History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 275 Left Hook

【Left hook】

I gave you a chance, but you didn’t use it.

Mutinies broke out in Zhenzhou and Dingzhou, and the Khitan invaded the south, forcing Li Cunxu to focus his main energy on the north. This was another great opportunity for the Later Liang to counterattack Heshuo.

Commander-in-chief Dai Siyuan took the opportunity to plunder the southern part of Weizhou, and Duan Ning, a member of the "foreign relatives gang", recovered Weizhou and other Weizhou territories. The power of the Later Liang Dynasty seemed to have bottomed out and rebounded with strong momentum. Many people expressed optimism about the development of the Later Liang Dynasty, such as Li Jitao, who rushed to the car and offered Luzhou.

The Khitan invaded on a large scale, Weizhou fell, Luzhou rebelled... Li Cunxu was at a loss.

The appearance of a person broke the suffocating situation. This person was simply Li Cunxu's angel sister. His name was Lu Shunmi, a general stationed in Yunzhou. He suddenly surrendered to Li Cunxu, sold out Yunzhou intelligence, and bluntly said that Yunzhou was empty and asked Li Cunxu to attack it quickly.

Why did Lu Shunmi rebel against Liang and surrender to Tang? This is another historical mystery that will never be solved. As for the reason for his rebellion, the history books do not give any valuable clues. If there is no conspiracy behind this, then I can only say that Lu Shunmi is a wise investment expert. When others were frantically reducing their positions and fleeing, he decisively increased his positions and got on board.

Perhaps even he himself did not expect that his surrender would push down the first domino, thereby triggering a series of chain reactions. Half a year later, this "bottoming out" company was completely delisted.

Lu Shunmi's surrender opened the way for Li Cunxu to launch the "Left Hook" military operation. The Later Tang army made a strategic detour, bypassing the iron-clad front along the river and directly attacking Bianzhou. This left a wonderful chapter in the military history of China and even the world. This is a later story.

Lu Shun secretly reported to Li Cunxu that the garrison of Yunzhou was less than a thousand people, and the generals were greedy and cruel, and had no support from the soldiers and the people, so he requested a quick attack.

Li Cunxu held a meeting to discuss the matter. The result was an almost unanimous vote against the proposal. Even his great strategist Guo Chongtao expressed his opposition, saying, "It is too dangerous to launch a surprise attack alone deep into enemy territory. If there is any mistake, the whole army will be annihilated. Moreover, Lu Shunmi's motives are questionable. What if he is pretending to surrender to lure the enemy?"

Guo Chongtao is to Li Cunxu as Gai Yu is to Li Keyong.

Li Cunxu was Li Cunxu after all. Li Keyong had lost the golden opportunity to conquer the Central Plains because he followed Gai Yu's advice. Li Cunxu was extremely courageous and brave. He withstood the huge pressure and decided to launch a surprise attack on Yunzhou despite the unanimous opposition of civil and military officials such as Guo Chongtao.

This is Li Cunxu's character.

Li Cunxu sought advice from Li Siyuan, saying that the Later Liang had just acquired Luzhou, and was concentrating on using the Anyi Army in Luzhou to march north to Taiyuan. They must have seriously neglected the defense in the east. If we can take Yunzhou, the situation will change greatly. The question is, is it possible for us to take Yunzhou?

This is a manifestation of Li Cunxu's political wisdom. He did not ask anyone else but Li Siyuan. He firmly believed that Li Siyuan would not only support his suggestion, but would also volunteer to serve as the vanguard of the attack on Yunzhou.

Why? It was because during the Battle of Huliupi, the "Crossing the Yellow River to the North" incident occurred. It was a serious political incident, and Li Siyuan could not wash away the charge of "rebellion". If it were not for the great contribution of his adopted son Li Congke, Li Siyuan would have been beheaded in public.

Since that incident, Li Siyuan has been marginalized and isolated internally, and is eager to find an opportunity to make meritorious contributions and make amends.

Now, everyone opposed Li Cunxu's plan to attack Yunzhou. Li Cunxu sought advice from Li Siyuan, who had a tainted reputation for treason, and said, "Yunzhou is dangerous and critical. Tell me, who should be given this glorious and arduous mission?"

Who else could it be? Of course it’s me!

Li Siyuan immediately expressed his opinion, "I am willing! As long as it is beneficial to the country, I will go through fire and water and die without hesitation!"

"Okay!" Li Cunxu allocated 5,000 elite cavalry and handed them over to Li Siyuan for command. "The rise and fall of the empire depends on this battle. Only victory is allowed, not failure!"

The battle of Yunzhou was related to Li Siyuan's personal honor and disgrace, and even more so to the life and death of the Later Tang Empire.

Knowing shame will lead to courage, and the army of grief will win. Li Siyuan did not dare to neglect it, and set out from Desheng Jiacheng and arrived at Yangliu that night.

Night had fallen and it began to rain again. The soldiers were exhausted and unwilling to move forward. Gao Xingzhou, a favorite general under Li Siyuan, encouraged them, saying, "God is helping us! In this weather, the enemy will not be on guard. Let's go!" Five thousand cavalry crossed the river in the rain overnight and rushed directly to the city of Yunzhou.

As expected, Yunzhou City was not on guard, without even a sentry post.

Li Siyuan's adopted son Li Congke led the way and was the first to climb the city wall. He killed the soldiers guarding the city with a sword, and then opened the city gate to let the Later Tang army enter the city.

The Later Tang cavalry descended from the sky and plunged Yunzhou city into chaos.

After a night of fighting, Yunzhou fell when the sun rose the next morning. Li Siyuan entered the city to take over and captured Cui Li, the deputy envoy and acting governor of Yunzhou Tianping Army appointed by the Later Liang Dynasty, and others alive, and sent people to escort them to Weizhou to report his achievement.

That night, Li Cunxu tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. After receiving the victory report, he excitedly said: "Li Siyuan is really a genius. With him, I can accomplish great things!" He immediately issued an edict to appoint Li Siyuan as the governor of Tianping Army in Yunzhou. He also sent people to contact Huainan to inform them that Yunzhou had been conquered, and requested that the two sides attack Houliang from the north and south.

Huainan weighed the pros and cons and did not want to be involved in the war between Later Liang and Later Tang, so he refused the "choose one of the two" option.

When the news of Yunzhou's sudden fall reached Bianzhou, Zhu Youzhen was horrified and immediately beheaded the Yunzhou generals who had fled back to Bianzhou. At the same time, he dismissed the commander-in-chief Dai Siyuan and demoted him to the position of the commander of the Xuanhua Army in Dengzhou. He also sent envoys to the front line to severely reprimand the front-line generals Duan Ning, "Wang Tieqiang" Wang Yanzhang and others, "What are you doing? Attack quickly!"

Zhu Youzhen was completely confused.

Jing Xiang couldn't stand it any longer, so he stepped forward and openly challenged the "foreign relatives gang" and threatened to commit suicide, asking Zhu Youzhen to let Wang Yanzhang take charge.

Zhu Youzhen summoned Wang Yanzhang to interview the new commander and asked him the date of defeating the enemy.

Wang Yanzhang was confident and blurted out, "Three days!"

Before he finished speaking, the attendants around Zhu Youzhen couldn't help laughing. Defeat the enemy in three days? Wang Yanzhang, you are really joking. From Bianzhou to Huazhou, the straight-line distance on the map is 170 miles. It takes more than a day for Wang Yanzhang to walk from the palace to the front-line base camp, assemble the army, mobilize the deployment, dispatch logistics, and make plans... Defeat the enemy in three days? Wang Yanzhang, you just say it? Wang Yanzhang, you are so bold to say it, and Your Majesty is so bold to believe it!

No one believed what Wang Yanzhang said.

Zhu Youzhen didn't believe it either, but he was desperate and had no choice but to try anything.

Wang Yanzhang set a flag in front of Zhu Youzhen to "defeat the enemy in three days". Is this "Wang Tieqiang" a showman or a fool? Can the Later Liang Empire be saved?

(End of this chapter)