History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 439: Flowers in the South

【Flowers in the South】

The Central Army was caught off guard, and not knowing how many people were on the other side, they collapsed instantly, abandoned the camp, and fled back to Jianmen Pass. After that, they did not dare to come out for more than ten days.

The two battalion commanders, with a thousand men, sneaked into the camp and robbed the stronghold, scaring away more than ten thousand central troops, and bought Jianzhou a dozen days of respite.

Meng Zhixiang was overjoyed when he received the report. He was very pleased to have such a wise and brave general under his command. At the same time, he also realized that the strategic level of the Central Army was at the same level as Dong Zhang, so there was no need to worry at all. Meng Zhixiang said to his left and right people:
"I thought that after the Central Army conquered Jianmen Pass, they would definitely control Jianzhou and then attack Zizhou. In this way, Dong Zhang would definitely abandon Langzhou and return to support Zizhou. Then our Xichuan would be isolated and helpless, and we would have no choice but to lift the siege of Suizhou and retreat back to Chengdu. In that case, the two Sichuans would be attacked from both inside and outside, the army would be demoralized, the people would be shaken, and it would be extremely dangerous! Haha, I didn't expect that they would actually abandon Jianzhou and hide in Jianmen Pass, losing the opportunity to advance. It seems that our great cause can be accomplished."

Meng Zhixiang was not laughing at Dong Zhang and Shi Jingtang, but at himself, laughing at himself for overestimating these two. It was clearly a diamond game, but he insisted on treating it as a king game. I felt like my IQ was screwed.

Pang Wanfu and Xie Xun's surprise attack caused Shi Jingtang to seriously misjudge the situation in Jianzhou. To be on the safe side, Shi Jingtang sent a troop to Wenzhou in the northwest, and then went south from Wenzhou to attack Longzhou.

However, Meng Zhixiang had already sent troops to garrison Longzhou, and Shi Jingtang's strategy of bypassing Longzhou failed.

Later, Dong Zhang's 3,000 Dongchuan troops, led by Wang Hui, joined forces with Xichuan general Li Zhao and entered Jianzhou together. Shi Jingtang also went to the front line of Jianmen Pass in person.

The two sides are about to start the third round of competition.

Zhao Tingyin deployed his troops in the mountains behind Jianzhou and ambushed five hundred archers on Shi Jingtang's retreat route; Wang Hui and Li Zhao formed their troops on the river bridge nearby.

Shi Jingtang personally led his infantry to attack Zhao Tingyin. Suddenly, a cannon shot was heard on the mountain roads on both sides, followed by flags flying, drums thundering, and shouts of killing. Shi Jingtang hastily retreated, losing hundreds of people.

Afterwards, Shi Jingtang ordered the cavalry to attack the soldiers from the two Sichuan provinces on the river bridge. Li Zhao suppressed the cavalry with powerful bows and crossbows, and the cavalry could not get close, so the battle ended in a hurry.

At dusk, Shi Jingtang led his army back and Zhao Tingyin led his troops to follow. When Shi Jingtang entered the ambush circle of the archers, Zhao Tingyin gave a secret signal and then cooperated with the archers to launch an attack, achieving a great victory.

Shi Jingtang retreated to Jianmen Pass again.

In this way, the two sides entered a stalemate.

Shi Jingtang sent messengers to report to the court that the mountain roads were rugged and narrow, making marching extremely difficult. The central army was having a hard time moving forward, and most of the transport teams responsible for transporting food and supplies had fled, and the situation was worrying.

While the main forces of both sides were deadlocked at Jianmen Pass, Xichuan received frequent victories on the southern battlefield:
Zhang Wu led the navy down the Yangtze River. As soon as the vanguard officer Zhu Wei entered the territory of Wutai Army in Qianzhou, its governor Yang Hanbin abandoned the city and fled to the neighboring Ningjiang Army, handing over Qianzhou, Fuzhou, Shizhou and other places to the Xichuan Army. The Xichuan Army took over the Wutai Army in Qianzhou without any effort. Zhu Wei chased Yang Hanbin relentlessly and chased him all the way to Fengdu before he turned back to pick up the spoils.

So Meng Zhixiang wrote another article to boost morale among his own people and rub salt into the wounds of the enemy. It said:
"... (Wutai Army Jiedushi Yang Hanbin) abandoned his home state and fled into the water... I secretly led a large fleet and marched far into the gorge. As soon as I heard the flags and drums coming down the rapids, I saw the clouds of masts pointing upstream, and successively captured the county city and the camp. The force was as fast as breaking bamboo, and the sound was similar to burning reeds."

—Comrades, look, as soon as I sent out the troops and the warships were launched, the enemy abandoned the city and fled. Our army is unstoppable!
"… Moreover, the Ningjiang Army uses Qiannan as its arm and elbow, and Yuhe as its supply and transportation hub. We have already cut them off, so what hope do they have?"

——Yang Hanbin of Qianzhou fled to Ningjiang Army, and then organized a tentative counterattack with Ningjiang reinforcements, but was defeated by our army. It would be strange if he didn't lose! Due to special geographical reasons, the territory of Ningjiang Army is like a belt, with three states under its jurisdiction: Zhong, Wan, and Kui, lined up along the Yangtze River. There is a long border line with Wutai Army of Qianzhou in the south. If Wutai Army of Qianzhou falls into enemy hands, Ningjiang Army will not be able to protect itself; and the supply transfer station of Ningjiang Army is Yuzhou and Hezhou located upstream, and these two states are also controlled by the two Sichuan armies. "The time is to settle the situation and consolidate the corners..."

——So, taking down the Ningjiang Army and expanding the territory of the two Sichuan provinces is just around the corner.

The strategic significance of Ningjiang Army in Kuizhou is very important. It is connected to Jingnan in the east and controls the Yangtze River waterway in and out of Shu. If the two Sichuans control Kuizhou, it will directly threaten the heartland of the Central Plains and may launch a surprise attack on Luoyang.

The soldiers of Liangchuan took the Yangtze River and went downstream much faster than Shi Jingtang's main force who came back from Jianmen Pass. If Liangchuan took Kuizhou, this situation would occur: nine people from both sides were fighting in the river on the upper road, and Liu Chan, who was a disruptor, led the troops to secretly destroy the three towers on the lower road.

The current war situation is: the main force of Shi Jingtang's central army and the main force of the rebels in the two Sichuans are confronting each other at Jianmen Pass; Xia Luqi of Suizhou is besieged by Xichuan and is also in a stalemate; the Ningjiang army of Kuizhou is threatened by Xichuan.

The war situation was unfavorable to the court.

At this time, an important node appeared within the court: An Zhonghui went to the front line in person to supervise the battle.

In the court of the Later Tang Dynasty, An Zhonghui was the only staunch "war advocate", and the rest were almost all "peace advocates", including Li Siyuan and Shi Jingtang. The vast majority of people did not approve of the war between the two Sichuan provinces.

The details will be reviewed later. At this time, An Zhonghui was already deeply involved in the vortex of political struggle, his position was in jeopardy, and Li Siyuan had lost his trust in him. The Battle of Liangchuan was a gamble for An Zhonghui.

After An Zhonghui set off, the suppressed voices in the court finally dared to be released boldly, constantly urging Li Siyuan to cancel the war; Shi Jingtang also actively submitted memorials, vividly describing the difficulties on the front line and the unwiseness of the war.

According to Shi Jingtang's report, the loss of grain and fodder transportation to the front line was as high as an astonishing 90%, and less than one-tenth of the grain could be successfully transported to the front line (from Tongguan to the west, the people suffered from the difficulty in transporting grain, as every stone of grain could not produce even a bushel, and people on the road complained).

Li Siyuan originally did not advocate the use of force against the two Sichuans. After receiving Shi Jingtang's report, he was even more inclined to resolve the two Sichuan issues through dialogue.

In order to ease the conflict, Li Siyuan ordered the release of 1,500 Xichuan soldiers stationed in Kuizhou.

These soldiers were stationed in Kuizhou during the "Three-Way Army Attack on Southern Jing". After the war in Southern Jing ended, Meng Zhixiang requested to withdraw them, but was rejected. Historical records show that the commander of the garrison, Mao Chongwei, was instructed by Meng Zhixiang to "break up into small groups" and escape back to Xichuan.

Historical records do not provide sufficient explanation as to whether these 1,500 people belonged to Mao Chongwei's troops.

In short, the 1,500 Xichuan soldiers were detained by the court in Kuizhou, and Meng Zhixiang was ordered to transport Xichuan grain and grass for their support. Meng Zhixiang repeatedly submitted memorials, requesting the withdrawal of the garrison on the grounds that the Jingnan War was over, but was rejected; Meng Zhixiang continued to submit memorials, saying that Xichuan was in trouble and there was not enough food to be transported to Kuizhou, and requested to stop the supply, which was also rejected.

Later, Meng Zhixiang took advantage of the rebellion of Dong Zhang in Dongchuan and extorted 13 salt fields from the Yun'an Supervisory Office from the imperial court on the pretext of subsidizing the garrison in Kuizhou.

Now, in order to ease the conflict and pave the way for stopping the war and negotiating peace, Li Siyuan finally took the initiative to release the 1,500 Xichuan soldiers.

(End of this chapter)