History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 278: Relatives from the outside ruin Liang 3: Kang Yanxiao betrays his country

[Foreign relatives slander Liang 3 Kang Yanxiao betrays his country]

This four-pronged counterattack plan not only made Zhu Youzhen like it and pin it to the top, but also made Li Cunxu feel chills down his spine:
Western Route: Dong Zhang led his army northward from Luzhou, aiming for Taiyuan Prefecture;

North Route: "One-eyed General" Huo Yanwei led his troops northward from Wei Bo, aiming for Zhenzhou;

Eastern Route: "Wang Tieqiang" Wang Yanzhang led his troops to station at the borders of Yanzhou and Yunzhou, aiming at Yunzhou;
Middle route: Duan Ning led the main force from Yangcun to attack Deshengdu and tie down Li Cunxu's main force.

It is grand and ambitious.

Huo Yanwei, the adopted son of the famous general Huo Cun, had been on the expedition with the army at the age of 14 and had made many military achievements. He was once shot blind in one eye by a stray arrow in battle, becoming the "one-eyed general". He participated in the operation to kill Zhu Yougui;

Duan Ning's deputy is Longxiang Army commander Du Yanqiu, who was involved in the "Li Ba Mutiny" incident and led the Longxiang Army cavalry to quell the rebellion;

Although Wang Yanzhang was assigned to the Yunzhou front, he was under the surveillance of Zhang Hanjie, the leader of the "foreign relatives gang", who personally served as the military supervisor.

It is not difficult to see that Zhu Youzhen's court was still nepotistic, and the army was almost controlled by the "foreign relatives gang". The "foreign relatives gang" adhered to all the traditions of usurping power: they were amateurs in foreign wars but experts in civil wars, brave in private fights but timid in public wars. They did not seek to defeat Li Cunxu, but only to control Zhu Youzhen.

When the army was gathering, Kang Yanxiao, the vanguard officer under Duan Ning, led more than one hundred cavalrymen to defect to the Later Tang.

Kang Yanxiao was a Hu man (Sogdian) from the northern Dai area. He was a soldier under Li Keyong in the past. Later, he violated military law and fled for fear of punishment. He defected to Zhu Wen in Bianzhou. He was promoted from a soldier to an officer. He was currently the right vanguard commander under Duan Ning. When Li Siyuan conquered Yunzhou, Kang Yanxiao sent someone to contact him secretly, expressing his willingness to surrender to Hedong.

Now, the main forces of the two armies were gathering and the battle was imminent. Kang Yanxiao took the opportunity to desert and defect to the Later Tang. Li Cunxu warmly welcomed him, took off his imperial robe in front of him, gave him rewards, and gave him the official title of Governor of Bozhou and the commander-in-chief of the expedition against the Later Liang (the commander-in-chief of the southern expedition).

Kang Yanxiao not only leaked the military secrets of Duan Ning's four-pronged counterattack to Li Cunxu, but also offered a strategy to destroy Liang: the left hook.

Li Cunxu dismissed the idlers around him and asked him why he rebelled against Liang and surrendered to Tang.

This is an easy question. The answer is of course something like "Later Liang will not last long" and "Later Tang will surely win".

Kang Yanxiao answered very sincerely, saying that although the Later Liang Dynasty had vast territory, elite soldiers and sufficient food, their monarch was incompetent and treacherous officials were in power, especially the "foreign relatives gang" who usurped power and harmed the country, sold official positions, and took bribes and perverted the law. The appointment and removal of officials depended entirely on the amount of bribes, not on their character, talent, merits and achievements. For example, Duan Ning had neither decisiveness nor courage, but he was above Wang Yanzhang and Huo Yanwei. Moreover, since Duan Ning took command, he only knew how to withhold military pay and exploit soldiers. The same was true for other armies. The commanders were in name only and were completely strictly supervised by the "foreign relatives gang". Even talented people, such as Wang Yanzhang, were controlled by the "foreign relatives gang" in every move and every word, and could not display their talents at all. Therefore, the Later Liang Dynasty must perish!

Li Cunxu nodded repeatedly, "That makes sense. I love to hear that."

Afterwards, Kang Yanxiao revealed Duan Ning's plan for a four-pronged counterattack, which shocked Li Cunxu.

"What can I do?"

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I have a solution."

Kang Yanxiao's suggestion was to give Duan Ning a break and trade time for space. You can come from several directions, but I will only go one way. The Later Liang had the advantage in numbers, and a direct confrontation with them would be disadvantageous to the Later Tang. Therefore, they should conserve their strength and wait for Duan Ning to launch his four-way counterattack. After the four-way army attacked separately, they should send 5,000 elite cavalry from Yunzhou to Bianzhou to launch a "decapitation battle" and capture Zhu Youzhen alive. Within ten days or half a month, the world could be settled.

Li Cunxu was overjoyed, "That's it!"

Since Wang Yanzhang attacked Deshengjiacheng, the Later Tang lost millions of shi of grain and grass. Duan Ning pushed the main force eastward and plundered the areas west of Chanzhou and south of Xiangzhou every day, which made the Later Tang army's military supply reserves seriously insufficient. Kong Qian, the deputy minister of logistics of the Later Tang, imposed heavy taxes to supply military supplies, which led to a large number of people in Heshuo fleeing, further exacerbating the fiscal deficit. The existing military food was not enough for half a year. Under the instigation of Lu Wenjin and Wang Yu, the Khitan army repeatedly went south and went deep into Hebei to plunder. There were rumors that when winter came and the grass dried up, the Khitans would go deeper to plunder in the south.

Accurate intelligence indicates that the plan of the Later Liang "Four-Way Counterattack" is scheduled to be implemented in October this year...

Facing the tense atmosphere, Li Cunxu convened a military meeting to discuss the next response measures. At the meeting, most civil and military officials were pessimistic and advocated reconciliation. In particular, Li Shaohong, a eunuch whom Li Cunxu trusted very much (it was a great honor to be named "Li Shao X" by Li Cunxu, which shows how favored this eunuch was), proposed to abandon Yunzhou and divide the river to govern.

He believed that Yunzhou was isolated in the enemy's hinterland, which would bring more harm than good. It would be better to exchange Yunzhou for Weizhou and sign a friendly agreement with Houliang, agreeing to use the Yellow River as the boundary and govern the country accordingly.

Li Cunxu glanced at everyone in disappointment, "If this is the case, I will die without a burial place!"

During the meeting, Guo Chongtao had a gloomy face and said nothing. After the meeting, Li Cunxu asked Guo Chongtao to stay and the two of them had a private talk.

Guo Chongtao said: "Your Majesty has not combed your hair or taken off your armor for sixteen years! What do you want? Now, Your Majesty has just ascended the throne in accordance with the will of heaven and the people. The people of Hebei are looking forward to world peace day and night, but you have just obtained a few inches of land in Yunzhou, but you can't defend it. What are you talking about the entire Central Plains? Once you give up Yunzhou, the morale of the army will be shaken, the people will be scattered, the army will disintegrate, and the consequences will be disastrous!"

Li Cunxu nodded with relief. "Now that you say that, I feel relieved. What Shaohong and the others said just now really disappointed me!"

The emperor and his ministers had the same opinion. The Later Liang Dynasty opened the Yellow River, thinking that it could use the "protective water" to block the advance of the Later Tang Dynasty. Therefore, the rear guard was extremely loose, and all its elite forces were concentrated in Duan Ning's hands. Now, Duan Ning has transferred all the elites of the Later Liang Dynasty to the north of the Yellow River, ready to continue to move north. Once their plan is implemented, the rear must be very empty. Duan Ning is not a great general at all, and he has no response to sudden changes, so he is not worth worrying about. The empty Bianzhou can't withstand any disturbances, and it will automatically collapse at the slightest change. The "left hook" operation will definitely have a miraculous effect.

However, the "Left Hook" operation would also put the Later Tang in great danger. Once the advance was blocked and the decapitation goal of the surprise attack on Bianzhou was not achieved, the Later Tang's own base camp Taiyuan would be destroyed by the Later Liang.

It’s like the five opponents are destroying our highland tower, and we have to rush straight to the enemy crystal under the leadership of Liu Chan.

This is a gamble. The winner takes over the world, while the loser kills his entire family.

Finally, Guo Chongtao reminded: "This autumn's harvest is poor and our military rations are about to run out. Your Majesty must make a decision immediately and stop hesitating!"

Li Cunxu was full of fighting spirit, "That's exactly what I want! A man's success depends on whether he is a king or a bandit. Life or death depends on this one move!" He then ordered the entire army to mobilize.

At this time, the Observatory (Sitianjian) reported that observing the sky at night and calculating with fingers was not conducive to penetrating deep into enemy territory, and hoped that Your Majesty would reconsider.

Li Cunxu replied domineeringly: Go to hell with Si Tianjian!
Wang Yanzhang's vanguard troops made a tentative attack on Yunzhou, but were defeated by Li Congke, the adopted son of Li Siyuan, who killed 200 people and captured 300. Wang Yanzhang retreated to Zhongdu (now Wenshang County, Shandong Province, between Yunzhou and Yanzhou).

Li Cunxu said to Guo Chongtao with satisfaction: "We have received victory news before we even set out. This is a good sign, a good sign." Taking advantage of the high morale, Li Cunxu finally gave the order to start the "Left Hook" operation.

(End of this chapter)