History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 686 Jinzhou Battle 2
After Wang Jun heard about it, he sent a letter to the emperor, saying that the reason I stayed was not because I was afraid of the enemy, but because I was avoiding the enemy's attack. The city of Jinzhou was strong and it was not so easy to conquer. Liu Chong's morale was high at the moment, so it was not appropriate to confront him head-on. I just needed to wait for some time. Their morale would decline after a long time of attack. As the saying goes, "The first attack will weaken the second, and the third will be exhausted." At that time, I would suddenly attack and the enemy would surely collapse.

At the end of the memorial, Wang Jun pointed out: Your Majesty has just ascended the throne and cannot leave Bianzhou easily. Once you lead the army in person, Murong Yanchao will take advantage of the situation and enter Bianzhou. Wouldn’t we be in trouble?

After reading the memorial, Guo Wei raised his hand and slapped himself, "Why am I so stupid!" He immediately announced the cancellation of the expedition.

It took Wang Jun more than a month to slowly arrive in Jiangzhou after he set out from Bianzhou. Another five days passed before he slowly headed towards Jinzhou.

Between Jiangzhou and Jinzhou, there is a place called "Mengqian", which has the most dangerous terrain. On one side is a cliff, and on the other side is a surging river. One man can block the passage of ten thousand men.

Wang Jun was most worried that Liu Chong would station a large number of troops here, so he waited anxiously for news from the scouts. Soon, the scouts reported that there was no soldier stationed in Mengchang, and the vanguard troops had passed safely.

Wang Jun was so excited that he couldn't believe his ears, "It seems that Liu Chong really can't fight a war, and great things can be accomplished!"

At this time, it was already the twelfth month of the lunar calendar, and the weather was freezing. The Northern Han and Khitan coalition forces had been stationed in the north of Jinzhou for more than 50 days without gaining any results. The surrounding people had already evacuated their personnel and supplies. The coalition forces lost their supplies, and with heavy snow, their morale was low.

Liu Chongshang still had a glimmer of belief in destroying the Later Zhou, but the Khitan army was a "mercenary army" and a political speculator who needed to see high short-term returns. In comparison, the morale of the Khitan army was even lower.

When the news came that Wang Jun's reinforcements had crossed Mengqian, the Khitan army immediately burned down their camps and evacuated overnight. Having lost their powerful ally, the morale of the Hedong army was on the verge of collapse.

When Wang Jun's army entered the Jinzhou battlefield, all the generals requested to go into battle. However, Wang Jun did not move his troops and waited until the next day before sending Yao Yuanfu, Kang Yanzhao and others to lead the cavalry to attack.

The Northern Han army, which had lost its Khitan allies, was in disarray, with heavy casualties. Kang Yanzhao, fearing an ambush, stopped pursuing and watched the remaining Northern Han army flee.

Yao Yuanfu pointed out that Liu Chong had mobilized the entire country and brought Khitan reinforcements with him, aiming to annex Jin and Jiang. Now, they were exhausted. If they could not take this opportunity to annihilate their forces, there would be endless troubles.

However, the other generals had no intention of pursuing, and Commander-in-Chief Wang Jun also sent an envoy to order the troops to return.

In this way, the Northern Han's second attempt to move south ended in failure.

Wang Jun's caution and conservatism have their reasons. Soldiers have to consider how to fight, while politicians consider whether to fight.

First, consider it from a military perspective.

As Wang Jun said, Jinzhou City is tall and strong, and it will not be easily conquered. What about Taiyuan? Taiyuan's city defense system is even better than Jinzhou. Although the Later Zhou won the battle of Jinzhou, with its current strength, it is impossible for the Later Zhou to annex Hedong in one go.

Soldiers and politicians should keep a clear mind and not be blinded by the joy of victory and become reckless, nor be depressed by the frustration of failure. Secondly, it is the exchange of diplomatic chips.

Guo Wei's enemy was not just Liu Chong of Hedong. As Wang Jun mentioned, there was also Murong Yanchao of Yanzhou in the east, who was a time bomb in the Later Zhou.

In addition, Huainan had been ready to take advantage of the civil strife in the Central Plains since the Later Han Dynasty.
Of course, what the Later Zhou Dynasty considered most was the old friend of the Central Plains people - the Khitan. Guo Wei did not want to completely break off relations with the Khitan. The escalation of the conflict with the Khitan at this stage was not in the overall interests of the Later Zhou Dynasty.

Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, especially since Yelü Abaoji founded the country, the Khitan has always been a force that the Central Plains cannot ignore. The Khitan's political attitude towards the Central Plains will have a serious impact on the Central Plains dynasty. And this influence of the Khitan is mainly due to its role as a troublemaker.

The Khitan was not the arbitrator of the affairs of the Central Plains, but was using the Northern Han to blackmail the Later Zhou. The price was directly linked to the strength of the Northern Han. If the Northern Han was strong, the Khitan could ask for a high price, even like helping the Later Jin to destroy the Later Tang. But now, the Northern Han was in a state of hopelessness, so the Later Zhou lowered the price to 100,000 strings of cash per year.

What was the concept of 951 strings of cash at that time? In April of this year (4), Guo Wei just issued an edict to standardize the salaries of some local officials. Here is a reference:
"The defense envoy has 200 strings of money for his expenses, 100 dan of rice as salary, 5 dan of salt, 10 horses, grass and millet, and 30 people with him as his retainer... The governor has 100 strings of money, 50 dan of rice as salary, 5 dan of salt, and 20 people with him as his retainer."

Because of the weak national strength of Hedong, Liu Chong arranged for the civil servants of Northern Han to receive even lower salaries, with the prime minister receiving 100 strings of cash per month and the military governor receiving only 30 strings of cash per month.

Another reference is that when Guo Wei went south to proclaim himself emperor, Liu Chengyou gave the soldiers a one-time reward of 20 guan. Although 20 guan is not much, don't forget that everyone gets it. The army has tens of thousands of people. Even if there are only 10,000 people, it is 200,000 guan. This is only calculated based on soldiers and low-ranking officers. Senior officers cannot be dismissed with 20 guan.

It can be imagined that if a mere 100,000 strings of cash could bring peace to the world, it would undoubtedly be a great victory for the Later Zhou Dynasty.

Therefore, all Guo Wei needed to do was to prevent Liu Chong from achieving his intended goal, make him return empty-handed, and expose his weakness and incompetence to the Khitan. This would be Guo Wei's greatest victory.

If Guo Wei pursued the Khitan army relentlessly and dealt a heavy blow to the Khitan army, it would arouse the voices of the Khitan people in favor of war. Even if the newly ascended emperor Yelu Jing wanted to stop, he would not be able to stop it. Once the war machine started, both sides would suffer losses. Letting the Khitan reinforcements retreat was both a way out for Yelu Jing and a way out for himself.

Third, it is a political game.

Not only let the Khitan go, but also let Liu Chong go.

As Yao Yuanfu said, letting Liu Chong go was like letting a tiger go back to the mountains, but from another perspective, Liu Chong of Hedong was also a watchdog of the Central Plains Dynasty. The Northern Han and the Later Zhou fought to a loss, and the happiest person was of course the Khitan.

If the Later Zhou Dynasty annihilated the effective forces of Hedong but was unable to annex it in one go, then Guo Wei would be helping the Khitans. Just because you can't annex it doesn't mean the Khitans can't annex it. The Khitans could either help Hedong or take advantage of the situation, attack Guo on the pretext of attacking Guo, and then return the battle to take Hedong.

This scene had already happened during the Jin-Liao War, and Zhao Dejun and his son Zhao Yanshou were taken away in this way.

(End of this chapter)