History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 158: One Pie, Two Pieces of Shit
[The people of Huainan are Mi and Jin]

Yang Xingmi was currently facing two powerful enemies: Zhu Wen in the north and Qian Liu in the south. Fighting on two fronts was obviously not a wise move, so Yang Xingmi needed to choose between the two as the next strategic main target.

Judging from the comprehensive strength of the two, Zhu Wen was obviously stronger than Qian Liu. However, Yang Xingmi still resolutely pointed his spearhead at Zhu Wen. Avoiding the weak and going for the strong fully demonstrated Yang Xingmi's great talent and strategy.

First, there are geopolitical considerations.

Qian Liu, with his back to the sea, lived in peace in a corner; Zhu Wen, not only faced a powerful enemy in the north (Li Keyong), but also had many fence-sitters in the intertwined relationship with the forces in Huainan.

Even if they won the battle, defeating Zhu Wen would bring many additional political benefits. For example, after the "Battle of Qingkou", Xiangzhou and Caizhou all turned to Huainan.

Secondly, Qian Liu has always been active in the Liangzhe area since his debut. Now that he has unified the Liangzhe area, he can be said to be deeply rooted, supported by the military and civilians, and has an extremely solid mass base that is difficult to shake. Zhu Wen's base is in Henan, and the eastern lands such as Xuzhou were just annexed in recent years. His mass base is relatively weak and easy to capture.

Furthermore, Zhu Jin, a powerful general newly recruited by Yang Xingmi, harbored a deep hatred for Zhu Wen and had a strong desire for war. Zhu Jin had been in charge of the Taining Army in Yanzhou for more than ten years and had a certain degree of influence and appeal in the southwest of Shandong. His mass base was even higher than Zhu Wen's.

Therefore, after comprehensive analysis, Yang Xingmi decided to make peace with Qian Liu and concentrate on dealing with Zhu Wen first. As for the main target, of course, it was Xuzhou, the eastern land newly annexed by Zhu Wen.

Yang Xingmi and Zhu Jin led tens of thousands of troops, crossed the Huai River to the north, and attacked Xuzhou directly.

Zhu Wen sent Zhang Guihou to lead his troops to rescue.

[The one who flew to Wei Bo, his cave was full of vitality]

Compared with Yang Xingmi, Liu Rengong of Youzhou cannot be called a man of great talent and strategy. Although he himself does not agree with my point of view, I can only reluctantly describe him as "ambitious".

The player who ends the super god is not necessarily a super god himself. However, Liu Rengong, who defeated Li Keyong, did not think so. The "Muguajian Victory" gave him inflated self-confidence, and the successful annexation of Cangzhou Yichang Army gave this self-confidence wings to take off. Liu Rengong has since made up his mind to unify the Heshuo region.

The reason why I say that Liu Rengong is not worthy of being called "a man of great talent and strategy" is precisely because he only knows how to work hard, knows himself but not the enemy, has no geopolitical perspective, does not have the ability to think about the overall situation, and treats massively multiplayer online games as stand-alone games.

The reason why he disagreed was that he did have a grand and clear strategic goal: to unify Heshuo. I need to advise him: Don't confuse concepts. Goals are not equal to processes, and they are even more different from results.

It is easy to set goals. The longer-term and more ambitious the goal is, the easier it is. The difficult part is building a framework for this goal.

If Liu Rengong could hear these words, he would not have died so miserably.

Liu Rengong chose Weizhou Weizhou Army as his first target of conquest, because Luo Hongxin, the governor of Weizhou, had just passed away and his son Luo Shaowei had taken over the position.

A young ruler ascended the throne, and the country was in doubt. The Wei Bo army was faced with the issue of the transfer of supreme power. There might even be a political purge where the emperor changed his ministers every day.

Liu Rengong chose this opportunity to take advantage of the mourning period and launched a massive attack on the Wei Bo army.

His choice exposed his inhumanity and disrespect, and even more so his arrogance and stupidity. Since he doesn't understand geopolitics, let me give him some advice:
Among the towns in Hebei, there are currently Wang Gao (son of Wang Chucun) of Dingzhou Yiwu Army, Wang Rong of Zhenzhou Chengde Army, and Luo Shaowei of Weizhou Weibo Army.

Among them, Dingzhou Wang Gao and Li Keyong were related by marriage, and the Dingzhou Yiwu Army had long been the loyal younger brother and strategic ally of Li Keyong in Hedong;
Wang Rong of Zhenzhou was a typical fence-sitter. Young Wang Rong was not good at fighting, and for a long time he believed that spending money would eliminate disasters. He was fickle and never truly attached himself to any force.
Luo Shaowei of Weizhou also wavered between Li Keyong and Zhu Wen at first, but later killed Li Keyong's son and completely severed ties with Li Keyong and attached himself to Zhu Wen. Recently, he has fought with Li Keyong again. The political positions of the three vassal states are very typical and obvious: one stands with Li Keyong, one stands with Zhu Wen, and one is a peaceful and neutral good guy.

Liu Rengong had just broken away from the Hedong forces and fell out with Li Keyong, and joined forces with Zhu Wen to form a united front against Li Keyong.

Therefore, his wisest approach would be to attack the neutral Zhenzhou Chengde Army first.

The Chengde Army of Zhenzhou and the Lulong Army of Youzhou had a long and complicated history of grievances. The former Lulong Jiedu Li Kuangwei had rescued Wang Rong of Zhenzhou many times, but it was because of his generous support for Zhenzhou that he lost Youzhou and was seized by his brother Li Kuangchou in a mutiny. He was killed by Wang Rong. This was Li Kuangchou's excuse for invading Zhenzhou later, and it could also be an excuse for Liu Rengong to avenge his old master and seek justice for Li Kuangwei.

The expedition was launched with a legitimate reason and was not considered as sending troops on its own initiative.

He could also maneuver freely between the two major camps of Li Keyong and Zhu Wen.

Secondly, you can also use the Dingzhou Yiwu Army as a sacrifice flag first.

If Dingzhou was attacked, Li Keyong would definitely not sit idly by. Dingzhou was not only Li Keyong's relative, but also the only strategic ally of Hedong forces in Hebei Province. Similarly, Zhu Wen would not stand idly by, especially if Li Keyong went on an expedition to Youzhou. If Zhu Wen did not come to Hebei, he would use Dong and Xi Zhaoyi as a springboard, besiege Wei to save Zhao, and attack Hedong Taiyuan Prefecture directly to relieve the pressure on Youzhou.

Now, Li Keyong and Zhu Wen have already started a tug-of-war in East Zhaoyi and West Zhaoyi. If Liu Rengong opens up a second battlefield in Dingzhou at this moment, he will definitely get support from Zhu Wen. He can use Zhu Wen's power to annex Dingzhou.

Liu Rengong avoided all the correct options. Among the three vassal states, Wei Bo was the only one that could not be attacked, but Liu Rengong insisted on attacking Wei Bo.

Putting aside political stance, from a geographical point of view alone, Wei Bo had the greatest influence on Zhu Wen, which is also one of the reasons why the two had many interactions over the years.

Due to its special geographical location, the Wei Bo army has always been the focus of contention between Li Keyong and Zhu Wen. Later, Zhu Wen did not hesitate to marry both of his daughters to Luo Shaowei's sons, a double marriage, in order to win over Wei Bo; and the Hedong forces finally destroyed Zhu Wen's forces by first taking Wei Bo and then moving south from Wei Bo. Of course, this is all a story for later, but it is enough to prove that both Jin and Bian parties, especially Zhu Wen, attached great importance to the Wei Bo area.

Zhu Wen would never allow any third party to annex or control Weizhou, nor would he allow Weizhou to actually turn to the forces of Hedong. To this end, Zhu Wen did not hesitate to use military force twice to attack Weizhou to show his "power". He also became sworn brothers with Luo Hongxin of Weizhou, calling him "Sixth Brother" but treating him as an uncle, condescending to please Luo Hongxin to show his "favor". He used both kindness and power, and cleverly killed Li Keyong's son to completely distance Weizhou from the forces of Hedong.

Zhu Wen put in so much effort to control Wei Bo!
Now, you, Liu Rengong, want to move against Wei Bo. Will Zhu Wen agree?
“No—haha…”

I laugh at Kutou for being too crazy, and Kutou laughs at me for not seeing through it.

Liu Rengong posted an emoticon in the Hebei chat group: Don't get me wrong, I'm not targeting Wei Bo, I'm saying that everyone here is garbage.

What happened to Li Keyong? What happened to Zhu Wen? What happened to the various vassal states in Hebei? Even if you all come in a group, what can you do? I am Liu Rengong! What is the difference between "first" and "later"? Is it necessary? As the saying goes, a great country does not pursue political schemes, it just pushes forward.

When Liu Rengong wrote a letter to Li Keyong to apologize after his victory at the "Muguajian Victory", Li Keyong gave an accurate evaluation of Liu Rengong, which can be summarized as: Please start your performance!
So, while Yang Xingmi of Huainan was attacking Xuzhou in the north, Liu Rengong mobilized a total of 100,000 troops from Youzhou's Lulong Army and Cangzhou's Yichang Army, and announced to the outside world that he had an army of 300,000. He marched southward and entered Weizhou.

Thanks to my old friend “纯正lsp” for his 12 recommendation votes!

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(End of this chapter)