History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 1014 Self-Defense and Counterattack

Self-defense and counterattack

When you hit someone with a punch, you must be on guard against his kick. At the end of the Five Dynasties, the Central Plains rose strongly while the Liao Kingdom declined. As one rose and the other fell, the Song Dynasty, determined to unify the motherland, was flexible and strong in the diplomatic field, while the Liao Kingdom had to compromise and give in. Until Emperor Taizong Zhao Guangyi's troops arrived at the gates of Youzhou, facing the aggressive Song Dynasty, the Liao people had no choice but to retreat, so the "Battle of Gaoliang River" broke out, marking the beginning of the Song-Liao War.

The Liao people harvested countless spoils of war, just like sharks in the ocean smelling blood and awakening the distant memory that had been dormant for many years, which was the national tradition that was ridiculed by the people of the Central Plains as plundering. And if you are bullied and beaten, how can you not fight back?

As expected, the Liao Kingdom soon launched a self-defense counterattack.

Unlike the defeated Song Dynasty, the triumphant Liao generals were treated like heroes and were welcomed by the people. Emperor Jingzong of Liao, Yelu Xian, first rewarded Han Derang and three other heroes who defended Youzhou, and then praised the heroes of the Battle of Gaoliang River. Among them, Yelu Sha and others had suffered defeat, and Emperor Jingzong of Liao first criticized them verbally, and then let them go for their outstanding performance in the Battle of Gaoliang River. Even Yelu Xidi, who retreated in the face of the enemy, was only given a small punishment of "being hit on the back of the sword."

The morale of the Liao soldiers was high and they were ready to launch a retaliatory military strike against the Song Dynasty.

In September, Liao appointed Yan Wang Han Kuangsi as the commander-in-chief (dutong), Southern Prime Minister Yelu Sha as the military supervisor, and Yelu Xiu'ge, Yelu Xizhen, Yelu Mazhi and others led their armies to form the main force in the east, invading southward from today's Hebei Province, and sent another detachment out of Shanxi as a supporting and containment force.

After the Battle of Gaoliang River, Zhao Guangyi arranged elite soldiers and generals to defend various dangerous places and made preparations to resist the advance of the Liao army, so the Liao army's invasion to the south did not achieve the expected results.

The two armies met in Mancheng (now Mancheng District, Baoding City, Hebei Province), which is known in history as the "Battle of Mancheng."

Liu Yanhan, the main general of the Song army, formed a battle array at Xuhe in the west of the city, tying down the main force of the Liao army. At the same time, Cui Yanjin led a special force with their mouths sealed and their horses' hooves wrapped, and quietly went behind the Liao army. The nearby Song army also came to support after receiving the news. Under the unexpected pincer attack, the Liao army was defeated.

Before the battle, Zhao Guangyi followed his brother Zhao Kuangyin's example and "secretly taught the generals a strategy". According to the battle plan drawn up by Zhao Guangyi, the Song army should face the enemy with eight formations. Liu Yanhan followed the leader's instructions and arranged eight formations, with a distance of 100 steps between them, ready to be attacked.

The Song army was mainly composed of infantry, while the Liao army, which was surging, was mainly composed of elite cavalry. The Song army looked at each other in bewilderment, because once the war started, they would be greeted by a ruthless massacre, so their morale was low and their military spirit was shaken.

General Zhao Yanjin explained the pros and cons to Liu Yanhan, saying that we were clearly in a posture ready to be beaten and killed. Liu Yanhan said, "Do you think I can't see that? But this is the emperor's order, who dares to disobey?"
Zhao Yanjin patted his chest and said, "If anything goes wrong, I will take the responsibility alone!"

This is disobeying the emperor's order. You said you would take the responsibility alone. Would the emperor be willing? Liu Yanhan was still hesitant.

At the critical moment, the military supervisor Li Jilong spoke up, "I will bear the responsibility for violating the imperial edict!"

The words of the generals were not effective, only the words of the political commissar (military supervisor) were important. With the support of the military supervisor, Liu Yanhan finally ignored Zhao Guangyi's highest instructions and temporarily changed the formation and fighting style according to the actual situation on the battlefield. He concentrated the scattered infantry formation, used vehicles as a wall on the outer circle, and used long spears, halberds, shield walls, short axes, strong bows and crossbows to break the Liao army's cavalry charge advantage through positional warfare, thus winning the whole city.

In this battle, the Song Dynasty killed over 10,000 enemies, seized more than 10,000 war horses, captured three senior officers (chiefs), more than 30,000 people, and seized countless weapons, armor, chariots, tents, cattle and sheep.

After the Liao Dynasty was defeated, Emperor Jingzong of Liao, Yelu Xian, accused the commander-in-chief Han Kuangsi of five crimes, but it was only a verbal criticism, "pardoning him", and also praised the excellent performance of generals such as Yelu Xiu'ge. Although the battle was lost, it was not my fault, but the cunning Song people.

This victory allowed Zhao Guangyi to save some face, so he rewarded the generals who recovered the Northern Han according to their merits. Pan Mei, Liu Yanhan, Cao Bin and others were all promoted to higher positions and titles, and there is no need to list them in detail.

According to the "History of Song Dynasty", in the following years, the two sides had many conflicts in the border areas. For example, in November of that year, the Song army killed more than 11 Liao soldiers in Guannan and won a great victory; in March of the following year (980), Pan Mei defeated the Liao soldiers at Yanmen Pass, killed the Liao emperor Xiao Chuoli, and captured the commander-in-chief Li Chonghui.

"He dared to fight back. Isn't this bullying an honest man?"

In Zhao Guangyi's ears, the song of Youzhou kept echoing, "Do you know that Nanjing is not my real surname? I have been away from you for too long, mother." After Youzhou was incorporated into the territory of the Liao Kingdom, it was named "Nanjing" and was one of the five capitals of the Liao Kingdom.

In October, the Song Dynasty regrouped and marched north again, gathering heavy troops in Zhenzhou, Dingzhou and Guannan area of ​​Hebei. Coincidentally, the Liao Dynasty also took action, "exploding south to sacrifice flags and drums." It was like two strong men fighting each other on the street, and they were pulled apart as soon as they pushed each other. They were unwilling to accept each other, shouted greetings to each other's ancestors, and then wrestled together again.

In November, after Zhao Guangyi settled internal affairs, he once again led the army to fight in person.

The preset battlefield this time is the famous Waqiao Pass, which is a battleground for the Central Plains and Youzhou forces. In the first half of this book, as long as Youzhou forces such as "Liu Kutou" Liu Rengong make trouble, the two sides will have a decisive battle near Waqiao Pass. After Chai Rong "conquered the Three Passes in the North", Waqiao Pass was recovered by the Central Plains and renamed "Xiongzhou", which is today's famous Xiongan New Area.

The Liao people also called this place Waqiaoguan, while the History of the Song Dynasty recorded it as Xiongzhou. For the convenience of narration and memory, the following text will continue to use the name "Waqiaoguan", which does not represent a political stance.

In fact, this battle can still be regarded as a retaliatory military strike by the Liao people. According to historical records, the Liao Kingdom was more proactive, such as "will attack the south and sacrifice flags and drums", while the Song Dynasty was "preparing for the Khitan". The Liao Kingdom launched a large-scale invasion to the south, with the goal of Waqiaoguan. The Song Dynasty received intelligence in advance, so it stationed a large number of troops and the emperor personally led the expedition.

The Liao army occupied the Longwan Dike outside Waqiao Pass. Song general Jing Si led a thousand warriors to attack and fight for it. It happened that a military supervisor eunuch went out of the city to review the troops and was surrounded by the Liao army. Jing Si led his troops to rescue them. He killed seven people in and out, beheaded more than 700 Liao cavalrymen, and was so obsessed with killing that he forgot to eat and sleep. So when night fell, Jing Si lost contact...

Outside the city was the territory of the Liao army. Jing Si led only a few hundred warriors. They had been fighting for a whole day and were extremely tired. They were also lost in the darkness. There were countless Khitan cavalry in every direction...

Break through! But in which direction?
It's a breakout anyway, so it doesn't matter where you go out? I'll break out from the front, and I'll fight the elite! Jing Si beat the war drum three times and led his troops to break out. After a fierce battle, they finally arrived...near Mozhou.

Some breakouts are also called escapes, while some people, such as Comrade Jing Si, call their breakouts an attack, which is just a change of battlefield. Outside the city of Mozhou, they saw the camp set up by the Liao army.
"This is such a coincidence, come on!"

Jing Si led more than a hundred people to use axes to chop down the Liao army's watchtower, which was the watchtower at the entrance of the camp. With a "crackling" sound, the axe helped to carry out the demolition, with fire and lightning all the way, and chopped off fifty Khitan heads in the process.

The Liao army was in a panic and retreated to the Jiehe River to repair the floating bridge and prepare to retreat. However, Jing Si, the spokesperson of the god of death, caught up with them again. He was like a tiger among sheep, and he killed and captured countless people. Only with the reinforcement of Liao generals Xiao Gan and Yelu Hende did Jing Si retreat.

The Liao army was still in shock and reported that they had been attacked at night by the Song army... Little did they know that this was just a lost squad of Song army who were doing a little hobby on the side in the spirit of "since we are already here",

Jing Si's birth and death years are unknown. His grandfather was Jing Yanfu, and Jing Yanfu had a younger brother named Jing Hanru.

At the front line of Waqiaoguan, Liao general Yelu Xiuguo won a great victory and defeated the Song army. The Song army retreated to the south bank and set up defenses along the river. Yelu Xiuguo waded into the water and attacked, defeating the Song army again. The Song army retreated to Mozhou, but Yelu Xiuguo refused to give in and "killed and wounded many people". After a little reorganization, the Song army launched a counterattack, but "the Song soldiers came back and were defeated to death", and were almost completely wiped out by Yelu Xiuguo...

The Liao army then beat their whips and stomped their feet, and sang triumphant songs. On December 12, Emperor Jingzong of Liao, Yelü Xian, appointed Yelü Xiuge as "Yu Yue" and gave generous rewards to the three armies.

The above is the record of the Liao people. The records in the Central Plains are more schizophrenic:

"The Khitan invaded Xiongzhou... I invited them to fight and killed many... Guannan said that he defeated more than 10,000 Khitans and beheaded more than 3,000... Xiongzhou said that the Khitans had all fled..."

——Continuation of Zizhi Tongjian

It seems that the Song army won victory after victory, while the Liao army returned empty-handed.

"Guannan fought against the Khitan and defeated them greatly... The troops fought against the Khitan in Mozhou and were defeated."

——"History of Song Dynasty"

Emphasize that one's side wins first and then loses.

Based on historical data from all sides, the Liao army may have achieved a tactical victory, but it failed at the strategic level. Because the Liao Kingdom did not achieve its strategic goal of penetrating into Hebei, even if it "defeated" the Song army, it could not move forward and had to return to the capital.

In fact, on the tactical level, the Liao army did not necessarily win a great victory, because they did not completely annihilate the main force of the Song army. At best, they defeated the vanguard troops. After the Liao army returned, the Song army still maintained an offensive posture. Zhao Guangyi even planned to continue the attack on Youzhou, "because the Khitan fled, he wanted to attack Youzhou."

Zhao Guangyi divided his troops into two routes, with Liu Yu as the commander-in-chief of the western route and Tian Qinzuo as the military supervisor; Cao Han as the commander-in-chief of the eastern route and Zhao Yanpu as the military supervisor. Before the expedition, Zhao Guangyi sent the prime minister to consult Hanlin scholar Li Fang and others to solicit their opinions on the northern expedition.

Li Fang presented facts, reasoned and flattered, and it could be summed up in one sentence: he did not support the Northern Expedition for the time being.

Zhao Guangyi agreed with this, so he gave up the idea of ​​attacking Youzhou and ordered his troops to return. Cao Han was appointed as the general contractor, responsible for repairing Waqiaoguan and other cities and dredging the river from Waqiaoguan to Mozhou. He switched from attack to defense.

Since the Later Zhou Dynasty, the Central Plains has attached great importance to water transport. Whether it is the "Three Expeditions to Huainan" or the "Northern Conquest of the Three Passes", or other campaigns, the principle of "water conservancy first before the troops move" has always been followed. At that time, water transport was like today's highways and high-speed railways, which could quickly complete strategic delivery and provide valuable mobility for the Central Plains army, which was mainly composed of infantry, and the royal army was even more powerful. For example, during the "Northern Conquest of the Three Passes", the rapid advance of the Song army made the Liao army at a loss, and almost no effective blockade was formed against the Song.

Cao Han completed the task very well. He sent people to the Liao territory to secretly cut down forests and obtained "tens of thousands of huge trees". He also mobilized tens of thousands of civilians to repair the river embankment and corresponding military fortifications. The task was completed in just a few dozen days.

How could the Liao people tolerate the Song people's blatant entry and theft, and how could they sit back and watch the Song army build military fortifications? Here we have to praise Comrade Cao Han's wisdom.

Cao Han had two ideas: one was to improve the efficiency of the project, and the other was to cleverly set up false troops to scare off the enemy.

In terms of improving efficiency, Cao Han sent out scout cavalry with five colored flags. During the reconnaissance process, if there were trees ahead, they would raise a green flag; if there were fireworks, they would raise a red flag; if there were enemy soldiers, they would raise a white flag; if there were swamps, they would raise a black flag; if there were hills, they would raise a yellow flag. This was equivalent to giving the Song army a full view of the map, so Cao Han could make military deployments in advance according to the situation and respond calmly.

As for the strategy of confusing the enemy, it was to set up fake beacon fires. Whenever the Khitan invaded, the border guards would light beacon fires to notify the rear for support. Over time, the Khitans also learned to judge the movement of the Central Plains army based on the beacon fires. So Cao Han sent several small teams scattered along the border, lighting beacon fires everywhere regardless of whether there were enemy troops or not. As a result, the Khitan soldiers were frightened and doubted their lives. "Oh my god, why are there reinforcements from the Song army everywhere? How did they find us? Forget it, the wind is strong, let's run!"

Thanks to old friends "Jiang Hu Liu Bai" and "Yang Kui" for their monthly ticket support!

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(End of this chapter)