Luo Youdu received a battle report from the front line.
"On the night of the 22nd, the bandit general Zhu Yuan crossed the Hao River at night and made a surprise attack at the mouth of the river. Wu Xingde was not aware of it for a moment, and the camp was in chaos. He lost the opportunity and retreated steadily. Jiao Jixun led his troops to return quickly to help stabilize Wu Xingde.
Stay in position. The bandit general Lin Renzhao sensed something was wrong and personally led the navy to rescue him. With his martial arts, Jiao Jixun was defeated and retreated, suffering heavy casualties. The Wukou defense line was also broken by the Southern Tang Army."
"On the 23rd, the Zhou soldiers retreated thirty miles. Lin Renzhao led the navy into the Dongfei River and stationed at the foot of Zijin Mountain."
Although the battle report was only a short one hundred words long, Luo Youdu read it more than ten times before closing it with satisfaction.
Some people and some things are destined.
Even if the process has changed, even if the situation has undergone earth-shaking changes.
This character is almost doomed.
It may be affected by the environment and cause a slight deviation, but generally it is difficult to change.
Of course, we cannot rule out the existence of some who have suffered fatal blows...
Seeing Luo Youdu laughing alone while watching the battle report, Dou Yi wondered: "Why are you laughing, sir?"
Luo Youdu asked: "Do you think Zhu Yuan was ordered to launch this night attack, or did he have a sudden idea?" He handed the battle report to Dou Yi.
Dou Yi didn't understand, she looked confused.
Luo Youdu just smiled and said nothing. He took the pen and paper and wrote a secret letter. In the letter, he praised Zhu Yuan, a famous general in the world, who knew how to be flexible and did not adhere to military orders and laws.
Send people to Jiangnan.
Looking at the direction of Shouzhou, the loss of the Wukou defense line meant that the Southern Tang Army pushed the front to the foot of Purple Mountain outside Shouzhou City.
Purple Mountain is only ten miles away from Shouzhou.
A buffer zone of ten miles, for a battlefield where hundreds of thousands of troops gather, is no different from face-to-face combat.
The next period of time will be the most difficult and brutal war of attrition in the entire Battle of Huainan.
Luo Youdu was burdened with a heavy responsibility, so he could only regretfully drink tea and watch the show.
After all, real big shots always appear at critical moments.
At this point, anyone with eyes can see it.
The two armies were facing each other and camped face to face. There was no reason not to start a fight.
Since the Southern Tang Army was stationed in Zijin Mountain, the two armies provoked each other and fought every day, and the fight was dark and dark.
At the beginning, Bian Hao and Xu Wenzhen also planned to dig and build a grain transportation corridor to transport grain to Shouzhou through the corridor.
But how can Da Zhou do what they want?
When the Southern Tang army dug a tunnel, the Zhou army buried one; when they built one, the Zhou army destroyed another, giving the Southern Tang army no chance to cleverly transport grain into the city.
As a last resort, Lin Renzhao chose to attack Shuimen in Shouzhou, which was occupied by the Zhou Dynasty, and transported grain from Shuimen into Shouzhou City.
This move worked wonders.
The navy of the Southern Tang Dynasty was indeed powerful, and Lin Renzhao was a famous general in the world.
There is no advantage at all on the water. Fortunately, the city wall and the water wall cannot move large boats, and the infantry can use bows and crossbows to assist in dealing with them.
Guo Rong temporarily mobilized a large number of crossbowmen and trebuchets to barely repel Lin Renzhao's attack.
Guo Rong was shocked and broke into a cold sweat. He gritted his teeth and directly dug up the water fortress, diverted the water from the Shouzhou water fortress into the canal, and drained the water from the Shouzhou water fortress, leaving Lin Renzhao's navy useless.
In this way, the soldiers came to block the water and the soil, and the grain transportation routes surrounding Shouzhou were all using their own methods.
In the end, Da Zhou, who remained unchanged in response to the ever-changing situation, won the first stage of victory.
The two sides played against each other for two months, from summer to autumn.
The Tang army's offensive was in vain.
From the initial consumption and planning, to the subsequent frontal breakthrough.
Anyone with eyesight can see it.
Shouzhou is about to run out of food.
The Southern Tang army fought harder and harder.
Lin Renzhao, a fierce general, in order to cut off the Zhou Dynasty's escape route and restore the disadvantage, used suicide attacks at Cai Fuqiao every now and then. He personally led 300 death warriors, loaded firewood and forage in boats, set fire to the wind, and sailed directly.
The ship crashed into Xiacai pontoon.
In order to prevent Lin Renzhao from such a desperate attack, Zhang Yongde tied huge trees with iron chains on the Huaihe River and drove wooden stakes into the water to serve as reefs.
Zhu Yuan and Chen Decheng are both rare warriors in the world, and they risk their lives when fighting.
There is also Zheng Yanhua, a native of Jianzhou.
This guy was stabbed more than fifty times in a head-on attack and refused to retreat until he died.
In the end, Chen Decheng was knocked unconscious and forcibly transported back to the rear for treatment.
Zheng Yanhua was from a small school. With more than fifty knives, he directly became the military governor later.
Although the two veteran generals Bian Hao and Xu Wenzhen are not as aggressive as the first two, they are wise and prudent, and can serve as the back-seats of Zhu Yuan and Chen Decheng.
The Southern Tang Dynasty was full of capable generals.
How could Dazhou's lineup be inferior to them?
Li Chongjin, Zhang Yongde, Xiang Xun, Li Jixun, Zhao Kuangzan, Hou Zhang, Zhao Kuangyin, Gao Huaide, Wang Yansheng, etc., most of them fought hard in the chaos of the Central Plains, and were only better than them.
The two armies each showed their special abilities, and the fight was extremely intense.
After bloody battles one after another, both sides were victorious.
In a war of this scale, the momentary victory or defeat is of no importance. It all depends on who fails to hold on first.
The fight was so fierce that those on the front line who were fighting against the enemy were not timid, but Chen Jue, who was watching the show from behind, was so frightened that he trembled.
All kinds of wounded were sent to the rear, and all kinds of letters asking for reinforcements passed through his hands.
Jiangnan has not provided large-scale reinforcements, so it can only recruit local ruffians and force local strong men to the front line to make up for the losses in the bloody battle.
In the end, Chen Jue couldn't hold it anymore and glared at Li Jingda unceremoniously: "Your Majesty, give an order immediately to stop all attacks. What's the difference between consuming it like this and committing suicide like Da Zhou?"
Li Jingda said weakly: "If the confrontation continues, Shouzhou will run out of food."
Chen Jue said loudly: "Your Majesty has sent an envoy to ask for help from the Khitan. As long as the Khitan goes south, the first person who cannot support it is not us, but the northern thieves. If Shouzhou is gone, it will be gone. Without Shouzhou, there will be Haozhou and Si."
Zhouzhou, Chuzhou, Yangzhou. If the army is gone, where can we find it?" He said and took out the military order he had written.
Li Jingda was speechless and could only choose to stamp his seal of generalissimo on the military order.
Li Jingda's military order reached the front line.
The first person who couldn't help but get angry was Chen Decheng, who was always rational and known as a Confucian general.
Because he got the news from Shouzhou.
As Shouzhou's food supply became increasingly scarce, Liu Renzhan began to control his food and drink expenses.
Liu Renfan's youngest son Liu Chongjian couldn't stand the fear and tried to escape.
Liu Renzhan killed his own son in front of the three armies to rectify the morale of the army.
When Chen Decheng saw that Chen Jue was planning to abandon Shouzhou, he shouted angrily: "Wouldn't this kind of behavior chill the hearts of the soldiers?"
Lin Renzhao frowned and said: "Shouzhou has fallen, and there is no city left to stop Zhou's troops. What's more, what's the point of pinning the hope of victory or defeat on foreign thieves?"
Zhu Yuantie said with a livid face: "Whether we can beat him or not, it doesn't matter what he says. If you don't fight or look for it, just wait for the chance of victory to fall from the sky? No matter what you do, I won't retreat anyway."