History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 771 Jiangshan Beiwang 2
Let us infiltrate the Southern Tang General Staff and formulate a Northern Expedition strategy for Li Jing.

Looking from west to east, there are about four ports along the Southern Tang's northern expedition route:

1. Gwangju.

Reasons for selection: It is an important town in the northwest of the Southern Tang Dynasty, with convenient transportation, complete military facilities, and the shortest straight-line distance to Hezhong and Bianzhou;
Disadvantages: Connecting with Southern Chu, large-scale military build-up is bound to cause panic in Southern Chu, easily trigger an arms race, and there is a risk of accidental firing.

2. Shouzhou.

Reasons for selection: It was also an important town in the northern part of Southern Tang, and the deputy commander-in-chief of this northern expedition was Liu Yanzhen, the governor of Shouzhou, which had both geographical advantages and people's support;
Disadvantages: The only disadvantage is that there are no disadvantages.

3. Haozhou and Sizhou

Reasons for selection: Like Shouzhou, it is a famous border town in the north of Southern Tang and a star fortress stronghold in the tug-of-war with the Central Plains. Through the Sishui River, you can go upstream and directly reach the Xuzhou area;
Disadvantages: Same as Shouzhou.

4. Haizhou

Reason for selection: Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province today, is the northeasternmost corner of the Southern Tang territory, stretching out alone at the foot of the Shandong Peninsula. The only reason to start from here is that it can achieve a surprise effect, because only a fool would choose to start from here.

Disadvantages: It is farthest from the main battlefield; the flanks lack protection and are very easy to be "cut off"; although it can take the enemy by surprise, it cannot attack them by surprise. Haizhou-Mizhou-Yizhou is an important link between the Huainan forces and the rebel forces on the Shandong Peninsula (such as the former Qingzhou Jiedushi Wang Shifan). The Central Plains dynasty has always attached great importance to this "Huai-Lu Corridor" and deployed heavy troops in Xuzhou, Yanzhou, Yunzhou, etc.

Based on a comprehensive analysis, Shouzhou should be the first choice, while Haozhou and Sizhou can be used as alternatives. If the elimination method is used, the first one to be eliminated is Haizhou.

However, Li Jing chose not to play by the rules. He perfectly avoided the fixed thinking of "optimal solution" and found another way. He chose to go north from Haizhou, all the way north along the eastern coastline of the motherland, to the beautiful Shandong Peninsula, then turn west, out of Shandong, through Henan, and travel thousands of miles to rescue Li Shouzhen in the river.

In fact, by sending troops from Haizhou, we can roughly guess Li Jing's little thoughts. He did not really want to rescue Li Shouzhen, but took advantage of Li Shouzhen's holding the main force of the Central Plains in the west to rob the territory in the east of the Central Plains. If this "Huai-Lu Corridor" was really opened up, it would be possible to continue to extend northward, through Dezhou-Cangzhou-Youzhou, and finally open up a "Huai-Liao Corridor", forming a substantial hard connection with the Khitan, and thus conspiring with the Central Plains.

Of course, it didn’t matter where Li Jing’s intended destination was, because he didn’t even take a step. In short, Li Jing wanted to take advantage of the civil strife in the Central Plains to gain benefits for the Southern Tang.

Commander-in-Chief Li Jinquan led the army to advance to the city of Yizhou along the prescribed route, and then ordered the troops to have a full meal so that they could set off again.

Just as the meal was ready, the patrol sent back a message saying that there were hundreds of Later Han soldiers just ahead, separated from us by only a small ditch, and that hundreds of them were all old, weak, sick, disabled and pregnant... Let's kill them!
As soon as the generals picked up their bowls, they immediately threw down their chopsticks and volunteered to take the lead in the war, intending to seize the opportunity to gain the first credit of the war.

Li Jinquan looked solemn and ordered: Anyone who dares to challenge will be executed immediately!
The Southern Tang soldiers could not hide their disappointment. They were afraid of the military order and looked at Li Jinquan with a sidelong glance. As the sun was setting, the Southern Tang soldiers sighed and thought they had lost a chance to fight. Unexpectedly, a horn suddenly sounded in the dense forest ahead, and then countless ambush soldiers of the Later Han Dynasty abandoned their positions and exposed their targets. Their eyes were also full of disappointment, "No one is left, let's go." According to records, the sound of the gongs and drums of the Later Han army could be heard for more than ten miles, which shows how many ambush soldiers there were.

Li Jinquan pointed at the slowly retreating Later Han army and said to the Southern Tang soldiers: "Look for yourselves, do you still want to go out and fight?" The Southern Tang soldiers were frightened and broke out in cold sweats. They admired and were grateful to Li Jinquan.

As the commander-in-chief, Li Jinquan did not have enough confidence in this Northern Expedition.

He followed Li Siyuan, the Mingzong of the Later Tang Dynasty, since he was young. He had been a soldier all his life and was very clear about the combat effectiveness of the soldiers in the Central Plains. This was because the Central Plains had almost never stopped fighting in recent decades, and the soldiers generally had rich practical experience.

On the other hand, due to the recuperation policy formulated by Xu Zhigao, the soldiers of the Southern Tang had not been exposed to actual combat for many years, and their combat effectiveness was generally inferior to that of the Central Plains. Moreover, the power center of the Southern Tang was controlled by the "Five Ghosts and Four Evils", who put their personal interests first and lacked a sense of the overall situation. Even if the battle was going well in the front, it was inevitable that they would be constrained by the power struggles in the rear and fail.

For example, this failed ambush was such an obvious trap, but no one among the Southern Tang soldiers could see through it. If Li Jinquan had not acted decisively, this Northern Expedition army would have been wiped out outside the city of Yizhou.

Although this contact between the Huai and Han armies did not cause any substantial losses to the Southern Tang army, it dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the Southern Tang army, from the commander-in-chief Li Jinquan to the grassroots officers and soldiers.

Li Jinquan felt that he could not lead these rookies, so he called all the generals together to discuss countermeasures. The generals reached a unanimous opinion - retreat.

So, Li Jinquan wrote a memorial to Li Jing, requesting a withdrawal of troops. After receiving a positive reply, Li Jinquan led his troops back to Haizhou.

Li Jing's second Northern Expedition ended in failure.

After withdrawing his troops, Li Jing wrote a letter to Liu Chengyou of the Later Han Dynasty to mediate the affairs in Hezhong. The general idea was to ask him to be more magnanimous as Li Shouzhen was still a child. He also requested to restore friendly diplomatic relations and resume trade with the Later Han Dynasty.

International politics often follows the objective law that "big countries want face, small countries want substance". If both sides are big countries, or their comprehensive strength is equal, they should exchange bargaining chips with each other. You make concessions on this issue, I make concessions on that issue, and we go back and forth at the negotiation table. If one side is at a clear disadvantage on the battlefield, then it should learn to adapt to the role of a "small country".

The Later Han Dynasty was undoubtedly a great power, and Li Jing believed that the Southern Tang was also a great power.

The Southern Tang Dynasty brazenly interfered in the internal affairs of the Later Han Dynasty and sent military forces to support the opposition forces in the Later Han Dynasty. It lost first on moral grounds and then on the battlefield. This has created an extremely passive situation for the Southern Tang Dynasty in the subsequent peace talks. However, Li Jing still put on an attitude of a big brother, pretending to be a big shot and mediating the affairs in Hezhong. He swelled up his face and pretended to be rich, but he didn't know how much he weighed.

Liu Chengyou of the Later Han Dynasty did not give Li Jing any face. He simply ignored and did not respond to Li Jing's letter.

Li Jing was very angry and the consequences were serious. The third Northern Expedition was arranged!
(End of this chapter)