Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

Chapter 485 The Last Hope
On the surface of the river, the cold spring has not dissipated, the fire is flickering, the sparkling red lights are like a sea of ​​fire, burning and floating in the river under the moon, raging and burning.

It would be even better if they could swallow the dense ships on it, Lu Jiang thought to himself, but unfortunately he can only think about it.

Chewing dry food that has been boiled and dried several times in his mouth, and processed repeatedly so that it tastes like chewing wax, watching the brightly lit and rampant Qin fleet in the distance under the shade of trees, is like a Take a walk in the back garden of your own home.

Years ago they had already defeated their country's navy on the river. Those guys fled back to the vicinity of Jiangning in horror, saying that they had been sunk by the Qin army with more than 100 ships, and how powerful the Qin army's artillery was. stronghold.

In any case, the order has been prevaricated for various reasons.

Chen Gong had no choice but to transfer them to the west to strengthen the defense line of the Qinhuai River, and completely gave up control and competition for the Yangtze River.

Years ago, the Qin army launched several tentative cross-river attacks on the Qinhuai River, but he led people to force them back. Their losses were not large, as if they were testing their defense strength.

The lieutenant general was very excited because of this, and even used the words "defeated" the Qin army several times and "beheaded" more than 3000 people of the Qin army by the river when reporting his military exploits to Jiangning City.

Lu Jiang was indignant about this. The Qin army crossed the river tentatively several times, and each time they came, only two or three hundred people came. It was more like trying to test the method and location of crossing the river. They retreated as soon as they counterattacked, and lost a total of more than a dozen people. Suddenly it became like this!

However, Huangfu Jixun, the commander in charge of the defense of the imperial city, said that this was to boost the morale of the army and the people, so it was exaggerated to stabilize people's hearts and keep him from being troublesome.

For such a reason, Lu Jiang also felt that it was quite reasonable, so she didn't ask any more questions. Unexpectedly, after this matter was reported to the city, Chen Gong, who was in charge of military affairs, immediately asked him to lead eight thousand soldiers on the grounds that he was capable and powerful. Go east to rescue Runzhou.

Runzhou Jiedu envoy Liu Cheng repeatedly wrote letters asking for help, saying that Runzhou was in a hurry and needed support.

So Chen Gong ordered him to lead [-] battalions to support Runzhou. If Runzhou was broken, they would not be able to maintain their defense line on the Qinhuai River under attack from both sides.

In fact, Lu Jiang was reluctant to go to Runzhou. In his heart, the Qinhuai River defense line could not stop the Qin army for a long time, and Jiangning City was the only thing Jiangnan could rely on.

What he thought was to use the Qinhuai River to block the Qin army, kill and injure the Qin army, and then retreat into the city to hold on, and force the Qin army to retreat with the strong city of Jiangning.

And guarding Runzhou, just like guarding the Qinhuai River, will be a line of defense that will be breached sooner or later.

After these days of fighting, Lu Jiang also realized the reality, that is, on the frontal battlefield, they would not be able to defeat the Qin army no matter what.

Their soldiers are more valiant, experienced and good at fighting, and they are well equipped and well trained, and they also have invincible artillery.

So he thought that to defeat the Qin army, he must either rely on fortified cities to hold on, or sneak attack on their food roads instead of confronting them head-on.

However, his position and position doomed him to have no control over the situation. Looking at the unscrupulous Qin fleet in the distance, thinking of his wife and children who were still waiting at home, he couldn't help but read: "People from Yujing go to Qiu Xiaosuo, The eaves of the painting rise and the phoenix trees fall. The pillow is quiet and silent,

The moon and the dream come true.With the lamp behind, weeping in secret, the sound of the anvil is urgent.Meidai Xiaoshan saved,

Plantains are born in the evening cold.

When the breeze is bright and the moon is deep at night, it is too late for the dustpan Lu Lang to hate.

There will be an appointment at Mengjiapo in the future, and it will be a good time to meet again."

The next day, he led his troops to the outside of Runzhou City. He saw the Wu army camp in the distance. The gate of Runzhou City was closed. , ready to respond to Runzhou, looking for an opportunity to repel the Wu army.

Soon, they contacted the defenders in the city through the western city wall. It is impossible for them to see so many people outside the city.

Runzhou Jiedu envoy Liu Cheng wrote back to him, indicating that they would stick to the city and asked him to respond outside the city.

The two agreed that if the Wu family attacked the city, they would attack the Wu army outside the city. If the Wu army attacked him, the defenders in the city would come out of the city and attack from both sides, so that Runzhou could be defended.

Seeing the letter, Lu Jiang suddenly felt that Liu Cheng was a reliable person, and this was the best way, so she readily agreed, wrote a reply letter, and asked someone to send it to the foot of the west wall and hang it from the top of the city.

With a reliable comrade-in-arms, Lu Jiang suddenly felt that Runzhou might really be able to hold on.

But as time went by, he became more and more disappointed.

First, the Wuyue army did not launch a large-scale siege, nor did they intend to retreat. It seemed that their attitude was obvious, and they dragged them under the city of Runzhou.

Two to ten days later, news came from Jiangning that the Qin army had breached the Qinhuai River across the board and had crossed the river to besiege Jiangning City.

And a few times later, he took advantage of Wu Jun's inattention and led troops into Runzhou City. What he wanted was to increase the number of troops in the city and strengthen its defense.

This move made Liu Cheng quite unhappy with him, and he began to guard against and suspect him, and the good impression he had at the beginning disappeared.

Slowly, almost a month passed, and his 8000 troops did not break the siege of Runzhou. He launched a tentative attack and sent four battalions, nearly 2000 people, thinking of forcing Wu Jun to retreat from the west to try to break the siege.

But when they reached the foot of Paoma Mountain, they were shot by the artillery of the Qin army half a mile away, and then the Wu army swarmed down to repel them, losing more than 200 people and barely retreating.

This allowed him to see for the first time the power of the Qin army's artillery, and he also understood that although the Wu army was not as good as the Qin army, it could still fight.

In this way, it dragged on for almost a month, and the situation did not improve at all, and he did not relieve the siege of Runzhou, but the situation in the east was getting worse and worse.

At this time, Liu Cheng suddenly suggested that he can't control the situation of the battle here, and more than 8000 people are useless here. Jiang Ning's side is the most important thing. It's better to let him lead the troops to rescue Jiang Ning.

Lu Jiang agreed. He really couldn't get out of the siege, and he didn't get along well with Liu Cheng. Thinking of the battle report that Qin Jun had crossed the Qinhuai River, he told Liu Cheng that Runzhou is an important place. See if Wu Jun is not ready now. As for the attacking posture, just stick to it.

So he left more than 8000 of his 3000 people to Liu Cheng, and then led his troops to the west.

In the city of Runzhou, seeing the arrival of reinforcements outside the city greatly boosted the morale of the whole army, and the originally suppressed and silent city burst into some vitality again.

In the afternoon, Liu Cheng summoned Wang Guan, the commander who was speaking at the top of the city that day, in his official office.

Wang Guan was very nervous at first, remembering what he said at the top of the city that day, he thought that the prison guards were going to clean him up, so he entered the house nervously.

What I didn't expect was that after entering the house, Liu Cheng didn't mean to blame him at all, but said bluntly: "Runzhou can't hold it anymore, I want to surrender to the Qin army, but I can't leave, are you willing to go out of the city as a contact person?" Go and contact Qin Jun on my behalf."

Wang Guan was stunned for a moment, and it took him a while to realize what he had heard, then he shook his head without hesitation, the reason for his shaking his head was not that he was loyal to Southern Tang, he wanted to surrender a long time ago, but...
"Captain, my family is in Jiangning City, if we surrender here, wouldn't it be harming our family!"

Liu Cheng didn't care so much, he brought all the gold and silver treasures to the front line, just in case there was a day to prepare, so he even said: "Oh, the matter is urgent, now we can only fix ourselves, how can we If I can manage my family, my whole family is not all in Jiangning."

Commander Wang Guan was stunned for a moment and could only nod his head in agreement. That night, he quietly went out to contact the Qin army, preparing to explain the surrender.

Two days later, Wang Guan came back and brought the news that the Qin army allowed them to surrender, and brought a letter from the Qin army general with a seal, from the Qin army officer who led the artillery to support the Wu army in the battle.

The next day, Liu Cheng summoned all the generals in the city, and said loudly in public: "I, Liu Cheng, have guarded Runzhou for so long, and I don't want to surrender, but now the situation is stronger than others, and the Qin army is unstoppable. They have crossed the Qinhuai River He, no one in the world can compete with them, for the sake of everyone's survival, I decided to surrender."

At first, many soldiers who thought they were going to announce something important were shocked when they heard it, and then some shouted, and some burst into tears on the spot.

Liu Cheng's face was not good, and he said loudly: "The Lord has bestowed on me more than everyone else, my parents' family is still in Jinling, don't I know the principles of loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness?
This is all for your own good. Think about it, when the Khitans resisted Shi Congyun, 10 people were slaughtered, and the city of Chengdu, the Kingdom of Shu, surrendered and the whole city was safe and sound. What's the end?
If it wasn't for your lives, would I be willing to take such a risk and surrender?Why are you crying! "

All the soldiers did not speak, and the whole city was silent. This is not a mood that can be explained clearly in a few words, and some people were weeping softly, but no one objected loudly.

In the afternoon, Runzhou City Kaesong surrendered. The Qin Army and Wu Army entered the city and took over the city defense. At the same time, they received the weapons and armor of the Tang Army, but they did not capture them. All the defenders were freed on the spot. This was the condition negotiated at the beginning.

At this point, Runzhou, which was seriously ill in the east, was also broken, and the army began to advance westward, and Jinling was more than 100 miles westward.

The East Route Army had already broken through the Qinhuai River and besieged Jinling City.

The Tang army was wiped out on both sides of the east and west, and only a few scattered Tang armed forces were left in the entire south of the Yangtze River, and the capital Jiangning City was still trapped.

Zhu Lingyun, who was far away in the southern capital, and his three soldiers and horses became the last hope of the entire Tang Kingdom
(End of this chapter)