Counter-espionage

Zhang Yongde looked at the burning warships of the Southern Tang army in the river and decided to be more pious when burning incense and seeking Taoism in the future, and seek some peace talismans from the Taoist temple. Of course, seeking gods and worshiping Buddhas was just an extraordinary method. Zhang Yongde immediately ordered people to cast iron chains more than a thousand feet long, tied them to more than ten steps near the floating bridge, stretching across the two sides, and cutting off the Huai River. Then he tied many thick hemp ropes to the iron chains and many large thick wood to the hemp ropes. In this way, the Southern Tang fleet could no longer approach, let alone these arson ships with insufficient power.

Lin Renzhao was unwilling to fail, and finally persuaded Xu Wenzhen again and led the fleet to continue attacking. However, the Southern Tang fleet was stopped by iron ropes before it could get close to the floating bridge. Then, the Zhou army began to shoot against the Southern Tang army. The two armies fought for more than an hour, and each other had a victory or defeat. Finally, Lin Renzhao took the initiative to retreat and prepared to fight again later.

Zhang Yongde frowned. As the son-in-law of the late emperor Guo Wei, he had a high position and a powerful position but did not perform much outstandingly in the battle against the Southern Tang Dynasty. Although he had eliminated several strongholds of the Southern Tang Army, he did not achieve decisive results after all. Dong Zunhui had won several major victories in succession, and Li Chongjin was also given a heavy responsibility by Guo Rong. Only he was still waiting on the floating bridge to watch the Southern Tang naval army performing his crime!

Zhang Yongde was very helpless when he watched the Southern Tang naval army leave arrogantly and set up camp on the south bank not far away. At this time, the baggage officer came to report: "General, when we cast the iron chain between the river, there were many chains left. Should we melt them and then turn them into weapons?"

Zhang Yongde's heart moved: "How many iron chains are there?"

The baggage officer quickly replied: "There are at least thirty or forty pieces, all forged in fine iron. It's a pity to put it in the warehouse now."

Zhang Yongde laughed, "I have my own use to take them all. I will let the Southern Tang Army lose all my life tomorrow!"

The baggage officer was very puzzled, but he was also a person with sensible value. He did not dare to question Zhang Yongde's decision and hurriedly found someone to move the chains.

Zhang Yongde then collected the people who were good at swimming in the army, and obtained hundreds of people. He also selected more than a hundred people who were good at diving and holding their breath, and offered them a reward and distributed these iron chains to them.

So early the next morning, the warriors drank the brawny wine and dragged the iron chains to swim towards the water camp of the Southern Tang Dynasty. It was early at this time, and the sailors of the Southern Tang Dynasty were still sleeping. In addition, they knew that Zhang Yongde had no warships in his hand, so they were almost unprepared for Hou Zhou. So the more than a hundred soldiers from Hou Zhou calmly tied them under the ships of the Southern Tang Dynasty naval army with iron chains, making most of the main battleships unable to move.

When Zhang Yongde saw the signal from the warriors, he immediately led the entire army to move and rushed towards Liu Renzhan's water camp.

Liu Renzhan looked at the excited and even twisted faces of the Zhou army, and couldn't help but feel a little scared. He fought with the Zhou army twice, but the battle in Chuzhou was only forbidden. Not long ago, a fire destroyed his own fleet, which was really a psychological shadow. Liu Renzhan immediately shouted loudly: "The whole army boarded the ship, immediately raise the anchor!"

Hearing his orders, the soldiers quickly ran to the boat. Everyone thought that the Tang naval army was invincible. As long as they got on the boat, they could defeat the Later Zhou army. As for the soldiers behind, who could care about them at this deadly moment?!

Soon about half of the people boarded the boat. Liu Renzhan immediately ordered the anchor to jump into the water. Those who could not catch up with the boat quickly jumped into the water and swam desperately to the boat. The soldiers on the boat heard the order to raise the anchor and immediately cut off the anchor and raised the sails. Just when everyone was proud, they heard the hull creaking. The ship was pulled down from the sails and the iron chains at the bottom of the boat, twisting suddenly, and some ships with unsolid keels fell apart on the spot! Many soldiers standing at the side of the boat were even more unstable, and fell into the water and were smashed to the bottom of the water by the sudden turning ship!

The soldiers kept wailing, and Liu Renzhan was shocked and quickly looked at the bottom of the water. He saw a black iron chain vaguely under the water. It was obviously the work of the Zhou army's dead soldiers. He couldn't help but sighed, and quickly ordered the soldiers to cut off the iron chain. Fortunately, he reacted in time, otherwise he would be blocked by the Zhou army near the dock!

However, there were very few captains like Liu Renzhan who could react in time. Many Nan Tang soldiers looked at the boat under their feet with puzzled thought that they could not move forward or retreat, and froze in place. Then, they were surrounded by the excited Zhang Yongde's troops and surrendered helplessly.

Three consecutive defeats made Liu Renzhan suspicious by most people. He was even demoted from a battalion commander to a big soldier!

After the war, Zhang Yongde took off his golden belt and rewarded the diving warriors who returned from the raid to commend their achievements. Zhang Yongde also reported good news to the central government and informed the entire Huaihe War Zone of his military achievements.

After hearing this good news, Li Chongjin was not willing to be outdone and immediately ordered Wang Yansheng, the commander of the Iron Cavalry Army, to attack and kill more than 3,000 Tang soldiers.

However, according to Zhang Yongde's understanding, the three thousand soldiers killed by Wang Yansheng were very well-behaved, and the suspect was very suspicious of killing Liang and taking credit. Zhang Yongde felt that Li Chongjin held heavy troops, but he refused to go south in Shouzhou and gathered the defenders from all over the country. What did he want to do? Could it be that he would not be able to rebel?!

Zhang Yongde immediately reported to the court secretly, telling his suspicions, and asking the court to make up his mind early to eliminate hidden dangers. As a royal relative, Zhang Yongde could not pay attention to his suspicions, let alone Li Chongjin, as Guo Wei's nephew, did pose a certain threat to Guo Rong's legal system. Several ministers advised the emperor one after another, immediately transferred Li Chong into the palace to confront him, or immediately sent someone to replace Li Chongjin's handsome seal, and did not give him a chance to attack.

Guo Rong shook his head. If Li Chongjin wanted to rebel, he would never wait for the present! Before Guo Wei passed away, he forced Li Chongjin to perform rituals between the king and the ministers to Guo Rong. Since Li Chongjin lowered his head back then, as a man who promised a fortune, he would never do any more ** activities now! Besides, if Li Chongjin was suddenly mobilized now, it would not be conducive to the conquest of the Southern Tang Dynasty.

Guo Rong said to the ministers: "Zhang Yongde is my brother-in-law, and Li Chongjin is also my cousin. Both of them are my relatives. How could they betray me? There must be misunderstandings in this!" So, Guo Rong, despite the obstruction of the ministers, transferred Zhang Yongde's memorial to Li Chongjin and asked him to defend himself.

Li Chongjin was very puzzled after receiving the imperial edict that he asked him to defend himself. After reading Zhang Yongde's memorial, he couldn't help but be shocked. Fortunately, the emperor did not believe Zhang Yongde's suspicion, otherwise he would have been searched and imprisoned now! The emperor asked himself to defend himself, just to explain it clearly with Zhang Yongde so that the generals would not be in conflict and affect the war.

When Li Chongjin thought of this, he thought for a moment and actually came to Zhang Yongde's camp alone to sign up for a meeting!

In order to prevent Li Chongjin's possible rebellion these days, Zhang Yongde was very cautious in preparing for the horses and soldiers. Now that he heard that Li Chongjin came to his camp, Zhang Yongde's first reaction was to ask how many troops Li Chongjin had brought. After hearing that he was alone, Zhang Yongde also admired his courage. He couldn't help but go three points for his suspicion of Li Chongjin, and was also a little curious about Li Chongjin coming here alone late at night. So Zhang Yongde went out to greet him personally, welcomed Li Chongjin into his big tent, and held a banquet for him.

Li Chongjin acted very calmly and casually, eating meat and drinking big bowls, and he looked completely unprepared. Seeing this, Zhang Yongde's suspicion towards him was three more points.

After three rounds of food and five flavors, Li Chongjin raised his glass and said to Zhang Yongde: "You and I are both royal relatives and reunions, and they are together with the country, so we have been promoted to our current important position. We are both under heavy responsibilities and have heavy troops. We should cooperate with each other and fight for Your Majesty. We must not have a second thought! It is not unaware that it costs a lot to stay in Shouzhou and have been ineffective in not being able to make a contribution. But now Jiangnan has gradually entered the plum rain season, and the troops are inconvenient to walk, and the baggage convoy is even more threatened by the Southern Tang navy. Instead of lucking to go south, it is better to accumulate strength and fight the Tang army with a life-and-death battle with the Tang army! Everyone is in the battlefield in Huainan. You should know my situation better, why should you be suspicious? God is here, and I, Li Chongjin, swears that I will never betray the Great Zhou, and will not let down Your Majesty's trust in me. If there is any violation, the sky will be hit by the five thunders!"

Ancient people attached great importance to oaths, and Li Chongjin explained the reasons very well, so Zhang Yongde's doubts disappeared. He also felt that he was a bit unreasonable in complaining about the crime behind his back, so he took the initiative to toast and apologize. The two of them dissolved their misunderstandings, so they drank each other and parted with all their fun.

Not long after, the Southern Tang Dynasty ruler Li Jing also learned about the disagreement between Zhang Yongde and Li Chongjin, but he did not know that Li Chongjin had taken the initiative to go to Zhang Yongde's camp to defend himself. Li Jing, who was not well-informed, felt that this was a good opportunity, so he discussed with his ministers and quickly sent a dead soldier to operate the matter.

A few days later, Li Chongjin was in the internal trial of the tent. The scout reported that he had caught an important spy from the Southern Tang Dynasty and sent it for interrogation. After the spy came to the tent, he stood in the tent calmly, saying that there was a secret matter with Li Chongjin and asked to leave.

Li Chongjin was so excited that he had long wanted to find such an opportunity to imitate Dong Zunhui. Li Chongjin had heard that Dong Zunhui was also facing a similar situation in the past. People smiled and said, "There are all my confidants in front of the account, but it's okay." Since then, he has been very loyal to Dong Zunhui. This time, Li Chongjin also said loudly: "All my generals are all my confidants, but you just say it's okay!"

Sure enough, both of them were very excited, and they all showed loyalty.

The spy smiled bitterly, then took out a wax ball from his arms and handed it to Li Chongjin.

Immediately someone came forward to take the wax ball and cut it open it loyally, for fear that Li Chongjin would be poisoned. After some test, Li Chongjin took the letter. It seemed that it was the handwritten letter signed by Li Jing, the king of the Southern Tang Dynasty.

After reading the letter of progress, Li Chong slapped the case suddenly and said angrily: "Li Jing is extremely ignorant, and he actually sent you to issue a counter-espionage letter. It's really ridiculous!" So, what was written in Li Jing's letter?
Chapter completed!