History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 596: The Battle of Hutuo River 5
The Northern Expedition Army set out. Du Chongwei and Li Shouzhen led the main force to meet in Weizhou, and then set out from Weizhou and headed straight for the city of Yingzhou.

During this period, Du Chongwei sent his wife to the palace to ask Shi Chonggui for reinforcements, saying that the army must have sufficient troops to penetrate deep into the enemy's hinterland. Shi Chonggui agreed with him and not only handed over all the local field troops to Du Chongwei, but also transferred the imperial guards of the capital to the front line and handed them over to Du Chongwei for command.

The capital was emptied. This was another big mistake Shi Chonggui made. He should really reflect on the history of Li Cunxu's defeat.

As the army marched northward, the fatal deficiency of logistical supplies was fully exposed.

According to historical records, the Hebei region had been experiencing autumn rains for two consecutive months at the time. The people had to tear down their houses, use the wood used to build houses to cook, and chop up mats to feed cattle. How could there be any surplus to supply military supplies? Du Chongwei led the army through the mud, which was slow and painful. Many soldiers fell ill before they reached the front line, and logistical supplies were even more out of reach.

However, Shi Chonggui was still immersed in his beautiful dream and was unwilling to wake up for a long time.

On November 11, after nearly a month of marching, Du Chongwei's main force finally arrived at the city of Yingzhou. However, Yingzhou was already an empty city with the city gates wide open and no one in the city.

Du Chongwei did not dare to enter the city rashly. At this time, there was intelligence that the Yingzhou garrison had abandoned the city and was retreating to the north. Du Chongwei sent Liang Hanzhang with 2,000 cavalry to pursue them. As expected, they were ambushed by the Khitan army and Liang Hanzhang was killed.

It turned out to be a false surrender. Du Chongwei regretted it very much and retreated in a hurry. At this time, several counties under the jurisdiction of Yingzhou announced their rebellion against Liao and returned to Jin, and asked Du Chongwei for support.

Du Chongwei ordered the women to be taken in, but refused to accept the elderly, men, and children, and set a fire to burn down their houses. He then retreated to Wuqiang County, south of Yingzhou and north of Jizhou.

Yelu Deguang also assembled all the Khitan troops, and their main force chose the route of Yizhou, Dingzhou and Zhenzhou.

Youzhou was the gathering point of the Khitan. There were three main routes from Youzhou to the south, namely Yi-Ding-Zhen in the west, Mo-Ying-Ji, and Cang-Jing-De. Yelu Deguang used Yingzhou as bait to trick the main force of the Later Jin to the middle route, while the main force of the Khitan went south from the west route.

After receiving the news, Du Chongwei planned to retreat southward along Jizhou and Beizhou, and return to Weizhou for defense, repeating the template of the previous two battles, that is, giving up the fight for the frontline positions, luring the enemy deep into our army's hinterland, and holding on to the cities in Weizhou, Huazhou and other places, dragging the war into a stalemate.

At that time, Zhang Yanze was stationed in Zhenzhou. He led his troops to join the forces and said that the Khitan was very easy to conquer and that they must not retreat before fighting. It would be best to stop the enemy in Zhenzhou.

Du Chongwei then changed his plan and went west instead of south, ordered Zhang Yanze to be the vanguard, and decided to fight the Khitan under the city of Zhenzhou.

To the south of Zhenzhou is the Hutuo River, on which there is a Zhongdu Bridge connecting the north and south, and it is also the throat of Zhenzhou and the rear. Unfortunately, when Du Chongwei arrived, the Khitans had already occupied the Zhongdu Bridge.

Zhang Yanze led his troops to rob, and the Khitans set fire to the bridge and retreated to the north bank. Yelu Deguang was indeed affected by the failure of the previous two battles. He fought very cautiously. Facing the sudden emergence of the main force of the Later Jin Dynasty, he chose to burn the bridge. In fact, this was a cowardly and weak performance, indicating that he was not sure of winning this decisive battle, and he did not dare to fight rashly, so he burned the bridge and the two sides confronted each other to see the effect.

At that time, Zhenzhou City was still holding out. If the Later Jin army desperately seized the bridge and crossed the river, and joined forces with the defenders in the city, the Khitan would be attacked from both sides. After burning the bridge, Yelu Deguang seriously discussed the withdrawal with his generals, planning to temporarily abandon Zhenzhou and withdraw to Dingzhou and Yizhou to avoid the Later Jin's attack.

As a result, it was discovered through investigation that Du Chongwei had actually set up camp on the south bank, showing a posture of fighting a protracted war. Yelu Deguang was relieved, and thought that he was not able to use the opportunity given to him. The Khitan army therefore cancelled the plan of retreating.

Li Gu, who was in charge of the army's logistics, suggested to Du Chongwei and Li Shouzhen that the army was very close to Zhenzhou City and the Hutuo River was shallow and slow, so we could easily repair a temporary floating bridge, and then unite with the defenders inside and outside the city, sneak into the camp and rob the stronghold at night, and the Khitan would inevitably be defeated.

Du Chongwei then ordered: Transport your food and grass!
Li Gu was sent to Huaizhou and Mengzhou to supervise the transportation of grain and grass. Huaizhou and Mengzhou are located north of Luoyang and west of Bianzhou, and are considered the rear of the rear area. Out of sight, out of mind, the farther away you can get.

At the same time, Yelu Deguang personally led his army to confront the main force of the Later Jin Dynasty across the river, bluffing and tying down the Later Jin Dynasty's energy. He sent his uncle Xiao Han to lead a hundred elite cavalrymen and some old, weak and sick soldiers to bypass Du Chongwei's back and cut off his logistical supply line.

Yelu Deguang sent people to capture the soldiers of the Later Jin Dynasty who were out collecting firewood, and tried his best to cut off the supply of Du Chongwei's main force. Occasionally, some of the soldiers who escaped the net escaped and returned to the barracks, and they also exaggerated the strength of the Khitan army, causing panic in the Later Jin army.

Xiao Han detoured back to Luancheng (south of Zhenzhou). There were one thousand defenders in the city, but they never expected that the Khitan would bypass the main force of the Later Jin under the city of Zhenzhou. They were caught off guard by Xiao Han's one hundred men and actually surrendered collectively.

Xiao Han gave free facial tattoos to the people in the city, tattooed four big words on their faces - "No killing by imperial order", and then let them flee south.

As a result, the common people in the rear of the Later Jin Dynasty were in danger. Any disturbance would cause the grain transport team to abandon their baggage and flee for their lives. Du Chongwei received almost no reinforcements at the front line.

Li Gu, who was exiled to Huaizhou, wrote a secret letter to Shi Chonggui, explaining the critical situation on the front line and suggesting that Shi Chonggui lead the army in person. Li Gu seemed to have seen the great retreat on the front line, so he suggested that Shi Chonggui come to Huazhou, prepare for a group battle in Huazhou and Chanzhou, and also send more troops to Huaizhou and Mengzhou to prevent the Khitan from bypassing the Heyang area and attacking Luoyang first and then taking Bianzhou.

Why did Li Gu have such worries? Because he had a bad feeling that Du Chongwei was going to rebel!
His hunch was correct. Du Chongwei had tricked the elite of the country into his hands and used them as bargaining chips for his political negotiations. He secretly contacted Yelu Deguang, hoping to emulate Shi Jingtang. He helped the Khitan to destroy Shi Chonggui, and then hoped that he would be canonized as the ruler of the Central Plains.

Yelu Deguang readily agreed and said that as long as you let him act, I will definitely enthrone you as emperor!
So far, the "Lord of the Central Plains" has promised his daughter to two families. Du Chongwei and Zhao Yanshou are a beautiful couple who share the same moonlight even though they are thousands of miles apart.

(End of this chapter)