History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 129: The First Warrior Li Cunxiao

The digression is over, let’s get back to the topic:

Starting from Wang Tingcou, five people in four generations (Tingcou, Yuankui, Shaoding, Shaoyi, Jingchong) were all military governors of Chengde Army. Wang Jingchong, the grandson of Princess Shouan, even enjoyed the title of king (Prince of Changshan).

Wang Jingchong was only 37 years old when he died, and his son Wang Rong was only 10 years old.

Although Wang Rong was still a 10-year-old kid, his family was very prestigious in the Chengde Army and had deep roots, which was comparable to Yuan Shao's "four generations of three officials" in the Three Kingdoms period. Including Wang Rong, his family had "five generations and six governors". He was the great-grandson of Princess Shou'an, had royal blood of the Li Tang Dynasty, and his father was a prince. Therefore, the three armies unanimously elected him as the heir to Chengde.

Facing the covetous Li Keyong, the little brat Wang Rong could only try to please him, "offering heavy bribes to win over the emperor in order to establish peace." He even took the initiative to provide Li Keyong with food and supplies when Li Keyong annexed Dongzhaoyi.

Real peace cannot be achieved by licking one's boots.

After the obstacles to advancing eastward were cleared, Li Keyong was finally ready to extend his claws into Hebei.

The teenage Wang Rong was no match for Li Keyong. He was defeated in battle after battle, lost cities and territories, and suffered heavy losses. So he asked for help from Li Kuangwei of Lulong behind him.

Li Kuangwei personally led 30,000 troops to provide assistance.

Li Keyong also found an ally - Wang Chucun, the governor of Dingzhou Yiwu Army.

The two were close comrades-in-arms. They had fought side by side against Huang Chao and recovered Chang'an. After Huang Chao was wiped out, the court rewarded them according to their merits: "Li Keyong was ranked first in recovering the city and defeating the bandits; Chu Cun was ranked first in serving the king and advocating justice." At the same time, the two also married their children to each other.

The allied forces of Li Keyong and Wang Chucun launched a major battle with the allied forces of Wang Rong and Li Kuangwei. As a result, Li Keyong, who was fighting away from home, was defeated and temporarily retreated to Luancheng for rest.

The imperial court ordered the four towns of Hedong, Chengde, Lulong and Yiwu to stop fighting and reconcile.

Li Keyong had just suffered a defeat, so he took advantage of the situation and did a favor. He gladly obeyed the imperial edict and led his army back to Taiyuan Prefecture.

Helian Duo, who had defected to Li Kuangwei, wanted to take the opportunity to retake Yunzhou, so he and Li Kuangwei dispatched an army of 80,000 to counterattack Yunzhou. Unexpectedly, Li Keyong got wind of the news in advance and set up an ambush in advance. Li Kuangwei and Helian Duo's counterattack suffered a disastrous defeat.

At this time, Li Keyong received a bolt from the blue: Li Cunxiao rebelled.

[The First Fierce General Li Cunxiao]

Li Cunxiao, one of Li Keyong's adopted sons, was originally named An Jingsi. He was a member of the Sogdian tribe in Central Asia, and was of the same clan as An Lushan. He was good at riding and shooting, had outstanding martial arts, and was extremely brave. His usual weapons were lances, clubs, and bows and arrows.

The lance is a heavy weapon with complicated manufacturing process and high price. Those who can use the lance are generally generals from military families. The mace is more commonly known as the wolf tooth club. Both of them are famous heavy weapons that can only be used by people with extraordinary physical strength.

When Li Cunxiao charged into battle, he used two war horses to follow him at the same time. When one horse was tired, he would switch horses and continue fighting. He could rest the horses but not the men, and he could move quickly up and down the battlefield.

Li Cunxiao made great contributions in the suppression of Huang Chao, the rescue of Chenzhou, the "Shangyuanyi Incident", and the crushing of Zhang Jun's encirclement and suppression of Hedong...

Especially in the battle to crush Zhang Jun's encirclement and suppression of Hedong, Li Cunxiao rushed to Zezhou to help. At that time, the Bian army persuaded the defenders to surrender, saying that Li Keyong was doomed and the Shatuo would soon not be able to find the caves to hide in. After hearing this, Li Cunxiao immediately led 500 cavalrymen and went straight to the Bian army camp, "I, the Shatuo, are looking for caves. I will wait for your meat army, and you can order the fat ones to fight!" After a provocation and scolding, the fierce general of the Bian army, Deng Jiyun, went out to fight, and was captured alive by Li Cunxiao in the blink of an eye. He repelled the Bian army in one breath, and then assisted in the defense of Luzhou, captured Sun Kui alive, and defeated the central army group of the court.

Some people compare Li Cunxiao to Lu Bu from the Three Kingdoms period. In fact, Lu Bu is much inferior to Li Cunxiao.

Luo Guanzhong, the author of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", also has another work, "Romance of the Late Tang and Five Dynasties". In this book, Li Cunxiao is regarded as "the most powerful general in the late Tang Dynasty" and is as famous as Li Yuanba in "The Romance of the Tang Dynasty".

There is also a saying among the people, "No king is better than Xiang, and no general is better than Li", which compares Li Cunxiao with Xiang Yu, the King of Western Chu.

Because he was the thirteenth among Li Keyong's sons, he was also honored by the people as "the Thirteenth Guardian". People at that time compared him to Zhang Liao and Gan Ning during the Three Kingdoms period.

In short, for a long period of history, Li Cunxiao had a wider mass base than Lu Bu. Lu Bu became a household name only by taking advantage of the popularity of "Three Kingdoms".

When Li Cunxiao captured Sun Kui alive and defeated the Central Army Group that was besieging Hedong, he was the most meritorious and should have been appointed as the governor of Zhaoyi Army according to convention. However, Li Keyong appointed General Kang Junli as the governor of Zhaoyi Army, which made Li Cunxiao so angry that he refused to eat for several days.

From then on, Li Cunxiao felt resentful and thought that his godfather was unfair in rewarding and punishing him. But Li Cunxiao was very simple and did not have the idea of ​​treason. He just wanted to continue to show himself, make great contributions for his godfather, and then lead a town.

Therefore, he actively coordinated military operations against the Chengde Army in Hebei in order to continue to make meritorious contributions.

Li Cunxiao was stationed in Xingzhou, Dongzhaoyi at the time, and his neighbor was Chengde Army to the north. He thus became the vanguard of this military operation. After obtaining Li Keyong's approval, he advanced rapidly all the way, heading straight for Chengde Army headquarters - Zhenzhou.

The enemies are the same as the same people. Only the hatred between the same people is naked. Li Cunxin, another adopted son of Li Keyong, has always been jealous of Li Cunxiao and always competed with him for credit and favor.

Li Cunxin and Li Cunxiao are like replicas of Zhu Zhen and Li Tangbin under Zhu Wen.

In terms of strength, Li Cunxin was slightly inferior, but he was favored by Li Keyong. It may be that parents and teachers are naturally partial to the weaker party, but more importantly, Li Cunxiao's emotional intelligence is inferior to Li Cunxin.

Li Cunxiao is a bit like a man with strong limbs but a simple mind. He is invincible on the battlefield, but a loner in the workplace. He has no "followers" of his own and is not popular.

In comparison, although Li Cunxin was not as brave as Li Cunxiao, he was much smarter and more scheming than Li Cunxiao. Li Cunxin was both civil and military, and "speaking the four barbarian languages ​​and the six foreign languages", making him a rare foreign language talent. Unlike Li Cunxiao's maverick, Li Cunxin was better at organizing a team.

Kang Junli, one of Li Keyong's "first heroes of the revolution", was Li Cunxin's best friend. The two of them sang the same tune, praised and teased each other, and often gave Li Keyong a lot of drugs, so Li Keyong gave the Zhaoyi Jiedu to Kang Junli.

On the battlefield, a lone hero may still have a chance of survival and be able to create miracles, but in the treacherous political arena, fighting alone is always a dead end.

History is always strikingly similar.

Just like how Zhu Wen treated Zhu Zhen and Li Tangbin, Li Keyong knew that Cunxiao and Cunxin were jealous of each other, but he still wanted the two of them to lead troops together and fight side by side in order to check and monitor each other.

Thanks to old friends "纯正lsp" and "书友151023051918540" for their recommendation support!
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(End of this chapter)