History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 772 Jiangshan Beiwang 3
Having learned from previous lessons, the Southern Tang did not rashly send out a large army to capture cities and territories. Instead, it sent out a professional HR team to dig into the corners of socialism, fleece socialism, and recruit surrenders and traitors on the north bank of the Huai River.

Since ancient times, war has been multidimensional and has never been just a physical collision of blood and flesh.

For example, the financial war and trade war that are well-known today were already put into actual combat by our ancestors in the Spring and Autumn Period. The most talked-about example is that Qi State used the food war to conquer Lu, Chu and other countries without bloodshed. What is terrifying is that at the end of the Cold War in the last century, the Eagle Sauce also made a big fuss about food, which became one of the important factors in bringing down Big Brother. The specific approach of the Eagle Sauce is exactly the same as that of Duke Huan of Qi and Guan Zhong more than 2,000 years ago.

Another example is recruiting defectors, finding or cultivating opposition forces within the target country, and providing them with funding, weapons, intelligence, instructors and other support. In short, I pay and you send people to harm your own government. Looking at the current beacon country in hot spots, including some sensitive areas in our country, do you also have a familiar feeling?

In short, war has never been limited to military confrontation in the traditional sense, but the Chinese have long been accustomed to it. At least more than two thousand years ago, they had already mastered it.

At that time, due to the harsh rule of the Later Han Dynasty and the civil unrest centered on the "Three Towns Rebellion", many people in the Central Plains chose to leave their homes and become refugees or hooligans. This is detailed in the main storyline of the Later Han Dynasty in the previous article.

The rebels on the north bank of the Huai River often exchanged glances with the other side, begging for the protection of the Southern Tang. Li Jing took appropriate measures and secretly supported them in continuing to cause trouble in the north of the Huai River.

The destructive power of a mob is limited because what they lack most is not money or weapons, but a tight organization, a complete structure, and a unified command to bring the scattered sand together and make them play the role of 1+1>2.

Li Jing decided to go deep into recruiting surrenders and rebellions, to formally incorporate these ragtag armies, to give them deep organizational care and guidance, and to enable these opposition forces to form combat effectiveness.

In the first month of 949 AD, Li Jing sent Huangfu Hui, a surrendered general from the Central Plains, to lead a group of troops together with Zhang Luan, Xiao Chuyun, Zhang Yifang and others to set up "mobile recruitment offices" in border areas such as Haizhou and Sizhou. With Haizhou and Sizhou as hubs, they went deep into the territory of the Later Han Dynasty and integrated local bandits.

The parties involved are certainly unwilling to admit such dirty, filthy and despicable means. They often wrap themselves in a layer of seemingly reasonable and righteous coat. These coats include but are not limited to human rights, freedom, democracy, ethnicity, religion, etc., and they will also cooperate with certain public opinion assistance, such as using "a beautiful landscape" to beautify the riots launched by the mobs they support.

Of course, Li Jing also had to whitewash it. According to the explanation of the Southern Tang propaganda agency: At that time, the Central Plains was without a master, and bandits were rampant. As a descendant of the Tang royal family, I really couldn't bear to see the people of the Central Plains living in dire straits, so I opened my arms and showed humanitarian care without distinguishing between friend and foe...

Under the attack of the sugar-coated bullets, Xian Shilang and other generals of Mengcheng Town, Bozhou, Bozhou, and other generals of the Later Han Dynasty rebelled and surrendered to the Southern Tang. This was a huge gain for the Southern Tang's political offensive. While recruiting a large number of miscellaneous troops and bandits, some regular troops actually rebelled and surrendered.

Xian Shilang's treason also greatly shocked the Later Han Dynasty. Xuzhou general Cheng Deqin immediately set out and defeated the Southern Tang army in Dongyou Town, capturing and killing 600 people.

Huangfu Hui and others of Southern Tang immediately retreated back to the territory of Southern Tang.

He sent troops to intervene directly, but was dissuaded by an ambush attempt; he wrote letters to mediate, but was ignored; he tried to infiltrate and poach, but also failed... This made Comrade Li Jing, the great descendant of the Tang Dynasty who pushed forward the destruction and continued the extinction, feel very embarrassed. Fortunately, Li Jing did not feel embarrassed for too long, because half a year later (July 949), Li Jing received the latest news: Li Shouzhen was defeated and his entire family burned themselves to death.

After learning from the painful experience, Li Jing made some arrangements, appointing Zha Wenhui as the commander of Jianzhou Yong'an Army, and transferring Jianzhou Jiedushi Wang Chongwen to Luzhou. To the north of Luzhou is Shouzhou. As analyzed in the previous article, Shouzhou is the best gathering point for the Southern Tang's northern expedition, and Luzhou is the strategic depth of Shouzhou. By transferring Wang Chongwen here, it can be said that Li Jing has at least achieved the passing line in terms of personnel arrangements.

After several months of mobilization, in October, Li Jing's northern expedition army made a comeback, crossed the border from Shouzhou, and attacked Zhengyang Town under the jurisdiction of Yingzhou of the Later Han Dynasty, but was defeated by Yingzhou defender Bai Fujin.

This was the fourth time in the past year that the Southern Tang had taken advantage of the "three-town rebellion" to provoke the Later Han. Although all of them ended in failure, the Southern Tang's approach was like a dung beetle lying on your feet - it doesn't bite, but it disgusts you.

The Later Han fought back.

In December, Wang Wangan, the governor of Mizhou in the Later Han Dynasty, led his troops to attack Dishui Town under the jurisdiction of Haizhou in the Southern Tang Dynasty, and then carried out systematic destruction of Dishui Town, razing it to the ground.

Wang Wangan petitioned Liu Chengyou to request reinforcement of troops so that he could take advantage of the victory to march south and teach the Southern Tang a greater lesson.

The Later Han Dynasty immediately sent Guo Qiong to lead the Central Imperial Army and the Qizhou troops to provide assistance. As mentioned in the previous article when introducing the Later Han Dynasty, the real purpose of Guo Qiong's trip was not to reinforce Wang Wangan, but to force the Qingzhou Jiedushi Liu Zhu to come to the capital to pay homage to the emperor.

Although the "Three Towns Rebellion" was put down, the internal problems of the Later Han Dynasty were still very serious. The threat posed by military groups such as Guo Wei, Yang Bin, and Shi Hongzhao to Liu Chengyou only increased. If a large-scale military operation was launched against Southern Tang, it would obviously further increase the power of the military groups. Therefore, Liu Chengyou had no intention of expanding the scale of the "Self-Defense Counterattack against Huai River."

Li Jing humbly accepted the lesson, completely gave up the idea of ​​the Northern Expedition, and removed Li Jinquan from the post of "Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Expedition."

I have never won a fight, but I have never lost a word. In the first month of 950 AD, Li Jing issued a New Year's speech and an edict to defend himself. The general idea was that the recent frequent disasters such as solar eclipses and earthquakes, is it just because the ruler is not virtuous? In fact, it is also the benevolence of God, and it is warning me to convey the meaning of peace and no war. Before, there was chaos in Fujian, and the warriors did not listen to me, and they were aggressive, violating the will of heaven and taking away the farming time. Who is responsible? I declare that I am responsible for this. So-this kind of mistake cannot be made again. No Northern Expedition.

Li Jing also announced a general amnesty and distributed relief food and relief funds to poor households.

(End of this chapter)