History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 824: The Battle of Chuzhou during the Huai River Expedition (Part )
After taking Haozhou, Chai Rong continued to advance eastward along the Huai River and captured Yuecheng in Chuzhou. Southern Tang lost control of the Huai River, and the important towns along the Huai River became lambs to be slaughtered.

After losing control of the Huai River, Li Jing also realized that the land north of the Yangtze River was no longer safe, so he quickly made a strategic shift and voluntarily gave up the eastern capital Yangzhou.

Under Li Jing's order, the Southern Tang army emptied Yangzhou of its supplies and food, burned the city to ashes, and then drove the people south of the Yangtze River.

When the Zhou Dynasty occupied Yangzhou, they sealed up the supplies and did not harm the people. They left Yangzhou without taking anything with them. Li Jing, on the other hand, had an attitude of "If I can't have it, no one can have it."

By destroying Yangzhou, the Southern Tang sent an important signal to the outside world: We don’t want Jiangbei anymore.

You don't want it, but I do.

Chai Rong immediately sent troops south from Chuzhou, and sent Guo Tingwei to lead the old troops of Haozhou to attack Tianchang County northwest of Yangzhou, and sent the imperial cavalry general Wu Shouqi to lead hundreds of cavalry to enter Yangzhou through Gaoyou northeast of Yangzhou to take over.

After Wu Shouqi arrived in Yangzhou, he found that the legendary prosperous and wealthy Yangzhou city had become a scorched earth, with only a dozen abandoned seriously ill and disabled elderly people left in the city.

Along the Huai River from west to east are Shouzhou, Haozhou, Sizhou and Chuzhou.

From Chuzhou to the south is Yangzhou. There are lakes and rivers between Chuzhou and Yangzhou, and water transportation is smooth. Yangzhou is on the north bank of the Yangtze River, across the river from Runzhou on the south bank. Going west along the Yangtze River from Runzhou is Shengzhou, the capital of Southern Tang, and going east along the Yangtze River is Changzhou.

It can be seen that Chuzhou is not only an important link in the Huaihe River control chain, but also an important hub for deploying troops to the south of the Yangtze River; and Yangzhou determines the initiative in cross-river operations. If the Southern Tang lost Yangzhou, it could only passively take the beating.

Chai Rong began a new round of deployment: he personally led the main force to continue the siege of Chuzhou; he sent the imperial guard general Wang Hanzhang to attack Haizhou eastward to destroy the last stronghold of the Southern Tang in the Huaihe River Basin; and he sent another army to attack Taizhou east of Yangzhou.

Taizhou is located east of Yangzhou, across the river from Changzhou. It is also the border with Wuyue State. The Later Zhou Dynasty took over Taizhou, which meant that the Later Zhou Dynasty and Wuyue State were about to achieve a physical union.

Changzhou was an important strategic location between the Southern Tang and Wuyue. At the beginning of the war, Wuyue launched the "Battle of Changzhou". Due to internal discord among generals and the stubborn resistance of Southern Tang general Chai Kehong, Wuyue was defeated. Now, the Later Zhou army is on the Yangtze River and occupies Taizhou. If there is another "Battle of Changzhou", the outcome is hard to predict.

Before Chai Rong's expedition to Huaihe, a nursery rhyme was circulated in the Yangzhou area, "Tan Lai Ye", which puzzled people and made them wonder what it meant. One day, a Yangtze alligator appeared at Jianchun Gate in Yangzhou, and the locals called it "Tan Chu Shui", so people thought that this was the fulfillment of the nursery rhyme. However, the mystery was solved when the Later Zhou army arrived. The vanguard of the Later Zhou was the northern cavalry, and they sang a foreign song, the first line of which was "Tan Lai Ye".

The winter of that year was exceptionally cold, and Li Jing felt very cold. The important towns in the north of the Yangtze River fell one by one, and the defense lines were shrinking layer by layer. His only lifeline, the Khitan, finally revealed its true colors and broke off all ties with the Southern Tang. The messengers sent to ask for help before were still perfunctorily answered with "next time", but now, they were too lazy to even tell lies and told the truth, "We will provide all kinds of help except for help."

Duan Chuchang, the envoy of Southern Tang seeking help, failed to persuade Khitan, so he proposed to the Khitan that he wanted to travel to Taiyuan. Obviously, Duan Chuchang was not here to travel, but to seek help from Northern Han to promote the great event of attacking the Later Zhou Dynasty from both the north and the south.

Liu Chengjun of Northern Han expressed a warm welcome to Duan Chuchang, saying, "The lord of Northern Han gave him generous gifts and asked him to stay for a few days." However, whenever he mentioned topics such as "Han, Liao, and Tang alliance" and "North-South attack," Liu Chengjun would just smile awkwardly but politely and talk about something else. Because just a month ago, Northern Han was severely blackmailed by the Khitan father.

Liu Chong was willing to be a child emperor, and formed a father-son relationship with the Khitan. He called himself "nephew emperor" and respectfully called Liao Shizong Yelu Ruan "uncle Tianshou emperor". Today, the emperor of Liao is Liao Muzong Yelu Jing, who is of the same generation as Shizong Yelu Ruan; the emperor of Northern Han is Liu Chong's son Liu Chengjun. According to seniority, Liu Chengjun should call Liao Muzong grandpa.

However, when Liu Chengjun wrote to Liao, he only called him "son" instead of "grandson". Liao's reply also called him "son". "Grandson" is not nice, "son" is more intimate. It's a country of father and son, so it's easy to say.

A month ago, Cui Xun, the governor of Datong, led the Khitan cavalry to Taiyuan, claiming that they would help the Northern Han invade the Later Zhou.

Since Liu Chengjun succeeded to the throne, he has been recuperating and recovering from the war wounds, and he is unwilling to march south. The tree wants to be still but the wind does not stop, the son wants to stay at home but his father will not let him. Liu Chengjun was forced to send General Li Cunhuan to lead troops to follow.

The army rushed to the city of Luzhou with great momentum. The Luzhou garrison commander was ready to fight. "The Hedong thieves colluded with the barbarians and invaded the border without reason. What do you want to do?"

Li Cunhuan smiled bitterly and turned to look at the Khitan commander Cui Xun.

Cui Xun looked fierce, urging his horse forward, pointing his finger, and sternly shouted, "Don't do that again. Go!"

"Hua La La" the Khitan army returned north in an orderly manner.

You think he is helping you push the tower, but actually he just takes a wave of soldiers and leaves.

Knowing that his Khitan father was blackmailing him, Liu Chengjun could only greet him with a smile and reward the Khitan army with money, food, and silk. The Khitans ate and drank with their grandsons but did not thank them.

Liu Chengjun's only extravagant wish is that Khitan Dad can simplify the procedures in the future. Just saying "I, Khitan Dad, send you money" will be enough. Why bother mobilizing so many troops?

Relying on foreign powers to gain respect is like drinking poison to quench thirst, and in the end it will only end up shooting oneself in the foot. This is the heartfelt words of Shi Jingtang and his son, and Liu Chong and his son.

After Duan Chuchang returned to Khitan from Taiyuan, he became extremely depressed and soon died of illness in Mobei.

(End of this chapter)