History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 262 Li Siyuan's "Rebellion"

[Li Siyuan's "rebellion"]

After withdrawing his troops, Li Cunxu received the sad news that Zhou Dewei and his son had been killed in battle. He was filled with remorse and grief, and could not help but burst into tears, "The loss of my good general is my fault!"

Later, Lu Zhi also returned to the camp to report. Lu Zhi was a "founding hero" who supported Li Cunxu together with Zhang Chengye. He had a characteristic, that is, he loved to drink, and he loved to act crazy when drunk, and he was "dissolute in nature." His story will be slowly unfolded later.

Li Cunxu asked him where Wang Yan was, and Lu Zhi replied, "I am drunk and don't know." Then came the sad news that Wang Yan had been killed in battle.

When talking about Han Yanhui's escape to Khitan, I mentioned that although Wang Yan was loved by Li Cunxu, he was petty, narrow-minded, and had a bad reputation. This time, his death should be unclear, not necessarily at the hands of the Later Liang, but most likely murdered by his own people in the chaos. Lu Zhi was drunk and could return safely, so why couldn't Wang Yan, who was sober, come back?

"I was drunk and didn't know it." What exactly did he not know? Was he trying to cover up his mistake?
Wang Yan’s death has thus become one of the eternal mysteries, and his life can finally be summed up in a poem:
Fearing the tyranny, he surrendered and surrendered to Hedong;

Throwing stones into the well, exposing the old master;

He was jealous of the talented and capable, and slandered Han Yanhui;

Heaven has eyes, and the willows will find their place.

During the Battle of Huliupi, what shocked and angered Li Cunxu the most was Li Siyuan's actions.

In the melee, Li Siyuan and his adopted son Li Congke were separated and lost contact with the main force. Then they heard a shocking piece of news from a deserter: "Li Cunxu is dead!" So they led their troops to cross the river on the ice and head to Xiangzhou.

A few days later, Li Cunxu led his army to continue the westward attack and occupied Puyang. After Li Siyuan got the news, he immediately led his army to report.

Li Cunxu was very dissatisfied and asked him: "Do you think I am dead? Why are you in such a hurry to cross the river? What do you want to do in Taiyuan?"

Obviously, Li Cunxu was very suspicious of Li Siyuan's motives.

Li Siyuan kowtowed and apologized, saying that he was scattered by the chaotic army and could not find his organization. He also heard that the king had crossed the Yellow River to return to Taiyuan, so he led his army to chase after you.

What about the liar?
Li Cunxu really wanted to kill this brother with ulterior motives for treason. However, Li Siyuan's adopted son Li Congke had just made great contributions, and Li Cunxu had previously poached a man from Li Siyuan (Yuan Xingqin), who had saved Li Cunxu from danger many times. Li Cunxu wanted to continue poaching and secretly seduced Gao Xingzhou, but Gao Xingzhou politely declined.

Yuan Xingqin, Gao Xingzhou and others were originally generals under Liu Rengong of Youzhou. They surrendered when Li Cunxu annexed Youzhou and were initially placed under Li Siyuan's command. Li Cunxu valued their talents, so he used both open and secret means to lure them.

Taking all factors into consideration, Li Cunxu finally showed leniency and did not kill Li Siyuan. Instead, he only punished him by making him drink a glass of wine and said that he would not hold him accountable for the past. However, Li Cunxu never really let it go after that. He began to distrust Li Siyuan, and was wary of him everywhere, ostracizing and suppressing him.

It was precisely because of Li Cunxu's suspicion and exclusion that Li Siyuan eventually sat on the throne of emperor. This is a story for later.

After the Hedong Army captured Puyang, it pushed the battle line to Deshengdu, an ancient Yellow River crossing on the north bank of the Yellow River. After controlling Deshengdu, the Hedong Army no longer had to go around Yangliucheng or Majiadu in the east, shortening the battle line and supply line, and the threat to the Later Liang Dynasty increased sharply.

At this time, the defeated Later Liang soldiers who retreated from Huliupi fled to Bianzhou in panic like frightened birds. They described the brutality of the battle to the people of the capital in great fear, and said that the Hedong army had won the battle and would soon reach Bianzhou!

At this time, some of the scattered Hedong soldiers also lost their way and came to Bianzhou by mistake. They asked the local people for directions, "Excuse me, how do I get to the Hedong military camp?"

The people of Bianzhou spread the news: The Hedong army is approaching the city! The military camp is stationed near Bianzhou!
Suddenly, Bianzhou was in turmoil, and the soldiers and civilians in the city were in a panic. Zhu Youzhen was also frightened out of his wits, and forced the people to defend the city. Later, he wanted to flee to Luoyang, the Western Capital, but did not move because it was too dark.

Fortunately, it was another false alarm.

【Battle of Jiacheng】

Both sides gathered their remaining troops and built up strength for a counterattack.

In order to consolidate the frontline position, Li Cunshen built two cities in Deshengdu. The ancient Desheng City was divided into two by the ancient Yellow River, the northern bank was called Desheng North City, and the southern bank was Desheng South City. After the Yellow River changed its course, the southern city was destroyed, and the northern city became today's Puyang City, Henan Province.

From Yangliucheng to Majiadu, and then to Deshengdu, the Hedong Army's positions continued to move westward. If the Later Liang could not stop Li Cunxu at Deshengdu, they could only resist him in Huazhou. If they still could not resist him in Huazhou, they could only fight the defense of Bianzhou.

He Gui, the commander-in-chief of the Later Liang Dynasty, could not sit idly by and watch the Hedong Army manage Desheng Ferry, so he assembled his troops and launched a fierce attack on the southern city of Desheng. He Gui took advantage of the number of people fighting at home and attacked the city from hundreds of directions, without feints or assists, and attacked from all directions.

At the same time, a "mobile fortress" was sent across the middle of the Yellow River. This mobile fortress was made by connecting more than a dozen large warships end to end with large bamboo ropes, covered with cowhide, and surrounded by battlements and fences. It was placed across the middle of the river to block the reinforcements from the north city.

Li Cunxu led a large army to rescue, but was blocked by the mobile fortress and could only watch the fall of the southern city from the north bank.

A diving expert named Ma Polong risked his life by diving across the Yellow River and arrived at Nancheng, where he met the defending general Shi Yanshang. Ma Polong conveyed Li Cunxu's greetings and asked about the situation of the battle in Nancheng. Shi Yanshang told him worriedly that the arrows had been used up and the stones were about to be used up. If there were no more reinforcements, Nancheng might fall at any time!

Ma Polong conveyed the urgent military information to Li Cunxu.

Li Cunxu piled up a small mountain of gold, silver and silk at the gate of the military camp, saying that if anyone could break the mobile fortress on the river, all the reward money would belong to him.

Under the reward, there must be a brave man.

There were dozens of people who recommended themselves, all claiming to be masters who could summon wind and rain, and turn beans into soldiers. Zhuge Liang's borrowing the east wind was weak! One said he could "burn the boat with leaves and fire" (stab a villain, draw a circle to curse you), and the other said he could "forbidden spell weapon" (Sun Wukong to the Seven Fairies - "Stop!")...

Li Cunxu was desperate and tried all kinds of medical treatments, but "all of them tried different methods, but to no avail."

The fierce general Li Jian and his flash squad stepped out and said that He Gui had mobilized almost all of his troops and had great ambitions. In this battle, we can only win and not lose.

Nonsense! How can we win?

Li Jianji was straightforward and honest, "In the current situation, we can no longer outsmart (magic), we can only attack with force! I am willing to lead the warriors of our Silver Spear and fight to the death.

Therefore, Li Jianji carefully selected 300 brave warriors from the elite troops of Yinqiang Xiejiedu to form a death squad. All 300 men were wearing heavy armor, holding huge axes, and rowed small boats towards the mobile fortress.

The locusts, arrows and stones were pouring down like a torrential rain. Li Jianji led the way and rushed to the fortress to cut off the bamboo ropes. At this time, a "Molotov cocktail" prepared in advance floated upstream. It was a wooden barrel filled with firewood, soaked in oil, and then ignited and lowered from upstream. Behind the Molotov cocktail was a warship full of Hedong soldiers.

After the ropes of the mobile fortress were cut, it fell apart, and nearly half of the soldiers of the Later Liang Dynasty either fell into the river and drowned or were burned to death. The Hedong Army then landed on the south bank.

When He Gui saw that the mobile fortress had been captured, he immediately lifted the siege and retreated. He was chased by the Hedong Army all the way to Xingtai Village before he managed to stabilize his position.

This battle caused great psychological trauma to He Gui, and he fell ill from then on. More than three months later, on August 919, 8, the 1-year-old He Gui passed away.

In just a few months, the two strategic locations of Majiadu and Deshengdu were lost, and the proud "two heroes of the age" also died one after another. The situation along the river became increasingly unfriendly to the Later Liang Dynasty.

Zhu Youzhen appointed the mayor of the capital (Kaifeng prefectural governor) Wang Zan as the commander-in-chief of the northern army group to replace He Gui. Wang Zan, son of Wang Chongying, made his most recent appearance when Wang Yin of Xuzhou rebelled. Wang Zan wrote a petition to distance himself from the matter, saying that Wang Yin followed his mother to remarry into the Wang family and was adopted by his father Wang Chongying as a son. Therefore, the "Wang" in Wang Yin was the "Wang" of a bastard, not the "Wang" of Wang Chongying. Going back further, when Wang Ke of Hezhong surrendered to Zhu Wen, Wang Zan and other descendants of the Wang family were moved to Bianzhou and given high positions and generous salaries (but without real power) to fulfill Zhu Wen's promise to "treat Wang's descendants well."

It can be said that although Wang Zan was born in a famous family and was a descendant of a general, he was also an unknown young master, a small figure, and a minor character. Then why could he succeed the great general He Gui and become the commander-in-chief of the Northern Army of the Later Liang Empire? Is it true that there were no great generals in Shu, and Liao Hua was the vanguard?

Not exactly. Zhu Youzhen let Wang Zan take command and let "Wang Tieqiang" Wang Yanzhang be Wang Zan's deputy. This is worth pondering. In fact, it was Wang Yanzhang who really made plans and led the charge. Wang Zan was just a nominal commander. The personnel transfer reflects the result of political game.

It's the same old saying. Zhu Youzhen didn't trust these veteran generals who held military power. Yang Shihou, Liu Xun, Xie Yanzhang, He Gui, and Wang Yanzhang, any of them could rebel and defect to the enemy. The Later Liang needed them, but also needed to guard against them. Only the "foreign relatives" were loyal to the empire. The political struggle between Wang Yanzhang and the "foreign relatives" will be mentioned later. Here is a foreshadowing. Zhu Youzhen, the emperor, is actually more like an agent of the "foreign relatives" interest group. He knew that Wang Zan was useless and had to rely on Wang Yanzhang, but he still let Wang Yanzhang be Wang Zan's deputy.

The new official took office with three fires, and the two kings took command. Instead of attacking the front line of Deshengdu directly, they crossed the Yellow River from Liyang to the north, raided Weizhou and Chanzhou on the north bank of the Yellow River, plundered them, and then stationed in Yangcun, which was only 18 miles away from Deshengdu, to build a floating bridge. This strategy can be summarized as "kill first and treat first", threatening and harassing the Heshuo base camp of the Hedong Army, which can not only weaken its endurance, but also have a certain deterrent effect on its morale.

Hedong general Li Cunjin also built a pontoon bridge in Desheng Jiacheng.

A month later, the pontoon bridges on both sides were completed.

A bloody battle is inevitable.

(End of this chapter)