Chapter 1076: Destroy Southern Tang and Ma Chu, and Reunify

It’s the twelfth lunar month.

The Imperial City Office reported the losses suffered by the Southern Tang Kingdom due to floods and epidemics this year.

The newly appointed commander-in-chief of the Imperial City Division had green eyes:

"Your Majesty, after this great epidemic, the Southern Tang must have been severely damaged, and my 100,000 naval forces are ready to go..."

Looking at the somewhat radical commander-in-chief, Su Mingzhe just smiled slightly.

On the contrary, Queen Wan couldn't stand it anymore, so she coughed lightly and shooed him away.

This year, Nan Tang and Ma Chu were indeed hit by disasters, but the disaster in Han was also not small.

How could we just rush into the southern expedition without caring about anything?
After the commander-in-chief left, Queen Wan suddenly felt her palms getting warm. She looked up and saw the man stroking her hands slowly. His eyes were unfocused, and he was obviously thinking about something.

"Your Majesty, you don't really want to take this opportunity to attack Southern Tang, do you?"

"why not?"

Su Mingzhe slowly opened his eyes, and his eyes began to emit a dazzling brilliance:

"The commander-in-chief is right. This is indeed a rare opportunity. Everyone is in a difficult situation right now. With the support of the people of the Han Dynasty, maybe we can win the battle in one go!"

"Then, when will Your Majesty go to war?"

"Leave after the Spring Festival!"

He said he would leave after the Spring Festival.

However, when marching and fighting, it has always been important to send food and fodder before troops move forward.

Therefore, in the twelfth lunar month, the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War began to mobilize food and manpower.

Jianwu five years.

After the Spring Festival.

Su Mingzhe led 50,000 Yi Nu troops south from Luoyang.

Before the Lantern Festival, Su Mingzhe led his army to the navy’s Jiangbei camp.

The next day, the 100,000 naval forces and thousands of warships that had been prepared long ago attacked towards the south of the Yangtze River.

Last year, the Han Dynasty and the Southern Tang fought three battles and won all three battles, forcing the Southern Tang to move its capital to Hangzhou.

Although the capital was moved, the defense of Nanjing was not relaxed. In fact, because there was no emperor, the defending general Chen Bao tightened the defense.

Chen Bao, a general under Li Sheng, was a serious person. He had been an official for more than 20 years and had never been greedy or possessive, which earned him great support from his subordinates.

Su Mingzhe led thousands of warships and circled Jinling, but he couldn't find any loopholes.

If we attack by force, we will suffer heavy losses.

In desperation, Su Mingzhe could only lead 50,000 naval forces on the surface and put on an offensive posture. In fact, he sent 50,000 naval forces to go down the river under the cover of night and directly reach a small ferry in Zhenjiang.

Early the next morning.

Fifty thousand Han navy troops captured Zhenjiang City.

The defense line of iron chains across the river was declared broken.

Seeing that the natural barrier of the Yangtze River was no longer useful, Chen Bao sounded the alarm to Hangzhou while withdrawing his troops, preparing to fight a decisive battle with the Han army in Nanjing City.

Su Mingzhe was not in a hurry. He waited until all the 150,000 troops had crossed the river before he slowly headed straight for Jinling City.

It is actually very easy to break the city without having to consider the natural barrier of the Yangtze River.

More than a dozen cities including Zhenjiang, Jinling, Changzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou, Jiaxing, and Huzhou were almost all captured in one battle.

End of January.

Su Mingzhe led his troops to surround Hangzhou, the new capital of Southern Tang.

The first day of February.

Su Mingzhe refused the peace envoy sent by Southern Tang and chose to attack Hangzhou the day after arriving there.

Faced with the powerful Han army, countless ministers in the Southern Tang court asked for surrender.

Emperor Li Sheng of Tang looked at his panicked ministers and sighed.

After all, the country was founded too shortly.

If the Han emperor had given him a few more years, he would surely have been able to make Southern Tang impregnable and fight the Han army to the death.

But now...

Even the ministers in the court were in a panic, not to mention the people of Hangzhou who had only been occupied for half a year.

Li Sheng looked at the noisy court, and slowly, his face turned pale. Half an hour later.

Under the persuasion of his ministers, Li Sheng came to the city gate tower and prepared to surrender.

However, when Li Sheng saw that the Han Emperor was actually leading the army in person, pushing the siege vehicles and preparing to attack the city, he was so excited that he couldn't help but screamed and asked:
"Han Emperor, why did you attack our Tang Dynasty for no reason?"

"Li Sheng, don't you find it funny when you say this?"

Su Mingzhe was delighted to see that Li Sheng dared to appear in front of him. He quickly took two steps forward and appeared in front of the siege vehicle. He replied:
"What did Yang (the Southern Wu royal family) do wrong that you want to usurp his foundation?"

Li Sheng saw that he could not communicate, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue to preach:
"Han Emperor, my capital has an army of 200,000 and countless food and grass. Although your siege vehicles are powerful, they may not be able to capture my capital! If you, Han Emperor, are willing to withdraw your troops, I am willing to give up my title of emperor. From now on, the Tang Kingdom will pay tribute to the Han Dynasty and will never betray it..."

"Li Sheng, don't harbor illusions. Since ancient times, the unification of the Nine Provinces has been the general trend of the world."

Su Mingzhe flatly rejected Li Sheng's request, let out a long roar, and shouted:
"If you can see the current situation clearly, you should know that even if you, the three kingdoms of Southern Tang, Ma Chu, and Dali, form an alliance, you cannot stop the Han army from unifying the world. A man who knows the current situation is a hero. If you surrender now, I am willing to confer you the title of Duke of Tang and reward you with a red book and iron certificate..."

Seeing that the Han emperor was determined to destroy the country and the Tang army had no fighting spirit, Li Sheng had no choice but to surrender.

This is Li Sheng.

He has always been a man of insight and wisdom.

Knowing that it was impossible, he retreated bravely to save himself.

Su Mingzhe was naturally very happy when he saw the Tang Emperor surrender and swallowed up the Southern Tang without fighting a single blow.

He immediately ordered the army to take over the defense of Hangzhou, and then sent people to notify Luoyang to send officials as soon as possible to take over the prefectures and cities of Southern Tang.

The administration of the Southern Tang Dynasty was actually quite clean.

During the reign of Emperor Li Sheng of the Tang Dynasty, he always adopted the policy of light taxation and low levies and selected talented people to serve in the government.

Prime Ministers of the Southern Tang Dynasty, such as Song Qiuqiu, Wang Lingmou, and Zhou Zong, were all talented people with outstanding talents.

Su Mingzhe picked and chose among these people and chose some of them to serve as his temporary group of advisers.

Among them, Zhou Zong was not only the prime minister of Southern Tang (Tong Pingzhangshi), but also the father of the two beauties, Empress Zhou and Empress Zhou during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.

Unfortunately, the two Zhou Hous have not been born yet.

After arranging the government affairs, Su Mingzhe stayed in the palace that night.

Li Sheng originally planned to move out of the palace with his concubines and children.

However, Su Mingzhe could only let Li Sheng take away his wife and son, and his several women were left behind by Su Mingzhe.

The four sisters, Princess Fengcheng Li Suqing, Princess Shengtang Li Suwei, Princess Taihe Li Suning, and Princess Yongxing Li Suyi, had all been betrothed to other people by Li Sheng.

However, these princesses have not yet married, either because of their age or other reasons.

Su Mingzhe directly intercepted and kept these princesses, and then forcibly took them into his possession.

In addition, Su Mingzhe also robbed Zhong Taizhang's second daughter Yu Niang into the palace.

Zhong Yuniang had a very beautiful face and a delicate body since childhood. When she was five or six years old, she was betrothed to Li Jing, the son of Li Sheng, by Xu Wen.

Regarding the matter of his wife being robbed, the thirteen-year-old Li Jing looked at his father who was like a turtle, and ultimately did not dare to make a sound.

He robbed the four Li sisters and also robbed Queen Zhong.

Su Mingzhe was now very proud and led his army towards the Ma Chu State.

The Ma Chu State, whose national strength was only a few hundred thousand, was defeated by the all-out attack of the 100,000-strong Han army.

The territory of the Ma Chu State was very vast, covering areas such as Hunan, Jiangxi, Guizhou, Guangxi, Yue, and "Nanyue" in later generations.

These areas are mountainous and have abundant water resources, as well as numerous chieftains.

In order to avoid future troubles, the Han army chose to advance step by step.

Three months passed in a flash.

Midsummer is coming.

The "epidemic" that King Ma Chu hoped for never appeared.

Seeing that Jiaozhi County was already behind him, the King of Ma Chu finally chose to surrender as he could withdraw from the army.

Because the Ma Chu Kingdom surrendered too late, Su Mingzhe only gave it the title of Earl of Anle.

June.

When the army returned to the capital, Su Mingzhe went to the land of Liuzhao, destroyed Dayining State, and established Yunnan and Dali states.

At this point, except for Tibet, Su Mingzhe has reunified the territory of the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)