History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 91: "Three Ministers Given by Heaven" - Jing Xiang
The generals of the four towns were wondering why Zhu Wen had not yet arrived for the feast. Suddenly, a lieutenant came to report that the commander had already gone to launch a surprise attack on the enemy's camp.

Generals Zhu Xuan, Zhu Jin and others immediately threw away their wine glasses, ordered their troops to assemble, and dispatched troops urgently.

Zhu Wen knew the essence of a sneak attack, which was to catch the enemy by surprise. The battle plan must not be guessed by the enemy. Not only did he not let the enemy know, but when he went crazy, even his own people did not know.

The camps of the two armies were not far from each other, and the vanguard of the rebel army could hear the sound of the Bian army's banquet. Hearing the Bian army toasting and playing drums and music, who would have thought that they would come to steal the camp? Zhu Wen's divine soldiers descended from the sky, and the rebel army was immediately in chaos.

Zhang Xu protected Qin Zongquan as he retreated to Zhengzhou, panicking like a lost dog and anxious like a fish that had escaped the net.
The troops of the four towns pursued the enemy for nearly a hundred miles and did not retreat until daybreak, killing tens of thousands of enemies and capturing many prisoners, thus achieving a complete victory.

As the news of Qin Zongquan's defeat spread, Cai's bandit forces collapsed, and bandit troops from all over the country abandoned the city and fled. Based on the principle of "what I can't get, no one else can get", Qin Zongquan ordered all the troops to massacre the city along the way!
So, Qin Zongquan from Zhengzhou and Sun Ru from Heyang massacred the whole city and returned to the Caizhou base camp. They "burned everything" along the way, leaving no grass behind. It was truly a cruel and brutal act. The Cai thief forces thus went to extinction.

Qin Zongquan became a good doctor after suffering from illness for a long time. He decided to treat Zhu Wen in his own way and prescribe the same medicine according to Zhu Wen's prescription. He also wanted to catch Zhu Wen by surprise. So he sent Zhang Xu to lead elite troops to attack Bianzhou and launch a fatal counterattack.

A trapped beast still fights, this is a gamble by Qin Zongquan. When he was dying, he took out all his belongings, almost betting his coffin.

Qin Zongquan's gamble this time was not a smart one, it was just a forced move and he was showing off his skills before an expert.

The key to a sneak attack is to be silent. Zhang Xu was in full view of the public, which was not a sneak attack, but a suicide mission. Zhu Wen tailored an ambush for them.

The outcome of the battle was a foregone conclusion. The Bian army won a great victory, and the remaining main force of the Cai bandits was completely wiped out. The bandit general Zhang Yu fled back to his old nest in Caizhou in a panic, but was beheaded by the furious Qin Zongquan.

After this battle, Qin Zongquan was seriously injured and had to shrink his defense line and switch from offense to defense. The once arrogant tiger and wolf became a lamb to be slaughtered.

When everyone thought that Zhu Wen would make a concerted effort to finish off the low-health Qin Zongquan, Zhu Wen stopped "harvesting the vegetables" and turned his knife towards his own friendly forces.

[Three Zhu War]

Soldiers only care about fighting, killing the enemy as soon as possible, and killing the enemy without caring about the reasons for killing the enemy. Politicians are more keen on exploring the reasons.

Zhu Wen was a passionate soldier and a calm politician. When the war was about to end, he called a halt and turned his guns to attack friendly forces.

Of course, he had good reasons.

First, the old saying: Keep the enemy at bay to protect yourself.

If Cai the thief died, Zhu Wen would lose his value. Cai the thief Qin Zongquan was Zhu Wen's bargaining chip, used to balance Li Keyong, who "protected the emperor", in the political arena. If Qin Zongquan had not been rampant, Zhu Wen would have been regarded as a political sacrifice long ago.

Secondly, Qin Zongquan's defense line has shrunk, the concentration has increased, and he has already regarded Zhu Wen of Bianzhou as his number one enemy. The difficulty coefficient of attacking Caizhou has increased, and the war bonus is very small. At this time, it is not worth the loss to fight Caizhou. Zhu Wen will not make the mistakes of Pang Xun, Huang Chao and others.

Qin Zongquan was not only Zhu Wen's political bargaining chip, but also Zhu Wen's ATM.

The stolen goods snatched from Qin Zongquan were considered spoils of war and legal income for Zhu Wen. In other words, Qin Zongquan was just a porter of nature.

By attacking Qin Zongquan from time to time, Zhu Wen was able to gain both material benefits and a foothold in politics, reaping both spiritual and material rewards.

Thousands of words can be summed up in one sentence: Keep the enemy as a guardian to protect yourself.

The butt determines the head. Politicians are like capitalists, always pursuing maximum profit. So where is Zhu Wen's value depression?

To the north, there is the powerful Guandong Military Alliance. Its leader, Li Keyong, is no ordinary man and has close ties with the central court. It is not advisable to compete with him from both a military and political perspective.
To the west is the sphere of influence of the central court, where the emperor resides, and it is even more unacceptable to covet;
In the south, Qin Zongquan was lingering on and the matter was put on hold for the time being.

After much calculation, Zhu Wen could only expand his power eastwards. Caozhou, Yunzhou, Yanzhou and Xuzhou in the east came into Zhu Wen's sight.

Xuzhou was Shi Pu's territory, and the remaining three states were the territories of his sworn brothers Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin.

From a geopolitical perspective, if Xuzhou was annexed, Zhu Wen's sphere of influence would be like a guillotine, dividing the entire Central Plains in two, isolating the northern and southern vassal states, and surrounding them with powerful neighbors. This would be extremely dangerous.

From a political perspective, Shi Pu was the commander-in-chief of "harvesting vegetables" and should not be attacked.

Then only Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin are left.

The "Three Zhu Alliance" was first proposed by Zhu Wen. They had just helped him defeat the Cai thief. If he wielded a butcher knife against them, wouldn't he be branded as a man who repays kindness with enmity? How could he find a fair excuse to justify his actions?
Zhu Wen thought hard but still had no idea. It was not convenient to publicly ask his subordinates for their opinions on such a dirty matter, so he frowned and sighed every day.

One person guessed Zhu Wen's difficulties and offered a plan, "General, why not take advantage of his own strategy?"

It turned out that when the "Three Zhu Alliance" fought side by side, the bravery and fighting ability of the Bian army left a deep impression on the brothers Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin, so they decided to "poach" and recruit soldiers by offering generous wages in the border areas of their jurisdiction.

Many Bian troops were lured by high salaries and jumped ship to join the Tianping and Taining armies.

The two Zhu brothers were recruiting warriors in their own territory, but Zhu Wen could only stare blankly and suffer in silence.

The old dragon was lying on the beach, and his words awakened the dreamer. The phrase "use the old dragon's trick against him" made Zhu Wen suddenly enlightened.

The strategy was to first select a large number of trustworthy Bian army soldiers, have them apply for jobs at the border, and successfully "jump ship"; then, Zhu Wen would submit a memorial to the court, accusing Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin of "poaching" and recruiting traitors, and then send troops to attack on the pretext of recovering the defectors from his own army.

The person who offered the advice was named Jing Xiang, a talented scholar who had failed many times in the imperial examinations. His fellow villager Wang Fa was working for Zhu Wen, so Jing Xiang went to work for Wang Fa and did some small things like writing official documents for him. Jing Xiang's letters often used famous sayings and popular slang, which were easy to understand and deeply loved by the illiterate people. Therefore, he soon came into Zhu Wen's sight.

Zhu Wen personally interviewed Jing Xiang, and was deeply impressed by Jing Xiang's quick thinking, especially his pragmatic spirit, which was completely different from other pedantic literati. Zhu Wen said that he regretted meeting Jing Xiang too late and believed that Jing Xiang was a God-given strategist.

Zhu Wen later said, "Jing Xiang, Liu Han, and Kou Yanqing were born for me!"

Now, Jing Xiang, the leader of the "Three God-given Ministers", debuted as the center.

Zhu Wen had Jing Xiang, just like Cao Cao had Guo Jia and Liu Bei had Kong Ming.

From then on, Zhu Wen would consult Jing Xiang on all important military and political matters, and Jing Xiang would often come up with ingenious ideas. Zhu Wen was able to turn the tide of the war in a very short period of time thanks to this great strategist.

Now, Jing Xiang taught Zhu Wen to "take advantage of the enemy's own strategy".

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(End of this chapter)