In the blink of an eye, in July, the situation on the battlefield finally took a turn for the better. The Shu Han army led by Liu Yue, a member of the Shu Han clan, was firmly dragged on the south bank by Wang Xingyi. After all, the national power of the Shu Han could not be compared with that of the Chu. Dispatching an army of 100,000 was already the limit of the Shu Han.

However, the Chu army on the north bank continued to increase its troops and soon surpassed the Shu Han in number.

It also caused strong oppression to the Shu Han in his heart. Liu Yue was very anxious, so he secretly built ships in Lingzhou and prepared to cross the river. He secretly built more than 60 warships. At this moment, Zhang Quan, the garrison of Lingzhou on the north bank, was killed because of illness.

After returning to the base camp, Liu Zhong, the general who replaced Zhang Quan, had not yet arrived. At this moment, Liu Yue had secretly arrived at the south bank. Seeing that the Chu army had no commander and its morale was low, he made up his mind to command and deploy the troops to cross the river.

At this time, Yang Chengzong, the military chief of staff, was ordered by the Governor Wang Xingyi to go to Lingzhou to express condolences to the troops on behalf of the imperial court. As soon as he arrived a few miles away from Lingzhou, he heard the sound of beating drums. Everyone said that the Shu army was crossing the river today.

Chengzong was shocked when he saw the remnant generals of the defeated soldiers sitting scattered by the roadside, with their saddles and armours untied and all leaderless.

Seeing this, everyone who was accompanying him wanted to change his mind, but his subordinates advised him: "My lord, I was only ordered to reward the troops, but not to supervise the battle. This battle is about to be lost. If you intervene now, you will shirk all responsibility for the defeat by then."

It’s up to you! How can you afford it then?”

Chengzong immediately reprimanded: "How can we retreat if we endanger the country?"

When he arrived at the river, Yang Chengzong saw that Liu Yue on the other side was building a platform by the river and was preparing to cross the river. The situation was very critical. Yang Chengzong made a decisive decision and immediately summoned the generals to show their loyalty. Yang Chengzong said: "All generals have the responsibility to defend the land. I am a scholar.

, If you are not afraid of strong enemies and are willing to live and die with Lingzhou Ancient Ferry, what about everyone?"

Yang Chengzong came to the riverside, picked up the drum hammer, and beat the drum himself. Arrows shot from the other side flew past him, but his expression remained unchanged.

When the officers and soldiers learned that Yang Chengzong was a new talent scout and an imperial envoy sent by the emperor, they already admired him. They also heard that he was the grandson of the former chief minister Yang Peishi, and they respected him even more. His fearless performance in the face of danger aroused even more excitement.

The bloody spirit of the soldiers was greatly boosted, and they all decided to follow Yang Chengzong in a fight to the death.

Yang Chengzong then reorganized his troops and deployed defense. He was a scholar and had never experienced a war. He had read a lot of military books in his spare time, but he only read them as leisure books. He never thought that he had

A day of commanding thousands of troops.

The Chu army at Lingzhou Ancient Crossing had a total of 18,000 people. As for the Shu army on the opposite side, Yang Chengzong asked the experienced general Zhao Feiyang. According to Zhao, the Shu army had at least 40,000 troops with flags fluttering and covering the sky.

The enemy's army was twice as large as theirs, how could we fight this battle? It was also the first time for Yang Chengzong to experience such a scene, and he felt his brain was swollen, but now that things had happened, he had to fight no matter what.

He is now the commander-in-chief of the three armies. All the eyes of the soldiers are focused on him alone. He must not show panic. Therefore, although he is unsure, Yang Chengzong remains calm, talks and laughs calmly, and orders the infantry and cavalry on the north bank in an orderly manner.

Build a line of defense.

Fortunately, Yang Chengzong has been spending this time in the military camp. Although he is doing the work of making plans, he actually pays a lot of attention to the formation of the army. Wang Xingyi is a steady and steady veteran, and he has learned many things from Wang Xingyi.

Shao. At this time, he was learning and practicing. He found that setting up a marching formation was not as difficult as he imagined, and he felt a little more confident.

Another good news is that the Chu army has more than a hundred warships in Lingzhou, with thousands of sailors on board, and they are all well-trained, which is different from the landlubbers of the Shu army. When Chengzong knew this news, he was greatly

I am happy and confident.

He ordered the ships to be divided into five teams, with twenty ships forming one team. One team was in the middle of the river, two teams were moored on the east and west banks, and the other two teams were hidden behind the mountains.

When everything was ready, the Shu army finally began to cross the river. Hundreds of large Shu army ships loaded with sergeants sailed towards the north bank. It didn't take long for the Shu army to land one after another.

Yang Chengzong built a high platform very close to the shore, and the commander's flag was behind the high platform. The messengers rode fast horses, and the military situation was constantly being summarized to him. His brain was running at high speed, and he suddenly

All those emotions of nervousness and anxiety were forgotten.

More and more Shu troops have landed. Some of his subordinates advised him to immediately order the navy to attack. Yang Chengzong could see clearly from the high platform. His voice was calm and composed: "Don't be busy! The main force of the Shu troops has not yet reached the middle of the river.

!" The subordinates were stunned and realized that what this scholar general wanted was not to push back the Shu army, but to annihilate the main force of the Shu army and win a beautiful victory!

Yang Chengzong has already issued an order to the soldiers who sent the order: "Send the order to General Zhao and tell him to hold on for another half hour with his troops! The Shu army must be stopped by me!"

When Zhao Feiyang received the general's order, he could see Yang Chengzong's handsome flag when he raised his head, and the faintly handsome figure on the high platform. He knew that every soldier of Da Chu could see Yang Chengzong, and the general would live and die with them, never retreating.

Chu army

The morale was also high for a while. Zhao Feiyang laughed loudly and said: "Master Yang is a weak scholar and is not afraid of death, but I, Old Zhao, are afraid of a bird! You go back and report to Master Yang, saying that as long as I, Old Zhao, have a breath, I will never

I will take a step back!"

The Chu army had been defeated one after another recently, and they had long been holding back their anger. Zhao Feiyang was a strong general, and it was impossible for the Shu army to transport tens of thousands of horses to the other side at once. Under the desperate sniping attack of the Chu army,

Next, no matter how Liu Yue supervises the battle and kills many people who are afraid of the enemy and refuses to advance, the Shu army will be unable to advance further.

Liu Yue was furious!

At this time, Yang Chengzong finally issued an order, and the ships that were ambushed on the shore and behind the mountains suddenly came out. The Chu army originally only had more than 20 warships fighting the Shu army in the river, but now they had four times more troops.

, the Shu army was immediately in chaos

.The navy of the Chu army was already well-trained. In comparison, the navy of the Shu army was improvised and the warships were also hastily built. Many warships were sunk as soon as they were hit by the large ships of the Chu army.

.The Shu army drowned and countless people died.

A few hours passed, and fierce fighting continued on the battlefield of Lingzhou Gudu. At this time, someone came to report to Yang Chengzong, saying that thousands of people he had ordered to organize were ready. The soldiers did not know that Yang Chengzong wanted these

What are the people who can't fight doing here? But Yang

Chengzong led them with a force of 18,000 men, and they were able to stop an enemy force twice as large as his own, and even gained a huge upper hand. At this moment, the soldiers had already regarded him as a god. Now everyone believes that

This weak scholar was able to lead them to victory in the Battle of Lingzhou.

Yang Chengzong was also shocked after hearing this. At this time, the sky was getting dark, so he could act accordingly. He ordered the people to organize their troops, gave them many battle flags and military drums, and asked them to wave the flags and beat the drums from behind the mountain.

The drum went around to the riverside.

And they shouted in unison: "Reinforcements are coming! Our reinforcements are coming! There are 100,000 people!"

"The enemy chief Liu Yue is dead! He was shot to death by us!"

For a moment, the mountains shook and the ground shook, and the momentum was very scary! The Shu troops on the river heard the thundering drums on the other side and saw countless flags fluttering and flashing behind the mountains. They really thought it was the Chu army's arrival of large-scale reinforcements. They had no intention of fighting and ran for their lives!

At this point, the Shu army was completely defeated.

Liu Yue was so disheartened that he cried in his car: "My emperor's ten years of hard work have been ruined in one day. I'm so sorry to your majesty!" He pulled out his sword with a swipe and wanted to kill himself with the sword. Thanks to his soldiers' quick eyesight and quick hands, he was determined to die.

He hugged him and said: "Keep the green hills alive, don't worry about running out of firewood! Once the general dies, we will be leaderless, and tens of thousands of soldiers and horses will be lost! General, you should think twice!"

Only then did Liu Yue succeed in committing suicide.

The Shu army hurriedly retreated to the other side, and the whole army was counted. It was found that the number of casualties in the day's battle exceeded 10,000. Most of them fell into the Yangtze River and drowned. Since the two sides started fighting, the Shu army, under the leadership of Liu Zhang,

, has always had the upper hand, but this is the first time it has suffered such a disastrous defeat.

Yang Chengzong did not expect that he would be able to win such a great victory for the first time he commanded the battle. He counted the losses, but only injured less than a thousand people. The Chu army was so powerful that Zhao Feiyang and others were full of confidence, gearing up, and attacked Yang Chengzong one after another.

Jin Yan asked him to lead people across the Yangtze River immediately and kill the enemies on the other side. It seemed that the Shu army had turned into bandits worth mentioning!

However, Yang Chengzong was not dazzled by the victory. This battle was won by the navy. If he crossed the Yangtze River, attacked more with less, and fought the Shu army again, which was good at land warfare, the Chu army would be the loser.

So he rejected it without hesitation, and sent some warships to the upper reaches, and some to the mouth of the Yanglin River to block the attack. If the Shu army had to cross the river tomorrow, they would be attacked from both inside and outside.

At the same time, he urgently sent someone to deliver a message to Wang Xingyi, asking him to send an army across the Yangtze River and take this opportunity to kill the Shu Han army in one fell swoop.

He saw clearly that the Shu Han's national strength was weak, its soldiers were slowly replenished, and it was far from being able to compete with the great Chu in a protracted war. Chengzong once wrote to the young emperor on this issue, believing that from a strategic point of view, one city and one city should not be concerned.

The basic starting point should be to eliminate the enemy's effective strength. He even thought of a plan to lure the enemy deep into the city. He would use cities to disperse the enemy's forces, and finally gradually erode the power of the Shu army.

Although the little emperor felt that what he said was reasonable, he did not adopt his opinion. It was true that the little emperor, who regarded himself as orthodox, could not bear the loss of reputation after cities were abandoned and the huge pressure from the government and the public.

It is said that when Liu Zhang saw this memorial through a secret agent, cold sweat broke out on his forehead. If Da Chu really adopted this strategy, Liu Zhang would really be in a dilemma.

The battle commanded by Yang Chengzong in Lingzhou was extremely critical and was known as the Great Victory of Lingzhou. Later history books unanimously recognized that the Great Victory of Lingzhou was a turning point in the battle between Dachu and Shuhan. When the news of the victory was reported back to the capital, the little emperor was overjoyed. God knows who he was.

He had been waiting for this victory for too long. The repeated defeats of Dachu's army had pushed him to a dead end, and he was already planning to conquer it himself.

The young emperor Long Yan was very happy, "Yang Chengzong is really my blessed general!" He issued seven imperial edicts in a month and promoted him from a civilian staff officer to the position of general in charge of the army, making him independent

Get one

Soldiers and horses on the road. At this time, Yang Chengzong was already famous all over the world for his victory in Lingzhou, but after all, he was too young, and there were still many voices of opposition in the court. They said that the emperor was promoted too quickly, and that the young man was in a high position, which was shocking.

Ye Minzhao was also very smart and quickly came up with a compromise. He organized a 30,000-strong West Route Army with troops from Lingzhou Ancient Ferry, and sent the dizzy old Lingguo, who was nearly eighty years old.

The Duke was appointed commander-in-chief, and Yang Chengzong was appointed deputy commander-in-chief. Both were controlled by Wang Xingyi and launched an attack on the Shu Han army.

Nominally, Old Ling Guogong was the commander-in-chief of the Western Route Army. In fact, he was too old to take care of himself. Apart from Ling Guogong, the Western Route Army only had one deputy commander, so the actual command of the army still rested with Chengzong.

.

Yang Chengzong reorganized his army in Lingzhou. Wang Xingyi had already sent his troops across the Yangtze River to contain Liu Yue. Yang Chengzong also took the opportunity to cross the Yangtze River and fought many battles with Liu Yue's army on the south bank of the Yangtze River. After the defeat in Lingzhou, the Shu army's morale

was depressed, and Yang Chengzong also suffered from many battles.

He showed excellent commanding talent. Within a month, he fought steadily and fought seven battles with Liu Yue. In seven battles and seven victories, more than 20,000 Shu troops were eliminated or captured. Soon the Shu army was forced to withdraw.

In Hubei, Da Chu took back the lost cities one by one and regained the entire Hubei.

Liu Yue finally understood that although Yang Chengzong was a weak scholar and young, some people had talents in a certain field that others could not match, and they could not catch up no matter how hard they worked. Just like Ye Yichen, who was more than ten years old

He began to lead troops to fight at the age of 18, but rarely lost in his life. Yang Chengzong was such a genius. He saw the rise of a legendary general, but unfortunately, he became the stepping stone for Yang Chengzong's reputation and achievements.

Although he was unwilling to give in, he knew that he was not Yang Chengzong's opponent. In the entire Shu Han Dynasty, only Liu Zhang could compete with Yang Chengzong. Liu Yue wrote memorials to Liu Zhang one after another, asking the emperor to come back immediately to take charge of the overall situation, but Liu Zhang was also in trouble now.

, it’s not that he doesn’t want to come back to take charge of the overall situation, it’s that he simply can’t come back.

In the previous war between Da Chu and Shu Han, Shu Han had the upper hand and conquered Hubei and Hunan with overwhelming force. Yu Liang, the commander-in-chief of Guizhou, who was far behind Shu Han, had ten thousand troops. Seeing this situation, he had been ambiguous about the imperial court's order to attack Shu Han.

In order to contain the Shu Han army, he refused in every possible way.

The imperial court had no direct influence on Yunnan, Guizhou and other provinces across the Shuhan, so it had no choice. Who knows that recently, for some reason, Yu Liang suddenly became active and mobilized his troops to attack the Shuhan territory in succession.

Several cities directly threatened the safety of Chengdu, the capital of the Shu Han Dynasty.

The Shu Han Dynasty had already made a desperate effort to use all its troops and horses for the Northern Expedition, and there were not many troops left in the territory. But on the other hand, Yu Liang was able to achieve such a record because he used his troops too erratically and strangely.
To be continued...