History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 45 "Loss of Jieting"

Prime Minister Wang Duo wanted to kill the thief, but he was powerless to do anything. There was also a small episode during this period: Wang Duo was afraid of his wife.

Interestingly, although Wang Duo was henpecked, he had many concubines and was very lustful. When he went to Jiangling, Wang Duo left his wife in the capital and only brought his concubines and concubines with him. He was far away from his wife and let himself go. His wife was jealous and went to Jiangling to check on him. When Wang Duo got the news, he was so scared that he was at a loss. He said to himself: "There is Huang Chao in the south and my wife in the north. What should I do?"

His staff deliberately teased him, pretending to be shocked, and said to him: "Oh, then let's surrender to Huang Chao quickly!"

Wang Duo felt shy and ashamed, but he also laughed to ease the embarrassment.

By the way, Wang Duo’s tragic end was related to his large number of concubines.

Back to the story, facing the loss of Tanzhou by the Li family, Wang Duo did not have the courage of Zhuge Liang who could still play the empty city plan after losing Jieting. He ordered his general Liu Hanhong to stay in Jiangling, while he led his troops to flee to Xiangyang, claiming that he wanted to join forces with Liu Jurong, the governor of Shannan East Road.

Wang Duo held Liu Hanhong's hands and said to him expectantly: "The time has come for the organization to test you! Don't let Jiangling City be destroyed by bandits again. Make sure the people of Jiangling remember your name forever."

The enemy is at hand, this is the battlefield, you are going to join the rear? Please use your brain before you lie, okay? You can even say you are leading troops to recapture Tanzhou. Wang Duo was so frightened that he couldn't speak or lie.

Liu Hanhong patted his chest and promised him, "I will never let Jiangling City suffer the destruction of Cao's army. I will make sure the people of Jiangling remember my name forever!"

Wang Duo embarked on his escape with satisfaction.

As soon as Wang Duo left, Liu Hanhong launched a mutiny and looted Jiangling City. He then set a fire, almost razing Jiangling City to the ground. The people fled into the valley, but it happened to be snowy and the mountains were covered with corpses of people killed or frozen to death by the rebels. It was a horrible sight...

Liu Hanhong fulfilled his promise with practical actions: Jiangling was indeed not destroyed by the Cao army, and the benefits were not lost to outsiders. He personally took action. Of course, the people of Jiangling also remembered his name.

After the "Three Alls Policy" was implemented in Jiangling City, Liu Hanhong led his troops to flee northward, and from then on he officially broke away from the control of the imperial court and became a bandit.

However, Liu Hanhong did not disappear from the public eye, and his story will be explained later.

More than ten days later, Shang Rang's "500,000 troops" finally arrived at the city of Jiangling and calmly occupied this dilapidated and deserted city.

In a short period of time, Cao's army successively conquered important cities such as Guangzhou, Tanzhou, and Jiangling, and its tentacles once again crossed the natural barrier of the Yangtze River and began to threaten the Yellow River basin.

The results seem brilliant, but when we calm down, brush off the petals on the surface and reveal the true face, we may come to another conclusion.

Tanzhou, the opponent lets go;
Jiangling, the opponent deliberately gave away heads;
The only direct confrontation was in Guangzhou at the beginning. That was because they pretended to surrender first and then attacked by surprise, so they attacked when they were not prepared.

From an economic perspective, the situation of Huang Chao's army was even more grim, because the Jiangling City they took over was just a smoking scorched earth, with houses in urgent need of repair and corpses everywhere.

Liu Hanhong's shameless and asshole behavior objectively achieved the "scorched earth policy", preventing the Cao army that came from afar from rest and replenishment.

Overall, the Cao army was already at the end of its strength. At this time, Huang Chao should have made full use of the high military valuation premium to cash in political gains. He should have taken the initiative to request peace talks and take a smart route of "forcing peace through war".

Huang Chao was still intoxicated in his dream of being invincible in all battles. He decided to pursue the victory and not give Wang Duo a chance to breathe, so as to expand the results of the battle with the fierce momentum of the Cao army.

Cao's army marched north from Jiangling and attacked Xiangyang directly.

The one stationed in Xiangyang was Liu Jurong, the governor of Shannan East Road. He was a ruthless character who had made military achievements in the "Pang Xun Rebellion". Later, Wang Ying of Zhejiang rebelled, and Liu Jurong used "tube arrows" to accurately snipe and kill the bandit leader Wang Ying, thus putting down the rebellion.

Liu Jurong deployed defenses in Jingmen, and Cao Quanzheng, who cooperated in the defense, was also a tough guy.

Cao Quanzheng was born into a family of officials. He was well-read since childhood and was skilled in archery and horse riding. He was a three-good student with all-round development in moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and labor aspects. He came to prominence during the "Pang Xun Rebellion" and was promoted due to his merits. He is currently the commander-in-chief of the Jiangxi Bandit Suppression Commander (Jiangxi Recruiting Envoy) and the governor of Zibo.

The two commanders were both skilled in both civil and military affairs and had extensive experience in suppressing bandits and rebellions. They tailored a battle plan for Huang Chao.

Since Huang Chao is somewhat arrogant and looks down on others, viewing the government troops as a paper tiger and thinking that he can crush them all the way to the city of Chang'an, then let's go with the flow and lead him into the ditch.

First, Cao Quanzheng sent 500 Shatuo cavalrymen to fight against the Cao army. As a result, these Shatuo cavalrymen were immediately defeated when they saw the endless Cao army array. They even abandoned their horses with complete saddles and bridles and fled for their lives. The Cao army easily captured 500 precious Shatuo war horses, and their morale was high. They thought that the government army was just so-so. However, they did not know that this was a trap set by Cao Quanzheng. The next day, when the battle started, the Cao army generals rode the newly captured Shatuo horses and showed off their power. Who knew that suddenly there were Shatuo people in the government army array shouting loudly in Shatuo language, and then the Shatuo horses captured by the Cao army immediately ran towards the government army array.

The Cao army was in chaos, and Cao Quanzheng feigned defeat to lure the enemy. The Cao army was confused and entered the ambush circle. Liu Jurong, who had set up an ambush in advance, suddenly rushed out. In this battle, 80% of the Cao army was annihilated or captured, and 12 important Cao army generals were captured alive. The Cao army fled all the way back to Jiangling City.

Monk Huang Chao knew he was no match for his opponent, so he gathered his remaining troops and fled eastward across the Yangtze River.

Liu Jurong's pursuing troops arrived and killed and captured a large number of Cao soldiers.

Seeing that Huang Chao's army was about to be wiped out, Liu Jurong suddenly ordered to stop the pursuit.

What a familiar scene, still the same recipe, still the same taste. There was Song Wei in front and Liu Jurong in the back. When the Cao army was about to be wiped out and Huang Chao was about to step into the gates of hell, the pursuers stopped killing and deliberately let them escape.

The generals were puzzled and failed at the last moment!

Liu Jurong's answer was exactly the same as Song Wei's a few years ago. He said that the imperial court loves to let people down. When the bandits are strong, they will promote you and reward you. Once the bandits are pacified, they will abandon you and even punish you and put you in jail. It is better to keep these bandits as capital for our promotion and wealth.

So, Liu Jurong's main force watched Huang Chao leave and saluted him.

Only Cao Quanzheng led his troops across the river to pursue.

But at this moment, an official document came from the court: Taining capital Duan Yanmo would replace Cao Quanzheng as the commander of the bandit suppression.

The brave general who wanted to kill the bandits was urgently relieved of his military power. It was a familiar plot again.

The angry Cao Quanzheng left the battlefield without looking back and saying a word.

The Cao army was reborn, the remnants were still in shock, but Huang Chao laughed out loud.

He calmed down now, and he finally figured out the account. The previous victory seemed to be a great victory, but in fact it was a business of losing money and gaining publicity; and this disastrous defeat seemed to be a loss of money, but in fact it made a lot of money.

This wealth is his immortal aura.

Song Wei and Liu Jurong were Huang Chao's mentors. They taught Huang Chao how to survive in the chaotic world, how to deal with the imperial court, and how to defeat the enemy without fighting.

Huang Chao had more faith in his previous struggle experience and used it more skillfully afterwards.

Wildfires cannot be extinguished, spring breezes bring them back to life. Huang Chao gathered his remaining troops and reorganized his forces to attack fifteen states, including Ezhou, Raozhou, Xinzhou, Chizhou, Xuanzhou, and Hangzhou, affecting today's Hubei, Anhui, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and other places. His army expanded to 200,000 people. Resurrected on the spot with full health and full buffs.

Wang Duo was dismissed from his post, expelled from the court, and sent to Luoyang, the eastern capital. All officials promoted by Wang Duo were also basically replaced.

Former Prime Minister Lu Xie was promoted to Prime Minister again because he had always supported Gao Pian, who had made many military achievements.

Lu Xie recommended Gao Pian as the commander-in-chief of the anti-bandit movement, commanding the troops of the whole country. The court approved the proposal.

Gao Pian then ordered the mobilization of armed forces across the country to give full play to the "Pian-style combat style", which was like a mountain pressing down on one's head or a huge rock knocking down one's eggs.

Soon, Gao Pian had 70,000 elite troops, with the Huainan Army as the main force (Gao Pian was now the Huainan Jiedushi) and the special task forces of various war zones as the auxiliary. With high morale, they became the army of hope for the court to wipe out the Cao Army.

A good minister has a keen eye for a good general, and a good general sheds his blood to help a good minister. It becomes a good story for a while, but it only becomes a good story for "a while".

Gao Pian's subsequent actions wiped out the great reputation that his family had accumulated over generations. He betrayed his father, mother, and the whole family, and brought disaster to his family, the country, and the world.

Thanks to book friend “feitian” for the recommendation!
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(End of this chapter)