History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 822: The Three Major Campaigns of the Huai River Campaign: The Battle of Shouzhou

[The Battle of Shouzhou among the Three Major Campaigns in the Huai River Expedition]

On March 3, Chai Rong mobilized the men from nearby counties and prefectures to build a city across the river at Wokou (Zhenhuai Army), and moved the Xiacai Floating Bridge there. From then on, he controlled the surface of the Huai River, making it impossible for reinforcements from the lower reaches of the Huai River to support Shouzhou.

Due to the continuous heavy rain, the water level of Huaihe River rose sharply. Guo Tingwei, the governor of Haozhou in Southern Tang, took the opportunity to dispatch the navy to attack Jiacheng and burn the floating bridge. However, Zhao Kuangzan, the general of the imperial army of Later Zhou, discovered the situation in advance and set an ambush to defeat him.

Zhao Kuangzan was a half-brother and colleague of Zhao Kuangyin, and the two had no connection at all.

Zhao Kuangzan's original name was Zhao Mei, and he later changed his name to Zhao Kuangzan. After the establishment of the Song Dynasty, he changed his name to Zhao Zan to avoid taboos. You may not know Zhao Kuangzan, but his father and grandfather are well-known, at least in this book - his father is Zhao Yanshou and his grandfather is Zhao Dejun.

On March 3, Chai Rong appointed Xiang Xun as the commander-in-chief of the Huainan Road camp and ordered him to garrison at Wokou. On the 11th, Chai Rong returned to Xiacai from Wokou.

After cutting off the "Shouzhou-Haozhou" transportation line, Chai Rong had to tackle the tough problem of Shouzhou.

Li Jingda, Chen Jue and others fled back to Shengzhou from Haozhou, and only Chen Decheng's troops retreated in full force, which was almost all the remaining force of the Southern Tang.

Li Jing was almost in despair, knowing that Shouzhou would certainly be lost.

On the 13th, Li Jing issued an edict to Liu Renzhan of Shouzhou, highly praising his spirit of tenacious resistance and thanking him on behalf of the Southern Tang court for his hard work and outstanding contributions. As a military general guarding the border, he had accomplished his mission brilliantly and lived up to his loyalty... The most important thing was that Li Jing agreed to Liu Renzhan's surrender (letting him choose his own fortune).

On the 17th, the main force of the Later Zhou Dynasty gathered outside Shouzhou City, showing off their military power and intimidating the Shouzhou defenders.

At this time, Liu Renzhan was already terminally ill and unconscious. His subordinates gathered together to discuss that since Li Jing had agreed to their surrender and the overall situation was settled, there was really no need for them to make useless struggles and sacrifices. So, on March 3, Shouzhou Military Supervisor Zhou Tinggou, Yingtian Deputy Envoy Sun Yu and others submitted a surrender application to the Later Zhou in the name of Liu Renzhan.

The next day (20th), Chai Rong sent his confidant Zhang Baoxu into the city to announce his acceptance of Shouzhou's surrender. Liu Renzhan's son Liu Chongrang represented Liu Renzhan to leave the city to apologize and negotiate surrender.

On the 21st, Chai Rong held a surrender ceremony in the north of Shouzhou City. Zhou Tinggou and others carried the unconscious Liu Renzhan out of the city on a stretcher to surrender. Chai Rong personally comforted him and allowed him to return to the city to recuperate.

Heroes appreciate heroes, and Chai Rong gave Liu Renzhan a jade belt, an imperial horse, etc., and appointed him as the acting Taiwei, special promotion, and concurrently the Zhongshu Ling and the Jiedushi of Tianping Army. However, Liu Renzhan died of illness immediately after returning to the city.

Chai Rong sighed for a long time, and ordered that he be posthumously named Prince of Pengcheng, and his son Liu Chongrang be appointed Governor of Huaizhou. He also renamed the Qinghuai Army in Shouzhou as the "Zhongzheng Army" to honor Liu Renzhan's integrity.

When Li Jing heard that Liu Renzhan had passed away, he cried bitterly and posthumously awarded him the titles of Grand Tutor and Minister of the Central Secretariat, and posthumously conferred him the title of King of Wei, and gave him the posthumous title of "Zhongsu". After the later emperor Li Yu ascended the throne, he posthumously conferred him the title of "King of Yue".

Liu Renzhan's loyal and unyielding character moved both the enemy and us. After his death, he was posthumously conferred the title of king by both sides, which was rare in ancient times.

After the establishment of the Song Dynasty, Li Yu asked Liu Renzhan's son Liu Chongliang to serve as a tribute envoy and lead a delegation to visit the Song Dynasty. When Zhao Kuangyin learned that he was the son of Liu Renzhan who defended Shouzhou, he appointed him as a doctor of the capital to commend his loyalty. More than a hundred years later, during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, Liu Renzhan's tablet was listed in the sacrificial ceremony and was given the name "Zhongxian" for people to worship and pay homage to, with incense burning all year round.

There are two versions about whether Liu Renzhan "surrendered". One is that Liu Renzhan surrendered voluntarily while he was conscious, and the other is that the military supervisor Zhou Tinggou and others "forged a letter for Renzhan" and surrendered in his name while Liu Renzhan was unconscious. Mainstream historians believe that the latter is more credible. First, Liu Renzhan had been holding on to Shouzhou for nearly a year and a half since Chai Rong's expedition to Huaihe. During this period, he did not hesitate to behead his son Liu Chongjian who was about to surrender. His resolute will to resist was widely and fully recognized;

Secondly, it was Chai Rong's attitude towards him. Chai Rong admired him very much. After he "surrendered", he was appointed as Jia Te Jin, Jian Xiu Tai Wei, Zhong Shu Ling, Jie Du Shi, and was posthumously named a prince. When Chai Rong attacked Hou Shu, Wang Huan, a general of Hou Shu, also held on to Qinzhou and failed to capture it after a long siege. Finally, he surrendered. However, he only achieved the rank of "Grand General" in Hou Zhou until his death. Therefore, Liu Renzhan definitely did not surrender, but preferred death to surrender.

Finally, there is the edict issued by Chai Rong on the day of accepting the surrender, "Liu Renzhan served with loyalty...There are few famous ministers in the previous dynasties who can be compared to him!" The words "served with loyalty" are worth careful consideration.

Therefore, the historian said, "Looking at how Emperor Shizong treated the two (Wang Huan of the Later Shu Dynasty and Liu Renzhan of the Southern Tang Dynasty) and examining his imperial edicts, we know that Renzhan was not a surrenderer." The historians of the Song Dynasty had already determined that Liu Renzhan never surrendered until his death.

After Liu Renzhan was carried back to the city, he immediately died of illness. It is also very likely that he died of grief and anger after learning that he had been "surrendered."

Chai Rong moved the seat of Shouzhou to Xiacai County, issued a general amnesty for Shouzhou, opened the granaries to release grain, and provided relief to the hungry people; he appointed Zhou Tinggou as the Minister of the Imperial Guard and Sun Yu as the Minister of the Imperial Household to reward them for their submission; he appointed Xu Wenzhen as the General of the Left Guard and the Inspecting Grand Marshal, and appointed Bian Hao as the General of the Left Thousand Oxen Guard and the Inspecting Grand Tutor.

After settling in Shouzhou, Chai Rong returned north to Bianzhou.

After returning to Bianzhou, Chai Rong graciously allowed more than 800 soldiers of the "Huai En Army" to return home. During the "Qin-Feng War", Chai Rong reorganized thousands of surrendered soldiers and generals of Hou Shu into the "Huai En Army" and stationed them along the Huai River. Now, Chai Rong allowed more than 800 soldiers including Xiao Zhiyuan, the commander of the Huai En Army, to return to Shu. On the one hand, he wanted to show the kindness of the Central Plains to the Shu people, and on the other hand, he wanted these people to tell the Shu people about the terrible record of the Central Plains conquering thousands of miles of Huainan to deter the Shu people.

The Shu people were indeed shocked. Meng Chang, the ruler of Shu, asked Hu Li, a captive of the Later Zhou Dynasty, to lead a delegation of 80 people to visit the Later Zhou Dynasty to express gratitude to Chai Rong, return Hu Li and other prisoners of war, and express his willingness to live in peace. The delegation brought a letter from Meng Chang, which was addressed as "The Emperor of the Great Shu Dynasty writes to His Excellency the Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty". In the letter, Meng Chang also tried to get close to Chai Rong by claiming to be from the same hometown as him. The details of the letter will be presented in the special topic of the Later Shu Dynasty later.

As expected, Chai Rong was furious. Chai Rong had the great ambition to unify the world. Shu, Huai, You, Jin, etc. were all illegal separatist regimes and were the territory of the motherland. How could you be so arrogant and call yourself "the emperor of Great Shu"? You are clearly the leader of "Shu independence".

Chai Rong "did not answer" and ignored Meng Chang at all.

Meng Chang was also angry, "I gave you face, right? You have only been emperor for a few years? When I became emperor, you were just a thief, why are you pretending to be so high and mighty in front of me?"

Meng Chang spoke tough, but the Later Zhou first conquered Qin and Feng and then Huainan, which really frightened the Later Shu and made it dare not have any improper thoughts and dare not take advantage of the Later Zhou's conquest of Huainan to plunder Qin and Feng again.

Afterwards, Chai Rong reorganized the surrendered soldiers and generals in Huainan into the "Huai De Army", with a total of six armies and thirty commanders.

Then, he issued an imperial decree to connect the Bianshui River with the Wuzhang River. The Wuzhang River starts from Bianzhou, passes through Caozhou, Yunzhou, etc., and is five zhang wide, hence the name Wuzhang River. From then on, the waterway between today's Shandong Province and Henan Province became more convenient, "so that boats from Qi and Lu could all reach Daliang."

Zhang Yongde, Zhao Kuangyin, Han Lingkun and other meritorious officials were each rewarded.

At this point, the second of the three major campaigns of the Huai River Expedition - the Shouzhou Campaign, came to a successful conclusion.

(End of this chapter)