By evening, Wang Pu had not yet come up the mountain, so Zuo You and Cao Bin said goodbye and left.
Guo Shao escorted them to the door of the vegetarian room and went down to another room from the eaves. The rain was still falling, and water flowed down the tiles in columns. Guo Shao found that the door was just closed, so he pushed it open and saw a beautiful woman in plain clothes kneeling on a cushion in front of the Buddha statue. She was Zhou Xian. Although she had taken off all her jewelry and did not put on any makeup on her face, the beauty on her beautiful and fair face showed that she had not yet finished her earthly ties.
Green lamps and ancient Buddhas. However, the woman on the mat was indeed graceful, with a full chest. Her kneeling posture made her skirt tight, highlighting the round lines of her hips. She was closing her eyes, her long eyelashes were trembling slightly, her smooth lips were moving slightly as if she was silently reciting something, and she was counting a string of Buddhist beads in her hand.
Guo Shao was stunned, Zhou Xian was indeed stunningly beautiful, with different charms in different postures. She was originally the queen of Southern Tang, but Guo Shao believed that such a beauty did not belong to anyone, she only belonged to the winner.
"What are you praying for in front of the Buddha?" Guo Shao asked.
Zhou Xian opened her eyes and looked back at Guo Shao, her brows full of pity and sadness. Guo Shao then walked over and sat cross-legged on the futon next to her. The light outside was gradually dimming, and the drizzle was still falling.
Zhou Xian said softly: I am sorry to the king, and I am even more sorry to Jiamin for not caring about her life or death for my own sake. I don't know what's wrong with her now.
Guo Shao said kindly: "I told my subordinates not to leak out Ehuang's temporary warning, and I did not mention this matter when I sent people to Jiangning City to question them. The King of Southern Tang should not know about it, so he should not do anything to Ehuang's sister, you don't have to worry too much."
He will know it sooner or later. Zhou Xian shook his head slightly.
Guo Shao thought about it for a while, and heard the sound of wooden fish coming from afar, so he didn't do anything to Zhou Xian and left the room soon.
The weather finally cleared up in February of the sixth year of Xian De, 959. The spring was bright and beautiful, and the decisive battle finally arrived. There were huge crowds of people on both sides of the Qinhuai River. The Southern Tang army was on the north bank, and the main force of the Zhou army was on the south bank. The army stretched along the river bank, and there were at least 200,000 people on both sides.
In such a large-scale scene, the drums and trumpets on both wings could not hear each other, and the situation in the distance could not be seen. Guo Shao's central army could not control the army immediately; each unit had its own commander, who had discussed tactics and strategies in advance and responded to emergencies on their own.
The generals were dispersed to their respective units. Guo Shao rode his horse in front of the troops to inspect and boost morale. The soldiers saw him and shouted loudly, with waves of shouting. At this moment, Guo Shao suddenly pulled the reins and turned off the horse. Wang Pu and other generals who were accompanying him stopped and looked sideways.
Guo Shao strode straight to a soldier holding a tiger flag, and the soldier immediately tensed up and stood up, not daring to look him in the face. Guo Shao reached out to grab the flagpole, handed it to the sergeant next to him, and then grabbed the soldier's hand.
A pair of cracked hands were spread out, covered with dirt that could not be washed off, the cracked wounds were shocking, and a piece of torn linen was wrapped around the palms. Guo Shao turned his head to look at everyone, and all his followers were silent. He personally untied the linen on the soldier's hands, tore off his own shoulder scarf, and wrapped it around the soldier's hands again.
Marshal Guo's soldiers were speechless.
Guo Shao returned the flagpole to him and said: I will never forget the soldiers who fought bravely on the battlefield.
A general suddenly raised his spear and shouted: "Fight for Marshal Guo!" The soldiers were in an uproar, the shouting became more and more majestic, and even the troops in the distance looked over here.
Guo Shao got on his horse, looked into the distance, and looked back to the left and right and said: Look at the hardships and toil of the soldiers, while the ruler of Southern Tang is stubbornly resisting, for his own selfishness, uselessly causing more people to bleed. We have tried to persuade them to surrender many times but to no avail, so we have no choice but to charge into Jiangning City and recover Jiangnan.
He drew his sword and shouted, "The king's army will fight against injustice and unify the world. We will surely win." Groups of soldiers and horses followed suit and shouted, "We will surely win." Their prestige overwhelmed the Southern Tang army camp opposite.
At this moment, a bright fire suddenly appeared in front of the left wing. Although the sun was shining brightly in the sky, the fire was brighter than the sun.
Several giant rafts loaded with firewood swam from the west of the Qinhuai River, caught fire with the wind, and rushed straight to the water fort of the Southern Tang Army on the opposite bank. That was Luo Yanhuan's trick, which he had used at Wankou, and now he was using it again.
The 23-meter-wide raft floated like a volcano. It moved slowly after catching fire with the wind, but nothing could stop it on the water. The warships of the Southern Tang Army hung their sails and turned around to run with the wind. The raft slowly moved to the water fort on the opposite bank. Soon, the flames spread and ignited the fence of the water fort, and the fire became even bigger.
A large cloud of thick smoke was spreading, and the scorching heat covered the surrounding area. The Southern Tang army retreated in front and fell into chaos.
Not far to the southeast of the water fort, Shi Yanchao, who was already prepared, waved his iron spear and shouted: "Kill!" He was the first to ride out of the crowd, and the nearby iron cavalry rushed forward with a swarm of shouts. The horses rushed straight into the river. The river in this area that had been explored was very shallow, and the water was no deeper than the horse's back. The cavalry trudged in the water, splashing water everywhere.
Shi Yanchao was the first to cross the Qinhuai River. There was smoke in front of him, and the Southern Tang army was in chaos. But from nowhere, crossbow arrows as thick as arms flew in, and even the loud bangs of crossbows could be heard in the noise. Someone was hit by a crossbow arrow and fell off his horse screaming. Shi Yanchao did not reorganize his men and horses, but rushed straight into the chaotic Southern Tang army, and many of his personal soldiers in elite armor quickly followed him.
The nearby Southern Tang army was in a mess, offering no resistance. Shi Yanchao and his men ignored the enemy soldiers and drove the chaotic soldiers straight to the north. The soldiers were slow to cross the river, and the river slowed down the following horses; the people in front rushed fast, and Shi Yanchao's troops became like a long snake formation. In the smoke, there were chaotic soldiers who did not have time to escape, and were chopped by the Zhou soldiers on horseback. The soldier covered his head with his hands and screamed.
Shi Yanchao's vanguard went around the chaotic soldiers to the eastern flank of the camp. In front of him were a forest of swords and spears, and the sea of people made his troops look extremely thin. But Shi Yanchao didn't care about the number of people at all, and took the lead to attack the front of the central formation of the Southern Tang army.
In the army, he seemed to be a bigger man, taller and stronger than everyone else, with a fierce momentum. A heavy iron spear flew out of his hand and flew forward. Not far away, there was a scream. The heavy iron spear with full force directly broke through the armor of a soldier and pierced his torso. A group of javelins whistled away, and many long spears in the Southern Tang army camp fell. Shi Yanchao rode on a galloping iron horse and quickly rushed into the enemy's ranks. He took a new iron spear in his hand and stabbed it into the chest of a soldier on the side. Blood spurted out. The soldier was thrown back by the rapid force and knocked over two more people.
There were crowds of people around, and the infantry turned to look at the cavalry coming from this side. Before they could react, Shi Yanchao led his troops to directly break through the square formation and entered with one blow. The morale of the Southern Tang army here was very low, especially because they could not stand the fight. Before a few people died, a large group of people dropped their weapons and fled.
Arrows shot at Shi Yanchao's armor, making clanging noises. Elite soldiers rushed forward desperately to protect his two wings. The war horses were running around in the enemy camp, and no one could stop them. Many soldiers started running from a distance before Shi Yanchao rushed over. Shi Yanchao was excited, his body was covered in blood, he held a saber in his left hand and a spear in his right hand. The two two-handed weapons were extremely light in his hands, and he chopped them like melons and vegetables, completely disregarding the feelings of the enemy soldiers.
Shi Yanchao pointed his saber southward, and a group of cavalry followed him to the river. In front of him were the long-range light soldiers of the Southern Tang Army, who were guarding the river with bows and crossbows. They had to turn around and shoot countless arrows at the cavalry of the Zhou Army rushing from behind. Shi Yanchao's men and horses suffered heavy losses, mainly because the horses were injured and the soldiers were left behind.
But when the iron cavalry charged into the crowd of light soldiers, they crushed them with ease, and the crowd scattered like frightened ants.
On the Qinhuai River, a large number of Zhou army boats were rowing to transport soldiers across the river. No one had put out the fire in the west, and even the river surface was covered with a layer of light smoke. The black ashes of burnt reeds in the air fell down, and there were also a large number of arrows. The arrows fell into the water, making a ding-dong sound and splashing water. The river surface really looked like it was raining.
There were several shallow waters in this section of the river, so the Zhou army's large warships could not enter. The troops were transported by small boats and various civilian boats that were temporarily requisitioned. Some of the boats here were even black-sailed boats, and the soldiers on the boats held rough wooden shields above their heads, because the sails above their heads were full of holes and arrows kept falling down.
Suddenly there was a scream of pain, and the soldiers turned around and saw that a soldier who was rowing had dropped his oar, and his hand was nailed to the side of the boat by an arrow. The blood stained the wooden board red, and his face showed pain.
The shouting outside was getting louder and louder. The people on the bow jumped into the river and waded to the shore. A young general shouted: Charge forward, kill a group of people, throw away the broken wooden shields with many arrows nailed on them, pick up weapons and rush out.
The river bank was glittering in the water, and the metallic luster of the plate armor was particularly conspicuous in the sun. This group of people was Zhang Jiankui's unit in the left wing of the Tiger Guard Army. They had the best armor and weapons among the infantry, and they were usually the first to go forward. Even Zhou Tong, the commander of the Third Army, personally charged into the crowd.
The light soldiers of the Southern Tang army on the riverbank were in disarray, and the Zhou army cavalry rushed around. Some of Zhang Jiankui's troops also crossed the river and climbed out of the water in a mess, but no one organized the ranks. Zhang Jiankui went up first with a big axe in hand, and the troops also rushed forward in a mess under the arrows.
Along the entire river bank, shouts of charge and killing resounded throughout the earth. Large groups of soldiers spread forward. They were all chaotic soldiers, but the momentum and scene were as turbulent as a flood.