Chapter 417 The Emperor’s Southern Expedition!

The Later Zhou Emperor Guo Rong led the Imperial Camp to the Tushan Camp when he received a letter of victory from Dong Zunhui. He was overjoyed and immediately sent a large number of military supplies to the front line to visit the soldiers, and quickly recruited Dong Zunhui back to the camp to report the details.

At this time, Guo Tingwei, the governor of Haozhou, also heard that Lord Zhou was here, so he quickly arranged the city's defense and came to pay a visit. Of course, because Dong Zunhui had made corresponding arrangements before, although Han Chongyun was later transferred, Guo Tingwei had been undermined, and this defense is now worthy of being in name only.

At this time, Guo Ting said that he would no longer act like a famous scholar, and respectfully salute Guo Rong. Guo Rong smiled and said, "Since the southern expedition, the generals in Jiangnan have been defeated one after another, and few people dare to lead their troops to fight back. Only you have led your troops out of the city several times, and only you still retain the courage to make progress."

Guo Tingyi hurriedly bowed and kowtowed and said, "The criminal was also fascinated by others that day. He tried to stop the army. He deserved to die for thousands of crimes and deserve to die for thousands of crimes! Now he is remorseful and is willing to run under the Great Zhou court. I hope Your Majesty will forgive him!"

Guo Rong laughed loudly, and actually came forward to help him up, and said with a smile: "At that time, you were still a minister of the Tang Kingdom, so naturally you must have the courage to move forward. Now that you have become my minister of the Great Zhou, you must also be loyal to my Great Zhou.

However, it is really unwise for you to stick to Haozhou a few days ago and refuse to surrender. A small city like Haozhou has a slack city defense. Under the attack of my Great Zhou, it can last forever?! Even if Li Jing sticks here, there will be only the only way to surrender in the future! Since you can recognize the situation and commit suicide to my Great Zhou, of course I will not blame you. However, you have nothing to do in Haozhou now. It is better to serve as the defensive envoy of Bozhou and lead your old subordinates to assist our army in the strategy of Tianchang (place name). What do you think?"

Although the strategy of Tianchang means going to the battlefield, it also has the opportunity to make meritorious service and power. Now Dong Zunhui has successively defeated the Tang army, and the entire Huaihe line has fallen under the control of the Zhou army. There is no risk in the strategy of Tianchang. Even if there are some risks, wealth and honor are in danger, so there are so many conditions to ask for? So Guo Tingwei agreed immediately and happily followed the Zhou army generals to attack Tianchang.

Guo Rong also ordered Wu Shouqi, the commander of the right cavalry, to dispatch immediately and lead hundreds of cavalry to attack Yangzhou. Some time ago, when Han Lingkun took Yangzhou, he destroyed the local city defense, but Yangzhou did not have the confidence to stick to it. Therefore, when the local Yangzhou guards heard that the Zhou army had sent troops, they immediately urged their subordinates to burn down the government houses in the city and drove the people across the south of the Yangtze River to avoid falling into the hands of the Zhou army.

When Wu Shouqi arrived at Yangzhou City, the fire was still burning in the residential area in the city, and black smoke continued to rise. The entire Yangzhou City was burned empty, like a rubble field! Wu Shouqi sent people to search for it for a long time before he found dozens of old and weak people from the city. These people were either weak or disabled and were inconvenient to travel far. The Tang army guards could not bear to drive them away, so they stayed. Wu Shouqi sighed several times and reported all this to the truth.

When Guo Rong received the news, he did not sigh or be sad about the refugee's loss. After all, he was the emperor. The first thing he considered was that Yangzhou had been included in his own rule, and secondly, he was disappointed that the people of Yangzhou were taken away by the Tang army, which shows that Yangzhou's taxes were equal to zero within a few years.

So Guo Rong ordered Han Lingkun to lead his troops to Yangzhou to guard against the Tang army's sneak attack and shelter refugees, Quan Zhizheng's military office affairs. He also sent troops to abduct Taizhou and conquer Haizhou.

Faced with the good situation of successive victories, Guo Rong laughed happily, feeling that his achievements were no less than Dong Zunhui, who led the troops alone. Dong Zunhui knew that being with the king was like a tiger, so he took the initiative to lower his attitude, took the initiative to show the attitude of his juniors, and carefully observed Guo Rong's plan to dispatch troops.

Guo Rong was very satisfied with this. If Dong Zunhui was satisfied and arrogant, then Guo Rong would not mind letting him rest for a few years and be clear. But since Dong Zunhui was so tactful and understood his position, Guo Rong would also train him with the idea of ​​promoting his juniors.

After all, Guo Rong has never had children, although he has never given up on his treatment. In Guo Rong's opinion, he is not too old and will have the opportunity to cure the disease in the future and have his own flesh and blood. When his children can grow up and handle political affairs, he is already in a state of old age. That is the time for a new generation of generals such as Dong Zunhui to display his talents!

Because of the above considerations, Guo Rong did not be too suspicious of Dong Zunhui, who shined this time. Instead, he praised him happily, encouraged him to make more contributions and make new contributions, and ordered him to lead his troops to advance east with the Imperial Camp, preparing to enter the Yangtze River from the Huai River and attack Jinling, the capital of the Southern Tang Dynasty.

However, Guo Wei's plan to turn into bubbles in front of the silted river channel. When Guo Rong and his team led their troops to Beishenyan, about five miles north of Chuzhou City, they found that the river channel was silted and the fleet could not pass. If they wanted to go south to enter the Yangtze River, they had to cross Chuzhou and go into the sea along the Huai River, and then head south along the coastline, and go upstream from the mouth of the Yangtze River. In this way, it would take a lot of time, money and food, and the Later Zhou navy, which mostly had light warships, did not have the experience of maritime driving, so it was difficult to complete this arduous task. In addition, Zhang Yanqing, the governor of Chuzhou in the Southern Tang Dynasty, also refused the persuasion of the Later Zhou surrender, and Chuzhou just blocked the channel for the navy to advance east along the Huai River!

Faced with this situation, Guo Rong sent troops to siege Chuzhou, where the general was weak, and sent people to explore the Beishenyan area in person, hoping to solve the problem of water blockage. The envoy quickly found a solution and suggested that Guo Rong order people to dig the stork water west of Chuzhou City to find the old path of the canal. However, the envoy also reported that after his on-site investigation, the geographical situation there was very difficult and very unsuitable for construction. If construction was necessary, it would cost too much civilians, money, grain and time!

If an ordinary person becomes an emperor, then he can happily return to the camp with great victories, or send a famous general or civil servant to recruit civil servants to dig the river with a stroke of his pen.

But who is Guo Rong? He is the eternal emperor who is getting stronger and stronger than ever. After listening to the messenger's report, Guo Rong immediately walked out of the tent, jumped onto a war horse, and led Dong Zunhui and other personal guards to the edge of the stork water. Guo Rong had previously had experience in managing floods. After mobilizing dozens of water conservancy masters to plan together, Guo Rong quickly made a new plan, proposed a new plan, and ordered the soldiers to implement it immediately.

The emperor had a golden word. Who would dare not refuse to obey? Everyone recruited a large number of civilians from Chuzhou and other places, and it took only ten days to open up the old waterway of the canal!

After the news spread, the people all believed that the Zhou army had the help of gods, so that this miracle was accomplished! So the people offered food and grass or actively joined the army, intending to gain wealth. Of course, there were also people who did not believe in evil, that was Zhang Yanqing, who was sticking to Chuzhou!
Chapter completed!