History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 572: The Battle of Qicheng 5
Yelu Deguang's plan was as follows:
Since he had suffered several defeats in a row and was in danger of being surrounded by the Later Jin, he simply took advantage of the situation and "withdrawn" the Khitan. Yelu Deguang ambushed elite troops in the city of Dunqiu, north of Qicheng, and then lifted the siege of Weizhou to lure the Later Jin army to pursue.

According to Yelu Deguang's plan, in the ambush at Dongyu City, the Khitan cavalry would take advantage of their plain combat advantages to wipe out the troops of Liu Zhiyuan, Du Chongwei, and Ma Quanjie in one swoop, and then take advantage of the victory to march south and head straight for Chanzhou where Shi Chonggui was.

The plan was simple, but perfect. Whether it was the reason for the feigned retreat or the choice of the ambush circle, it was flawless. He did succeed in deceiving the Later Jin soldiers.

However, he was always one step away from success.

The soldiers of the Later Jin Dynasty were indeed successfully fooled by Yelu Deguang. Zhang Cong'en, the governor of Weizhou, kept submitting memorials to the court, urgently requesting the court to immediately send troops to hunt down the retreating Khitan army and not miss the opportunity to let the tiger go back to the mountain. Moreover, Shi Chonggui had already ordered Liu Zhiyuan, Du Chongwei, and Ma Quanjie to meet in Dongzhaoyi and then advance eastward to support Weizhou.

Just when the soldiers of the Later Jin Dynasty were ready to jump into the trap, it suddenly rained continuously. It was the end of February in the lunar calendar, in the spring. As the saying goes, spring rain is as precious as oil, but in order to prolong the life of the Later Jin Dynasty, God was also extravagant. The continuous spring rain seriously delayed the assembly of the main force of the Later Jin Dynasty.

Perhaps Shi Chonggui and other high-ranking officials still looked up at the sky, stamped their feet and beat their chests, questioning why God was helping the tyrants to commit atrocities. God had suffered too much injustice.

The main force in Chanzhou did not take the bait, so what about the main forces on the western front led by Liu Zhiyuan, Du Chongwei, and Ma Quanjie? They did not obey the imperial edict at all.

This is truly the most typical and most biting irony of the Five Dynasties period.

Liu Zhiyuan never crossed the Taihang Mountains and never left the Hedong area. Du Chongwei and Ma Quanjie did not dare to leave their own territory rashly to prevent being annexed by Liu Zhiyuan. Who knows if Liu Zhiyuan will be the second Zhao Dejun?
At this time, the Taihang Mountains reappeared the situation of the "Hedong Station" in the past: in order to prevent being annexed by Zhao Dejun, Fan Yanguang had to hold his troops back. Prevent fire, theft and friendly forces.

The elite Khitan troops lay in ambush near the city of Dongqiu for ten days, but did not see even a single Jin soldier. Instead, they were exhausted and hungry.

At this time, Zhao Yanshou, who was more eager to destroy the Later Jin Dynasty than Yelu Deguang, cheered Yelu Deguang on.

Zhao Yanshou said that the reason why the Later Jin Dynasty did not dare to pursue was because it was filled with fear of the Khitan in its heart, and only dared to deploy defenses along the river and hold on to the city. We might as well attack Chanzhou fiercely. As long as we capture Chanzhou and capture Shi Chonggui alive, the world will belong to our great Khitan!
Yelu Deguang was led into a ditch by Zhao Yanshou, and he also believed that the reason why the ambush was not launched was because the Later Jin was timid. In this case, we must make full use of their fear.

So, Yelu Deguang stopped pretending and I revealed my cards.

On March 3, Yelu Deguang personally led an army of 1 Khitan troops to the city of Chanzhou, built the main position in the north of the city, and sent troops from the east and west wings to block the east and west gates of Chanzhou, forming a "品"-shaped semi-encirclement of Chanzhou. Because Chanzhou was to the south of the Yellow River, Yelu Deguang could not surround it on all sides.

The first line of defense in Chanzhou was Gao Xingzhou, stationed south of Qicheng.

Khitan's vanguards Zhao Yanshou and Zhao Yanzhao led tens of thousands of cavalry to attack Gao Xingzhou's west wing from the west; Yelu Deguang personally led elite cavalry to attack Gao Xingzhou's east wing from the east. The two armies attacked from the east and west, and the enemy's momentum was overwhelming. Gao Xingzhou responded calmly, and the two sides fought hand-to-hand from morning to dusk. The battle lasted a whole day, with both sides winning and losing, and the battlefield was in a stalemate.

At dusk, Yelu Deguang led the main elite troops to attack from the middle. The situation of Gao Xingzhou in the front army became increasingly difficult.

At this time, the real man Shi Chonggui personally led the rear army forward. The left and right wings of the rear army crossed the river first and stood in the front. Shi Chonggui was in the middle and at the back, forming a "V"-shaped偃月 formation. The formation was neat and uniform, with flags flying. The soldiers were in shining helmets and armor, and their morale was high.

In most of the time, "leading the army in person" was just a gesture, where the emperor personally gained experience and usually hid in the absolutely safe rear. People like Shi Chonggui who personally came to the front line and dared to push forward in the face of the crazy attack of tens of thousands of Khitan cavalry were really rare.

When the soldiers of the Later Jin Dynasty saw that His Majesty the Emperor also showed his willingness to join the war, their will to fight became even stronger.

Yelu Deguang saw Shi Chonggui ready to attack from afar, and was surprised and admired him sincerely. He couldn't help but say to the people around him: "Yang Guangyuan told me that most of the Jin Dynasty's soldiers and horses have starved to death, and the remaining ones are also very weak. Looking at them today, how magnificent they are!"

The Khitan cavalry tried to approach the rear army to intimidate Shi Chonggui, but the Jin army on standby had strict military discipline. Facing the attack of the Khitan cavalry, no one retreated, and the formation remained unmoved. When the Khitan cavalry rushed forward, the Jin army formation suddenly fired thousands of crossbows, and the arrows were like locusts, covering the sky and the sun. The Khitan cavalry could not get close and could only retreat temporarily.

At the critical moment, a traitor appeared in the Jin army, and they leaked an important piece of information to the Khitans: the defense of the Jin army's east wing was relatively weak.

Therefore, Yelu Deguang changed the main attack direction to the east. As expected, the Jin army was defeated. The Khitan cavalry chased them all the way, and it seemed that the Jin army was about to collapse completely.

A dramatic scene happened again: a small engineering detachment of more than a thousand people was ordered to build a water fort on the river bank. The flag on the construction site was slightly higher than the river bank. The Khitan cavalry was chasing them and suddenly found the corner of the flag vaguely exposed on the river bank. They mistakenly thought that they were ambushed by the Later Jin army, so they turned their horses around in a hurry, "Oh no, we've fallen into a trap, retreat!"

The Later Jin army was able to take a breather and then the two armies met again, with the Khitan army gaining the upper hand. Li Shouchao, the general of the imperial army, led several hundred cavalrymen and charged head-on into the Khitan cavalry formation, almost suicidal, to successfully block the enemy. The Later Jin army took advantage of this brief gap to redeploy the formation, and the Khitan cavalry lost a chance to make a fool of themselves and could only give up in resentment.

This was the first major battle between the main forces of the two sides since the Khitan invasion. Emperors Shi Chonggui and Yelu Deguang led the army in person and appeared at the front to command the battle. The battle lasted a whole day.

This decisive battle was particularly brutal. Historical records record that "on the battlefield, countless men and horses were killed, and the broken arrows and arrowheads were several inches thick." The arrows on the battlefield were several inches thick, which reminds us of the Battle of Shangganling during the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, where the entire mountain was cut off by two meters.

Salute to the immortal volunteer soldiers before reading the next chapter.

(End of this chapter)