History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 570: The Battle of Qicheng 3
On February 2, Yelu Malu crossed the river and built a city;

On February 2, Li Shouzhen, commander-in-chief of the Later Jin imperial cavalry, Huangfu Yu, general of the imperial army, Liang Hanzhang, defense envoy of Chenzhou, and Xue Huairang, governor of Huaizhou, led 2 people and marched eastward along the Yellow River to provide support.

On February 2, Shi Gongba, a vanguard officer of the Later Jin Dynasty, was ordered to patrol and investigate between Chanzhou and Weizhou. He encountered the Khitan army and was trapped in Qicheng (between Chanzhou and Weizhou, on the Chanzhou side). The commander-in-chief Gao Xingzhou and the deputy commander-in-chief Fu Yanqing were resting in the forest. After receiving the news, they hurriedly led their troops forward to rescue them.

Gao Xingzhou and Fu Yanqing had a preconceived notion that the Khitans were just a cavalry reconnaissance force, after all, they were right under the nose of Chanzhou. But they never expected that the Khitans would actually send out a large army, and their strategic intentions were not yet known.

"The Khitan army is very large and is surrounded in several layers." The three were surrounded, so they hurriedly sent people to the rear to find Jing Yanguan and ask for reinforcements.

Jing Yanguang, however, played the role of bureaucracy, saying that all actions had to be approved by Shi Chonggui and "wait for the emperor's decision."

According to records, the Khitan army had tens of thousands of troops at that time, and perhaps their target was the Chanzhou base camp. Comrade Shi Gongba successfully blocked the bullet.

As reinforcements were nowhere to be seen, Gao Xingzhou and others discussed and decided to take a risk and break out.

Thousands of Central Plains soldiers were surrounded by tens of thousands of Khitan soldiers. From Gao Xingzhou on down, everyone was determined to die. It was death anyway, so instead of waiting to die, it was better to give it a try.

Fu Yanqing led hundreds of elite troops to charge, tearing a gap in the encirclement. Gao Xingzhou shouted with angry eyes, fighting hard. His 20-year-old son Gao Huaide shot arrows with both hands, charging left and right, protecting his father all the way. After a round of bloody battles, Gao Xingzhou and others finally broke through the encirclement miraculously, but the casualties of the troops were extremely heavy.

Gao Huaide later married a widow named Zhao, who had an older brother named Zhao Kuangyin.

At this time, Shi Chonggui personally led a large army to support, and the Khitan soldiers retreated. Gao Xingzhou and others finally escaped from danger.

Knowing that there were tens of thousands of powerful Khitan troops ahead, Shi Chonggui still personally went into battle and led his men to fight to the death. Without exaggeration or disparagement, Shi Chonggui's courage was definitely greater than that of Shi Jingtang and Li Congke.

Gao Xingzhou and his companions, who had just passed through the gates of hell, could not help but burst into tears after seeing the reinforcements, "It is almost impossible to see them again!"

Shi Chonggui personally prepared wine to calm the generals who had escaped death.

Gao Xingzhou, Fu Yanqing and Shi Gongba "cried to each other" and immediately impeached Jing Yanguan for not rescuing the victim.

In fact, Jing Yanguang also had his own difficulties. There were two main reasons why he "did not help":
First, although Jing Yanguang had been a soldier all his life, he had never had experience in large-scale military operations, let alone command experience, and he was unable to take charge of a situation on his own. Due to his own lack of ability, he could not adapt to circumstances during deployment and command, and could only mechanically implement the formulated combat plan.

According to the original plan, the troops stationed at several important crossings were not allowed to rescue each other, because the Khitan cavalry was highly mobile, and if they were tricked into making a feint to the east and attacking in the west, there would be a risk of the entire line collapsing. If the Khitan tore a gap at a certain point, the subsequent support troops would naturally fight for it and fill the hole in the defense line again, so as not to cause the dilemma of the entire line collapsing.

Secondly, Jing Yanguang's position is rather awkward. If you say he is in charge, there is Emperor Shi Chonggui behind him. If you say he is not in charge, everything must be reported to him first. If the first reason is a military consideration, then the second reason is completely a political pain point. Jing Yanguang did not dare to "take charge" and did not dare to bypass Shi Chonggui, otherwise all the credit would be attributed to Shi Chonggui's good leadership, and all the faults would be attributed to his arbitrary power. If things go wrong, he would be accused of undermining the emperor, being arrogant and domineering, and it would be easy to lose his life. Therefore, Jing Yanguang had to consult Shi Chonggui on everything, no matter how big or small.

In addition, a senior Khitan general was killed in the battle of Qicheng. According to historical records, a group of Khitan troops retreating to the north were captured by the Jizhou garrison, who were surprised to find that it was a funeral procession escorting a coffin. After interrogation, they learned that the person lying in the coffin was their "General Jintou Wang", who was shot in the head in the battle of Qicheng.

I really can't find any detailed information about this "Golden Head King". There have been many "Golden Head Kings" in history, such as Li Kuangwei of Youzhou in the late Tang Dynasty. Generally speaking, those who can win this nickname are all ruthless people.

On February 2, Li Shouzhen and others arrived at Majiakou.

At that time, the Liao army's 10,000 infantry were responsible for repairing the barracks and building fortifications, while the cavalry were responsible for patrolling and protection. There were tens of thousands of main forces stationed on the west bank of the Yellow River (the Yellow River turns slightly north here, the west bank of the river is the "Hebei" area, and the east bank is the Shandong area). There were thousands of large and small ships on the river, and they were busy transporting the main forces to the east bank.

Although Li Shouzhen had only 10,000 men, he decisively ordered an attack and "struck the enemy halfway across the river."

The Khitan scout cavalry on patrol turned around and ran away, and the Later Jin army chased them relentlessly, all the way to the construction site on the east bank of Majiakou.

Yelu Malu had just crossed the river, and the fortifications had only been built for two days. The fortifications were not completed at all and had no combat effectiveness. Moreover, neither Yelu Malu nor the rebel general Zhou Ru expected the speed of the Later Jin army. They were caught off guard, and the soldiers fled in all directions, and their morale collapsed.

Khitan soldiers rushed to cross the river, and thousands of them fell into the water and drowned, while thousands more were shot dead.

The Liao army on the west bank of the Yellow River was unable to cross the river to provide support and could only watch their friendly troops being slaughtered. They wailed and were forced to break camp and retreat. From then on, they never dared to detour to the east again and gave up on the "Operation Left Hook".

In this battle, Li Shouzhen captured 800 Khitan war horses, captured 78 generals alive, and 500 soldiers alive. Shi Chonggui ordered them all to be beheaded.

The Majiakou blocking battle successfully cut off Yang Guangyuan's hopes. The Khitans gave up the "left hook", which was equivalent to giving up Yang Guangyuan.

On February 2, the Later Jin Dynasty received another piece of good news: Li Yiyin, the governor of the Dingnan Army in Xiazhou, reported that he had led an army of 8 from Linzhou (now Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province) across the Yellow River to attack the Khitan.

Why did Xiazhou Li Yiyin send troops? The story began five months ago.

In September of the eighth year of Tianfu (943), Li Yimin, a cousin of Li Yiyin, the governor of Suizhou, conspired to rebel and seize power. He secretly colluded with Tuoba Chongbin, a middle-level officer in Xiazhou (the commander of the inner court), and planned to cooperate with the outside to take down Li Yiyin in one fell swoop. Unexpectedly, the plot was exposed, and Li Yimin abandoned Suizhou and fled to Yanzhou with his brother Li Yijun and five others.

(End of this chapter)