In early October, Han Tong's navy arrived near Guazhoudu, east of Yangzhou, from Caoqu. The large ships were heading south to enter the Yangtze River. The location was east of Nanjing, near Zhenjiang City.
At this time, the Chizhou battle had been going on for a month, and Jinling had already mobilized troops to strengthen the eastern defense. Liu Cheng, a general of the Southern Tang State, was ordered to deploy in the east. He gathered the Southern Tang Navy in Jingkou and Zhenjiang. Upon hearing the news that Zhou's army was heading south, he rushed into the Caoqu with large ships carrying reeds and fierce fire oil.
At that time, the sea wind was blowing strongly from the east. The large warships of the Southern Tang army rushed to the east side of the Zhou army warships and set them on fire. Instantly, the fire soared into the sky, and the fierce fire oil and oil burned with billowing black smoke. Watering was useless. The fire on the reeds on the ship was even more shocking, like a wildfire on the mountain, and people were burned even a hundred steps away. The fire spread to the Zhou army warships in the east wind, and soon a large Zhou army ship in front of it caught fire.
The burnt black ash rushed into the air in the scorching airflow. The whole sky was covered with black dust, which fell in the distance like a black snow.
The soldiers on the Zhou army's warships had no time to put out the fire. The flames raged in the wind, and anyone who got close was burned to death. The soldiers on the deck were in chaos, and many jumped into the river and drowned. The soldiers were all wearing armor. In a naval battle, the danger of the ship sinking and falling into the water was more likely to kill people from arrows from the enemy. People wearing armor would be drowned immediately if they fell into the water. It was also difficult for those wearing less armor to survive. The river water was cold in October, and those who knew how to swim could not survive for long, not to mention that the thicker clothes were very heavy when wet.
The people paddling and treading water wheels below the deck were not burned for the time being, so many of them took off their clothes and jumped into the river holding wood. There were shouts and cries on the river surface, and the scene was a mess.
On the south bank of the Yangtze River, a military officer was laughing loudly. He pointed at the flames rising to the sky in the distance and laughed so hard that he almost rolled on the ground. This man was Liu Cheng, and the surrounding Southern Tang soldiers were also celebrating. Not far away, a burly man looked at the group of people over there coldly. The burly man was Lin Renzhao.
Lin Renzhao had just been appointed as the governor of Nanchang, and before he left Beijing, he rushed to Jingkou to watch the battle.
Liu Cheng laughed for a long time, and finally found Lin Renzhao who was watching, so he stepped forward to greet him: "General Lin, what do you think of my battle today? It can be called a great victory." After that, he didn't think much of Liu Renzhan, but still stretched out his hand to catch a wisp of black dust, raised his head and looked at it, and stretched out his hand to touch his bun, as if a clean person was shaking off dust. The fire was too strong, and the smoke and ash floated across the river.
Unexpectedly, Lin Renzhao said angrily: Burning a Zhou army warship is called a great victory
Liu Cheng was immediately unhappy: "We are all colleagues. Even if you don't want to congratulate, you can just keep silent." Liu Cheng stopped smiling and said coldly: "General Lin may not understand that the river valley of Caoqu is not as deep as the river. The two large ships were burned and sunk in the river. The Zhou army's warships will not be able to enter the river for a while."
Lin Renzhao said: "It's not difficult. We just need to clear the river and pull out the larger debris. It will only last for a few days at most. The Zhou army suffered a loss. Next time they break through the river mouth, they must observe the wind direction and use the fire attack method once."
Liu Cheng was stunned: The mouth of the Cao Canal is narrow, and the Yangtze River is wide. If the enemy ships want to leave the Cao Canal, they must line up in a long vertical formation. We patrol the river day and night with warships. If we see them trying to leave, we will attack them with superior warships and block the river mouth. The Zhou army cannot leave the Cao Canal.
Lin Renzhao said: The most important thing for the defense of the Yangtze River is quarrying. The Zhou army attacked Chizhou in the west, obviously for quarrying. Otherwise, why would they bypass the Poyang Lake to come here and be attacked from both sides? Therefore, Jingkou has a vast water surface. Our army only needs to manage the defense of Runzhou by land and water, and it is difficult for the enemy to invade from here. However, General Liu spent all the navy in the east here. How can we fight the Zhou army on the quarrying river
Although the lower reaches of the Yangtze River are very long, there are not many places suitable for a large army to cross the river; for example, most of the river banks are shallow, and ships will run aground before they can reach the shore. The ferry crossings usually have sections protruding into the center of the river, which is convenient for ships to dock in deep water areas. After thousands of years of operation, most of these places have become well-known ferry crossings, such as Jingkou Caishi.
Liu Cheng said angrily: "I was ordered to deploy the defense in the east, but you are talking to me about quarrying. Why don't you go to the court and tell His Majesty what you mean?"
Liu Cheng's words hit the point. Lin Renzhao was stunned and could not argue. He had no choice but to leave the riverside. Hearing Liu Cheng mumbling behind him, as if he was saying something bad about him, Lin Renzhao knew that he had offended him accidentally, but he didn't care about such things.
Lin Renzhao rode back to Jiangning City. The more he thought about it, the worse it felt. Chizhou had been occupied for almost a month, and the court had not made any useful arrangements. Not only was there no sign of any urgent need to retake Chizhou, but even Cai Shi had not sent any reinforcements for defense. Instead, all the navy in the east was concentrated in Jingkou. No one knew who came up with this idea.
He thought about it and realized that he had been ordered to go to Hongzhou to take up his post and now he could not see the emperor. He thought of a person: Liu Renzhan had mentioned this person when Chen Qiao and Guo Shao asked for advice. This person was the assistant minister of Guangzhengyuan, who was appointed by the emperor when he passed the throne to the king Li Yu. He had a lot of influence in the court.
The key point is that Chen Qiao is not like those other people. Chen Qiao thinks highly of Lin Renzhao and recommended him to the king a long time ago, saying: Let Lin Renzhao lead the troops outside and Chen take charge of the government. Although our country is small, it will be difficult for the Central Plains to plot. He praised Lin Renzhao with all his praise.
So Lin Renzhao hurried to Chen's house, wanting to talk to Chen Qiao about his military insights and discuss the defense of the river.
Unexpectedly, Chen Qiao directly rejected Lin Renzhao's visit and rudely asked someone to drive him out of the gate. Lin Renzhao was confused and hurriedly left the Chen Mansion. Just as he walked to a secluded street, someone suddenly said behind him: General Lin, please get in the carriage.
Lin Renzhao looked back and saw that it was a strange scholar. But he was brave and brave, and he was not afraid at all because he was in the streets of the capital. He obeyed the order and got on the carriage. The carriage left immediately.
The scholar frowned and said: In broad daylight, you, a foreign general who is about to leave the capital, ran to visit Mr. Chen at his gate. What is your relationship with Mr. Chen? Aren't you afraid that people will say that you are colluding with the insiders
Lin Renzhao was puzzled and said: I am a minister in the same court as Mr. Chen, but we cannot even meet.
The scholar sighed and said: Mr. Chen also said that your shortcoming is that you don't know the ways of the world. Some time ago, someone impeached you for returning to Beijing without permission. Now you want to go to Hongzhou, and some people say you want to surrender Hongzhou to the Zhou court. How many people have you offended
Lin Renzhao cursed: Damn it, he holds a grudge over a small matter. How can such a villain be an official
The scholar said: You are a surrendered general of the Min Kingdom. Many people look down on you. You are often rude and disrespectful. You don't obey anyone. That's all. Mr. Chen knew you were coming to the mansion, so he guessed you were going to talk about the defense of the river. Mr. Chen asked me to bring you a message. Hurry up and write it down in detail. I will pick it up at the alley where we met early tomorrow morning.
Lin Renzhao said: I don’t have much literary talent.
Just write it down clearly, I'm not asking you to take the imperial examination, the scholar said unhappily.
After the two of them exchanged a few words, the scholar hurriedly drove Lin Renzhao off the carriage.
Lin Renzhao returned to his residence and scratched his head and bit the pen when he picked up the brush. He didn't know how to write. He threw away the brush and walked around the yard. His thoughts became clear.
He believed that in the current situation, the most important defense was to quarry stones, and the attack was to use the navy to cut off the enemy's retreat in Chizhou. The navy of the Southern Tang team was the least disadvantaged, while the cavalry and infantry on land were inferior to those of the Zhou army.
Part of the navy on the east side was used to contain the Zhou army coming from the Cao Canal. The Cao Canal was narrow and shallow, so it was not easy for the Zhou army to mobilize troops. Another part went up the river and attacked from both sides with the navy at Hukou, cutting off the enemy's path to break through the river defenses from Chizhou. Then they strengthened the defenses in Caishi and other places, so that the enemy troops in Chizhou were surrounded.
Lin Renzhao pondered for a long time and summed up his own insights: first defend against quarrying, then defend upstream, and gradually rely on the water advantages of the city walls of important towns to resist.
Chen Qiao polished Lin Renzhao's strategy and presented it to Li Yu.
But this was just one of countless memorials, and Li Yu had a lot of documents in front of him. Not only that, the Zhou Dynasty also sent envoys to intimidate him, claiming that three armies of 800,000 troops would be sent by land and sea to destroy the Southern Tang Kingdom overnight.
It was claimed that the main force of hundreds of thousands of troops had passed the Caoqu and would soon reach Jiangning City. The nearest enemy force was indeed Han Tong's navy in Yangzhou. Li Yu also received intelligence that warships to the east of Yangzhou stretched for dozens of miles, covering the entire river surface; and a large number of elite infantry and cavalry on land had entered Huainan.
The heavy troops stockpiled at his doorstep were obviously what made Li Yu most panic; and Chizhou and Wuchang reported that they were attacked one after another, which was also very important, but after all, they were a little far away, still hundreds of miles away.
At this time, Liu Cheng reported victory, claiming to have defeated the Zhou army in Jingkou. Liu Cheng wrote a letter, saying that he cleverly took advantage of the east wind to attack the Zhou army with fire, burning countless Zhou sailors to death, and the sunken ships blocked the canal, causing the Zhou army to suffer a miserable defeat.
When Li Yu heard the officials shouting victory, he read Liu Cheng's report first. He felt relieved that he had won a victory right under his nose. He also remembered that when Liu Cheng was in the court, he was respectful and did not mind that the king had just ascended the throne. He always flattered and protected him. Li Yu immediately felt that Liu Cheng was a pillar of talent. He hurriedly sent an eunuch to Runzhou with a large sum of money and an imperial edict to commend Liu Cheng and let him continue to work hard on the eastern defense deployment.
Then Li Yu found Chen Qiao's memorial, which was an important minister's memorial. He picked it up and saw that it was a strategy for Jiang defense. It was well-reasoned and Li Yu thought it made sense after reading it. He first found a time to gather the ministers to observe and discuss it.
At this time, an official from the Hanlin Academy asked for a meeting and secretly told Li Yu that Chen Qiao had sent someone to meet Lin Renzhao in secret, and told him every detail of how they met and how they whispered in the carriage.
After the official finished speaking, he reminded: Your Majesty, Chen Qiao is from Hongzhou in Nando. It is a bit of a coincidence that Lin Renzhao is going to Hongzhou to take up the post this time. It is a pity that I did not hear clearly what they discussed in secret.