History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 788 Operation Duan Ding
【Operation Cutting】

Luzhou is one of the star cities in this book. It has been active since the "Jin-Bian hegemony" between Zhu Wen and Li Keyong. Because Luzhou is the most important throat for Hedong region to enter and exit the Central Plains, so whenever there is something happening in Hedong, Luzhou will inevitably become a hot spot town. Coincidentally, the three consecutive dynasties of Later Tang, Later Jin, and Later Han all rose from Hedong. After the establishment of Later Zhou, Liu Chong established Northern Han in Hedong, so the popularity of Luzhou continued to rise.

South of Luzhou is Zezhou, which is also the key to controlling the entrance and exit of Taihang Mountains. Further south is the natural barrier of the Yellow River. After crossing the Yellow River are Bianzhou and Luoyang, the hinterland of Central Plains.

Now, the Northern Han army has surrounded Luzhou. In order to put more pressure on the Later Zhou, Liu Chong decided to adopt the "leapfrog" tactic, besieging Luzhou without attacking, leaving a part of the troops to contain it, and then leading the main force to bypass Luzhou, directly rush to Zezhou, cross the Yellow River, and dig Bianzhou. The strategy is aggressive and the tactics are bold and sharp.

Chai Rong deployed his troops and sent three armies to encircle and cut off the Northern Han army that had penetrated deep into Luzhou and Zezhou:

The eastern route was led by Fu Yanqing, the governor of Weizhou, and Guo Chong, the governor of Zhenning Army of Chanzhou, as his deputy.
The western route, the troops left Jinzhou and appeared to the west of Luzhou, led by Wang Yanchao, the governor of Hezhong, and Han Tong, the governor of Baoyi Army of Shanzhou, as his deputy.
In the middle, the troops were stationed in Zezhou as the backbone to resist the Northern Han army. They must keep the Northern Han army north of Zezhou. This was the main force of the Later Zhou Dynasty. Chai Rong sent Xiang Xun, Fan Ainen, He Hui, Bai Chongzan, Shi Yanchao, Fu Yangen and others as the first echelon to Zezhou first. He personally led the second echelon and followed later. Liu Ci was responsible for the support of the third echelon.

Before Chai Rong set out, he first sent the hated Feng Dao out and assigned him a glorious but not difficult task - to carry the coffin to the mountain mausoleum to bury Guo Wei. Then he appointed Zheng Renhui as the governor of Bianzhou to guard the base camp, and then Chai Rong officially set out to personally lead the expedition.

Chai Rong knew that speed was the most important thing in war, so he urged the army to move forward faster. However, as his ministers said, "people's hearts are easily swayed," and many people had ulterior motives. At that time, people generally had a wait-and-see attitude. What if Liu Chong successfully restored the country? What if the throne changed? So the fence-sitters made preparations for both situations and were unwilling to follow Chai Rong to the front line.

When Chai Rong arrived in Huaizhou (about 160 kilometers from Bianzhou), Zhao Chao, the commander-in-chief of the imperial army, encouraged Zheng Haoqian, the official in charge of the imperial army, to say that the enemy was in full swing and it was best to avoid the enemy's edge and defeat them with caution. He meant to postpone the advance and wait and see the situation on the front line of Luzhou so that they would have enough time to vote with their feet.

Zheng Haoqian was a scholar with a pedantic mind. He did not understand the sinister intentions of these social people and fence-sitters. He thought that what Zhao Chao said made sense, and that this view was also generally held by the ministers. So Zheng Haoqian foolishly told Chai Rong, advising him not to rush into the march.

Chai Rong was furious when he heard this, but fortunately he knew Zheng Haoqian was just a harmless naive person, so he said to him: "These words don't sound like you, there must be someone behind you. Tell me, who told you to say this? Tell me and I will exonerate you, otherwise, I will kill you first."

Zheng Haoqian told the truth. Chai Rong immediately ordered Zhao Chao to be imprisoned in Huaizhou Prison, awaiting his fate after the war. Then he continued to march north, and arrived at Zezhou, 60 kilometers away, two days later.

Chai Rong held a grand military parade outside Zezhou City, and then set up camp about 15 miles northeast of Zezhou City.

Liu Chong was unaware that Chai Rong was personally leading the expedition, so he bypassed Luzhou and headed straight for Zezhou. On the day Chai Rong arrived in Zezhou, Liu Chong also led his troops to Gaoping County, about 30 kilometers away from Zezhou. The two army camps were only about 25 kilometers apart.

The next day, the vanguards of the two armies encountered each other, and the "Battle of Gaoping" officially began.

The Later Zhou army was well prepared and, with the support of the emperor personally leading the army, they fought bravely. The Northern Han army had no expectation of encountering such stubborn resistance from the enemy and was caught off guard. The vanguard was temporarily defeated.

Chai Rong's strategic intention was to use Zezhou and Luzhou as the main battlefields, with the main forces of both sides fighting in groups, waiting for the Eastern Army and the Western Army to appear in the north of Luzhou, forming a strategic encirclement of the Northern Han army, and then encircling Liu Chong. Seeing that the Northern Han army was about to collapse and there was a great possibility of letting the tiger go back to the mountains, he ordered a quick pursuit and forced a group. "Go up and fight!"

The Later Zhou army chased to Gaoping, and the main forces of both sides immediately deployed their troops and gathered to prepare for a group battle.

Liu Chong deployed a well-organized "品"-shaped formation, with his own elite troops as the core, Zhang Yuanhui as the left wing, leading the east formation, and Khitan general Yelu Dilu as the right wing, leading the west formation. The army was well-organized and morale was high.

Because Chai Rong advanced quickly, the troops of Liu Ci, the governor of Heyang, who was the rear army, did not arrive, and the number of the Later Zhou army was obviously less than that of the Northern Han and Khitan coalition forces. This caused fear among the Later Zhou army and made them lose their fighting spirit. However, Chai Rong became more motivated and ordered to set up a "品" formation to fight against the enemy.

Under Chai Rong's command, Bai Chongjin and Li Chongjin were on the left wing, leading the western formation; Fan Aineng and He Hui were on the right wing, leading the eastern formation; Xiang Xun and Shi Yanchao led the elite cavalry as the core, in the center. Chai Rong personally wore armor and led the troops to supervise the battle, and the commander of the imperial guards, Zhang Yongde, led the imperial guards to protect Chai Rong.

Liu Chong climbed up to a height and looked around. He saw that the number of the Later Zhou army was much smaller than his own troops, and they had not made any progress in arranging the battle array. With fewer troops against more troops, they had to fight hard. He thought that he would win the battle, and he was secretly happy, but suddenly he felt regretful. He regretted calling for the support of the Khitan.

There is no such thing as a free lunch. Even express delivery and take-out delivery require payment, let alone the "100,000 Khitan cavalry", how can you call them and send them away at will?

So Liu Chong said to his generals: "We can defeat the Later Zhou by ourselves, why do we have to ask the Khitan for help? However, since the Khitans are here, it is a good opportunity to show them our strength!" The generals agreed with him.

The Liao general Yelu Dilu rode his horse to the front of the battle array and carefully observed the situation of the Later Zhou army. Then he ran to Liu Chong and warned him: "The Later Zhou is a strong enemy, don't underestimate it!"

Liu Chong was arrogant, stroking his beard, and said, "As the saying goes, opportunity cannot be missed. Please shut up and watch me perform."

First, in international diplomatic affairs, strength determines attitude. The disastrous defeats in the two "Battles of Jinzhou" seriously affected Khitan's assessment of Northern Han's strength and diplomatic attitude. Liu Chong had to make greater concessions in economy and politics in exchange for Khitan's military support.

Secondly, Liu Chong very much hoped to accomplish this great victory with the strength of the Northern Han army alone, so as to demonstrate his strength to the Khitans and reduce the price of the "100,000 Khitan cavalry".

Therefore, Liu Chong, who was full of confidence, decisively asked the Khitans to stand aside and watch the show of his bravery and invincibility as a Northern Han man, in order to enhance the international image of the Northern Han and increase his bargaining chips in the post-war negotiations on the division of spoils.

Yelu Dilu was furious when he heard this and retreated angrily. He had anticipated the outcome of this battle, so he made plans to preserve his strength and retreat strategically, and ordered his men to watch the show carefully. "Please start your performance."

(End of this chapter)