History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 400: Wolf Mountain-Wuxi Battle
Half a year after taking Qianzhou, Ma Yin attacked Gao Jichang in Jingnan. Gao Jichang asked Huainan for help. Liu Xin led the army and attacked Tanzhou directly. Ma Yin immediately relieved the siege and returned.

After that, Liu Xin became arrogant and looked down on others, thinking that he was the best general in the world and could be compared with Han Xin. If he didn't have any balls, he would be so powerful.

After Li Cunxu destroyed the Later Liang, he sent the counselor Xue Zhaowen to visit Huainan. When passing through Hongzhou, Liu Xin hosted a banquet for him. During the banquet, Liu Xin, drunk, pointed his thumb at his nose and asked Xue Zhaowen: "Does the emperor of the Central Plains know me, Liu Xin?"

Xue Zhaowen replied: "My lord is in Xinping, Henan, and I don't know your name."

"Humph..." Liu Xin curled his lips and grinned, "Liu Xin of Huainan is the same as Han Xin of the Han Dynasty. Go back and tell your emperor to come to Huainan. He doesn't know me, so I'll let him know me!"

Then, Liu Xin pointed to the top of the Yaqi flagpole a hundred steps away, held up a glass of wine, and said: "If I can hit it with one arrow, please drink this glass." After that, he bent the bow and shot the arrow.

Liu Xin's move was extremely inappropriate and violated diplomatic etiquette. It should be said that it was a serious diplomatic incident.

Xu Wen was indeed not very confident about Liu Xin. When the Later Tang Dynasty attacked Shu, Xu Wen promoted Liu Xin in name only and demoted him in reality. He recruited Liu Xin to the "central government" and appointed him as the general of the imperial guards. In name, he was needed to protect the core area, but in reality he was transferred from the strategic city of Hongzhou to prevent him from taking advantage of the chaos in the Central Plains to establish his own regime.

In order to enhance his own authority, Xu Wen constantly encouraged Yang Wei to become emperor. Otherwise, Yang Wei's official title would always be "Jiedushi", and Xu Wen and his subordinates would be subordinates of the "Jiedushi".

In April of the fifth year of Zhenming (919), Xu Wen led the civil and military officials and local generals to force Yang Wei to proclaim himself emperor again. Under pressure, Yang Wei ascended the throne, but did not proclaim himself emperor, only the King of Wu. He granted amnesty and changed the reign title from "the sixteenth year of Tianyou" to "the first year of Wuyi". He built the royal ancestral temple according to the convention, conferred the title of king on Yang Xingmi and Yang Wo, appointed civil and military officials, and set up palaces, cultural relics, and ceremonial etiquette in accordance with the standards of the emperor.

"Southern Wu", one of the "Ten Kingdoms", was officially established.

Therefore, Xu Wen was appointed as the Prime Minister (the highest rank among prime ministers), Commander-in-Chief of all military forces at home and abroad, Commander-in-Chief of all provinces (these two official positions are the chairmen of the National Supreme Military Committee, in charge of the national army), Jiedushi of Shengzhou Zhenhai Army and Xuanzhou Ningguo Army (the two main vassal states of Huainan forces), Guardian of the Grand Marshal, and concurrently the Minister of the Central Secretariat, and was granted the title of Prince of Donghai County.

This was the main reason why Xu Wen forced Yang Wei to become emperor, in the name of enhancing Yang Wei's political status, but in reality it was to enhance his own power.

After the Huainan forces annexed Qianzhou, they completely cut off Qian Liu's land connection with the Central Plains dynasty. Later Liang ordered Qian Liu to send troops to conquer Huai.

Opening up land transportation lines was also what Qian Liu urgently needed, so he gladly obeyed the imperial edict and sent his son Qian Yuanguan to lead 500 warships to launch an attack on Huainan.

Xu Wen sent Peng Yanzhang and Chen Fen to stop them. The two sides met at Langshan on the Yangtze River, and the "Battle of Langshan" broke out.

This encounter was very interesting. Qian Yuanguan asked each warship to carry a sufficient amount of grass ash, sand and beans.

After the battle started, Huainan sailed downwind, Qian Yuanguan ordered to evade, and soon the two sides exchanged positions, Qian Yuanguan occupied the upper wind, and Huainan navy sailed against the wind. Afterwards, Qian Yuanguan ordered to throw grass ash, and the Huainan soldiers dared not open their eyes and rubbed their eyes collectively.

Qian Yuanguan ordered to sprinkle sand on our ships, and when the two armies' ships approached, he ordered to sprinkle beans on the Huainan ships. All the Huainan soldiers slipped and could not stand. Qian Yuanguan also ordered to set fire, and the Huainan navy was defeated.

Peng Yanzhang fought desperately, and his sword was cut off. So he grabbed the wooden stick beside him as a weapon and continued to resist. He was seriously injured in more than a dozen places and bled profusely. But Chen Fen did not move his troops and watched him die without helping. Peng Yanzhang finally committed suicide and died for his country, preferring to die rather than be captured. In the battle of Langshan, Qian Yuanguan captured 70 Huainan generals, killed more than 1,000 soldiers, and burned 400 Huainan warships.

Xu Wen beheaded Chen Fen and confiscated all his property (half of which was given to Peng Yanzhang's family), and made his wife and children slaves. He also allocated special funds to support Peng Yanzhang's family.

Afterwards, Qian Yuanguan led an army of 30,000 and took advantage of the victory to attack Changzhou under the jurisdiction of Huainan.

Xu Wen personally led the main force to meet the enemy, and sent Chen Zhang to lead the surface force to bypass Qian Yuanguan. The main forces of both sides met in Wuxi, and the "Wuxi Battle" broke out immediately.

Just as the battle started, Xu Wen had a high fever and could not command the battle. His confidant Chen Yanqian found a substitute for Xu Wen, who was said to be similar in stature and appearance to Xu Wen. Then he asked him to wear Xu Wen's armor and clothes and sit in the hall to give orders. Surprisingly, no one could recognize this knockoff. Qian Yuanguan lost the opportunity to "behead the enemy", and Xu Wen also got enough rest and treatment.

Soon, Xu Wen's condition improved, so he personally came out to command the battle.

It was the seventh month of the lunar calendar, close to late autumn, and the long-term drought had dried up the grass and trees, so Xu Wen ordered a fire to be set in the direction of the wind to burn Qian Yuanguan. Qian Yuanguan's army collapsed, and generals He Feng and Wu Jian were killed, as well as more than 10,000 soldiers. Qian Yuanguan escaped, and Xu Wen continued to chase him and killed countless people. Chen Zhang, who had detoured behind him, also took advantage of the situation to attack from both sides and killed many people.

Xu Wen finally avenged his previous defeat in Wuxi.

Xu Zhigao offered a plan, saying that he was willing to lead two thousand brave warriors, change into the military uniforms, flags, armor and staffs seized from Qian Yuanguan's army, follow the defeated Zhejiang army and launch a surprise attack on Suzhou.

Xu Wen praised this as a brilliant plan, but he did not approve it. The generals also said that the Zhejiang army relied on a powerful navy, and now there is a severe drought and the river has dried up. This is God's will. We can just take advantage of our infantry and cavalry (thanks to Zhu Jin) and destroy Qian Liu in one fell swoop! This was also rejected by Xu Wen.

Xu Wen's reasons were very reasonable. He believed that God is merciful and the world had been at war for a long time. The people had suffered from the trauma of war. Besides, Qian Liu was no ordinary person. It would be better to resolve a feud than to create one. It would be better to use the military advantage to realize political benefits and negotiate with him as a victor.

There is nothing wrong with what he said. When it comes to the bigger picture, we are concerned about the country and the people and do not want the people to be caught up in the flames of war. When it comes to personal gain, we use war to promote peace and use our great military victories as bargaining chips to maximize our political benefits and defeat the enemy without fighting.

In fact, Xu Wen prohibited Xu Zhigao from attacking Suzhou, just like Yang Xingmi organized Tian Yu to attack Hangzhou. The fundamental reason was to suppress Xu Zhigao and prevent him from expanding his power. Now Xu Zhigao can be said to be the second in command of the group, and can almost compete with Xu Wen. If he successfully takes Suzhou, it will pose a huge challenge to Xu Wen's position.

Therefore, under Xu Wen's strategic thinking of "defeating the enemy without fighting", Huainan took advantage of the victory and sent envoys to Hangzhou to return the prisoners of war and demand peace with Qian Liu.

Qian Liu accepted the request for reconciliation. Since then, the two heroes of Jianghuai enjoyed another 20 years of peace, each developing their own economy and laying a solid foundation.

This is Xu Wen's political wisdom. Peace cannot be achieved by kneeling down and begging. Justice is only within the range of the cannon, and the caliber is the truth. For example, today, if there is no Dongfeng Express that must deliver its mission, the history of "the United States and Britain teaming up to bully others" will be repeated.

(End of this chapter)