History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 438: The Fall of Jianmen Pass

[The fall of Jianmen Pass]

Dong Zhang of Dongchuan won the first battle and took Langzhou in the east, so he turned north and attacked Lizhou. Lizhou was the headquarters of Zhaowu Army, located in the northeast of Jianmen Pass, and was the only way for the central reinforcements to enter Shu. The control of Lizhou was the initiative to enter and exit Shu.

Dong Zhang captured Langzhou on September 9, but did not march towards Lizhou until October 20. However, he encountered heavy rainfall and the logistical supply could not keep up, so he withdrew to Langzhou.

Meng Zhixiang was shocked when he heard the news. "Oh my god, 20 days! What is this guy thinking? When we just broke through Langzhou, we should have taken advantage of the victory to attack Lizhou without stopping. At that time, the central garrison would be like a frightened bird and would definitely flee. We will take over Lizhou directly and only need to send troops to garrison the natural barrier of Mantian Pass (northern Lizhou), and the central army will have no way to deal with it. And Dong Zhang actually stationed a large army in the remote Langzhou, far away from Jianmen Pass. What a mistake!"

Lizhou can be regarded as the first line of defense of Jianmen Pass, which adds strategic depth to the two Sichuan provinces and has very important strategic significance. Obviously, Lizhou did not attract enough attention from Dong Zhang.

Meng Zhixiang hurriedly contacted Dong Zhang and said that he was willing to send 3,000 people to help defend Jianmen Pass.

Dong Zhang decisively refused, claiming that he already had a perfect plan and that Meng Gong did not need to worry about it.

Why did Dong Zhang refuse? The reason is very simple.

The alliance between the two Sichuan provinces was not like what Meng Zhixiang described in his manifesto, that is, people of the same mind and in the same boat. As mentioned above, the two sides were on the verge of war over the issue of salt profits. When Dong Zhang came to Meng Zhixiang under pressure to seek an alliance and marriage, Meng Zhixiang refused outright. It was only after the persuasion of his adviser Zhao Jiliang that he agreed to the alliance.

Therefore, the Liangchuan Alliance is very similar to the Sun-Liu Alliance during the Three Kingdoms period. They were forced to band together for warmth when facing a more powerful third party. Within the alliance, the two sides were wary of and distrusted each other. This alliance relationship was delicate and fragile.

This is one of the reasons why the two sides split up and opened up two battlefields. Even if they were to support each other, the reinforcements would only have about two to three thousand men, and they could not overshadow the main force, otherwise the party being assisted would doubt the motives of the party providing assistance.

Therefore, Dong Zhang would never allow the Xichuan soldiers to appear in Jianmen Pass, the most important fortress in the north. You help me guard Jianmen Pass? It would be better if you just help me guard Zizhou. You sell me out, and I will count the money for you!

Meng Zhixiang sighed to the sky, hoping that God would bless him. He would inevitably be dragged down by this stupid teammate.

Meng Zhixiang sent the famous Shu general, the "Hero of Locking the Gorge", Zhang Wu, to lead the navy downstream and directly attack Kuizhou.

Dong Zhang sent troops to seize the eastern cities and captured five states, namely Chang, He, Ba, Peng and Guo, thus doubling the territory of Dongchuan to the east.

The Xichuan navy captured an important stronghold along the way - Yuzhou (the confluence of the Jialing River and the Yangtze River), controlled the waterways entering and exiting the Yangtze River and the Jialing River, and then split into two groups, one group turned around and returned to capture the isolated Luzhou; the other group continued downstream to attack Fuzhou and Qianzhou.

Judging from Dong Zhang's actions in the early stages of the War between Sichuan and Liangchuan, he was short-sighted and only focused on grabbing petty profits in front of him, busy occupying cities and expanding territory; while Meng Zhixiang had a clear and long-term strategic deployment.

To an outsider, one might praise Dong Zhang for his cautious and steady advance, while criticizing Meng Zhixiang for advancing alone and extending the battle line too long.

But a careful analysis will reveal that Meng Zhixiang seized all strategic locations. After gaining control of these cities, the forces in the two Sichuan provinces will be able to fully grasp the initiative in the war and be able to attack or defend at will. If the troops in the two Sichuan provinces were deployed uniformly by Dong Zhang, the war situation would have been caught in a situation of repeated tug-of-war and mindless confrontation; whereas if it was Meng Zhixiang, he would have formed a "closing the door to fight the dog" trend against the central army, first closing the gate to Bashu, and then slowly digesting the city strongholds controlled by the central army, while the central reinforcements outside the gate could only stare blankly.

Led by Shi Jingtang, the central reinforcements crossed the Dasan Pass and entered the battlefield in Liangchuan. The real test for Dong Zhang and Meng Zhixiang finally came.

In this round of competition, Dong Zhang's short-sightedness and Meng Zhixiang's foresight were fully demonstrated.

The main force of the Central Army avoided the front of Jianmen Pass and instead made a detour from the southeast, went around to the north of Jianmen Pass, and launched a surprise attack from the south, conquering Jianmen Pass in one fell swoop, killing 3,000 Dongchuan defenders and capturing the main general Qi Yanwen alive. Wang Hongzhi, the governor of Jianzhou, led a detachment to capture Jianzhou, but the main force failed to catch up in time, so Wang Hongzhi had to loot all the food and grass in Jianzhou, then set fire to the city, causing the greatest destruction to Jianzhou, and then withdrew to Jianmen Pass.

At the same time, Li Siyuan issued an edict to deprive Meng Zhixiang of all his official positions and titles.

When Meng Zhixiang learned that Jianmen Pass had been lost, he stamped his feet in anger, "This stupid teammate is really dragging me down!"

Meng Zhixiang acted decisively and sent Li Zhao with 5,000 troops from Chengdu to the north for reinforcement. Before leaving, he warned Li Zhao to advance at double speed and control Jianzhou first. As long as Jianzhou was controlled, there would be hope of a turnaround. He sent envoys to Suizhou, instructing Li Renhan to continue to besiege Suizhou and pin down Xia Luqi so as not to let him join forces with the main central army in the north. He also transferred Zhao Tingyin to lead 10,000 troops from Suizhou to the north to meet up with Li Zhao and garrison in Jianzhou. He sent Li Yun to lead 4,000 troops from Chengdu to the north to control Longzhou on the west side of Jianmen Pass, occupy the dangerous place, and control the northern gate of the two Sichuans.

Dong Zhang was busy competing with Meng Zhixiang for the fruits of victory and digesting the eastern cities, but he neglected the most important Jianmen Pass and the entire northern defense line.

The situation was critical. Meng Zhixiang no longer cared about the subtle tacit understanding between him and Dong Zhang. Without waiting for the Dongchuan troops to move north, he sent several armies north to seize important strongholds.

Dong Zhang was also shocked by the news of the fall of Jianmen Pass, and hurriedly led his troops from Langzhou and advanced towards Jianzhou.

It was the eleventh month of the lunar calendar, and the weather was freezing cold. The Shu soldiers were afraid of the severe cold and the imperial army, and were reluctant to set out to the north. Zhao Tingyin cried out to everyone: "At this moment, we have no choice. Once the central army crosses Longzhou and Jianzhou, your wives and children will become slaves!" Everyone was encouraged and followed him north.

The central army came with great momentum and won a great victory. They captured Jianmen Pass as soon as they entered Shu. It seemed that the rebels in the two Sichuan provinces were about to be wiped out. At this critical moment, two small figures successfully rewrote history.

The two were low-ranking officers Pang Fucheng and Xie Xun, who were previously ordered to lead their troops to station in Laisu Village, about 70 miles away from Jianzhou. When they heard that Jianmen Pass had been lost, they discussed: "If the central army occupies Jianzhou, then the two Sichuans will be in a very passive position. We must take action."

So, the two of them led their own soldiers of one thousand men and took a shortcut to Jianzhou.

As soon as the two arrived at Jianzhou, they encountered more than 10,000 central troops. At that time, it was already dark, and the two discussed: "The enemy is large and we are small, the disparity is too great. If we wait until dawn to fight head-on, we will definitely be wiped out. Therefore, we must win by surprise!"

Under the cover of night, Pang Fucheng led hundreds of death squads, quietly crossed the North Mountain, slowly approached the back of the Central Army camp, and then broke into the camp, shouting loudly; while Xie Xun led the rest of the people to attack from the front of the camp.

(End of this chapter)