History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 258: Lu Wenjin Surrenders to Liao

【Lu Wenjin surrendered to Liao】

The Hedong Group occupied Youzhou Lulong Army twice, during the period of Li Keyong and Li Cunxu. The Hedong Group's operations in Youzhou are divided into direct stores (former generals of Hedong) and franchise stores (generals who surrendered in Youzhou).

Liu Rengong was the franchise owner during Li Keyong's period. He was a traitor, a traitor, a puppet of Hedong, and a regional agent. He then broke away from Hedong through conspiracy and trickery.

However, Li Cunxu did not learn from his father's lesson and still treated the conquered Youzhou people as second-class citizens, discriminating against them politically, exploiting them economically, and enslaving them militarily...Liu Rengong's story will be repeated.

Li Cunxu's younger brother, Li Cunju, was previously stationed in Xinzhou (Xinzhou Weisai Army Defense Commissioner). He relied on his superiors' power and was cruel and merciless, causing public outrage.

In order to support the Jiahe Campaign, Li Cunxu ordered him to recruit young men from Yan and surrounding barbarian tribes to join the elite forces of Youyan - the Eight Armies Behind the Mountains (founded by Liu Rengong) to support the Heshuo Campaign.
While recruiting soldiers, Li Cunju also extorted horses from the people. Horses were scarce at the time, and the price of a war horse was almost as high as ten cows. Li Cunju's collection deadline was extremely strict, causing the people to complain.

Finally, Li Cunju gathered 500 war horses, and then personally led the "Eight Armies behind the Mountains" to the Heshuo front.

Li Cunju's deputy was the surrendered general Lu Wenjin. Lu Wenjin was originally a cavalry general under Liu Shouguang, commanding the "Eight Armies Behind the Mountains". When Li Cunxu of Hedong attacked Liu Shouguang, Lu Wenjin was the first to surrender, showing that he was the most capable person in appreciating the current situation.

The Eighth Army behind the mountains had long heard of the tragic situation on the Heshuo front. Although the Hedong Group was in an advantageous position, they killed one thousand enemies but lost eight hundred of their own, with an extremely high casualty rate. Therefore, they were very resistant to the southward rescue operation.

Faced with low morale and resistance, Li Cunju did not comfort them, but instead intensified the situation, adopting a high-pressure attitude to intimidate and intimidate these second-class citizens and Hedong cannon fodder.

Not long after the army marched, the soldiers discussed privately, "I heard that the casualties on the front line were extremely heavy. Why should we abandon our parents, wives and daughters and fight for strangers? We have traveled across mountains and rivers to die, but the commander has no mercy at all. What do you think we should do?"

Now that things have come to this, what else can we do? Mutiny.

As a result, the eight armies behind the mountain mutinied and rushed directly to Li Cunju's bedroom. Li Cunju was hacked to death in his sleep. Afterwards, the mutinous army supported Lu Wenjin as the leader and wanted to occupy Xinzhou and break away from Hedong.

When Lu Wenjin heard about the change, he rushed to the scene and threw himself on Li Cunxu's body, beating his chest and stamping his feet, crying bitterly, "You bunch of dogs and slaves killed the master. How can I face the king (Li Cunxu) again?"

This is also the general procedure of lord-killing and mutiny. There will always be some crying and cursing.

Afterwards, Lu Wenjin led the Eighth Army behind the mountains back to Xinzhou.

Then, Li Sigong of Daizhou and Zhou Dewei of Youzhou sent troops to attack Lu Wenjin. Lu Wenjin knew he could not defeat them, so he led the eight armies behind the mountains to surrender to the Liao Kingdom.

In order to avoid exacerbating the conflict, Li Cunxu had no choice but to back off and conclude that the mutiny was caused by Li Cunju's brutality and cruelty, and that he deserved it. The result was that only a few of Li Cunju's staff and servants were executed because they led Li Cunju astray. As for Lu Wenjin, the culprit of the mutiny and a traitor to the country, he was not held accountable for any responsibility.

It can be seen that Li Cunxu tried his best to maintain friendly relations between Hedong and Khitan and reduce stimulation and friction.

However, politics is not wishful thinking. Politicians, like capitalists, are only guided by profit, and all their behaviors are aimed at maximizing profit. Li Cunxu treated him as a father, but he failed to get Yelü Abaoji to treat him as his own son. After Yelü Abaoji completed the initial unification of the grassland, he only lacked a suitable opportunity and a loyal lackey to guide him south to the Central Plains.

The confrontation between Li Cunxu and Later Liang across the river provided the Khitan with an opportunity to take advantage of the situation, and Lu Wenjin became the guide who emerged to meet the needs of the times.

Regarding the reason for Lu Wenjin's mutiny, historical records say that Li Cunju forced Lu Wenjin's daughter to be his concubine. Lu Wenjin dared not speak out, so he took the opportunity to incite a mutiny and defect to Khitan.

After Lu Wenjin defected to Khitan, he did show extreme hatred towards the Hedong Group. Although they both fled from Hedong to Khitan, Lu Wenjin and Han Yanhui were two completely different versions. Han Yanhui vigorously promoted good neighborliness and friendship and fought for peace in the Central Plains, while Lu Wenjin strongly encouraged the Khitan to invade the south.

Lu Wenjin himself was a cavalry officer in Youzhou. He was not only skilled in riding and shooting, but also well versed in the geography, landforms, customs and habits of Youzhou and Hebei. For Yelu Abaoji, who wanted to invade the south, Lu Wenjin was simply a mascot sent by heaven to the Khitan.

But Lu Wenjin's greatest contribution to the Khitans was more than that. His greatest contribution was to teach the Khitans how to attack a city.

To be honest, if the nomadic peoples are ranked second in field combat capability, no one dares to claim first place. Since ancient times, the nomadic peoples' fast horses and curved swords have been a nightmare for the people of the Central Plains, especially in today's North China and Central China, where the terrain is flat and open, which is very conducive to the nomadic peoples' cavalry combat.

The two major natural obstacles for nomadic peoples to move south were terrain and climate, such as mountainous areas, hills, swamps and other areas that were not conducive to cavalry combat, and the low, wet and hot southern regions. Another man-made obstacle was the strong city.

The grassland herdsmen live in tents, following the water and grass. They are very unfamiliar with brick and tile houses and are helpless when faced with tall city walls.

Now, Lu Wenjin brought advanced science and technology to the grassland people and taught the Khitans how to attack and conquer. He taught them how to build siege towers, dig tunnels, and other defensive and combat techniques. He explained everything he knew.

The nomadic people who have learned how to attack cities can be said to be a cheating existence.

During the invasion to the south, the Khitans plundered the population of the Central Plains and brought handicrafts such as farming and weaving to the grasslands. In a short period of time, the Khitans mastered almost all the production technologies of the Central Plains civilization. The Liao Dynasty was instantly reborn and its national strength developed rapidly. All of this was thanks to Lu Wenjin.

"…they drove away the men and women of several states and taught them to weave and spin. They were fully prepared for what China could do. The reason why the Khitans were so powerful was because of their literary talents." - "Old History of the Five Dynasties"

From this perspective, Lu Wenjin deserved the infamy of "big traitor". Yelu Abaoji also valued him very much. According to the "History of Southern Tang" compiled by the great poet Lu You, Lu Wenjin won the Khitan "Outstanding Contribution Award" and the prize was a Khitan princess.

Lu You, needless to say, is one of the "Four Great Poets of the Restoration of the Southern Song Dynasty". A Han Chinese fled to the grasslands due to war and became the consort of a nomadic people... Lu You wrote it in "History of the Southern Tang Dynasty" and Jin Yong wrote it in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes".

Lu Wenjin led the Khitan army to attack Xinzhou. The governor An Jinquan was unable to resist and fled the city. Zhou Dewei, who came to support, also failed and fled because of the huge disparity in numbers. The Khitans took advantage of the victory to pursue and encircle Youzhou.

Zhou Dewei led the Youzhou army and civilians in a desperate resistance, while sending people to take a shortcut to deliver an urgent letter for help to the rear.

(End of this chapter)