Chapter 414: The Battle of Hongze Lake (Part 1)

There was a lot of fighting last night. At dawn, the victorious Zhou soldiers began to clean the battlefield and kept carrying the dead bodies outside the camp to count and bury them.

In this battle, although the Zhou army had crossbow soldiers and artillery cooperation, and finally won the victory and occupied the battlefield, the soldiers were from local garrison soldiers after all, with too weak combat power and heavy casualties. If Dong Zunhui had not personally suppressed the formation, if Zhu Hulong had not retreated and surrendered voluntarily, it would have been difficult for the Zhou army to win last night; even if he had won, he would have paid a heavier price!

Now, the results of the battle have been counted. The Zhou army killed more than nine Tang soldiers and captured 1,100 soldiers. More than a hundred Tang soldiers fled the battlefield and judged their disappearance. Looking at Liao Weizhong who committed suicide, Dong Zunhui sighed and ordered the soldiers to clean their bodies and solemnly buried them.

At this time, Cao Quan led his troops to escort Zhu Hulong and other surrendered generals. Dong Zunhui looked at the dejected soldiers and said bluntly: "Invade into our army's hard labor camp and let them atone for their sins!"

Zhu Hulong took his ears in disbelief and then realized that now the Zhou army had an absolute advantage. How could he persuade him to surrender as he did last night?! Now the Zhou army is about to divide these Tang army prisoners and join his team. It is already considered Dong Zunhui's generous and generous way to prevent him from killing his generals who commanded the army! But in this way, Zhu Hulong has to bid farewell to his previous life of luxury and luxury. Thinking of this, how could Zhu Hulong be willing to do so?

Originally, due to Chen Chengzhao's kindness toward him, Zhu Hulong was still a little hesitant and was unwilling to offer the secret waterway used as a sneak attack. Now Zhu Hulong did not hesitate anymore and immediately led the crowd to kneel down and kowtow and said, "General, General, Mo General and others had previously avoided the blockade of the Great Zhou through a secret waterway, and suddenly appeared around Tushan, attacking the general overestimated his ability. Now Mo General is willing to atone for his merits and draw that waterway, and hope that the general will accept it with a smile."

How could Dong Zunhui refuse such a good thing? He immediately ordered someone to send some cases, pens, ink, paper and inkstone. Zhu Hulong didn't bother to stand up and quickly climbed to the edge of the cases and lay on it carefully. This was not the time to be reserved, and several generals of the commanders around him also crawled over, gathering ideas and marking all the situations in the waterway on it.

Soon, everyone drew the map and handed it to Cao Quan, which was handed over to Dong Zunhui. Dong Zunhui opened the map and found that the waterway was not on any map. Zhu Hulong whispered to explain the origin of the waterway and said that he had an appointment with Chen Chengzhao. Once the raid was successful, he would immediately send someone down the waterway and return to Hongze Lake to report the news. At that time, Chen Chengzhao would lead the main force of the navy to fight the Zhou army, so that the Zhou army, which had a fire in the backyard, could not echo the head and tail, and eventually defeated.

Although Chen Chengzhao's plan was good, he was now exposed to Dong Zunhui. After hearing this, Dong Zunhui refused to comment and said to Zhu Hulong: "Your Majesty had set up the Huaide Army to arrange the soldiers of the Tang army Guiyi. Your Majesty once promised 30 battalion commanders. General Zhu made a contribution this time. I will report to the general as the battalion commander. As for the general's future official duties, it depends on the general himself to fight."

Although the battalion commander was two levels shorter than Zhu Hulong's previous official position, he was much better than the ending of being admitted to the hard labor camp. Although Zhu Hulong was a little regretful, he was also a little joyful.

Dong Zunhui said to Zhu Hulong and other surrendered generals: "I am going to send someone to publicize the merits of the righteousness of the people in order to inspire future generations and to suppress the morale of the Tang army. As the first person to promote righteousness and obey my Great Zhou, you will be famous people in the future!"

Zhu Hulong and others shouted viciously. In this way, they would become thorns in the eyes of Southern Tang in the future, and they would never dare to change their ranks and surrender to the Tang army! Although everyone was so angry that they gritted their teeth in secret, they looked flattered on the surface and thanked them repeatedly.

After Dong Zunhui said this, Zhu Hulong and others could only tie their future to the warship of the Later Zhou Dynasty. He even volunteered: "Although the general could not catch up with the general's civil and military skills, he was also familiar with the road. The general was willing to lead his troops as a guide to lead the general to raid the Tang army's thieves from the waterway!"

As soon as the four words "Tang Army Rebel" were released, Zhu Hulong completed the transformation from the surrender of the Southern Tang general to the Later Zhou general. Dong Zunhui nodded and sent military doctors to come forward to clean up Zhu Hulong and others and bandage the wounds. At this moment, a signal came from the river, thirty transport ships from Haozhou and Shouzhou were fully loaded with soldiers to reinforce.

Looking at Zhu Hulong and others who were puzzled, Dong Zunhui laughed and said to the generals: "General Zhu, can I say I can only ask for help from land? As early as when I realized that there was something wrong, I quietly sent a messenger to travel by boat to Haozhou and Shouzhou for help. At that time, I thought our two armies would fight until dawn, so that reinforcements from Haozhou suddenly came out at this time and could catch you off guard!"

Zhu Hulong's cold sweat came down, and he fell to the ground: "The general is extremely smart, but the last general is willing to give in to the disadvantage!"

With such a small episode, Zhu Hulong and others were even more respectful. Soon, Dong Zunhui would arrange all the matters in the camp and take the time to say goodbye to Princess Le'an. After winning the beautiful kiss, he led 3,000 elite soldiers sent from Haozhou and Shouzhou to the expedition.

At the same time, Zhu Hulong led 500 soldiers of the former Tang army as vanguards and led the way in front of the army. Soon, Zhu Hulong arrived at the hidden river where he stored the warships. Under his persuasion, the 300 soldiers left here surrendered and presented the warships unscathed.

With the assistance of these warships, Dong Zunhui became more calm. He immediately sent someone to contact Shi Shouxin, Han Chongyun and others to make an appointment for the attack. He was ready to cooperate inside and outside and wipe out Chen Chengzhao's troops in one fell swoop.

However, Chen Chengzhao did not feel anything abnormal. Although he kept sneezing during this period, Chen Chengzhao was busy teaching Zhao Haixing a lesson at this time. He stared at Zhao Haixing fiercely with a look of regret. After repelling the attendant, he said angrily: "Good you Zhao Haixing, you were attacked by Dong Zunhui some time ago and achieved the reputation of invincible! Now, it's good that he was beaten to the point of being thrown out by several unknown water thieves. It's really inappropriate!"

Zhao Haixing had been slapped in the face several times, and he was also very ashamed. Could it be that he had been in trouble during this period? Why was he so unlucky? He had personally taken action and led elite troops to attack the flanks of the Zhou army, but unexpectedly he made the lowest mistake and actually commanded his men to go to the wrong waterway. As a result, several warships under his command were all stranded, and finally they were set on fire by the Hongze Lake pirates bought by the Zhou army.

Zhao Haixing quickly swears and says a lot of empty talk, which barely wins Chen Chengzhao's trust.

Chen Chengzhao vented his anger and then said, "Zhu Hulong and others attacked the Tushan Logistics Camp of the Zhou army in a sneak attack. It is very likely that they will succeed. At that time, we will attack forward and backward, and we will be able to severely defeat the Zhou army. I hope you, the vanguard, will not let me down then! You retreat first and wait for my orders, continue to confront the Zhou army, and must not advance rashly! If the Zhou army has any abnormal movements, you must not make any claims without authorization. Do you understand?"

Zhao Haixing quickly agreed and walked out of the cabin with a drooping face. Chen Chengzhao was the only one left, quietly looking at the map, praying repeatedly in his heart: Zhu Hulong, Liao Weizhong, I depend on you all, don’t let me down!


Chapter completed!