History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 240 Zhu Wen's Northern Expedition
[Zhu Wen's Northern Expedition]

During the struggle between Qi and Shu, Zhu Wen sent senior officials to Chengdu. In the letter to Wang Jian, Zhu Wen affectionately called Wang Jian "the emperor's eighth brother."

Wang Jian was born in one of the "Eight Capitals of Zhongwu" and served under Yang Fuguang. He had a brief comradeship with Zhu Wen. Zhu Wen used this as a starting point, saying that we both served in the same dynasty in the past, each of us was crowned king with a different surname and had a higher position than generals and ministers, and that we had always exchanged letters and had a deep affection. He hoped that the two countries would continue to maintain their previous friendship.

As the Emperor of Later Liang, Zhu Wen affirmed the legitimacy of Former Shu, referred to them as "two countries", and pointed out that Li Maozhen was our common enemy.

The significance of this letter is quite significant. It directly established the political status of Former Shu. Wang Jian's "Former Shu" was listed among the "Ten Kingdoms", while Liu Shouguang's Jie Yan was an illegal pseudo-regime.

In his reply to Later Liang, Wang Jian was very blunt. The heading of the letter was "Written by the Emperor of Great Shu to His Excellency the Emperor of Great Liang". The content of the letter was even more neither humble nor arrogant. He only recognized the equal political status of the two countries, but did not recognize the statement that "Daliang was the legal successor of Great Tang, while Shu was separatist in a corner". He proposed "the harmony of Liang and Shu" and "brother countries", and the political equality of the two countries.

In the official book of the Later Liang Dynasty, the seal reads "The seal of the Liang Dynasty entering Shu", and Wang Jian also engraved "The seal of the Shu Dynasty entering Liang", which shows the equality of Liang and Shu.

Of course, our mainstream historical view still regards Later Liang as the orthodox dynasty in the Central Plains, belonging to the "Five Dynasties", while Former Shu is a local separatist regime, belonging to the "Ten Kingdoms".

Zhu Wen took the initiative to reach a "friendly relationship between the two countries" with them, condescended to recognize the political status of Former Shu, and created a relatively stable external environment so that he could concentrate on the Northern Expedition.

Zhu Wen ordered Yang Shihou to lead 30,000 troops to station in Xingzhou and be ready for action, while he personally led the army to cross the Yellow River to the north and lead the army in person.

When he arrived in Weizhou, he suddenly received intelligence that the Hedong Army had crossed the Taihang Mountains and was heading towards Dongzhaoyi. Zhu Wen did not even bother to rest and immediately ordered his troops to head straight to Dongzhaoyi to personally engage in a decisive battle with the Hedong Army.

Under Zhu Wen's urging, his troops did not dare to delay for a moment, marching day and night. Two days later, they arrived in Xiangzhou, only to receive the latest news that the previous news was wrong and the Hedong Army had not come at all.

Feeling disappointed, Zhu Wen ordered his troops to rest on the spot.

At that time, the governor of Xiangzhou was Li Sian. Li Sian was upset because he was demoted to a small governor due to the defeat in the "Battle of Luzhou". He was unwilling to accept this. So after taking office in Xiangzhou, he ignored government affairs and gave up his work, so that the fields were abandoned and the warehouses were empty.

Zhu Wen's sudden visit made Li Sian panic. Not only was there no dignified and orderly guard of honor to welcome him, he couldn't even provide enough food and military supplies, let alone time to cover up the dire living conditions of the people.

Zhu Wen was furious and dismissed Li Si'an from all his official positions and titles on the spot.

A few days later, Zhu Wen set out from Xiangzhou and received another piece of information: the Hedong and Chengde coalition forces were heading south!
Zhu Wen was eager to fight, so he ordered a hasty march. Zhu Wen was eager to wash away the shame of the previous two wars, but his soldiers were all frightened birds after the previous two wars. When they heard that the Hedong Army was coming, they fled one after another. Even the most cruel punishment could not stop this trend.

Soon, the latest news came: the Shatuo soldiers did not come. The army's morale was stabilized.

Zhu Wen went to war while ill, and his physical condition was getting worse. Several intelligence errors caused the army to rush in panic, exhausted, and demoralized. Zhu Wen's temper could no longer be suppressed, and people around him were often killed for the slightest mistake, which made people even more fearful and uneasy.

Zhu Wen decided to return to the capital first to adjust his physical condition and military morale.

When passing through Huaizhou, the governor of Huaizhou, Duan Ning, welcomed Zhu Wen from afar with great courtesy and hospitality. Zhu Wen finally showed a long-lost joy on his face and praised Duan Ning's loyalty. Duan Ning was not an outsider, but Zhu Wen's elder brother-in-law, and his sister was one of Zhu Wen's favorite concubines.

After returning to Luoyang, Zhu Wen's condition worsened.

A few months later, Zhu Wen's condition improved slightly. At this time, Liu Shouguang was trapped in the isolated city and sent an urgent letter to Zhu Wen for help. Zhu Wen decided to lead the army again to support Liu Shouguang in Youzhou.

When the news came that the emperor was going to lead the army in person, all the civil and military officials were worried because Zhu Wen was moody and killed people to vent his anger during the last expedition, so no one was willing to follow him. When Zhu Wen heard about it, he was furious and decided to kill a chicken to scare the monkey.

On the day of departure, Zhu Wen suddenly ordered a rest, rewarded the officials with food, and ordered the officials to gather to receive the reward. As a result, Zhang Yan and the other three arrived last, and Zhu Wen beheaded them on the spot. Zhang Yan was the nephew of Zhang Quanyi.

When passing through Huaizhou, Duan Ning's offerings were much more abundant than the last time. Zhu Wen was very happy and full of emotion. He suddenly ordered: Li Sian was exiled to Yazhou (now Qiongshan City, Hainan Province) indefinitely, and "soon allowed to commit suicide." In the imperial edict, Zhu Wen praised Duan Ning by name, "Looking at Mingyuan's loyalty and diligence, how about Sian's rebelliousness?" Duan Ning's original name was Duan Mingyuan.

The famous general Li Sian was thus sentenced to death by Zhu Wen. And Zhu Wen's brother-in-law Duan Ning, who was described as "loyal and diligent", would slap Zhu Wen in the face with his actual actions in the future.

Zhu Wen arrived in Weizhou and ordered the Northern Expedition Commander-in-Chief Yang Shihou and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Li Maoxun to surround Zaoqiang County, and ordered He Delun and Yuan Xiangxian to surround Qian County. The two troops served as the first echelon of the Northern Expedition, and Zhu Wen personally led the army to Beizhou as a support.

On this day, Zhu Wen personally climbed up the high slope to inspect the terrain.

Fu Xi, the general of Chengde, happened to lead hundreds of cavalrymen on patrol. When he saw the Later Liang army, he immediately launched an attack and dispersed them. He didn't know that the Later Liang emperor Zhu Wen was in this team. He just regarded them as ordinary Later Liang stragglers and didn't pursue them relentlessly. He missed an unprecedented achievement that will be recorded in history forever. Even so, Zhu Wen was so scared that he abandoned the imperial tent camp and rushed to Zaoqiang County to join forces with Yang Shihou. He dared not lead alone.

Zaoqiang City was not big, with only a few thousand German troops inside, but they were able to unite against the enemy and put up a tenacious resistance, causing a horrific number of tens of thousands of casualties to the Later Liang army.

When the city ran out of arrows, the defenders used stones. When they ran out of stones, the generals discussed surrender. They had really tried their best.

At this time, a soldier volunteered to be a "death spy" and told everyone that since the Battle of Baixiang, the Later Liang Dynasty has hated our Chengde Army especially. Surrendering at this time is like a sheep walking into a tiger's mouth. Since I will die anyway, I am willing to take a gamble.

That night, the warrior escaped from the city wall and went to the Houliang military camp, claiming to surrender. Deputy Commander-in-Chief Li Maoxun personally summoned him and asked about the strength of the city. The warrior replied that there were many soldiers and generals in the city, and sufficient ammunition, and it might be able to hold out for ten days or half a month. Then, the warrior asked for a sword, saying that he was willing to lead the charge to the city wall, chop off the head of the guard, and surrender to the Houliang.

Li Maoxun did not approve it and only arranged for him to be a porter.

After daybreak, the warrior carried his load and followed the troops. Suddenly, he seized an opportunity to get close to Li Maoxun, pulled out his carrying pole, and hit Li Maoxun on the head. Li Maoxun screamed and fell to the ground. The attendants on both sides immediately stepped forward to guard him.

Li Maoxun was injured in the head, but his life was not in danger. Yanzhao has been home to many generous and tragic people since ancient times, and Hebei has many righteous people.

After hearing about this, Zhu Wen became even more angry and cursed the soldiers and civilians of Zhenzhou for not following the moral code of war, and said that everyone from Wang Rong onwards was a fickle villain! He ordered Yang Shihou to attack Zaoqiang day and night.

Soon, Zaoqiang County, which had lost its ability to resist, was conquered by the Later Liang. Zhu Wen ordered: Massacre the city!

The strong Zaoqiang County was suddenly filled with corpses and blood. It was a horrible sight.

Afterwards, Zhu Wen and Yang Shihou led their troops to Qian County to join forces with He Delun and Yuan Xiangxian.

The situation in Xin County is not optimistic either.

Zhu Wen announced that he had an army of 500,000 for this northern expedition. The Hedong generals who stayed behind in Zhaozhou were somewhat frightened, and some even proposed to retreat temporarily to avoid the enemy's attack.

Li Cunshen firmly opposed it and sent Shi Jiantang and Li Sigong to rescue Xin County. Before leaving, Li Cunshen told them, "The king is leading the main force to fight Youzhou, and it is impossible for him to send us reinforcements. If Zhu thieves take Xin County, it will threaten Shenzhou and Jizhou, and we will be more passive. Therefore, we must stop the thieves in Xin County."

It's easy to say. Zhu's bandits have 500,000 people, and we only have a few thousand people. How can we resist them?
A: Use a trick! The odds are so large that you must use some tricks and think of a way to defeat him.

Li Cunshen led the main force to guard the strategic Dibo Bridge. Shi Jiantang and Li Sigong selected 500 elite soldiers and divided them into five teams, each with 100 people, to intercept the soldiers sent by the Later Liang army to collect firewood and capture them. Within one day, they captured hundreds of people.

The next day, five teams of scouts gathered at Xiabo Bridge. They left a few prisoners alive and slaughtered the rest. Then they chopped off one arm of each of the remaining prisoners and ordered: "Send a message to your commander, saying that King Li Cunxu of Jin has arrived with the main force, and let him prepare for battle!" Then they were released.

Afterwards, Shi Jiantang and Li Sigong each led 300 cavalrymen, changed into Houliang military uniforms, held Houliang military flags, followed Houliang soldiers who were out collecting firewood, and when it was dark, they sneaked into the Houliang military camp. When they arrived at He Delun's camp, they suddenly killed the gate guards, set fire everywhere, shouted loudly, shot arrows everywhere, rushed left and right, and killed people.

In an instant, the Houliang army camp was in chaos. At this time, the sky was completely dark. The two teams of Hedong death squads hijacked a group of prisoners and fled in the chaos, leaving behind only the panicked Houliang army, left in a mess in the wind.

At this moment, the captives whose arms had been chopped off fled back to the camp. They shouted in horror: "Li Cunxu is coming!"

The already chaotic Later Liang army was in a state of panic. Zhu Wen was so angry that he ordered the army camp to be burned down and retreated overnight.

To make matters worse, Zhu Wen's panicked army lost their way in the darkness and detoured for 150 miles.

When the Houliang army retreated in a panic, the farmers in Xin County took their rakes, hoes and dung forks and beat and killed the Houliang remnants who were alone. The Houliang army hastily abandoned countless baggage.

After Zhu Wen retreated to a safe area, he sent scouts to investigate and finally got reliable news: Li Cunxu did not come at all! The main force from Hedong did not come either. The ones who attacked us were only a few hundred rangers led by the vanguard officer Shi Jiantang.

This... Zhu Wen was filled with shame and anger, and his condition worsened. Now Zhu Wen couldn't even sit in a sedan chair carried by four people. He stayed in Beizhou for more than ten days and gradually gathered the remaining soldiers and generals.

Afterwards, the seriously ill Zhu Wen walked and stopped for nearly twenty days before he slowly returned to Bianzhou, and another week before he returned to Luoyang from Bianzhou.

(End of this chapter)