History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 392 Xu Wen's Efforts

Xu Wen was a calm hunter, bold and careful, and he set his sights on the regional powder keg, Jingnan, and his first step was to occupy the strategic location, Yuezhou (Ma Yin's jurisdiction).

Chen Zhang launched a blitzkrieg against Yuezhou and captured it in one fell swoop. He then continued upstream and attacked Jingnan.

Ma Yin immediately sent a surface force to reinforce, and Huainan also sent a brave general, Liu Xin, to lead a large force to station in Jizhou to support Chen Zhang. Chen Zhang's attack on Jingnan attracted everyone's attention.

However, what Chen Zhang never expected was that earlier this year, Gao Jichuang of Jingnan rushed to repair the defensive fortifications of Jiangling City, expanded the outer city, built the Xiongchu Tower and the Wangjiang Tower, and more than 100,000 laborers were conscripted. After the completion of the project, although Jiangling City had no strategic depth, it was indeed a tough nut to crack. This was Gao Jichuang's capital to dominate Jingnan.

With the upgraded defense of Jiangling Prefecture, Gao Jichang attacked Guizhou and Xiazhou under the jurisdiction of Former Shu in the west this year, but was educated by Wang Zongshou and became a better man. He then raised the banner of attacking Li Cunxu in Hedong in the north, carried out a strategy of destroying Guo by a false route, and attacked Kong Xing in Shannan East Road of Xiangzhou, but was pinned to the ground by Kong Xing.

Gao Jichang had no place to vent his newly aroused ambition, and Chen Zhang came to him at this time without any hesitation.

Gao Jichang gave face to Chen Zhang and sent the best general in Jingnan, Ni Kefu, to lead the navy to meet Chen Zhang.

If there is a ranking of five generations of famous generals, Ni Kefu should barely squeeze into the first echelon, and conservatively speaking, he should be one of the best among the second-rate generals; while Chen Zhang is outside the fourth rate, an eighteen-tier general.

Chen Zhang was originally just a low-ranking officer, a company-level cadre, who made great contributions in the "Xu-Xu Rebellion" and was awarded the title of Governor of Quzhou. Later, he secretly colluded with Huainan and eventually defected to Huainan. Therefore, Chen Zhang's ability could not be ranked as a third-rate level, but should be said to be a middle-fourth-rate level.

Xu Wen had his reasons for assigning Chen Zhang to take on such an important task. Liu Wei, Li Jian, Tao Ya and others could not be used. Although they had expressed their recognition of Xu Wen's ruling status, they were famous and meritorious old ministers. They could only be suppressed and excluded. How could they make new contributions? It was even more impossible for them to lead a large army deep into the enemy's territory.

Chen Zhang, who was born as a rebel general and has average ability, is the new generation who is trustworthy and worthy of promotion.

The defense upgrade of Jiangling City has exceeded Chen Zhang's expectations, and Ni Kefu's bravery is even more unexpected. So Chen Zhang made the right decision - run!

Do you think this is a public toilet? You can come and go as you please?
Gao Jichang requested Ma Yin for a joint operation, asking Ma Yin to set up an ambush and intercept Chen Zhang on his way back, and to recapture Yuezhou at the same time.

Chen Zhang was no novice when it came to escaping. He linked 200 ships end to end, forming a line, and then traveled day and night. Ma Yin could not catch up with him, and Chen Zhang successfully escaped back to Huainan.

Xu Wen sent Chen Zhang to invade southern Jing, most likely as a tentative attack, in order to achieve the effect of stirring up a thousand waves with one stone, and to stir up political turmoil with military conflict. The effect he wanted was achieved:

Jingnan Gao Jichang also had a clearer understanding of this neighbor to the east. After suffering an unprovoked invasion from Huainan, he took the initiative to show goodwill to Huainan, flirting with each other. As mentioned earlier, Gao Jichang later simply became a vassal of Huainan.

Ma Yin also had to redefine his strategic enemies and re-examine the power of Huainan. After this battle, Ma Yin sent Yao Yanzhang to besiege Ezhou under the jurisdiction of Huainan as a response to Huainan's invasion of Yuezhou. When Huainan sent troops to support them, the Chu army retreated.

Afterwards, Ma Yin readily agreed to the marriage proposal from Guangzhou Liu Yan and formed an alliance with him to consolidate his relationship.

These two things are enough to illustrate Ma Yin’s emphasis on Huainan’s power and his concerns about himself.

This was the small ripple caused by Xu Wen's dispatch of troops to Jingnan, and it was also the political effect Xu Wen wanted to achieve. Military is the continuation of politics, and qualified politicians will use military actions to cash in on political interests, rather than using political resources to cover up military actions.

After a dynamic balance was formed on the western front, Xu Wen once again turned his attention to Qian Liu in the east. In March of the second year of Qianhua (912), Huainan sent Li Tao to lead 3 troops out of Qianqiu Ridge and headed straight for Hangzhou. Qian Liu ordered his beloved sons Qian Yuanliang and Qian Yuanguan to go to the rescue.

Qian Yuanlang captured more than 3,000 Huainan soldiers and generals, and Qian Yuanguan captured more than 8,000 people including the chief general Li Tao. In this battle, more than half of the people were captured alive.

At this time, the emperor of Later Liang had just been replaced by Zhu Youzhen. When the good news came, Zhu Youzhen was overjoyed and immediately increased Qian Liu's fief by 3,000 households and his actual fiefdom by 200 households.

Although the regime of Later Liang changed from Zhu Wen to Zhu Yougui and then to Zhu Youzhen, its policy towards the Jianghuai region remained consistent, that is, the enemy in Huainan is my friend.

Huainan refused to surrender and launched a comeback, with Hangzhou as its target. Qian Liu sent Qian Yuanguan to fight against them, and they won a great victory again, capturing more than 7,000 Huainan soldiers alive.

Huainan's two failed attacks on Hangzhou led to a counterattack by Qian Liu, who sent his three sons, Qian Yuanlang, Qian Yuanguan and Qian Chuanying, to attack Changzhou under Huainan's rule.

The Huainan troops had suffered two defeats in less than half a year and were already suffering from "Hangzhou phobia". However, Xu Wen said calmly: "The Zhejiang people are timid and cowardly, and are easy to defeat." He then led the army in person, galloping twice as fast, and together with the deputy general Chen You, they attacked the Hangzhou troops from front and back, "killing many of them".

The two Jianghuai giants are equally powerful. The three exploratory attacks illustrate a truth: both sides are good at defense but not good at attack. Without the intervention of external forces, it is difficult to gain substantial advantages on the front battlefield.

Qian Liu was very depressed. "Let's not add troops one by one. Are you here to watch the show? Let's attack together!"

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen of Later Liang sent Wang Maozhang to lead an army of 10,000 to attack Huai.

Wang Maozhang was originally a general of Huainan. He once defeated Zhu Wen's army with a small force and killed Zhu Wen's beloved nephew Zhu Youning. He was forced to surrender to Qian Liu because of being excluded by Yang Wo. When Qian Liu surrendered to the Later Liang Dynasty, Zhu Wen specifically asked for Wang Maozhang. Zhu Wen asked for Wang Maozhang not to avenge the killing of his nephew, but to use talents without regard for suspicion and to appreciate this talented general with courage and strategy.

This battle has been described in detail in the previous article. When Wang Maozhang invaded Luzhou and Shouzhou, Xu Wen personally led his troops to fight and defeated the larger force with a smaller one.

Afterwards, the governor of Yuanzhou, which was under the jurisdiction of Huainan, rebelled and joined Ma Yin of Tanzhou. Xu Wen sent Chai Zaiyong and Mi Zhicheng to suppress the rebellion. After more than a month, they finally drove away the Chu troops and saved Yuanzhou.

The battle on the Jianghuai battlefield was very strange and interesting. All the parties involved were extremely cautious. After unfolding the map and marking the timeline, they found that Huainan and its neighbors had been at war for the past two years, but they were all afraid of wolves in front and tigers behind, and they fought timidly and only launched tentative attacks.

The increasingly declining central court of the Later Liang Dynasty lost its absolute leadership and was unable to organize an effective joint military operation. Tanzhou, Hangzhou and other places fought on their own and lacked unified command, and were unable to pose a fatal threat to Huainan.

Of course, there were also some calculations by the Later Liang court. Because its own strength was not enough to be in an absolute leadership position, it was unwilling to see Huainan being completely destroyed at this time, otherwise it would feed the forces of Hangzhou, Tanzhou and others.

What the Later Liang central court needed was to let them fight each other and damage each other so that the Later Liang could reap the benefits.

Just when the Later Liang was making its own wishful thinking, its own Xuzhou Jiedushi Wang Yin rebelled and joined Huainan. Xu Wen sent "pig-killing vanguard" Zhu Jin to cross the Huaibei River, but was defeated by Niu Cunjie and Liu Xun and returned empty-handed. Wang Yin was defeated and burned himself, and the small Xuzhou did not cause much turmoil, because the rebellion in Xuzhou was expected by Zhu Youzhen, as detailed in the previous article.

In this way, the Jianghuai region returned to silence and everything returned to normal.

(End of this chapter)