Zhao Defang's road to the virtuous king

Defang is 16 years old and Di Fei is 17 years old

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During the eight years of Kaibao, Taizu went on hunting tours, inspected the army, and inspected border defenses. He brought two princes, Dezhao Defang, to personally guide the princes to ride and shoot, to teach Taizu Changquan and Panlong cudgel, and to meet envoys and officials.

In November of the eighth year of Kaibao, Taizu ordered the newly married prince Defang to follow Cao Bin's army to besiege Southern Tang.

In the evening, Defang stood in front of the camp and looked at the brightly lit Jinling City in front of him. Tian Gu, the guard, said, "Your Highness, our army has already surrounded Jinling. It will take only a few days to break through the city and capture Jinling City. cease to exist."

"Yes." Defang nodded, "It's going to be one less country."

"Your Highness, I heard that the taxation in the Southern Tang Dynasty was extremely heavy, the people suffered unspeakably, and the people's hearts were broken. That's why our army was able to capture several cities so quickly, and even approached the land of Jinling."

"Yes, but it wasn't like this before," Defang said. "In the beginning, Li Min, the Liezu of the Southern Tang Dynasty, stabilized the country with the strategy of calming down the army and calming the people. Therefore, the Southern Tang Dynasty had a stable situation for 30 years, and there were many talents in the south of the Yangtze River. During the war, many The down-and-out literati in Jiangbei were willing to come here to live, and Li Jing, who came to the throne later, did not want to fight again. He only hoped that he could guard Jiangnan, but the good times did not last long. The entire army was annihilated, so Li Jing had no choice but to express Zhou Shizong's succession to the crown prince Hongji, and asked to draw the river as a boundary and dedicate the land in the north of the river. Later, Prince Hongji of the Southern Tang Dynasty died of illness, so after Li Jing died, Li Yu took over the throne, but at this time the scenery of the Southern Tang Dynasty was not there, and the land in the north of the Jiangnan was lost, and the south of the Yangtze River was in a predicament of lack of salt. Moreover, tribute has to be paid every year. The treasury of the Southern Tang Dynasty is empty and unable to support it. Therefore, taxes are continuously increased. Fighting against each other, the hearts of the people in the country are not in harmony, and the people are full of complaints, but Li Yu is still in the forbidden room, enjoying delicious food and wine, indulging in singing and dancing, singing and writing poems with beautiful women in his arms, such a monarch, such subjects, such people, How can the Southern Tang be undefeated? Now that my Song soldiers are approaching the city, Li Yu's dream should also wake up."

"What your Highness said is that I heard that Li Yu also sent people to rush to help the army outside the border, but it's a pity that it's all too late, and his soldiers are simply vulnerable."

"Well, Li Yu clearly surrendered to my Great Song Dynasty, but secretly dispatched soldiers. Not only did he resist his father's order not to meet in Bianjing, but he even dared to imprison our Great Song envoys. It's really abominable! The most powerful person in the Southern Tang Dynasty is Shui Army, this time Li Yu is looking forward to Zhu Lingyun's 15 water army to solve the difficulties in Jinling, but how powerful our Song Dynasty water army is, they never thought that our army would have new firearms. Last month, our army fought in Hukou Let his navy be buried at the bottom of the river, and the emperor will decide on a battle strategy. General Cao and the generals will besiege the city to fight for reinforcements. The army of the Southern Tang Dynasty has long since disappeared, and now Jinling is like a lonely city, but Li Yu still refuses to surrender."

"Your Highness, he won't last long. I heard from General Cao that there is a shortage of food in the city and the morale of the soldiers is low."

"Yes, if Li Yu refuses to surrender, I'm afraid it will be hard for the people in the city."