Chapter 404: Killing Generals and Seizing the Flag (Part 1)

Dongkou (place name, east of Wuhe County, Anhui Province), the assembly site of the Southern Tang naval army, and the naval army flagship.

Chen Chengzhao received the news of the fall of Sizhou. He pushed the cases in front of him hard and swept the dishes carefully prepared by the chefs to the ground. First, Huanshui was defeated, and then Sizhou fell. After he took office as the support envoy of Haosi and Chuhai, there was almost no good news, and his luck was too bad!

The guards at the hatch listened to Chen Chengzhao's curse in the cabin, all of them looked at their noses and hearts, and acted seriously, for fear that Chen Chengzhao would find fault and vent their anger and execute them.

There was a guard named Xiao Dezi who was trembling with his calves. If he had known that being a personal guard was so dangerous, he shouldn't have asked someone to give gifts and spend money at the beginning. Isn't it okay to be a troublemaker?

Just as he was complaining, Chen Chengzhao shouted loudly in the cabin: "Little Dezi!"

Xiao Dezi fell to the ground in fear, but did not dare to touch his knee that might have fallen below. He quickly ran into the cabin and fell to the ground. He heard his trembling voice ask, "What are the instructions of sir?"

Chen Chengzhao whispered: "You go and invite Mr. Liao immediately, General Zhu, to come here to discuss matters!"

Xiao Dezi quickly agreed, ran out of the cabin, and quickly invited the two of them to discuss matters. Mr. Liao was Liao Weizhong, the most useful aide under Chen Chengzhao; and General Zhu Hulong was the most powerful general under Chen Chengzhao's command, and was also the Du Yuhou of Chen Chengzhao's personal army.

Soon, Liao Weizhong and Zhu Hulong came to Chen Chengzhao. At this time, the cabin had been cleaned up by Chen Chengzhao's guards, and several new cases were replaced with, laying out combat maps.

Chen Chengzhao fired others and said to the two confidants: "Now our army has lost two consecutive battles, and I am under great pressure. Now I have an immature plan, and I hope you two can help me understand it."

So Chen Chengzhao pointed to the map and said, "We are now at the entrance of the cave. If we retreat further southeast, it will be Hongze Lake. When the Zhou army saw us evacuate, they will definitely think that we are timid and will definitely move forward and try to catch us off guard. In this way, there will definitely be omissions in the rear of the Zhou army!

I heard that Dong Zunhui's troops were stockpiled near Tushan, and there were no generals left behind. We can send a team of people to attack Tushan and burn all the food and grass of Dong Zunhui! There is no food in the army, and the morale of the troops will be in chaos. We can move forward and completely defeat Dong Zunhui's troops! At that time, when the court heard the news, it will definitely praise us. Promotion and title of marquis is just around the corner!"

Liao Weizhong nodded repeatedly and kept raising his thumbs up to praise. Zhu Hulong also felt that Chen Chengzhao's idea was very good, but he immediately raised a question: "General, Dong Zunhui's troops are coming with great momentum and are very fast. If we want to attack Tushan, we will definitely not be able to move west along the Huaihe River. How can we reach Tushan in time?"

Chen Chengzhao smiled slightly and whispered: "Although I did not lead the army to fight in the past, I also maintained the river channel nearby and was familiar with the hydrological conditions here. There is a fork in the southwest of Hongze Lake, connecting a small river near Tushan. It was originally a flood discharge channel, but it has not been repaired in recent years. The riverbed is raised and cannot be able to take a large ship, so it will not attract the attention of the army. With the horizontal reeds, the river channel is covered up. Even locals, many people do not know about this channel. If I had not been obsessed with water control, I would not have known about this. We can use the small boat to go straight to Tushan, and we will definitely be caught off guard by the enemy!"

Zhu Hulong sincerely extended his thumbs and praised him repeatedly; at this time, Liao Weizhong calmed down and frowned and said, "Master, if you walk in this hidden waterway, you will definitely not be able to transport troops on a large scale, otherwise it will definitely attract the attention of enemy scouts; but if there are too few troops sent, it will be like meat buns to beat dogs and never return!"

At this time, Zhu Hulong said in a deep voice: "Master General, I, Zhu Hulong, have been promoted by the Master General, and have always wanted to repay one or two. I have 2,500 soldiers under my command, all of whom are elite soldiers in the army. I dare not say that one fights ten, but they are also fierce soldiers in the army, which is enough to take on the heavy responsibility of this attack. But if I lead the army to fight, there will be no caring troops around the Master General, and there will be loopholes in the guard work!"

At this time, Chen Chengzhao said with a smile: "Since General Zhu volunteers, I will entrust you with this important task. As for the matter of warning, General Zhu doesn't have to worry. After you leave, I will immediately order the entire army to retreat to Qingkou, and my command ship will retreat into the depths of the army. I will never make a rash move forward. General Zhu is so worried."

So the three of them discussed carefully and quickly finalized the details of the operation. In order to assist Zhu Hulong, Chen Chengzhao also specially ordered Liao Weizhong, who was familiar with military affairs, to go there and give him advice. After Zhu Hulong left, Chen Chengzhao immediately ordered the entire army to retreat to Qingkou.

Seeing the Tang army pulling the camp and retreating to the east, Dong Zunhui, who was exploring the situation near the entrance of the cave, immediately realized that this was a rare opportunity. The Southern Tang army not only had water and horses, but also had supplies on land. At this time, they suddenly pulled the camp back and returned to the army. The supplies were all in chaos. This was the best opportunity for a surprise attack. It’s a pity that he came here to investigate the enemy situation, and there were only more than a hundred personal guards around him!

At this time, Cao Quan bowed to Dong Zunhui and said, "General, this is a rare opportunity. The last general is willing to lead the team forward and raid the enemy's barracks. He also hopes that the general will retreat immediately to cover the whole situation!"

When Dong Zunhui heard this, he was stunned. He looked around and saw that everyone was willing to ask for a fight. He immediately smiled and said, "I am trying to charge, but you didn't expect you to say it first! The enemy's troops are in chaos at the moment, which is the best opportunity for us to raid. I am willing to rush to the camp. I don't know who is willing to follow me?"

All the soldiers around Dong Zunhui raised their sabers and roared in a low voice almost at the same time: "I would like to follow the general forward!"

Dong Zunhui was overjoyed and gave Cao Quan a few instructions. Then he lifted the reins in his hand and rushed towards a small hillside next to him. Cao Quan muttered, leading the twenty cavalry under him to rush towards the reed marsh holding flags.

Soon, Dong Zunhui rushed up the hillside and smiled at the eighty cavalry behind him, "Have you ever seen the military flag by the river, have you ever seen the enemy general who was pointing fingers? This time I will kill the generals and seize the flag for you!"

After saying that, Dong Zunhui kicked the war horse and rushed down the hillside. Eighty cavalry behind him hurriedly followed him and guarded him left and right.

At this time, Zhao Haixing, the commander of the infantry under Chen Chengzhao, also saw the small group of cavalry rushing down. How could he, who had been through many battles, take less than a hundred cavalry seriously?! Zhao Haixing laughed and scolded: "The Zhou army is all crazy, and only a hundred people dare to rush forward?! Take them down by me!"

Hearing Zhao Haixing's order, the three hundred cavalry around him rushed up to the Zhou army. After sending these troops, Zhao Haixing no longer paid attention to them. Three times the enemy's strength, can't we win the battle? But, can we really win with three times the strength? They faced Dong Zunhui!


Chapter completed!