History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 259 The Three Worry-Free Generals
【Three Worry-Free Generals】

Facing Zhou Dewei's urgent letter, Li Cunxu was filled with worry, unable to hide his inner turmoil. At this moment, he was facing off against the main force of the Later Liang Dynasty at Jiahe, and was unable to split his attention.

Li Cunxu called a meeting of all the generals to discuss the issue.

Almost all the generals were against rescuing Youzhou. Only Li Cunshen, Li Siyuan and Yan Bao advocated dividing the troops to rescue it. Even among these three advocates of war, the opinions were not completely consistent. Li Cunshen and Yan Bao advocated fortifying the city and clearing the fields, believing that the Khitan army never carried food and grass, and their logistics supply only depended on looting along the way. Therefore, when they could not grab food and grass, they would naturally retreat. We would then launch a counterattack and it would surely succeed. Li Siyuan advocated launching an attack immediately, otherwise there would be many troubles at night. If something happened in the city, the consequences would be disastrous.

Li Siyuan hit the nail on the head for Li Cunxu. If the enemy laid siege to the city and no reinforcements were seen, the defending general might rebel and surrender, or he might be killed by his own generals. Either outcome was something Li Cunxu did not want to see.

Li Cunxu finally agreed with Li Siyuan's proposal and sent reinforcements to Youzhou on the same day.

At this meeting, when Li Cunshen, Li Siyuan and Yan Bao bravely proposed to engage in a head-on battle with the Khitan army, Li Cunxu was extremely pleased and said: "Emperor Taizong of Tang had a Li Jing who was able to capture Jie Li Khan (Ashina Duobi) alive. Now I have three powerful generals, what do I have to worry about?" From then on, the three generals were collectively known as the "Three Worry-Free Generals."

The three led 70,000 infantry and cavalry to rescue Youzhou. The Khitan army was said to have a million troops, but in reality there were only about 300,000, all of whom were cavalry. The three decided to abandon the main road and take the mountain path instead to avoid the enemy's sharp edge. Even if they encountered the enemy, they could climb high and take advantage of the danger, so as not to be surrounded by the Khitan cavalry.

Li Siyuan and his adopted son Li Congke led 3,000 cavalrymen as the vanguard, crossed Dafangling, and sneaked secretly along the mountain stream. They advanced quietly to a place 60 miles away from Youzhou before encountering the Khitan army.

The Hedong troops were like a divine army descending from the sky. The Khitans were taken aback and retreated hastily, but Li Siyuan followed them and chased them. They fought and marched on the rugged mountain roads, and every valley entrance and every high ground became a bloody battle.

When Li Siyuan led his troops out of the mountain pass, more than 10,000 Khitan cavalrymen had already lined up in the open space outside the mountain pass, waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out.

The Hedong soldiers were exhausted, like a spent force.

Li Siyuan showed no fear. He led more than 100 personal cavalrymen to the front, took off his armor, raised his whip, and shouted to them in Khitan: "You have invaded our border without reason. This is really unreasonable! The King of Jin ordered me to lead a million troops to attack your lair and exterminate your entire clan!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Siyuan pulled up the reins, and the warhorse immediately raised its front hooves, leaped up, and jumped directly into the Khitan position. Li Siyuan wielded the meteor hammer, flying up and down, and entered and exited the Khitan formation three times, as if he was in an empty space, and took the head of a Khitan general (and beheaded a Khitan chieftain). The brave general of Hedong, Zhao Zilong of Hu language.

Li Siyuan's vanguard troops fought bravely and disrupted the Khitan formation. The follow-up troops of Li Cunshen and Yan Bao arrived and immediately engaged in the battle, causing the Khitan army to retreat slightly.

Taking advantage of the brief gap, Li Cunshen ordered his men to cut down branches and make "deer stakes" (half buried in the soil, half sharpened, facing the enemy obliquely). When marching, each person carried such a wooden stake on his back, and when they stopped, they immediately inserted it into the soil to form a camp, making it impossible for the Khitan cavalry to attack. Whenever the Khitan cavalry approached, the Hedong soldiers fired thousands of arrows.

They marched cautiously step by step, slowly advancing towards Youzhou City. The bodies of Khitan soldiers and horses fell on the streets along the way, with countless casualties, and they were unable to effectively stop the Hedong Corps from moving.

When they were about to reach Youzhou City, Li Cunshen first sent the old, weak, sick and disabled to collect firewood and dry grass, made countless torches, lit them, and dragged them on the ground. In an instant, smoke and dust rose up. The main force of Hedong cooperated to build momentum, roaring and beating drums. The Khitans had no idea how many people were on the opposite side, and didn't know how to respond, so they engaged the Hedong soldiers in a confused manner.

At this time, Li Cunshen led the infantry to attack the Khitan army from behind. The Khitan soldiers mistakenly thought they were ambushed by Hedong. Their morale collapsed and they immediately abandoned their armor and fled north. The Hedong army seized countless vehicles, tents, armor and weapons, cattle, sheep and horses, and killed tens of thousands of Khitan soldiers.

Afterwards, the reinforcements entered Youzhou City. Zhou Dewei held the hands of the "Three Worry-Free Generals" and cried with tears of excitement.

【The peerless cannot be proud of two people】

After driving away the Khitan invaders, Li Cunxu never forgot his second strategic goal: Later Liang. Now, the thousands of miles of land north of the Yellow River and east of Taihang Mountain were all under the control of Hedong, and the Yellow River became the most solid natural defense line of the Later Liang group.

In November of the third year of Zhenming (917), the weather was freezing cold and the Yellow River froze over. When the news reached Taiyuan, Li Cunxu was overjoyed, thinking that this was a godsend opportunity to go south and destroy the Later Liang, so he immediately set out for Weizhou.

In the twelfth month, Li Cunxu led a few followers out of Weizhou City to hunt for fun. They came to the bank of the Yellow River and found that the ice on the Yellow River was very solid, so he personally led a small group of people to try to skate across the river. On the other side of the river was the ferry Yangliu City, where 3,000 Houliang soldiers were stationed. There were Houliang camps stretching for dozens of miles along the river, and they were heavily guarded.

Li Cunxu was famous for his bravery. He liked to lead the army in person and always took risks, such as crossing the river on ice this time, always playing with his own life. After successfully reaching the south bank, Li Cunxu issued another life-threatening order: attack!

Li Cunxu captured dozens of camps along the river in one fell swoop. Still not satisfied, he gave another order: Attack Yangliu City!

The infantry cut down the stakes and filled the trenches with reeds. Li Cunxu led the cavalry to charge and captured Yangliu City on the same day, capturing the defending general An Yanzhi alive.

Later, Xie Yanzhang, a general of the Later Liang Dynasty, led tens of thousands of troops to counterattack Yangliu City and broke the Yellow River. The cold Yellow River water flooded for several miles, effectively blocking the reinforcements from Hedong on the north bank.

Li Cunxu could only sigh in despair.

Most of the remnants of the defeated soldiers of An Yanzhi, the former defender of Yangliu City, gathered in the valley between Yan and Yun, waiting to see the outcome of the two armies. Li Cunxu sent people to recruit them, and a large number of them therefore defected to the Hedong Group.

Yangliu City became the focus of the battle between the two armies in the next stage.

In June, Li Cunxu went to the front to entertain the troops. During the trip, he rowed a small boat on the Yellow River. Every time he passed a certain distance, he would insert the spear he carried with him into the river to detect the depth of the river. He found that the water level at that time was about above the chest of an adult.

After landing, Li Cunxu summoned all the generals to a meeting and said that the Later Liang army was a bunch of cowards. They had no intention of really fighting with us, but wanted to rely on the natural barrier of the Yellow River to fight a war of attrition. We will not be fooled. Let's wade across the water and fight them!
Wading? How deep is the water?
It’s not deep, it’s only here. Li Cunxu put his palm on his neck and gestured, “It’s only here.”

"As long as the king is happy..."

After a day of intensive preparation, on the third day, Li Cunxu led the army to wade across the river.

Li Cunxu personally walked in the front, who among the Hedong officers and soldiers would dare to retreat?
The Hedong soldiers held their armor in one hand and their swords and spears in the other, lined up in battle formation and waded through the water on foot. Strangely enough, just as Li Cunxu was crossing the river, the water level of the Yellow River suddenly dropped strangely, only reaching above the knees.

"God helps me!" The morale of the officers and soldiers in Hedong was high.

Xie Yanzhang of the Later Liang Dynasty hurriedly lined up on the south bank to meet the enemy. The Hedong army was unable to land, so they retreated. Xie Yanzhang ordered a pursuit, and the two sides engaged in a fierce battle in the center of the river.

This should be a unique battle in China's war history, with both sides fighting on foot in the center of the Yellow River.

The Later Liang army gradually lost its strength and retreated to the south bank. The Hedong army took advantage of the victory and chased to the south bank and landed successfully. The Later Liang army was in a state of collapse and the commander Xie Yanzhang escaped with his life.

According to records, the casualties in this battle were extremely tragic, the river water was dyed red, and the Yellow River became a red river.

After winning battle after battle, Li Cunxu was full of fighting spirit, so he sent people to contact Huainan and proposed to attack the Later Liang Dynasty from both north and south. Huainan politely declined, saying that the battle in Qianzhou was in full swing and it was difficult to send troops to respond. The details of Huainan's battle with Qianzhou will be described later.

Since Huainan won't come, let's go solo. Li Cunxu formulated a military plan that was as powerful as a mountain and a river:

Zhou Dewei of Youzhou led his 30,000 troops, Li Cunshen of Cangzhou led his 10,000 troops, Li Siyuan of Xingzhou led his 10,000 troops, Wang Chuzhi of Dingzhou led his 10,000 troops, as well as various barbarian tribes (Xi, Khitan, Shiwei, Tuyuhun, etc.) in the territory, came to Weizhou to join forces with Li Cunxu.

(End of this chapter)