Finally it was Li Yu's turn. But before sending troops, Zhao Kuangyin had to solve a person first: Lin Renzhao, a famous general of the Southern Tang Dynasty! As early as the winter of 1970, when Pan Mei was attacking the Southern Han with all his might, Lin Renzhao secretly wrote to Li Yu, "Your Majesty, the opportunity has come. The Song Dynasty had just destroyed Houshu, and now it attacked the Southern Han again. It took thousands of miles to travel back and forth. They were exhausted. Now their Huainan prefectures do not exceed 1,000 troops. If you give me tens of thousands of troops, I will definitely take back our lost land in Huainan. If you are afraid of causing war between the two countries, when I raise a army, you can claim to the outside world that I have rebelled. This is what happens, and you and the country will benefit. If you are defeated, you will kill my entire clan and show that you have no other intentions... You think this is good."

This person must be eliminated! So in February of 1972, something like this happened: One day, Zhao Kuangyin took Li Congshan for a walk in the palace and walked into a side hall. During the chat, the emperor seemed to accidentally point to a portrait on the wall and ask, "Do you know this person?" Li Congshan was very hesitant, "It seems to be Lin Renzhao in Jiangnan." Zhao Kuangyin nodded repeatedly, "Yes. It's General Lin! He has surrendered, and sent a portrait as a token." As he said, he pointed out, "Did you see that empty house? That's the new home I gave to General Lin." Li Congshan immediately sent this "secret letter" back to Jinling. His brother Li Yu did not delay and immediately gave Lin Renzhao a glass of poisonous wine.

In October 973, a small official named Pan You wrote a letter and compared Li Yu to the first two "Xia Jie, Shang Zhou, and Sun Hao". They would turn into big bricks toward any current emperor at any time. The king of Jie and Zhou has even become an idiom. But Sun Hao is too sensitive and is too good to match Li Yu.

Li Yu was furious and put Pan You and his friend Li Ping in prison. But he didn't expect that Pan You was really awesome. He wanted to die to advise the king, so he committed suicide in prison. This brought great reputational influence to Li Yu. In anger, Li Ping was also sentenced to death. The reason was that the reason why Pan You committed such a crime was caused by Li Ping.

In May of the 7th year of Kaibao (974), Li Yu integrated his day and night longing for his younger brother Li Congshan who was far away in Kaifeng into the sacred and inviolable treasure land in his spiritual world. The gorgeous lyrics and beautiful writing of "The Book of the Climbing High" could not impress Zhao Kuangyin. Not only did Zhao Kuangyin not let Li Congshan return to his country. In July, he also sent a man named Liang Jiong to the Southern Tang Dynasty for the last time, asking Li Yu to come to Kaifeng to participate in the winter festival, but Li Yu refused. It is said in history that "the emperor decided to attack him."

After Zhao Kuangyin was rejected, he suddenly made a new request, asking Li Yu to send someone to escort a man named Fan from the Southern Tang Dynasty to Kaifeng. No one in the family must be missing. Li Yu was confused. But he had just rejected Zhao Kuangyin, so he should have tried to please him now. According to investigation, the family with the surname Fan was an extremely ordinary person, and the head of the household was a loser named Fan Ruoshui by Zhao Kuangyin. Then give it to him, it is nothing to be cherished.

On September 18, the vanguard of the Song army, Cao Han, went to Jingnan first. On the 21st, Cao Bin, the first general of the Northern Song Dynasty, led Li Hanqiong and Tian Qinzuo to lead the Jinghu naval army to the east along the Yangtze River and headed directly to the southern Tang capital Jinling. Pan Mei led Liu Yu and Liang Jiong as the second route to gather Hezhou and stand by the river. On October 12, he ordered the navy to enter the Yangtze River through the Grand Canal, and then go east to join the Wuyue army, and go east to threaten Jinling. On the 23rd, he ordered the King of Wuyue Qian Chu to lead his army north from Hangzhou, meet with the Kaifeng Navy, and surround Jinling. The court sent Ding Deyu as the van and the army supervisor, and guided the work of the Wuyue people at any time. Route 5: Wang Ming restrained Wuchang and the Southern Tang army in Hukou and blocked him from going east to help.

On October 18, Cao Bin officially launched his troops! He headed straight to Jinling! Before that, when Cao Bin said goodbye to Zhao Kuangyin, Zhao Kuangyin said to him, "You have the full power of the affairs of Jiangnan. Remember not to kill innocent people. It is best to surrender more and not force the city to attack." At the same time, he solemnly gave Cao Bin the first Shangfang sword since the founding of the Song Dynasty. In front of Pan Mei and others, "The deputy general is coming down, and those who do not need to be killed." Pan Mei and others were immediately shocked. This means that Cao Bin has the power to kill them at any time, and then report them!

On the 25th, Cao Bin's army crossed the river from Qiyang and captured Xiakou Village. On October 5th, the defender Ge Yan abandoned the city and fled, and Cao Bin successfully captured Chizhou. On the 18th, the army came to Caishiji, the first fortress on the Yangtze River in the Southern Tang Dynasty. Since ancient times, many heroes have looked at the river and sighed, so Li Yu is still not in a hurry. On the 20th, the 150-volume "Old History of the Five Dynasties" compiled by Prime Minister Xue Juzheng was completed, which also indicates that the Song Dynasty will not become the sixth generation, but will be the complete endorsement of the chaotic times of the Five Dynasties!

On the 23rd, the Song army attacked Caishiji in a head-on attack. More than 20,000 people in the Southern Tang Dynasty fought and were defeated. More than 1,000 people including Yang Shou, Sun Zhen were captured. In addition, more than 300 war horses were not produced. Jiangnan did not produce horses, which was given to the Song Dynasty every year, and now it has returned to the hands of the Song Dynasty.

Then, until November 9, the Song army was very busy. Li Yu was so busy that he was very surprised. He asked his confidant Zhang Yu, "Can this be done?" "I have never written any of the classics of all dynasties, so this is definitely not done." Yu, "Yes! I also think this is a joke."

What has the Song army been busy with for more than half a month? Build a floating bridge! I didn't expect it? This is the breakthrough point that the Song army has chosen in advance! But there are thousands of miles along the Yangtze River, and you can break through anywhere. Why did you choose the dangerous and hard Caishiji? Is this Cao Bin's personal hobby? He is addicted to attacking natural dangers? Or is Zhao Kuangyin's highest instruction? He must break through at the strongest point, which will make the Southern Tang people completely frightened from the beginning?

None of them. The reason is that the person who failed the exam was a loser. He failed the exam many times, but he was determined to be a thousand miles away. He took the initiative to write letters to King Li Yu and made various suggestions on national affairs, but unfortunately no one paid attention to him. The gentleman, who had no way to serve the country and had no way to become an official, was very sad. He threw down his books and decided to express his love for the mountains and rivers. The specific manifestation was rowing and fishing. And he preferred a location: Caishiji. It was here. He kept fishing day and night, throwing it into the middle of the river from time to time, like a fish net or a fish line? Or a float with a stone tied to it. Anyway, he was elusive and alone and persisted for a long time. After that, the people of the Southern Tang Dynasty could never see him again, and no one knew where he went. Until the Emperor of the Song Dynasty suddenly pointed out that the whole family wanted him.

As a result, a floating bridge without foundation appeared on the Yangtze River that could steadily support thousands of troops to pass quickly.

It was not until this time that Li Yu felt the danger for the first time. He wrote to the king of Wu Yue Qian Chu, "I have no self today, how can I have a lord tomorrow? Once the emperor of Song changed his place to reward merits, the king was also a commoner in Daliang." It was concise and hit the nail on the head. Li Yu firmly believed that Qian Chu would withdraw his troops immediately after seeing the letter and instead united with him to fight against the Song Dynasty. But on the 14th, the letter was passed on to Kaifeng by Qian Chu. Li Yu was puzzled, was it because he didn't say it thoroughly in the letter? Or... But he smiled bitterly not long after. He remembered. Four years ago, he had done such a thing, and handed over the letter Liu Yu to him to Zhao Kuangyin. Alas! Retribution...

In November, Zhao Kuangyin received more than this letter from Li Yu to Qian Chu. On the 27th, another letter sent to him by Sun Quanxing, the governor of Xiongzhou, was even more important. The letter was written by Yelu Cong, the governor of Zhuozhou, Liao Kingdom, "There was no rift between the two dynasties at first, and if they had a messenger, they would show the hearts of the two kings. Use it to relieve the people and become neighbors, it would be a waste of time." Zhao Kuangyin ordered Sun Quanxing to write a reply, and the two countries of Song and Liao began their first peaceful diplomatic contact. When the Northern Han army attacked Jinzhou in December, the Liao Kingdom did not send troops to assist.

In December, Jinling City, the capital of the Southern Tang Dynasty, was martial law. Li Yu ordered the abolition of Kaibao, calling it the year Jiaxu and the next year Yihai. At the same time, recruiting troops and garrisoning grain. Following Zhang Ji and Chen Qiao's plan: to strengthen the walls and clear the fields. Give the important task of defending the city of Jinling to Huangfu Jixun. Huangfu Jixun was the son of the famous general Huangfu Hui. Huangfu Hui was the old opponent of Zhao Kuangyin. When Chai Rong conquers Huainan, Zhao Kuangyin captured Huangfu Hui alive and won the victory in Chuzhou. The tiger father had no dog son? The Southern Tang Dynasty was looking forward to the performance of General Huangfu Xiao. Li Yu hid in the ** and chanted with his little Zhou Hou, recited scriptures and talks with monks and Taoists, and created poems that were passed down from generation to generation. He was also studying a wonderful book called "The Book of Changes" that is said to be a collection of all the classical essences of China in a volume.

On the 17th day of the first lunar month of Kaibao (975), the prelude to the strong attack on Jinling began. Li Hanqiong led the vanguard of the Song army across the Qinhuai River and burned the Southern Tang Water Village. Although the water village was lost, the Jiangnan army still had more than 100,000. However, the Song army could not cross the river because there were no large ships. At this time, the first brave general Pan Mei led the soldiers and swam across the river, defeating the Southern Tang army. The subsequent troops of the Song army crossed the river along the Caishiji floating bridge. In order to regain the floating bridge, the Southern Tang army went upstream. Pan Mei urgently returned to the army to fight and won a great victory. He captured Zheng Bin and seven others who were leading the burning of the bridge alive. On February 13, the Song army captured the outer city of Jinling.

Li Yu read the "Book of Changes" in the deep palace for nearly half a year. One day in May, he was very quiet and thought of walking on the city wall. He was stunned by the scene in front of him. He knew that the Song army had come, and he also knew that there was a floating bridge on Caishiji and that the Yangtze River had been broken through. But he didn't know that Jinling City had been surrounded by enemy troops, and he didn't know that the outer city had been lost, and wherever he saw the boundless Song army camp!

This is the reality. The Song army has been besieging Jinling for nearly half a year. The master of this great capital, Nan Tang, actually didn't know it! Li Yu, who has always been gentle and elegant, finally roared, "Where is Huangfu Jixun? I want him to come to see me immediately."

Huangfu Jixun came soon. Li Yu pointed outside the city and his whole body was trembling. "What's going on? What's outside the city?" Huangfu Jixun's face remained unchanged and answered clearly "Song Army" Li Yu almost fainted. He could only remember what to ask below, "Why did I never know? Why didn't you report?" Huangfu Jixun smiled, "I'm all for Your Majesty. Even if I report it day and night, it only shocked the palace." Li Yu completely fainted! Before fainting, he signaled to cut off this general who was so "considered"! Some minor accidents occurred when chopping people. The soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty, who had been commanded by General Huangfu for more than 5 months, suddenly rushed forward, drew their swords and chopped Huangfu Jixun on the spot...

Afterwards, Li Yu found out that in the past five months, the young and promising Huangfu, who had the advantageous genetic genes, had not only been cowardly and feared the enemy, but also very shameless. His catchphrase was "The Northern Army is strong, who can defeat him?" Once the Southern Tang army was defeated, he smiled and said, "I know that he is not able to win." What's even more hateful is that seeing the situation is bad, some suicide squads wanted to kill at night and attack the Song army. When Huangfu Jixun found out, he immediately caught all of these people and locked them up after whipping them...

Huangfu Jixun was killed, and Li Yu handed over the military power to his confidant Zhang Wei, and at the same time he started to save himself. At this time, except for this Jinling City, he had only 100,000 troops far away in Hukou. Li Yu ordered that Zhu Lingyun at Hukou should be able to quickly rescue Jinling with everyone. Who was not recorded in history books? How did he break through the military camp that lasted several miles of the Song Dynasty? He sent Li Yu's order to Zhu Lingyun. Only record Zhu Lingyun's reaction after receiving the letter.

Zhu "What to do" the generals "Now in May, the Yangtze River is in the flood season, which is conducive to the dispatch of warships. Let's rush down." Zhu "No! Your mind is too simple. If we are all moving, what will happen to the enemy? We will definitely follow us. If we win, everything will be easy to say. But once we fail, the food supply will be gone, what to do then?" The generals looked at each other. It sounded very profound? Then just do it like this and do nothing? Zhu smiled, "You are really... too smart." It's simple. I'll write a letter to Brother Chai Kezhen, who stayed at Nandu, and ask him to guard Hukou for me. In this way, we have a way out? We can also be assured and boldly attacked." So I wrote a letter and waited for the letter. They were very helpless to receive news that Brother Chai suddenly fell seriously ill and was really helpless... So Zhu Lingyun couldn't help either. He had no choice but to say sorry to His Majesty, the emperor who kept calling for help in Jinling City with disappointment! Your Majesty... I can't help either...

On July 12, Zhao Kuangyin sent Li Mu to send Li Yu's younger brother Li Cong back to the country, issued an edict to urge Li Yu to surrender, and ordered the generals to slow the attack and wait for it. In September, the Wu Yue army captured Runzhou, the eastern gateway of Jinling, and completed the encirclement with the Song army. Li Congwen also returned to Jinling to convey Zhao Kuangyin's order. Chen Qiao and Zhang Qi believed that the Song army could not capture Jinling City, so they retreated every moment, which gave up Li Yu's idea of ​​surrendering. Li Mu turned to Kaifeng, and Zhao Kuangyin ordered the generals to advance.

In desperation, Li Yu decided to use his trump card to Zhao Kuangyin - Xu Xuan!

Xu Xuan was full of knowledge and sharp teeth and was famous both at home and abroad. As long as he mentioned his name, the arrogant Song Dynasty ministers north of the Yangtze River would immediately faint. The half of the literary ones.

Think about it, everyone is a disciple of Confucius, but they are full of words and cited scriptures and cited classics. And the more people, the better your condition is. But you are always dumbfounded and don’t know what to say... How can you live this day? In the past, you say that you have lost your reputation and should be blamed for retirement. In the past, you say that a country’s literati are underestimated, and it happens that Zhao Kuangyin attaches great importance to this aspect, which has a great impact. (To be continued)
Chapter completed!