History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 493 War breaks out
This was another mistake by Li Congke. It was not that he could not kill them, but that he should not kill them so early. These people could be completely controlled, put in prison first, and used as hostages to threaten Shi Jingtang, and used as bargaining chips for future negotiations, leaving room for maneuver for himself. Just like Li Cunxu refused to kill Li Congshen, the son of Li Siyuan.

Hostages are valuable only when they are alive; they are worthless when they are dead.

All of Shi Jingtang's family members and relatives in Luoyang were killed, which strengthened his determination to rebel and there was no possibility of reconciliation with Li Congke.

After An Yuanxin and An Shenxin surrendered to Shi Jingtang, An Zhongrong, the Zhenwu general stationed in Daizhou, also surrendered to Shi Jingtang with 500 men.

Sang Qian, the commander-in-chief of the Yunzhou infantry, plotted rebellion in response to Shi Jingtang, so he reported to the central government, falsely accusing Yin Hui, the governor of Yingzhou Zhangguo Army, of expelling Sha Yanxun, the governor of Datong, in response to Shi Jingtang, and used this as an excuse to attack Sha Yanxun. Sha Yanxun reported the truth to the central government, saying that Sang Qian was the first to file a complaint and slandered him, and joined forces with Yin Hui to counterattack Sang Qian, captured him alive, and sent him to Luoyang to be beheaded.

A mutiny also broke out in the Weizhou army, an important city in Heshuo. General Zhang Lingzhao expelled the governor Liu Yanhao and responded to Shi Jingtang.

Liu Yanhao was Li Congke's brother-in-law. He was placed in the strategic town of Wei Bojun and became a wedge between Hebei and Hedong. He was one of Li Congke's important layouts.

However, Liu Yanhao relied on his status as the emperor's brother-in-law to be arrogant and lawless in Weizhou. He drank and indulged himself every day, and even withheld military rations and military pay, causing dissatisfaction among the troops. So, General Zhang Lingzhao incited the dissatisfaction of the soldiers, launched a mutiny, took control of Weizhou, and Liu Yanhao fled.

Afterwards, Zhang Lingzhao wrote a memorial to Li Congke, saying that Liu Yanhao's leadership was incompetent and he had instigated a mutiny. Fortunately, I stepped in to stop it, calmed the rebels and restored order. Now the army has nominated me to temporarily take charge of the military affairs of Weizhou, and I request the court to follow the will of the army and the people and formally appoint me as the governor of Weizhou.

Li Congke promoted Zhang Lingzhao's official position in the imperial guards and let him temporarily take over the Wei Bo Army, but later issued an imperial decree to appoint him as the Defense Commissioner of Qizhou.

Zhang Lingzhao originally wanted to use the important city of Weizhou as a bargaining chip, and was trying to betwixt Shi Jingtang and Li Congke to see who would offer the highest price. After receiving Li Congke's transfer order, he politely declined, saying that the three armies were eager to keep him, and he could not refuse the kindness and was really busy.

Li Congke sent an envoy to communicate and persuade Zhang Lingzhao, but Zhang Lingzhao directly killed the envoy.

Before the Hedong rebels were dealt with, Wei Bo rebelled again. Li Congke then ordered Fan Yanguang to lead the expedition against the Wei Bo army, and ordered Zhang Jingda to lead the expedition against Hedong, with General Yang Guangyuan as his deputy.

Attack on two fronts.

Fan Yanguang conquered Weizhou, beheaded Zhang Lingzhao and his followers Xing Li and Li Gui, and captured Mi Quan and 13 others alive, all of whom were executed by slow slicing. Li Congke appointed Fan Yanguang as the military governor of Weizhou.

Zhang Jingda summoned the imperial guards stationed in Huaizhou to follow him northward, and the commander Zhang Wandi led 500 cavalrymen to surrender to Shi Jingtang. Li Congke ordered the killing of Zhang Wandi's entire family.

Li Congke usurped the throne through a military coup, but he had never received enough recognition. This political disadvantage was fully demonstrated in this war. Almost no one was willing to work for him. From An Yuanxin to Zhang Wandi, more and more central army soldiers defected and surrendered to Shi Jingtang, and Li Congke cruelly massacred all their families.

Although Zhang Lingzhao's mutiny in Weizhou was quickly suppressed, it also illustrates the same problem. These imperial guards either fled directly to Taiyuan and joined Shi Jingtang, or took advantage of this chaos to establish their own regime.

In short, he was unwilling to serve Li Congke. Zhang Jingda and Yang Guangyuan led their army to approach Taiyuan, and Fan Yanguang also pacified Heshuo. The pressure on the Taiyuan front was getting greater and greater. Shi Jingtang sent his aide Zhao Ying to ask for help from Khitan, but there was no result. So he sent his chief strategist, the eloquent Sang Weihan, to Khitan to urgently ask for help.

Sang Weihan discussed with Shi Jingtang the conditions for the Khitan, and finally decided on the "three major points":
1. Shi Jingtang paid tribute to the Khitan and called Yelu Deguang "son", willing to treat him as a father;
2. Give a certain amount of gold, silver, and silk every year as a gift from a son to his father;
3. Cede Youzhou Lulong Army and all the land north of Yanmen Pass to Khitan.

It was this last one that made Shi Jingtang infamous for all eternity and he was scolded by people in the Central Plains for more than a thousand years.

It is said that Shi Jingtang's favorite general Liu Zhiyuan raised objections:
First of all, it was enough to call him a vassal, why call him a son? Shi Jingtang was ten years older than Yelu Deguang. Isn't it too lowly to recognize a man who is ten years younger than himself as his father?
Secondly, ceding land is absolutely unacceptable. Even if you give him a little more money, you can give him money, but you can't cede land.

However, Shi Jingtang did not adopt Liu Zhiyuan's opinion in the end. Instead, he followed Sang Weihan's suggestion and immediately went on a diplomatic mission to Khitan, begging the Celestial Empire (Khitan) to send heavenly soldiers and generals to help him.

Zhang Jingda built a long wall outside Taiyuan City to physically besiege Shi Jingtang and trapped him to death in Taiyuan. Li Congke sent Lü Qi to the front line of Taiyuan to comfort the troops. Deputy Commander Yang Guangyuan pointed to the bustling construction site and said to Lü Qi confidently: "Please tell the emperor to rest assured and not worry about this trivial matter. It is only a matter of time before Taiyuan is captured."

Lu Qi asked him what to do if the Khitan went south to help Shi Jingtang.

Yang Guangyuan laughed loudly and said, "Lure the enemy deep into our territory and kill them all!"

Li Congke was delighted when he heard this. However, according to reliable intelligence, the Khitan had agreed to Shi Jingtang's request and agreed to send troops south in mid-autumn, so he ordered Zhang Jingda and Yang Guangyuan to intensify the attack and try to capture Taiyuan before or after the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Zhang Jingda organized several rounds of fierce attacks.

Shi Jingtang ordered Liu Zhiyuan to lead the surrendered generals An Zhongrong, An Yuanxin, An Shenxin, Zhang Wandi and others to resist. These people had a deep hatred for the Later Tang Dynasty. Liu Zhiyuan was skilled in commanding the soldiers and did not discriminate against the surrendered soldiers and generals. Instead, he treated them honestly and won their trust and support. Everyone shared the same hatred and worked together.

Shi Jingtang also personally climbed up the city wall, braving the flying stones and arrows, to comfort the front-line soldiers and share the joys and sorrows with the grassroots soldiers.

Liu Zhiyuan said that Zhang Jingda and his men only knew how to build camps and dig deep trenches, with the goal of a long-term siege, and wanted to defend instead of attack. This was a passive battle strategy, which showed that they had low morale and confidence, and were lucky and easy to deal with. Marshal, please contact all reinforcements as soon as possible, and cooperate internally and externally. As for the city defense, leave it to me, Liu Zhiyuan, alone!
Shi Jingtang held Liu Zhiyuan's hand tightly, caressed his back, and praised him deeply. I wonder if he also said to Li Siyuan, "I should take turns to be the emperor with you and your son," as Li Cunxu did. If so, it would be very interesting.

Zhang Jingda's attack on Taiyuan City was fruitless, and his walls could never be repaired because every time he did earthwork, there would be strong winds and heavy rain.

As Li Congke's intelligence said, the Khitan Shi Jingtang was persuaded and really sent troops. In response, Zhang Jingda and Yang Guangyuan had already set a flag, saying that they would lure the enemy deep into their territory and close the gates to release the dogs.

Can they succeed?

(End of this chapter)