History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 814: Lame Assist (Part )

[Lame assist]

There were three fronts in this Huai River expedition, namely the Hunan Wang Kui in the west, the main force of the Later Zhou in the middle, and the Wuyue Army in the east. Among them, the middle line was divided into the Shouzhou battlefield, the Yangzhou battlefield and the mobile guerrilla battlefield, which was the main attacking force in this Huai River expedition.

At this time, there was a small accident on the western front. An internal conflict broke out in Hunan, and Wang Kui was killed by his subordinates. The army fell into a brief chaos, and finally Zhou Xingfeng took charge of the overall situation. These contents will be described in detail later. In short, the Hunan friendly forces on the western front withdrew from the battle.

Let’s look at the friendly forces of the Wu Yue Kingdom on the eastern front.

Previously, after receiving the order from Chai Rong, Wuyue King Qian Hongchu assembled troops on the border to wait for Chai Rong's further combat instructions. In fact, there were voices of opposition within Wuyue for this "dispatching troops in compliance with the imperial edict."

Suzhou General (Yingtian Commander) Chen Man suggested to Prime Minister Wu Cheng that Changzhou be attacked by surprise. Changzhou was only 180 miles away from Suzhou, and the whole country of Southern Tang was in a state of panic, focusing all its efforts on the "Shouzhou Defense War", while Changzhou was unprepared.

At that time, Li Jing of Southern Tang happened to issue an edict to appease the officials and people near Changzhou. Chen Man, a "war faction", immediately took advantage of the situation to deceive Wu Cheng, claiming that this was an edict from Chai Rong of Later Zhou urging us to fight.

Wu Cheng was very stupid and naive, so he told Qian Hongchu to start the war quickly.

At this time, another prime minister, Yuan Dezhao, came forward to dissuade him.

The Liangzhe Qian family group and the Huainan group are known as the "Jianghuai Twin Heroes". Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, the two sides have been like a pair of lovers in love, sometimes loving each other, sometimes fighting to the death. This state has lasted for decades, and after several generations, they know each other well. The last military conflict between the two sides was in Fuzhou a few years ago. Later, the two sides reached a settlement on the Fuzhou issue and signed a peace treaty.

Therefore, the first reason of the "peace advocates" headed by Yuan Dezhao was that we should not obey the dispatch of the Later Zhou so easily and destroy the peace treaty with the Southern Tang. This would make Wuyue Kingdom very embarrassed, so why should we lick the Later Zhou like a dog?
Furthermore, Southern Tang is also a big country that cannot be underestimated. If we send troops and the war performance of Later Zhou is poor, wouldn’t we be in a difficult situation?
Finally, even if the Southern Tang was destroyed, it would not necessarily be a good thing for the Wuyue Kingdom.

This kind of debate repeatedly occurred within the Wuyue Kingdom on the issue of how to deal with the Southern Tang.

This time, Prime Minister Wu Cheng, under the instigation of Chen Man, firmly believed that this was a good opportunity to make a name for himself and achieve great success, so he argued with Qian Hongchu.

In the end, Qian Hongchu leaned towards the "war faction" and appointed Prime Minister Wu Cheng as commander-in-chief, ordering him to lead the Quzhou governor Bao Xiurang and the imperial guard general Luo Sheng to attack Changzhou.

Wu Cheng was resentful of Yuan Dezhao's obstruction, so he deliberately angered the soldiers, saying that Prime Minister Yuan Dezhao was unwilling to let them achieve great things, and tried every means to sabotage the expedition.

Under Wu Cheng's instigation, the soldiers were outraged. They rolled up their sleeves and clamored to beat Yuan Dezhao up before sending out troops.

Qian Hongchu hid Yuan Dezhao in his mansion, and then ordered the arrest of the soldiers who led the riot, which gradually calmed down the farce. Qian Hongchu sighed and said, "Just before the army is about to go out, the soldiers want to attack the prime minister first. How unlucky!"

Historical records say that the Wu and Yue soldiers were still immersed in the joy of the victory in Fuzhou. They thought that the Southern Tang was too weak and there was an opportunity to take advantage of, so they were eager to try, which was why they were so resentful of Yuan Dezhao who opposed sending troops.

It is true that an arrogant army will eventually be defeated.

The Wu Yue army was divided into two groups, one to besiege Changzhou and the other to besiege Xuanzhou.

At the beginning of the war, the Wuyue Kingdom had a good start: Southern Tang general Yao Yanhong led more than 10,000 troops to surrender; Wu Cheng captured the outer city of Changzhou and captured alive Zhao Renze, the Southern Tang Changzhou militia commander.

Zhao Renze was escorted to Hangzhou, but he refused to kneel when he saw Qian Hongchu.

Qian Hongchu was very angry, "A defeated general, what else can you say?" "Of course," Zhao Renze said in a clear and loud voice, accusing you, the Wu Yue Kingdom, of breaking your promise and betraying your alliance, and being unfaithful and disloyal; he accused you of claiming to be a great power, following the footsteps of the Later Zhou, being servile and fawning, and being shameless and unruly.

Qian Hongchu was furious and ordered his mouth to be torn apart (from his mouth to his ears).

Yuan Dezhao admired Zhao Renze as a man, so he secretly looked for famous doctors and famous medicines for him and saved Zhao Renze from the brink of death.

Facing the invasion of Wuyue, Li Jing of Southern Tang was somewhat unable to resist, because at that time, it was his eldest son Li Hongji who was in charge of the eastern front. Li Hongji was the Grand Commander of Xuan and Run.

Changzhou was about 170 li away from Runzhou, and Xuanzhou had already been attacked by the Wuyue army. Li Hongji had been pushed to the front line of the war.

Originally, titles such as "Grand Commander-in-Chief", "Grand Marshal of the Army of the World", and "Governor of the Eastern Capital" were exclusive titles of the crown prince. Their main purpose was to brush up their qualifications and experience and gild their resumes.

Seeing that the crown prince was in the midst of war, Li Jing hurriedly summoned Li Hongji to Shengzhou to take refuge.

General Zhao Duo said to Li Hongji: "You are not only His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan, but also the Grand Marshal, and the spiritual pillar of the vast majority of soldiers. Now that the enemy has not arrived, if you are the first to escape, the morale of the army will be greatly disturbed and the will will be shaken. Do you really think you can get out of Runzhou safely?"

Li Hongji agreed very much with Zhao Duo's opinion. He believed that with a powerful enemy at the doorstep, he should set an example and lead everyone to fight the enemy together. So he replied to his father that he swore to live and die with Runzhou and would never leave the front line.

Li Hongji's statement immediately boosted the morale of the Southern Tang soldiers.

When the country was in crisis, a man volunteered to die for the country. His name was Chai Kehong.

Chai Kehong, his father is Huainan's meritorious veteran Chai Zaiyong. Chai Zaiyong first followed Sun Ru, and after Yang Xingmi annexed Sun Ru, Chai Zaiyong turned to serve Yang Xingmi. The name Chai Zaiyong was given to him by Sun Ru, because Chai Zaiyong was involved in a mutiny case at the time, and was pardoned by Sun Ru before being executed, and then named him "Zaiyong". Chai Zaiyong assisted Yang wholeheartedly, and later pledged allegiance to Xu Wen and Xu Zhigao. Although he was a surrendered general, he was an undisputed meritorious veteran of the Huainan Group.

In his later years, Chai Zaiyong kept a low profile, rarely went out, and stopped socializing. When the historian was ordered to write his biography, he asked him about his past achievements. If it were someone else, he would have boasted about them, such as Liu Xin. But Chai Zaiyong said calmly, "I don't have any achievements. I'm just an old soldier." He never mentioned his great achievements and even mocked himself as an "old soldier."

Chai Kehong also inherited his father's low-key and humble character, being silent and introverted, and being kind and charitable. With his father's help, he was promoted to Lang Jiang, and then to Inspector of Xuanzhou. Later, he was appointed Governor of Sizhou, and then entered the court as a general of the imperial guards.

In the eyes of others, Chai Kehong was very different and different because he did not manage his business and was fond of giving alms, which made him poor and destitute. He drank and gambled with his guests day and night and never talked about military affairs. People said that this child was a typical prodigal son and there was no trace of the temperament of a "descendant of a general" in him.

In fact, it was because Li Jing first annexed Fujian and then destroyed Chu, and his heart became extremely inflated. He then had the delusion of conquering the Central Plains in the north. The "Four Evils and Five Ghosts" actively catered to and flattered him, exaggerating the strength of the Southern Tang and the weakness of the Central Plains, and instigated Li Jing to march north, thus dragging the Southern Tang into an abyss of no return.

Chai Kehong was unwilling to go along with this kind of people, but was powerless to change the status quo, so he could only behave in a bohemian and cynical manner.

Also because he refused to curry favor with the "Four Evils and Five Demons", he was not promoted for a long time. Later, someone suggested that he be appointed as the Governor of Fuzhou.

At this time, Chai Kehong, who had been silent all the time, suddenly spoke up. He volunteered to go to the front line and die for his country.

Li Jing was deeply moved, so he appointed Chai Kehong as the General of the Right Guard and sent him and Yuanzhou Governor Lu Mengjun to rescue Changzhou.

(End of this chapter)