History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 903: First Expedition to Taiyuan
[First expedition to Taiyuan]

Liu Jie'en's original surname was Xue, and his father's name was Xue Zhao. He was a soldier in the imperial guards during the Later Jin Dynasty (a soldier in the Guarding the Holy Camp). It is unknown what qualities Liu Chong saw in him that made him marry his daughter to him. After Liu Zhiyuan took charge of the imperial guards, he placed this nephew-in-law by his side as a backup confidant.

Soon after, Liu Zhiyuan took charge of Hedong, and Xue Zhao also came to Taiyuan. From then on, he and his newlywed wife began a painful life of separation. Up to this point, Xue Zhao was the protagonist of an online novel, a short, poor, ugly man who turned into a rich, beautiful woman. Liu Zhiyuan really wanted to use him, but Comrade Xue Zhao was really incompetent and a hopeless case. Liu Zhiyuan was also helpless, and gave him a very high salary, leaving him with an idle job and supporting this nephew-in-law.

After Liu Zhiyuan became emperor, he named his daughter Princess Yongning. Princess Yongning and Liu Chong's daughter were cousins ​​and good friends, so they lived together in the palace. Xue Zhao and his wife were always separated. Over time, Xue Zhao felt resentful and aggrieved.

In fact, we can boldly guess that Liu Chong's daughter probably disliked her husband. In short, the long-term separation made Xue Zhao quite dissatisfied.

One day, Xue Zhao got drunk and became bolder. Under the influence of alcohol, he went to see his beloved wife with a sharp knife. As soon as they met, he stabbed her without saying anything. Liu Chong's daughter struggled hard and escaped with injuries. Xue Zhao knew that he had caused a big disaster, so he committed suicide on the spot.

At that time, Xue Zhao and his wife already had a son, who was still young, and his uncle Liu Chengjun had no children, so Liu Chong asked Liu Chengjun to adopt the child and named him Liu Jie'en.

Later, Liu Chong's daughter remarried to an honest man named He and gave birth to another son. Coincidentally, the honest man He died in time, so Liu Chengjun adopted this nephew as his adopted son and named him Liu Jiyuan. Liu Jiyuan will create even greater waves in the near future.

Today, the Northern Han Dynasty is a mess with many holes and difficulties both inside and outside. Comrade Liu Jie'en, who was appointed to take over the lost army and was ordered to take over the crisis, has perfectly inherited the incompetent genes of his biological father Xue Zhao. Liu Chengjun once said that Liu Jie'en "is not a talent for saving the world." The result of internal and external troubles and mediocre rulers in power is obvious. Either Liu Jie'en will destroy the Northern Han Dynasty, or he will be destroyed first and then the Northern Han Dynasty will be destroyed.

Let’s talk about the external threats to Northern Han first.

First of all, Liu Chengjun "lost the favor of Liao". Liu Chengjun repeatedly touched the bottom line of Liao, which brought the Liao's solemn warning. Liao now had a reason to declare war, and the story of "the Jin-Liao War" might be repeated at any time; and Liao had to send troops to assist Northern Han in resisting the northern expedition of the Central Plains forces, increasing Northern Han's dependence on Liao, which meant deepening Liao's control over Northern Han.

The second is that the "Gentleman's Agreement" with the Song Dynasty expired.

Zhao Kuangyin had secretly communicated with Liu Chengjun through unofficial channels. Zhao Kuangyin expressed great sympathy for Liu Chengjun's experience and said that he would give him a break and leave him a way out. Therefore, the Song Dynasty "would not send troops on a large scale throughout the world." Now that the contract has expired and Liu Chengjun is dead, Zhao Kuangyin is no longer morally bound. When the news of Liu Chengjun's death came, Zhao Kuangyin was overjoyed and dispatched a large army in August to start the "Three Expeditions to Northern Han" copy.

First, Lu Huaizhong and 22 others were sent to lead the imperial troops to garrison in Mingzhou. Mingzhou was located to the east of Taihang Mountain and was formerly under the jurisdiction of the Dongzhaoyi Army. It could cross the Taihang Mountains and be used as the eastern line to attack the Northern Han Dynasty; Li Jixun, the governor of the Zhaoyi Army of Luzhou, was the commander-in-chief of the central route, and Cao Bin was his military supervisor; Zhao Zan of Jinzhou was the commander-in-chief of the western route, and Li Qianpu was the military supervisor; He Jiyun of Dizhou was the vanguard commander-in-chief, and Kang Yanzhao was the military supervisor.

The Song army, with the remaining strength from the conquest of Shu at Pinghu, marched into the territory of Northern Han in a mighty force.

On the one hand, the Northern Han dispatched troops to resist, and on the other hand, it "sent envoys to Liao" and "reported Song's invasion to Liao." Dad, someone beat me.

This was a very exciting battle, but not much is recorded in history books. However, we can get a glimpse of it from the list of generals who participated in the battle:
The main generals of the Song army have been listed above. Li Jixun and Li Qianpu have been fighting against the Northern Han for many years and have made many outstanding achievements. Cao Bin was a hero in destroying Shu and later destroyed the Southern Tang.

The general sent by the Northern Han was Liu Jiye, another adopted son of Liu Chengjun and Liu Jie'en's sworn brother. Liu Jiye may not be well-known, but if you mention another name, everyone knows him - "Yang's General". How Liu Jiye became "Yang's General" will be described in detail later.
The commander sent by the Liao Kingdom was Yelu Tale.

The battle started. The Song army's vanguard, led by Li Jixun, conquered the first line of defense of the Northern Han Dynasty, Dongwo River, killing more than 3,000 people. Then they approached Taiyuan City and set fire to the gate of Taiyuan City. Li Qiong, a general of the Northern Han imperial army, surrendered on the battlefield.

Taiyuan is in danger, Northern Han is in danger.

At this critical moment, a big chaos broke out within the Northern Han Dynasty - Liu Jie'en was assassinated.

(End of this chapter)