History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 856: Battle of Zelu 2
Luzhou was the spark of the passionate collision between the Central Plains and Hedong forces, and a symbol of strategic initiative. Li Yun's anti-Song behavior in Luzhou soon attracted the attention of Liu Chengjun of the Northern Han Dynasty, who sent a wax ball letter to him, asking him to join the "Anti-Central Plains Alliance" and contribute to the construction of the "Great Khitan Co-Prosperity Sphere".

If Luzhou is dragged into the water, then judging from the map, the international anti-Song force of the "Great Khitan Co-Prosperity Sphere" will form a terrifying meat grinder situation for the Central Plains regime:

The area north of the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun was directly controlled by the Khitan, which was like a huge rock that suffocated the people in the Central Plains; the Northern Han regime was entrenched west of the Taihang Mountains, roughly in today's northern Shanxi Province, and became a bridgehead for the Khitan to move south to the Central Plains; and Luzhou was precisely the barrier that blocked the Khitan from passing through Hedong to get involved in the Central Plains. Once Luzhou was unblocked, then in theory, the Khitan's troops would have appeared on the north bank of the Yellow River, and the opposite bank was the heart of the Central Plains - Luoyang. Going west from Luoyang was Chang'an, and going east was Bianzhou.

Facing Liu Chengyou's seduction, Li Yun could not find a reason to refuse. After all, he was alone and helpless, so if there was an organization willing to take him in, why not?

However, Li Yun's son Li Shoujie tried his best to dissuade him, but he refused to listen even though he cried and advised.

Li Yun's dishonest side was also fully revealed at this time. On the one hand, he actively plotted against the Song Dynasty, but on the other hand, he presented the wax ball letter of the Northern Han Dynasty to the court to show his loyalty and paralyze the court.

Zhao Kuangyin then wrote him a letter to appease him and wanted to promote his son Li Shoujie to the position of Imperial City Envoy.

Up to now, although Li Yun has repeatedly crossed the political red line, there is no solid evidence after all. He also took the initiative to hand over the enemy's secret letters that induced discord, disguising himself as a loyal minister.

This was Zhao Kuangyin's most thorny problem. If he struck hard, he would be accused of having "insufficient evidence" and suspicious of old officials, which would make the other frontier officials feel insecure. The result would be that if one Li Yun fell, thousands of Li Yuns would stand up and they would continue to throw themselves into the cause of rebellion. This was what Zhao Kuangyin least wanted to see.
However, if we acknowledge Li Yun's loyalty and fail to take effective action in Luzhou, it will inevitably lead to a disaster.

So what Zhao Kuangyin had to do was to test Li Yun openly with one sentence: "Li Yun, I fuck you immortal! Give me a straight answer, do you want to rebel or not?"

It was a common practice to promote the other party's son or brother to serve in the capital. If the other party refused this honor, it would be tantamount to declaring rebellion, and the court would have a legitimate reason to punish him for disobeying the order; if he accepted, the court would have a hostage, which could hinder his rebellion to a certain extent and make him hesitate.

Li Yun did not have the brains of a politician, but he was as cruel as any politician. For the sake of his rebellion, he was willing to sacrifice his son. At the same time, he also needed to plant a spy in the court, so he went with the flow and sent his son to the capital.

The arrival of Li Shoujie made Zhao Kuangyin's "testing the waters" strategy fail, and Li Yun turned the tables on him, putting him in a very passive position. Li Shoujie could not only be Li Yun's spy in the capital, but his position as "Imperial Envoy" was also a direct threat to Zhao Kuangyin's personal safety. If Zhao Kuangyin wanted to get rid of Li Yun, he had to get rid of this time bomb first.

Zhao Kuangyin's think tank immediately proposed a new plan: Zhao Kuangyin summoned Li Shoujie to the palace. As soon as they met, before Li Shoujie saluted, Zhao Kuangyin saluted him respectfully and said, "My Lord, what wind brings you here?"

The child was so frightened that he immediately fell to his knees, banged his head on the ground, and said, "Your Majesty, why do you say that? Someone must be trying to alienate me and my son!"

Zhao Kuangyin, like a kind old man, smiled and helped Li Shoujie up, saying kindly: "I heard that you have repeatedly advised your father to stop, but he was stubborn and refused to listen. This time I sent you deep into the tiger's den, actually wanting to use my knife to kill you. You are so loyal and filial, how can I bear to kill you? How about this, I will let you go back, and you can help me take a letter and persuade him again."

In this letter, Zhao Kuangyin said very bluntly, "When I was not the emperor, I was free to do what I wanted. Now that I am the emperor, why can't you be my subject?"

The general idea is that the Later Zhou Dynasty with orphans and widows is a piece of fat meat, whoever grabs it will own it. Before the "Chenqiao Mutiny", you could also have a "Luzhou Mutiny", and I didn't stop you. You can pay homage to the people named Guo and Chai, so why can't you pay homage to the people named Zhao?
These words were quite heartfelt and shouldn't even have come from Zhao Kuangyin's mouth.

Li Shoujie thanked him and left, falling into Zhao Kuangyin's trap. Because from the moment he took the letter, he admitted that Li Yun had the intention of rebellion, and the argument that "this must be a trick to deceive the ministers and fathers" was self-defeating.

In this way, Zhao Kuangyin had gotten what he wanted and had a legitimate reason to be his master.

Li Shoujie was still too naive. He did not see through the sinister intentions of this kind uncle and failed to argue with him on the spot. Instead, he rushed back to Luzhou to continue admonishing his father Li Yun. Li Yun really wanted to slap him to death, "If you die in Bianzhou, the whole world will scold Zhao Kuangyin; if you return to Luzhou, the whole world will scold me!"

In order to get rid of the problem, Li Yun immediately called his staff and assigned them a composition topic. The subject matter was a manifesto with the theme of opposing the Song Dynasty and Zhao Kuangyin. The students were required to use "many rude words" and curse the guy to death!
Luzhou officials declared rebellion.

Li Yun's aide Luqiu Zhongqing offered advice and suggestions, believing that Li Yun was alone and weak, and even if he formed an alliance with the Northern Han, it would be difficult for him to compete with the Song Dynasty. Therefore, the correct anti-Song posture should be to develop westward, control Huaizhou, Mengzhou, Luoyang, etc., circumvent Bianzhou with a right hook, accumulate strength, and proceed step by step. Never go directly south to Zezhou to confront the Song Dynasty head-on.

However, Li Yun disagreed. "I am a veteran general of the Zhou Dynasty. I am as close to Emperor Shizong as brothers. All the imperial guards are old friends. When they hear that I am coming, they will definitely turn their backs on me." He believed that he was highly respected and had great confidence in his popularity. It seemed that as long as he raised his arm, the Central Plains dynasty would change its name to Li. At the same time, he was also extremely confident in his military strength. "Besides, I have the Dangui spear and the Bohan horse. Why should I worry about the world?"

Dan Gui was a fierce general under Li Yun, who was good at using spear and was invincible in bravery; Bohan horse was Li Yun's mount, which could travel 700 miles a day.

The effect of a brave general and a fine horse on a war cannot be said to be a drop in the bucket, but it is at least a drop in the ocean. Li Yun obviously has not read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and does not know the tragic end of Dong Zhuo who had Lu Bu and the Red Hare.

Li Yun is not Li Congke, and Zhao Kuangyin is not Li Conghou. Li Yun was defeated before the war began, and was destined to be unable to replicate Li Congke's Fengxiang uprising.

After officially announcing the rebellion, Li Yun arrested the military supervisor Zhou Guangxun and others, and then sent elite troops to attack Zezhou, successfully conquering it and killing Zhang Fu, the governor of Zezhou. He then sent his trusted general Liu Jichong (also known as Liu Zhong) and his aide Sun Fu to escort Zhou Guangxun and others to Northern Han, to report on his uprising, pledge his allegiance to Northern Han, and seek its assistance.

Seeing that Li Yun had already pledged his allegiance, Liu Chengjun of the Northern Han was very happy. He expressed his warm welcome to Comrade Li Yun for joining the "Great Khitan Co-Prosperity Sphere" and said that he was willing to go to Khitan to ask for reinforcements. The Liao, Han and Lu allied forces marched south and destroyed the Song Dynasty.

Liu Jichong quickly called a halt and relayed Li Yun's meaning, saying that our Han affairs should be resolved by the Han people. The Northern Han could send troops, but they must not ally with the Khitans!
Li Yun urged Northern Han not to ally with Khitan, mainly for the following reasons:

First, Li Yun had a serious strategic misjudgment. He thought that he would be able to command the support of the people, just like Li Congke, who was cheered by the enemy, carried into Bianzhou, and helped to sit on the throne.

Secondly, Li Yun had a serious misjudgment of his military strength. He did have many years of actual combat experience against Liao, and in recent years he had fought against Northern Han many times, so he had rich combat experience. However, most of his confrontations with Liao were at the level of border conflicts, which were entertainment games, not ranking or peak battles; and his recent so-called "battles" with Northern Han were to steal wild animals and burn villages, sneak into villages, not shoot guns, and lead the army to smash, loot and burn the people of Northern Han, and bully them on a daily basis.

Again, Li Yun not only colluded with the Northern Han, but also colluded with Li Chongjin of Yangzhou, and agreed to attack from the north and the south.

In short, Li Yun believed that he could overthrow the Song Dynasty in one fell swoop. Although it couldn't be said to be a sure thing, it was at least a foregone conclusion.

Therefore, the last and most fundamental concern was that they were worried that the fruits of victory would be snatched away by the Khitan, and they were unwilling to take advantage of the fire for the Khitan. This coincided with Liu Chong's idea of ​​prohibiting the Khitan soldiers from participating in the "Battle of Gaoping".

Hearing that Li Yun was so confident, Liu Chengjun could not help but be delighted. He immediately mobilized the best troops from all over the country, marched out of Tuanbai Valley, and headed south to Zelu to join forces.

Liu Chengjun led the army in person and held a grand banquet for his ministers on the banks of the Fen River. The ministers of the Northern Han Dynasty all imagined the wonderful life after ruling the Central Plains. Only his think tank Zhao Hua expressed concern, saying that Li Yun was a man of strong limbs but a simple mind, and that his rebellion was too reckless and hasty, and he might not be able to succeed. He advised Liu Chengjun to be cautious.

Zhao Hua's advice was drowned out by the noise and jubilation.

(End of this chapter)