There were no signs, no warnings, no sloppiness at all.
When the Southern Tang Dynasty woke up, Zhu Yuan's camp was already empty.
No one of the ten thousand troops was left.
The formation of the Southern Tang Dynasty at the foot of Zijin Mountain was in the form of company camps. The 50,000 troops formed twelve large military camps, including nine army camps and three navy camps.
Generals such as Bian Hao, Xu Wenzhen, Zhu Yuan, and Chen Decheng usually operated in the military strongholds they were responsible for, and only left the strongholds to gather troops and join forces during wartime.
Therefore, when Zhu Yuan led his troops out of camp to surrender to Zhou Dynasty, he did not alert anyone.
Occasionally, soldiers patrolling in the field bumped into him but didn't take it seriously.
It had been three months since the Southern Tang Dynasty met, and everyone in the army had become accustomed to Zhu Yuan's style of doing things when he saw an advantage, killing first and reporting later.
It was assumed that Zhu Yuan was taking advantage of the darkness to launch a special military operation.
No one thought that Zhu Yuan was returning to Zhou Dynasty.
After all, in the two-month bloody battle with the Purple Mountains of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Zhu Yuan's navy and Lin Renzhao's navy fought the hardest and performed best.
It was not until dawn that the generals of the Southern Tang Dynasty received the exact news: Zhu Yuan led the vanguard envoys Zhu Renyu, Sun Lin and others to surrender to the Zhou Dynasty...
Military tent of the Southern Tang Dynasty.
With Bian Hao, Xu Wenzhen, Lin Renzhao, Chen Decheng and Guo Ting as the leaders, many generals gathered together to discuss countermeasures.
This was said to be a discussion of countermeasures, but there was dead silence in the military tent.
No one spoke up.
The battles between Zhou and Tang Dynasty in Shouzhou and Purple Mountain continue to this day.
The Zhou army was victorious because of its large number of elite soldiers and generals, and its strong field strength. The Tang army was victorious because it had a slight advantage in military strength and had an elite navy that could advance both by land and water and cooperate with each other.
Neither can help the other.
Under such circumstances, regardless of uncertain external factors, the only way to break the situation is to seek change during the battle.
Through constant battles and military pressure, the opponent is forced to reveal its weaknesses, thereby gaining opportunities for combat.
Whoever fails to support first or makes a careless mistake first will lose the initiative.
At this critical moment, Zhu Yuan led his troops to surrender to the enemy, which was fatal to the entire Tang army.
The more than 10,000 soldiers in Zhu Yuan's hands were second only to the Southern Tang Navy in combat effectiveness among the 50,000 Tang troops.
His surrender made it even more difficult for the Tang army to fight in a field battle where they already had no advantage.
The most important thing is the impact on the morale of the army.
Zhu Yuan was selfish by nature and put personal gain first, so he was not lovable. However, his achievements for the Tang Dynasty were real, but now he was forced by the imperial court to surrender with his troops. The impact on morale was not small.
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All in all, Zhu Yuan's surrender completely unbalanced the balanced situation between Zhou and Tang Dynasties.
Although they still have 40,000 soldiers and are still capable of fighting, anyone with a discerning eye can see that.
This battle can no longer be fought.
Bian Hao held on and said: "Everyone has his own ambitions and cannot be forced. Envoy Guo Tuan, you take over Zhu Yuan's camp. We will each guard the camp and don't give the Northern thieves an opportunity to take advantage of. Wait for the right time."
Bian Hao already understood why Zhu Yuan surrendered to Zhou.
Regarding Zhu Yuan's decision, he had nothing to say at this point.
From his point of view, Zhu Yuan did not cooperate with the Zhou army inside and outside, but directly gave them a fatal blow in the back, which was considered to be the most benevolent and righteous.
Of course, he also knew that Zhu Yuan's failure to do so was not necessarily out of love for him, but because he wanted to continue to hang out in the Zhou army, not to be a high-ranking official with no power and wait for death.
Being forced by a traitor to surrender, stabbing an ally in the back, and then surrendering are two different concepts.
Bian Hao didn't say it clearly, but the so-called waiting for the right time was just pinning his hopes on Khitan reinforcements.
Now they have too much time to take care of themselves and are completely unable to support Shouzhou anymore.
Lin Renzhao walked with deep thoughts.
"General Lin!"
Hearing someone calling him, Lin Renzhao turned around and looked, but it was Guo Tingwei, the training envoy of the Haozhou regiment.
"Guo Tuanlian!"
Lin Renzhao cupped his fists and performed a military salute.
Guo Tingwei pulled Lin Renzhao aside and said: "Zhu Yuan led his troops to surrender to the enemy, and we have no chance of winning here. The reason why we do not withdraw is because we are afraid that the enemy's cavalry will take advantage of the situation to cover up the attack, so we can only hold on. Now that morale is low, even if we hold on,
It’s hard to hold on for a long time. What’s more, Zhu Yuan will definitely inform the puppet emperor of the Zhou Dynasty about the imperial court’s request for help from the Khitan, and soon he will send troops to attack our stronghold.”
Lin Renzhao nodded silently and approved Guo Tingwei's judgment.
Guo Tingwei sighed in a low voice: "Unless you have the ambition of others, this battle will be more dangerous than others. We are all unavoidable. Only General Lin, the navy you lead across the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers, no one can defeat it. Once the situation arises,
No, I hope that the general can withdraw from the battlefield immediately, stop the losses in time, retain the effective forces in Jiangbei, and go to Yangzhou to deploy defenses. Jiangbei cannot be completely lost. Once Jiangbei is completely lost, Jiangnan will be a turtle in the urn, and can be manipulated by the northern thieves at will."
"In the entire Jiangbei, only Yangzhou has a chance of blocking the rebels."
Lin Renzhao didn't say anything, just smiled, punched Guo Tingwei in the chest, turned around and left.
Guo Tingwei shook his head bitterly: If there was really a glimmer of hope, how could he be so pessimistic?
Zhou Jun.
Guo Rong never dreamed of pie falling from the sky.
After two months of fierce fighting with the Southern Tang Army, the Tang Army's tenacity and bravery gave the Emperor Zhou a new understanding of the strength of the Southern Tang Dynasty.
He always believed that the failure of Huainan East Road and Huainan West Road was due to his and the generals' underestimation of the enemy.
Now it seems that this may not always be the case.
There are still brave men in the south, but the king of the other side, Li Jing, doesn't know how to call them.
In the middle of two months, the two people who impressed him the most in Tang Dynasty were Zhu Yuan and Lin Renzhao.
Both of them are life-threatening masters, and the water and the road have brought them huge troubles.
The result was good, and Zhu Yuan led his troops to surrender.
At that moment, Guo Rong even wondered whether this guy was imitating Huang Gai's strategy of false surrender.
But seeing the opponent abandoning his troops and disarming his troops, Guo Rong dared to believe that Zhu Yuan had really surrendered.
The opportunity for victory came so suddenly.
Originally, Guo Rong wanted to wait. He had already determined the situation of the remaining grain and grass in Shouzhou city from Zhu Yuan's mouth. Once Shouzhou fell, he could gather all the troops to launch a general attack.
But when they learned that Li Jing had sent a letter asking for help to the Khitan, they knew they could not wait any longer and marched on all fronts.
"Immediately send an order to Luo to recruit the envoy, let him advance by land and water, and go north to cut off the retreat of the puppet Tang Dynasty. As for the navy of the puppet Tang Dynasty, let him do what he can within his ability and not force it."
Because the Southern Tang navy led by Liu Yanzhen was annihilated by Luo Youdu on land, Guo Rong did not understand the strength of the Jiangnan navy at first.
It wasn't until he met Lin Renzhao that Guo Rong saw the true strength of Jiangnan Navy.
The Dianqian army led by Zhang Yongde can be said to be the strongest elite in the Great Zhou Dynasty. Lin Renzhao was also troubled. In the end, he had to block the Huai River with giant wooden iron ropes. This way he could barely save the Xiacai Floating Bridge and prevent the Tang army from cutting off the back road.
risks of.
Having seen the strength of the Tang Army's navy, Guo Rong naturally did not expect Luo Youdu to be able to train a powerful water force that could stop the Southern Tang Navy in just two or three months.