Many people have the impression that Caishiji is right in front of Nanjing.
But it's not. Caishiji is about forty or fifty miles up the Yangtze River in the Nanjing section.
Moreover, there are slight differences in the specific location of Caishiji in each dynasty.
Caishiji is famous because this section of the Yangtze River can be said to be the best place to cross.
The flowing river water is blocked by Jiangxin Island in this section, forming a flow direction similar to a right angle.
After the water hits the shore here, it changes from east to north, and the flow speed slows down immediately.
Moreover, due to the existence of Jiangxinzhou, the Yangtze River is divided into two, and this Jiangxinzhou is extremely close to the right bank, with only about 500 meters of river surface.
In addition, due to the soft geology of Jiangxinzhou, it was impossible to build a walled city, making it impossible to defend.
Therefore, once attacked, Jiangyou's defenders directly changed from having the natural danger of the Yangtze River to only having a defensive river surface of 500 meters.
This was enough to cause a headache for the defenders, but unfortunately, because the Yangtze River changed its flow direction here, it has been eroded continuously for thousands of years and formed a wide plain.
It's almost like a specially built landing site for landing troops and horses.
For thousands of years, Caishiji has become a favorite landing point for attacks in Jiangnan.
The Northern Song Dynasty conquered the Southern Tang Dynasty and landed at Caishiji. Hundreds of years later, it was also the place where King Hailing sent a gift package to help Yu Yunwen leave his name forever.
However, the river-crossing environment at this time was far from as good as it was during Wan Yanliang's time.
Because Jiangxinzhou had only begun to form in the Tang Dynasty at this time, it had to slowly accumulate until the turn of the Song Dynasty before it became the most suitable shape for crossing and landing.
Moreover, if Zhang Zhao wants to reach Caishiji, he still needs to capture Hezhou, and before capturing Hezhou, he still needs to pull out the nail of Chuzhou, otherwise the road ahead will be in danger of being cut off by Chuzhou.
Zhang Zhao was indeed angered by the surprise attack by Chen Hui and others. Of course, it was also Li Jing's attitude that made Zhang Shengren so angry.
Because all along, in Zhang Zhao's impression, Li Jing in history was a coward with little ability and timidity, and could easily be beaten to the ground by Guo Rong.
What? When Guo Rong beats you, you kowtow obediently and beg for mercy. You don’t even dare to ask for the title of emperor, but offer the fifteen prefectures of Huainan and Jiangbei with both hands.
I, Zhang Shengren, came here ten years earlier, but you haven’t even given me a gift yet. I have captured Yangzhou, and you still want to take back Chuzhou, right?
Yes! You have the guts!
Zhang Zhao was so angry that his stomach almost exploded. He left Zhao Yanjin's father, veteran general Zhao Hui, to stay in the camp in Jiangbei. He led 6,000 navy and army troops to stay behind in Guabu, while he personally led 10,000 infantrymen to ride west.
Brother Nan, right? I'm going to give you a pot of food for you, my little brother, to see if you kneel down or not!
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Three days later, Zhang Zhao arrived at the northwest of Pukou and at the foot of Laoshan.
This Laoshan is not the Laoshan where Laoshan fought, but the Laoshan Forest Park in Nanjing in later generations. This mountain is the remnant of the Huaiyang Mountains and runs through the entire Pukou District of Nanjing in later generations.
To the southeast is the Yangtze River, across the river is Jiangning City, to the northwest is Chushui, to the northwest is Chuzhou, and further down is Hezhou where Caishiji is located. The geographical location is very critical.
By the time Zhang Zhao arrived, Li Cunhui had already led his troops to capture Laoshan, and Murong Nobunaga and Gao Huaide had already led their troops to join Li Cunhui here.
After Zhang Zhao arrived, more than 40,000 Zhou troops were stationed around Laoshan.
However, the main force was still the 15,000 cavalry who had previously captured Yangzhou and the 10,000 infantry cavalry brought by Zhang Zhao himself.
The remaining 15,000 people were captured soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty during the Battle of Yizheng. They were captured and used as cannon fodder.
When Zhang Zhao's Dagu and Huangluo Umbrella arrived at Laoshan, Guo Tingwei, the governor of Chuzhou in the Southern Tang Dynasty, who had been paying attention to what was going on here, was almost going crazy.
He kept sending messengers to Jiangning with letters asking for help, regardless of human life.
But as expected, all Guo Tingwei's letters asking for help were intercepted. Zhang Zhao detained all these messengers, preparing to release one or two across the river after Chuzhou was captured.
Of course, Guo Tingwei's request for help was not only sent to Jiangning. In addition to Liu Renzhan, the governor of the Qinghuai Army in Shouzhou in the Southern Tang Dynasty, and Huang Yanqian, the governor of the Baoxin Army in Luzhou, both of them received Guo Tingwei's request for help. letter.
Zhang Zhao looked at the messenger who was leaving and waved to Li Cunhui not to arrange for anyone to chase him. If he could lure the Qing Huai Army from Shouzhou and the Baoxin Army from Luzhou over, Zhang Zhao would be happy for it.
Just as he was about to arrange an attack on Zhuzhou, Zhao Pu came in with a letter and a bodyguard in royal robes.
Why go to Jiangling and order Gao Congjie to send troops, and go to Changsha and order Ma Xifan to send troops, that's all a matter of course.
At that time, Zhang Zhao was indeed dizzy with anger, but he soon calmed down. Ma Chu didn't care, they were going to start the chaos of the horses soon anyway.
But Gao Congjie can't do it. This man is really capable. If he gets Ezhou (Wuchang), it will be a small gain.
However, Zhang Zhao was actually overly worried. Gao Congjie was quite capable, but he did not have the life to use his abilities. He would die of illness in more than a year, only seven or eight months later than Liu Zhiyuan.
But it’s impossible for Zhang Zhao to remember it so clearly! Therefore, he ordered Ma Chu and Nanping to send troops, just to scare the envoys of the Southern Tang Dynasty and Li Jing.
However, after Zhang Zhao opened the letter in Zhao Pu's hand, he couldn't help but frown.
Because this letter was written by Qian Zuo, King of Wuyue. The letter was written sincerely and humbly, expressing his willingness to send troops to attack the Southern Tang Dynasty.
This is where you come to pick peaches!
Qian Zuo had sent a fifth-grade official to pay homage last year, but now he was anxious to write a letter expressing his willingness to follow the court's arrangements and attack the Southern Tang Dynasty. Of course it wasn't Qian Zuo who suddenly knew his allegiance and came to grab territory.
Zhang Zhao pondered for a moment and asked Li Xiaojie beside him, "Do the Jinyi guards know why the King of Wuyue suddenly offered to send troops? But what happened on the border between Nanwu and Wuyue?"
Li Xiaojie quickly replied: "I was about to report to Your Majesty that the commander of the Jinghai Military Academy in Southern Wu, Yao Yanhong, immediately fled back to Jinghai with more than a thousand remnants of his troops after Yizheng was defeated by our army. It is said that he has defected to Wu Yue. The specific situation is that Jin Yi personally Wei is still verifying."
Zhang Zhao nodded in understanding. With the traffic and chaotic situation at this time, it was not easy to get information in Jiangnan, which was not well-established.
"It seems that this is true. The Qian Yue Kingdom tasted the benefits when Wang Min's Kingdom was destroyed. Now we see that all the elites of Southern Wu have been defeated by us, and they want to come up and take over the territory."
"Li Fang, please reply immediately to Qian Zuo, King of Wu and Yue, and tell him that I will punish Kuangni and ask him to guard the country and beware of the collapse of the Southern Wu army."
When Zhang Zhao arrived in Tokyo last year, Li Fang was recommended by Liu Tao. Zhang Zhao also admired his talent and learning, so he took him with him to learn from him.
Li Fang was about to go down after hearing this, but Zhang Zhao suddenly waved his hand to ask Li Fang to pause.
"In addition, I also want to tell Qian Zuo that I did not receive the tribute for the Lantern Festival this year. I hope he can make up for it during the Lantern Festival next year.
The wording... try not to be too intense, but don't let Qian Zuo feel that I don't care. "
This is the role of the pen. It can be used appropriately in these aspects, which is something ordinary people cannot do.
After handling these matters, Zhang Zhao directly began to attack the city.
The army used prisoners of the Southern Tang Dynasty as cannon fodder and 3,000 Xuzhou Wuning troops as the main force.
The rest of the cavalry dismounted and used divine arm bows and wooden crossbows to block the city head. Fenjindu began to prepare gunpowder coffins on the spot, and the Shenji Battalion began to assemble catapults and erect nest carts.
Guo Tingwei was at the head of Chuzhou City and personally led his guards everywhere to 'put out fires'. This man was also a famous general in the Southern Tang Dynasty and had always been loyal.
Historically, when the Later Zhou Dynasty attacked Haozhou, Guo Tingwei was the one who defended it until the end. Only after the Later Zhou Dynasty captured Niuma City did he have to surrender.
Before that, he was still fighting at Wukou Floating Bridge and Dingyuan Village, and the general Wu Xingde of the Later Zhou Dynasty only escaped with his life. He was considered a very capable general in the Southern Tang Dynasty.
But no matter how capable you are, you still need soldiers!
It’s hard for a clever woman to make a meal without rice. This state was originally the second line of defense for Shouzhou.
The function is that once Shouzhou is captured, Chuzhou can immediately collect Shouzhou's defeated troops, and then organize defenses in Chuzhou City and Qingliu Pass, so there is more supplies but less elite troops.
When it was originally designed, no one in the Southern Tang Dynasty considered that the enemy troops would come from Yangzhou. Therefore, including Guo Tingwei's tooth soldiers, there were only less than 2,000 people, and the city was built as a reserve. .
Now it was surrounded by 40,000 people and attacked. Tens of thousands of cannon fodder were forced to attack the city with swords and ants. There were also strong bows and crossbows to suppress the city. There were people from the four gates who rushed over and didn't know what they were digging for.
Guo Tingwei could not hold on for less than an hour, so he had to abandon the outer city and retreat to the inner city.
Zhang Zhao stood on his horse, and everyone around him was beaming with joy. Although the Chuzhou defenders retreated to the inner city to strengthen their defense capabilities, because the inner city was small, two thousand people were enough.
But in addition to the state, the outer city is actually more difficult to attack, because it is a majestic city! Moats, parapets, urns, and watchtowers are all available.
If the Southern Tang garrison had ten thousand soldiers, they would have to fight for at least a few months, and even a few months would have no hope.
Now it would be easier for Guo Tingwei to retreat and only attack the inner city.
"The flags of the Tang Dynasty were set up outside the four gates, and You Yi's army went around to spread the word that the people of Chuzhou should be allowed to leave the city, and that our army would not hurt anyone or take away a penny.
He ordered his personal bodyguards in brocade robes and white helmets to serve as military judges. Anyone who commits crimes and commits crimes will be captured immediately. "
Guo Tingwei pushed him to the inner city. He stood on the gate of the inner city with a solemn face and whispered to his younger brother Guo Tingzan.
"There are more than 30,000 people in Shouzhou, and it is a prosperous and big city. It will take at least ten days and a half for the Zhou army to clear everything. By then, the Qing-Huai army and imperial reinforcements from Shouzhou will arrive."
What Guo Tingzan said was actually what Guo Ting said was a conspiracy.
According to the virtue of the soldiers at this time, if they captured a large city like Chuzhou with tens of thousands of residents, they were not allowed to rape and plunder as much as they wanted?
In less than half a month, it would be impossible to gather combat effectiveness.
"The generals are incompetent and prey on the enemy at the expense of the people. It is a shame for us!"
Before Guo Tingwei could speak, Li Yanzou, the military recorder beside him, looked at Guo Tingwei and said with pain on his face.
Guo Tingwei was speechless and could only hide his face and sigh.
But before he sighed, he saw Guo Tingzan pointing in the distance, and was so surprised that he couldn't speak.
It turned out that no one from the Zhou army entered the city. Instead, Tang flags were erected everywhere. They were surrounded by Youyiqi, waving royal flags and reading the Zhou Lord's edict loudly.
Seeing that the Zhou army had not entered the city, Guo Tingwei quickly asked his younger brother Guo Tingzan to go down to the city to investigate in person.
After a while, the people of Chuzhou began to tentatively leave the city. They found that the Zhou army did not kill or loot, but the young generals kindly opened the way for them.
Wang Jiulang has gained a lot of weight, but this does not hinder him from being able to speak well.
He stood at the west gate of Chuzhou and shouted loudly to the people who were leaving the city. He sounded like Jianghuai Mandarin promoted by the Southern Tang Dynasty.
"My lord is the Lord of destiny and the Lord of benevolence. He naturally loves and protects the people. The army is sent to Chuzhou just to punish the stubborn ones. Don't worry, just leave the city.
If someone's house is damaged, Dazhou Shao Mingzi will use his internal funds to compensate.
If anyone is robbed, raped or even beaten to death by the officers and soldiers of the Zhou Dynasty, he or his relatives and friends should immediately go to the Li Sanchen Banner to report, and the emperor will personally seek justice for them.
If any blind person wants to cause trouble, military law will be ruthless! "
Don't commit adultery, don't rob, don't kill. If your house is destroyed, the emperor will pay compensation with internal funds, and the people of Chuzhou will gradually feel at ease.
In fact, their requirements are very low. They don't care whether they pay compensation if the house is damaged, as long as they don't hurt them.
As a result, the news spread from ten to ten and hundreds of times. What Guo Tingzan thought would take ten days and a half to complete, Zhou Jun finished it in half a day.
When it was time to eat in the evening, many people who left the city did not bring any food. Zhang Zhao also asked people to cook white rice porridge with pickles to entertain the people.
Anyway, these things are all looted from the Southern Tang Dynasty. The army is not short of food, and no kindness is given in vain.
After Guo Tingzan hurried back to report, the Southern Tang Army up and down the inner city fell silent, including Guo Tingwei.
Li Yanzou, the recorder who joined the army, who said it was a shame for us to wait, also fell silent. After a long while, he whispered something.
"This is the teacher of benevolence and righteousness!"
