History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 46 Gao Pian’s Plan

Huang Chao suffered heavy losses in Xiangyang. Although he was not killed by his enemies due to his low health, he lost Jiangling, Tanzhou and other strongholds. His Northern Expedition plan failed, and he was forced to move eastward and return to the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions.

Cao Jun circled around in the magic of love in South China and crashed into Gao Pian's arms again.

Gao Pian, who was promoted to commander-in-chief of the bandit suppression campaign, sent his trusted general Zhang Lin to launch round after round of sharp attacks on Cao's army.

Zhang Lin crossed the river and headed south to intercept the Cao army, and the Cao army leader Wang Zhongba surrendered.
Pursuing the victory, Huang Chao was defeated again and retreated to Raozhou (now Boyang County, Jiangxi Province). The leader of the Cao army, Chang Hong, led tens of thousands of his troops to surrender.
Zhang Lin continued to attack Raozhou, Huang Chao was defeated again and withdrew from Raozhou...

Good news came one after another, and civil and military officials came to the court to congratulate. There was a festive and peaceful atmosphere inside and outside the court.

"I have Gao Pian, so I can rest assured!"

"It's all thanks to the Emperor's majesty!"

Huang Chao retreated all the way to Xinzhou (now Shangrao City, Jiangxi Province), where a plague broke out in the army and many soldiers died of the disease.

Zhang Lin was Huang Chao's enemy in his previous life and his rival in this life. He was Huang Chao's creditor for three lifetimes. Zhang Lin ordered a hasty attack on Xinzhou to completely wipe out Cao's army.

Huang Chao was desperate, so he climbed the city wall and looked up at the sky. "Zhang Lin, my friend, don't you understand the principle of "after the rabbit is dead, the dog is cooked"? Song Wei understands, Liu Jurong understands, so doesn't Gao Pian understand?"

Huang Chao offered a large amount of gold to bribe Zhang Lin, "Brother, stop fighting. I surrender. This is just a small token of my gratitude. By the way, please tell Marshal Gao that I intend to surrender. Please say a few good words for me in the court. Maybe we can serve in the same court in the future and have the friendship of comrades."

Zhang Lin accepted the gold and reported Huang Chao's surrender to Gao Pian.

After reading the letter, Gao Pian laughed out loud, "It's exactly what I want!"

A staff member nearby hurriedly advised: "General, be careful of another false surrender!"

This aide was none other than Huang Chao's fellow countryman, best friend, and close friend, Bi Shiduo, who had betrayed his master. Bi Shiduo knew Huang Chao very well and said, "This guy is the most untrustworthy!"

Gao Pian squinted his eyes at Bi Shiduo and smiled coldly, "Do you think I'm really stupid? Huang Chao conquered cities and occupied most of the country, how could he be satisfied with being a military governor? Even a third-rank official could not fill his stomach. Even if he was fed, could he feed his many followers? Isn't the case of Huang Fenjia, the king of Qizhou City, a lesson for us?"

Everyone was puzzled. If they knew that he might not be sincere, why did he stop fighting?
"Take advantage of the enemy's tactics." Gao Pian took a strategic step back, appreciating everyone's admiring looks, and then he told them his little plan.

Gao Pian wanted to take this opportunity to trick Huang Chao into coming over, capture him alive, and put an end to the chaos without bloodshed. He wanted to imitate the trick used by "Dengzhou surrender" to kill Shang Junchang.

So Gao Pian replied to Huang Chao, saying that as long as he was sincere in his submission, he would be willing to obtain a commission as a military governor for him.

At that time, Zhaoyi Army, Ganhua Army, Yiwu Army and other war zones had responded to Gao Pian's previous order and sent a task force to assemble in Huainan. Gao Pian was eager for merit and was afraid that his merit would be taken away by others or that the "Dengzhou surrender" case would be staged again, so he urgently submitted a memorial to the court, saying that Cao Army was about to be destroyed by him and did not need the assistance of other corps, and asked them to return to their original garrison area immediately.

The court believed in Gao Pian's ability and readily approved his request. The special forces of each war zone turned around and marched home in unison.

Huang Chao learned from past experience and lessons, and was well aware of the importance of speed in war. He worshipped the creed that "war is the art of deception". After showing weakness in Xinzhou, he actively deployed and set up numerous ambushes. He also sent out numerous scouts to investigate the movements of the government troops.

The scouts brought reliable intelligence: the task forces in each war zone had crossed the Huai River and returned north.

Huang Chao was overjoyed and immediately wrote a letter to Gao Pian, which was full of sarcasm and ridicule, and demanded a decisive battle with him.

Gao Pian was furious and ordered Zhang Lin to attack Xinzhou. This time Huang Chao was waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out, while Zhang Lin was alone and deep in the enemy's territory. His troops were exhausted and at the end of their strength.

The ending is predictable: Zhang Lin was defeated and killed.

Cao's army gained momentum and took advantage of the victory to capture Muzhou (now Jiande City, Zhejiang Province) and Wuzhou (now Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province). After that, they continued to capture Xuanzhou (now Xuancheng City, Anhui Province, the capital of Xuanshe Road at that time).

The following month, Cao's army crossed the Yangtze River and headed north, besieging Tianchang (now Tianchang City, Anhui Province) and Liuhe (now Liuhe County, Jiangsu Province). The bandit force was huge.

Bi Shiduo once again advised Gao Pian, saying that the safety of the empire depends on the commander-in-chief. Now the Cao army is advancing northward as if it is in an unmanned area. As the commander-in-chief of the anti-bandit movement, if you do not take action, I am afraid that no one can check and balance you. I suggest that you guard the dangerous terrain and then send troops to attack them head-on, and you will definitely win. If you let the Cao army cross Changhuai Pass (now Bengbu City, Anhui Province), it will definitely become a great scourge in the Central Plains!
Gao Pian frowned and said nothing for a long time.

He had just disbanded all the special task forces, and his troops were greatly reduced. The enemy was outnumbered, and his favorite general Zhang Lin was killed in battle, and the morale of the army was low... Huang Chao was like an indestructible cockroach, with an extremely high ability to recover blood and continue to fight. Now his momentum is strong, alas...

Small number of troops, loss of generals... are all excuses. To this day, the argument that "they were afraid because their beloved general Zhang Lin died in battle" is still common. This is inaccurate and illogical.

It was just because Gao Pian had other ideas at that time.

Gao Pian decided not to move his troops and submitted a petition to the court to report the emergency: "Our army of more than 600,000 soldiers has entered Tianchang, less than 50 miles away from Yangzhou City where I am!"

The generals couldn't understand why the commander-in-chief wanted to boost others' morale, destroy his own prestige, and bluff Huang Chao?

Song Wei understands, Liu Jurong understands.

What do you know? Keep the enemy in your care.

Gao Pian used the Cao army as a bargaining chip to threaten the court, giving officials, soldiers and rewards, while covering up the shame of Xinzhou's defeat.

In the court, apart from me, Gao Pian, who else can lead the army to suppress the bandits? I, Gao Pian, am your only lifeline. Look at the grass army, it is already unstoppable. Hurry up and give me money, food and military power.

First, he created panic inside and outside the court, and then used the panic to maximize his own interests. This was just Gao Pian's primary conspiracy.

As he wished, an emergency memorial caused an uproar in the court, and all the civil and military officials in the court fell into unprecedented panic.

Emperor Xizong of Tang was so frightened that he immediately thought of quarreling with Gao Pian. He issued an edict to blame Gao Pian for sending back the special corps in various war zones, which allowed Cao's army to take advantage of the situation and cross the Yangtze River to the north.

Gao Pian retorted in a memorial, saying that although it was he who proposed the dismissal, it was you, Your Majesty, who made the final decision, and you should bear the main responsibility.

The king is not a king, and the minister is not a minister.

Gao Pian also made it clear: I can certainly do my best to preserve my land, but I am afraid that the Cao army will bypass my defense zone, cross the Huai River to the north, and come directly to your people. Your Majesty, you'd better issue an urgent imperial decree to all war zones to let them help you defend. As for me, I am paralyzed, I have more than enough defense but less than enough attack, so let it be.

Emperor Xizong understood that Gao Pian was not trying to shirk responsibility, but was trying to establish his own regime.

The emperor then ordered that all war zones south of the Yellow River send troops to station at Mengshui, and ordered Qi Kerang, the governor of Taining, to garrison Ruzhou to resist the northward advance of Cao's army.

(End of this chapter)