The city was in chaos, and Guo Shao could no longer figure out which unit was where. However, he could not figure out that the Tang army commander had probably lost control of the army. Many Southern Tang soldiers surrendered in the melee, and the overall situation was decided. In ancient armies, especially civil wars, street fighting was not so easy to fight. After losing the formation, it all depended on the lower-level generals to control their subordinates.
All the Southern Tang troops guarding the East City surrendered. When Guo Shao heard that Lu Mengjun had died, he went to see it with Luo Mengzi and others.
When he walked up to the tower, he saw a group of surrendered soldiers who had thrown away their weapons and were kneeling on the ground. There was a corpse lying on a wooden frame. When Guo Shao walked up, he couldn't help but cover his nose with his fingers. A sticky smell mixed with a foul odor hit him in the face.
The body was covered in burns, and its features were so dark and blurred that no one could make out its features. However, it was wearing the armor of a general.
At this moment, Guo Shao found a sword next to the body, and he reached out to grab it. When he pressed the spring, a piece of clear and beautiful sword light popped out. Guo Shao's face was delighted, and he pulled out the sword. He used his fingernail to gently scratch the edge of the sword, and immediately cut off a small piece of the nail. He couldn't help but praise: "What a good sword, what a sharp sword!"
All the generals congratulated Guo Shao on obtaining the sword.
But Guo Shao still felt something was wrong. How could a general be burned beyond recognition? If Lu Mengjun had personally charged into the front line, would the East Gate be in such a mess? Would all the Tang army soldiers have run around
He immediately lied: This person is definitely not Lu Mengjun. Where is Lu Mengjun
No one answered. Guo Shao thought for a while and said: The surrendered soldiers on the city wall should stay where they are. Whoever moves will be killed. Go and call the generals of Wang Chong's Southern Tang army who mutinied.
At this time, a surrendered soldier kowtowed and said: Spare my life, Marshal Guo, spare my life. I am Lu Mengjun.
The surrendered soldiers of the Southern Tang army looked at each other in bewilderment. Some of them showed anger on their faces. Lu Mengjun should have been very cruel to his subordinates, but he was so greedy for life and afraid of death that the surrendered soldiers were disappointed.
Guo Shao called Wang Chong and found that it was Lu Mengjun. He then ordered his personal soldiers to tie him up separately. Lu Mengjun kept saying: "I am willing to serve the Great Zhou Army and serve under Marshal Guo." But Guo Shao ignored him.
Suddenly, it was reported that Chai Kehong was surrounded by Gao Huaide in the south city. Guo Shao hurriedly went down the city wall, led his personal soldiers and elite cavalry out of the city, and went around the city to the south city. Because the city was still in chaos and there were fires everywhere, it was impossible to take a shortcut.
A similar scene to Shouzhou, Chai Kehong was stationed in the south of the city, with nowhere to go. Chai Kehong was a famous general of the Southern Tang State, and Guo Shao rushed over just to catch a glimpse of him.
Gao Huaide was also here. He did not order the army to attack the South City Tower, but the city gate was already open, and there were Zhou army troops inside and outside.
Guo Shao rode his horse to the foot of the city, looked up and squinted his eyes to carefully observe Chai Kehong on the top of the city wall, and saw that he was a very young general, probably only a few years older than Guo Shao. Chai Kehong was a famous general after all, and his demeanor was much different from Lu Mengjun. He stood there calmly without dodging at all. However, no Zhou army soldiers shot him with arrows.
Smoke rolled in the wind, and Guo Shao suddenly felt the despair in the heart of this general who was not much different from himself in age. The winner is the king, the loser is the bandit, and the taste of failure should not be so pleasant.
Luo Mengzi shouted on his horse: "General Chai Kehong, come down and surrender quickly. Liu Renzhan failed to hold out in Shouzhou when my elder brother attacked the city. You are still fine now. My elder brother will not treat you unfairly."
Guo Shao thought about it, called Luo Mengzi and said: Stop trying to persuade him, just let him go.
Chai Kehong suddenly said loudly: I didn't lose, it was my subordinates who harmed me, not that I was not as good as others in commanding troops. After he said that, he suddenly raised his head and laughed wildly.
Guo Shao looked around and said: Liu Renzhan can be forgiven; Chai Kehong cannot be forgiven. He did not dare to surrender. The destiny of the Southern Tang Dynasty, the morale of the Tang army, and the hopes of Huainan were pinned on him, and they collapsed so quickly. It is too heavy for such a young person to bear. He cannot bear it.
As soon as he finished speaking, Chai Kehong stared at the setting sun for a long time with a look of longing and despair in his eyes, which made Guo Shao feel nervous.
I didn’t lose, he shouted, and his body suddenly leaned forward.
Bang! Guo Shao felt his heart tremble.
Chai Kehong died in Haozhou. He shouldered too much responsibility for the Southern Tang Kingdom, and all the blame, both deserved and undeserved, was placed on him.
Soon after, the general of Sizhou Navy led more than 300 warships to surrender to Han Tong. Fan Zaiyu, the garrison commander of Sizhou, presented a memorial to the Zhou emperor, saying that his family was in Jinling and that he would surrender the city after he could secretly bring his family out. Chai Rong approved his request.
Han Tong led his navy to Chuzhou, where the Southern Tang general Guo Tingwei surrendered. The Chuzhou garrison commander Zhang Yanqing defended the city to the death, but was trapped in the city and could not move. Soon after, Han Tong's navy entered the Caoqu Canal from Chuzhou and headed straight for the Yangtze River.
Zhang Yongde and Zhao Kuangyin led their troops to attack Xiongtai. When the defenders of the two cities heard that Chai Kehong of Haozhou had been defeated, they went out of the city to gather troops for a decisive battle, but were defeated by Zhao Kuangyin's cavalry. Li Jingda, a general of the Southern Tang Kingdom, had just crossed the Yangtze River with his troops to reinforce Huainan, but when he heard that many places had been lost and the Zhou army's navy would soon enter the Yangtze River, he led his troops back.
The emperor of the Zhou Dynasty set up his temporary palace outside the city of Haozhou, and soon received the surrender letter from Li Jing, the ruler of Southern Tang.
Guo Shao and other generals witnessed the surrender ceremony of the Southern Tang in the palace: the envoy Liu Chengyu knelt down and presented a surrender letter. In the book, Li Jing claimed to be the ruler of the Southern Tang, gave up the title of emperor, and asked to cede all 14 states and 60 counties north of the Yangtze River, and pay hundreds of thousands of tributes to the Zhou Dynasty court every year. The Southern Tang asked for surrender and begged Chai Rong not to cross the river to attack him again.
It was the twelfth month of the second year of Xian De, and the Huainan War, which had lasted for more than half a year, had ended. Chai Rong had mobilized almost all of the Zhou Dynasty's hundreds of thousands of troops.
Chai Rong's face showed an almost sickly red glow, and the ministers and generals around him were all happy. Chai Rong said: I agree to the request of the King of Southern Tang. You go back and tell the King of Southern Tang that he can submit to the Great Zhou in the future, and I will treat him well.
The envoys withdrew and waited for the imperial edict from the Zhou emperor.
Chai Rong could not wait to reward and deploy the meritorious generals. Many generals died in the battle, but more were promoted. There were too many people for Guo Shao to remember, so he only paid extra attention to those who were related to him.
Guo Shao was promoted to the position of the Imperial Guards, and still served as the military governor of Xuzhou; Gao Huaide was appointed as the Imperial Guards, and the military governor of Jian; Chai Gui was appointed as the commander of the right wing of the Hujie Army. Zhang Yongde and Zhao Kuangyin were already the chief inspector of the Palace Front and the commander of the Palace Front, respectively, and there was no room for them to be promoted. Li Chongjin was still the commander of the Imperial Guards, and was also appointed as the military governor of Huainan. Guo Shao felt that the latter two positions were not very useful. Han Tong was appointed as the deputy commander of the Imperial Guards, and Shi Yanchao was transferred to the Palace Front as the chief military governor of the Palace Front.
Others were the transfers of middle-level military officers approved by the Privy Council. Li Chuyun, Luo Yanhuan, Yang Biao and Wang Zhang, who were close to Guo Shao, were promoted to military commanders, all in the left wing. Some of the military officers in the left wing were transferred to the right wing. Luo Mengzi and Deng Fei led the military commanders, and Luo Mengzi still led Guo Shao's personal soldiers.
Everyone congratulated the emperor. Soon Chai Rong stood up and summoned Wei Renpu, the privy envoy, Wang Pu, the deputy envoy, and several prime ministers to leave the hall.
Guo Shao knew that Chai Rong's war machine would never stop. According to the Zhou Dynasty strategy he had learned before, the biggest rear threat, Shu and Southern Tang, had been defeated. Chai Rong would not pay attention to these countries for the time being. His attention immediately shifted to the Khitan Liao Kingdom.
The strongest enemy of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Even though it is in a weak period now, it is still regarded as the number one enemy by Chai Rong.
But Guo Shao vaguely remembered that Chai Rong failed to win the battle with Liao and later died of illness, and Zhao Kuangyin easily seized his kingdom through the Chenqiao Mutiny. The Chenqiao Mutiny and the release of military power over a cup of wine were contents that Guo Shao had memorized in his middle school history textbooks, but he remembered these two major events very well.
At this time, the Huainan War seemed to be smoother and ended earlier than in history. But Chai Rong's complexion did not look very healthy. How long could he live? Guo Shao felt the pressure getting closer and closer.
Guo Shao was unwilling to serve Zhao Kuangyin. If he had served in the past, he would not have been considered one of his own. He was not a general in the same circle as others. Then he would only be his enemy. But now he felt that his strength was still not strong. Although his military rank was very high, he climbed too fast. In fact, his feet were a little empty. He was the third person in the Imperial Guards Department. His strength was limited to the left wing of the Tiger Guards, which was less than one-eighth of the Imperial Guards. He had almost no influence in other troops.
Like Li Chongjin, the highest-ranking military officer in the Imperial Guard, Guo Shao felt that he was even weaker.
The words "I didn't lose" by Chai Kehong were deeply imprinted in Guo Shao's heart.
Zhao Kuangyin
At a time when victory was being celebrated everywhere, Guo Shao suppressed his anxiety. He quietly led his personal soldiers to Xiacai with a prisoner, who was Lu Mengjun, who was tied up. Guo Shao took the trophy from the battle of Haozhou, but he did not bring it to Chai Rong, so he kept it for himself. The victory in the later period suddenly accelerated, and there were so many things to do that it seemed that no one would care about such a prisoner.
Entering the courtyard, Yang came out when she heard the noise, stared at Guo Shao and said: I heard that you won the battle in Haozhou, did you meet Lu Mengjun
Guo Shao turned around, called his personal guard to bring him up, and asked: Is this the person
When Yang saw this, she immediately covered her mouth, tears filling her eyes instantly. She said in a trembling voice: Even if he turned into ashes, I know he is not a human being, he has a vicious heart, and his methods are cruel.
Guo Shao thought to himself: I have to thank him. Without Lu Mengjun, Haozhou would not be so prosperous. If Chai Kehong knew about this, he would go to the underworld to settle the account.
Without saying a word, he took off his sword and handed it over: Kill him with my own hands and get revenge.
Yang took the sword, bit her lip and tried to pull it out, but couldn't. Guo Shao stepped forward and gently pressed the spring, and with a clang, the sword's light came out.
Yang drew her sword and walked up slowly, her whole body trembling. Lu Mengjun's eyes widened and he said, "Mrs. Yang, listen to me. I had no choice. Back then,
A sword was thrust into his abdomen, but the sword was heavy and went off the mark, splashing blood. The guards holding Lu Mengjun from behind hurriedly dodged. This woman's technique was completely crooked. If she stabbed the wrong person, she would be in trouble.
Lu Mengjun's legs were not tied, and when he was released he turned around and tried to run away with a scream, but he was lightly tripped by a bodyguard and fell face first into the mud, screaming in pain like a pig being slaughtered.
She had no choice but to torture and humiliate him like that. Yang's face turned pale, and her arms shook violently after seeing the blood, but she still gritted her teeth and stabbed him randomly.
Poor Lu Mengjun, he was stabbed with more than ten swords but still alive, his blood splattered all over Yang's body. This beautiful woman, covered in blood, looked extremely weird.