History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 633: The Guest Takes Over the Host and Conquers Weizhou 4
At the beginning of the hell mode, Liu Zhiyuan tried hard to balance the forces of all parties and walk a tightrope amid the undercurrent.

The living should be taken care of in every possible way, and even the dead should be treated equally. A large number of influential figures in the Later Tang and Later Jin dynasties were posthumously honored, including many who were controversial or even criticized, such as Guo Chongtao, An Zhonghui, Zhu Youqian, Zhu Shouyin, Sang Weihan, Jing Yanguang, Yang Guangyuan, Feng Yun, Kang Yicheng, Wang Sitong, Yao Yanchou, An Zhongjin, An Zhongrong...

In short, no matter which dynasty or generation you are from, you are my, Liu Zhiyuan’s, grandfather.

During the expedition to Weizhou, Liu Zhiyuan selected the candidates for the "Four Prime Ministers of the Early Han Dynasty": Su Fengji, Su Yugui, Dou Zhengu, and Li Tao. The "Two Sus" were Liu Zhiyuan's direct descendants, and Dou Zhengu was an old colleague of Liu Zhiyuan. The two had worked together under Shi Jingtang and had a good relationship. When discussing the candidates for prime minister, the "Two Sus" and Dou Zhengu were directly selected by Liu Zhiyuan. He asked Su Fengji: "Besides Dou Zhengu, who else can be prime minister?"

Su Fengji was a good friend of Hanlin scholar Li Tao, so he recommended Li Tao to Liu Zhiyuan, "In the past, in the 'Zhang Yanze case', only Li Tao did not hesitate to offend the emperor and resolutely demanded the execution of Zhang Yanze. Your Majesty was in Taiyuan at the time, didn't you also express your admiration for him? In my opinion, Li Tao is a man of great literary talent, outstanding talent, and upright and loyal character, and he can be qualified as prime minister!"

Liu Zhiyuan hesitated for a moment. Although Li Tao was quite prestigious, his rank was too low. If he was suddenly promoted to prime minister, it might not be appropriate. At this time, a discordant voice came from the front line of Weizhou.

Gao Xingzhou and Murong Yanchao led troops to attack Weizhou. Murong Yanchao advocated an immediate attack on the city, while Gao Xingzhou advocated a siege without attacking. The two argued endlessly, neither of them gave in, and neither could convince the other.

Gao Xingzhou and Du Chongwei were in-laws, with Gao Xingzhou's daughter marrying Du Chongwei's son. Murong Yanchao used this as a handle to accuse Gao Xingzhou of putting personal interests above public interests, being cautious in his actions, and deliberately letting the enemy go and refusing to attack the rebel Du Chongwei.

The two commanders at the front were at odds, and Liu Zhiyuan was very anxious and planned to lead the army himself. Coincidentally, Li Tao submitted a memorial at this time, suggesting that Liu Zhiyuan lead the army himself.

Liu Zhiyuan was immediately delighted, "It's exactly what I thought!" He believed that Li Tao had a global perspective and was a good candidate to be prime minister.

As a result, Li Tao was appointed as prime minister by Liu Zhiyuan. Afterwards, Liu Zhiyuan issued an imperial decree to lead the army in person!

Liu Zhiyuan left Crown Prince Liu Chengxun to guard Bianzhou, and led the army to the front lines of Chan and Wei.

After arriving at the front, Liu Zhiyuan lived in Gao Xingzhou's camp. Because Murong Yanchao was Liu Zhiyuan's half brother, he was a "family member". When the family members quarreled with the outsider (Gao Xingzhou), Liu Zhiyuan had to get close to the outsider on the surface and act in a high-profile manner.

Gao Xingzhou analyzed the battlefield situation to Liu Zhiyuan and said that Weizhou City was tall and solid, and it was not suitable to attack by force. There were still food and grass reserves in the city, and the fighting power of the defenders should not be underestimated. If they rushed to attack now, they would send their soldiers to die in vain. It would be better to surround it without attacking, and wait until the food and grass in the city were cut off, and it would inevitably collapse on its own.

Liu Zhiyuan thought it made sense, so he decided to adopt Gao Xingzhou's suggestion.

However, Murong Yanchao took advantage of the fact that he was the emperor's younger brother and always found opportunities to make things difficult for Gao Xingzhou and bullied him non-stop.

Gao Xingzhou cried to the prime ministers about his experience, and even scooped up dirt with both hands and stuffed it into his mouth to express his miserable situation and his inability to express his feelings.

Su Fengji, Yang Bin and others secretly reported the situation to Liu Zhiyuan.

On one side was his younger brother, and on the other was his beloved general who had worked hard and made great contributions. Liu Zhiyuan could only try to smooth things over and asked Su Fengji, Yang Bin and others to help mediate.

Before the siege, Du Chongwei declared to the public: As long as Liu Zhiyuan comes to the city, I will surrender.

Now Liu Zhiyuan has come and sent people to discuss surrender. However, Du Chongwei went back on his word and refused to allow the envoy to enter the city. This made Liu Zhiyuan very angry. Murong Yanchao took the opportunity to add fuel to the fire, "Let's kill him! My dear brother, can't you see? Gao Xingzhou and Du Chongwei are in cahoots with each other, playing tricks on us! He and Du Chongwei are relatives, can we listen to him? The night is long and dreams are many, let's not make trouble, we can't wait, think of a way, kill him!"

Liu Zhiyuan's will was shaken, and he finally accepted Murong Yanchao's main battle idea and ordered a powerful attack.

Unexpectedly, the Weizhou defenders were extremely tenacious and burst out with amazing fighting power, repeatedly defeating Liu Zhiyuan's attacks.

Liu Zhiyuan personally supervised the battle and ordered the generals to launch a strong attack from multiple directions. The battle started at four in the morning and lasted until eight in the morning. In four hours of fierce fighting, more than one thousand Later Han soldiers were killed and more than ten thousand were injured. The losses were extremely heavy and no results were achieved.

Murong Yanchao then closed his mouth, tucked his tail between his legs, lowered his ears, and slid along the wall, becoming invisible.

Why did the Weizhou garrison have such a high combat effectiveness? The story begins when Liu Zhiyuan entered Bian.

At the beginning, when Xiao Han evacuated Bianzhou, he left behind 1,500 Youzhou soldiers to help Li Congyi defend Bianzhou and prevent Li Congyi from defecting to the enemy.

After Liu Zhiyuan entered Bianzhou, he was very worried that these Youzhou soldiers would rebel, so he gathered them in Fantai (inside Bianzhou City) and massacred them collectively. Now, Zhang Lian, a former subordinate of Zhao Yanshou, led 2,000 Youzhou soldiers to Weizhou to assist in defense under the order of Yelu Malu. Liu Zhiyuan sent people to lure them to surrender many times, promising that they would be pardoned as long as they opened the city and surrendered.

Zhang Lian snorted contemptuously and asked, "What crime did Fantai's 1,500 Youzhou soldiers commit? Don't say anything. We would rather die than surrender!"

Liu Zhiyuan had no choice but to be forced to adopt Gao Xingzhou's strategy again, surrounding but not attacking, cutting off Weizhou's grain supply line, and trapping them to death.

By November, Weizhou's food and fodder reserves were basically exhausted.

Du Chongwei was trapped in an isolated city, with no reinforcements outside and no food inside. He had no choice but to surrender. Before, when he decided to rebel, his aide Wang Min cried and persuaded him. Now, Du Chongwei sent Wang Min to surrender out of the city with a letter of surrender.

Afterwards, he sent his son Du Honglian to Liu Zhiyuan's camp in person; the next day, he sent his wife, Princess Shi of Song (Shi Jingtang's sister), to Liu Zhiyuan's camp to show his sincerity in surrendering.

Liu Zhiyuan detained Du Honglian and let Shi return to the city.

On November 11, Du Chongwei opened the city gates and surrendered.

According to historical records, by the time Du Chongwei surrendered, nearly 80% of the people in Weizhou had starved to death, a shocking number! Those who were still alive were skin and bones, like breathing skeletons.

As for Zhang Lian, the stubborn resistance fighter, he still planned to resist and refused to surrender. Liu Zhiyuan then made a solemn promise that as long as they surrendered, they would be allowed to return to their hometown in Youzhou. Letting this Youzhou soldier go home was a red-headed document of the Later Han regime and an official edict of Liu Zhiyuan.

(End of this chapter)