History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 264: Zhu Youqian in the River

【Hezhong Zhu Youqian】

For the sake of convenience and readability, the previous article mainly uses the Hedong Group as the perspective to tell the story of Li Cunxu's efforts to find a breakthrough in the deadlock of the Jiahe confrontation, and thus artificially omits some important events, such as Zhang Wanjin of Yanzhou's rebellion against Liang and his return to Jin, and Zhu Youqian of Hezhong's rebellion against Liang and his return to Jin. In the following article, we will replay these events from the perspective of the Later Liang and tell their ins and outs.

In April of the sixth year of Zhenming (920), Zhu Youqian of Hezhong brazenly annexed the Zhongwu Army of Tongzhou (previously the Zhongwu Army of Xuzhou and the Kuangguo Army of Tongzhou had exchanged their names), and sent his son Zhu Lingde to be the successor of the Zhongwu Army of Tongzhou. He petitioned the court to formally appoint him, but was rejected by Zhu Youzhen. As expected, Zhu Youqian expressed his allegiance to Li Cunxu of Hedong and requested military support.

What a gift from heaven! Li Cunxu immediately appointed Zhu Lingde as the governor of the Zhongwu Army of Tongzhou.

The Hezhong region is also a strategic location that Liang and Jin have repeatedly fought over. It connects to Guanzhong in the west and Hedong in the north. Using the Hezhong region as a springboard, pressure can be exerted on Hedong, Bianzhou, and Chang'an.

Zhu Youzhen hurriedly asked Liu Xun to lead the army to attack Tongzhou. Zhu Youqian asked Li Cunxu of Hedong for help. Li Cunxu sent Li Cunshen, Li Sizhao, Li Jianji, Li Cunzhi and others to help.

Once Hedong controlled the Hezhong area, it would form a pincer attack on Bianzhou, attacking it from both the east and west directions. It would also be able to separate Chang'an and other important western cities of Later Liang, making it difficult to take care of both ends. Even if the country would not be destroyed, it would lose the Guanzhong territory.

The leaders of both sides attached great importance to the change in Hezhong and mobilized almost all the elite forces in their territories. The battlefield of the bloody battle between the two sides moved from Desheng Jiacheng to Tongzhou.

Before the reinforcements from Hedong arrived, Liu Xun of the Later Liang had already arrived at the battlefield and started to clear the troops, winning several small victories. The soldiers of the Hezhong National Defense Army had relatively low military literacy and low combat effectiveness, so they were always looked down upon by the Later Liang Field Army. In every battle, the soldiers of the Hezhong Army would always collapse at the first touch, while the Later Liang Field Army would pursue them relentlessly and expand the results of the battle.

After the Hedong vanguard Li Cunshen arrived, he picked out 200 elite soldiers, mixed in with the Hezhong soldiers, and went to challenge the Houliang army camp. Liu Xun sent cavalry to pursue them. As soon as they started fighting, they found something wrong. How could the cowardly and incompetent Hezhong rats suddenly rise from bronze to king? Immediately recognizing the Hedong soldiers, Liu Xun was amazed at the speed of the Hedong reinforcements, so he withdrew his troops and stopped fighting, never daring to leave the camp easily again.

The Liang and Jin sides once again confronted each other in the Hezhong area.

No matter on which battlefield, the confrontation and war of attrition are extremely disadvantageous to the Hedong Army.

Hezhong region has been under the rule of the Later Liang for a long time, and it has been 20 years since Wang Ke surrendered to Zhu Wen. Any ambitious person would not ignore the management of Hezhong region, so Zhu Wen took great pains to package himself from the beginning when he took over Hezhong Prefecture, creating a grateful and nostalgic persona, crying and offering sacrifices to Wang Chongrong's tomb, and accepting Wang Ke as a family member instead of a national sacrifice. This not only made Zhu Wen gain countless fans in Hezhong region, but also created such a false impression: Zhu Wen legally inherited his uncle's foundation as a nephew.

If we count it this way, then Zhu Wen's group's control over the Hezhong region is not just twenty years, but should be counted from the time when Wang Chongrong was guarding Hezhong, which means it should be counted from the time when Huang Chao invaded Chang'an, which is nearly 40 years ago!

If 40 years is too far-fetched, 20 years is always indisputable. Therefore, the Zhu-Wen group has a deep mass base in the Hezhong area and is supported by the people.

Now, just because of the selfishness of the Jiedushi (Zhu Youqian), he led the entire territory to submit to Hedong. The people in the Hezhong area were unwilling and had deep resistance from the bottom of their hearts. The soldiers in the army also had complaints about this.

The gathering of troops from all directions caused food shortages, skyrocketing prices, inflation, and public resentment. All of this was blamed on Zhu Youqian's selfishness. The military and civilians in the Hezhong region were alienated.

Zhu Youqian's sons were keenly aware of this turmoil, so they persuaded their father to return to Daliang and withdraw the Hedong army to avoid further complications.

Zhu Youqian was in a dilemma, saying that the last time we rebelled, Li Cunxu personally led his army to save us from danger, and even fought all night long, but what about us? We were shameless and drove him back. This time, they fought hard and bloody battles by the Yellow River, and even sent troops to rescue us. No matter how shameless we are, we can't be too shameless...

"Dad, this is not the first or second time that I have been shameless. I don't mind having too many lice, and I don't worry about paying off my debts. What if I am shameless again?"

"...Let's wait and see, and then decide whether we need to be shameless again." The Hedong army could not wait and launched a fierce offensive on Huazhou. Then Li Cunshen defeated Liu Xun and forced Liu Xun to retreat to Baoluowen Village, close the gates of the village, and hold his ground.

Li Cunshen discussed countermeasures with Li Sizhao and thought that since a trapped beast will still fight, it would be better to give Liu Xun a break and lure him into battle.

Therefore, the Hedong Army sent troops out to graze the animals and relaxed the siege on Luowenzhai.

As expected, Liu Xun retreated at night and fell into Li Cunshen's trap. Li Cunshen launched a pursuit and annihilated the Later Liang army on the banks of the Wei River, winning a great victory.

Afterwards, Li Cunshen took control of the Guanzhong area and visited the Tang Dynasty imperial mausoleum, crying and offering sacrifices. He did not forget to insert political shows into his military operations to awaken people's nostalgia for the Tang Dynasty, inspire hatred for the usurper Zhu, and disintegrate Zhu's mass base in the Hezhong area.

The political foundation of the Later Liang Group in the Hezhong region was "legal succession", emphasizing that Zhu Wen was the legal successor to Wang Chongrong and Wang Chongying; the Hedong Army took a different approach, breaking away from the narrow values ​​of separatist regimes, emphasizing loyalty, filial piety, chastity and righteousness, and describing the entire Later Liang as an illegal pseudo-regime.

The successive military victories and the glorious political correctness finally made Zhu Youqian determined to follow the Hedong Group. Zhu Youqian sent troops to counterattack the Later Liang army and attack Wen Tao, the commander of the Jingsheng Army in Chongzhou.

Wen Tao was terrified and didn't know what to do.

Wen Tao, one of the most famous tomb robbers in history, was different from other petty thieves in that he only focused on robbing imperial tombs and dug up all the imperial tombs of the Tang Dynasty. According to records, he dug up 18 of the 17 imperial tombs of the Tang Dynasty, and only the Qianling Mausoleum survived.

Of course, he coveted Qianling Mausoleum, and he mobilized troops three times to dig it up. However, every time he started, he encountered supernatural events. The clear sky suddenly became cloudy, thunderous, and windy and rainy. After they withdrew, the sky was clear again. After three times, Wen Tao dared not touch Qianling Mausoleum.

During the tomb robbery, a large number of rare cultural relics were destroyed, such as the original "Lanting Preface" collected by Emperor Taizong Li Shimin. In the eyes of the illiterate Wen Tao, only gold, silver, jewelry, jade, agate, silk and satin were treasures, and calligraphy and paintings were all waste paper. He actually asked the soldiers to tear off the silk used for packaging and decoration on the calligraphy and paintings, take the silk away and throw away the calligraphy and paintings themselves. Countless original works of celebrities have been lost since then... Some people also have a beautiful hope, that is, the original "Lanting Preface" by Wang Xizhi is hidden in Qianling Mausoleum.

In short, Wen Tao is the most notorious tomb robber in Chinese history, even Sun Dianying had to give him some respect. The damage he caused to Chinese culture cannot be described in words, and it can never be compensated.

The tomb robber Wen Tao later surrendered to Fengxiang Li Maozhen, who adopted him as his son and gave him the name Li Yantao. Later, he surrendered to Zhu Wen and was given the name Wen Zhaotu. Later, he rebelled again and surrendered to Li Maozhen. After Zhu Youzhen ascended the throne, he betrayed Li Maozhen and surrendered to the Later Liang Dynasty. There is no doubt that he will change his ways in the future. God will see that he will not have a good end in the future.

Now, the war in Hezhong was critical. Zhu Youzhen was certainly worried about this fickle villain and feared that he would defect to Hedong. So he promised him high positions and generous salaries to lure him to leave the town and go to Beijing.

Wen Tao was short-sighted and greedy. When he heard that he was going to be promoted, he immediately agreed to Zhu Youzhen's "promotion in name but demotion in reality" tactic.

Zhu Youzhen finally saved the three-acre land of Chongzhou Jingsheng Army under the situation of Zhu Youqian's rebellion and Liu Xun's defeat, which can be regarded as a victory.

On the Yellow River battlefield, the Hedong Army had pushed its frontline positions to the west of Deshengdu, approaching Huazhou, the most important area of ​​Later Liang. It also successfully opened up a second battlefield, controlled the Hezhong area, and formed a pincer attack on Later Liang.

Zhu Youzhen of Later Liang was already worried about his future.

But at this time, Hebei Province underwent drastic changes, the Khitan invaded the south, and Li Cunxu of Hedong was about to face a difficult test.

(End of this chapter)