A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 979: Song and Jin are advantageous while Zhu and Liang are disadvantageous; the two towns are attached and then Tang is established
The 19th year of Tang Tianyou
The world situation is favorable to Song and Jin but not to Liang.

The four countries in the north: King Qi lived in peace in a corner.

In order to break through the status quo, King Jin took proactive measures.

Emperor Liang maintained a defensive attitude amid internal and external troubles.

The State of Song had a vast territory, spanning rivers, lakes and the Han River, occupying half of the northern part of the world, and seeking progress while maintaining stability.

May
The town of Chengde, an important vassal of the State of Jin, suffered a mutiny, and the entire family of King Wang Rong of Zhao was murdered by his general Zhang Wenli.

Zhang Wenli proclaimed himself as the governor of Chengde, pledged allegiance to the State of Jin, and expressed his wish only to be appointed as the military governor of Chengde and to be a subject of the State of Jin.

But he secretly communicated with the State of Liang, hoping to get their help and seek the title of king.

When the Chengde envoy arrived in Chang'an, Liang Xiang Jingxiang believed that this was an opportunity to recover Hebei and advocated sending troops to assist Zhang Wenli.

However, his political enemy Zhao Yan objected, saying that at this stage the country was losing troops and territory one after another, and should take advantage of the civil unrest in Jin to recuperate, or recover the Xiangyang area and reduce the strength of Song.

In the end, neither of them could do anything to the other, and the matter remained unresolved.

However, because he had not received any accurate news from Liang State for a long time, Zhang Wenli became anxious and sent several envoys in succession.

One of the envoys was captured by the Jin army in Huaizhou, and the letter was handed over to Li Cunxu.

Li Cunxu was furious.

August
Li Cunxu led his army northward to conquer Zhenzhou (the seat of Chengde Town).

Twenty Years of Tang Tianyou
More than 100,000 Jin troops, led by Li Cunxu, besieged Zhending City in Zhenzhou.

Although Zhending City is located on a plain, the Hutuo River was introduced to surround the city as a moat. Inner city, 瓮城 and moon city were built at the four city gates in the southeast, northwest and northeast.

The city wall is 32 feet (10 meters) high, 20 feet wide at the top and 26 feet wide at the bottom. It is built entirely with blue bricks, making it a first-class strong city.

In addition, most of the soldiers in Chengde Town were locals, most of whom came from hunters in the mountains, and the people were martial.

Therefore, as soldiers, they have strong qualities and high morale.

Li Cunxu personally led his troops to besiege Zhending City for half a year, but there was still no sign of capture, and instead a large number of soldiers were lost.

Helplessly, they could only turn the attack into a siege, hoping that the defenders in the city would cause internal strife or that Zhang Wenli could not withstand the pressure and surrender.

The 20th year of Tianyou in the Tang Dynasty (the 2nd year of Liang Longde)

Dai Siyuan, who was the defense envoy of Liang, Luo, Hua and Shaanxi provinces, the Right General of the Imperial Guard, the Inspector of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Governor of Jinzhou, and was in charge of the defense of Luoyang, took advantage of the fact that the main force of the Jin army went north and did not return for a long time, and launched a counterattack on the Yellow River front.

February 3rd
Dai Siyuan recaptured the southern city of Heyang and quickly attacked the northern city of Heyang.

Unfortunately, Li Cunxu returned and had to retreat.

August
Li Cunxu sent Yan Bao, Shi Jianjian and Zhao general Fu Xi to lead Wang Rong's former troops to attack Zhang Wenli.

After Dai Siyuan learned about this, he raised troops again, crossed the Yellow River from Tongguan to the north, and recovered the three counties of Yongle, Rui and Hebei.

Duan Ning and Zhang Lang, who were located in Tongzhou, also took the opportunity to advance and recapture Tongzhou. All the prefectures and counties west of the Yellow River that were originally occupied by the State of Jin were taken back by the State of Liang.

In order to completely get rid of Zhang Wenli, this time Li Cunxu would rather lose Tongzhou than withdraw his troops.

August 27
Jin general Shi Jianjian captured Zhaozhou, and Chengde’s army only had Zhending left. Zhang Wenli died of fright when he heard the news.

His sons Zhang Chujin and Zhang Chuqiu kept the death a secret, and no one in the military headquarters or outside knew about it. They continued to visit him in the palace every day as usual.

The funeral was not announced until Zhang Chujin took over military affairs.

After Zhang Chujin succeeded to the throne, he continued to uphold the ideas of his father Zhang Wenli and fought against the Jin army.

At such a critical moment of life and death, Zhang Chujin had no choice but to decide important matters and conspire for evil with his confidant Han Zhengshi.

Although the Jin army conquered Zhaozhou, it was still raining cats and dogs.

Seeing that Li Cunxu had been unable to pacify Zhenzhou for a long time, Wang Chuzhi, the Prince of Beiping, became jealous and sent envoys to collude with the Khitan leader Yelu Abaoji, leading the Khitan army south with the intention of stabbing Li Cunxu in the back.

However, the matter was not kept secret and was discovered by his adopted son Wang Du, who imprisoned and killed him, and his head was sent to Taiyuan.

Li Cunxu was delighted and appointed Wang Du as the successor to the Jiedushi of Yiwu Army and granted him the title of Duke of a county.

He was ordered to lead Yiwu Town.

However, the Khitan army had already moved south and did not see Wang Chuzhi, so they besieged Dingzhou and forced Wang to surrender.

March
Jin general Yan Bao was defeated by Zhang Chujin and died of shame and anger. Li Cunxu succeeded him with Li Sizhao.

In order to quickly capture Dingzhou, the Khitan army launched an increasingly fierce offensive. Wang Du sent several letters asking for help in one day, requesting Li Cunxu to send reinforcements.

After much deliberation, Li Cunxu decided to personally lead 5,000 cavalrymen north to fight against the Khitan.

April
Li Cunxu defeated the Khitan army in Xincheng and Wangdu successively, lifted the siege of Dingzhou, and pursued the victory to Youzhou.

The remaining Khitan troops fled in panic through the gap in the Great Wall.

Although the Jin army won a great victory in Dingzhou, it suffered a series of defeats in Zhenzhou and suffered heavy casualties.

April

Jin general Li Sizhao was killed by a stray arrow, and Li Cunxu had no choice but to replace him with Li Cunjin and continue attacking Zhenzhou.

May 6
Li Cunjin also died in battle. Li Cunxu appointed Fu Cunshen as the commander-in-chief and continued to attack Zhenzhou.

At this point in the war, the Jin army and the Chengde army had already become angry with each other, and the Chengde army's accumulation of several years had been exhausted. There was no surplus food in the city, so the crisis was getting worse.

The army of Liang was unable to move north, and the army of Yiwu was eliminated by Li Cunxu. The Song army on the side was an ally of Jin. This was the end of the road for the army.

Not only Zhang Chujin, Zhang Chuqiu and other members of the Zhang family were concerned about the situation, but other lower-level officers and soldiers were also pessimistic about the prospects.

May 14

Ren Yuan, the judge of the Zhaoyi Army, rode to the city of Zhending on horseback, explained the consequences of their actions, and advised the people in the city not to resist any further.

In order to buy time, Zhang Chujin personally went up to the city wall and told the emperor sincerely: "It is not that I want to resist the king's army, but it is my father's order that I cannot do it."

Soon, Fu Cunshen, the chief general of the Jin army, arrived at the foot of the city and issued an ultimatum to the people on the city wall. If anyone did not surrender before the Jin army broke into the city, they would be killed without mercy and their entire clan would be exterminated.

Zhang Chujin looked around and saw that the generals all had different expressions.

That night, Li Chong, the son of Li Zaifeng, the commander of the west gate of Chengde Army, jumped out by rope to welcome the Jin Army into the city.

The vanguard of the Jin army climbed the city wall under the leadership of Li Chong.

By the next morning, the Jin army had appeared in the city and captured Zhang Chujin and 37 other members of the Zhang family. They all chopped off their feet and sent them to Fu Cun for trial.

Fu Cunshen sent someone to Taiyuan and asked Li Cunxu to deal with him.

Afterwards, Fu Cunshen entered the city, found Zhang Wenli's body, and exposed it to the sun in the city.

May 17

Li Cunxu ordered the beheading of Zhang Chujin and his entourage, and personally took on the post of Jiedushi of Chengde Army.

Together with the capital of the Yiwu Army which had already surrendered, all of Hebei, except for the eastern coastal corner occupied by the Song Army, belonged to the Jin Army.

It is no longer the situation of two princes such as the king of Zhao and the king of Beiping.

April of the 22nd year of the Tang Dynasty

Thirteen towns and more than fifty states including Zhaoyi, Chengde, Heyang, Yiwu, Youzhou, Datong, Zhenwu, Yanmen and Hedong once again urged him to ascend the throne.

This was the third time that the Jin towns had urged Li Cunxu to ascend the throne. Li Cunxu was aware of the current situation and felt that he really needed a higher title to fight against the Liang State.

And he should use his higher status to suppress Baijian, Duke of Song in the Jin-Song alliance.

April th
Li Cunxu ascended the throne in Taiyuan and proclaimed himself a descendant of the Tang Dynasty, so he continued to use the name "Tang" for the country.

The capital was set in Taiyuan, and several states around Taiyuan were transformed into Taiyuan Prefecture.

The 22nd year of Tianyou was changed to "the first year of Tongguang".

He also posthumously conferred the title of emperor on his father and grandfather, and listed them as one of the Seven Temples together with Emperor Gaozu of Tang, Emperor Taizong of Tang, Emperor Yizong of Tang, and Emperor Zhaozong of Tang, to show that he was the legitimate successor to the Tang Dynasty.

To distinguish the Tang Dynasty founded by Li Cunxu from the Tang Dynasty founded by Li Yuan, people call it the Later Tang Dynasty.

As a result, the world situation became a battle for hegemony between the Tang Dynasty after Li Cunxu, the Liang Dynasty after Zhu Cunzhen, the Shu Kingdom after Wang Jian, and the Song Kingdom of Baijian, who was nominally a duke but actually an emperor.

In addition, there is the situation of Li Maozhen of Qi State in the west, and Chu, Nanping, Wu, Yue, Qian and other countries in the south.

(End of this chapter)