History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 888: Battle between Qin and Feng (Part )

【Battle of Qin and Feng】

The relationship between Shu and Zhou became increasingly tense, and the border was filled with the smell of war.

Meng Chang sent his confidant (Guest Envoy) Zhao Jizha to inspect the border. Zhao Jizha always compared himself to Guan Zhong and Yue Yi, and thought he was Zhuge Liang reincarnated. He looked down on others and believed that the whole country was full of scum, and only he could destroy the masts and oars with a feather fan and a scarf, talking and laughing.

Soon, Zhao Jizha replied to Meng Chang, saying that Qinzhou Jiedushi Han Jixun and Fengzhou Governor Wang Wandi were all scum in name only, "not capable of generals and commanders, and unable to resist a powerful enemy."

Han Jixun was previously a medical officer in charge of royal medicine, and was promoted by framing Li Renhan. Therefore, Meng Chang also believed that Han Jixun was not capable of resisting the Zhou army, and echoed: "How can Jixun be capable of resisting the Zhou army?" Then he asked who could resist the Zhou army.

"To count the heroes of the time, let's look at today!" Zhao Jizha volunteered.

Therefore, Meng Chang appointed Zhao Jizha as the military supervisor of Qinzhou and assigned thousands of elite imperial guards as his troops. He also ordered the Privy Councilor Wang Zhaoyuan to inspect the north and prepare military supplies in preparation for the Zhou army.

In the same month (April), Chai Rong ordered Generals Xiang Xun and Wang Jing to march out of Dasan Pass, and the "Qinfeng War" broke out.

On May 5, Wang Jing broke through the Dasan Pass defense line and headed straight for Qinzhou, conquering eight strongholds in one breath. The Shu troops were defeated one after another.

Meng Chang hurriedly sent reinforcements to the front line and dispatched a luxurious lineup: Marshal Li Yangui, Commander-in-Chief Gao Yanchou, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Lu Yanke, and Chief Military Officer Zhao Chongtao.

The romantic and suave Zhao Jizha had not yet arrived at the front line. He was still on the way, with his feather fan and scarf pointing out the situation. Suddenly, he heard that the Zhou army was approaching Qinzhou with an overwhelming force. He was so frightened that he was at a loss what to do. He refused to move forward and immediately wrote a letter of resignation to the court, "Oh my god, I quit!"

What returned to Chengdu earlier than the resignation letter were Zhao Jizha's concubines and treasures. When the emperor and his ministers received Zhao Jizha's resignation letter, they were shocked and didn't understand what happened on the front line. When they were discussing how to deal with it, Zhao Jizha actually returned without permission and rode back to Chengdu alone.

The people of Chengdu had no idea about the situation on the front line. Seeing the reincarnated Zhuge Liang in such a distraught and miserable state, they thought that he had suffered a great defeat. So rumors spread that the Zhou army was about to arrive at the city. The people fled in panic and Chengdu fell into chaos.

Meng Chang hurriedly summoned Zhao Jizha and asked him about the situation on the front line in person.

Zhao Jizha was hesitant and could not explain clearly. Meng Chang was furious and handed him over to the Censorate for interrogation, and then he got the ridiculous truth - this guy didn't even go to the front line!
Meng Chang was so angry that he ordered Zhao Jizha to be taken out of Chongli Gate and beheaded in public.

In June, good news came from the front line: Li Yangui defeated the Zhou army and captured Zhou general Hu Li alive.

During this battle, the Shu soldiers' uniforms were all embroidered with the shape of axes, which were called "broken wood". Meng Chang sent envoys to contact Southern Tang and Northern Han, asking them to jointly send troops to attack the Later Zhou from three sides. Southern Tang and Northern Han both agreed, and the situation was very good.

After that, Shu and Zhou launched a fierce tug-of-war on the front line, with both sides winning and losing, and the war was deadlocked. The fight of consumption was extremely disadvantageous to the Later Zhou Dynasty, so the ministers suggested withdrawing troops. Chai Rong sent his favorite general Zhao Kuangyin to inspect the front line. Zhao Kuangyin was very good at guessing the emperor's intentions. Anyone who suggested to Chai Rong to stop the war would be excluded, and anyone who implemented the iron-blooded spirit of "indifferent to life and death, fight if you don't obey" would be trusted. Zhao Kuangyin came to the front line to take a look and replied that Qin Feng was acceptable. So Chai Rong put pressure on the front line, "Do it for me!"

Wang Jing resisted the pressure from above, fought a victory and captured 300 Shu soldiers, which was considered a response to Chai Rong.

Meng Chang also sent Privy Councilor Yi Shenzheng to the front line to supervise the battle.

Whether it's a street brawl or a battle between two armies, at this point, it's all about will. When two sides meet on a narrow road, the brave wins. Whoever backs off first loses. Both sides are holding back their energy, and it all depends on who backs off first.

The Shu commander Li Yangui came up with a big move: he sent the vanguard officer Li Jin to guard Maling Village, sent a special forces team (special forces) to secretly leave Xiegu and station in Baijian, and then sent another force to Tangcang Town and Huanghua Valley in the north of Fengzhou.

This is Li Yangui's strategy of "closing the door and beating the dog".

Ma Ling Zhai is located in the southwest of Fengzhou, and is the throat of the deep-rooted Shu from Fengzhou. In other words, it is the only way for the Later Zhou to advance. Baijian and Huanghua Valley are located in the northeast of Fengzhou, and are the logistics supply routes of the Later Zhou, and are also the "back road" of the Later Zhou. From the map, from northeast to southwest, "Ma Ling Zhai - Fengzhou - Baijian - Huanghua Valley" is generally a straight line, and due to the mountainous geographical factors of Shu, the Later Zhou army must take this route to penetrate into Shu from the Central Plains.

Since there is no map, I will use a more popular way of expression:
Huanghua Valley is the enemy's middle lane tower, Baijian is the grass in the middle river, Fengzhou is our middle lane tower, Malingzhai is our middle lane second tower, and Tangcang Town is our blue BUFF.

If you want to take a detour from our second tower in the middle lane (Maliangzhai) to the enemy's middle lane river and hide in the grass (Baijian), due to the terrain restrictions, you must first cross our red BUFF wild area to reach the bottom lane, then turn upward from the river, brushing against the edge of the enemy's blue BUFF, and reach the grass in the middle lane river.

Let's look at the idea of ​​Shu General Li Yangui: defend our middle lane second tower, send a special team to bypass the bottom lane from our red buff jungle area, then detour to the middle lane river to hide in the bushes, and send another team to pass through our blue buff, brush against the three wild boars in the enemy's red buff jungle area to reach the enemy's middle lane first tower. According to Li Yangui's expectations, our main force uses the advantage of defending the tower to pin down the enemy's main force at our second tower. Whether the enemy is reinforcing or retreating, they will be hiding in the bushes of our middle lane river. At the same time, we will also threaten the enemy's middle lane first tower, making it difficult for them to take care of both ends.

This is a risky move because this approach also has fatal drawbacks.

First, the Shu army was divided into three teams with limited manpower, thus forming a numerical disadvantage in the local battlefield.
The second is time. Speed ​​is of the essence in war, and the two flanking forces of the Shu army have to take a longer route instead of a closer one. Especially the troops bypassing our red BUFF and the bottom lane. They have to cross mountains and ridges, and the road is long, rugged and winding. They can neither transport large-scale baggage supplies nor quickly penetrate, and their mobility is extremely poor.

Li Yangui thought it was worth a gamble.

But he lost the bet.

Wang Jing of the Later Zhou Dynasty obtained intelligence about the Shu army's deployment of troops and saw through Li Yangui's plan at a glance, so he tailored a counter-encirclement tactic for him.

Although the entire "Qinfeng War" can be regarded as the home field of Hou Shu, in local battles, such as this one, Hou Zhou actually took advantage of the geographical advantage, being closer and more convenient to Huanghua Valley and Tangcang Town, while the Shu army had to take a long detour. Hou Zhou was able to turn the tables and wait for the enemy to tire themselves out.

Therefore, Wang Jing made full use of the geographical advantages and the advantages of flexibility and mobility to arrive at Huanghua Valley first. Huanghua Valley is a typical "narrow pass" with a valley between two mountains, a natural ambush scene. Wang Jing set up an ambush in Huanghua Valley, and then sent a troop to quickly advance to Tangcang Town and set up an ambush on three sides.

To put it in simpler terms: Wang Jing did not choose to fight at our second tower, but instead chose to defend the middle tower, hiding in the bushes in the three wild boar areas, and sending another troop to hide in the bushes at our blue BUFF.

Shu general Wang Luan led 5,000 troops on a long journey and finally arrived at Huanghua Valley, but found that the road ahead was blocked. Wang Luan thought it was not good and ordered a withdrawal. On the winding, narrow and rugged mountain road, 5,000 people were crowded together and the order was chaotic. Wang Luan had an ominous premonition.

Suddenly, there was a sound of arrows and a clang of gongs, and Wang Luan's worst fear came true. On the hilltops on both sides, Zhou's army flags were flying, shouts of killing shook the sky, and arrows rained down. The Shu army was immediately thrown to the ground, and the army was in a rout. There were countless casualties, and they trampled on each other.

Wang Luan finally led the remaining troops to escape the ambush, and fled back to Tangcang Town out of breath. Before he could catch his breath, he was trapped in the bushes again...

After being ambushed twice in succession, Wang Luan's troops were annihilated, including the leader Wang Luan, who was killed, and 3,000 men were captured.

Wang Luan was annihilated, and for the Shu army, it was not just a matter of losing 5,000 soldiers. Because next, Hou Zhou would advance from the middle road (Fengzhou) and our blue BUFF (Tangcang Town) to attack our second tower in the middle road (Malingzhai), and the Shu army would bypass our red BUFF, and the rangers in the bottom road would have no time to come back to help. The Shu soldiers in Malingzhai were alone and the enemy and our numbers were very different, so they were easily conquered. Once Malingzhai was conquered, Hou Zhou would take advantage of the situation to push down our highland tower in the middle road, and then the crystal...

Hou Zhou: "It's a wave."

Hou Shu: "Retreat. Protect our high ground tower."

Maliangzhai and the Shu soldiers who bypassed Baijian retreated backwards, and Li Yangui's plan failed. Even Li Yangui himself retreated to Qingniling in an emergency. This meant that the main force of the Shu army gave up the Qinfeng battlefield, abandoned Qinzhou and Fengzhou, and went on the defensive as a whole.

Han Jixun, the governor of Qinzhou, was first deprived of his command power due to suspicion of incompetence, and was then abandoned by the main force. So he gave up Qinzhou on the grounds that he was isolated and helpless, fled back to Chengdu, and left Zhao Bin, the governor of Qinzhou, to guard the city.

Zhao Yan was originally a surrendered general from the Central Plains (Later Jin), so he called his subordinates to a meeting and said that the Zhou army was very strong and the best lineup of the Shu army had been defeated and abandoned. How could we defend this isolated city? If we don't make the right decision, I'm afraid disaster will come.

Therefore, the soldiers who stayed behind in Qinzhou immediately made the most correct choice: open the city and surrender.

Chengzhou and Jizhou also made the same correct choice.

Wang Jing surrounded Fengzhou and sent his vanguard troops to Guzhen, which was located between Fengzhou and Qingniling, cutting off the connection between Fengzhou and the main force of the Shu army.

After resisting for nearly a month, the isolated and helpless Fengzhou also chose to surrender.

At this point, Chai Rong won the "Battle of Qin and Feng", successfully recovered the four states of Qin, Feng, Cheng and Jie that were occupied by Hou Shu during the "War of Jin and Liao", achieved his strategic goal, appointed Wang Jing as the governor of Qinzhou, and ordered the army to return.

Thanks to my old friend "江湖留白" for the monthly ticket support! I wish you all a happy new year!

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(End of this chapter)