History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 18: The Destruction of Xu Ze
In the first month of the tenth year of Xiantong (869), just after the Spring Festival, the bandit army that invaded Haizhou (now Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province) was ambushed. The government troops tampered with the bridge that the bandit army had to cross, causing the bridge to collapse when the bandit army was crossing. The bandit army was completely wiped out. The bandit army that invaded Shouzhou was also defeated by the Huainan army and other troops, and thousands of them were captured and killed.

At the same time, Kang Chengxun led a large army to approach Liuzizhai and set up camps for thirty miles; Cao Xiang replaced Wang Yanquan as the commander of the northern route and sent troops to station in Teng County and Pei County; the Hebei vassal state sent troops to station in Feng County and Xiao County.

Xuzhou was semi-encircled from north to west, and the war entered the stage of strategic counterattack.

The battle line almost started from the sea in the east, went west along the border of Shandong and Jiangsu, turned into Henan, and bypassed Anhui... Pang Xun was unable to judge the main attack direction of the government army, so he could only deploy defenses everywhere. This made his troops stretched to the limit, resulting in an empty rear area, with only a few thousand people left guarding Xuzhou City.

Pang Xun realized that the situation was not good, so he captured able-bodied men in the territory and forced them to join the army. The people of Xuzhou played "underground warfare" and hid in holes underground. Pang Xun could only capture 20 to 30 people every day.

The Hebei Task Force launched the first attack, targeting Feng County, and Pang Xun sent another 3,000 troops to support it.

Meng Jingwen, the rebel commander in Feng County, was cunning and ferocious, and commanded a large number of troops. At this time, he had already harbored rebellious intentions and fabricated so-called prophecies (such as "the rise of the Great Chu, and Chen Sheng will be king") and various auspicious signs to create public opinion for breaking away from Pang Xun and establishing his own army.

After Pang Xun sent the 3,000 reinforcements, he learned of Meng Jingwen's evil intentions. It was too late to remedy the situation.

When the three thousand reinforcements arrived at Fengxian, Meng Jingwen warmly welcomed them, praised their bravery and invincibility, and agreed with them to defeat the Hebei vassal army together. The specific operation was as follows: the three thousand reinforcements acted as the vanguard, pretended to be defeated and returned, and Meng Jingwen then sent elite troops to ambush them.

The actual operation was this: 3,000 reinforcements were sent as the vanguard, pretending to be defeated and returning, while Meng Jingwen kept his troops in place, watching the fight from a mountaintop, killing people with borrowed knives, and enjoying the results. In the end, the 3,000 reinforcements were completely wiped out.

Pang Xun sent an envoy to deceive Meng Jingwen, saying that Wang Hongli had already conquered Huainan, and that he, Pang Xun, planned to go to Huainan personally to garrison it, so he would like to invite all the veterans to a meeting and nominate someone to take charge of the old nest in Xuzhou.

Meng Jingwen was extremely confident in himself and believed that he was the rightful ruler of Xuzhou. So he happily went to Xuzhou to attend the meeting.

A few miles outside Xuzhou city, ambushes suddenly appeared on the roadside, Meng Jingwen was captured alive, brought back to Xuzhou, and beheaded in public.

After eliminating the internal destabilizing elements, Pang Xun will now focus all his efforts on dealing with external threats.

Kang Chengxun sent the Shatuo leader Zhuye Chixin to lead 3,000 Shatuo cavalry as the vanguard. They won battles repeatedly and forced the bandit army to retreat step by step.

The Shatuo cavalry was extremely fierce and was the most elite cavalry in the late Tang Dynasty. Zhuye Chixin's troop was especially fierce, and the other ten garrison troops led by Kang Chengxun praised them highly and felt inferior to them.

The morale of the rebel army was greatly reduced.

Wang Hongli is definitely the most popular general in the Xu bandits today, and the top brother of the Xu bandits. He is so confident of his victory at Huaikou that he doesn't take Kang Chengxun seriously at all.

Wang Hongli volunteered to lead his 30,000 troops to defeat Kang Chengxun's 70,000 rabble. After getting Pang Xun's approval, Wang Hong, eager to make another great achievement, immediately crossed the Suishui River, arrived at the front line, and launched a night attack impatiently.

The battle lasted from late night to dawn, and Wang Hongli surrounded the officers and troops in Lutangzhai.

Wang Hongli led his generals to the high ground, pointed out the Jiangshan, wrote inspiring words, and admired Kang Chengxun's upcoming dumplings. This will become another capital for him to brag about in the future.

When the great work was about to be accomplished, a group of Shatuo cavalry suddenly appeared. The Shatuo cavalry charged left and right, as if they were in an empty space, and moved back and forth in the enemy's formation like flying. The situation of the battle immediately turned around. The enemy army was defeated.

The rebels were forced into the Sui River and countless of them drowned. The corpses stretched for more than 50 miles, and more than 20,000 heads were beheaded. All the weapons and supplies were seized by the government troops. The surviving rebels hid in the valleys, abandoned their weapons and armor, and never returned to the rebel camp. Wang Hongli fled the battlefield alone.

These bandit troops were basically peasants who were coerced, so Emperor Yizong of Tang issued an edict that all captured bandit soldiers in future battles would be released without guilt and without investigation. The peasants who had been living in the lies of the Pang Xun group finally heard the emperor's great grace. Word of mouth spread, and the court's tolerant policy was widely spread in the bandit-occupied areas. From then on, whenever the two armies encountered each other, the peasants who were driven and coerced would take the initiative to flee and no longer work for the Pang Xun bandit gang. The combat effectiveness of the bandit army plummeted.

Wang Hongli fled back to Xuzhou, and Pang Xun was furious. "How dare you come back? Someone, take him out—"

The dog-headed military advisor hurriedly pleaded with Pang Xun, saying that Wang Hongli had made two great contributions in taking Haozhou and Huaikou, but you didn't reward him (verbal praise doesn't count), and you want to kill him just because he lost a battle. If you don't reward him for his merits and punish him severely for his mistakes, who will be willing to work for you in the future? Now is the time to use people, so it's better to let him make meritorious contributions while serving his sentence and see what happens next.

So Wang Hongli quickly expressed his willingness to go to Sizhou and take Sizhou to make up for his mistake.

Wang Hongli arrived at Sizhou, which he had been unable to conquer for a long time, and was eager to wash away the shame of defeat, but he had no soldiers. In the battle of Lutang Village, 30,000 of his men were wiped out, and Xuzhou only allocated a few hundred men to him. With these few hundred men, could he take over Sizhou?

Wu Jiong said “Haha”.

At the Sizhou front, Wu Jiong was the commander-in-chief, while Wang Hongli was just a defeated general who came to make amends. Wu Jiong was jealous of Wang Hongli's military achievements and couldn't stand his smug look, "You have come to this day? Ha, God has opened his eyes!"

Wu Jiong put on a bureaucratic air and used the system to suppress Wang Hongli in a reasonable and legal way. A higher-ranking official can crush a person to death, and Wang Hongli felt that a phoenix without feathers was no better than a chicken.

Wang Hongli had no choice but to find another way. Since he could not attack by force, he would use his wits to take Sizhou. He proposed to take Sizhou without bloodshed. He sent Li Yuan, the former commander-in-chief of Sizhou who had been dismissed, to Sizhou to explain the pros and cons to Du Yan and persuade him to open the city and surrender.

Wang Hongli and Li Yuan are both wanderers in this world.

Li Yuan entered the city and met Du Yan, saying that our Pang Da people knew that you came from a prominent family, so they dared not let the soldiers be rude or offend you. As long as you open the city gate, we promise not to harm the people. Anyone who lies to you is a dog.

Du Yan was too lazy to pay attention to him. He just pointed back and the executioners stepped out and dragged him out with "click".

Outside Sizhou City, Wu Jiong and Wang Hong stood, looking at each other with tearful eyes, heartbroken people facing each other.

After Kang Chengxun defeated Wang Hongli at Lutang Village, he took advantage of the victory to advance to Liuzi Village, where he fought with the bandit general Yao Zhou dozens of times within a month. Yao Zhou gradually lost his strength, and a strong wind blew, so the government troops took the opportunity to set fire to Liuzi Village.

Yao Zhou was forced to retreat, but was caught up by Shatuo cavalry, who intercepted and killed him. In the end, Yao Zhou fled to Suzhou with only a few dozen followers.

Liang Pi, the defender of Suzhou, saw Yao Zhou fleeing in a panic from afar on the top of the city wall.

"Brother Liang, for Pang Xun's sake, please lend a hand!"

Liang Pi quickly opened the city gate and said, "Come in, come in!"

Yao Zhou stumbled and fled into the city gate, but he fell off his horse because he was too tired.

Liang Pi stepped forward quickly and said, "No need to be so polite, get up quickly. Someone, someone, take him out and chop him off."

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(End of this chapter)