History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 105: Jin-Bian Struggle
【Dragon-Tiger Fight in Jin-Bian】

In the Central Plains, there are two major military and political groups, one is Zhu Wen of Bianzhou, and the other is Li Keyong of Hedong. These two camps have a deep hatred for each other because of the "Shangyuanyi Incident". It is well known that the two sides are irreconcilable.

Thus, a situation similar to the confrontation between the two camps after World War II was formed. In order to protect themselves, the surrounding vassal states had to "choose sides", either joining the Bianzhou forces or the Hedong forces.

Whenever there was a geopolitical conflict, the two parties involved would tacitly attach themselves to the Jin-Bian faction respectively. For example, during the Heyang Rebellion, Li Hanzhi defected to Li Keyong in Hedong, and Zhang Quanyi had no choice but to defect to Zhu Wen in Bianzhou.

Therefore, for a long time, the struggles among the vassal states in the Central Plains were more or less mixed with the struggles between the Jin and Bian forces. It was either a secret political game or a direct military conflict.

From the fall of Huang Chao to the establishment of the Later Liang Dynasty, the warlords fought each other constantly, which seemed like a mess at first glance. Here, this book offers a shortcut: taking the struggle between Jin and Bian as the main line, and examining each historical event from the perspective of the game between Jin and Bian, this is their internal logic and the golden key to unlock the chaos.

Previously, both sides were relatively weak, especially Zhu Wen, who had only a few hundred people when he went to the town. So neither of them was able to take the lead. Moreover, the two sides' territories were not adjacent, so there would be no direct conflict. Li Keyong also often used "slaughtering pigs in the south" as a bargaining chip in political negotiations to threaten the court.

Things are finally different now.

Zhu Wen, he expanded northwards, first annexing the Yicheng Army in Huazhou, and then conquering the Weizhou Army in Hebei;
Li Keyong continued to expand his territory eastwards. He first divided the Zhaoyi Army into two and occupied the Western Zhaoyi Army. Then he continued to cross the Taihang Mountains and launched a war of annexation against the Eastern Zhaoyi Army.

As a result, Jin Bian's sphere of influence finally bordered along the border of Zhaoyi Army.

Strictly speaking, it is just a "border" in administrative territory, a superficial matter.

The north-south border of both sides is separated by the natural barriers of the Taihang Mountains and the Yellow River; the Dongzhao Yi Army has not yet been annexed by Li Keyong, and the Wei Bo Army to its east is only verbally loyal to Zhu Wen and is also not actually controlled by Zhu Wen, so there is no actual contact on the east-west border.

But now it is different. The Heyang area, which serves as a buffer zone, has been divided. Li Keyong and Zhu Wen have intervened at the same time, and the Jin-Bian forces have come into direct contact for the first time.

The "Battle for Heyang" naturally became the first shot in the struggle for hegemony between Jin and Bian.

[Battle for Heyang]

From the personnel deployment, it can be seen that both Li Keyong and Zhu Wen attached great importance to this struggle. As the saying goes, great minds think alike, and they dispatched their best soldiers and generals.

On Li Keyong's side, Kang Junli, the "first hero of the uprising", was in charge, Li Cunxiao, the "first fiercest general of the Five Dynasties", was the vanguard, An Jinjun, An Xiuxiu and other generals led 7,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry, and there was also Li Hanzhi, a Lu Bu-like figure, as a guide.

Zhu Wen sent generals including Ding Hui, Zhang Cunjing, Niu Cunjie, and Ge Congzhou to lead tens of thousands of people to assist Zhang Quanyi.

We take the Heyang battlefield as the center and look around:
To the southeast and east is Zhu Wen’s base camp, the Xuanwu Army of Bianzhou, and the Yicheng Army of Huazhou.

To the south is the Xuzhou Zhongwu Army, which is in a tug of war with Cai thief. This area was liberated from Cai thief by the "Three Zhu Alliance" led by Zhu Wen last year. Strictly speaking, the attitude here should be neutral and biased towards Zhu Wen.

The above forces include Zhu Wen's direct lineage and the "pro-Zhu" forces.

To the west and southwest are Wang Chongying of the National Protection Army (formerly Hezhong) and Wang Gong of the Righteousness Army (Wang Chongying's second son), who can be regarded as "pro-Hedong" forces.

The Xizhao Yijun Army, just north of Heyang, was Li Keyong's territory, while the Dongzhao Yijun Army, just northeast of Heyang and just east of the Xizhao Yijun Army, was the one that was at loggerheads with Li Keyong and the fight was hard to resolve.

Not to mention that further east is Wei Bo Luo Hongxin, Zhu Wen's new brother, who also serves as the strategic depth of the eastern battlefield.

Let's look at the public opinion in Heyang. Zhang Quanyi is well-known, the people's parent official, the great justice; Li Hanzhi is hated by both humans and gods, throwing a weight into a tea pot, and sinking to the bottom to smash the pot. The ordinary people also tend to be on the side of Zhang Quanyi and Zhu Wen. At the same time, Zhang Quanyi closed the city and held on, waiting for the enemy to tire, and could cooperate with the Bian army from inside and outside; the Hedong army outside the city came from afar and was attacked from both sides.

Zhu Wen had all the advantages, including the right time, the right place, and the right people. It was hard for him to lose.

The Hedong Army was most proud of its unstoppable cavalry. Under the leadership of Li Hanzhi, they came forward aggressively to stop the Bian Army.

The generals of the Bian army showed no fear. Each of them fought bravely and took the lead to confront the enemy head-on.

Li Hanzhi, a real rogue and a fake hero, turned his horse and fled when he saw the situation was not good. An Xiuxiu, the general of Hedong, was afraid of being punished for the defeat, so he fled to Caizhou.

The Bian army was very smart. They did not insist on fighting with the Hedong army. Instead, they sent out a part of their troops to block the Chenxing and Taihangxing passes among the "Eight Passes of Taihang", cutting off the Hedong army's routes of advance and retreat.

If you unfold the map, you will find that the Taihang Mountains run from north to south, and turn right to the west when approaching the Yellow River, like a "丿". The north-south Taihang Mountains separate East Zhaoyijun and West Zhaoyijun, and the east-west Taihang Mountains separate West Zhaoyijun and Heyang.

The "Eight Gaps in Taihang" are the eight most famous gaps in Taihang Mountain, through which the army can travel.

After the Bian Army cut off Chenxing and Taihangxing, if the Hedong Army wanted to continue to support Heyang or retreat from Heyang to the Xizhaoyi Army, it would have to take a long detour.

There are two detours available: one is to go east, along the Yellow River, through the Xuanwu Army of Bianzhou and the Yicheng Army of Huazhou, then turn north after crossing the Taihang Mountains, and then cross the entire Dongzhao Yi Army before returning to Taiyuan. Obviously, this is a deadly route.

The other route was to go west along the Yellow River, cross Heyang, brush past the Baoyi Army and the Huguo Army, detour to the Xizhaoyi Army, and join the arms of the Hedong Army.

The Bian army and Zhang Quanyi were originally fighting on their home turf, and after a successful initial battle, they were in a situation where they were fighting a dog behind closed doors. The Jin army commander Kang Junli hurriedly ordered his troops to withdraw, and before the Bian army completed the strategic encirclement, he withdrew from the battlefield and fled back to Taiyuan in a panic.

The first direct military conflict between Jin and Bian ended with the victory of the Bian army.

Li Keyong recommended Li Hanzhi as the governor of Zezhou and the governor of Heyang. This "Heyang governor" was just an empty title to deceive himself, and Zezhou was the bridgehead for the Jin army to move south, separating the north and south of Taihang Mountain from Huaizhou.

To put it bluntly, Li Keyong appointed Li Hanzhi as a watchdog.

Zhu Wen recommended Ding Hui, a "hero who followed the emperor", as the governor of Heyang, while Zhang Quanyi remained as the governor of Henan.

Zhang Quanyi was so grateful to Zhu Wen for his timely rescue that, like Zhao Dun of Chenzhou, he became devoted to Zhu Wen and became one of his most loyal vassal governors. According to historical records, whenever Zhu Wen went out to fight, Zhang Quanyi would always take the initiative to provide a large amount of food and supplies and help him with all his heart.

Li Hanzhi left his son in Taiyuan to serve Li Keyong, actually as a hostage, and returned to Zezhou to do what he was best at - being a bandit.

Li Hanzhi did not understand production, and was even more disdainful of production. He specialized in robbery for 30 years, with Zezhou as the center and radiating outward for more than a hundred miles. The fields were barren and seldom populated.

The people fled to a mountain in the west, which was so high that it reached the clouds, so it was named "Moyun Mountain". The people built fortifications on the mountain to protect themselves. Because of the dangerous terrain, it was easy to defend but difficult to attack, and ordinary bandits could not do anything to them. However, Li Hanzhi, with only a hundred people, attacked the mountain stronghold and was nicknamed Li Moyun. From then on, he became a fierce bandit that everyone was afraid of.

After gaining the support of Wei Bo and Heyang, Zhu Wen was temporarily no longer worried about the west and could continue to plan his grand chess game.

(End of this chapter)