History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 574: Fifteen Generals of the Liao Dynasty Part 1
One is the psychological shadow of the ambush in Donqiu City;

The second reason was that the Later Jin was weak and unable to support itself. In the same month when the Khitan withdrew, Shi Chonggui ordered a nationwide conscription, requiring every seven households to provide one soldier and provide their own armor and staff; the next month, Tongzhou and Huazhou reported the tragedy of cannibalism, and Longzhou reported that 56,000 people starved to death. Jing Yanguang did not dare to take risks. He could not afford to lose, and the weak empire behind him could not afford to lose even more;

The third is that Hou Shu took advantage of the situation to loot. When the two armies were fighting fiercely, Wang Junhuai, a general of Jizhou of Hou Jin, led more than a thousand of his troops to surrender to Hou Shu and volunteered to act as a guide, leading Hou Shu to attack Jizhou and Chengzhou. Qinzhou, which belonged to Hou Jin, sent troops to rescue and repel the Hou Shu army.

After the war, Shi Chonggui rewarded meritorious soldiers and made a new round of deployment in Heshuo. He gave Zhang Cong'en, the governor of Weizhou, the title of prime minister; he conferred the title of King of Taiyuan on Liu Zhiyuan; he left Gao Xingzhou and Wang Zhou in Chanzhou, fully responsible for the construction of the defense system in Chanzhou; he upgraded Chanzhou to a military town, designated Puzhou as a subordinate state (Puzhou originally belonged to the Yicheng Army of Huazhou), and set up Zhenning Army; he upgraded Jizhou to a defense state, set up a defense envoy, and Jizhou was located north of Beizhou.

The main purpose of upgrading Chanzhou and Jizhou was to strengthen the strategic depth of the Hebei region, so that the Khitans would not go straight to the banks of the Yellow River as soon as they moved south from Youzhou.

On April 4, Shi Chonggui set out from the front line of Chanzhou and returned to Bianzhou. He then made appropriate adjustments to the national strategy and revised the political line. Jing Yanguang, who was from the "anti-Liao faction", was sent out.

After coming to power, the political upstart Jing Yanguang, in order to consolidate his own position, suppressed the military group headed by the "three powerful giants" and excluded the "pro-Liao faction" headed by Sang Weihan. In addition, his usual arrogance and domineering behavior had already made countless enemies for himself.

After the first battle, the one who should be held accountable should be Liu Zhiyuan of Hedong. However, Shi Chonggui did not dare to touch Liu Zhiyuan. Not only did he not punish him, but he also made him the King of Taiyuan. Of course, Liu Zhiyuan still had some ideas in his mind. He wrote to the court, saying that the border was not peaceful and he did not dare to accept the title of king.

Since they could not touch Liu Zhiyuan, the civil and military officials focused their anger on Jing Yanguang, impeaching him for his inaction in the Battle of Qicheng. Shi Chonggui took advantage of the situation and took the opportunity to weaken this ambitious minister.

Therefore, Shi Chonggui ordered the establishment of a special task force to investigate the "not saving Qi Cheng" incident. The head of the task force was Sang Weihan, Jing Yanguang's number one political enemy.

Shi Chonggui's intention could not be more obvious.

The results of the investigation were soon announced, and Jing Yanguang's political career was basically over:

Shi Chonggui issued an imperial edict to send Jing Yanguang to Luoyang as governor, and the former Luoyang governor An Yanwei was transferred to Chang'an Jinchang Army Jiedushi, and the former Jinchang Army Jiedushi Zhao Ying was transferred to Huazhou Jiedushi. Gao Xingzhou took over the post of "Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guards" from Jing Yanguang.

On the day of the imperial edict, Shi Chonggui held a banquet in the palace to entertain Jing Yanguang and said to him in a serious tone: "My dear minister, you are a meritorious minister who has assisted the emperor in his mission. It's not that I want to send you away, but Luoyang is very important. I don't feel safe handing you over to others. I am confident in you doing the job. Go with peace of mind." Then he took off his imperial robe and precious belt and gave them to him.

Holding Shi Chonggui's "good guy card", Jing Yanguang was completely desperate. After arriving in Luoyang, he drank heavily all day long, waiting for death to come.

After removing Jing Yanguang, Shi Chonggui continued to clean up the civil service group and sent Prime Minister Feng Dao to Tongzhou. Feng Dao was a veteran in the political arena. He never belonged to any faction and never had his own opinions. He just speculated and catered to the opinions of those in power. This was one of the reasons why he could become an evergreen in the political arena.

To put it in a positive way, Feng Dao is a prime minister of peace, and he is only suitable to appear in a peaceful and prosperous era. However, the fate of the country is now unfortunate and changing rapidly. If you are not careful, it will be destroyed. This kind of chaotic world needs people with courage, knowledge and determination, such as Comrade Sang Weihan.

Shi Chonggui issued an edict to restore the Privy Council, and appointed Sang Weihan as the Minister of the Central Secretariat and Privy Councilor, handing over the country's military and political power to him. Sang Weihan was once again ordered to act in times of crisis. Although the main force of the Khitan had withdrawn, Beizhou and Dezhou were still under the control of the Khitan. Beizhou wedged into the hinterland of Heshuo and threatened Chanzhou; Dezhou echoed with Yang Guangyuan of Qingzhou from a distance. There was a defense line between the two connected by Dizhou, Qizhou, Yunzhou, and Yanzhou. Once the gap was torn, Yang Guangyuan of Qingzhou could join forces with the Khitan.

Shi Chonggui appointed Huangfu Yu, the commander of the imperial army, as the governor of Huazhou, and Li Shouzhen, the former governor of Huazhou, as the governor of Yanzhou. He then ordered Li Shouzhen to lead an army of 20,000 to attack Yang Guangyuan in Qingzhou and remove this thorn.

Zhang Cong'en, the governor of Weizhou, submitted a memorial to the court, saying that the Khitan soldiers entrenched in Beizhou were morale-destabilizing and unwilling to stay in Han territory for long. They wanted to return home, so he took advantage of the fact that they were not yet firmly established and attacked quickly.

Shi Chonggui thought it made sense, so he sent Huangfu Yu, Pan Huan and Zhang Yanze to lead an army to join forces with Zhang Cong'en of Weizhou to recapture Beizhou.

As Zhang Cong'en had expected, Zhao Yanzhao was unable to resist, so he set a fire in Beizhou City, abandoned the city and fled to between Mozhou and Yingzhou, where he built defensive fortifications based on the terrain.

After the Khitans learned that Li Shouzhen was attacking Yang Guangyuan, they sent troops to support him, but were defeated by Xue Keyan, the defense commander of Qizhou.

It was urgent to eliminate Yang Guangyuan, so Shi Chonggui sent General Fu Yanqing to the Qingzhou front line to quickly pacify Yang Guangyuan.

On June 6, the expeditionary army recaptured Zizhou and captured and executed Liu Han, the governor sent by Yang Guangyuan. The west gate of Qingzhou was opened. Yang Guangyuan sent people across the Bohai Bay to urgently ask for help from the Khitan.

The Central Plains' backyard was on fire, and even Hou Shu wanted to take advantage of the fire, not to mention the old friend of the Central Plains people, the Khitan. As the saying goes, good things come in turns, and heaven spares no one. The Khitan's backyard was also on fire, and it was Shi Chonggui who set it.

Fuzhou, today's Fugu County in Shaanxi Province, was also ceded to the Khitan by Shi Jingtang. Like Wu Luan of Yunzhou, the governor of Fuzhou, Zhe Congyuan, refused to hand over the administration to the Khitan and organized the state soldiers to defend the city.

The geographical location of Yunzhou was relatively more important, so the Khitans eventually took it down through military attacks and political negotiations, while Fuzhou turned a disaster into a blessing and was never incorporated into the Khitan.

Now, Shi Chonggui used his own method to retaliate against the Khitan and ordered Zhe Congyuan to launch an attack on the western part of Khitan in order to tie down its energy.

Zhe Congyuan lived up to the trust and led his troops into the Khitan territory, conquering more than a dozen camps in one go. Shi Chonggui upgraded Fuzhou to Tuanlianshizhou, appointed Zhe Congyuan as Tuanlianshi, and added the title of Inspector of Taibao. Later, Zhe Congyuan was appointed as the Governor of Shuozhou, Protector of Anbei, and Jiedushi of Zhenwu Army.

From then on, Zhe Congyuan became an important restraining force, cooperating with the central army to contain the Khitan.

(End of this chapter)