History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 905: Second Expedition to Taiyuan
[Second Expedition to Taiyuan]

Zhao Kuangyin was not reconciled to the failure of his first expedition in 968, and he made a comeback just three months later, launching a second round of large-scale military operations against the Northern Han.

In the first month of 969, Zhao Kuangyin deployed troops and stationed heavy troops in important border towns such as Ci, Jin, and Lu. In February, he sent Cao Bin, Dang Jin and other generals as vanguards to Taiyuan first.

Zhao Kuangyin learned from his mistakes and carefully summed up the lessons of the failure of the first expedition. There were two points in total: the biggest obstacle to the Northern Expedition to Taiyuan was not the weak Northern Han, but the reinforcements from the Liao Kingdom; and the Song army lacked the BUFF blessing of the emperor leading the army in person.

Zhao Kuangyin took the right remedy and issued an edict in February to personally lead an expedition to Taiyuan. This was the only time Zhao Kuangyin personally led an expedition to Taiyuan after he ascended the throne. Before issuing the edict, Zhao Kuangyin sought the advice of his old minister Wei Renpu, who replied that haste makes waste and advised Zhao Kuangyin not to rush to the Northern Expedition. Zhao Kuangyin did not follow his advice.

Zhao Kuangyin appointed his younger brother Zhao Guangyi as the governor of Bianzhou, and the Deputy Privy Councilor Shen Yilun as the palace commander, responsible for guarding the house and the tower. He ordered Li Jixun as the commander-in-chief of the vanguard army, and Zhao Zan as the commander of the cavalry and infantry, to lead the way. Zhao Kuangyin then left the capital and led the army in person.

Just as Han Chongyun, the governor of Zhangde Army in Xiangzhou, came to pay homage, Zhao Kuangyin gave him a glorious and arduous task. "During this northern expedition, the Khitan will surely come to rescue. They will most likely adopt the strategy of besieging Wei to save Zhao and avoiding the strong and attacking the weak. They believe that our Zhenzhou and Dingzhou are weakly defended, so they will choose to invade from the east of Taihang Mountain, forcing our army to abandon Hedong and protect Hebei. You must double your efforts, attack them by surprise, and make sure to annihilate the Khitan reinforcements!"

Subsequently, Zhao Kuangyin appointed Han Chongyun as the commander-in-chief of the Northern Army Group (Northern Command), and Guo Yanyi, the governor of Dingzhou Yiwu Army, as his deputy.

The Northern Han Dynasty was still in shock and had not yet recovered when it heard that the Song army was launching another large-scale northern expedition. The court immediately became chaotic. On the one hand, it dispatched troops to block the attack, and on the other hand, it stepped up its emergency requests for help from the Liao Dynasty.

The first rescue in 969 came later than usual because of a minor incident within the Liao Kingdom: Emperor Muzong of Liao was assassinated.

Emperor Muzong of Liao was the most famous tyrant in the history of Liao Dynasty. His story will be described in detail later. In February 969, the Song army returned and launched the second northern expedition to Taiyuan. At the same time, Emperor Muzong of Liao was finally assassinated. His successor was Yelu Xian, the second son of Emperor Shizong of Liao, Yelu Ruan, who was Emperor Jingzong of Liao.

Emperor Muzong of Liao died in the palace while out hunting. With the support of his trusted confidant, General Xiao Siwen, and Southern Court Privy Councilor Gao Xun, Yelu Xian led more than a thousand cavalrymen to the palace. The names of Xiao Siwen and Gao Xun have appeared repeatedly in the previous article, and will be introduced in detail later. Here we briefly mention that both of them were powerful figures in the Liao Dynasty. With their support, Yelu Xian could naturally ascend to the throne smoothly.

The Liao Kingdom was busy with the succession of the throne, so it failed to send reinforcements in time. This left the Song Dynasty's northern army with ample time to set up ambushes.

The Northern Han sent generals Liu Jiye and Feng Jin to lead a large army to resist the enemy, and the troops were stationed in Tuanbai Valley. The vanguard commander Chen Tingshan led hundreds of cavalry to investigate the movements of the Song army.

As luck would have it, love was met at the corner. Chen Tingshan happened to bump into Li Jixun, the vanguard of the Song army. He made a prompt decision, led his troops to surrender, and immediately became a guide.

The main force of the Northern Han army was already outnumbered and lacked intelligence support. When they suddenly saw the Song army descending from the sky, they immediately lost their composure, panicked, and collapsed without a fight. Liu Jiye and Feng Jin led the remnants to escape back to Taiyuan. Li Jixun took advantage of the victory and pursued them all the way to the city of Taiyuan, besieged the city and set up fences, physically encircling it.

Guo Wuwei took the opportunity to persuade Liu Jiyuan to surrender, saying that Taiyuan was already an isolated city and would soon fall, so it would be best to choose a good or bad situation early. Liu Jiyuan refused and insisted on waiting for Liao reinforcements.

At this time, the Liao Kingdom came. It was not an army, but an envoy to enthrone Liu Jiyuan. After Liu Jiyuan ascended the throne, he immediately appealed to the Liao Kingdom for his ascension, begging for troops and enthronement. The Liao Kingdom sent Han Zhifan as an envoy to enthrone Liu Jiyuan as emperor. The one who sent Han Zhifan to enthrone was Liao Muzong, and now the grass on his grave is ten feet high.

Under the cover of night, the Taiyuan garrison quietly received the Liao Kingdom delegation into the city. The next day, a welcoming banquet was held for Han Zhifan, the Liao Kingdom's envoy. Just as the banquet was set, a discordant scene suddenly appeared. Someone in the courtyard burst into tears. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and found that the person crying loudly was the powerful official Guo Wuwei.

Guo Wuwei successfully attracted the attention of the crowd, and then he took out a dagger from his bosom. His next move made everyone drop their jaws. Guo Wuwei cried bitterly, "How can a lonely city fight against a million-strong army?" Then he made a gesture to commit suicide.

Liu Jiyuan hurriedly flew down the hall, hugged him, snatched the dagger from his hand, helped him to the banquet, and comforted him with kind words.

Guo Wuwei's performance was intended to persuade Liu Jiyuan to surrender and, at the same time, to undermine the Northern Han's will to resist.

Today, there are still huge differences in the lines within the Northern Han Dynasty, and behind them lies an extremely fierce political struggle. This is the struggle between the "surrender faction" headed by Guo Wuwei and the "resistance faction" headed by Liu Jiyuan.

The reason why Liu Jiyuan is called a "resistance faction" rather than a "pro-Liao faction" is that Liu Jiyuan, like Liu Chengjun, also hopes to get rid of the control of the Liao Kingdom as soon as possible, but due to the actual situation he has to rely on the Liao Kingdom temporarily. In fact, Liu Jiyuan is even bolder and more radical in anti-Liao than Liu Chengjun. His attitude towards the Liao Kingdom and his almost crazy courage in the anti-Liao struggle will be mentioned later.

Guo Wuwei's surrender proposal was not just a loud call, his methods were also bold and vicious. Before this, he had already excluded Wei Jin, a senior general of the Northern Han imperial army, from the court, and the reason why Liu Jiye, a famous general loyal to the Liu family, collapsed at the front line was also inseparable from Guo Wuwei's behind-the-scenes constraints. Guo Wuwei used all means to exclude the generals who insisted on resistance, and spared no effort to make the Northern Han lose on the battlefield, in order to prove that the Song army was invincible and unstoppable, thus forcing Liu Jiyuan to surrender.

Zhao Kuangyin stayed in Luzhou for eighteen days. The patrol captured a spy from the Northern Han Dynasty and obtained intelligence about the city of Taiyuan from him. The spy confessed that the people in the city had been looking forward to the royal army for a long time, but they regretted that it arrived too late!

Zhao Kuangyin laughed loudly after hearing this, and then rewarded him with clothes and travel expenses, and released him. He then ordered the army to set out and arrived at the city of Taiyuan. After inspecting the siege project, he thought that the fortifications were too simple, so he ordered the construction of Changliancheng to surround Taiyuan like an iron barrel, so that people in the city could not break out, and reinforcements outside the city could not enter.

He also recruited tens of thousands of civilians from prefectures and counties near Taiyuan to serve as laborers at the front line, and appointed Lu Duoxun, a deputy minister of the Ministry of War and a master of imperial edicts, as acting governor of Taiyuan Prefecture. They were determined to capture Taiyuan!

Although Changliancheng was built to prepare for a protracted war, Zhao Kuangyin's move was intended to show his determination and perseverance to the Northern Han Dynasty, and it was by no means a real fight of attrition, because the Liao Kingdom was always a huge factor of uncertainty. Since this God-given opportunity had plunged the Liao Kingdom into civil strife over the succession of the throne, he had to use the opportunity to quickly capture Taiyuan.

Under the command of Zhao Kuangyin, Li Jixun stationed in the south of the city, Zhao Zan stationed in the west of the city, Cao Bin stationed in the north of the city, and Dang Jin stationed in the east of the city, thus tightly surrounding the city of Taiyuan.

Liu Jiyuan was unwilling to sit and wait for death, so he sent Liu Jiye and other soldiers to attack the city in two groups. Liu Jiye led his troops to attack the East Camp through the East Gate, and the other group went out of the West Gate to attack the West Camp.

In the west of the city, Zhao Zan led his troops in a fight and was shot in the ankle by a crossbow arrow. The wounded Zhao Zan still insisted on fighting and eventually repelled the invading Han soldiers. In the east of the city, the military supervisor Li Qianpu was ordered by the commander Dang Jin to go out to cut wood and collect firewood. After hearing the sound of gongs and drums, Li Qianpu led the team of woodcutters back to fight back without having time to report or ask for instructions, and also repelled the Han soldiers.

Upon hearing the news, Zhao Kuangyin arrived at the front line and found that the soldiers participating in the battle were poorly equipped. He could not help but get angry and asked who was leading the troops. His attendants reported the deeds of the logging team leader Li Qianpu truthfully. Zhao Kuangyin immediately turned his anger into joy and praised Li Qianpu for his wit and courage.

The Northern Han did not play by the rules. After the failed sneak attack, they did not give up. Instead, under the leadership of Liu Jiye, they dispatched hundreds of cavalry to return to the East Village. However, Liu Jiye was facing Zhao Kuangyin, a veteran of many battles. Liu Jiye could neither surprise nor catch him off guard.

Dang Jin of Dongzhai was angry. I just wanted to cut down some trees and save some resources. You’re not done yet, right?
Dang Jin rode his horse and brandished his spear, charging straight into the enemy formation, followed closely by several close cavalrymen. Dang Jin had one advantage, which was his single-mindedness. He knew that the leader should be captured first, so he abandoned the smaller ones and charged straight at the enemy general Liu Jiye. Another advantage of Dang Jin was his invincibility. In single combat, he had never been afraid of anyone, let alone lost to anyone.

On a dark and windy night, Liu Jiye fought with him and realized that this man was not easy to deal with. He was no less capable than Guan Yu and Zhao Zilong.

Liu Jiye's mission was to raid the camp and the stronghold in order to disrupt the Song army's formation and shake their morale, and then lay the foundation for breaking the encirclement, rather than to engage in a lingering battle with one or two Song generals. He thought that the two horses would be defeated if they got off the right horse, but he didn't expect that this Song general was like a turtle, and he would not let go once he bit him. He only had eyes for Liu Jiye and was determined to engage him.

The Emperor of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin, was supervising the battle behind him. The soldiers of the East Camp were all brave and took the lead, especially Dang Jin, who held on to Liu Jiye tightly. The sneak attack of the Northern Han Dynasty failed again, and hundreds of cavalry were almost wiped out.

Liu Jiye fought and retreated, but Dang Jin followed him like a shadow, and would not stop until he got his head. The sky chased you to Lingxiao Palace, the sea chased you to Crystal Palace, and the golden-winged bird on the Buddha's head plucked out three feathers from your head!

Finally, Liu Jiye retreated to the moat. His horse was frightened and ran away, throwing Liu Jiye into the moat. Liu Jiye was thrown dizzy and almost fainted, but it was a blessing in disguise that he escaped Dang Jin's pursuit.

In the pitch-black night, Dang Jin finally caught up with the car and found that it was unmanned. He searched the area for a long time but couldn't find Liu Jiye. He gritted his teeth and gave up in anger.

The defenders on the city wall lowered a rope and lowered Liu Jiye into the city.

Liu Jiye, whose original surname was Yang, was a skilled warrior, brave and resourceful. He made many outstanding achievements in the Northern Han Dynasty and was nicknamed "Yang the Invincible". Liu Chong specially asked Liu Chengjun to adopt him as his son and gave him the name Liu Jiye. In later storytelling novels, he was called "Yang Jiye", the prototype of Yang Laolinggong in "The Generals of the Yang Family".

In his military career, Yang Laolinggong suffered only two defeats. The first was the surprise attack on Dang Jin, and it was such a disastrous defeat. The second was when he was framed by a traitor and died for his country in the battle against Liao. This also shows how brave Dang Jin was.

Liu Jiye entered the city wall via a rope, filled with resentment. He gritted his teeth at the stubborn Dang Jin and said, "How can you fight a war like this? You are so stupid!"

That’s right, Dang Jin is really a fool.

(End of this chapter)