The sun was setting, and while the people and horses in the Zhennan Army camp were churning to gather messages, the Zhennan Army Navy Company Camp stationed on the west side of the camp and leaning on the river was quiet. At this time, a young general galloped over on a white horse. After dismounting, he went straight to the commander's tent. However, the tent was not as calm as outside. Zhennan Navy Commander Zhu Lingyun and all the navy generals were stunned. Everyone looked serious and nervous, as if they had been waiting for a long time.
Zhu Lingyun, a native of Shucheng, Luzhou (now Shucheng, Anhui) in the Southern Tang Dynasty, was the grandson of Zhu Yanshou, the governor of Luzhou in the late Tang Dynasty. Today, he has inherited the outstanding military qualities of his ancestors and participated in large and small battles such as the extermination of Fujian and the invasion of Chu in the past. He had great military exploits and was regarded as a first-class navy general in the Southern Tang Dynasty.
With his impressive record and savvy in dealing with people, Zhu Lingyun has been on the rise in recent years. Last year, he served as the Marquis of Yu, the capital of the Divine Guard Army, for only half a year, and was quickly promoted to the commander of the first army. However, this time he was drawn from the Forbidden Army. After leaving, he was transferred to the Zhennan Army of Song Qiqiu and served as the commander of the Zhennan Navy with nearly 500 warships.
Most generals transferred from outside often choose to show their loyalty to the local military envoy or move closer to them in order to live a stable life or even go further. Zhu Lingyun has been in the army for a long time and knows the rules well, so he naturally has no lack of desire. The Song family showed goodwill, but his thoughts were completely opposite to his appearance. Especially this time when he heard about the rebellion of the Zhennan Army, Zhu Lingyun was even more angry because the ancestral precepts of the old Zhu family were placed in front of him. There, the Zhu family was always loyal only to the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty in Jinling.
Historically, Zhu Lingyun was indeed worthy of his loyalty to Li Tang. At the last moment when the Song army besieged the capital Jinling and the fall of the Southern Tang Dynasty was imminent, and in the face of the general trend of all the military governors in the north of the Yangtze River surrendering, he was the most powerful commander in charge of the Southern Tang Dynasty at that time. Zhu Lingyun, the military envoy of the Zhennan Army, ignored Zhao Kuangyin's promise of a lot of money and nobility. When the situation in the Southern Tang Dynasty was over, he resolutely ordered all the soldiers and horses, bringing 150,000 soldiers and horses and a thousand warships. Go east along the river to King Qin.
Unexpectedly, loyal ministers and good generals could not resist the grinding wheel of history. Logically speaking, the Zhao and Song navy, which was pieced together from the Jingnan surrender army, could not compare with the Southern Tang navy that had experienced hundreds of battles. Facing the entire ten At first, the Song army was unable to resist the 50,000-strong naval force. Many soldiers jumped into the river one after another, and many of them were burned to death and drowned.
Just when Zhu Lingyun tried to use his trump card and ordered Menghuo oil to be poured on the river, preparing to wipe out all the Song troops, the wind suddenly changed direction. The southeast wind inexplicably changed its direction, and a northwest wind suddenly blew. Instead, the terrifying smoke and fire engulfed the Southern Tang navy.
In the end, the 150,000 Zhennan naval force was completely wiped out in Wankou (15 miles west of today's Huaining County, Anhui Province). Zhu Lingyun would rather die than surrender, and all seven of his father and son burned themselves to death for their country. This support army carried the last hope of the Southern Tang Dynasty. The collapse of the Han Dynasty became the last straw for Empress Li. One month later, Empress Li surrendered and the Southern Tang Dynasty was destroyed.
Back to the present moment, in the large naval tent of the Zhennan Army, Zhu Lingyun, who had been restless for a long time, saw his eldest son returning and quickly stood up to greet him, asking in a low voice: "Are you sure?"
Seeing that young Zhu Bosong's sweaty face was full of sadness, he then raised his hands and said directly: "Father, I don't know if this is bad news or good news. Song Mojie was indeed defeated in the valley. Even Jiang Kai and Tian Wen Everyone in Fengdu was killed. It is said that they were unlucky and happened to bump into the personal cavalry of the counter-rebellion Marshal Li Yuan... However, there seemed to be no sign of Wang Shi continuing the attack, and Song Mojie was gathering all the troops. The soldiers and horses intend to fight to the death with Master Wang, and the messengers will probably arrive at our place soon."
After hearing this, a navy general became furious: "If the river hadn't frozen, causing all the warships to run aground, how could we have stayed here? Damn it, if Song Mojie was going to die, why would he drag our navy with him?"
Zhu Lingyun frowned and said nothing, his heart suddenly moved, he turned around and waved his hand: "Generals, please follow me."
Everyone quickly galloped out and walked a few hundred steps west from the camp to reach the river bank. In front of them was a large river with a width of thirty or forty feet. In the past, the water was surging, the white waves were rolling, the momentum was very majestic, and the water flow was very fast. . Now the river surface is stiff and frozen, let alone the sound of rushing water, there is only ice-cold silence.
"Commander Father, I will come to check at the end of the day. In this damn weather, the river shows no sign of thawing. You see, all our warships are frozen inside and unable to move..." Zhu Bosong frowned.
Everyone accompanying them was worried. They could naturally guess why Zhu Lingyun led them to the shore. But they encountered such a desperate situation and it was a cold season. They could not board their own warship. It seemed that they were really going to be tied to Song Mojie. The warship was destined to die.
Zhu Lingyun frowned. In weather like this in the past, even if such a wide and fast river was close to freezing point, it would not freeze for so long because the current was strong enough. It is extremely dangerous to forcefully swim across the ice. It is difficult to observe the thickness of the ice. Once a large group of people trample and swarm across it, the river surface will burst. No matter how good the water quality of the people is, it will be the cold river water after the people enter the water. I'm afraid not many will make it ashore.
Zhu Lingyun rode his horse and walked hundreds of steps up and down the river bank. He suddenly found a forest growing on a raised hill above the river embankment, so he galloped over and entered the woods, and found that it was a dense forest. The ground was very dry and covered with long, yellow grass.
After leaving the woods and looking around, the land two or three miles to the left came into view, with the frozen river as my back. If I left the Zhennan Army Camp, this woods would be a good place to stay. Camping in the forest can also block some cold winds, and some fortifications can be built around this forest. Although this can never withstand the attack of the Zhennan Army approaching Chichi, it at least has some geographical advantages.
"It is getting dark and there is no hope of crossing the river, but we must not follow Song Mojie to fight against the king! Tonight, everyone can only camp by the river. Order the whole army to camp in the woods. Bo Song, you personally lead the two Thousands of people quickly set up fortifications outside the forest to prevent fighting tonight. The rest cut down trees to make fires, cook rice and boil water, eat and drink enough to refresh their spirits." Zhu Lingyun gave the order.
"General, I obey!" Zhu Posong accepted the order without hesitation, and then said in astonishment: "Commander Father, although we have no less than ten thousand people, Song Mojie has 90,000 cavalry in his hands... .”
Zhu Lingyun did not say anything to comfort his worried eldest son, but solemnly said to the generals: "You just obey the order, I know it well. We would rather die than be known as rebellious, so as not to shame our descendants." !”
"As you command!"
