Guo Tingwei soon knew that his strategy of abandoning the outer city and only defending the inner city was unsuccessful.
Because after the Zhou army occupied the outer city, not only did they not commit rape or plunder, but they also provided rice and porridge. Elderly people over sixty years old and children under six years old were also given cloth and sugar.
What's even more annoying is that these grains, cloth and sugar were all obtained from the official warehouse in Chuzhou.
Thinking of this, Guo Tingwei was filled with hatred. He would not be stupid enough to leave supplies to the Zhou army, so he specially arranged for people to burn these supplies.
But it was a mountain of cloth, salt, sugar, tea, and rice. With the frugal character of the Chinese people, even setting fire to it, or even just giving an order, would take a lot of courage.
As a result, after a little hesitation, Zhou Jun's cavalry arrived. Such large warehouses cannot be placed all within the city. They are basically located outside the city where water and land transportation is convenient.
The Lord of Zhou gave dozens of pieces of cloth to several clerks and soldiers guarding the warehouse, and bribed them. Not to mention setting fires, they not only did not set fires, but also helped Zhou's army count the items.
With these benevolent actions, the people of Zhezhou immediately did not oppose the Zhou army, and some even had relatives in the inner city. They ran directly to the city to greet their relatives not to resist, and even left the city to surrender.
Guo Tingwei's poisonous plan had no effect at all. Instead, the people of Chuzhou began to distrust him. What little official reputation he had as the governor of Chuzhou was suddenly lost.
Once the people of Chuzhou were calmed down, Zhang Zhao immediately began to attack the city. Although the inner city of Chuzhou was strong, it was too small, only two or three miles from east to west.
The army first raised their chariots and used strong bows and crossbows to suppress the city.
There were many soldiers in Zhou Dynasty, and there were also many archers and crossbowmen. They quickly fired and the Southern Tang army was unable to lift its head.
After they were shot so hard that they did not dare to leave the crenel and the cover of Peng Pai, the second move of ant attack began.
Zhang Zhao abandoned the northeast and south sides and rushed to attack the west, which made the defenders complain incessantly.
And Guo Tingwei was forced into this, and he did not dare to remove the defenses on the other three sides.
Because he knew that once the defenses on the three sides of the northeast and south were mobilized, Zhou's prepared warriors would definitely take advantage of the weakness.
However, Guo Tingwei's knowledge was not complete, because Zhang Zhao did not use all his strength. If he really wanted to use all his strength, he would have to attack from all sides together and attack for several days and nights without allowing the defenders to rest. Otherwise, the city would be broken.
Zhang Zhao is not attacking with all his strength now. He is just fishing to see if he can fish over the Qinghuai Army in Shouzhou or the Baoxin Army in Luzhou and surround them for reinforcements. This will always be Zhang Shengren's favorite.
Sure enough, on the fourth day, the Qinghuai Army from Shouzhou arrived under the banner of Liu Daqi, the military governor of the Qinghuai Army. There were about 10,000 people.
It seemed that we had already set off a long time ago, because Shouzhou was not close to Chuzhou, a full three hundred and fifty miles away.
It's just that the Shouzhou Qinghuai Army arrived, but the Luzhou Baoxin Army, which was almost a hundred miles closer than them, did not.
Moreover, when the Qing Huai Army arrived, it was almost as if they had not arrived. They walked to Jiangjun Ridge, more than fifty miles north of Chuzhou, and stopped leaving. They camped directly at the foot of the mountain.
No matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat. If the mountain is not mine, I will go to see the mountain.
Zhang Zhao immediately ordered Murong Nobunaga and Gao Huaide to lead ten thousand horses to attack.
The Southern Tang Army at Jiangjun Ridge had no idea that the Zhou cavalry would come directly towards them. They came so fast and were unprepared to be defeated by the 10,000 horsemen.
However, the terrain in the Jiangjun Ridge area was complicated, and most of the Southern Tang Army fled into the mountains.
Murong Nobunaga received a large amount of armor and banners, and then he realized that it was not the Qing Huai Army from Shouzhou, but the Dingyuan Army from Haozhou.
Moreover, according to a captured Yuhou, the capital of the Dingyuan Army in Haozhou, it was Liu Renzhan, the governor of the Qing-Huai Army in Shouzhou, who asked them to fight under the banner of the Qing-Huai Army.
Zhang Zhao immediately summoned all the generals to discuss, and finally came to the conclusion that the only chance for Liu Renzhan, the governor of the Qing-Huai Army in Shouzhou, was to personally lead the army south to Luzhou, and then assemble the Qing-Huai Army and the Baoxin Army.
The family's troops led the warships out of Chao Lake, entered the Yangtze River along the Ruxu River (Yuxi River), and then intercepted the Zhou army to cross the river.
However, Li Jinquan and Zhang Yanqing, the governor of Chuzhou, who were well aware of the operating rules of the Southern Tang Dynasty, disagreed with this view.
Li Jinquan, an old boy, was originally from the North and did not go against Zhang Zhao, so he quickly defected to Zhang Zhao after being captured.
Moreover, when he fled south in the past, he had no choice but to seek refuge with the Southern Tang Dynasty.
Who is this person? He was a brave man who fought bravely and was a thief when he was young, but he has no great wisdom and his management of the place is a mess.
If Zhang Zhao promoted Dundup and asked him to guard one side as a commander, he would be almost like Li Jinquan, except that Dundup's combat effectiveness was slightly higher than that of Li Jinquan.
However, although he was despised by Zhang Zhao as not having great wisdom, he still knew the Southern Tang court very well, the old boy said to Zhang Zhao with a smile.
"The sage thought that the Southern Wu Kingdom was the Great Zhou Dynasty. Although Liu Renzhan has a good reputation, he cannot easily integrate the Luzhou Baoxin Army!
He is not the Lord of Nanwu, so why should the Baoxin Army listen to his instructions to go out to Chao Lake to fight with us?
Besides, if Nanwu had this kind of mobility, how could the army of saints easily break through Dongdu and come to Chuzhou?"
Hey! This seems to be the truth. Zhang Zhao suddenly nodded. If Nantang's mobilization and action capabilities could reach the level he thought, could he, Zhang Zhao, easily beat Nantang like a pig?
Thinking of this, Zhang Shengren's expression changed and he shouted to Zhang Liecheng: "I'll put that Haozhou Dingyuan Army Commander Yuhou to death. He must not have told the truth."
Zhang Liecheng immediately went down and loosened the bones of Du Yuhou personally, and then the real situation came out.
It turned out that Liu Renzhan had already written to Jiangning, requesting that the Baoxin Army, Dingyuan Army, etc. should be united to leave Chaohu to resist the Zhou division.
But he had no backing in the Southern Tang court, and no one spoke for him.
In addition, the Shouzhou Qinghuai Army was already a large town with more than 20,000 troops. If we add the Haozhou Dingyuan Army and Luzhou Baoxin Army, plus the Chaohu Navy, the number will immediately reach 50,000.
Liu Renzhan had always had a good reputation and commanded an army of 50,000. If he defected to Zhang Zhao or had some small thoughts, it would be troublesome. Therefore, Li Jing did not dare to give him such power.
Liu Renzhan had no choice but to mix his cronies into the Dingyuan army to confuse Zhang Zhao when the Dingyuan army in Haozhou went south to support according to military orders.
He himself led his troops to march slowly a hundred miles behind the Dingyuan Army. If Zhang Zhaozhen surrounded the point to call for reinforcements, he would hold back his troops. If the number was small, he would come to lift the siege of the state.
As for the command of the Baoxin Army out of Chaohu, he just wanted to lead Zhang Zhao to think so, and it would never happen.
"The old thief is so cunning and hateful!" Murong Nobunaga cursed angrily with a clouded face.
If he had searched another twenty or thirty miles, he would definitely have discovered the Qing Huai Army. Then it would be great to have them all in one go!
He is a ruthless man! This is also Zhang Zhao's evaluation of Liu Renzhan. He is so cunning and cautious, and he is definitely a good hand in defending the city. No wonder Guo Rong was tortured so much in history.
"In this case, we can't wait any longer. We must attack Hezhou immediately and cross the river!" Zhang Zhao waved his hand and issued the order.
Although Liu Renzhan did not accomplish what he wanted to do, it was indeed a threat.
Once Li Jing gave Liu Renzhan full power in despair, and the Qing Huai Army plus the Baoxin Army plus the Chaohu Navy, Zhang Zhao was really a bit vain.
On that day, Zhang Zhao ordered his men to throw the flags and armor of the Qinghuai Army in Shouzhou and the Dingyuan Army in Haozhou at the foot of Chuzhou Nei City. The defenders in the city thought that the Qinghuai Army and Dingyuan Army had been completely wiped out, and their morale suddenly became disorganized.
The best troops of the Zhou army were sent out to attack the west. Guo Ting said that he could not resist, so he could only draw men from the other three sides.
Zhang Zhao immediately ordered Man Xiong, Dunzhu, Wang Tongtong, and Qiongre Duojin to wear three layers of armor and lead Hanshandu as the first warriors to attack the northeast and south respectively.
The defenders of the Southern Tang Dynasty could not withstand it. The barbarian bear climbed onto the city wall first, and the morale of the troops in Chuzhou collapsed.
Guo Tingwei, his younger brother Guo Tingzan and other 600 people were captured and recorded as joining the army. Li Yanzou committed suicide and died for his country.
Zhang Zhao left his horse to kill Cai and led an army of 3,000 to defend Quzhou, while his own army of more than 30,000 troops rushed straight to Hezhou without stopping.
Before setting off, Zhang Zhao released the detained Chuzhou couriers and now allowed them to send the information to Jiangning.
Two days later, the army arrived north of Hezhou. Zhang Zhao stationed himself at the foot of Jilong Mountain, preparing to descend to Hezhou City first and then cross the river.
Hezhou is He County in Ma'anshan, Anhui Province in later generations, opposite the urban area of Ma'anshan, and Caishiji is just outside Ma'anshan City.
Now that he had arrived at Hezhou and Caishiji, Zhang Shengren rode up to Jilong Mountain to observe the terrain, and immediately thought of Zhao Liang and Wan Yangou, half-brothers.
These two dog brothers are really bright for a moment!
My elder brother Zhao Gou is called Wanyan Gou or Jiu Mei. He is so cowardly that he has no bottom. Let alone men or women, no one is as cowardly and shameless as him.
As the younger brother, Wan Yanliang is also a heavyweight, crazy and has no boundaries but no way to control him. He is simply a small Gao Yang.
Thinking of this, I, Zhang Shengren, became very inspired by poetry and opened my mouth to recite: "Thousands of miles of books and carriages are confused..."
Ugh! As soon as he said it, Zhang Zhao immediately shut up, bah, bah, bah! This is so unlucky.
However, he thought it was unlucky, but the people around him didn't think so. Li Fang's eyes flashed, and a group of bachelors from the Qionglin Academy who followed Zhang Zhao as secretaries also praised him.
"I have long heard that the saint was good at writing poems and had the style of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. I am so lucky that I should engrave it on stone!"
This... Seeing that everyone around him was so supportive, Zhang Zhao really had the poem in his mouth. He didn't want to spit it out, so he pondered for a moment.
"If thousands of miles of carriages and letters are confused, how can there be other frontiers in the south of the Yangtze River? With millions of troops on the West Lake, they will immediately reach the top of Mount Wu!"
"Good! What a poem!" The flattering voices of all the civil servants and generals sounded like thunder. Even a guy like Dunzhu, who didn't know a single Chinese character, shouted that the poem was good. Zhang Zhao gave him a speechless look without any embarrassment.
.
However, I have to say that Wan Yanliang's poems, if not mentioning other things, are really very good. This poem "Making Horses to the First Peak of Mount Wu" really has the aura of being one of the best in the world.
As soon as the poem was uttered, and before the exclamations of admiration had subsided, a messenger came from the foot of the mountain to announce the good news.
It turned out that Li Cunhui led three thousand cavalry as the vanguard. As soon as he arrived in Hezhou, he found that the four gates of Hezhou were wide open. Before the army arrived, the Southern Tang Zhizhou and others had already abandoned the city and fled, and even the common people had fled.