History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 539 Anzhou Crisis
Before moving to Anzhou, Shi Jingtang released a number of smokescreens as usual. Following the intensive relocation orders in Hebei, the court also carried out a series of major personnel changes in Henan:

The former Privy Councilor Liu Churang, who was "laid off", was appointed as the Jiedushi of Xiangzhou, and the Jiedushi of Xiangzhou Sang Weihan was appointed as the Jiedushi of Yanzhou;
Hou Yi, the governor of Xuzhou, was appointed as the governor of Qinzhou, Kang Fu, the governor of Qinzhou, was appointed as the governor of Hezhong; An Shenxin, the governor of Hezhong, was appointed as the governor of Xuzhou, and Du Chongwei, the governor of Xuzhou, was appointed as the governor of Yunzhou.

Afterwards, Ma Quanjie, the governor of Cangzhou, was appointed as the governor of Anzhou.

Prior to this, the court summoned Li Jinquan's confidant Hu Hanjun to the court and sent Jia Renzhao to replace him. Hu Hanjun claimed to be ill and did not go, and poisoned Jia Renzhao and massacred Pang Lingtu's family. His methods were cruel and outrageous.

Now, the imperial edict to move the town has been issued, and Hu Hanyun heard that Jia Renzhao's two sons were going to go to the central government to file a complaint, and he was very frightened, so he deceived Li Jinquan, saying that according to reliable intelligence, the court wanted to investigate the "Jia Renzhao poisoning case", and frame you, accuse you of treason, and kill you!

Li Jinquan was greatly frightened, so at the instigation of Hu Hanyun, he decided to collude with Huainan and resist the Later Jin Dynasty.

Generally speaking, the rebels north of the Yellow River would collude with the Khitan, the rebels in eastern Henan would collude with Huainan, and the rebels in western Henan would collude with the Kingdom of Shu.

Huainan Xu Zhigao sent generals Li Chengyu and Duan Chugong with 3,000 soldiers and horses to provide support.

Shi Jingtang's reaction was even faster. We have good reason to believe that Shi Jingtang had prepared an emergency plan. We can even say that he had already started to "suppress the rebellion" before Li Jinquan officially rebelled. Shi Jingtang immediately authorized Ma Quanjie to mobilize troops from more than a dozen states in Henan, including Bianzhou and Luoyang, to take over the city by force. He also recruited An Shenhui, the governor of Fuzhou Baoda Army, as the deputy commander of the expedition and marched towards Anzhou.

In June of the fifth year of Tianfu (940), the Battle of Anzhou broke out.

You have to pick the weak ones. Yang Guangyuan and others were powerful, and Shi Jingtang was afraid of them. For Li Jinquan, who was small, he did not make advance preparations for military conquest like An Congjin did. Rebellion? You are not worthy!
Li Jinquan knew his own limitations and did not dare to confront the imperial army head-on. After the Huainan reinforcements arrived in Anzhou, he immediately abandoned the city and fled.

Li Jinquan, with a group of beautiful concubines and mountains of gold and silver treasures, and under the protection of hundreds of followers, fled to the Huainan reinforcement camp.

Huainan general Li Chengyu first robbed Li Jinquan's concubines and treasures for himself, and then led his troops into Anzhou city.

Li Chengyu disobeyed Xu Zhigao's order.

Just like Lu Wenjin's defection before, Xu Zhigao did not intend to seize the land of the Central Plains Dynasty at this time. He did not covet the city of Anzhou, but instead warned that it would be enough to just take the political prisoners in, and never harass the people of the Central Plains, let alone enter the city to defend it in an attempt to seize the city.

When welcoming Lu Wenjin, Huainan and Hou Jin had maintained this tacit understanding. However, Li Chengyu, adhering to the spirit of "a general is not subject to orders from the king", entered Anzhou without robbing, intending to repel the Hou Jin reinforcements and keep Anzhou in Huainan's territory.

When Li Congke started his army in Fengxiang and entered Luoyang, Hou Shu took advantage of the situation to occupy the land of Hou Tang and launched a large-scale attack on Jinzhou. Ma Quanjie, the then defense envoy of Jinzhou, destroyed his family property to help the people, persisted in resistance, defeated the enemy with fewer troops, and finally repelled the Hou Shu invaders and saved Jinzhou. Ma Quanjie was a ruthless character.

Ma Quanjie led his army to engage in a firefight with the Huainan army in the south of Anzhou, defeating the Huainan army in one fell swoop. Li Chengyu saw that the situation was not good, so he looted, smashed, looted and burned in Anzhou, and then led the remaining troops to flee southward.

Ma Quanjie immediately entered the city to take over, and then ordered his deputy commander An Shenhui to chase and kill. An Shenhui chased to Huanghua Valley and killed Duan Chugong, the deputy commander of the Huainan army. The next day, he caught up with the main force of Huainan again in Yunmengze and captured more than 2,000 people including the main general Li Chengyu of Huainan. A total of 3,000 people from Huainan came, and more than 2,000 were captured alive.

Ma Quanjie witnessed the tragic scene in Anzhou City and was deeply shocked. “The Huaiyi are hateful!”

At this time, An Shenhui escorted Li Chengyu and other captives back to Anzhou.

Ma Quanjie's face turned pale, and he waved his hand, pointing at Li Chengyu and others, "Chop them off!" With this order, all 1,500 people including Li Chengyu were beheaded. Then, the military supervisor Du Guangye and 570 others were taken to Bianzhou.

During the battle, General An Youqian fought particularly bravely, and Ma Quanjie praised his loyalty and bravery and sent him to Bianzhou to report the victory. According to the rules, those who reported the victory would receive "good news money", in addition to rich gold and silver treasures, they would also be promoted to higher positions, so the commander would usually let his son or confidant do this job.

An Youqian rode his horse as fast as he could in the scorching heat of the dog days of summer, but he died of heatstroke, and this race became the Chinese version of the marathon.

Shi Jingtang comforted the captives and said, "It was Li Jinquan who betrayed me. What crime have they committed?" He then untied them, rewarded them with gifts such as horses and clothes, and sent them back to Huainan with courtesy.

This was still a tacit understanding between Shi Jingtang and Xu Zhigao, and neither side was willing to escalate the conflict. Needless to say, Shi Jingtang was busy plugging the leaks, and Xu Zhigao also did not want to fall out with the Later Jin Dynasty, because at this time he was busy mediating the civil war in Min State, and his main focus was not in the north.

So whether it is Lu Wenjin or Li Jinquan, Xu Zhigao's attitude is that you are welcome to come to Huainan to apply for political asylum, but Huainan will never go to war with the Central Plains power for you.

According to later statistics, it was only because Li Chengyu was greedy for merit and money and disobeyed military orders that a wrong war broke out at the wrong time, in the wrong place, and against the wrong enemy, causing the loss of more than 4,000 people in Huainan. Xu Zhigao was very distressed by this.

It was clearly said before that the two of them would lead 3,000 men to support them, and 4,000 of the 3,000 men were killed... It could be Li Jinquan's 1,000 men, or it could be a second batch of rescue forces. In short, Huainan suffered heavy losses and was in a passive situation in the diplomacy between the two countries, owing a big favor to the Later Jin.

Shi Jingtang not only did not investigate the matter of Xu Zhigao's occupation of Anzhou in Huainan, but also sent Du Guangye and 570 other captives back to Huainan. Shi Jingtang's arms were really long, stretching from Bianzhou to Huainan, and slapping Xu Zhigao in the face.

Xu Zhigao sent Du Guangye and others back to the territory of the Later Jin Dynasty north of the Huai River, and wrote a letter to Shi Jingtang, with the title "Our country's memorial to the emperor of the superior country", which was very polite, calling the Later Jin Dynasty "the superior country". The letter said:

"The admiration for the past has increased over time, so don't let the dust of the light pass by. Just follow the rules of the Warring States period and dare to take the lead in the way of good neighborliness."

——Let me be polite first. I am your loyal fan and I admire you for a long time.

(End of this chapter)