In September of the third year of Qianding (896), Zhaozong dealt with the situation in Hunan after receiving Ma Yin's report. Zhaozong officially issued an edict to appoint Ma Yin as the governor of Tanzhou, and judged Hunan military affairs, acquiescing to Ma Yin. Regarding the actual control of Wu'an Army, Zhaozong was also helpless. He was in a desperate situation at the moment, with various vassals and towns attacking each other. He did not pay too much attention to the changes in small Tanzhou.

After Zhu Wen captured Xuzhou, he thought of annexing Yanzhou and Yunzhou, but he couldn't find an excuse for a while. Yanzhou and Yunzhou were originally the territories of the Tianping Army. Zhu Xuan brothers, the Jiedu envoys, helped Zhu Wen defeat the Qin clan. .Zhu Wen and them had become brothers and relied on each other, so it was inconvenient for them to leave the army. Zhu Wen thought hard for a long time and finally thought of a plan. Zhu Wen said that Zhu Xuan had seduced the soldiers of the Xuanwu Army, and he issued a document to blame Zhu Xuan. How could Zhu Xuan be willing to accept this false accusation? He naturally wrote a letter to defend himself.

Zhu Wen didn't care about it, so he sent his generals Zhu Zhen and Ge Congzhou to attack and occupy Caozhou, and then captured Puzhou. So the two sides turned against each other and fought fiercely. They fought for consecutive years, with each side winning or losing. In the second year of Qianning, Zhu Wen sent troops to attack Yanzhou on a large scale. Zhu Xuan sent generals He Huan, Liu Cun, and Xue Huaibao with more than ten thousand troops to attack Caozhou. Unexpectedly, Zhu Wen learned about it and pursued him all night. Zhu Wen led his army to pursue Juye and captured He alive. Huan, Liu Cun and Xue Huaibao, three generals, and captured more than 3,000 Yanzhou troops, then came to Yanzhou City.

Zhu Wen saw Zhu Jin patrolling the city, so he pushed out the prisoners, pointed at the prisoners and said to Zhu Jin: "Your brother has been defeated, why not surrender early?" Zhu Jin knew that because his brother Zhu Xuan stayed in Yunzhou, he did not hear the news of the fall. Zhu Wen lied to him, so he took advantage of his trick and pretended that he was willing to surrender and promised to send the Talisman Festival. Zhu Wen was overjoyed and sent Zhu Qiong to receive it.

Zhu Jin came out of the city in armor and immediately stood on the bridge. He ordered Xiao to ambush Dong Huaijin under the bridge. When Zhu Qiong arrived, Zhu Jin shouted: "Where is Huaijin?" Huaijin suddenly rushed out, captured Zhu Qiong alive and entered the city. After a moment, Zhu Qiong was about to throw his head out of the city. Zhu Wen was so happy that he also killed Liu Cun and Xue Huaibao. Because He Huan had a reputation for bravery, he kept it for himself. He led his troops back to the town and ordered Ge Congzhou to garrison Yanzhou. .

When Zhu Xuan heard about Yanzhou's siege, he repeatedly sent envoys to Hedong, asking Li Keyong to send troops to rescue him. Li Keyong sent thousands of troops, and ordered Shi Yan and Li Chengsi as generals to make a false trip to Weizhou to aid Yanzhou and Yunzhou. After that, He also sent Li Cunxin to lead an army of ten thousand cavalry as a backup, and then made a false move to Weizhou. Luo Hongxin, the military governor of Wei Bo, was initially willing to make friends with Li Keyong, but he let Shi Yan and other troops go. When Li Cunxin was about to arrive, , he received a letter from Zhu Wen. The letter said that Li Keyong was determined to annex Heshuo, so don't fall for his trick of destroying Guo.

Luo Hongxin believed it to be true, so he sent 30,000 troops to attack Li Cunxin's army at night. Li Cunxin was not prepared and could not withstand such a large number of Wei troops. He was immediately defeated and lost all his supplies, food and weapons. When Li Keyong saw Li Cunxin fleeing, he Then he realized that Luo Hongxin had attached himself to Zhu Wen. Li Keyong was furious and raised troops to attack Wei Bo. Zhu Wen was sending general Pang Shigu and Ge Cong, the Zhou army, to attack Yunzhou. When he heard that Li Keyong was attacking Wei, he hurriedly He dispatched Ge Congzhou to rush to Huan River to support Wei Bo.

When Li Keyong learned of this, he immediately led troops to attack Ge Congzhou. Ge Congzhou ordered his sergeants to dig deep ditches and led the soldiers from Hedong to pursue them. The soldiers from Hedong pursued them, but they fell into the ditch one after another, and many of them were captured. Li Keyong When he was ready to kill, he rode his horse to rescue him, but he missed the target and fell into a ravine. He was almost captured by the Bian army. Fortunately, Li Ke used his sharp eyesight and shot a Bian general with his bow, and was able to escape and run back. .

The troops in Hedong retreated, and Ge Congzhou fought back at Yanzhou and Yunzhou, defeating the Zhu Xuan brothers. The borders of Yanzhou and Yunzhou were all occupied by the Bianzhou army. Li Keyong sent troops to help again, but they were rejected by the Wei army and could not advance.

Zhu Wen also ordered Pang Shigu and Ge Congzhou to attack Yunzhou together. Zhu Xuan's soldiers were short of food and did not dare to fight. Zhu Xuan had to dig water to divert water and use water to stabilize himself. Pang Shigu and others built again at night.

On the pontoon bridge, we ventured across Haogou and approached Yanzhou City.

Zhu Xuan knew that he could not hold on, so he had to abandon the city and flee to Zhongdu. Ge Congzhou's troops pursued him. Zhu Xuan was captured by the villagers and sacrificed to Ge Congzhou. Zhu Wen entered Yuncheng and ordered Pang Shigu to join the Tianping Army.

After leaving, Ge Congzhou was escorted to Zhu Xuan. Zhu Wen urgently ordered Ge Congzhou to attack Yanzhou quickly. Zhu Jin was short of food, so Tang Huaizhen, the remaining general, guarded the city. He and Hedong generals Shi Yan and Li Chengsi went out to plunder Xuzhou.

, to provide military supplies. Tang Huaizhen was isolated and helpless. When he suddenly heard that the Bianzhou army was approaching, he was shocked and had no choice but to surrender in Kaicheng.

Ge entered Yanzhou from Zhou Dynasty, captured Zhu Jin's wife and children, and sent them to Yuncheng. Zhu Jin's wife was quite beautiful. Zhu Wen saw her and ordered her to sleep with her. This woman was afraid of power and death, so she had no choice but to endure the shame.

, for him to humiliate. Zhu Wen stayed for several nights, and then led his troops back to Bianzhou. When they arrived at Fengqiu, his beloved wife Zhang came to welcome him with the crowd.

This Mrs. Zhang's name is Zhang Hui, who was born in Dangshan, Songzhou. Zhang Hui and Zhu Wen were from the same hometown and came from a wealthy family. His father, Zhang Rui, was once the governor of Songzhou. When Zhu Wen was young, he heard that Zhang Hui was beautiful, and he fell in love with her, sighing about Yin Lihua.

In the second year of Zhonghe, Zhu Wen took Tongzhou and met Zhang Hui, so they got married. Zhang Hui gave birth to Zhu Wen's third son Youzhen in the first year of Wende. Zhu Wen returned to Tang Dynasty, and Zhang Hui was granted the title of Wei as her husband.

Mrs. Guo. During the Guangqi period, Zhu Wen led his army through Bozhou and recruited prostitutes to accompany him to get pregnant. Because Zhang Huisu was favored by Zhu Wen, he did not dare to take Zhang Hui back to Daliang.

Zhang Huishen was loved by Zhu Wen. He was wise and capable, dared to act and speak out, and acted according to law. However, Zhu Wen was violent, moody, and prone to killing people at every turn. Whenever Zhu Wen got angry and wanted to punish innocent people, he could only

Zhang Hui dared to confront Zhu Wen.

Then he gave advice and saved the innocent. Zhang Hui not only made the decision in domestic affairs, but also often convinced Zhu Wen in foreign affairs, including war. Whenever Zhu Wen couldn't make a decision on a major issue, he would ask his wife, and Zhang Hui's analysis and predictions often hit the mark.

Let Zhu Wen suddenly enlightened.

Therefore, Zhu Wen became more respectful and admirable to Zhang Hui. Sometimes Zhu Wen had already led his troops on an expedition, but he was caught up by an envoy sent by Zhang Hui on the way. He said that it was on the order of Mrs. Zhang, but the war situation was unfavorable, and asked him to lead the troops back to the camp quickly. Zhu Wen

He immediately ordered his troops to withdraw and return. Zhu Wen's cunning and suspicious nature, coupled with the life-and-death struggle among the princes, made Zhu Wen suspicious of his subordinates and executed soldiers at every turn. Zhang Hui understood this very well, so he tried his best to restrain it.

Zhu Wen's behavior made Zhu Wen as little internal friction as possible and consistent with the outside world.

Zhu Wen's eldest son Zhu Youyu was ordered to attack Zhu Jin, but he did not pursue and capture Zhu Jin. Zhu Wen was very angry and suspected that he was having an affair with Zhu Jin and intended to rebel. Zhu Youyu was frightened and fled into the mountains and hid in his uncle's house. Zhang Hui

In order to reconcile father and son, he secretly sent someone to summon Zhu Youyu back and plead guilty to his father. In anger, Zhu Wen ordered his men to be kidnapped and beheaded. Zhang Hui hurried out of the inner room with bare feet, grabbed Zhu Youyu's arm, and

He cried to Zhu Wen and said, "He came back to plead guilty to you. Doesn't this show that he did not rebel? Why did he still kill him?" Zhu Wen looked at his wife and son, softened his heart, and then pardoned his son.

Zhu Wen couldn't help but feel ashamed when he saw his wife this time. Zhang Hui had also seen through the mechanism and interrogated him verbally. Knowing that Zhu Wen had accepted Zhu Jin's wife, he smiled and said: "Although I am a woman, I am not pregnant."

If you are jealous, you might as well invite Li Zhu to meet you." Zhu Wen immediately came to see Li Zhu's wife. As soon as Zhu Jin's wife came in, she quickly knelt down and saluted Zhang Hui. Zhang Hui returned the salute and said to her sincerely: "Sikong (Zhu Wen) and Yan

, Yun (Zhu Xuan, Zhu Jin) originally had the same surname and should live in harmony. Their brothers fought each other over trivial matters, which brought my sister to this situation. If Bianzhou falls one day, then I will be with you today.

It's the same." After saying that, tears flowed down. Zhu Wen was touched in his heart, so he gave Zhu Jin's wife as a nun and beheaded Zhu Xuan at Bian Bridge. From then on, Yun, Qi, Cao, Di, Yan, Yi, Mi

, Xu, Su, Chen, Xu, Zheng, Hua, and Pu states were all occupied by Zhu Wen. However, Wang Shifan retained Ziqing, which was relatively independent, but he was also close to Quanzhong and did not dare to do anything arbitrarily.

Zhu Jin learned that both Yanzhou and Yunzhou were lost and had no way to return. He and Shi Yan and Li Chengsi went to protect Haizhou, but fearing that they would be forced by the Bian army, he supported all the soldiers and civilians in the state to cross the Huaihe River and defected to Yang Xingmi. Yang Xingmi went to Gaoyou

He welcomed the reward and asked Feng Zhujin to be the military envoy of Wuning. Huainan was good at water battles in the past, but was not good at riding and shooting. This time he won the troops of Yan and Yun in Hedong, and he was able to fight on both land and water, and the army was very popular.

Zhu Wen was furious when he learned that Yang Xingmi had recruited Zhu Jin. He immediately issued an order to attack Huainan, preparing to capture Huainan in one fell swoop. Zhu Wen's troops were divided into two groups, one led by Pang Shigu, Xu, Su, Song, and Hua

The legion, with a total of more than 70,000 people, set out from Xuzhou and marched to Qingkou. After crossing Huaihe, it aimed directly at Yangzhou and used it as the main force to attack Huainan.

On the other hand, Ge Congzhou, known as "A Ge in Shandong", led more than 10,000 people from Yanzhou, Yun, Cao, Pu and other places to advance from Yanzhou to Anfeng as a partial division to contain Huainan's troops in the direction of Shouzhou, and

Waiting for an opportunity to seize Shouzhou. The two front armies were led by Pang Shigu. Zhu Wen personally commanded the main force and sat in Suzhou to support the two armies. Suddenly, Huainan was in a panic and the whole front was in emergency!

Generally speaking, when conquering the Yangtze River and Huaihe River from the Central Plains, they always start from Shouzhou. Fu Jian of the former Qin Dynasty and Shizong of the Zhou Dynasty later did this. Because after capturing Shouzhou, they will face the flat land of Huainan, which is conducive to the march. If the war

If the situation is unfavorable, you can still retreat along the original road. As long as the people in the rear are not too incompetent, the whole army will not be wiped out. But the biggest problem on this road is Shouzhou.

If the Shouzhou defenders had enough combat power, even if they bypassed Shouzhou, their rear and flanks would be greatly threatened. In fact, Zhu Wen also had ideas about this march route. In the second year of Qianning,

After Shouzhou changed hands, Zhu Wen sent tens of thousands of troops to try to recapture Shouzhou. Unexpectedly, Shouzhou defender Zhu Yanshou and his Heiyundu troops made a tough response. In an absolutely disadvantaged situation

Under such circumstances, the Shouzhou garrison defeated Zhu Wen's troops. In order to conquer Huainan as soon as possible and avoid overwhelming the city and weakening the division's veterans, Zhu Wen chose the route from Xuzhou - Qingkou - Gaoyou - Yangzhou as the main offensive route

.

Zhu Wen's choice of this route has obvious advantages, because this route is the shortest distance, and once he crosses the Huaihe River, he can use the canal to transport troops and supplies, saving time and effort. However, the disadvantages of this route are also obvious. If there are not enough transport ships,

The above benefits are equivalent to a blank check. If you only move along the canal, this route will be densely covered with water networks, with Gaoyou Lake on the left and a ditch on the right, which will compress the lateral space for advancement to a very small size and make marching quite difficult.

Pang Shigu was in the mausoleum in this area before, and was defeated by Sun Ru. If the opponent's naval force is powerful, and combined with the Xuanrun crossbowmen who are already famous in the Tang Dynasty, they can inflict heavy damage on the attacking troops.

Huge casualties. Therefore, this was a risky move. Pang Shigu led his troops to Qingkou and established a large camp here. However, they were blocked by Yang Xingmi and Zhang Xun's troops in Lianshui and were unable to cross the Huai River.

At the same time, Ge Congzhou also led his troops into Anfeng. He was also strongly resisted by Yang Xingmi's general Zhu Yanshou. Since Pang Shigu and Ge Congzhou's troops were both northern soldiers, they lacked a dense water network between the Jianghuai River and the Huaihe River.

Experience in regional operations and lack of strength

Without military support, the entire operation was very slow.

After receiving a report of tightness on the front line, Yang Xingmi decided to immediately reinforce. However, he and Li Chengsi, the Hedong general who defected to him, had different views on the direction of support. Yang Xingmi believed that Shouzhou should be supported so that he could fight with the strong combat force.

Zhu Yanshou's tribe worked together to defeat the weak Ge Congzhou tribe, thereby threatening the flank of Pang Shigu's army. If Pang Shigu was smart, he would have to retreat obediently.

Yang Xingmi's plan is indeed very likely to succeed, but he has no experience fighting Zhu Wen's army. This will only cause Zhu Wen a small setback, but his strength will not suffer significant losses, and he will definitely make a comeback next year. Not to mention Pang Shi

It is very likely that Gu Qing was burned and looted before retreating, making Qingkou unable to survive in the coming year.

Li Chengsi proposed the opposite plan. Zhu Yanshou's troops were very powerful and relied on Shouzhou. Ge Congzhou's troops could not attack Shouzhou. However, Pang Shigu's army numbered 70,000 and was the main force of Bianzhou soldiers.

Zhang Xun's troops cannot support them for a long time. If Huaiyin and Lianshui are lost, Pang Shigu may rush directly to Yangzhou City, and the situation in Huainan will be lost.

So Li Chengsi led his elite troops to attack Qingkou. As long as Zhu Wen's main force, Pang Shigu's army, was defeated, Ge Congzhou's army would immediately collapse without a fight. This plan was actually to dare to fight a big war and defeat Zhu Wen in one fell swoop.

, so that he would no longer dare to plot Huainan in a short time, and make full use of the short distance between Zhu Wen, Pang Shigu, Ge Congzhou and Zhou, and there was no naval mobilization, so he could not save the weakness in a hurry. After weighing the pros and cons, Yang Xingmi adopted

Li Chengsi’s opinion.

It was the middle of winter, and heavy snow had begun to fall in various parts of the Jianghuai River. The cold weather made Zhu Wen's army even lower in fighting spirit. Yang Xingmi led 30,000 elite troops to Qingkou. The army marched through the snow and arrived at the Chuzhou front line. Since the main force

When they arrived, Zhang Xun abandoned Lianshui and came to join the main force. The two armies of Yang Xingmi and Pang Shigu faced off across the Huaihe River. After arriving at the front line, Yang Xingmi did not immediately launch an attack. He first collected intelligence about Pang Shigu's army and tried to discover from it.

flaw.

Yang Xingmi discovered that the location of the camp of Pang Shigu's army was not ideal. The terrain was low, and it was called a desperate place in the art of war. There were many rivers in the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers, and the low terrain was suitable for water attack. The camp was in a low position, and in fact Pang Shigu's subordinates also moved towards it.

He pointed out that as long as the camp moved one more distance, it could be moved to a safe area. However, he did not dare to act without Zhu Wen's order and refused to accept other people's suggestions.

Yang Xingmi actively deployed, and Zhu Jin led his troops to the upper section of the Huaihe River in Chuzhou, and built a dam with earth and rocks in a short time, forcing the water level of the Huaihe River to increase, preparing to flood Pang Shigu's army. Pang Shigu heard someone report

When the water level changed abnormally and the Huainan Army might launch a water attack, Pang Shigu did not pay enough attention to this important information. Instead, he believed that the reporter intended to shake the morale of the army and beheaded the reporter in public. As a result, everyone remained silent. Who could

No one dared to say anything.

In November, the water level of the Huaihe River in the dam had been raised high enough, and the moment for the decisive battle had arrived. Yang Xingmi sent Zhu Jin and Hou Zan to lead 5,000 cavalrymen to secretly cross the Huaihe River, wearing Xuanwu Army uniforms and holding Xuanwu Army rifles.

Banner, pretending to be reinforcements sent by Zhu Wen, marched directly to Pang Shigu's camp. Since both Zhu Jin and Hou Zan had fought against the Xuanwu Army for a long time, they easily deceived Pang Shigu's troops.

There is a reason why Yang Xingmi sent Zhu Jin as the commander of the special forces. Zhu Jin and Zhu Wen shared the hatred of killing their brothers, seizing their wives, and losing their land. After coming to Huainan, Yang Xingmi treated him very kindly. He himself often wanted to perform meritorious service. All the generals in Huainan

Among them, he hated Zhu Wen the most. Now that he had the opportunity to fight Zhu Wen, his blood was boiling, and his fighting spirit was naturally very strong.

In order to cover the actions of this surprise force, Yang Xingmi also ordered Zhang Xun to lead more than a thousand people, old and weak, as a vanguard to attract the attention of Pang Shigu's army. As expected, Pang Shigu fell into the trap. For such a group of only a thousand people,

The army did not pay enough attention, let alone the whereabouts of the Huainan Army's surprise soldiers.

On this day, the wind howled and the temperature dropped suddenly. The lack of progress in the war and the bad weather in the past few days had already caused the morale of Pang's ancient army to be low. As soon as the soldiers walked out of the military camp tent, they became shrinking due to the low temperature. Suddenly, from a distance,

There was a loud rumbling sound, and the earth shook. Suddenly, a raging flood surged up on the ground, rushing towards the military camp along the terrain, and the Huainan Army's water attack began.

The raging flood quickly rushed into the camp, and Pang Shigu's troops were immediately in chaos. The flood also destroyed the antlers used for defense outside the camp, and the entire camp was completely exposed to the enemy. Pang Shigu had no choice but to send his own soldiers.

He and the general were suppressing the army, but when tens of thousands of troops were in chaos, how could they calm down the situation in a short time?

The strange troops led by Zhu Jin successfully arrived at the camp, took advantage of the chaos, entered from the north gate, and went straight to the center of the camp. When they arrived at the center, Zhu Jin led his cavalry to gallop with a roar, making Pang Shi

The ancient army was greatly shocked. They had rich experience in fighting Zhu Wen's army, and they did not kill indiscriminately. They only looked for the generals of the army to attack. Pang Shigu and a large number of generals were killed in the melee.
Chapter completed!