History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 925 Battle of Hezhou
[Battle of Lingnan]

As early as the Battle of Chenzhou, the Song army captured more than a dozen eunuchs from the Southern Han. Zhao Kuangyin heard that the Southern Han was nicknamed the "country of eunuchs". All dynasties had called themselves "hundreds of civil and military officials", but only the Southern Han could be called "hundreds of civil and military officials". So he was very interested in finding out the true face of the Southern Han and what positions these eunuchs held in the Southern Han.

An eunuch named Yu Yanye said that he was an internal attendant, and his main job was to "escort the emperor with bows and arrows", that is, he was Liu Xiong's personal bodyguard and archer.

Zhao Kuangyin became even more interested and asked his attendant to hand him a bow and arrow, wanting to see the wonderful archery skills of this eunuch, a master archer from the Southern Han palace.

Yu Yanye was seen trying his best, clenching his teeth, his veins popping out, and his face flushed red. Then a miraculous scene appeared: the bow didn't move at all...

That's it?

Zhao Kuangyin couldn't help but laugh and said, "Forget it, tell me, how is Liu Xiong governing the country?"

Yu Yanye then told Liu Xiong everything he had done, saying that Liu Xiong had imposed tortures such as burning, peeling, beheading on a mountain of knives, and sword-trees, as well as executions by elephants and tigers, and that he took pleasure in killing people. He also established Meichuan, where he collected pearls and tortoise shells without caring about the lives of the pearl divers. He imposed sky-high rice taxes in Qiongzhou and city entry taxes in Yongzhou, and he also spent a fortune studying strange and lewd tricks with the eunuch Chen Yanshou...

Zhao Kuangyin could hardly believe his ears, and at that time he was determined to save the people of Lingnan from the dire straits.

On September 970, 9, Zhao Kuangyin appointed Pan Mei, the defense envoy of Tanzhou, as the commander, Yin Chongke, the training envoy of Langzhou, as his deputy, and Wang Jixun, the governor of Daozhou, as the chief supervisor, and officially launched a military attack on Southern Han.

When the news reached Guangzhou, the whole country of Southern Han was shocked. Since Liu Hongxi, the city defense system has been transformed into an urban landscape project, which basically no longer has military defense purposes. The tower ships that Southern Han was proud of have also been decayed and destroyed due to years of disrepair, and have basically lost their combat effectiveness. As for the generals who led the troops in battle, they were all eunuchs.

Liu Xiong dispatched his troops and sent his trusted eunuch Gong Chengshu to lead troops to Hezhou, Guo Chongyue to guard Guizhou, and eunuch Li Tuo to guard Zhaozhou.

Gong Chengshu and Li Tuo need no introduction. Guo Chongyue is actually a relative of Liu Bei. An old palace maid named Liang Luanzhen is his godmother. Liang Luanzhen said that this kid is very capable in both civil and military affairs, so he was appointed by Liu Yan as one of the "Three Generals to Defend the Song Dynasty".

The Hezhou garrison had been stationed at the border for a long time and had a meager salary. When they heard that Gong Chengshu, a popular eunuch in the court, was coming to take charge, they were overjoyed and thought that Gong Chengshu would bring generous rewards. Unexpectedly, Gong Chengshu withheld all the rewards for the soldiers. Gong Chengshu only brought an imperial edict to encourage everyone to die bravely, plus a sentence "Comrades, you have worked hard."

The soldiers were furious. The condemned prisoners could have a meal before they died, but now they were facing a powerful enemy, and there was no reward, no meat or wine. Damn it! "Everyone disintegrated." The Hezhou defenders dispersed in a hurry, letting whoever wanted to do what wanted to do do what wanted to do.

This situation did not faze Gong Chengshu, who fled back home on a light boat.

The Song army immediately surrounded Hezhou.

The Southern Han court was in a panic, and all the officials requested Liu Yan to employ Pan Chongche.

Prior to this, Liu Cong first ordered the eunuch Wu Huai'en to march north, and then replaced Wu Huai'en with Pan Chongche. The eunuchs fought for power and rushed to slander Liu Cong. In a word, the tree that stands out in the forest will be destroyed by the wind, and whoever is popular will be scolded. Wu Huai'en was like this, and so was Pan Chongche. Under the attack of slander, Liu Cong sent a military supervisor Xue Chongyu to Pan Chongche. Xue Chongyu secretly reported to Liu Cong that Pan Chongche had more than 800 actors dressed in brocade playing jade flutes every day, singing all night and ignoring military affairs. So Liu Cong was furious, removed Pan Chongche's military power, and ordered him to face the wall at home. Now that the situation is urgent, the eunuchs suggested that Liu Cong re-employ Pan Chongche.

Pan Chongche has been unhappy since he was stripped of his military power. When he was re-recruited, he actually "refused due to eye disease". Sorry, I was blind.

Liu Xiong was furious and said, "There are so many eunuchs in our country. We can't fight without you, Pan Chongche?" So he sent Wu Yanrou to lead troops to rescue Hezhou.

"Another dead eunuch."

Pan Mei took the initiative to retreat twenty miles and set up three ambushes on the shore of Nanxiang, forming a pocket formation, waiting for the prey to take the bait.

Wu Yanrou's fleet arrived at Nanxiang, but did not land. Instead, they anchored the ships on the shore. At dawn the next day, Wu Yanrou, with a bow and arrow in hand, landed and inspected the area. Then, pointing at the Song army formation in the distance, he said to his attendants with great pride, "The Song army is only this good. Look, I can see it all. I have already won."

The generals congratulated him, "Let's see you show off your skills."

Wu Yanrou sat on a big bed, dispatching troops and commanding generals with great vigor, like a famous general, with an unconcealable smugness on his face. The big bed made him feel like he was sitting on a dragon throne (sitting on the bed and giving orders, with a proud look).

Suddenly, the Song army ambushed troops from all directions. Wu Yanrou was terrified and at a loss. In the blink of an eye, the Southern Han army was in chaos and was severely slaughtered by the Song army. "Seventeen or eighteen people died" and the whole army was almost wiped out. Wu Yanrou was captured alive.

Pan Mei beheaded Wu Yanrou, then held his head high on a bamboo pole and displayed it to the defenders of Hezhou City to undermine their morale.

The defenders of Hezhou showed incredible tenacity and refused to surrender. There is a small problem here, that is, the previous text said that the defenders "all disintegrated" and collapsed without fighting, so why do they say they resisted stubbornly here? Because the armed forces of the Southern Han in Hezhou were divided into local garrisons and central imperial guards, and historical records do not clearly point to it, but I personally think that the ones who disintegrated and fled should be mainly the central imperial guards, and the ones who resisted stubbornly here were probably the local armed forces.

Although Wu Yanrou's reinforcements were wiped out, this was only the first wave of support, and the number of people was not large. Historical records say "thousands of deaths" and "seventeen or eighteen deaths", which means that Wu Yanrou only brought more than two thousand people, and Wu Yanrou himself was an unknown minor character, so the defenders of Hezhou were still full of hope.

At the critical moment, Wang Ming, the logistics director of the Song army (the military transport envoy), suggested that Pan Mei immediately attack Hezhou.

Forced attack is the worst strategy in siege warfare, and the attacker will never take it unless it is absolutely necessary. The generals expressed their opposition, and the head coach Pan Mei was also hesitant, because Hezhou was only one tower of the Southern Han Dynasty. If we tried to kill the enemy from the first tower, the risk would be too great. Even if we were lucky enough to win the team battle, our team would be seriously reduced in number and health, and we would be at the end of our strength when we reach the second tower. Once the enemy resurrected and rushed out from the crystal tower, wouldn't all our efforts be wasted and they would be taken away in one wave?
Wang Ming knew that he could not convince everyone, so he stopped talking nonsense and actually led his men - a hundred or so delivery boys (escorting more than a hundred baggage soldiers) and thousands of migrant workers (Dingfu), each of whom carried tools such as shovels and baskets for soil, and filled up the moat outside the city under the risk of arrows and stones, leaving the city gate directly exposed to the Song army.

Seeing this, the defenders knew that the city was about to fall, so they announced that they would give up resistance and open the gates to surrender.

Thanks to my old friend "Yang Kui" for the monthly ticket support!

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(End of this chapter)