History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 498 When a Politician Meets a Traitor 3
Zhang Yanlang and others suggested that Li Congke collect strategic materials from the common people. So Li Congke issued an edict: all horses in the world, whether they belong to the government or the people, must be confiscated and used as war horses; every seven households must send one soldier, equipped with their own armor and weapons, and called it "righteous army".

In total, more than 2,000 horses and 5,000 militiamen were forcibly conscripted. This amount of force was negligible, but it brought huge losses to the people's production and labor, and the people complained bitterly.

When Zhao Yanshou led 20,000 troops to join forces with his godfather Zhao Dejun, and then handed over the military power of 20,000 troops to Zhao Dejun, Zhao Dejun became even more fearless and was determined to annex Fan Yanguang, so he played the game of banditry and intensified his blackmail on Li Congke.

Li Congke missed many chances to turn the tables. In fact, he still had one chance to turn the tables, but the initiative was not in his hands. He was powerless, so he could not be blamed. This opportunity was on the battlefield in Hedong.

In the planning stage of the war, Li Congke lost the highest dimension of "strategy" and "interaction", and only focused on the inferior strategies of "attack the troops" and "siege the city". This top-level design flaw will also affect the underlying infrastructure. For example, Zhang Jingda and Yang Guangyuan, who were highly expected by Li Congke, had their own tactics flawed, and these flaws were impacted by the upstream. At one time, the mud and sand were mixed together, and the defeat was unstoppable.

Shi Jingtang and his generals worked together to withstand round after round of fierce attacks from Zhang Jingda and Yang Guangyuan, dragging the war into a stalemate.

Although Zhang Jingda and Yang Guangyuan failed to capture Taiyuan and were unable to encircle it due to objective reasons such as heavy rain, they still had a significant impact on Taiyuan, causing a shortage of food and grass in Taiyuan. If there was no external interference, Shi Jingtang would have failed due to a lack of food and grass, or would have fought desperately to break out. The situation was still relatively favorable for Zhang Jingda and Yang Guangyuan.

However, Shi Jingtang was not fighting alone.

Because of the strategic mistakes of Li Congke's group, Shi Jingtang colluded with Khitan. As long as Shi Jingtang could drag the war to late autumn and wait until Khitan reinforcements came south, he could basically declare victory.

He did it.

In September of the third year of Qingtai (936), when the autumn wind blew and the yellow leaves fluttered in the sky, Yelu Deguang personally led an army of 9, claiming to have troops. With flags flying and covering the sky, the team stretched for miles and marched southward in a mighty force.

On the route that the Khitan army had to take to move south, Zhang Lang, the governor of Daizhou, and Ding Shenqi, the governor of Xinzhou, closed the city gates, and the soldiers were fully armed and went up to guard the city, ready to face a fierce battle.

However, the Khitan army had no intention of attacking the city, but passed by the city as if nothing had happened and continued to move south. The defenders of Daizhou and Xinzhou were puzzled and crowded on the city wall, saluting the passing Khitan army.

Soon, Yelu Deguang arrived at Hubeikou on the northern bank of Fen River, north of Taiyuan.

Due to the heavy rain, Zhang Jingda did not complete the physical isolation of Taiyuan City, so the messengers could still quietly take shortcuts to contact the outside world.

As soon as Yelu Deguang arrived at Hubeikou, he sent someone to inform Shi Jingtang in the city: "I plan to break through the siege troops today, what do you think?"

Shi Jingtang was greatly alarmed and hurriedly sent people to stop them, saying that the troops besieging the city were strong and they must not be underestimated. Your army has come from afar and the soldiers are old and tired, so it would be best to rest first and it would not be too late to attack tomorrow.

Pay attention to the wording. It said earlier that Yelu Deguang did not discuss with Shi Jingtang, but "informed" him.

Before Shi Jingtang's envoys arrived at Hubeikou, Yelu Deguang had already led his troops to fight against Gao Xingzhou and Fu Yanqing, two cavalry generals of the Later Tang Dynasty. Shi Jingtang quickly sent Liu Zhiyuan to lead his troops to attack Zhang Jingda in coordination with the Khitan army.

Zhang Jingda, Yang Guangyuan and An Shenqi led the infantry to line up on the mountain, ready to fight. However, they saw that the vanguard sent by the Khitan was 3,000 light cavalry, all of whom were weak and had no armor. They rashly and recklessly launched an attack on the Later Tang position.

The result is predictable. The Later Tang army fought back and the Khitan vanguard was routed. The morale of the Later Tang was greatly boosted, and they rushed to catch up, all the way to Fenqu, where the Fen River has a bend. The Khitan light cavalry waded away, and the Later Tang soldiers chased along the river bank.

Usually, canyons, river bends, dense forests, etc. are all good places for ambushes. For example, Fenqu is a "几"-shaped bend surrounded by the Fen River on three sides. As long as the infantry is led in, it will become the point in the word "凡", and then the lower mouth is sealed. After the heavy cavalry charges in and out a few times, the infantry will either fall into the river and drown, or be trampled to death by the iron hooves.

The Later Tang army was only concerned with vying for credit, ignoring this basic military rule, and ran headlong into the Khitan ambush. The Khitan cavalry rushed out decisively, cutting off the Later Tang army in the middle, and the infantry that entered the "Ji"-shaped river bend was almost completely wiped out by the Khitan. Only the cavalry that did not enter the ambush circle escaped by chance.

The cavalry troops who escaped retreated to Jin'an Village to rest.

The Khitans did not give them a chance to breathe, and were not in a hurry to pick up the spoils of Fenqu. Instead, they pursued the victory and hunted down the Later Tang infantry troops.

Zhang Jingda gathered the remaining troops and defended Jin'an Village. The cost-effectiveness of continuing the attack was not high, so the Khitan people stopped attacking and retreated to Hubeikou to rest. Shi Jingtang also won the victory, captured more than a thousand central troops, and adopted Liu Zhiyuan's suggestion to massacre them all.

This was Zhang Jingda and Yang Guangyuan's strategy of "luring the enemy deep into their territory", letting the Khitans in and giving them a good beating.

After the Khitans arrived at the battlefield, they helped Shi Jingtang lift the siege of Taiyuan in their first contact and severely damaged the main force of the Later Tang central army.

That night, Shi Jingtang personally went out of the north gate of Taiyuan and went to Hubeikou to meet Yelu Deguang.

Yelu Deguang held Shi Jingtang's hand tightly, expressing that they met too late.

Shi Jingtang looked at Yelu Deguang with great admiration and could not help asking, "You came from afar, your men and horses were exhausted, and you hastily launched a decisive battle with the Later Tang army, but you were able to defeat it in one fell swoop. What was the reason?"

Yelu Deguang said proudly: "To be honest, when I set out, I thought that the Central Army of the Later Tang Dynasty would definitely control all the checkpoints in the Yanmen Pass area and set up ambushes in strategic places. If that was the case, I would not have appeared here so soon. But guess what happened? Hey - there was not a single soldier guarding all the checkpoints, and we Khitans marched in unimpeded as if we were at home. So I knew that the commander of the Later Tang Dynasty was a moron. Moreover, our army was on the rise, while the morale of the Later Tang army was declining, so we should seize the opportunity to launch an attack, and should not blindly believe in the doctrine of 'waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out'."

The two men laughed and clapped their hands. Shi Jingtang admired Yelu Deguang even more.

(End of this chapter)