: Going to Sizhou County again

In the inner city of Sizhou City, Fan Zai was holding the scout's armor and asked quickly: "What did you say? Chen Danian's entire army was destroyed. How could this be possible? If you dare to talk nonsense, be careful of your head!"

The scout said in a sarcasm: "General, how dare the villain say anything? This is true! Now the wreckage of our naval warships is all floating near Huanshui. Some of the boat boards have even floated to our Sizhou. You can see them when you climb the city tower!"

Fan Zaiyu let go of the scout's armor, as if he had suddenly lost all his strength, he took several steps back and fell to the ground. He whispered, "How is this possible?"

After venting for a quarter of an hour, Fan Zaiyu jumped up suddenly, trembling nervously, and shouted loudly: "I want to recruit all troops to defend Sizhou, so that Sizhou will become an unbreakable steel fortress for the Zhou army, and a sad place for the Zhou army! There are more than 10,000 soldiers in Sizhou, which is enough to persevere until General Chen Chengzhao's reinforcements arrive!"

Looking at the hysterical Fan Zaiyu, the scout couldn't help but sigh in disappointment: He thought there was something that surpassed ordinary people, but he didn't expect it to be like this! There were no tens of thousands of soldiers in Sizhou City, which were all fake accounts of fooling those officials. After only a few days of training every year, the generals who had eaten the vacant quota would temporarily find some idle men or catch some strong men from the streets and alleys to make up the numbers. Anyway, those officials never carefully checked, so they could not see any flaws. As the best scout in the city, he knew that there were only five thousand people in the city now, and there were too many elderly, weak, sick and disabled people in it, and they had no combat power at all.

Fan Zaiyu didn't know these inside stories. He was like a chicken blood, and he ordered excitedly: "Send the order to mobilize all troops to prepare for war, and at the same time implement a curfew, and call on the yamen runners to gather here to suppress illegal affairs in the city. By the way, inform the Navy Inspection Office to strengthen the defense of the water camp, and do not allow the Zhou army to find an opportunity to take advantage of!"

Just when Fan Zaiyu led a group of yamen runners to cross the streets and alleys to suppress Sizhou, Dong Zunhui also led an army of 20,000 to attack the city of Sizhou. A camp was set up at the south gate and the west gate. The two places echoed each other and were each other's wings.

Dong Zunhui led the generals to a high place to conduct pre-war investigations on Sizhou City. At this time, the spies sent by Wang Zhengzhong before the war had already mingled with Sizhou and were now in Dong Zunhui's army. This time he got a big opportunity to show his face and report to Dong Zunhui and others.

The spy said loudly: "There are more than 10,000 people on the paper of Sizhou City. In fact, there are only more than 5,000 soldiers, more than half of them are old, weak, sick and disabled, and only two thousand young and strong soldiers are relatively combat-effective. Moreover, their combat effectiveness is very low. Not long ago, they fought with the yamen runners and were beaten to run away by a group of yamen runners with only iron rulers and chains!"

The generals burst into laughter, but Dong Zunhui frowned slightly and said to everyone: "We must not abuse weapons when fighting in the city. It is normal for soldiers with bare hands to be dispersed by the yamen runners. This cannot be used to determine the combat effectiveness of the enemy. Although we win consecutive battles, we must continue to be cautious and never be careless!"

After Dong Zunhui preached this, everyone stood up and listened, put away their hippie smiles. The spy didn't dare to speak casually, but just objectively revealed the whole story in Sizhou City and no longer mixed with his own opinions or opinions.

After listening to the spy's report, Dong Zunhui said to everyone: "Although Fan Zaiyu has not shown any sign of surrendering to our army now, he knows nothing about military affairs and is fooled by his generals and vacancies openly. Even if such a person is loyal to the Tang Dynasty, he will not become an obstacle to our army. As long as we take steps and act cautiously, we will definitely be able to take down Sizhou! Moreover, Fan Zaiyu is not a very loyal person. Perhaps as long as we show our strength, Fan Zaiyu will be the first to surrender!"

The generals nodded repeatedly and all participated in the discussion. At this time, a soldier ran up the hills and rolled off his saddle and reported to Dong Zunhui: "General, an old farmer came to the camp and knelt down, crying that his field was trampled by the soldiers who went out to chop wood. All the ridges that were repaired were trampled flat, and even the few crops left in the field were accidentally trampled by the soldiers!"

Dong Zunhui frowned slightly: "This is the case, let's go and have a look together! Our Palace Front Office is the best military discipline. Every word and action is related to the image of our Great Zhou here. We must not damage our reputation!"

So the generals surrounded Dong Zunhui and returned to the camp. They saw an old man in his sixties kneeling in front of the camp. Everyone quickly dismounted, and Dong Zunhui helped him up and asked him: "Old man, I heard from them that I was incompetent in discipline, which led to this mistake. You old man told me, which army of soldiers trampled on your crops?"

When the old man saw so many generals, his legs kept trembling, but when he thought about the acre of thin fields in his family, he straightened his back and begged Dong Zunhui: "Master Qingtian, you have to make the decision for us!" While crying, he was about to kneel down on the ground and kowtow.

Dong Zunhui said in a deep voice: "Don't worry, my father-in-law, I will definitely make the decision for you! As long as you say or recognize the troops that trampled on the fields, I will seek justice for you! You will be the ones who want to kill and cut them!"

After hearing what Dong Zunhui said, the old man dared not speak. It was just a mu of land, and it was not worth letting those young men pay their lives! Dong Zunhui asked a few more questions, but when he saw that the father-in-law insisted on not saying it, he could only give up. He immediately ordered someone to get a hundred stagnant of copper coins and gave it to the old man, and ordered someone to give him five hundred kilograms of grain to supplement.

Seeing this, Dong Zunhui then ordered: All soldiers who go out to chop wood and reconnaissance shall not trample on the fields of the people, nor shall they damage the crops of the people. If any discovery is found, all violators shall be beheaded!

The strict military discipline and unbroken discipline were immediately supported by the nearby people. In addition, the people all knew that the people in Huaihebei all enjoyed the tax exemption policy. They were very envious and were much closer to the Zhou army. They were eager to win the city of Sizhou and bring good life to themselves!

With the help of the people, the Zhou army easily bought supplies such as vegetables, eggs, etc. Seeing the relatively "sourcing" food of the Zhou army soldiers, the people of the Southern Tang who had not had the last meal were all swallowed and spit out enviously. Many people immediately signed up to join the army and acted as the Zhou army's baggage unit.

With the support of the people and the help of the brave and fearless soldiers, Dong Zunhui quickly ordered people to set fire to the city gate and captured the Nancheng City Tower and the water camp in the city. Faced with the heavy military pressure of the Zhou army, Fan Zaiyu, who learned the truth of Sizhou for the first time, no longer had the courage and confidence to stick to it, and soon put down his weapons and led his army to surrender. At this point, Dong Zunhui defeated the Southern Tang vanguard fleet, and easily captured Sizhou.
Chapter completed!