In early October, the Hantong Navy arrived from the canal near the Guazhou Ferry in the southeast of Yangzhou. The ship was in front and headed south along the river and was about to enter the Yangtze River. [(located east of Nanjing, near Zhenjiang City.)

At this time, the battle in Chizhou took place, and Jinling had mobilized its troops to strengthen the defense in the east. Liu Cheng, the general of the Southern Tang Kingdom, was ordered to deploy the east. He gathered the Southern Tang army navy in Jingkou (Zhenjiang). After hearing the news, the Zhou army headed south and rushed into the canal with large ship-borne reeds and turbulent oil.

At that time, the sea breeze blows violently in the east, and the large ships of the Southern Tang army rushed to the east side of the Zhou army warship and burned. Suddenly, the fire soared into the sky, and the turbulent oil (oil) burned black smoke, and watering was useless; the fire was even more amazing, like wildfires all over the mountains, and they were roasted a hundred steps away. The fire spread to the Zhou army warships in the east wind, and soon a large ship on the front ignited a raging fire.

The burnt black ash rushed into the air in the scorching airflow. The whole sky was covered with black dust and fell in the distance, as if a black snow was falling.

The soldiers on the Zhou army warships were no longer concerned about putting out the fire. The flames were raging in the wind and were burned to death when they approached. The soldiers on the deck were in chaos, and many people jumped into the river and drowned. The soldiers were mostly wearing armor. Compared with the danger of sinking ships and falling into the water, arrow attacks from the enemy were more likely to cause death. People wearing iron armor would be drowned immediately after falling into the water. Those with armor were hard to survive. The river was cold in October, and those who knew water couldn't last long, not to mention that the clothes were thick and wet and were very heavy.

The people who paddled under the deck were not burned for the time being. Many people took off their clothes and jumped into the river with wood in their arms. The river was full of shouts, and it was a mess.

On the south bank of the Yangtze River, a general was laughing "haha". He pointed to the fire in the distance, and smiled so hard that he held his stomach and almost rolled on the ground. This person was Liu Cheng, and the soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty were also celebrating. Not far away, there was a burly man who looked at the group of people there coldly. The burly man was Lin Renzhao.

Lin Renzhao was appointed as the Nandu left-behind (Nanchang). Before leaving Beijing, he rushed to Jingkou to watch the battle first.

Liu Cheng smiled for a long time and finally found Lin Renzhao watching, so he came forward to say hello: "General Lin sees how good I am today's battle, can it be called a great victory?" After he said that, he didn't value Liu Renzhan much, but he still reached out to catch a wisp of black dust, looked up, stretched out his hand to caress his hair bun, as if a clean person was shaking dust, "The fire was too strong, and the ashes were floating across the river!"

Unexpectedly, Lin Renzhao said angrily: "Is it called a great victory to burn a Zhou army warship?"

Liu Cheng was immediately very unhappy... They were all colleagues. Even if you don't want to congratulate me, wouldn't it be over without saying a word? Liu Cheng stopped his smile and said coldly: "General Lin may not understand. The valley of the canal is not as deep as the river. The two large ships were burned and sunk in the river. The Zhou army warships would not think about entering the river for a while."

Lin Renzhao said: "What's the difficulty? Just clean the river and pull out the larger wreckage. At most, it can only last a few days. Zhou Jun suffered a loss. Next time he broke through the estuary, he would have to observe the wind direction. He could use the method of fire attack once."

Liu Cheng was stunned: "The entrance of the canal is narrow, and the river is wide. If the enemy ships want to leave the canal, they must line up and line up. I will patrol the river day and night with warships. If I want to leave, I will attack the river with advantageous warships and attack them and block the estuary. The Zhou army cannot leave the canal."

Lin Renzhao said: "The important thing about the defense of the river is to quarry. The Zhou army captured Chizhou in the west, obviously for quarrying. Otherwise, they would have been bypassed by Hukou (Poyang Lake) and were attacked here on both sides by the enemy? The water surface of Jingkou is vast, and our army only needs to operate defense in Runzhou water and land, so it is difficult for the enemy to invade from here... General Liu spent all the navy in the east here. How could the Caishi River fight against the Zhou army?"

Although the lower reaches of the Yangtze River are very long, there are not many places suitable for large troops to cross the river; for example, most river banks are shallow and ships will be stranded before they dock. The ferry usually has a convex area to the center of the river, which makes it easier for ships to dock in deep water areas. After thousands of years of operation, these places have mostly become familiar ferries, such as Jingkou and Caishi.

Liu Cheng said annoyedly: "I was ordered to deploy the east defense, but you talked to me about quarrying. Why don't you go to the court to tell His Majesty what does it mean to tell me?"

Liu Cheng's words came to the point. Lin Renzhao was stunned and could not speak out. He had no choice but to leave the riverside. He heard Liu Cheng rumbling behind him, as if he was talking bad things about him. Lin Renzhao knew that he accidentally offended him, but Lin Renzhao didn't care about this.

...Lin Renzhao rode his horse back to Jiangning City. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that something was wrong. Chizhou was occupied for almost a month, and the court did not make any useful arrangements. Not only did he show no sign of regaining Chizhou quickly, but he did not even provide reinforcements for defense. Instead, he concentrated all the navy in the eastern part in Jingkou, and he didn't know who came up with the idea.

He thought about it and had been ordered to go to Hongzhou to take office. Now he couldn't see the king anymore, so he remembered someone: Chen Qiao (When Guo Shao asked Liu Renzhan for advice, Liu Renzhan mentioned this person). This person was the Guangzhengyuan's regent. When the Supreme Emperor passed the throne to the king Li Yu, he was appointed as the minister of the minister who was very capable of speaking in the court.

The key is that Chen Qiao is not like those other people. Chen Qiao looks down on Lin Renzhao very much. He recommended in front of the king a long time ago: Let Lin Renzhao lead troops outside and Chen is in charge of the central government. Although our country is small in territory, it is difficult to plan for the Central Plains. He praised Lin Renzhao for his praise.

So Lin Renzhao rushed to Chen's mansion, wanting to talk to Chen Qiao about his military insights and discuss Jiang Fang.

Unexpectedly, Chen Qiao directly refused Lin Renzhao's visit, and asked someone to knock him away from the gate. Lin Renzhao was confused and hurriedly left the Chen Mansion at a loss. As soon as he walked to a secluded street, someone suddenly said behind him: "General Lin, please come on the carriage."

Lin Renzhao looked back and saw that he was a strange scholar. But he was brave and was on the streets of the capital, so he was not afraid at all. He was respectful and obeyed the order and got on the carriage. The carriage immediately left the original place.

The scribe frowned and said, "In broad daylight, you, a foreign general who is about to leave Beijing, ran to the gate of Mr. Chen to visit. What is the relationship between Mr. Chen and you? Are you not afraid of collusion between inside and outside?"

Lin Renzhao wondered: "I am a minister with Mr. Chen in the same court, so I can't even meet?"

The scholar sighed: "Mr. Chen also said that your weakness is that you do not understand worldly style. Someone had impeached you for not obeying the rules and returning to Beijing without permission. Now you are going to Hongzhou, and some people say you want to offer Hongzhou to surrender to the Zhou court. How many people have you offended?"

Lin Renzhao cursed: "Mom, I hold a grudge in my heart for a little thing. How can such a villain be Shangguan!"
Chapter completed!