History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 527: Three Towns Rebellion
The examples of Wu Luan, Qu Zhang and others tell us that although the "Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun" were ceded to the Khitan, it took the Khitan a lot of time and energy to digest and absorb them, so the Khitans also hoped that the Central Plains could maintain a relatively stable situation at this time. Maintaining the new post-war order was the common demand of both sides and was in the common interests of both sides.

So when Fan Yanguang sent envoys to try to contact the Khitan and pay tribute to Shi Jingtang, he was flatly rejected by the Khitan.

Although Fan Yanguang had wishful thinking, he was not reckless. He knew very well that it would be difficult for him to defeat Shi Jingtang without the support of the Khitans. Even if he was lucky enough to capture Luoyang and force Shi Jingtang and his entire family to burn themselves to death, he would still not be able to sit firmly on the throne of emperor, because he would then face the same problems that Shi Jingtang was facing now.

The time was not right, and Fan Yanguang hesitated. He was in pain, entangled, and worried. After struggling in every possible way, he fell ill and could not get up.

At this time, one of his confidants, Sun Rui, could not wait to make his debut and stepped onto the historical stage in the guise of a clown.

Sun Rui was Fan Yanguang's subordinate and fellow villager, so he was very favored by Fan Yanguang. Sun Rui took advantage of his favor and became arrogant and arbitrary. When Fan Yanguang was in Weizhou, Sun Rui would reject and rewrite any orders or memorials that were not to his liking, and even dared to tear up official documents in front of Fan Yanguang.

Under Sun Rui's strong intervention, the six states under Wei Bo's jurisdiction did not pay a cent of tribute to the central court, and they were like independent states. According to the official statement afterwards, Sun Rui almost sidelined Fan Yanguang. Obviously, this was to shift the blame for the rebellion to Sun Rui in order to protect Fan Yanguang, which will be explained in detail later.

After Fan Yanguang became seriously ill, Sun Rui secretly summoned Feng Hui, the governor of Chanzhou, to force Fan Yanguang to make up his mind to rebel as soon as possible, and used the prophecy of the "expert" Zhang Sheng to confuse him.

At this time, Shi Jingtang had moved the capital to Bianzhou, and the work of preventing Weizhou rebellion had been secretly carried out for half a year. Fan Yanguang also received a clear statement of opposition from the Khitans. Fan Yanguang knew that this was not a good time to rebel. According to historical records, Fan Yanguang was still "undecided to rebel" at this time, and was seriously ill and bedridden, unable to preside over work for more than ten days.

Afterwards, the Weizhou army was dispatched. It was not just that Sun Rui "forged an imperial edict" to dispatch troops, but that he really followed Fan Yanguang's orders, or that Fan Yanguang passed the buck afterwards. In short, Sun Rui and Feng Hui led an army of 20,000 to attack Weizhou and Huazhou, burning, killing, looting, smashing, and burning in Huazhou.

Fu Yanrao of Huazhou sent a letter to the emperor: The Wei Bo army has taken action! Huazhou is under attack, requesting support.

Shi Jingtang sent the commander-in-chief of the imperial cavalry, Bai Fengjin, to lead 3,000 cavalrymen to march into Baimazin.

Bai Fengjin was an excellent general with rich combat experience, good riding and shooting skills. When he was young, he took the initiative to surrender to Li Keyong of Hedong and recommended himself. During the "Battle of Jiacheng", Bai Fengjin took the lead and was the first to rush into the enemy's formation. He charged left and right as if he was in an empty space. He was spotted by Li Cunxu at first sight and was subsequently reused. When Li Jiji attacked Shu, Bai Fengjin was promoted to the commander-in-chief of the guard.

Bai Fengjin was not only brave in battle, but also good at politics. When he was in local office, he managed the prefectures and counties in an orderly manner and achieved great political achievements. After Shi Jingtang ascended the throne, he transferred him back to the central imperial army.

In addition, Bai Fengjin and Shi Jingtang were in-laws, and Bai Fengjin's daughter married Shi Jingtang's son Shi Chongxin, so Shi Jingtang relied on him even more.

Bai Fengjin lived up to expectations and won the first victory at the front. He captured a group of enemy soldiers and learned through interrogation that the main general of the rebels was Feng Hui, the governor of Chanzhou, and the military supervisor was Sun Rui, Fan Yanguang's confidant. After reading the memorial, Shi Jingtang was so angry that he said to his attendants: "Although I am a man of few virtues and few strategies, I am still a little better than Fan Yanguang. Fan Yanguang sent Feng Hui and Sun Rui, who are simply treating it as a joke! These two people can be captured alive overnight."

What kind of person is Sun Rui, who is severely despised by Shi Jingtang? What kind of storm will he stir up when he strongly encourages Fan Yanguang to rebel?

Sun Rui had made adequate preparations for this rebellion. He had prepared more than a dozen graceful prostitutes to accompany him. During the march, they would hold up yellow silk umbrellas like the emperor to shield him from the scorching sun. Whenever the garrison had a meal, music would be played, and he would dance with the prostitutes.

It was the height of summer and the soldiers were suffering from the heat. However, seeing their commander behave so unrestrainedly, their morale collapsed and no one was willing to fight for him.

Shi Jingtang made new deployments in response to the movements of the rebels: he ordered Yang Guangyuan to be the commander-in-chief of Weizhou (deployed on all four sides of the Wei government); Zhang Congbin, the inspector of Luoyang, was appointed as the deputy commander-in-chief and chief military officer; and Gao Xingzhou, the governor of Zhaoyi Army, led his troops to station in Xiangzhou and served as the commander of the Western Front Army.

When we unfold the map, the situation becomes clear: the main battlefield for both sides is Liyang, an important ferry crossing across the Yellow River from Huazhou. To the south is Bianzhou, and to the north is Weizhou. The situation is quite similar to that in "Glory of the King". Bianzhou and Weizhou are the crystals of both sides, the Yellow River is the middle river channel, Liyang and Huazhou are the middle towers, and the main forces of both sides fight here.

Gao Xingzhou was ordered to cross the Taihang Mountains and station in Xiangzhou. Xiangzhou is located on the west side of the line connecting Liyang and Weizhou, which is equivalent to the enemy's wild area. Gao Xingzhou can either cut off the enemy's retreat to the south and attack from the front and back with Yang Guangyuan's main force, or take advantage of the opportunity to steal the tower and surprise attack Weizhou;
At the same time, Zhang Congbin set out from Luoyang, the eastern capital, as a supplementary force for the second echelon. He could not only reinforce the main battlefield of Huazhou, but also support Gao Xingzhou in Xiangzhou. If the front line failed, he could also support the Bianzhou base camp.

This is Shi Jingtang's confidence. As he said, although he is not a military genius, he has followed Emperor Mingzong to conquer the world and fought countless battles. He is so familiar with 300 Tang poems that he can recite them even if he cannot write poems. He can also read them.

Fan Yanguang, who ranked last among the "powerful" people, was just a weakling in Shi Jingtang's eyes. There was a reason why he was ranked last. Didn't he have any idea about it?

However, just when Shi Jingtang was making plans and issuing orders, a sudden and huge change made Shi Jingtang extremely crazy - Zhang Congbin rebelled!

Zhang Congbin, who was little known at that time, occupied a crucial position: Luoyang, located on the west side of Bianzhou. Zhang Congbin turned against his allies and joined forces with Fan Yanguang to attack Shi Jingtang in Bianzhou from both sides.

Shi Jingtang hurriedly dispatched the imperial guards generals Hou Yi and Du Chongwei to lead 5,000 imperial guards to Sishui Pass to deploy defenses.

Immediately afterwards, urgent military intelligence came from the Huazhou front: Fu Yanrao of Huazhou had also rebelled!
Millions of alpacas were running through Shi Jingtang's mind.

(End of this chapter)