History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 147 January Two Towns

【One month, two towns】

Weibo, Weibo, and Weibo again.

It is not difficult to see from Zhu Wen's Eastern Expedition that the fighting power of Xuzhou Shi Pu and Yanyun Er Zhu is incomparable to Zhu Wen. In the years of fighting, Yanyun Er Zhu won the reputation of "starting with a turtle", and the soldiers under his command also adhered to the tradition of "falling to the ground and becoming a box".

The reason why the war lasted for several years was that Huainan and Hedong constrained Zhu Wen.

Among them, Li Keyong of Hedong always borrowed the road from Weizhou without exception. Luo Hongxin of Weizhou was conquered by Zhu Wen twice, and they formed an alliance and sworn brotherhood, but each time he opened the border to Li Keyong, Zhu Wen's rival.

Zhu Wen’s strategic goal was Yanyun, but what really gave him a headache was Weizhou, Hebei.

As luck would have it, Li Cunxin's military discipline was corrupt, and he committed all kinds of evil in Weizhou, burning, killing, looting, and committing all kinds of atrocities, which aroused strong dissatisfaction among the soldiers and civilians of Weizhou. Zhu Wen sensed an opportunity and sent envoys to alienate Weizhou and Hedong.

The envoy was ordered to popularize the idiom story of "Jia Dao Fa Guo" to Luo Hongxin, starting from the simple to the profound, using the ancient to satirize the present, "The day when (Hedong) returns the war, your noble way is worrying!"

Under the envoy's persuasion, Luo Hongxin missed Zhu Wen's generosity. At that time, he had betrayed Zhu Wen and offended him. Zhu Wen personally led a large army across the river to attack and conquer cities and territories. When Luo Hongxin expressed his repentance, Zhu Wen generously withdrew to Henan, returned the occupied Wei Bo land and prisoners of war, and did not take a single needle or thread from the people. Looking at the Hedong Army again, the difference between the two is obvious.

Moreover, Zhu Wen showed respect for Luo Hongxin in every way he treated people. Whenever the envoys from Weizhou visited Bianzhou, Zhu Wen would bow to Luo Hongxin's north in front of the envoys, then respectfully accept the gift from Luo Hongxin with both hands, and tell the envoys, "Sixth brother is a generation older than me, how can our relationship be like that of ordinary neighboring vassals?"

Luo Hongxin was fifteen or sixteen years older than Zhu Wen. The two had sworn brotherhood before, and Zhu Wen called him "Sixth Brother". In order to further please Luo Hongxin, Zhu Wen used age as an excuse, and although he called him brother, he treated him as an uncle.

After weighing the pros and cons, Luo Hongxin finally made up his mind to get close to Comrade Zhu Wen. So he sent 30,000 troops to raid Li Cunxin's camp at night and surrender to Zhu Wen.

Li Cunxin was caught off guard and lost 20 to 30 percent of his troops. At the same time, all his food, weapons and supplies fell into the hands of Wei Bo. Li Cunxin was forced to flee back to Hedong with his remaining troops.

The surprise attack on Li Cunxin marked the official break between the Wei Bo army and Li Keyong of Hedong. From then on, the Wei Bo army closed its jurisdiction to the Hedong army, and Shi Yan and Li Chengsi, who had previously gone to Yanyun to help, were trapped in Yanyun and could not return to Hedong until their death.

Zhu Wen could finally boldly deal with the two Zhus of Yan and Yun, so he marched again and surrounded Yunzhou.

When the news came that Li Cunxin had been attacked by Wei Bo, Li Keyong was furious and led a large army to attack the Wei Bo army, killing more than 10,000 Wei Bo soldiers. He then rushed to Weizhou, the headquarters of Wei Bo. All six prefectures in Wei Bo were looted and attacked by the Hedong army, and the people suffered terribly.

In that year, the Yellow River flooded, and Huazhou, which Zhu Wen governed, was in danger of being destroyed by the flood. Zhu Wen ordered the levee to be breached upstream, so that the Yellow River split into two, sandwiching Huazhou City in the middle. In this way, the flood in Henan was alleviated, and the flood from the north entered Weizhou.

Luo Hongxin of Wei Bo was forced into Weizhou City by Li Keyong. The soldiers suffered from floods and the situation was worrying. They repeatedly asked Zhu Wen for help.

Zhu Wen transferred Ge Congzhou back from Yunzhou to support Wei Bo, and left the "powerful takeover man" - Deputy General Pang Shigu to continue attacking Yunzhou.

Ge Congzhou rushed to the rescue and encountered Li Keyong head-on.

Ge Congzhou's wisdom and courage were fully demonstrated during this period. He knew very well that the reason why the Hedong Army was invincible was nothing more than relying on the dreaded Shatuo cavalry.

Therefore, Ge Congzhou dug many earth pits in front of the formation and used infantry as the vanguard to lure the enemy.

Li Keyong laughed when he saw their formation, and led his cavalry to charge without any doubt. His son Luoluo led the charge.

There is a lack of historical data on this son of Li Keyong. It is only mentioned as "Luoluo" but his Chinese name is unknown. I personally guess that "Luoluo" should be his foreign name, because most of Li Keyong's sons and nephews were named "Cun", and some adopted sons were named "Si", such as Li Cunxu, Li Cunxiao, Li Siyuan, and Li Sizhao. Some historical books simply write "Li Luoluo", which is inconsistent with the other sons.

There are few records about Luo Luo. The only relevant record is about this battle, and it is only a few words. According to the historical view of this book, there is no need to delve into it. Just know that he was Li Keyong's beloved son, nephew, or general.

Luo Luo rushed to the front of the battle formation, stepped on an earthen embankment, lost his horse's footing, and was thrown off. The Bian soldiers immediately stepped forward and captured him alive.

Li Keyong saw this and rushed forward to rescue them, but he was also trapped when he got close. Bian soldiers swarmed over, and Li Keyong took out his bow and shot the leading Bian general to death. The Bian army retreated slightly, and the attendants on his left and right were able to rescue Li Keyong.

Li Keyong called back his troops and sent a letter to Zhu Wen, expressing his willingness to stop fighting and asking Zhu Wen to show mercy and offer some conditions to redeem Luo Luo.

Zhu Wen smiled coldly, then handed Luo Luo to Luo Hongxin, "Sixth brother, you can do whatever you want."

Luo Hongxin beheaded Luo Luo as the biggest token of his allegiance.

This is all that is recorded in historical documents about Comrade Luo Luo: he rushed over, fell down, was caught, was sent away, and was killed. There is not a single superfluous description.

Due to Zhu Wen's interference, Li Keyong was unable to annex Wei Bo, so he gave up in frustration and led his troops back to Hedong.

Ge Congzhou then led his army across the Yellow River to the south, returned to the battlefield of Yanyun, and continued his offensive against Yunzhou.

The situation of the two Zhus in Yan and Yun was critical, and they repeatedly asked for help from Hedong. Li Keyong sent reinforcements many times, but was unable to do so because Wei Bo refused to open the border.

During this period, Li Keyong and Zhu Wen had several military conflicts in Wei Bo, with both sides winning and losing. However, Li Keyong was never able to cross Wei Bo and could only watch the two Zhus of Yan and Yun gradually disappear.

In the first month of the fourth year of the Qianning reign of the Tang Dynasty (897), Pang Shigu and Ge Congzhou joined forces and launched a new round of fierce offensive against Yunzhou. The city of Yunzhou was cut off from food and morale was low, so they could only dig deeper trenches and widen the moat.

Pang Shigu set up camp outside the city, laying a bridge and dredging the ditch. Five days later, the bridge was completed and they crossed the bridge at night to prepare for the attack.

After Zhu Xuan got the news, he immediately abandoned the city and fled southeast to Yanzhou. Ge Congzhou led the elite cavalry in hot pursuit.

Zhu Xuan and his wife Rong fled to Zhongdu (now Wenshang County, Shandong Province). They were so panicked that they hid in a farmer's pigpen. The farmer mistook them for pig thieves, so they called the neighbors to beat them with sticks. Zhu Xuan had no choice but to reveal his identity, so he was tied up by the farmers and handed over to Ge Congzhou.

Pang Shigu and Ge Congzhou launched a surprise attack at night, and it was still dark when they captured Zhu Xuan.

Zhu Wen ordered his troops to attack Yanzhou without stopping! Racing against time. Yunzhou and Yanzhou are about 80 kilometers apart, very close. Speed ​​is of the essence, and the blitzkrieg on Yanzhou must be completed before Yanzhou learns of the fall of Yunzhou.

Ge Congzhou acted as the vanguard and rushed to the city of Yanzhou. The next morning, Zhu Wen led the main force to the city and surrounded the confused Yanzhou. It was not until the city heard the surrender that the defenders learned the news of the fall of Yunzhou, and the army was terrified.

Because Yanzhou City was almost an empty city at that time, Zhu Jin and the Hedong reinforcements Shi Yan, Li Chengsi and others went to Fengxian and Peixian 200 miles away to look for food because of the shortage of food in the city. Only Zhu Jin's second son Zhu Yongzhen and general Kang Huaizhen were left to guard the city.

Upon hearing the news that Yunzhou had fallen and Zhu Xuan had been captured, the defenders in Yanzhou City were terrified and dared not act rashly. They could only close the city gates, defend the city, and wait for Zhu Jin to lead his troops to the rescue.

Upon hearing the news, Zhu Jin hurried back to rescue. However, the Bian army outside Yanzhou City was surrounded and attacked, waiting for the enemy to tire. Zhu Jin failed to succeed in his several attacks, and thought it was hopeless to save Yanzhou, so he led the remaining troops to flee to the southeast.

Zhu Jin's escape from the battlefield made Yanzhou City completely desperate. General Kang Huaizhen called all the generals to discuss and obtained Zhu Yongzhen's consent (if he disagreed, he would be killed), and they unanimously decided to open the city and surrender.

The city of Yanzhou declared surrender, and the Bian army sang a triumphant song and entered the city to take over.

From the start of the rebellion in the first month to the third day of the second month, in just one month, Zhu Wen swiftly annexed the two towns of Tianping Army in Yunzhou and Taining Army in Yanzhou, greatly increasing his power.

The two towns were located in the western part of today's Shandong Province, and were the gateway to and from the Shandong Peninsula. There was also a Qingzhou Pinglu Army in the peninsula. On the day the two towns fell, the Qingzhou Pinglu Army surrendered to Zhu Wen under military threats. The entire Shandong province became Zhu Wen's sphere of influence.

At this point, Zhu Wen's main mission had achieved a phased victory, and the strategic goal of "looking eastward" was basically achieved, and he could see the sea directly in the east. Zhu Wen's sphere of influence extended to the Yellow River in the north, the Huai River in the south, the sea in the east, and the Luoyang area in the west, making him the undisputed strongest vassal in the Central Plains.

After Zhu Wen entered Yanzhou City, he saw that Zhu Jin's wife was beautiful and wanted to take her as his concubine. However, Zhu Xuan's wife, Rong, was old and ugly, so he beheaded Zhu Xuan and his wife.

Zhu Wen returned to Bianzhou with Zhu Jin's wife. His wife Zhang Hui went out of the city to greet them. Suddenly, she saw a strange and beautiful woman among Zhu Wen's attendants, so she asked her why.

"This..." Zhu Wen scratched his head, feeling uneasy. "That...she, hey - Zhu Jin's wife, didn't Zhu Jin leave her and run away? She was helpless, I felt so sorry for her...so I took a ride and brought her back (since she was helpless, she lived in a baggage cart)..."

Zhu Jin's wife bowed to her elder sister Zhang Hui, knelt on the ground and kowtowed, crying like a pear blossom in the rain.

Zhang Hui also burst into tears. She knelt down and kowtowed in return. Then she took her hand and cried, "Yunzhou, Yanzhou and Bianzhou all have the surname Zhu. We are from the same clan and have sworn to each other. However, because of a small matter, we had a small conflict and a small misunderstanding, and we went to war. As a result, my sister was humiliated today. Alas, if it was Bianzhou that was defeated, I would inevitably end up like my sister today!"

At this point, the two sisters hugged each other and cried bitterly.

Zhu Wen stood aside, feeling very embarrassed.

After the two beauties cried for a long time, Zhang Hui decided to send Zhu Jin's wife to a temple to become a nun. Zhu Wen was notoriously afraid of his wife, so he had to agree.

This matter has a happy ending.

[Portrait of Li Keyong]

The capture of two towns in one month also caught Hedong off guard. At that time, Li Cunxin was leading his troops to attack Wei Bo. After hearing the news, he had no choice but to lead his troops back to Hedong.

Zhu Jin, Shi Yan, Li Chengsi and others fled to the southeast, crossed the Huai River in one breath, and joined Yang Xingmi.

After Yang Xingmi heard about it, he went to Gaoyou in person to greet Zhu Jin and expressed his warm welcome.

Previously, Huainan soldiers were only good at water battles, but not at horseback archery. Now, the large number of Hedong, Tianping, and Taining field armies have been added, instantly filling the gap of the Huainan army and enhancing Yang Xingmi's strength. Zhu Jin, in particular, is a rare general with excellent horsemanship and a large spear, ranking first in the Huainan army.

In the future, there will be many stories about Zhu Jin under Yang Xingmi. If you look through the ancient books, you will find that Zhu Jin's life had just begun after arriving in Huainan.

Li Keyong of Hedong sent someone to deliver a letter to Yang Xingmi via a back road, saying that he hoped to bring back his beloved generals Shi Yan and Li Chengsi.

Yang Xingmi readily agreed and sent envoys to visit Hedong, hoping to take this opportunity to build closer relations with Li Keyong of Hedong and lay the groundwork for a future North-South pincer attack on Zhu Wen. It is worth mentioning that Yang Xingmi only agreed verbally, and was actually reluctant to let the two generals return to Hedong. Instead, he tried every means to win them over, so that the two were willing to stay in Huainan.

During this visit to Hedong, Yang Xingmi also brought some private goods. He had heard of the reputation of Li Keyong in Hedong for a long time, but he regretted that he had no chance to meet him. Taking this opportunity, Yang Xingmi planted a skilled painter in the delegation and gave him a secret mission: secretly photographing Li Keyong. He asked him to secretly observe Li Keyong and draw a picture of his shadow.

There is nothing wrong with Yang Xingmi admiring Li Keyong's reputation and wanting to see his beauty. However, Li Keyong had a congenital defect in his appearance: one eye was big and the other was small, so he was given the insulting nickname "One-eyed Dragon". Therefore, he was particularly sensitive about his appearance.

Upon learning that Yang Xingmi wanted to secretly take a photo of him, Li Keyong was furious and said to those around him, "Call the painter and let him paint! I want to see what he dares to paint me like."

The painter was summoned in, but saw Li Keyong sitting on his knees with a furious look on his face. "Yang Xingmi sent you here, so you must be a famous painter in Huainan. If your painting today does not satisfy me, this will be your burial place!"

The painter first knelt down and bowed to Li Keyong, then picked up the paintbrush and began to paint calmly.

In that era without beauty filters, artists could only manually Photoshop. For example, if they painted Li Keyong to look like the Emperor Qin and Emperor Wu of Han, Li Keyong would think it was a great insult to himself. If they recorded the picture as it was, Li Keyong would be furious. Whether they retouch the picture or not, they would both end up dead. Painting a portrait of Li Keyong was a life-or-death task.

As Li Keyong was bored as a model, he picked up a fan and played with it. The painter suddenly had an idea and drew a quick shot of Li Keyong fanning himself, with the fan just covering his disabled eye.

After reading it, Li Keyong was very angry. "You are just trying to be clever? I am wearing a military uniform and holding a sword, but you made me look like a woman holding a pipa and half covering her face? It's so effeminate, how can it be! Redraw it for me!"

The painter wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and temples and started painting another picture.

In this painting, Li Keyong looks heroic, with his bow drawn and arrow drawn, one eye open and the other closed, aiming intently.

After Li Keyong saw it, he laughed out loud, and ordered a generous reward for the painter, and sent him out of the country with courtesy. This painting became Li Keyong's standard portrait.

Thanks to my old friend "纯正lsp" for his generous 12 recommendation votes
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(End of this chapter)