On the first day of the fifth month of the second year of Xiande in the Later Zhou Dynasty (955), the war to unify the world officially began! According to "Ping Border Strategy", the first goal should be Huainan, but there was a slight deviation. Chai Rong was appointed as the governor of Fengxiang Jiedu, Wang Jing, and Xiang Xun as the supervisor. The first knife pointed to the Qin, Feng, Cheng, and four states in Later Shu! This was when the Khitan destroyed the Later Jin and ravaged the Central Plains. In order to protect themselves, the four states surrendered to Meng Chang of Later Shu. Now Chai Rong has recovered the lost land. But the natural dangers in Shu are so easy.

The fight came in? Meng Chang was not anxious at all and sent Zhao Jili to inspect the border. Zhao Jili arrived in Deyang, and military newspapers came from the front: Zhou soldiers had entered Dasan Pass and were heading towards Qinzhou, and they were conquering the eight villages such as Huangniu Castle. Zhao Jili shivered and fled back to Chengdu alone on May 20. Meng Chang was shocked: Could it be that the four states had been lost? Zhao Jili said: It was not yet. But at this time... maybe, maybe, it had been abandoned? Meng Chang was furious: I asked you to resist the enemy, and you ran away halfway! What's the use of keeping you? I ordered it to chop!

Meng Chang had to mobilize his imperial guards: Li Tinggui, Gao Yanqi, and Zhao Chongtao led a large army to rescue! On June 5, the Zhou army and Li Tinggui's army fought in the east of Weiwu City. Zhou army was slightly defeated and Hu Li was captured. Li Tinggui shook and reported to the court to postpone the reward. On the 11th, Meng Chang contacted the Northern Han and Southern Tang, and the three sides worked together to resist the Zhou army. Liu Chengjun and Li Jing agreed. They ordered the soldiers to embroider an axe behind their clothes. Li Tinggui's troops became the axe gang that went up the mountain to chop wood (Rong)

.The ministers of the Later Zhou Dynasty were quite fence-stricken, and they all said, "Chang Wang Jing is coming back, don't beat him!" Chai Rong refused to listen. In July, he ordered Zhao Kuangyin to go to the front line to check the military situation. Emperor Taizu once again showed his unparalleled strategic vision: Your Majesty, I have seen it, I promise that I can take down the 4 states. And in my opinion, we should focus on attacking Fengzhou, which is the throat of the four states. If you break Fengzhou, Qinzhou will be isolated. If you break Qinzhou, the other two states will automatically surrender...

Sure enough, in August, Wang Jing reported victory: A small victory led to capture more than 300 people from Jiang Hui, the military academy of the Later Shu. This was a draw. Next? Li Tinggui made a move first. In September, he sent the vanguard Li Jin to occupy Maling Village. He then divided a strange army out of Xigu and entered Baijian. He then sent Wang Luan out of Tangcang Town to seize Huanghua Valley. This was the only way for Zhou army to transport grain. Shu Kingdom is easy to defend and attack, and the difficulty lies in the danger of Shu Road and the difficulty of transporting grain. Zhuge Kongming, a genius from the world, did not succeed in six out of Qishan, because he could never solve the problem of military food. After all, wooden ox and horses were just legends. Wang Jing naturally knew that his opponent was trying to fight his own food route. In the intercalary September, Wang Jing ordered his general Zhang Jianxiong to lead two thousand light cavalry to the entrance of Huanghua Valley, and it was necessary to seize the favorable terrain before Wang Luan. He led more than a thousand elite troops to detour to Tangcang Town, and attacked Shu troops in front and back.

In the battle of Huanghua Valley, Wang Luan was defeated and rushed back to Tangcang Town to encounter ambush again. Wang Luan and more than 3,000 soldiers were captured. Wang Jing took advantage of the victory and the Shu soldiers retreated step by step. The two Shu soldiers from Maling Village and Baijian fled cleanly. Li Tinggui and Gao Yanqi could only retreat to Qingniling. The Axe Gang suddenly scattered birds and beasts.

As soon as the army leaves, how can the four states protect themselves? The Xiongwu Jiedushi, the governor of Xiongwu, left behind by Qinzhou, and left Zhao Jixun, and fled back to Chengdu by himself. As soon as Han left, Zhao opened the city to surrender to Zhou. Cheng, and the two states also surrendered. The mighty Jiedushi, Wang Huanshang, the governor of Fengzhou, had some backbone and was still fighting stubbornly. However, it could not last long. On September 17, the good news came, and Chai Rong was overjoyed and said to Prime Minister Wang Pu, "The four states are surrendered, and you will recommend the border commander."

At this time, Meng Chang could only send a letter to Chai Rong: We are all emperors, so we can discuss things. The land in Hanzhong was originally yours, but now I will give it to you, so I don’t want it anymore. We are still good neighbors, don’t beat it anymore. Chai Rong laughed: How can there be two emperors in the world? Meng Chang was so angry: In terms of qualifications, when I was the emperor, your hair was not growing in your mouth! Okay! I’m not afraid of you! The natural danger in Sichuan is still there! Jianmen, Baidi, I’m waiting for you! See if you can fight in? This is exactly what Chai Rong wants: I really don’t want you Shu. If you close the door, I can’t get in, but you can’t get out either! Let’s just do it! On November 14, Wang Jing conquered the last Fengzhou, and Chai Rong ordered Wang Jing to guard Qinzhou and guard against Shu. Well, the north and west sides are solved, and it’s time to take charge of the affairs in the south.

Let’s recount the history of the Southern Tang Dynasty. The founding king was named Li Bing. To be fair, if such a person is not dead, it is hard to say whether Chai Rong can or dare to develop south. Li Bing was originally an unfortunate orphan who lost his parents in the war and barely lived in a Buddhist temple to make a living. In the 2nd year of Ganning in the Tang Dynasty (895), when Li Bing was 8 years old, Yang Xingmi, the governor of Huainan, captured Haozhou and obtained an unexpected spoil, which was the little monk named Peng Nu. Yang Xingmi liked him very much, so he decided to let him return to secular life as his adopted son. But Yang Xingmi's biological sons seemed to have some premonition, and he hated Peng Nu as soon as he saw him. Forced Yang Xingmi could only give this child to his general Xu Wen as his adopted son, so the child had a A name called Xu Zhigao. Later, in the second year of Tianfu in Tang Dynasty (902), Yang Xingmi became the King of Wu. In the fifth year of Tianyou (908), Xu Zhigao helped his adoptive father Xu Wen kill Yang Xingmi's eldest son, Yang Wo, and powerful minister Zhang Hao, and supported Yang Xingmi's second son Yang Longyan, and took charge of the military and political power of the Wu Kingdom. In June of the 15th year of Tianyou (918), Xu Zhigao crossed the river from Runzhou to suppress the rebellion with lightning speed, thus gaining Xu Wen's approval and began to take charge of the common affairs of the Wu Kingdom. After Xu Wen's death in October of Shunyi (927), Xu Zhigao quickly pacified the country of Wu with his superman political skills, and in November he supported Yang Xingmi's fourth son Yang Fu, The emperor, and successfully squeezed out Xu Wen's other biological son Xu Zhixun, quickly rose to the most powerful minister in Wu. Less than a year after the demise of the Later Tang regime in the north, on October 5, Wu Tianzuo (937), accepted Yang Fu's abdication and became another Tang regime - the founding emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty. He described himself as the fourth-generation grandson of the third son of the great Tiankang Khan (actually the same generation as Emperor Daizong of Tang Li Yu, I don't know how to calculate it? It only passed down for four or five generations for so many years), and changed his name to Li Bing. This Southern Tang Liezu was an outstanding politician. Under the policy of repaying the people and having good friends with neighbors, he actually worked as an emperor for more than five years. More than 10 million coins were accumulated. Li Bing, 56 years old, gave his eldest son, and the last last words of Emperor Yuanzong of Tang, Li Jing, were "You must remember: If you use troops to small neighbors, the Central Plains dynasty will definitely send troops south, so you must try to maintain friendly and harmonious neighbors with the surrounding countries. The Central Plains dynasty is my mortal enemy of Southern Tang. However, the northern expedition is full of difficulties, and you must wait until the right time for chaos in the north to send troops to the north. The small neighbors will not dare to act rashly. I have left you a huge military reserve. What you have to do now is to be a king and wait patiently for the opportunity to the north." Unfortunately, Li Jing did not abide by his father's last words, and used troops to the left and right twice inappropriately, and finally exhausted his national strength...

In August 3rd year of Baoda, Southern Tang Dynasty (945), Li Jing took advantage of the split of the Wang brothers, and the generals encountered a mutiny again and sent troops to destroy Fujian. The Fuzhou garrison Li Renda first surrendered to the Southern Tang Dynasty, and then transferred Fuzhou to Wuyue. The Fujian lord of Jianzhou, Yanzheng, Quanzhou Wang Jixun, Zhangzhou Wang Jicheng, and Tingzhou Xu Wentian surrendered to the Southern Tang Dynasty one after another, and Li Jing established a new Jianzhou. On the surface, the Southern Tang Dynasty had more than 5 states, but two years later, the Qingyuan Army appointed by him was

The Jiedushi Liu Congxiao Congzhang and Quanzhou were expelled from the two prefectures. In the past two years, the military affairs of Fujian were linked together, and Li Jing finally nominally occupied Fujian. This was the year when the north was extremely chaotic (947). In this year, the Khitan destroyed the Later Jin, and Liu Zhiyuan seemed to go home, from Taiyuan to Kaifeng, and easily became Emperor Gaozu of the Later Han Dynasty. Imagine that Li Jing sent troops north without the troubles of Fujian, who will take over the world?

In October of the 9th year of Baoda (951), Li Jing, who failed to learn from his lesson, took advantage of the split of the Ma brothers and sent general Bian Hao to send troops to destroy Chu. The territory of Southern Tang seemed to have more than 10 more states, but in less than a year, Bian Hao, known as the "Bian Buddha Son, Bian Bodhisattva, and Bian Monk", made the land of Chu a mess. Ma Xifan's old general Liu Yan drove him out of Hunan. The land of Lingnan in Chu was obtained by the Southern Han Dynasty, and the remaining states surrendered to the new leader of Hunan Liu Yan. 951 was the year when Guo Wei changed the dynasty.

He did not fall into the quagmire in the west again. At this time, Li Jingru and Liu Chong from the Northern Han Dynasty attacked each other in the north and south. Who will be the deer in the Central Plains? Looking at Li Jing's two military use, they can be said to be false victory. He only obtained Ting and built two prefectures (Zhanghai and Quanzhou are nominally considered to be from the Southern Tang Dynasty. As for Chu, they were not nominally noted), but they exhausted the rich heritage left by his father and missed the best two opportunities for the Northern Expedition. Now under Chai Rong's military attack, Li Jing is about to swallow the consequences of not listening to his father's last words...

There are now 35 states in the entire Southern Tang Dynasty, of which 14 are between the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River. These 14 states in Huainan are exactly a fertile land where Chai Rong Nianzi is located. The area is similar to the 16 states that Shi Jingtang severed to the Khitan, several times the four states he just recovered. It also has a rich production and a developed economy. More importantly, looking at history, except for the last dynasty of Southern and Northern Dynasties, Nanchen, no regime that split the north and the south truly takes the Yangtze River as its boundary.

Yes, it is absolutely impossible to defend the Yangtze River alone (the Eastern Jin, Qi, Liang, Southern Song and Northern regimes were bounded by the Huai River, the Wu and Wei of the Three Kingdoms were divided between the Huai River and the Yangtze River, and the Song and Northern Wei in the Southern Dynasties were far north of the Huai River). But Chai Rong probably wouldn't have expected that in order to capture these 14 states, he would have to spend more than two years and three personal expeditions, and in the end he only won 10 states. The remaining 4 states were ceded to him by Li Jing...

On the first day of November of the 2nd year of Zhou Xiande (955), Chai Rong, with Li Gu as the main general and Wang Yanchao as the deputy general, led 12 generals including Han Lingkun to the south and built a floating bridge in the Zhengyang section of the Huaihe River. In December, the army arrived at the city of Shouzhou. Liu Renzhan, the garrison commander of Shouzhou in the Southern Tang Dynasty, was a strong man. No matter what kind of enemy he faced, even the highest-level figure like Chai Rong and Zhao Kuangyin, his Shouzhou City had been under a strong attack for more than a year and remained unmoved. Until his death, Chai Rong still had no choice but to Liu Renzhan and Shouzhou City. After Ouyang Xiu looked at all the ministers of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms in "New History of the Five Dynasties", he only gave Wang Yanzhang of the Later Liang Dynasty, Pei Yue of the Later Tang Dynasty, and Liu Renzhan of the Southern Tang Dynasty with the highest honor, calling them the first loyal ministers - the mortality of death.

Liu Renzhan was guarding Shouzhou City, and Li Jing responded immediately. Liu Yanzhen led 20,000 troops to support Shouzhou quickly. Huangfu Hui and Yao Feng led 30,000 troops to Dingyuan. Li Gu had not yet attacked Shouzhou for a long time, but encountered water and land reinforcements from the Southern Tang Dynasty. Liu Yanzhen's rescuers arrived in Laiyuan and did not go to rescue Shouzhou City, but went downstream to burn down the floating bridge built by Li Gu in Zhengyang. Li Gu could only retreat to Zhengyang and wrote a letter to request support.

In the first month of the third year of Zhou Xiande (956), Chai Rong was busy with another major event: expanding the capital city of Bianliang. On the 4th of the first lunar month, Chai Rong recruited 100,000 men to build another outer wall outside the city of Bianliang. At the same time, the buildings in the city were demolished again. After the work, the city was high and deep, and the roads were wide and flat. Chai Rong, who had done all this, issued an edict on the 6th of the first lunar month to personally conquer Huainan. Liu Xiangxun was the left-behind, Wang Pu was the deputy left-behind, and Han Tong maintained the order of the capital city. He ordered Li Chongjin to be the pioneer! He also sent an envoy to tell Li Gu: I am here to personally envoy! I will do the siege of the city of Shouzhou for me. You will continue to surround me in Shouzhou City! However, Li Gu was a scholar who was a scholar who was a scholar who was a scholar who was arriving. Before the emperor's envoy arrived, Li Gu had burned the military rations and retreated to Zhengyang. Not only that, Li Gu also wrote a letter saying that this battle was difficult to fight, and begged the emperor to retreat. When spring comes, it is not too late to take it.

On the 8th of the first lunar month, Chai Rong had already left Daliang City. On the 18th, you came to Yongning Town. Now you ask the emperor to go back, just pretend to go out to Huainan for a trip? Will Chai Rong be willing? On the 20th, Chai Rong arrived in Zhengyang and immediately cut off Li Gu's position as the commander of the army, and ordered Li Chongjin to quickly arrive at Zhengyang and replace Li Gu to destroy the reinforcements of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Liu Yanzhen had arrived at Shouzhou at this time. Hearing that the Zhou Dynasty army was burning grain and fleeing, he couldn't help but be arrogant and wanted to beat the dogs in the water. Liu Renzhan advised, "Now the enemy army escaped automatically when he heard the name of the general. The general has made great contributions. It would be better not to chase him. If the ambush in the middle of the Yangtze River, it would destroy the general's reputation for a lifetime." Liu Yanzhen did not
Chapter completed!