History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 595: The Battle of Hutuo River 4
The Later Jin Dynasty showed an aggressive stance. Floods in Hebei Province prevented the Khitan reinforcements from arriving in time. The Han people who had been trapped by the barbarians for a long time were nostalgic for their homeland and wanted to return home. The Later Jin court first implemented political inducement to surrender... Zhao Yanshou's return was a natural outcome. What was there to doubt?
Feng Yu sent a general from Mingzhou named Zhao Xingshi to act as an intermediary. This Zhao Xingshi was a former subordinate of Zhao Yanshou. Coincidentally, he had the same name as his father. Zhao Dejun's original name was also Zhao Xingshi.

Zhao Yanshou bargained with the court of the Later Jin Dynasty in a serious and detailed manner. In the end, Zhao Yanshou said in the letter: Although I am wearing Western clothes, my heart is still Chinese. I have been trapped in the barbarians for a long time and miss my homeland. However, the Khitans are guarding very strictly. This is a serious matter. Please ask the court to send a large army to support me. Once the royal army arrives, I will escape and head south!

The words were sincere and kind, and every word made sense. After reading the letter, the court of the Later Jin Dynasty was so moved that they burst into tears and said, "Come back, come back, wandering son." So they sent Zhao Xingshi to contact him secretly to discuss the specific date of the meeting.

This was the Khitans' strategy of luring the snake out of its hole.

Nomadic peoples are good at field battles, while people from the Central Plains are good at defending cities. This was demonstrated vividly in previous wars. In the field, people from the Central Plains would be beaten to pieces by nomadic cavalry, and once they entered a battle to siege a city, the nomadic army would lose all the advantages of cavalry combat; and after being dragged into a stalemate, the nomadic vassal tribes would choose to leave the main force because the spoils of war were lower than the cost of the war. At this time, it was the stage for the Central Plains people to counterattack.

Some people say that it is because the grassland peoples do not know how to attack cities. In fact, the Khitans have now gotten rid of this constraint. There was Lu Wenjin in the past, and Zhao Yanshou in the future. Countless Han surrendered generals had already brought the most advanced siege technology to the grasslands, and the Khitans had already learned how to attack cities.

The personnel cost of siege warfare is very high. Generally speaking, the attackers have to prepare for a 10 to 1 casualty ratio. If they encounter a dangerous pass or city that is easy to defend but difficult to attack, they may not be able to capture it even if the odds are 100 to 1. That is why "The Art of War" lists siege as the worst strategy.

Summarizing the lessons learned from the previous two times, Yelu Deguang designed a big chess game and formulated a strategy of luring the snake out of its hole, that is, to find a way to lure the main force of the Later Jin Dynasty into the wilderness, launch a decisive battle, use field battles to annihilate the Later Jin Dynasty's vitality, and achieve success in one battle.

At the beginning of the battle, the Khitans, who had gathered the best troops from all over the country, suffered a series of defeats, which further fueled the arrogance of the Later Jin army. The great achievements of "recovering the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun" made Feng Yu, Du Chongwei and others restless. Even Shi Chonggui could not sit still and prepared to launch a comprehensive and proactive attack, with the strategic goal of destroying the Khitans!
On October 946, 10, the third year of Kaiyun, Shi Chonggui was planning his strategy and reviewing his troops on the battlefield:
Du Chongwei was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition (commander-in-chief of the Northern Camp), Li Shouzhen as the chief political commissar (commander-in-chief of the army), and a large number of veteran generals with rich combat experience, including An Shenqi, Fu Yanqing, Huangfu Yu, Liang Hanzhang, Song Yanjun, Wang Rao, and Xue Huairang.

On the day of the edict, Shi Chonggui could not hide his lofty ambitions and excitedly announced to the world:
"If we want peace in the world, how many steps are needed? Answer: Three steps. The first step is to take Ying and Mo and stabilize the area south of Waqiao Pass; the second step is to recover the original land of the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun; the third step is to completely eliminate the Khitan."

Then it was announced that the barbarian chieftain Yelu Deguang would be listed as a national A-level wanted criminal, and whoever captured Yelu Deguang would be rewarded with the title of Shangzhen Jiedushi, 10,000 strings of money, 10,000 pieces of silk, and 10,000 taels of silver.

Back then, Jin Ge and Iron Horse swallowed thousands of miles like a tiger.

When discussing the selection of the commander of the Northern Expedition, Shi Chonggui proposed that Du Chongwei be the commander and Li Shouzhen be the deputy. Feng Yu and Li Song both agreed. Zhao Ying chose to remain silent. After the meeting, Zhao Ying privately found Feng Yu and Li Song and said that Du Chongwei was over-promising and unworthy of the task, but his greed was like a bottomless pit. Such a person should not be reused, especially not given military power, and suggested that Comrade Li Shouzhen be the commander alone.

Zhao Ying's proposal was rejected outright by Feng Yu and other "old and close gang members".

As a veteran meritorious official like Liu Zhiyuan and Sang Weihan, Li Shouzhen was initially suspected by Shi Chonggui because Li Shouzhen violated a taboo, which was to reward soldiers with his own money.

Rewarding subordinates at one's own expense, turning the army into one's own private armed forces, and raising assassins is absolutely a taboo in the army, especially for someone like Li Shouzhen, who is more likely to arouse Shi Chonggui's vigilance. Once, Shi Chonggui questioned Li Shouzhen in person, saying, "I heard that you often pay out of your own pocket to reward your subordinates. Is this true?"
This is a life-threatening question. If you admit it, it would be considered as intentional treason, punishable by death. If you dare to deny it, it would be a sign of guilty conscience, punishable by death.

Li Shouzhen was of course eager to survive, and his answer was textbook-level:

"Du Chongwei has been loyal to the country and has provided me with gold and silk. How dare I take advantage of him?"

With just one sentence, he not only saved himself, but also won the favor of the emperor and Du Chongwei.

First, confusing right and wrong.

The emperor did not define "private reward for soldiers" or say it was a "crime", so Li Shouzhen certainly could not take the initiative to "confess", but pretended to be ignorant and said that "private reward for soldiers" was a loyalty to the country and a merit;

Secondly, the fox is taking advantage of the tiger's might.

Drag someone into the water and use him as a scapegoat. This move is also very particular. The target must be someone with higher reputation, higher status, and greater influence than oneself. It is best if the emperor is afraid of him. In this way, even if the previous move fails and the emperor insists on punishing him, the tiger can help the fox take the blame.

Du Chongwei was indeed very close to Li Shouzhen and gave him tens of thousands of gold, silver, treasures, weapons and armor. This is the charm of the political game. Although both of them were "pro-old gangs", Feng Yu and Du Chongwei had completely different attitudes towards Li Shouzhen. Feng Yu regarded Li Shouzhen as a dissident and excluded and suppressed him; while Du Chongwei secretly flirted with Li Shouzhen.

The reason is not profound, because Du Chongwei belongs to the "external official", the local power, while Feng Yu belongs to the "internal official", the central power. In other words, Du Chongwei and Feng Yu have a common language, but also have conflicts of interest. Although they belong to the "old and close gang", they still have different dreams and are wary of each other.

Shi Chonggui was very satisfied with this answer and immediately gave Li Shouzhen an official title: Zhi Youzhou Xingfu Shi. He had already marked Youzhou as the territory of the Later Jin Dynasty on the map.

Hebei Province did suffer from severe floods, but the worst-hit areas were mainly distributed in the areas controlled by the Later Jin Dynasty, which put far more pressure on the logistics supply and strategic transfer of the Later Jin Dynasty than the Khitan. Shi Chonggui was full of ambition and chose to turn a blind eye. What could be more powerful than recovering the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun and destroying the Khitan?
Shi Chonggui believed that his name would be as famous as that of Emperor Wu of Han.

(End of this chapter)