History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 285 Weird War

[Strange War]

After a brief period of operation in Bianzhou, Li Cunxu arrived in Luoyang in December, and in February of the following year (the second year of Tongguang, 12), "he had something to do in the southern suburbs."

Interestingly, the utensils used in this suburban ceremony were carefully prepared by Zhu Youzhen. It was December of the third year of Zhenming (917). Zhu Youzhen planned to have something to do in the southern suburbs when the New Year came. As a result, Yangliu was lost, and rumors spread that the Hedong army was approaching Bianzhou. The whole court was terrified, so they hurried back to Bianzhou. Everyone returned, but the complete set of items prepared were left in Luoyang. So Li Cunxu made use of the waste.

All officials congratulated, and Prime Minister Douluoge led all officials to present Li Cunxu with the title: Emperor Zhaowen Ruiwu Zhide Guangxiao.

After the Later Tang replaced the Later Liang, local vassal states expressed congratulations and recognized the legitimacy of the Later Tang regime. Among them were vassal states that had previously paid tribute to the Later Liang, such as Ma Yin, Gao Jichang, and Qian Liu, as well as those that did not recognize the Later Liang, such as Huainan, Fengxiang, and Southern Han.

It is worth mentioning that except for the weakest Fengxiang Li Maozhen who surrendered to the Later Tang, Huainan, Former Shu and Southern Han only expressed friendship and peace to the Later Tang instead of surrendering to it and insisting on the equality of the two countries.

Li Cunxu sent a letter to Huainan to inform them of the destruction of Liang. Huainan refused to sign it because Huainan had not yet pledged loyalty to the Later Tang Dynasty and was not qualified to "issue an edict to us". Therefore, Li Cunxu had to use equal diplomatic etiquette and submit a letter, saying "The Emperor of the Great Tang Dynasty wrote to the Lord of Wu". Huainan's reply said "The Lord of the Great Wu Dynasty wrote to the Emperor of the Great Tang Dynasty".
King Yan of Former Shu sent envoys to pay tribute, saying "The Emperor of Great Shu wrote to the Emperor of Great Tang";
Liu Yan of Southern Han sent an envoy to pay tribute, stating that "the King of the Great Han Dynasty writes to the Emperor of the Great Tang Dynasty."

In short, all the "Ten Kingdoms" that have declared themselves emperors or are about to declare themselves emperors have resolutely defended their sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. The Later Liang is not our suzerain, nor is the Later Tang; the Zhu family is not our master, and neither are you. Let's keep our distance and live in peace.

At the same time, envoys from Silla, Xi, Bohai, Uighur, Heishui, Turkic, Tangut, and Jurchen came one after another to pay tribute and congratulate. Most of them paid tribute several times over a period of more than a year, taking great pains to do so.

The reason is simple. The Later Tang Dynasty had just pacified the world and was in urgent need of widespread recognition. This was a good time to "buy goods" at the bottom.

The Khitan, an old friend of the Shatuo people, was also unwilling to be left out and also sent envoys to express congratulations as soon as possible. However, the Khitan's congratulations were the most special because in addition to presenting gifts to express friendship, they also made a small request: please cede your country's Youzhou.

-Cede land? Sorry, we in the Central Plains really can't understand the humor of you nomadic barbarians.

——Okay, then we will use force to make you understand better.

The Khitans once again invaded the south, attacking northern territories such as Youzhou and Weizhou, and their troops once penetrated as far as Yizhou and Dingzhou.

Li Cunxu ordered Li Siyuan to take command, with the surrendered general Huo Yanwei as his deputy, and they marched to Youzhou.

This war between Later Tang and Khitan was extremely strange.

Li Siyuan led the expedition, but within 10 days, he received a report that the Khitans had voluntarily withdrawn from the border and returned to the outer frontier. So the emperor ordered Li Siyuan to return. The two armies did not even meet, and the battles ceased, just thunder without rain.

Just two months later, Zhenzhou reported that the Khitans had come again. Li Cunxu ordered Li Siyuan to station in Xingzhou and ordered Li Congke and Zhao Dejun to lead cavalry patrols and guards.

This time, the Heshuo region was covered with dark clouds. Li Siyuan and his adopted son Li Congke were sharpening their knives, ready to make another great contribution to the empire.

However, the Khitans attacked the Lulong Army in Youzhou to the east and deployed troops outside Youzhou. The Khitan cavalry were everywhere in the mountains and plains, and there was no end in sight. Soon after, the Khitan army launched an attack on Youzhou.

Li Cunxu gave Li Siyuan 37,000 imperial guards and ordered him to go north to resist the Khitan. Although the Khitan launched the war for the cession of Youzhou, and the large army also approached the city of Youzhou and launched a tentative attack. But occupying Youzhou was not the real demand of the Khitan. This is the weird part of this war.

The Khitans made full use of the mobility advantage of cavalry warfare and galloped across the vast northern border of the empire. From Youzhou in the east to Taiyuan in the west, all places were targets of Khitan guerrilla harassment. Whenever the Later Tang army arrived, the Khitans would quickly move, coming and going without a trace. Youzhou, Zhenzhou, and Taiyuan successively reported that they had been attacked.

In addition to the old-fashioned reasons - the Khitans were not prepared to annex the Central Plains, nor did they have the strength to do so, so looting was their main purpose, plundering strategic resources such as money, food, and population.

Another reason is that Khitan was facing "external troubles".

First is the Bohai Kingdom. The Bohai Kingdom is located in today's Northeast China, the northeast of the Korean Peninsula, and the Russian Far East, east of the Khitan sphere of influence. Yelu Abaoji was a man of great talent and strategy. He realized that the existence of the Bohai Kingdom was an obstacle to his southward invasion of the Central Plains. Once the Khitan penetrated into the Central Plains, the Bohai Kingdom would threaten the Khitan's rear.

If you want to destroy the Central Plains, you must first destroy Bohai. This is Yelu Abaoji's grand strategy.

The Bohai Kingdom was the real intention of the Khitan, and the harassment of Youzhou and other places was actually Yelu Abaoji's test and containment of the Central Plains.

Therefore, once the main force from the Central Plains moved north, the Khitan army would retreat without a fight to preserve its strength and harass the Heshuo and Hedong regions to the west in order to disperse the Later Tang's reinforcements to Youzhou.

Use Youzhou to contain the Later Tang Dynasty, and use Hedong and Heshuo to contain Youzhou. This is Yelu Abaoji's big chess game, and it is also the essential logic of the strange appearance of this war.

Secondly, there was a small accident that Yelu Abaoji had not anticipated - the Jurchens, Uighurs, and Yellow-headed Shiwei united to launch an attack on the Khitan.

The Khitans attacked Youzhou with half-hearted intentions, and the Later Tang rescued Youzhou with half-hearted intentions. Both sides contributed to the weirdness of this war.

Why did the Later Tang Dynasty hesitate? Because there was trouble in Luzhou again.

When the Later Liang Dynasty fell, the most fearful vassal state in the world must have been Luzhou.

After the famous Hedong general Li Sizhao was killed in the battle of Zhenzhou, his second son Li Jitao and his brothers launched a mutiny, imprisoned Li Sizhao's eldest son Li Jichou, and asked to be the governor of Luzhou. At that time, Li Cunxu was facing enemies on three sides, so he gave in to Luzhou and appointed Li Jitao as the governor of Luzhou Anyi Army.

Afterwards, Li Jitao conspired with his younger brother Li Jiyuan and others, believing that Li Cunxu would have difficulty escaping and would be defeated by Later Liang. So they rebelled against Jin and surrendered to Liang, and took the land of Luzhou to pay tribute to Later Liang. He was appointed as the governor of Luzhou by Zhu Youzhen and was given the title of prime minister.

Luzhou was the southern gate of Taiyuan. Li Jitao's betrayal opened the gate of Taiyuan and the heart of Hedong was completely exposed to the enemy's guns. Therefore, the Later Liang Dynasty formulated a four-way counterattack military plan to eliminate Li Cunxu of Hedong in one fell swoop.

If there had not been a traitor named Kang Yanxiao in Later Liang, who leaked all military secrets and offered the "left hook" strategy to pacify Liang, history would most likely have been rewritten this year, and a completely opposite script would have been presented. History cannot be assumed, but we can fantasize about it: the main force of Later Liang used Luzhou as a springboard, "straight punched" the enemy, and approached the city of Taiyuan. Li Cunxu's entire family burned themselves to death, and all civil and military officials surrendered and asked for amnesty. Li Cunxu was killed by his subordinates on the front line along the river, and his head was sent to Bianzhou to report the achievement... Perhaps Daliang could have held on until the appearance of the Mongolian cavalry.

In short, Li Jitao was definitely the number one traitor of the Later Tang Dynasty, and his crime was unforgivable. Li Jitao knew this very well, and when the news of the Later Tang Dynasty's destruction of Liang came, Li Jitao was uneasy. After careful consideration, Li Jitao resolutely embarked on the path of becoming a traitor.

(End of this chapter)