Chapter 194: The height of the temple (22)

It was already late at night, and Chuzhou City was dark, with no lights jumping, no couples whispering, no children crying, no watchdog barking, only sporadic screams, the moans of seriously injured soldiers, and the snoring sounds in the military camp.

Bloody, suffocating blood, covered the city of Chuzhou. Several fast horses were galloping in the city, and they were immediately sent to the Central Army. While they were running, they shouted: "The massacre is over, and the army will return to the camp."

The words "each army, return, and camp" gradually faded away in the bloody wind, and echoed faintly in the city.

There is a clean and renovated courtyard in the south of the city, which is the residence of Zheng Qiye, the capital supervisor. After Chai Rong entered the city, he temporarily lived here. In fact, the best courtyard in the city is the brother of Zhang Yanqing, the defensive commander. However, the Zhang Mansion has a large population, and the large house and small hall are too bloody. Zheng Qiye is the capital supervisor. His family members are hostages in the hands of the Lord of the Southern Tang Dynasty. There are only one concubine and three slaves living in the mansion. There are few people, and the bloody smell is slightly less. The soldiers carried water to wash away the blood on the ground and ignited the Zen incense. Zheng Qiye's courtyard returned to its former elegance and cleanliness.

In the hall of Zheng Mansion, there were seven or eight tables, and there was a boiling pot in front of each table. Below the boiling pot was a small iron stove with exquisite workmanship. The iron stove was burning with red charcoal, and the dark gray hot soup was filled in the boiling pot. It kept rolling under the scorching of charcoal fire, and the cracked bubbles emitted a mouth-watering aroma of lamb.

Chai Rong was concentrating on eating the fat and tender mutton, seemingly ignoring the fierce debates of the ministers.

Fan Zhi was an old prime minister. Although the Great Zhou Dynasty implemented the rotation system of prime ministers, he still spoke among several prime ministers with his qualifications. He said slowly: "Yelu Shulu, the new Khitan master, was in power at a young age, and the government was quite abandoned. It is said that he invited all ministers to drink every night. He often got up all night and the next day, and the Liao people called him the sleeping king. After the Liao king of Yan was killed, the one who guarded Youzhou was Xiao Siwen, who was the princess and son-in-law. Xiao Siwen was the princess and son-in-law, who was ignorant and the most cowardly and incompetent. At this time, it was a great opportunity to regain the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun. It is just that opportunity cannot be missed and he will never come again. If the opportunity is missed, when the Liao people recover their vitality, it will be difficult for the Northern Expedition to reach ten times."

What Fan Zhi said involved civil strife in the Liao Kingdom: civil strife began with the death of Emperor Taizong of Liao, Yelu Deguang, who led his troops to attack Daliang. After destroying the Later Jin Dynasty, Yelu Deguang died of illness in Hebei on the way back north in Killing Hulin. The king of the South Court, Yelu Hu, and the king of the North Court, jointly supported King Yongkang Wuyou as emperor, which was Emperor Shizong of Liao. The Empress Dowager Shulu of Liao loved his youngest son Li Hu and planned to be emperor. The Empress Dowager Li Hu led his army to fight against Emperor Shizong of Liao in Huanghe, and Emperor Shizong of Liao won. However, many undercurrents and political disputes were left behind. In the end, Emperor Shizong of Liao was also murdered, so King Yelu Shulu ascended the throne. After he ascended the throne, he killed the King of Yan who was plotting to rebel.

The Great Zhou Dynasty always used the Liao Kingdom as its main enemy, so the ministers knew very well about this period of history. However, the history of the same place will also have different views and conclusions because different people interpret it.

Li Chongjin, the commander of the Guards, was a royal relative and a senior general. He knew the combat effectiveness of the Liao army and had completely different opinions from Fan Zhi: "Although the Liao people's government was a bit chaotic, the Liao army was extremely powerful, far from what the Southern Tang Dynasty and Western Shu could compare. If our army wanted to succeed in the Northern Expedition, it would have to use the most taxable troops and divide its troops to defend the southern border. The enemy in the Central Plains was afraid of being extremely empty. If the Northern Han army headed south from Zezhou and attacked Daliang directly and formed a joint attack with the Liao army, the Great Zhou Dynasty would be very dangerous."

Li Chongjin emphasized, "My opinion is to take the power of our army to conquer Chuzhou, Yangzhou and Haozhou one after another to wipe out the south, and then attack Western Shu and Northern Han. When the Central Plains is dawn, it will not be too late for our army to fight the Liao people again."

Fan Zhi disagreed and said, "The Great Circle is full of enemies, whether it is south and north or north first, if we eventually face the dilemma of fighting on two fronts or even three fronts. As the general said, south and north first, when fighting on the southern front, if the Liao army and the Northern Han army head south to the Central Plains, wouldn't our army also fall into two fronts?"

Li Chongjin has always been arrogant, but at this time, His Majesty was present, and the speaker was an old prime minister, so he did not speak sarcastically. However, as soon as Fan Zhi finished speaking, Li Chongjin smiled and said, "In the past four years, our army first fought with Western Shu in Fengzhou, and then fought against the Southern Tang three times. Why didn't we see the Northern Han army and the Liao army going south?" He snorted softly and said, "If Liu Chong of the Northern Han had not supported the Liao people, he would have been destroyed by our army long ago. Therefore, the Northern Han and the Liao people could be regarded as dependent on each other, so I am sure that if our army attacked the Liao people, the Northern Han would have to send troops. However, if our army attacked the Southern Tang people, there was no conflict of interests with the Liao people, so they would naturally not send troops to help."

The Northern Han was a feud of the Great Zhou territory. The Northern Han lord Liu Chengjun occupied Shanxi with the protection of the Khitan army. He aimed at the soft threat of the Great Zhou Dynasty like a long bow. It was possible to control the Great Zhou Dynasty from its mortal enemies at any time. Therefore, Li Chongjin's assumption was very reasonable.

When Chai Rong ascended the throne, he was only 33 years old. After becoming emperor, he defeated the coalition forces of the Northern Han and Liao in Gaoping. As a result, he increased his confidence and was full of ambitions. The Taoist master Chen Tuan determined that Chai Rong had been in power for 30 years through Wujitu. Chai Rong had a hundred times more confidence in making the emperor's grand plan: "Ten years to expand the world, support the people in ten years, and achieve peace in ten years."

In order to achieve the goal of expanding the world in ten years, Chai Rong, Fan Zhi, Wang Pu and other close officials discussed the strategy of pacifying the world many times. Regarding the strategy of pacifying the world, the important officials were divided into two factions: "South first, then North, and then South". The strategic direction was related to the overall situation. The important officials did not give in to each other and had argued several times. Chai Rong encouraged the two sides to argue, but he had never made any clear statements.

Fan Zhi was a firm "first north and then south" faction, Wang Pu, Li Chongjin, and Zhao Kuangyin were a firm "first south and then north" faction, Wang Bo and Zhang Yongde had no fixed opinion and often wandered among the two factions.

When Fan Zhi and Li Chongjin were in fierce confrontation, Zhang Yongde, the head coach of the hall in front of the hall, only looked down and ate the food, without saying a word about the battle situation. Zhang Yongde's wife was the famous Princess Shou'an. In contrast to Princess Shou'an, Zhang Yongde was quite indecisive. Therefore, the imperial guards in the front line were actually commanded by Zhao Kuangyin. He did not have a systematic understanding of the overall strategy of "first south and then north" or "first north and then south". He listened to the arguments between the two sides. One moment thought Fan Zhi was reasonable, and the other moment thought Li Chongjin was reasonable.

Seeing that Zhang Yongde did not speak, Zhao Kuangyin saw Chai Rong's eyes swept towards him and said, "I think it is easy to unify the world first and then difficult. The Liao army has very strong combat effectiveness. If our army cannot quickly break the enemy and is stalemate with the Liao army, Southern Tang and Western Shu are very likely to take advantage of the emptiness of the Central Plains to harass the border. Our army will divide our troops to deal with it. The situation will inevitably be deteriorated. Southern Tang and Western Shu are relatively weak. As long as the southern forces such as Southern Tang and Western Shu are destroyed, and then turn north, they can use the abundant land, money and materials in the south to provide military funds for the Northern Expedition. In this way, our army will inevitably have a great increase in strength and its momentum is like a rainbow. It is natural to defeat the Northern Han."

Hou Dayong had never participated in discussing such a strategy that was related to the overall situation before, so he was not in a hurry to speak, but just listened quietly.

After Zhao Kuangyin finished speaking, Hou Dayong thought: In another world history, Zhao Kuangyin followed the strategy of first south and then north, pacifying Jingnan, Western Shu, Southern Han and Southern Tang. Finally, he destroyed the Northern Han, protected by the Khitans, and basically achieved unification. However, after the demise of the Northern Han, the Song people bordered the entire Khitan line and lost a buffer area. The northern border troubles emerged from this. After the defeat of the Gaoliang River, Qigou Pass and other battles, the Song army was passive in the entire north and could only protect themselves. From then on, the northern border troubles continued, and then, Dangxiang founded the country. The Jurchens rose, and the Song Dynasty was bullied one after another. Finally, Mongolia rose in the desert, swept across the Eurasian continent, and destroyed countless countries. The Song Dynasty could not be spared, and was finally conquered by nomadic peoples from the north.

Thinking of this, Hou Dayong looked a little solemn.

Chai Rong turned his gaze to Hou Dayong and said, "Hou Aiqing, what do you think about this?"

Although Hou Dayong was the new prime minister, he was in the court for a very short time. After leading his army to Chuzhou, he basically did not express his opinions on state affairs except for offering a plan to use gunpowder to destroy Chuzhou City. At this time, Chai Rong named him, and Hou Dayong could only express his own opinions.

Hou Dayong comes from modern society. He has an innate advantage over Fan Zhi, Li Chongjin, Zhao Kuangyin and others in judging the direction of historical development. He knew that the views of every important minister here may affect the development of social and historical areas, so he did not dare to neglect at all. He took a deep breath and then slowly vomited it out, and then said: "Overall, I agree with the proposition of north first and then south."

Fan Zhi is a lonely "north first and then south". Seeing Hou Dayong clearly supported him, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

During the Battle of Gaoping, Li Chongjin's status was far higher than Hou Dayong, and he had been Hou Dayong's boss for a brief period. However, Hou Dayong was quickly transferred by Chai Rong to Zhang Yongde. At that time, the conflict between Zhang Yongde and Li Chongjin was extremely sharp, and it had reached the point where the fire and fire were incompatible. Li Chongjin was quite angry. Hou Dayong was transferred from the guards to the front office of the palace, and had used excuses to make things difficult for Hou Dayong many times.

Li Chongjin never expected that in a few years, an intermediate officer in the area actually became a royal relative, and his official position was also promoted again and again. In just five years, he was commanded by the Black Eagle Army and became the prime minister of the Great Zhou Dynasty. At this time, when he heard Hou Dayong's statement, Li Chongjin's handsome and cold cheeks twitched slightly for several times, and then calmed down again. At this time, Hou Dayong was no longer Among of Wu, and it was extremely stupid to easily create a strong enemy.

"What I said about north first and south, to be precise, north first and south then north, divided into four steps. The first step is to wipe out the remaining enemies north of the Yangtze River, seize Shuzhou, Qizhou, Huangzhou and other places, and completely drive the Southern Tang forces to the south of the Yangtze River;

The second step is to concentrate the main force of our army to capture the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun. As long as we can capture the land of these Sixteen Prefectures and use this as a barrier, it will be difficult for the Liao people to easily jump into the Central Plains. What I said to go north is mainly to seize the strategic location of the Sixteen Prefectures, rather than fighting the Liao people to the death;

The third step is to stabilize the north, and then turn north again, first attack the slightly weak Western Shu, then attack southern forces such as Southern Tang and Southern Han, and then turn north after the southern diligence;

The fourth step is to unify the world and start a decisive battle with the Liao people. At this time, the Zhou army will surely traverse the desert with the manpower and material resources of the whole country."

When Hou Dayong said this, he stood up and raised his voice and said, "In less than ten years, Your Majesty will surely wipe out the world and establish immortal merits."

Chai Rong listened to Hou Dayong's statement calmly, but still did not express his opinion. He did it himself, scooped up a bowl of hot broth, and said casually: "The mutton soup is really fragrant today. Don't stand there, just drink a bowl." Chai Rong is a king of horses. His years of life in the army have made him develop the habit of doing it by himself. Especially when the important officials were discussing affairs, Chai Rong especially disliked eunuchs. The palace maids stood behind him and always drove them outside to wait.

Fan Zhi and other ministers also copied the meat soup and scooped up the meat soup for a while. For a moment, the "huff" sounds in the house kept coming.

Chai Rong put down the soup bowl, then asked Fan Zhi, and said, "What do you think about the plan of Fan Xiang. Hou Xiang?"

Fan Zhi is tall and tall, has a pretty face, and is wearing a wide purple official uniform. She has a fairy-like style. "The strategy of the Hou and Prime Minister is very consistent with the ministers."

Chai Rong asked again, "Li Sanlang, what do you think?" Chai Rong was the adopted son of Taizu Guo Wei, and the nephew of Guo Wei of Li Chongjin. Before Chai Rong became emperor, he always called Li Chongjin "Li Sanlang". This is also a sign of closeness.

Li Chongjin's appearance is somewhat similar to that of the Dangxiang Fangdang tribe, and he has an eagle hook nose. He is quite powerful when staring at people. Li Chongjin raised his head slightly and said, "The Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun are strategic locations, and the battle here will definitely be very fierce. In the same way as a decisive battle with the Liao army, our army must concentrate a lot of taxes here. I still have any opinions. If the Northern Han army takes the opportunity to go south to Zezhou, or the Southern Tang army takes the opportunity to cross the river and attack, our army will definitely be passive. If this problem cannot be properly solved, it will be unwise to hurry north."

In the history that Hou Dayong knew, Chai Rong chose the strategy of north first and then south, while Zhao Kuangyin finally chose the strategy of south first and then north. Hou Dayong supported Chai Rong from the bottom of his heart. He was unwilling to entangle with Li Chongjin in these details. He walked to the middle of the hall, took a piece of black charcoal, and drew a brief topographic map with a few strokes, pointing to the map and said: "The key to whether the Central Plains is stable lies in whether the North is stable. The main reason for the instability of the North is that Shi Jingtang ceded the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun to the Khitan, causing the Central Plains to lose their backs and thorns on their backs, so it is difficult to get peace. If the Central Plains are to be unified, they must be recaptured by the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun."

Hou Dayong picked up the charcoal and drew a big circle on the ground to surround the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. His tone was a bit excited and said, "The Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun are the top priority of all strategic areas, ten times more important than Western Shu and Southern Tang. If the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were lost, there was no screen in the Central Plains, and the Khitan cavalry could come and go freely, but we had to spend all our brains and spend a large number of troops to defend and were passive. This was also the most hateful place in Shijingtang."

When Hou Dayong led his troops in Lingzhou, he developed the habit of waving hands. This is a gesture that a big man often uses to decide major matters. At this time, when he talked about his interest, his right hand couldn't help but lifted up again, but immediately realized that sitting opposite the Emperor of the Great Zhou, he put his right hand beside his leg and said, "The countries in the south are not monolithic. They are each in charge and restrain each other, and they cannot pose a threat to the Great Zhou at all. Once the north is flat, the south can be determined by the south. As for the Northern Han, I also think it is not worth fearing. Gao Ping's defeat has made his tax energy suddenly. Over the past few years, Liu Chengjun has always been huddled in Taiyuan and never dared to go south again. The Yanzhou Army, Lingzhou Army and other northwest army are on its flanks, and the Li Yun tribe in Luzhou in the southeast is also strong. If the Northern Han army really dares to go south and the troops are attacking each other, they are afraid that the Northern Han army will not gain any advantage and will not need the Central Imperial Army to come forward."

After Hou Dayong finished speaking, he said to Chai Rong: "I am ignorant. What I said is to throw bricks and attract jade. Please give your majesty a clear guide."

Chai Rong laughed loudly and said, "Every word of the Hou Prime Minister has been expressed in my heart." Chai Rong said to the ministers, "What my dearest words are all golden and jade, and I have never expressed my attitude. Even if the advice given by the Hou Prime Minister today is my attitude, first north and then south is the national policy, so I will make a decision tonight, and there is no need to discuss it. As for the specific implementation, the Privy Council will carefully plan."

Li Chongjin was still dissatisfied. Seeing that Hou Dayong was praised by His Majesty, his smile became darker little by little.

Zhao Kuangyin smiled cheerfully and said, "When the world is settled, the grand event of night talks in Chuzhou will surely be passed down through the ages."

On the third day, the Great Zhou army began to move south and sweep away the remaining troops of the Southern Tang Dynasty north of the Yangtze River.

The Shangcao Canal Channel of the Great Zhou Imperial Army went south, and three days later arrived in Yangzhou, then went east to Taizhou, and then to Luanjiangkou.

When they arrived at the Luanjiangkou, Li Jixun, the General of the Right Martial Guard, led the Great Zhou army's boat troops, had already lined up on the Yangtze River and were waiting for a decisive battle with the Southern Tang Navy.

After Hou Dayong arrived in the Great Zhou Dynasty, he fought in the north for a long time and had no chance to contact the navy. When he saw it today, he was surprised that the scale of the Great Zhou navy was far beyond his imagination.

The Great Zhou Zhou Zhoumaster has more than a hundred ships, divided into three types:

One is a giant warship, called Xuanlong Ship, which evolved from the "Five Tooth" warship of the Sui Dynasty. The "Five Tooth" tower ship used by the Sui general Yang Su when he destroyed Chen was an unquestionable giant ship. The "Five Tooth" tower ship of the Sui Dynasty was 30 meters high, with 5 floors of the ship building, with a massive throughput of 800 people. On it, the stone thrower was placed on it for long-range attacks. When the Sui Dynasty navy fought against the Chen Navy on the shore of Xinzhou, the "Five Tooth" ship threw out a large stone to smash more than ten Chen ships. The Chen Navy was frightened by it and was defeated.

The other type is a slightly smaller warship, similar in style to the Xuanlong Ship, named Xuanjiao Ship. The Xuanjiao Ship was imitated by the Sui Yellow Dragon Ship. It can accommodate hundreds of soldiers and sail on the river bank with shallow water. It is more flexible than the Xuanlong Ship. It is the main ship of the Dazhou Navy.

There are also various small ship support, such as Pingcheng, Mengchong and other ships.

Li Jixun's navy had a neat formation, with six Xuanlong ships lined up in a row. The battle flags on the ship made a sound of "hunting, hunting" with the river wind. The front and rear ends of the warship were all set on trenchers, just like the front armor and rear armor artillery on modern warships. There were some crossbowmen wearing vine armor standing on the side of the ship. These crossbowmen were also fighting soldiers at the same time. On both sides of the Xuanlong ship, there were more than fifty Xuanjiao ships. The equipment of the Xuanlong ship was almost the same as that of the Xuanlong ship, but was slightly smaller. Around the two main battleships of Xuanlong ships, there were some Pingcheng, Mengchong and others who could only ride in a dozen boats.

Chai Rong had a serious personality and liked to do everything himself. When he arrived at the Luanjiangkou, he did not rest at all and insisted on boarding the warship. The ministers could not dissuade him. He could only watch the majestic His Majesty boarding the warship. The Great Zhou naval army was disciplined with strict discipline, and the main general and deputy general could not boarding a warship at the same time. Chai Rong personally decided that he would naturally abide by this regulation. Hou Dayong and Zhao Kuangyin boarded another Xuanlong ship respectively, while Fan Zhi and Li Chongjin did not boarding the ship and led their troops to guard the shore.

Fan Zhi was almost killed when he was a child. He never dared to go into the water since then. At this time, he looked at the warships on the other side and the rolling Yangtze River water, and his legs were weak.

After Hou Dayong got on the ship, the commander Deng Tie immediately accompanied the entire warship. Deng Tie was good at the Huaihe River and was a veteran of the Great Zhou Navy. The warship he was in was the second largest warship of the Great Zhou Navy, with a maximum capacity of more than a thousand people. However, for the sake of security, each ship was limited to 800 people.

Although Hou Dayong is the commander of the Army's special forces and is not familiar with large warships, there are inland cruisers in the special forces. For a period of time, when the special forces were training at the Taihu base, they accompanied these two cruisers every day and knew a little about the structure of the ship. During the Xuanlong Ship patrol, if there was anything I didn't understand, I immediately asked Deng Tie that Deng Tie was a warship expert who spoke frankly and was quite good at metaphors, and often explained complex issues clearly in a few words.

Therefore, Hou Daneng made a preliminary judgment on the Dazhou warship: the Dazhou shipbuilding technology is quite excellent, and the hull is generally used to use iron nails and nails to plug the seams with lime and tung oil. Therefore, the structure is very strong and tight. In addition, the warships also widely use paddles, watertight compass and water compass. The paddles look like waterwheels, installed on both sides of the ship's side, each pair is a car, connected by axle. The sailors step on the pedals on the shaft, and the shaft rotates to drive the paddles to row, and the propulsion method is extremely effective. The watertight compass technology uses the cabins isolated from each other to prevent the leakage cabin from easily endangering the safety of the entire ship. This technology is still indispensable for ships today.

With this preliminary judgment, Hou Dayong added some confidence to the soon-to-be-departure of the water war. He stood on the platform on the top of the Xuanlong Ship and watched Li Jixun lead the navy to fight.

The water surface of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River is wide, which is both a natural barrier and a good battlefield for navy to compete. On the other side of the Yangtze River, the ships of the Southern Tang Dynasty were also waiting in line. However, the ships of the Southern Tang Dynasty were obviously not prepared enough. Although there were dozens of warships, there were no large ships. The largest one was only equivalent to the Xuanjiao warship.

The command ship was a great battle drum, and the five-color flags were constantly changing. A Xuanlong ship, twenty Xuanjiao ships and forty small boats lined up on the river surface and slowly attacked the opposite shore. The Xuanlong ship, the catapults on the Xuanlong ship, and the bed crossbows were all ready.
Chapter completed!