Luo Youdu settled the matter of Huaiyan in Hezhou, handed over the heavy responsibility of Hezhou to Cao Bin, and then led his troops to Shuzhou.
He's playing a little trick here.
Different from the situation in Luzhou, when he was in Luzhou, Luo Youdu used all the money and goods in the treasury to reward the army. He really had no money at all, so he let the merchants buy shares and give them a share of the pie.
Rather than choosing to earn the transit price difference through direct acquisition.
The Hezhou treasury is rich, and the Luzhou treasury has also received the first wave of Huai salt profits, and has considerable savings.
But he still chose to let gentry and merchants take shares, so that Luo Youdu would get much less money in the end. But there was an advantage. Once Hezhou fell, the business would be gone.
He used this to tie the gentry of Hezhou to him in one fell swoop. If they couldn't get any money, they would do their best to help Cao Bin defend the city. If they wanted to go back, they would not be able to go back.
Hezhou is not close to Shuzhou. If we march on foot, it will take five days to reach Shuzhou.
But as long as the Chao Lake water system is used to transport troops by boat, it only takes two days to arrive.
The Shuzhou garrison's name is Zhu Lingyun. He is a local. His grandfather is Yang Wu General Zhu Yanshou. He can be regarded as the queen of the generals and is well versed in military strategy.
All the troops of the Zhou army advanced together and attacked from all sides. Zhu Lingyun knew that sooner or later it would be Shuzhou's turn, so he settled down early in the morning and waited for all parties to explore the situation.
As expected, Luo Youdu's movements were discovered.
When he heard that the shadow of this man's famous tree was Luo Youdu of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Zhu Lingyun felt a little scared before he started fighting.
Luo Youdu's achievements are so shocking. Who in the entire Southern Tang Dynasty doesn't know that Luo Youdu and Zhao Kuangyin, one has endless plans and the other is like the reincarnation of an overlord, causing Huainan to turn upside down.
These two opponents were entities that no general in the Southern Tang Dynasty wanted to encounter at the moment.
"Zhu Defense Envoy!"
Lieutenant General Zhang Hong came closer with an embarrassed look on his face and said angrily: "Those untouchables outside the city are actually unwilling to enter the city."
Zhu Lingyun's face was also a little ugly. When facing an siege, manpower was the key.
Move the people outside the city into the city, collect their food, and make unified arrangements.
These people are reserve forces, the young and strong are soldiers, and the old and infirm can also be used to mend and mend with gold.
Since ancient times, city defense has required the entire city to work together, and the city's defenders alone can only defend it for a short time.
Unexpectedly, the people outside the city were unwilling to enter the city.
A stern look flashed in Zhang Hong's eyes, and he said in a hateful voice: "Should we force them into the city?"
Zhu Lingyun was very moved. Leaving the people outside the city would become an aid to the enemy. Leaving them outside the city would do no good to Shuzhou.
"never mind!"
Zhu Lingyun sighed with compassion and said: "We are all brothers and sisters, why bother to kill?"
How could he be so kind? He just got the news from the scouts that the army led by Luo Youdu was nothing like the soldiers of the Northerners. The army marched in boats. They marched westward along the Longshu River at an extremely fast speed. They were only a few meters away from Shuzhou City.
Half a day's work.
At this moment, time is extremely tight to force the people into the city.
Luo Youdu was the best at riding, and the example of his subordinate Shi Shouxin riding lightly down to Luzhou is very close to his eyes.
If the other side sends cavalry first, wouldn't everything be over?
Zhu Lingyun's remarks were simply to gain fame, and there is no guarantee that such a passage will be recorded in future history books.
However, what Zhang Hong said gave Zhu Lingyun an ominous premonition.
Luo Youdu is definitely an anomaly in this era.
There is no such thing as leading troops.
If this army doesn't rob or kill, where will the morale come from? Where will the motivation come from?
What the people want, how much is it worth?
But he chose Luzhou and offered to surrender to Hezhou, but he did not commit any crime in the autumn.
The gentry and the common people sang praises of virtue, and even the philistine businessmen preached benevolence and righteousness.
Now it's better, even the people in Shuzhou have been affected and are unwilling to enter the city.
What about the gentry and common people in Shuzhou City?
The more Zhu Lingyun thought about it, the heavier his heart became. He thought to himself: "No, I can die. I can't harm my wife, children, and mother."
Thinking of this, Zhu Lingyun quickly returned home and secretly told his servants to send his family to Jiangnan at night.
Taoxi Town.
Luo Youdu did not sail the transport ship into Taoxi Town, but stationed outside the city to prevent the army from entering the town and disturbing the people.
When the soldiers got off the boat, Luo Youdu called Zhang Xiong: "I'll leave this to you, don't be careless."
Zhang Xiong and his new recruits were all water experts. They took boats and used the Chaohu Lake water network to travel between Luzhou, Hezhou and now Shuzhou.
They all relied on Zhang Xiong's new recruits to ferry them across.
The appearance of Zhang Xiong was the biggest surprise Luo Youdu encountered during his southern expedition.
Zhang Xiong has a resilience that ordinary people cannot match.
After staying in Luzhou for more than ten days, Zhang Xiong did not take a step out of the military camp. Every day he practiced martial arts and the art of war, read and learned calligraphy.
He is not a nerd, let alone a genius, and books cannot bring him happiness. For a commoner like him who has no cultural foundation, the profound art of war and difficult knowledge are as boring as the Bible.
But Zhang Xiong suppressed this boredom and absorbed knowledge tirelessly.
The same goes for their expeditions and states.
Zhang Xiong's two sons, Zhang Zhong and Zhang Xiao, couldn't bear their loneliness and went out to eat and drink.
But Zhang Xiong still stayed in the military camp.
Luo Youdu made a lot of money through Huaiyan, and he would reward the army from time to time.
All the rewards Zhang Xiong received were spent on Mr. Qing. Now he hired an old scholar to accompany the army. He would listen to the art of war and learn to read every day.
More than a month ago, Zhang Xiong didn't know how to arrange the camp, so he had to ask Shi Shouxin for help.
It only took a month for Zhang Xiong to set up camp and it was clear to him.
Luo Youdu was greatly surprised and handed the rear to him with confidence.
Little did he know that Zhang Xiong relied on this resilience to lead a group of white-armored soldiers composed of peasants and civilians to defeat the well-equipped Zhou soldiers many times in history.
It's just that a "little man" like Zhang Xiong was drowned in the torrent of history and is not remembered by him.
After reorganizing the army, Luo Youdu specifically emphasized military discipline to Wu Han again before setting off.
Although Wu Han didn't understand why Luo Youdu valued such unimportant things so much, he also knew that Luo Youdu was generous with his subordinates. Even if he didn't commit robbery, he could still get a lot of rewards.
There are not many people who are as psychopathic as Wang Jixun, who kills and eats meat at every turn, and there is not much rejection of this kind of military discipline.
Luo Youdu did not enter Taoxi Town directly, but bypassed Taoxi Town and headed for Shuzhou.
As we were about to arrive at the outskirts of Shuzhou, the sound of horse hooves gradually sounded behind us.
A smile appeared on Luo Youdu's lips.
Shi Shouxin came closer with a stinking look on his face and cursed: "Why is there a river everywhere in this damn place?"
"Haha!" Luo Youdu couldn't help laughing three times.
When setting off, Shi Shouxian didn't believe that their water route was faster than his cavalry.
The two had a drink and a bet to see who would arrive in Shuzhou first.
The results are obvious. There is a water vein near Shuzhou called Longshu Water that leads directly to Chaohu Lake.
As long as Luo Youdu's fleet arrived at Chaohu from Hezhou, they would drive directly in without making any turns, and they would not stop day and night. Shi Shouxin's cavalry could not compare.