History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 569: The Battle of Qicheng 2
Chanzhou is located in the northeast of Huazhou and the southeast of Liyang. The three places are arranged in a triangle and support each other.

If we follow the Yellow River eastward, we will find several familiar place names: Huazhou-Liyang, Deshengjiacheng (Chanzhou), Majiadu, Yangliucheng, Majiakou...

That’s right, these are the important strongholds that Li Cunxu used to destroy the Later Liang Dynasty.

Now, Shi Chonggui appeared in Desheng Jiacheng (Chanzhou), the forefront of the anti-Liao war, a real man.

It was precisely because of Shi Chonggui's personal leadership and going to Chanzhou to command the battle that the morale of the Later Jin army was greatly boosted. Despite the passive situation at the beginning, they achieved a stunning reversal and won the first battle, the "Battle of Qicheng".

The envoys sent to seek peace were blocked when they arrived in Weizhou, and Yelu Deguang refused to meet with the envoys of the Later Jin Dynasty. The envoys sent to comfort Yang Guangyuan explained the pros and cons to Yang Guangyuan, and persuaded him with both reason and emotion. Yang Guangyuan superficially accepted the reconciliation, and wrote a memorial to explain that the reason why Yang Chengzuo returned from Shanzhou without permission was indeed because his old mother in Qingzhou was ill, and he just wanted to see her for the last time. There was no other intention, and everything was a misunderstanding. The court can understand and forgive us, and our whole family is grateful.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month of that year, no one in the world had the leisure to enjoy the lanterns. The emperors of the two countries faced each other across the Yellow River, Yelu Deguang was in Weizhou and Shi Chonggui was in Chanzhou.

At this time, Weizhou had not fallen, and Zhang Cong'en, the governor of Weizhou, closed the city and held on. Yelu Deguang was stationed outside the city, and appointed Zhao Yanshou as the military governor of Weizhou and Weizhou ("ordered him to take it himself"), and renamed him the King of Wei (originally the King of Yan).

Shi Chonggui then sent the imperial guard general Zhang Yanze to lead his troops to the Huazhou-Liyang front.

Shi Chonggui once again sent his confidant to deliver a letter to Yelu Deguang, stating that he had realized his mistake and was willing to resume the previous treaty, asking his grandfather to withdraw his troops and not to argue with his grandson.

That's too insincere. Because at this time, the Liao Kingdom had already occupied the vast territory of Hebei and pushed the front line to the Yellow River. Why should I spit it out just because you call me "Grandpa"? So he replied: "You hurt me and laughed it off."

What has been done cannot be undone. Grandpa, I am going to teach you a good lesson so that you will know the price of rebellion.

Shi Chonggui sincerely expressed his willingness to negotiate. After several attempts, Yelu Deguang finally offered a price:

First, the Later Jin ceded the land north of the Yellow River to the Khitan, and from then on the two countries divided the Yellow River and governed it;
Second, Sang Weihan and Jing Yanguang must be allowed to negotiate.

At this time, good news came from the battlefield in Shanxi. Liu Zhiyuan sent a victory report: the Liao army was defeated in Xinzhou, 3,000 enemies were killed, 17 enemy generals and 500 enemy soldiers were captured. The remnants of the enemy fled from the Yaming Valley, and troops have been sent to pursue them.

The victory on the Shanxi battlefield also boosted morale and broke the myth of the invincibility of the Khitan army.

Of course, the Shanxi battlefield itself was an assist, and the main attacking forces of the Khitans were all in the Shandong battlefield. As mentioned above, the confrontation between the two countries of Jin and Liao along the Yellow River is very similar to the battle of Li Cunxu to destroy Liang. In that war, Li Cunxu implemented the "left hook operation", crossing the Yellow River from Yunzhou in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, and then relying on the rapid mobility of the cavalry, he directly attacked Bianzhou.

Twenty years have passed, and people seem to have forgotten. But there is a man named Dou Yi who has not forgotten, because he is now the Observation Judge of Yunzhou and the chief strategist of Yunzhou. He knows very well the importance of Yunzhou. Although it is far away from the main battlefield, it may become the key breakthrough to dominate the whole situation.

Moreover, Yang Guangyuan of Qingzhou in the Shandong Peninsula was secretly in contact with the Khitan. If they cooperated with them and helped the Khitan to cross the Yellow River from Yunzhou and rush into Bianzhou... "Operation Left Hook" would be staged as version 2.0 to destroy Jin.

After Dou Yi's reminder, Shi Chonggui broke out in a cold sweat, so he hurriedly dispatched troops to guard the important ferry crossings along the river: Shi Yun (Shi Jingtang's cousin) was sent to garrison Majiadu; He Chongjian was stationed at Yangliucheng; Bai Zairong was stationed at Majiakou; and Any Yanwei was stationed at Heyang to prevent the Khitan from doing the opposite and attacking Luoyang from the west with a "right hook".

Just after the deployment was completed, an urgent report was received from Yunzhou saying that Zhou Ru, the governor of Bozhou (now Liaocheng City, Shandong Province), surrendered the city to the Khitan and secretly colluded with Yang Guangyuan.

Shi Chonggui felt a chill down his spine and exclaimed that he was lucky. Bozhou is located between Beizhou and Yunzhou, north of the ancient Yellow River, and across the river from Yunzhou.

Bozhou was the bridgehead for the Khitan army to fight for the ferry crossings near Yunzhou, such as Yangliucheng and Majiakou. If the Khitan army used Bozhou as a springboard and looked for a crossing point along the Yellow River, while Yang Guangyuan cooperated on the south bank, then "Left Hook" 2.0 would be a sure win.

Zhou Ru, the governor of Bozhou, colluded with Yang Guangyuan and Yelu Deguang to capture Cai Xingyu who was stationed in Yunzhou. They then guided the Khitan general Yelu Malu to cross the Yellow River from Majiakou, and repaired defensive fortifications on the south bank of the Yellow River and built beachhead positions to prepare for the subsequent main force.

This Yelu Mamo, also known as Yelu Mada and Yelu Mada, can actually be written as "Yelu Mada". The "History of Liao" records him as "Yelu Balide", the cousin of Yelu Deguang. His father was Yelu Abaoji's second brother, Yelu Lage, a natural traitor, the initiator of three "brothers' rebellions", so he was renamed "Baoli" by Yelu Abaoji. I don't know what it means in Khitan, but it's not a good word anyway. Later, Lage defected to the Central Plains and defected to Li Cunxu. Li Cunxu regarded him as his adopted son. During the "Battle of Huliupi", he betrayed Li Cunxu and defected to the Later Liang. After Li Cunxu destroyed Liang, he was "angry at his rebellion" and executed him by slow slicing.

For the convenience of narration, we call him Yelu Maluo and his father La Ge.

This is interesting. If we talk about it from the Khitan side, Shi Chonggui should call Yelu Malu "grandfather uncle" or "great uncle"; if we talk about it from the Central Plains side, Shi Chonggui is of the same generation as Yelu Malu and can just call him brother.

Simple stroke:

Khitan version: The core figure of the ethical relationship is Yelu Deguang. Yelu Deguang is Shi Chonggui's godfather and Yelu Ma's cousin. So Yelu Ma's cousin is Shi Chonggui's grandfather. Strictly speaking, Shi Chonggui should call him "great uncle".

The Central Plains version: The core figures of the ethical relationship are Li Cunxu and Li Siyuan. Li Cunxu adopted La Ge as his adopted son, so La Ge's son Yelu Maluo is Li Cunxu's adopted grandson; Li Siyuan is Shi Chonggui's grandfather, and Shi Chonggui is Li Siyuan's biological grandson. Li Cunxu and Li Siyuan are adopted brothers, of the same generation. In other words, Yelu Maluo is the adopted grandson of Shi Chonggui's biological grandfather's adopted brother, and to refine it further - the grandson of his uncle's grandfather, the two should be called "cousins".

(End of this chapter)