History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 614 Sejong's Succession 1
Liu Zhiyuan was not only a qualified politician, but also an excellent military strategist. Patriotism and nationalism were tools for him to integrate resources, rather than the driving force that enslaved him.

Liu Zhiyuan's overall strength was far inferior to that of the Khitan, so he would not choose to fight head-on, but would bluff, scare off the Khitan, and then go south to pick up the spoils.

After receiving the news that Yelu Deguang had led his troops north, Liu Zhiyuan appointed his younger brother Liu Chong as acting prefect of Taiyuan and to stay in Taiyuan; his cousin Liu Xin as commander-in-chief of the imperial cavalry and governor of the Yicheng Army of Huazhou; his confidant Shi Hongzhao as commander-in-chief of the imperial infantry; Yang Bin as privy councilor; Guo Wei as deputy privy councilor; Wang Zhang as judge of the three courts; and Su Fengji and Su Yugui as prime ministers.

These people are Liu Zhiyuan's direct descendants in Hedong and will also be the core backbone of the future Later Han regime.

After completing a series of power distribution, Liu Zhiyuan was still not in a hurry to leave, but instead gave Yelu Deguang enough time to escape.

At this time, Zhe Congyuan, the commander of the militia of Fuzhou, came to Taiyuan to pay homage to the emperor. During the Jin-Liao War, Zhe Congyuan used Fuzhou as his base, penetrated deep into the Khitan territory, opened up a second battlefield, and distracted the Khitan's energy. His heroic deeds were specifically praised by Shi Chonggui. Now, this anti-Liao hero went to Taiyuan to pay homage to the emperor.

Zhe Congyuan said that his name violated the emperor's taboo and asked to change it to "Zhe Congruan". Liu Zhiyuan was very happy and immediately established the Yong'an Army with Fuzhou as its seat of government and appointed Zhe Congyuan as the governor of the Yong'an Army.

Geng Chongmei, the governor of Xizhaoyi Army in Luzhou appointed by Khitan, entered Zezhou and planned to recapture Luzhou.

We have emphasized countless times the importance of Luzhou to Hedong and Bianzhou. After the Khitans conquered Luzhou, Liu Zhiyuan could no longer live in seclusion.

On April 4, Liu Zhiyuan finally sent out combat troops, sending Shi Hongzhao to lead 10 people to reinforce Luzhou.

Afterwards, in order to stabilize the rear, Liu Zhiyuan began to give titles to local forces affiliated with him: Wang Shouen was appointed as the Jiedushi of Luzhou; Gao Yunquan was appointed as the Jiedushi of Yanzhou.

The war was imminent, and to be honest, Liu Zhiyuan still did not have the advantage in military terms. However, war was never a cold game of numbers, and the side with the advantage in terms of the number of troops, weapons and armor would not necessarily win.

Prior to this, Yelu Deguang sent dozens of large ships to transport weapons and armor seized from the Later Jin Dynasty. The person in charge of escorting the goods was named Wu Xingde. The Khitan gave him an empty title - the Jiedushi of Xuanzhou Ningguo Army. Xuanzhou was under the control of the Huainan forces. It had been controlled by Yang Xingmi since the end of the Tang Dynasty. Since then, it has always been firmly controlled by the Huainan forces.

When Wu Xingde was halfway there, he secretly discussed with his subordinates, saying, "Why should we be controlled by the barbarians? Now that we are far away from home and going to the barren land in the north, I am afraid that we will be ghosts in the borderland for the rest of our lives and will never be able to return to our hometown. The barbarians will never occupy the Central Plains forever. Why don't we hold on to the city and wait for the true emperor of the Central Plains to appear, and then surrender to him. This way we can save our lives and enjoy wealth and glory. Isn't that wonderful?"
The subordinates unanimously agreed.

It so happened that Cui Tingxun, the governor of Heyang appointed by the Khitans, was leading his troops to escort Geng Chongmei, the governor of Luzhou, to take office. Heyang was empty, so Wu Xingde led his troops to take advantage of the situation and occupied Heyang. He then sent his younger brother Wu Xingyou to Taiyuan overnight with a secret letter in a wax ball to express his allegiance to Liu Zhiyuan.

Before the Battle of Luzhou started, the Khitans lost the important town of Heyang.

Yelu Deguang sent Fang Tai, the governor of Shengzhou, to Luoyang for inspection. When he arrived in Zhengzhou, the defenders of Zhengzhou suddenly stopped Fang Tai and forced him to proclaim himself King of Zheng.

There was an uprising army entrenched in the nearby Songshan Mountain. They captured a treasure in the temple - Zhu Yi. This Zhu Yi was said to be a descendant of Zhu Youlun. After the Later Liang Dynasty was overthrown, Zhu Yi shaved his head and became a monk, jumping out of the three realms and not in the five elements. Who would have thought that today, when he was sitting at home, disaster would come from the sky. The uprising army insisted on forcing him to come out of the mountain and make him the emperor. They took off the clothes of the statues in the temple and used them as the emperor's dragon robe. The bandits knelt three times and kowtowed nine times, and the enthronement ceremony was completed.

Afterwards, the rebels launched an attack on Zhengzhou under the banner of "Son of Daliang". In the end, the fake emperor was defeated by the fake prince.

Fang Tai was still unwilling to give up and thought that the Khitans were like a centipede that would not die even if it was cut into pieces. He even wanted to persuade the defenders of Zhengzhou to go west with him to Luoyang and continue to be loyal to the Liao Dynasty.

The Zhengzhou garrison resolutely refused. So Fang Tai took advantage of the situation and escaped from Zhengzhou alone. He fled to Luoyang with a firm belief and continued to complete the task assigned to him by the Khitans.

When the Zhengzhou defenders discovered that Fang Tai had escaped, they had no choice but to file a complaint with the emperor and report to Yelu Deguang, saying that Fang Tai had forced them to rebel against the Liao Dynasty and surrender to Liu Zhiyuan, but they disagreed and Fang Tai ran away.

When Fang Tai heard the news, she was horrified. She quickly sent her son Fang Shilang to explain.

The one who received Fang Shilang was the Khitan general Yelu Malu. Yelu Malu was a ruthless, greedy and cruel general who would rather kill three thousand people by mistake than let one go, so he directly killed Fang Shilang.

Fang Tai was in great pain. I wanted to turn my heart to the bright moon, but the moon was only shining on the ditch.

At this time, the rebel forces in Heyang area rushed from all directions like a tide and attacked Luoyang. Liu Xi, the governor of Luoyang, was so scared that he abandoned the city and fled. Fang Tai temporarily let go of her sadness and worked together with the inspector Pan Huan to repel the rebels.

Zhang Yu, the leader of the rebel army who had Zhu Yi, the "Son of the Liang Emperor", killed Zhu Yi and surrendered to Fang Tai. This is the true face of the so-called "rebel army". They often smash, loot and burn when the society is in turmoil. In the past, we used the neutral term "civil uprising" to refer to them, but this time they are holding the banner of nationalism and patriotism, so let's call them "rebel army", but their bandit nature has not changed, such as Zhang Yu.

The "Son of Daliang" died before he could accomplish his mission. Unfortunately, he was assassinated. A rebel leader in Yique County, south of Luoyang, took the throne and proclaimed himself the Son of Heaven. He held a ceremony to pay respect to the emperor and ascended the throne in the southern suburbs of Luoyang. He then led his troops to attack Luoyang, but was also repelled by Fang Tai.

Since the Khitans no longer trusted Fang Tai and had already killed his son Fang Shilang, the desperate Fang Tai had no choice but to surrender to Liu Zhiyuan.

Wu Xingde, who occupied Heyang, sent an envoy to tell him that he was just a low-ranking officer and lacked prestige. If you are willing, please come to Heyang and we are willing to support you as the governor of Heyang.

Fang Tai happily fell into the trap and was then killed by Wu Xingde.

The Heyang area's submission to Liu Zhiyuan meant that the gateway to the west of Bianzhou was suddenly opened.

At this time, Shi Hongzhao's vanguard troops encountered the Khitan army and won the first battle, killing more than a thousand Khitan soldiers. Cui Tingxun escorted Geng Chongmei to Zezhou. Hearing that Shi Hongzhao was in front and the Heyang base behind was destroyed, he had no intention of fighting and hurriedly retreated.

(End of this chapter)