The effect of the war was very significant, at least when Zhang Zhaogang and Meng Zhuze completely defeated the Southern Tang Army and then returned to Songzhou City.
Officials from Chen, Bo, and Suzhou, south of Xuzhou and Songzhou, and local powerful representatives arrived.
Their ability to appear so quickly can only prove one thing. These local snakes have been waiting for the outcome of the war between Zhou and Southern Tang.
Zhang Zhao didn't feel any discomfort. He just extorted 50,000 shi of grain and 20,000 bunches of grass from these local wealthy people and then forgave them.
They even recruited dozens of people from the nephews of these local tycoons to join the left and right Long Xiang Guards.
For these local wealthy families between Zhangzhou and Southern Tang, it is normal for them to help whomever wins.
They don't even want to help whomever wins. What most people want is just to keep their lives and property safely.
If the historical Guo Rong were here, with his temper, the wealthy people in these swaying places would not be able to please him, but Zhang Zhao was different. He could understand the difficulties of these border people.
Moreover, Zhang Zhao doesn't think that among young men like him and Li Jing, no one would be stupid enough to choose Li Jing.
Even for the governors of these three states, Zhang Zhao only asked them to atone for their crimes, compile the land and population registers of the three states as soon as possible, pay the taxes they missed last year, and then confiscate a sum of atonement silver.
This is because after the establishment of the Later Jin Dynasty, the control of these states and counties close to the Southern Tang Dynasty was very weak.
All Shi Jingtang wanted was to pay taxes as soon as possible and collect enough money and food to satisfy the Khitans. The focus of his attention was also on the northern towns.
At that time, Li Min was still in power in the Southern Tang Dynasty, and the atmosphere in the Southern Tang court was not as exaggerated as it is now, where everyone can say nice things.
Li Ming was born in a humble background and was capable of both literary and military skills. He was definitely a great hero of the generation.
Under his governance, the Southern Tang Dynasty was politically stable and all industries prospered, which greatly attracted the Huaibei states.
Although Li Min knew how powerful the Northern Knights were and never dared to provoke the Central Plains Dynasty too much, the penetration was very deep.
That is to say, from this time on, the Huaibei states, except Xuzhou and Songzhou, were under the control of the Central Plains court, and the rest of the states were in a Schrödinger state.
When the Central Plains imperial court did not investigate them, the local wealthy people colluded with the Southern Tang Dynasty. While benefiting from trade with the Southern Tang Dynasty, they also informed the Southern Tang Dynasty. This was basically the norm.
In view of this, Zhang Zhao's army never crossed Bianshui River and basically moved around Songzhou to Shanfu, just to prevent these wallflowers from knowing the exact situation.
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Even the local tycoons in Chen, Bo and Suzhou knew the result, and the people in Songzhou, not far from Meng Zhuze, naturally knew the result more clearly.
As soon as Zhang Zhao's army was about to attack, these people ran not far away from Songzhou City, calling for their children and grandchildren, crying to ask their relatives in the city to stop resisting.
Zhang Zhao also took the opportunity to bring a large number of flags of the Southern Tang Dynasty, especially the red ocher yellow tooth flag given to Liu Yanzhen by Li Jing. After the barbarian bear carried it to the gate of Songzhou City with great force, the people in the city were immediately on the verge of collapse.
That night, Du Chongwei sent someone to lower the city wall to ask for surrender. Zhang Zhao didn't even see anyone, so he just chopped him off with a knife, and then threw his head into Songzhou City with a trebuchet.
In the Yin period, the middle and high-level military academies such as Yuhou, the infantry capital of the German army in Songzhou, jointly urged Songzhou officials to go down to the city to find Zhang Zhao and beg for his life. Zhang Zhao thought about it again and again, but still did not agree.
Although he is now eager to capture Songzhou and then quickly recapture Xuzhou, the soldiers who returned to the German army are special because most of them followed the former Jiedushi Song Yanyun and played a disgraceful role by the Hutuo River.
At that time, Du Chongwei relied on the 200 soldiers who returned to the German army to first control various towns, and then intimidated other Jin soldiers to surrender.
They are guilty, and others can be pardoned, but if they belong to the German army and can escape their guilt without peeling off their skin, then can Li Shouzhen, his son and Song Yanyun in prison also be spared death?
After Zhang Zhao refused to surrender twice in a row, the German troops finally knew that Zhang Zhao was going to kill them, so they had no choice but to retreat and defend.
At the end of March, the army captured the outer city, and the returned German troops retreated into the inner city together with the Khitan people. Zhang Zhao ordered people to set up long-range crossbows and large wooden single crossbows in the north and south of the city to block the water path for the returned German soldiers.
After two days of thirst, the returning German troops finally couldn't stand it any longer. On March 24, a fire broke out in the city.
A group of German soldiers killed all the more than 200 Khitans remaining in the city, and then opened the west gate of the inner city and surrendered.
Although they knew that surrender would mean death, they couldn't stand it anymore and drank horse blood every day to quench their thirst. After drinking it, they wanted to commit suicide.
They killed all the Khitans in the hope that they could escape death with this certificate.
Zhang Zhao looked at the head of a Returned Army soldier with a withered face and bloodstains all over his body, holding up the head of Yelu Dilu, and after guessing that there were only a few hundred Returned Army soldiers still alive, he nodded and agreed to pardon them.
After the army entered the inner city, the only place where there was still fighting was at the German Army Administrative Office. The guards here were the tooth soldiers that Du Chongwei fed with all his belongings.
They will not surrender, and Zhang Zhao will not spare any of them.
Because these tooth soldiers are the hundreds of Heyang tooth soldiers that Yang Guangyuan and his son raised after killing people randomly in Luoyang in the past.
After Yang Guangyuan and Du Chongwei changed towns, these tooth soldiers followed Du Chongwei.
These Heyang tooth soldiers did all kinds of bad things when they were in Luoyang, and they became even more unscrupulous after they came under Du Chongwei's command. Whoever Zhang Zhao spared could not be spared.
However, the government offices of the German Army were built very solidly, which can be regarded as a characteristic of the Five Dynasties. Jiedushi government offices were generally built more like castles.
Zhang Zhao thought for a while and prepared to attack directly with fire. If you don't come out, right? If you don't come out, I will turn your whole family into roasted pigs.
But before they started taking action, there was a 'pop', and Gao Xingzhou, Gao Huaide and his son knelt in front of Zhang Zhao and begged repeatedly.
Only then did Zhang Zhao remember that Gao Xingzhou had married his daughter to Du Hongzhang, Du Chongwei's son. If this was a fire, Gao E'niang would also be cooked.
Alas! How pitiful the hearts of parents in the world!
Zhang Zhao thought for a while and agreed to Gao Xingzhou's request. However, since you want to save your daughter, you can only use the Gao family's old history. Zhang Zhao will not use his soldiers to fill this hole.
"Please also ask the saint to give you a team of gold-producing Fire Thunder Hands!"
Gao Huaide was knowledgeable and knew that Zhang Zhao was good at blasting with all the money he had. This was because the German military office was even strong. Without blowing up a section, many people would have to die before it could be blasted away.
Huangfu Chong, who had been by Zhang Zhao's side, also brought a group of Huangfu's sons and former Huangfu Yu's personal followers, including Du Zhimin, the loyal personal follower who was rescued by Huangfu Yu from the enemy camp.
"Saint, please allow me, the son of Huangfu, to participate in the attack. This thief, Du Chongwei, has brought disaster to the country and the people, causing my uncle Huangfu Taishi to die in despair. I want to sacrifice the heads of Du Chongwei and his son to my uncle."
"Yes!" Zhang Zhao nodded in agreement, then waved to Dunzhu next to him after thinking about it.
"Take the divine arm archers of the fifth team up together and eliminate the remaining enemies as soon as possible."
After watching Gao Xingzhou and his son, Dunzhu, Huangfuchong and others start the attack, Zhang Zhao listened to the report outside the office.
Liu Yanzhen brought 30,000 imperial troops from the Southern Tang Dynasty, 15,000 state and county soldiers and Tuanjie Township soldiers, plus 20,000 Southern Tang civilians and 10,000 Xuzhou civilians, a total of 75,000 people to relieve the siege of Songzhou.
As a result, on the way, 30,000 civilians were killed or injured and fled due to cruel oppression. In the end, less than 20,000 people were left. Therefore, only about 60,000 people actually reached Songzhou.
During the battle, Zhang Zhao first attacked and killed the rear army of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Zhang Yanwei, the commander of the rear army, was killed in the battle. The civilian husband and the united rural soldiers basically fled before the war started.
Thousands of people were not present because they needed to transport grain and grass to Songzhou to ensure the smooth flow of the Bian River. Therefore, in fact, the Southern Tang rear army only had 27,000 people.
Most of the more than 20,000 people jumped into the river and were shot or drowned.
The exact number of people who died has not yet been calculated, but it is estimated that it will be no less than 10,000 people.
As for those who did not jump into the river, more than 4,000 people were killed by the formation and nearly 10,000 people were captured.
In the battle of Meng Zhuze, the results were even more brilliant. Of the 21,000 elite Imperial Guards of the Southern Tang Dynasty, more than 5,000 were killed by the formation, and the rest were basically captured.
Liu Yanzhen, the commander of the Ma Bu Army, and Zhang Quan, the governor of Chizhou, were all deployed in the northern camp of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Dozens of generals and the following generals were killed in the battle.
Generals such as Chai Kehong, the Marquis of Yu, the capital of the Longwu Army, were captured alive, and Zheng Zhaoye, the Marquis of Yu, the capital of the Shenwu Army, was seriously injured and captured.
In this battle, the Southern Tang Forbidden Army suffered a lot of losses, and it was still the most elite of 20,000 people. According to contemporary estimates, the Southern Tang Forbidden Army could only number between 50,000 and 70,000 at most.
It can be said that Liu Yanzhen's disastrous defeat basically emptied all the mobile troops of the Southern Tang Dynasty.
Li Jing wanted to organize 30,000 people to go north again, unless he sent no guards to the east and west.
As for the Black Cloud Changjian City that finally appeared, Zhang Zhao also learned about it through prisoners.
It turns out that since the death of Yang Xingmi, Yang He who succeeded to the throne wanted to get rid of the control of Heiyun Changjian, which was already known as Zuoya Army and Youya Army. He expelled a large part of Heiyun Changjian within three years of his reign.
Member of Sword City.
So Zhang Hao, the commander of Zuo Ya, and Xu Wen, the commander of Right Ya, launched a rebellion and killed Yang Jue. However, only nine days later, Xu Wen and Zhang Hao fought internally again, and finally Xu Wen succeeded in killing Zhang Hao.
However, when Xu Wen was executing Zhang Hao, in order to clear himself up, he shook off all the news about Yang Jie's murder.
He also placed all the blame on Zhang Hao and Zuo Yajun, implicating a large number of people.
This indirectly led to the internal fighting in the Heiyun Changjian City. By the time the Southern Tang Dynasty was established, although less than ten years had passed, the Heiyun Changjian City that followed Yang Xingmi across the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers had basically disappeared.
Training techniques and combat tactics have been passed down.
Among the Forbidden Army of the Southern Tang Dynasty, only a small number of those who appeared this time were left behind and were killed by Zhang Zhao. The descendants of Heiyun Changjian City are still there, but in the real Heiyun Changjian City, they have completely disappeared.
Just as Zhang Zhao was listening to the report, the battle at the Gui De Army Administrative Office ended quickly.
Four large holes were blasted in the east and north, and the Zhou army attacked from four directions at the same time.
Gao Xingzhou, Gao Huaide and his son worked particularly hard to clear their suspicions.
Not to mention Huangfuchong, Du Zhimin and others. Du Chongwei can be said to be the murderer who indirectly killed Huangfu Yu, and he would not avoid life or death during the fight.
The Hanshandu soldiers, led by Dundup himself, wore heavy armor and used divine arm bows to kill them from house to house, which was not something Du Chongwei's tooth soldiers could resist.
In just one hour, more than two hundred of the remaining original Heyang Ya soldiers were eliminated.
Du Chongwei, his wife Shi, their eldest son Du Hongzhang, and their second son Du Hongcan were found.
It has only been two years since the Hutuo River surrendered, but Du Chongwei already seems to have aged twenty years.
At first he wanted to be the emperor, but he was tricked by Yelu Deguang. In the past two years, not only did he become famous, but he also lost all his accumulated wealth.
Du Chongwei, who had a gray beard, looked up at Zhang Zhao. He originally wanted to beg for mercy, but when he saw the look in Zhang Zhao's eyes, he knew there was no chance.
Moreover, most of the people around him were soldiers and generals of the later Jin Dynasty, and they had been tricked by Du Chongwei.
"Shameless thief! Today is your day, please give an order from the saint to hand over this thief to us!"
Wang Zhou's eyes were red, and he looked at Zhang Zhao pleadingly.
The roar of the mountain and the tsunami of angry curses rang out, and everyone around them knelt down, begging Zhang Zhao to hand over Du Chongwei to them.
Zhang Zhao curled his lips in disgust, unwilling to even look at this heavyweight plague lord. As soon as he waved his hand, Wang Zhou, Yao Yuanfu and others started to drag Du Chongwei towards the street.
Just a few steps after being dragged away, Zhang Zhao heard Du Chongwei's screams. The surrounding soldiers surrounded him and beat him with fists and feet until Du Chongwei's bones were broken and his tendons were broken.
It seems that this guy will be beaten to a pulp together with his good partner Zhang Yanwei.
Du Chongwei's wife Shi was so frightened that she screamed loudly.
This woman is also a heavyweight. Her brother Shi Jingtang and her husband Du Chongwei are each more shameless than the other. Shi not only fails to dissuade her, but is actually one of the accomplices.
Du Chongwei's thoughts as an emperor were the result of Shi's constant instigation by the empress.
Historically, when Yelv Deguang returned to the north, the couple knelt down and knelt down in Xiangzhou to worship Yelv Deguang as their father.
However, Zhang Zhao was still not prepared to kill her. After all, all she could play was a supporting role. She could just find a nunnery and throw her in to fend for herself.
But at this moment, Shi's scream attracted the attention of Xue Huairang beside Zhang Zhao.
Xue Huairang, who arrived late and had no chance to kill Du Chongwei, stepped forward with red eyes and knocked Shi to the ground with one punch.
Afterwards, Shi was beaten with sticks and rolled on the ground. After a while, she lost her breath.
Zhang Zhao originally wanted to stop him, but after a slight hesitation, Xue Huairang beat Shi to death, so he simply gave up.
Here, Du Chongwei's two sons saw their parents being killed and collapsed on the ground in fear. Huangfu rushed over and begged Zhang Zhao, "Sage, please allow me to avenge my uncle!"
Well, if I don't come up and plead, I won't even be able to get the soup.
Zhang Zhao nodded indifferently, and Huangfu Chong rushed forward with a bone flower in his hand. He smashed Du Hongzhang's head with a hammer, then grabbed Du Hongcan and went far away, and cut open his wrists to pay homage to Huangfu Yu.
At this time, all the direct members of the Du family had been killed. Fortunately, Du Chongwei had no grandchildren yet, so it would not be a problem for Zhang Zhao. The remaining ones were Du Chongwei's wives, concubines, and daughters-in-law.
Zhang Zhao followed Gao Huaide's worried gaze and saw a young girl wearing coarse linen clothes, her face plastered with yellow mud into a large pattern, and her eyes shining brightly, mixed in the crowd.
Zhang Zhao immediately knew who this was. It must be Gao Huaide's sister, Gao Xingzhou's eldest daughter, and Du Chongwei's eldest daughter-in-law Gao Eniang.
"E Niang is still among the crowd, Gao Taibao, Zang Yong, why don't you pick her up? It's cold, don't freeze her."
Although Zhang Zhao was very satisfied with the actions of the Gao family and his son, he still pretended to blame him.
Gao Xingzhou and Gao Huaide knelt down on one knee. Gao Xingzhou sobbed and replied, "I am the in-laws of sinners. How dare you use your private life to dethrone the public."
Zhang Zhao waved his hands and said comfortingly: "Knowing people but not knowing their hearts, Du Chongwei is hiding evil intentions and is so shameless. How could the Taibao know about it? He who doesn't know is not guilty. Get up! Call E Niang over, don't scare her.
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Zhang Zhao's heart moved. The Later Jin Dynasty originally had three pillars of generals in Hebei: Fu Yanqing's Fu family, Gao Xingzhou's Gao family, and Huangfu Yu's Huangfu family.
Now that Huangfu Yu committed suicide and died for his country, the Huangfu family has no successors and is about to decline. Only the Fu family and the Gao family are strong.
He has already taken in Fu Yanqing's eldest daughter, Queen Fu in history, and with Fu Yanqing's many generals, it looks like he can completely suppress the Gao family.
This is not necessarily a good thing for the emperor. Even if Fu Yanqing is loyal, what about the rest of the Fu family? Where are their sons and grandchildren? So we still have to support the Gao family.
Moreover, Gao Huaide was historically the founding hero of the Northern Song Dynasty and a famous general at that time, so he was qualified to win over Zhang Zhao.
Zhang Zhao said that he wanted to bring Gao Eniang over, and Gao Huaide immediately understood. He hurried over, wiped off the mud on Gao Eniang's face with a piece of cloth, and then dragged her over.
However, when she was asked to bow down to Zhang Zhao, a stubborn look appeared on Gao E Niang's face, but she refused to bow her head. It was Gao Huaide who pressed her neck hard and forced her to bow her head.
Haha! Zhang Zhao was happy in his heart. Gao E Niang was quite tall, almost 1.7 meters tall. She was the tallest woman Zhang Zhao had encountered since he came to this era.
Although the little appearance is not particularly gorgeous, the stubborn expression and dissatisfied look are a bit like that of Little Pepper, which is quite interesting.
Zhang Zhao laughed and was not reserved at all, "No need to force it, let's go back to Tokyo first and be with Mrs. Fu!"