History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 269: Zhenzhou: Imperial Cemetery

【Zhenzhou: Imperial Cemetery】

Two sudden changes in Hebei forced Li Cunxu in Hedong to face three battlefields at the same time: Desheng Jiacheng; Zhenzhou; Dingzhou.

The two battlefields of Zhenzhou and Dingzhou were both located to the north of Weizhou, and the strong intervention of the Khitan army attracted all the elite forces in Hedong to the north, which provided an excellent opportunity for the Later Liang army to the south of Weizhou.

Li Cunshen and Li Siyuan, who stayed behind in Desheng Jiacheng, knew both themselves and the enemy, and said that Hou Liang would either attack Desheng Jiacheng or launch a surprise attack on Weizhou, so it would be better for the two of us to defend separately.

Sure enough, Dai Siyuan, the commander-in-chief of the Later Liang Dynasty, mobilized all his troops and attacked Weizhou directly.

Li Siyuan was well prepared, taking the lead in occupying the strategic terrain, building the first line of defense, and sending people to inform Weizhou to enter a state of combat readiness. He then sent elite troops to challenge the Houliang camp.

Dai Siyuan could not help but shout, "How quick the barbarians are!" Since Weizhou was already prepared, Dai Siyuan gave up the idea of ​​a strong attack. After looting Weizhou, he led his troops to make a detour and surrounded the northern city of Desheng. He dug several trenches around the city, built fortresses and enemy towers, cut off communication between the inside and the outside, and launched attacks day and night.

Li Cunshen resisted with all his might and sent a letter to Li Cunxu for help.

As soon as Li Cunxu drove away the Khitans, he marched south from Youzhou without stopping and arrived in Weizhou in five days.

When Dai Siyuan heard that Li Cunxu was coming to help, he immediately lifted the siege of Desheng North City, burned the camp, and returned to Yangcun.

Within two months, the Zhenzhou battlefield was the only one left of the three major battlefields. Li Cunxu arranged for the surrendered general Yan Bao to take command.

Yan Bao also adopted conventional siege tactics, digging trenches, building fortresses, besieging Zhenzhou City, and opening the river to flood Zhenzhou, completely cutting off internal and external traffic. Soon, the city ran out of food and grass.

It seems that the fall of Zhenzhou is imminent.

On this day, the city sent out 500 people to break out and go out of the city to look for food. Yan Bao was not satisfied with the boring siege and waiting, and wanted to show off and have some fun, so he ordered the 500 people to approach, intending to lure the enemy deep into the ambush circle, and then make dumplings in one fell swoop.

However, what Yan Bao did not expect was that after the 500 people successfully crossed the trench and approached the Hedong military camp, they actually took the initiative to attack the Hedong army.

However, Yan Bao still didn't take them seriously. After all, there were only 500 people, so he was half-hearted in commanding the response. Yan Bao was like a cat that caught a mouse. He would not rush to hunt it, but play for a while. When the King's game was thundering, he would switch to a small account to bully the bronze rookie.

Just when Yan Bao was having fun, thousands of people suddenly poured out of the city. The Hedong army, who were busy looking for fun, was caught off guard. Before they could finish assembling, thousands of soldiers and horses rushed over the trenches, destroyed the camp, and directly defeated Yan Bao. Yan Bao was so scared that he fled in a panic and fled all the way to Zhaozhou, a hundred miles away.

The Zhenzhou army destroyed all the Hedong camps outside the city and moved the food and fodder discarded by Yan Bao into the city, but it took them several days to finish moving.

Li Cunxu was furious and immediately dismissed Yan Bao from his post, ordering Li Sizhao to replace Yan Bao as the commander-in-chief of the Northern Army. Yan Bao became ill from shame and anger and died more than 20 days later.

After Li Sizhao took office, he planned a military operation to ambush the grain transport team in Zhenzhou. The 1,000-man team sent by Zhang Chujin was almost wiped out, with only five people hiding in the ruins. Li Sizhao personally rode a horse around them and shot at them, showing off his cool skills.

No zuo no die. This is what Yan Bao wanted to say to Li Sizhao.

One of them suddenly shot an arrow, blowing Li Sizhao's head off.

Li Sizhao performed a more courageous act than Xiahou Dun's "pulling out the arrow and eating the eye". He pulled out the arrow stuck in his head and shot back at the man. Everyone carried Li Sizhao back to the camp. That night, Li Sizhao died of his injuries due to ineffective medical treatment. When the bad news came, Li Cunxu was so sad that he did not eat meat or drink alcohol for several days.

The Hedong Army strictly blocked the news and was succeeded by his deputy Ren Yuan, whose combat style was exactly the same as Li Sizhao's. No one in Zhenzhou City knew about Li Sizhao's death.

Li Cunxu ordered Li Cunjin to succeed as the commander-in-chief of the Northern Army, replacing Li Sizhao.

The "Northern Recruiting Envoy" of the Hedong Group was a cursed position. Like Li Sizhao, Li Cunjin had just taken office when he encountered the Zhenzhou soldiers in the wild by accident. They fought a confused battle and the Zhenzhou Corps was completely wiped out, but Li Cunjin was unfortunately killed in action.

Zhenzhou, a place full of strange atmosphere. At that time, the Hedong Army had the strongest combat effectiveness, while the Zhenzhou Chengde Army was recognized as cowardly and incompetent.

Even when he had cooperated with the Hedong Army in combat before, he was deeply despised by the Hedong soldiers. He was never entrusted with important tasks, nor was his combat effectiveness taken into account.

However, when the powerful Hedong Army fought against the cowardly Chengde Army, famous Hedong generals fell one after another, including Shi Jiantang, Yan Bao, Li Sizhao, and Li Cunjin. It is really unbelievable.

Just like Afghanistan, the "graveyard of empires", the British Empire, the Russian Empire, and the Lighthouse Empire all invaded the region at the peak of their strength, but they all failed here and were dragged into the quagmire of war. The empires fell to the brink of collapse, and the Russian Empire disintegrated and collapsed completely. However, Afghanistan is still Afghanistan.

Li Cunxu then appointed Li Cunshen as the "Northern Recruiting Envoy" to replace Li Cunjin.

Zhenzhou was once again out of food, and Zhang Chujin sent envoys to seek peace. The Hedong army ignored him, and Li Cunshen's troops approached the city. Li Zaifeng, a general in the city, turned against the enemy and, as an insider, lowered a rope from the top of the city wall in the middle of the night for the Hedong army to climb up. By dawn, the Hedong army had already entered the city.

Zhang Chujin and his brothers, their families, and their closest confidants were all captured alive. The people of Zhenzhou petitioned collectively, requesting that they be eaten alive. Afterwards, Zhang Wenli's body was dragged to the streets of the downtown area and cut into pieces.

One of Wang Rong's former attendants found Wang Rong's body from the ashes of the palace, and Li Cunxu ordered a grand burial. Another record says that Wang Rong's body was separated from his head, and only the body was found, and the head was missing.

Zhenzhou was also pacified.

When Zhang Wenli rebelled, Wang Rong's entire family was killed, except for his youngest son, Wang Zhaohui, who was only ten years old at the time. He was secretly hidden by a general loyal to the Wang family and escaped the disaster. Later, he shaved his head, changed into monk's clothes, pretended to be a monk, and met a Hunan businessman named Li Zhen, who hid Wang Zhaohui in a tea cage and smuggled him out of the country. He successfully came to Hunan, became a monk in Nanyue Hengshan, changed his name to "Chongyin", and lived in seclusion from then on.

It has to be said that although Wang Rong is a descendant of the northern nomadic people (Uighur), after several generations of rich and graceful reproduction, some of his genes should have changed. Let's gossip about it:
Wang Rong was once held hostage by Li Kuangwei and forced to hand over the military and political power of Zhenzhou. The black man Mo Kunlun bravely rescued him. Mo Kunlun clamped Wang Rong under his armpits and climbed to the nearby roof. He used too much force, causing Wang Rong to have a headache and neck pain for several days. Wang Rong was already 20 years old at the time. A 20-year-old boy, being clamped under someone's armpits and climbing the roof... Even if Mo Kunlun was tall and strong, how tall could he be? It seems that Wang Rong should be relatively thin.

Wang Rong's youngest son, Wang Zhaohui, was stuffed into a tea cage when he was 10 years old. He evaded numerous checkpoints and successfully escaped to Hunan... A 10-year-old child was not much bigger than a tea can.

A few more words can be said about Wang Zhaohui. He was Li Cunxu's prospective son-in-law. In the fifth year of Kaiping (907), Li Cunxu met Wang Rong. During the banquet, Li Cunxu got drunk and not only sang for Wang Rong, but also cut off his sleeves, swore an alliance, and arranged a marriage for him, promising to marry his daughter to Wang Zhaohui... So the question is, Zhang Wenli's mutiny was in 921, and historical records show that Wang Zhaohui was 10 years old, so in 907, he was not yet born...

Don't pay attention to those details. Maybe he was not born at that time. Li Cunxu meant that when Wang Rong had another son, he would be my son-in-law. Or maybe he was already born at that time. That is to say, when Zhang Wenli rebelled, Wang Zhaohui was at least 14 years old. So a 14-year-old boy was stuffed into the tea cage...

Wang Zhaohui lived in Hunan under a pseudonym until the reign of Emperor Mingzong (Li Siyuan). At that time, Fu Xi was the governor of Xuanwu Army. Li Zhen brought the grown-up Wang Zhaohui to Fu Xi and asked, "General, do you still recognize him?"

When Fu Xi saw his former master, he burst into tears and immediately reported to the court. After Wang Zhaohui entered the court, he was always modest and prudent, and had no stains. Until more than 30 years later during the Xiande period of the Later Zhou Dynasty, Wang Zhaohui still served in the central court.

(End of this chapter)