tang military officers have a negative atmosphere quietly pervading, they all feel that Qin Jun is omnipotent, they are like heavenly soldiers, and they can't stop Qin Jun no matter what.
Li Yu was horrified, and kept sending people to urge Zhu Lingyun in the southern capital to gather the Zhennan Army and go up the river to destroy the pontoon bridge near Caishiji.

Now the army gathered in Lishui was defeated by the Qin army, and the Wuchang army and Fenghua army were also defeated. Only the Nandu army remained in the west.

Li Yu was afraid that Zhu Lingyun would not dare to move, so he urged him repeatedly.

Chen Qiao told him that the army crossing the river must be coming directly towards Jiangning. If the pontoon bridge is not destroyed, their continuous supplies and troops can be directly transported to Jiangning from the vicinity of Hezhou across the river.

That can be compared to transporting it from Jiangling and Jingzhou, which has shortened the distance by thousands of miles!

In this way, the speed of the Qin army's attack will be greatly accelerated, and the momentum of the attack will be greatly increased, which will be extremely unfavorable to them.

So he has sent more than a dozen envoys one after another to urge Zhu Lingyun to immediately gather the Zhennan Army to go northward and advance along the river to destroy the Qin Army's pontoon bridge.

First, he was very anxious, and second, he was afraid of being intercepted by the Qin army halfway.

The west side could only wait for Zhu Lingyun's actions, while the situation in the east side was also very critical. Wu Yue ignored his persuasion with cold lips and teeth, and still sent troops.

And the Qin army's navy ships, with thousands of ships, set off from Yangzhou, intending to attack Runzhou directly.

Runzhou is an important town, and Li Yu is going to send a confidant to guard it.

Li Yu thought about it, and finally chose to send his closest confidant Liu Cheng to Runzhou to oversee the army to fight against the Qin army.

Liu Cheng is his most trusted confidant. He was an official in the palace when he was a vassal king. After he became the king of the country, he has been with him all the time, his most trusted confidant.

So he wanted Liu Cheng to take him to guard Runzhou, and he was relieved only when Liu Cheng went.

When Li Yu told his confidant Liu Cheng about this decision that day, he could clearly see the seriousness on the other side's face.

It seems that he also understands the importance of this matter, Li Yu sighed: "You still understand my mind."

The two looked at each other affectionately, and Li Yu said: "I shouldn't have let you leave me, but now the situation is urgent, and it's up to you."

Unexpectedly, Liu Cheng cried directly after hearing this, Li Yu was a little surprised.

"Your Majesty trusts me so much. I feel very honored. I will be born as a dead head and die as a grassroots. I will repay the kindness and trust of the Lord no matter what. Your Majesty can rest assured that I will never let Wu Bing and Qin Bing One step past Runzhou." Liu Cheng swore, wiping away his tears.

Only then did Li Yu realize that he was crying because of this, and was even more moved, and the two said goodbye in tears.

The next day, Li Yu heard rumors that Liu Cheng packed all his family's gold and silver treasures in the car, loaded more than a dozen cars, and wanted to take them all to Runzhou. They were all rewarded by the imperial court. Now that the country is in trouble, what is the use of staying here? I am going to take it to the front line to disperse, reward the three armies to boost the morale of the army, and use up all the wealth to serve the country."

After Li Yu heard about it, he was even more moved, and felt that he had chosen the right person this time. It seemed that the situation in Runzhou was saved.

A few days later, the bad news came that the tens of thousands of legions assembled near Jiangyin in the east were defeated by the Qin army and the Wu army outside the city of Changzhou.

In this way, Wu Jun and Qin Jun can directly enter the city of Runzhou. Once Runzhou is breached, they can go straight to Jiangning without any worries.

Runzhou is an important town for the navy, and several major military towns in the south of the Yangtze River. To the west of the capital are the Wuchang Army, Fenghua Army, and Ningguo Army.

The Wuchang Army and Fenghua Army had already been defeated by the Qin Army, while the Ning Guo Army was defeated by the Qin Army who crossed the river by surprise on a pontoon bridge before they had finished gathering near Lishui, and even Li Xiong, the commander-in-chief, died in battle.

At present, only the South Army of Hongzhou Town (near Nanchang today), the Anhua Army of Raozhou (now Poyang County, Jiangxi Province) and the Zhaowu Army of Fuzhou (near Fuzhou City today) near Nandu in the south still have soldiers available.

In the east of the capital, there are the Jiangyin Army and the Runzhou Town Navy.

Now that the Jiangyin army has been defeated, only Runzhou's guarding navy is left. If Runzhou is breached, the west of the capital will be opened, and the army will approach the city of Jiangning.

A few years ago, Chen Qiao reported to him that apart from the imperial guards guarding the capital, all military towns in the Southern Tang Dynasty now include Wuchang Army, Fenghua Army, Anhua Army, Zhaowu Army, Zhennan Army, Ningguo Army, Zhenhai Navy, and Jiangyin Army. Half of the army has been defeated by the Qin army.

The rest of the Runzhou Township Navy is still holding on to resist the enemy, while Zhu Lingyun near Nandu is gathering the Zhaowu Army, Anhua Army and Zhennan Army, ready to be ordered to go north and enter the Yangtze River, and then move east along the river to burn the Qin Army in Caishiji. Nearby boardwalk.

The Wuchang Army, Fenghua Army, Ningguo Army, and Jiangyin Army have all been wiped out by the Qin Army after several months of fighting.
But in order to make the king not so worried, Chen Qiao still told some good news.

First of all, he has summoned troops from nearby counties and counties, sent people to train young men, and assembled more than 5 soldiers and horses near the capital Jiangning, many of whom are forbidden troops, who will surely protect the capital.

Secondly, they relied on the Outer Qinhuai River to set up a defense line, and they were ready. If the Qin army wanted to attack, they had to wade across the river. It was very advantageous for them to wait on the bank of the river.

In the end, Jiangning City was high and deep, impregnable, and they would definitely not be able to attack it.

In addition, from Hongzhou, the southern capital, Zhu Lingyun also received news. After he assembled the soldiers and horses of the three towns, he found that there were more than [-] soldiers unexpectedly, because the Zhennan Army, Zhaowu Army and Anhua Army were far away from the river. , in the hinterland of the south, he had never fought against the Qin army at all, and his strength was preserved.

He is ready to wait for the spring to lead an army of [-], more than a thousand warships, known as [-] to the outside world, go north to the Yangtze River, and attack the pontoon bridge of the Qin army.

If he succeeds in the attack, the situation of the entire battlefield is expected to change.

After hearing these news, Li Yu did relax a lot, and suddenly felt like seeing the sun behind the clouds.

It's just that Chen Qiao also mentioned at the end that Runzhou should send a tiger general to guard the important area. He recommended Lu Jiang, and he didn't trust Liu Cheng in both words and deeds.

In fact, most of the military officials have the same attitude. Liu Cheng is just a jester. Because he has a good relationship with the king, he is sent to guard the important town of Runzhou. The question is, will he know how to fight?
Li Yu refused without hesitation, and said with a smile: "Mr. Chen can rest assured that Liu Cheng is definitely a loyal and conscientious person in state affairs. I am very relieved that he is presiding over major events there."

It's hard for Chen Qiao to say that when the lord speaks like this, it's just that many things have nothing to do with whether he works hard or not, the key is that he must have that ability.
In the end, Chen Qiao didn't move, and Li Yu also agreed to let Lu Jiang lead troops to support Runzhou to strengthen its defenses, but still asked Lu Jiang to obey Liu Cheng's orders.

(End of this chapter)