History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 126: Second Expedition to Xuzhou
The two Zhus of Yan and Yun and Shi Pu of Xuzhou had a common enemy - Zhu Wen of Bianzhou, so they formed a military alliance long ago to protect themselves, and the three towns formed a perfect pincer attack.

At the critical moment of Xuzhou, Zhu Jin of Yanzhou sent troops to help and personally led an army of 10,000 into the battle.

The strategy used by Zhu Jin was "besiege Wei to save Zhao" to save the country in a roundabout way. These 10,000 people did not go to Xuzhou, and of course they did not dare to go to Bianzhou. Zhu Jin took them to Shanfu County (now Shan County, Shandong Province) to dig up the ancestral grave of Zhu Wen's mother.

As expected of being members of the same military alliance, the two Zhus of Yan and Yun and Shi Pu of Xuzhou had highly similar beliefs. They both firmly believed in the theory of Feng Shui and wanted to destroy the enemy's Feng Shui by digging up their ancestral graves, so as to achieve the purpose of saving themselves.

Wearing the same pants, farting the same way.

Zhu Wen sent Ding Hui and Zhang Guiba to Shanfu for rescue. Ding Hui and Zhang Guiba lived up to expectations and almost wiped out more than 10,000 tomb robbers. Zhu Jin fled alone.

Zhu Wen's attitude towards the two Zhus of Yan and Yun and Shi Pu of Xuzhou was: Please don't misunderstand, I am not targeting anyone, I mean that everyone here is garbage.

Next, Zhu Wen sent his eldest son Zhu Youyu as the vanguard to attack Puzhou, and he led the main force to support it. He launched a retaliatory military action against the grave-digging behavior of the two Zhus in Yan and Yun, and also took this opportunity to extend the strategic depth of the northern part of Xuzhou and form a more solid strategic encirclement of Xuzhou.

Zhu Xuan of Yunzhou rushed to rescue Puzhou overnight. Zhu Youyu did not expect Zhu Xuan's action to be so swift, and was caught off guard. He had to abandon the camp and flee with the remnants of his army.

Zhu Wen in the rear knew nothing about the changes on the front line. He rushed to join the army the next morning according to the previous plan, but was ambushed by Zhu Xuan.
Zhu Wen was in danger of being surrounded and annihilated. General Zhang Guihou led his cavalry and bravely charged into the enemy camp, charging left and right. Zhang Guihou went in and out more than 20 times, far exceeding Zhao Yun's "seven in and seven out", and was unstoppable, forcing the Yanyun coalition to retreat. Just when Zhu Wen was about to escape, the Yanyun coalition, which was fighting at home, received a large number of reinforcements.

At the critical moment, Zhang Guihou shouted the heroic words "Let the leader go first" and asked dozens of cavalrymen to escort Zhu Wen and use the gap that had just been opened to escape. He personally covered the retreat for his lord.

At that time, the horse Zhang Guihou was riding was shot and killed by an arrow. Zhang Guihou fought on foot with a spear to buy time for Zhu Wen.

Zhu Wen retreated to the rear and immediately sent elite soldiers and brave generals to support him. When the Bian army's reinforcements arrived, they saw the overwhelming Yanyun coalition army. The Bian army shook their heads and lamented that the friendly troops that had been cut off had already been swallowed up by the tide of enemy troops, and General Zhang Guihou must have been glorious...

With the belief of snatching Zhang Guihou's body, the Bian army rushed towards the Yanyun coalition. After entering the enemy camp, the generals were surprised to find that although Zhang Guihou was surrounded and had more than 20 arrows stuck in his body, he still insisted on fighting!

He is still alive!

The generals rescued him and brought him back to the rear. Zhu Wen could not help but stroke his back and cried, saying: "I would rather lose thousands of soldiers than lose General Zhang!"

Zhang Guihou was from Huang Chao's Cao army, but he was not Zhu Wen's direct descendant, and the two had no intersection in the Cao army. After the "Wangmandu Battle", he surrendered to Zhu Wen with his brothers Zhang Guiba, Zhang Guibian, Ge Congzhou, Huo Cun and others.

When the Cai thief Qin Zongquan tried his best to attack Bianzhou, Zhang Guihou once challenged the Cai thief's main general Zhang Xu in front of the battlefield and defeated him. In fact, in the real ancient battlefield, it was rare for the main generals of the two armies to challenge each other in front of the battlefield. It basically only existed in novels and romances. Zhang Guihou was one of the few single-handed kings recorded in official history.

When he followed Zhu Zhen to attack Xuzhou for the first time, Zhang Guihou rushed into the Xuzhou camp like a tiger into a pack of wolves, charging left and right, and no one could stop him; later at the foot of Jiuli Mountain, the Xu and Bian armies encountered each other, and Zhang Guihou spotted the rebel general Chen Fan in the Xuzhou army at a glance, so he glared and cursed, and rode forward alone, wanting to take the enemy general's head among the millions of troops. Unexpectedly, the Xuzhou soldiers shot an arrow at him in the left eye. Although Zhang Guihou was shot blind in one eye and was alone in front of the formation, no Xuzhou soldier dared to capture him (the Xu army was too numerous and no one dared to chase them).

Zhang Guihou was invincible and his elder brother Zhang Guiba was even more invincible. In the same battle against Zhang Xu, the leader of the Cai bandits, Zhang Guiba was wounded by a hidden arrow. He immediately pulled out the arrow and shot the bandit. The bandit was shot through the throat and fell off his horse and died. Zhang Guiba captured his horse and returned.

Zhang Guihou risked his life to save Zhu Wen, but the Bian army suffered heavy losses.

When Pu saw hope in Xuzhou, he hurriedly dispatched troops to attack Suzhou. Suzhou's defender Guo Yan resisted tenaciously, but unfortunately died in battle. Guo Yan, who was born in the Cao Army, was a "half-way direct descendant" of Zhu Wen, because Guo Yan was forced into the Cao Army when Huang Chao invaded Chang'an, and then was assigned to Zhu Wen's account, and then followed Zhu Wen to rebel against Qi and surrender to Tang. So if we talk about seniority roughly, he is also Zhu Wen's direct descendant (formerly a subordinate of the Cao Army), older than Ge Congzhou, Huo Cun and others, but in detail, he is younger than Zhu Zhen, Pang Shigu and others, so we jokingly call him a "half-way direct descendant".

In terms of strength, Guo Yan is not inferior to other generals. He is "upright, resourceful, and diligent in military affairs." He is both civil and military, and has a generous personality. He often pays out of his own pocket to help the poor soldiers under his command. Therefore, he is very popular among the soldiers. He is a good leader and a good superior in the hearts of the soldiers. Everyone is willing to die for him, so the combat effectiveness of Guo Yan's troops is very considerable.

In the confrontation with the Cai thief Qin Zongquan, Guo Yan's troops were able to defeat the larger force with fewer troops every time, and never lost. Zhu Wen also compared him to Xu Chu, a fierce general in the Three Kingdoms period (Yan is my Tiger Marquis).

As the saying goes, a clay pot will break if it is kept away from the wellhead, and a general is bound to die in battle.

When Pu led a large army to Xuzhou, Guo Yan once again used a small force to defeat a large one. He was "brave in field battles and happy to face a strong enemy". He liked to use a small force to defeat a large one, to fight tough battles, and to bite the bullet. However, this time it became his last battle.

During the battle, he led the way and caused heavy casualties to Xu Zu, defeating the enemy with fewer troops and forcing Shi Pu to retreat. During the battle, Guo Yan was injured by a stray arrow. Looking at the back of Xu Zu who was going away and the setting sun falling on the west slope, Guo Yan closed his eyes with relief.

The best fate for a soldier is to be hit by the last bullet in the last battle. Guo Yan did it.

In just a few days, Zhu Wen suffered heavy losses, including the loss of Li Fan, Guo Yan and other meritorious veterans. After learning from the pain, Zhu Wen thought that he should concentrate his efforts on getting rid of Shi Pu in Xuzhou first.

So, with a rage for revenge, Zhu Wen mobilized tens of thousands of troops and attacked Xuzhou directly, implementing the inhumane "Three Alls" policy along the way.

A flood made the situation in Xuzhou even worse, and the people in the area suffered terribly.

Since the third year of Guangqi (887), when Shi Pu intercepted Li Fan and Guo Yan who were on their way to Huainan in Sizhou, the battle between Zhu Wen and Shi Pu lasted for five years until the first year of Jingfu (892). During this period, Zhu Wen was always in a dominant position and completely defeated Shi Pu. The death rate of the people in the territory under the command of the Reform Army was as high as 60%~70%.

Of course, this alarmingly high death rate was not caused directly by the battlefield. In addition to direct casualties on the battlefield, there were more indirect losses from the war, such as the fact that the war prevented farmers from farming, and some were caused by natural disasters. In short, it was all related to the war (the people of Xuzhou, Sizhou, and Haozhou were unable to farm... and there was a flood, killing 60 to 70 percent of the people).

Such a high mortality rate was unbearable for any ruler. Shi Pu was at the end of his rope and was forced to ask for peace from Zhu Wen.

Zhu Wen put forward the conditions for a ceasefire: Get out!
Shi Pu must leave Xuzhou unconditionally and give up the Ganhua Army. It was a treaty under siege, with no room for maneuver. Shi Pu had no choice but to agree.

Therefore, Zhu Wen submitted a memorial to the court, requesting that Shi Pu be transferred from Xuzhou and that another senior official be appointed to take over the Xuzhou Ganhua Army.

The court approved the request and issued an edict to transfer Pu back to the central government as the Prince's Grand Tutor; it also ordered Prime Minister Liu Chongwang to serve as the Jiedushi of Ganhua Army.

When the imperial edict was delivered, Shi Pu suddenly changed his mind and refused to leave the city, saying that he was worried that Zhu Wen would kill him on the way. As soon as Liu Chongwang left Chang'an, he tactfully returned the same way.

Shi Pu then reported back to the court, saying that the soldiers of the Qianhua Army and the people loved me very much and would never let me go. It was hard to refuse their kindness and I really could not get away, so I hoped that Your Majesty would follow the will of the people.

Since the people support it so much, then...when the court issued an edict, Pu was retained in the Xuzhou Ganhua Army.

(End of this chapter)