History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 154 Qingkou Battle 1
【Battle of Qingkou】

Compared with Li Keyong's loneliness and frustration, Zhu Wen can be said to be in high spirits. He played his strengths in maneuvering and used the external war to relieve the internal pressure. He also got the opportunity given by Dong Chang's usurpation. With almost no external interference, he completed the main task of "Looking East" and annexed the Taining Army of Yanzhou and the Tianping Army of Yunzhou in one fell swoop. Wang Shifan, the governor of the Pinglu Army of Qingzhou, who was entrenched in the Shandong Peninsula, also expressed his allegiance to Zhu Wen.

Therefore, Zhu Wen "looked eastward" and saw the sea. The areas north of the Huai River and south of the Yellow River were all under Zhu Wen's control. Zhu Wen became the undisputed most powerful vassal in the Central Plains.

Many small vassal states in present-day Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Anhui, Jiangxi and other places all attached themselves to Zhu Wen. At a glance, half of the Central Plains belonged to Zhu Wen's sphere of influence.

Of course, these small vassals who were clinging to Zhu Wen also had their own calculations. The so-called paying tribute and relying on Zhu Wen was just to take advantage of the power of the big tree, to enjoy the shade, and to rely on the power of the big tree. For example, Du Hong, the governor of Wuchang Army in Ezhou, took advantage of Zhu Wen's courage to intercept the tribute sent by the Jiangnan region to the court.

Most of them are typical fence-sitters, and are helplessly caught between Qi and Chu. On one side is Zhu Wen, and on the other side is Li Keyong or Yang Xingmi. When their own strength is not enough to stand out, they can only be forced to "choose sides" and then change sides at any time according to the outcome of the fight between the big guys.

The stories between them are not very interesting. Their vacillating and capricious stories do not need to be listed one by one without affecting the main narrative structure of the following text. The following text will add these "marginal heroes" according to the needs of the plot development. In short, when Zhu Wen went south to fight against Yang Xingmi and north to fight against Li Keyong in the following text, these two-faced people frequently changed their ways.

There were also a few small vassal states who truly served Zhu Wen, such as Zhao Dun of Chenzhou and Zhang Quanyi of Heyang. They could be regarded as the direct descendants of Zhu Wen, and the recently joined Luo Hongxin of Wei Bo was also a younger brother who followed Zhu Wen wholeheartedly.

In addition to being filial to my elder brother on a daily basis, I also occasionally cause trouble for him.

Du Hong, the commander of the Wuchang Army in Ezhou, openly robbed the emperor's power with the support of Zhu Wen, which angered the court. Emperor Zhaozong issued an edict to appoint Yang Xingmi as the commander-in-chief of Jiangnan (commander-in-chief of all the camps in Jiangnan) to attack Du Hong.

The younger brother made a mess, and the older brother had to clean up the mess. Zhu Wen ordered his adopted son Zhu Yougong, who was "doing things on his own" in Huainan, to rush to provide reinforcements.

Zhu Yougong won a great victory at the start, defeated the Huainan army, captured Huainan general Qu Zhang alive, captured more than 3,000 Huai soldiers, seized more than 500 war horses, and recovered Huangzhou and Ezhou which had been captured by Huainan in advance.

Zhu Wen was delighted to receive the letter announcing victory.

At the same time, Yang Xingmi also suffered a series of setbacks on the Jianghuai battlefield. Due to Dong Chang's defeat, Qian Liu was able to concentrate all his forces to fight against Yang Xingmi, causing Yang Xingmi to lose all the results he had previously achieved by taking advantage of the situation.

General Gu Quanwu, who proposed to destroy Dong Chang first and then take Suzhou, fulfilled his prediction. In less than a month, Gu Quanwu recovered Suzhou, Songjiang, Wuxi and Changshu. Yang Xingmi lost cities and territory, and suffered heavy casualties.

Yang Xingmi was attacked from all sides, Zhu Yougong began to show his prowess in Huainan, and Zhu Wen seemed to see hope of unifying Huainan.

Zhu Wen sent Pang Shigu to lead an army of 70,000 to station in Qingkou (the lower reaches of the Huai River, where the ancient Si River flows into the Huai River), and headed straight for Yangzhou; Ge Congzhou led tens of thousands of troops to station in Anfeng (the middle reaches of the Huai River) to contain Shouzhou; Zhu Wen personally led the main force and stationed in Suzhou, forming a pincer attack with Pang Shigu and Ge Congzhou, and responding to each other from afar.

Zhu Wen stood by the Huai River, looking like a tiger with a fierce look on his face!
In contrast, Yang Xingmi was at a clear disadvantage, with only 30,000 troops on the south bank of the Huai River to resist Pang Shigu's 70,000 troops. Yang Xingmi in Huainan was in a precarious situation.

At this time, Li Chengsi, a general from Hedong who had escaped from Yanzhou, offered a plan. He sent a small number of death squads to go behind the enemy lines, secretly drain the water upstream, and attack them with water. When the enemy collapsed, the main force would take advantage of the chaos to kill them. This strategy was not a brilliant one, because its success also required the cooperation of the opponent. Just like the burning of Red Cliff, Zhuge Liang not only needed the east wind, but also Cao Cao to connect the warships.

In the plan to flood Qingkou, Yang Xingmi needed Pang Shigu, who was on the other side, to station the Bian army in low-lying areas. Man proposes, God disposes.

Pang Shigu was Zhu Wen's subordinate in the Cao army. He was the most loyal of Zhu Wen's loyal subordinates. He was promoted for his military exploits and was a famous "receiver" in the Bian army. He successively succeeded Zhu Zhen and Zhu Youyu. He assisted Chen to defeat Cai, crossed the Huai River to attack Chuzhou, defeated Tianchang, and conquered Gaoyou. He was invincible in every battle. He conquered Xuzhou and beheaded Shi Pu as a tribute; he attacked Yunzhou and captured Zhu Xuan as a tribute; he attacked Yanzhou and pursued Zhu Jin... He had great military exploits. Zhu Wen recommended him as the governor of Xuzhou Wuning Army.

The reason why Pang Shigu was deeply trusted by Zhu Wen was not only because of his seniority, but also because he always obeyed Zhu Wen's orders and was an obedient child. He asked for instructions early, reported frequently, held high the "Quotations of Zhu Wen", and adhered to the "two whatevers": we firmly defended all decisions made by Zhu Wen; we unswervingly followed all instructions made by Zhu Wen.

Zhu Wen's ideas were always implemented. Pang Shigu's military command ability was not necessarily the strongest, but his political awareness was definitely the highest. Therefore, whenever the commander-in-chief at the front wavered in his will (such as Zhu Zhen and Zhu Youyu), Zhu Wen would always let Pang Shigu take over the commander-in-chief position to ensure the absolute control of the rear over the front-line troops.

Now, Pang Shigu was already a Jiedushi and the commander-in-chief of the Huaidong Front Army, but he still adhered to his usual style. Before leaving, he took the initiative to ask Zhu Wen for instructions and strictly followed Zhu Wen's instructions.

According to Zhu Wen's instructions, Pang Shigu stationed troops in Qingkou, where the terrain was low-lying and rugged, and there was only flat land 30 miles away. Someone suggested that he set up camp somewhere else, but he flatly refused.

He never doubted Zhu Wen's orders and always carried them out strictly, and he also hoped that his subordinates would have such execution ability.

Pang Shigu was a candidate for the post of Jiedushi, and was about to take on the leadership position of Jiedushi. A newly promoted leader urgently needed to establish his authority, and was most eager to see the respectful and admiring eyes of his subordinates. He was most afraid of his subordinates' doubts, and could not tolerate his subordinates challenging his authority.

Suggesting that I move my village is a sign of doubting my judgment, a sign of disapproval of me, and a challenge to my authority.

Pang Shigu was very angry, "This is a military order - from Zhu Wen." He still didn't have confidence in himself, so he had to bring out Zhu Wen to control the situation.

Maybe this is not the best choice to set up camp, but what does it matter?

He had previously had the experience of galloping across Huainan and being unrivaled, and now he was commanding an absolutely superior force. What else did he have to worry about?

If it was just jealousy because his leadership authority was questioned, it would not be enough to cause Pang Shigu to suffer disastrous defeat. It was his arrogance and underestimation of the enemy that led Pang Shigu into an abyss from which there was no escape.

Thanks to my old friend “纯正lsp” for his recommendation and support!
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(End of this chapter)