History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 531: Three Towns Rebellion 5
Shi Jingtang sent Li Jinquan, a general of the imperial army, to Anzhou with a thousand cavalrymen, promising not to hold him responsible for the mutiny, and appointed him as the governor of Tangzhou to pacify Anzhou and stabilize the rear.

After a brief period of confusion, the situation of the war became clear again: the main battlefield was still Huazhou; the secondary battlefield was Sishui Pass. Like Wang Hui, the heroes of the world were keeping a close eye on the situation in Huazhou and Sishui Pass. Once Fan Yanguang made good progress, they might launch a mutiny to seize power, and then surrender to Fan Yanguang in order to be promoted to a higher position as a "founding hero" and enjoy wealth and glory.

Fan Yanguang was the main contradiction with Shi Jingtang, while Lou Jiying and the three Wen brothers were all fence-sitters who could not be extinguished by wild fire but would be revived by the spring breeze.

However, a major chaos almost broke out on the Huazhou front.

When the news came that Fu Yanrao of Huazhou had killed Bai Fengjin without authorization, the fighting spirit of the main force was dangerously shaken. The soldiers urged the commander Yang Guangyuan to take charge and expressed their willingness to support him as emperor.

This scene is very similar to "Emperor Mingzong's entry into Wei". Fan Yanguang is equivalent to Zhao Zaili, and Yang Guangyuan is Li Siyuan.

However, Yang Guangyuan was filled with righteous indignation and denounced his subordinates, "Since ancient times, has there ever been a bald emperor with a broken arm and a lame queen? The emperor is not used by you for speculation, but for your loyalty! The surrender of Jinan Village was really forced. If you have second thoughts today, you are the real traitor!" So, none of the subordinates dared to speak nonsense.

When this message reached Bianzhou, Shi Jingtang was deeply moved.

Yang Guangyuan was a Shatuo. His father was called Adenchuo, a small captain under Li Keyong. Yang Guangyuan's original name was Atan. When he grew up, he only had the character "Tan" as his first name, without a surname. After Li Siyuan ascended the throne, he changed his name to "Li Tan". Although "Tan" (pronounced the same as "Tan") and "Tan" (pronounced the same as "Dan") are different in pronunciation, they are written similarly, so he also wanted to avoid the taboo, so he changed his name to "Yang Guangyuan".

In his early years, he followed Zhou Dewei to fight in Youzhou, but he broke an arm and was abandoned. He also suffered from severe hair loss due to skin disease, which he self-deprecatingly called "bald head and broken arm".

However, Yang Guangyuan was a ruthless Shatuo man. Even though he had a broken arm, he was still braver than those with intact limbs. So he was re-hired and joined the army with one arm.

During the conquest of the capital of Dingzhou, this one-armed general captured alive more than ten Khitan generals including the famous general Zhila, shocking the Khitans. It was widely rumored in the Khitan army that there was a one-armed ruthless man in the Central Plains.

Yang Guangyuan was then stationed on the northern border, where he confronted the Khitan for a long time.

In the Hedong War, Li Congke ordered Zhang Jingda to be the commander-in-chief and Yang Guangyuan to be his deputy. After being besieged in Jin'an Village, with no food or grass and no reinforcements, Yang Guangyuan and other generals persuaded Zhang Jingda to surrender. Zhang Jingda refused to surrender, so he was killed by Yang Guangyuan and others, and then surrendered to the Khitan.

When Yelu Deguang saw Yang Guangyuan, he deliberately teased him and tried to set him up to make him look ridiculous. Yelu Deguang first looked him up and down, then nodded and said with admiration and praise: "He really lives up to his reputation, he is a ruthless man!"

Yang Guangyuan was secretly delighted, and then pretended to be very humble and asked Yelu Deguang: "How do you know that I am a one-armed ruthless man?"

I thought Yelu Deguang would say something touching like "heroes cherish heroes", but he said in a sarcastic and mocking tone: "You eat 10,000 war horses without cheese and salt as seasoning. You are such a ruthless person."

It implies that he had 50,000 elite soldiers and 10,000 war horses, but he did not dare to resist and surrendered.

Immediately, Yelu Deguang burst into laughter. Yang Guangyuan felt extremely ashamed and bowed down awkwardly.

After Yelu Deguang finished laughing, he glanced at him with a look full of contempt and asked contemptuously: "Hey, ruthless man, are you scared?"

"Very scared." Yelu Deguang was satisfied and continued to insult him, "What are you afraid of?"

At this time, another ability of Yang Guangyuan was displayed on the stage of history - the possession of the movie emperor.

Yang Guangyuan had a worried look on his face, an expression that showed he was concerned about the country and the people, and was selfless and dedicated to benefiting others. "I am afraid that our emperor will be captured and taken to the frontier, where he will be humiliated."

The Lord is worried about the labor of his ministers, and the Lord humiliates his ministers to death.

Yelu Deguang was in awe of Yang Guangyuan. He didn't expect that Yang Guangyuan was a loyal minister. So he said, "Forget it! We Khitans don't have that much food to feed you and your ministers. Don't think too much. The Central Plains is still ruled by the Central Plains people. You should serve your new master (Shi Jingtang) well in the future."

When Yelu Deguang was helping Shi Jingtang form a cabinet, in addition to mentioning Sang Weihan, Zhao Ying and others, he also made special mention of Yang Guangyuan, saying that this man was brave and loyal, and he should make good use of him.

Therefore, Shi Jingtang appointed Yang Guangyuan as the Jiedushi of Xuanwu Army in Bianzhou and the commander-in-chief of the imperial guards (the commander of the imperial guards and infantry). After being trained by Yelu Deguang, Yang Guangyuan was well versed in facial expression management, so he often died with a gloomy face, as if he had something to hate.

Shi Jingtang thought that he was dissatisfied with the reward, so he sent someone to talk to him privately and asked him indirectly what he was dissatisfied with.

Yang Guangyuan then showed off his acting skills again, saying that he was already extremely rich and what else was there to be dissatisfied with? It was just that Comrade Zhang Jingda died a worthy death, while I am now living a miserable life, feeling extremely ashamed and miserable, and it is really worse than death!

In both words and deeds, he said that he was as loyal and heroic as the martyr Zhang Jingda, but he went against his original intention, surrendered with hatred, and was willing to suffer humiliation for the sake of the lives of his 50,000 brothers.

Shi Jingtang believed that Yang Guangyuan was a loyal minister who could take the overall situation into consideration. After all, if Yang Guangyuan had not surrendered in time, the 50,000 people in Jin'an Village would have consumed many new forces from Hedong. If it was delayed until Zhao Dejun and others came to support and the Khitan returned north without mercy, the consequences would be disastrous.

As a result, Shi Jingtang respected Yang Guangyuan even more.

Yang Guangyuan was bald and had a broken arm, and his wife had disabled legs and feet, so Yang Guangyuan used the "bald and broken-armed emperor" and "lame queen" as examples to teach his generals to be loyal to the emperor and patriotic, which made Shi Jingtang grateful and he "favored him even more" from then on.

This "great loyal minister" will have some great achievements in the future, which will be described in detail later.

Yang Guangyuan stabilized the morale of the frontline troops, and then launched a decisive battle with the main force of the Weizhou rebels. Yang Guangyuan used the same old tricks from the Hedong War - luring the enemy deep into the territory and catching them in a trap. This time, he succeeded.

Sun Rui and Feng Hui were lured by Yang Guangyuan, and rushed across the river to pursue the enemy. Yang Guangyuan seized the opportunity and attacked the enemy halfway across the river. Three thousand of the 20,000 enemy troops were killed in an instant. Sun Rui's army was already unpopular, and the army collapsed instantly and fled in all directions. Many people were drowned. Sun Rui and Feng Hui fled back to Weizhou.

Great victories were achieved on the front lines of Huazhou and Liyang, and Yang Guangyuan took advantage of the victory to pursue and encircle Weizhou.

(End of this chapter)