History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 136 Joint Pig Killing

At that time, Sun Ru was unstoppable and his army was at its peak. Under the planning of his strategist Yuan Xi, Yang Xingmi gave up Yangzhou after two symbolic gestures and turned to attack Xuanzhou to save himself. Cai Chou, the defender of Luzhou, was shaken and believed that Yang Xingmi was no match for Sun Ru, so he changed his mind and immediately offered the city to Sun Ru and surrendered the whole state.

Unexpectedly, Sun Ru was eliminated by Yang Xingmi. Cai Chou of Luzhou smelled the breath of doomsday. He racked his brains and finally came up with a "clever plan" to save himself.

First, he dug up Yang Xingmi's ancestral grave to show that he and Yang Xingmi were irreconcilable.

Then, he sent envoys with official seals to Bianzhou to surrender the city to Zhu Wen. He also played a little trick and brought along Ni Zhang, the governor of Shuzhou, to strengthen his momentum.

Cai Chou was indeed a little clever. He knew that controlling the Huainan region was what Zhu Wen had always dreamed of. Now that Yang Xingmi had just defeated Sun Ru, his strength had not yet recovered, and his control over the Huainan region was quite weak, it was a great opportunity for Zhu Wen to extend his tentacles into Huainan. If he offered Luzhou to Zhu Wen at this time, Zhu Wen would certainly accept it with pleasure. The next step, of course, was to send troops to station in Luzhou, and the reward for Cai Chou would certainly be very generous.

People who like to be clever will suffer a great loss sooner or later.

Cai Chou offered his loyalty by digging up his ancestors' graves. He could offer this loyalty to anyone except Zhu Wen. When Zhu Wen attacked Shi Pu, Shi Pu sent people to Dangshan to dig up Zhu Wen's ancestors' graves. When Zhu Wen attacked the two Zhus in Yan and Yun, Zhu Jin sent people to Shan County to dig up the ancestors' graves of Zhu Wen's mother...

Zhu Wen certainly wanted to take Huainan, but now the eastern front was tight and he could not compete with Yang Xingmi in Huainan. The stability of the situation in Huainan was Zhu Wen's most urgent demand.

Cai Chou miscalculated and hit the wrong beat.

Zhu Wen kept Cai Chou's official seal and accepted Luzhou's surrender, but refused to send any soldiers into the city to assist in the defense. He also notified Yang Xingmi and reported Cai Chou.

Yang Xingmi sent Li Shenfu to lead an army to attack Cai Chou in Luzhou and express gratitude to Zhu Wen. Zhu Wen did not make any substantial contribution, but he gained the favor of the Huainan authorities and temporarily stabilized the southern border.

Li Shenfu surrounded Luzhou as the advance army. Yang Xingmi then personally led a large force to meet with Tian Yu of Xuanzhou outside the city of Luzhou and launched a fierce offensive against Luzhou.

Zhang Hao, a general under Cai Chou, climbed over the wall and surrendered to Yang Xingmi.

Zhang Hao was born into a clan of "Cai thieves". He initially served under Qin Zongquan and was later assigned to Sun Ru's army. After Sun Ru's death, he surrendered to Yang Xingmi. Yang Xingmi treated Sun Ru's surrendered general with great kindness and stationed him in Luzhou. When Cai Chou betrayed him, he pledged allegiance to Cai Chou. Now that Yang Xingmi was attacking Luzhou fiercely, he climbed over the wall and joined Yang Xingmi again.

Yang Xingmi put aside his past grudges and assigned Zhang Hao to the "Silver Spear Capital" under Yuan Zhen. Yuan Zhen secretly informed Yang Xingmi that Zhang Hao was erratic and it would be best to kill him to eliminate future troubles.

Yang Xingmi was worried that Yuan Zhen would not be able to tolerate Zhang Hao, so he placed Zhang Hao among his own guards.

From then on, Zhang Hao became a very important figure in Yang Xingmi's group, and later became one of Yang Xingmi's trusted ministers. However, his name in history is not just about being the one entrusted with the care of Yang Xingmi, as will be detailed later.

Three months later, Luzhou was conquered and Yang Xingmi killed Cai Chou. His generals all advised Yang Xingmi to treat Cai Chou in his own way and suggested digging up Cai Chou's ancestral grave to avenge his hatred.

Yang Xingmi shook his head and said that it was because of this that Cai Chou was condemned and cursed by people all over the world. How could I learn from him?
After taking Yangzhou and pacifying Luzhou, Yang Xingmi did not stop his steps to unify Huainan and sent Tian Yu to attack Shezhou, which surrendered conditionally.

Ni Zhang, the governor of Shuzhou, who was deceived by Cai Chou, abandoned the city and fled for fear of punishment. Yang Xingmi then sent Li Shenfu to be the governor of Shuzhou.

Huangzhou, which was under the jurisdiction of the Wuchang Army, also surrendered to Yang Xingmi.

Since Yang Xingmi killed Sun Ru and took control of Yangzhou, his reputation was greatly enhanced, and Shezhou, Shuzhou, Huangzhou and other places surrendered one after another. Among the many cities that surrendered was Sizhou.

This connects to the two important foreshadowings in the previous article:
1. The envoys sent by Zhu Wen to Sizhou were arrogant and insulted the governor of Sizhou, Zhang Jian. Zhang Jian was furious and surrendered the city to Yang Xingmi.
2. In response, Zhu Wen arrested Tang Linghui, a Huainan official who was selling tea in his jurisdiction, and confiscated more than kilograms of tea from him.

The relationship between Bianzhou and Yangzhou reached a freezing point.

【Joint Pig Killing】

Yang Xingmi was broad-minded, knew how to appoint people, and cherished the people's strength. He was widely praised in the Huainan area, supported by generals and scholars. In the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, Yang Xingmi could be regarded as one of the few warlords worthy of praise in the feudal circle. It was under his leadership that the Huainan area gradually recovered from the devastation of war.

Yang Xingmi also quickly got rid of the predicament and became the emerging overlord in the Jianghuai area.

In the first month of the second year of the Qianning reign of the Tang Dynasty (895), Yang Xingmi submitted a memorial to the court, listing all the evil deeds of Zhu Wen and requesting the central government to issue an imperial decree to unite the Huainan, Ningguo, Yiwu, Taining, Tianping, Hedong and other towns to attack Zhu Wen. Yang Xingmi was very wise and the "allies" he recruited were Zhu Wen's mortal enemies, such as the two Zhus of Yan and Yun and Li Keyong of Hedong.

Without waiting for the court to respond, Yang Xingmi set an example by going up the Huai River to inspect the front line in Sizhou, and sent troops to capture Haozhou in one fell swoop, and then immediately surrounded Shouzhou.

After several attacks, Shouzhou remained unmoved. Yang Xingmi planned to retreat first and wait for the response from Li Keyong of Hedong and the two Zhus of Yanyun, so as to form a pincer attack on Zhu Wen from the north and south.

Zhu Yanshou, a fierce general of Yang Xingmi and also his brother-in-law, stepped out of the line and said that they would make a final charge, but if they retreated now, all their previous efforts would be wasted. He was willing to sign a military order and make a final charge. If that failed, they could retreat later.

Yang Xingmi's brother-in-law was a famous general in Huainan area and had made great military achievements. Yang Xingmi approved his request.

Zhu Yanshou lived up to everyone's expectations and successfully captured Shouzhou City with a wave of attacks. Yang Xingmi ordered Zhu Yanshou to guard Shouzhou and wait for Zhu Wen's counterattack.

Soon, Zhu Wen's tens of thousands of reinforcements arrived in Shouzhou. At this time, Yang Xingmi had already led the main force to leave, and Zhu Yanshou had only a few thousand people to defend the city. The disparity between the enemy and us was too great, and the army and people of Shouzhou were in panic.

Zhu Yanshou threw his hat to the ground and said, "Damn it, aren't there just tens of thousands of people? Why should I be afraid of him!" He immediately ordered the cavalry to be regrouped, with each group of 25 people holding a flag. He ordered the elite "Heiyundu" captain Li Hou (a surrendered general of Sun Ru) to lead ten groups to launch a charge towards the Bianzhou Xuanwu Army outside the city.

One group has 25 people, ten groups have 250 people. 250 cavalrymen charged tens of thousands of troops.

After several rounds of fighting, there was no progress. Zhu Yanshou was furious, "Useless! 250 people, can't even kill tens of thousands of people, what do I need you for? Come on, drag me out - chop me up!"

Li Hou shouted, "Anyone who is afraid of death is not a real man! If I have to die, I'd rather die on the battlefield. Do you dare to give me a few more men and another chance to charge? If I fail again this time, you can kill me or chop me up, it's up to you!"

The general Chai Zaiyong also pleaded for Li Hou, "Please use him again."

So Zhu Yanshou sent five more groups of cavalry, "125 people, is that enough?"

Li Hou threw himself into the battlefield and fought desperately. Chai Zaiyong responded from the flank, and Zhu Yanshou also led all his troops to charge together.

Zhu Yanshou and his team perfectly demonstrated the saying "When two meet on a narrow road, the bravest wins." The generals are determined to die, and the soldiers have no desire to live.

In the end, Zhu Yanshou defeated the larger army with a smaller one, and the Bian army was defeated and fled.

Yang Xingmi led the main force to capture Lianshui (now Lianshui County, Jiangsu Province).

While Yang Xingmi of Huainan was advancing northwards and encroaching on Zhu Wen's territory, Li Keyong also annexed the Lulong Army of Youzhou and sent more than 10,000 cavalry to the battlefield of Yanyun to assist the two Zhus of Yanyun in fighting against Zhu Wen.

This is the node in the previous article. More than 10,000 cavalrymen moved south, Zhu Wen's troops retreated south, and the front line shrank.

The situation Zhu Wen faced was very grim. Li Keyong in the north and Yang Xingmi in the south formed a pincer attack on him. The two Zhus of Yan and Yun, who had been resisting stubbornly, saw hope in spring and began to organize a counterattack with the support of reinforcements from Hedong.

If Yang Xingmi's "joint pig-killing" plan was approved by the court, Zhu Wen would face the danger of being surrounded and attacked from all sides.

Coming out and mixing, sooner or later I have to pay it back.

A few years ago, Zhu Wen actively promoted the court's four-sided encirclement and suppression of Li Keyong in Hedong. Now, Yang Xingmi followed suit and wanted to unite with Zhu Wen's enemies to launch a "Bianzhou encirclement and suppression".

Faced with this potential threat, Zhu Wen had to make major strategic adjustments, switching from offense to defense and shrinking the front line.

However, this major crisis was nothing but thunder without rain, and the dark clouds gradually dissipated in a strange atmosphere.

Thanks to my old friend "最爱一笑" for the recommendation support, thanks to "长丽小" for the reward support, and thanks to "商剑修" for the continued encouragement!



(End of this chapter)