History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 451 Three-step National Strategy
【Three-step national strategy】

"The Art of War" by Sun Tzu says: "The best military operation is to attack the enemy's plans, the next best is to destroy their alliances, the next best is to attack their soldiers, and the worst is to attack their cities." He who is good at attacking cities is a general; he who is good at attacking their soldiers is a commander; he who is good at attacking their alliances is a hegemon; he who is good at attacking their plans is a king.

Although Dong Zhang of Dongchuan conquered cities and territory in the war between the two Sichuan provinces, doubling his sphere of influence, he was always being led by the nose. He lacked top-level planning and focused on the petty gains in front of him. He failed to even pass the test of "cutting off diplomatic relations". Strictly speaking, he was not worthy of being a local lord, and sitting in Dongchuan was already unworthy of his position.

However, Meng Zhixiang of Xichuan had been planning a big game from the very beginning and became the operator of the entire chess game between the two Sichuans. Everything was under his control. Even An Zhonghui and Li Siyuan were acting according to his script.

Even in the unfavorable situation where his stupid teammate Dong Zhang lost the middle lane tower (Jianmen Pass), Meng Zhixiang was still able to defend the top lane tower (Longzhou) and push down the bottom lane highland tower (Kuizhou), seize the initiative, and set the pace throughout the game.

At present, the power distribution of the two Sichuans is in the shape of a "叵" character. The "口" in the middle is Dong Zhang of East Sichuan, and the north, west and south are surrounded by Meng Zhixiang of West Sichuan.

Meng Zhixiang clearly realized from the beginning that it was absolutely impossible to overthrow the Later Tang court with the strength of the two Sichuans. Therefore, the strategic goal of Meng Zhixiang's rebellion was to complete the resource integration and power redistribution in Shu. To put it bluntly, it was to split the two Sichuans.

There are three steps to achieve this goal:
The first step is to provoke a war between the two Sichuan provinces.

The strategic intention was to force the central government of the Later Tang Dynasty to recognize the relative independence of Shu and turn it into a "Sichuan-Shu Special Administrative Region" with a high degree of autonomy, which is what is usually called local armed separatism.

Drive away the imperial power.

Step 2: Properly handle the Dongchuan issue.

Dong Zhang's character and tolerance did not allow him to recognize Meng Zhixiang's absolute leadership, and his strategy was not enough to keep him out of the new order system in the two Sichuans dominated by Xichuan.

In short, annex Dong Zhang of Dongchuan and reorganize the Dongchuan forces.

The third step is to build a nation.

After completing the first two steps, Meng Zhixiang was the only one left in the former Shu Empire. All he had to do was to refine the details and it would be a natural thing to change the situation here.

Now, the court took the death of An Zhonghui as an opportunity to take the initiative to request a ceasefire. Meng Zhixiang successfully completed the first step, so he gladly accepted the invitation to ceasefire and began to prepare for the second step of the plan.

When Meng Zhixiang apologized to the court and thanked the emperor, he deliberately dragged Dong Zhang into the conversation, knowing that Dong Zhang had not been invited. Li Siyuan blamed An Zhonghui for the court's guilt in the civil war, while Meng Zhixiang blamed Dong Zhang for the two Sichuan provinces.

Theoretically speaking, Meng Zhixiang had once again become a loyal minister of the Later Tang court, his official position and title had been restored, and he had gained political legitimacy, while Dong Zhang alone bore the stigma of "traitor" and lost his legal foundation.

Dong Zhang foolishly fell into Meng Zhixiang's trap. Not only did he refuse to reconcile with the court, he also took advantage of the geographical location to cut off the land transportation between Xichuan and the court, thus blocking the connection between Xichuan and the court.

Meng Zhixiang discussed with Zhao Jiliang and wanted to maintain close and friendly interaction with the court through the Yangtze River waterway. Secretary Li Hao objected and said that Dong Zhang must not be bypassed and we must continue to give him more information.

Meng Zhixiang then sent envoys to lobby Dong Zhang again, asking him to accept reconciliation and stop the war, but Dong Zhang refused again.

Zhao Jiliang retreated and discussed with the generals, planning to send troops from Lizhou to seize Bizhou and completely block the imperial army outside the Qinling Mountains to ensure the safety of the two rivers. Meng Zhixiang sought the opinions of his staff, and Li Hao again objected, saying that the imperial court had just reconciled with us, and we were treacherously launching an attack. Why not just cross the Qinling Mountains and attack Xingyuan Prefecture and Yangzhou, and then go directly to Fengxiang, Chang'an, and Luoyang. Why bother with a small Bizhou!
Meng Zhixiang suddenly realized that he had completed the first step and was just starting to plan the second step.

Li Hao rejected Zhao Jiliang twice in a row, which made Zhao Jiliang feel resentful.

Meng Zhixiang sent envoys to lobby Dong Zhang for the third time, and his words began to be threatening. He said that if Dong Zhang did not stop, the imperial army would attack him and both sides would be destroyed. He hoped that Dong Zhang would think twice.

Dong Zhang refused for the third time. Come on, it's not like you've been here before, what are you afraid of?

Meng Zhixiang sent Li Hao to Dongchuan for the fourth time.

The third time is the limit, are you, Meng Zhixiang, going to stop? I gave you face, right? This time, Li Hao was directly muted by Dong Zhang, and was not allowed to speak at all. As soon as Dong Zhang saw Li Hao, he cursed and thought that Meng Zhixiang had betrayed the interests of Dongchuan.

Dong Zhang was right. Meng Zhixiang betrayed the interests of Dongchuan, so he had to compete with Meng Zhixiang for the second step: unifying the two Sichuans.

The two of them worked together to clear the imperial court out of Shu. As the saying goes, there can't be two tigers in one mountain, so who will be the master of Shu? On this issue, Dong Zhang and Meng Zhixiang are incompatible and are fighting to the death.

Li Hao returned to Chengdu and reported to Meng Zhixiang that Dong Zhang was also ready for the second step of the fight, so we have to be careful because he might take the initiative.

He was right. Right after Li Hao left, Dong Zhang convened a high-level secret military meeting to seriously discuss the issue of attacking Xichuan.

The generals of Dongchuan all agreed that they would win, and it would be very easy for Meng Zhixiang of Xichuan to plot against them. I really don't know whether it was Liang Jingru who gave them the courage, or whether it was to flatter and please Dong Zhang.

Only Wang Hui kept a cool head and thought that it was not appropriate to send troops, because Chengdu City was the city with the most powerful defense system in Shu. Even if we looked at the whole country, Chengdu City could be said to be one of the most impregnable cities, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Moreover, Dongchuan had lost its political foundation, while Xichuan occupied the moral high ground. We were going out to fight without a reason, and we were using an unjust way to attack a just one. Now it was a hot summer, and we had traveled a long distance, while they were well rested and waiting for us... In short, we could not fight, and we could not fight now.

Wang Hui's analysis was reasonable and he saw through Meng Zhixiang's trap at a glance. He asked Dong Zhang to write a letter of thanks four times in a row, and he was so obsessed with it just to crush Dong Zhang politically.

However, Dong Zhang refused to listen.

In his opinion, Xichuan and the imperial court had just reconciled and could not fully trust each other. Zhao Jiliang's proposal to attack Bizhou and blockade Qinling was the best proof. Therefore, Dongchuan should take advantage of the time when they were suspicious of each other to send troops, cut the Gordian knot, and fish in troubled waters.

Once the situation is fully settled, the imperial court and Xichuan will find a mutually beneficial cooperation model and reach a certain strategic consensus. Then Dongchuan will undoubtedly become a political bargaining chip for both sides and be ruthlessly divided. If a war breaks out at that time, Dongchuan will fall into the dilemma of being attacked from both sides.

The civil war between the two Sichuan provinces should start sooner rather than later.

This was Dong Zhang's political level, ignorant and arrogant. Dong Zhang began to mobilize troops and prepare for a large-scale invasion of Xichuan.

A battle to determine who will be the lord of Shu is about to begin.

(End of this chapter)