In February of the seventh year of Guangde in the Qi Dynasty, Emperor Guangde granted Deng Changxiong the title of Duke of Chengguo, and made his son the commander of the Five Cities Army and Horses Division, who stayed in Nanjing.
On February 8, Deng Changxiong led the First, Second, and Third Corps, totaling 80,000 troops, to go north to quell the rebellion.
In early April, the counter-rebellion army left Shanhaiguan, approached Shenyang and Liaoyang, and faced off with the besieging rebels at the Hun River. Both sides shelled across the river and assumed a decisive battle posture.
Before the decisive battle, Deng Changxiong adopted a strategy to deal with the Liaodong rebels by mainly persuading them to surrender and supplemented by killing them, in order to win the troops who could defeat them without fighting.
Except for those who are stubborn and commit serious crimes, Cheng Guogong said that for most of the rebels, he could be more liberal and kill one less person if he could. If he surrendered in time, all past crimes would not be investigated.
The forces participating in the Liaodong rebellion this time were mainly the Eighth Corps, and most of the soldiers were Pu Gang's old troops. They were dissatisfied with being dismissed. In addition, Pu Gang suffered in Ningguta, so some grassroots officers took the initiative to join forces and recommended He Long as the battalion officer. The state is the marshal who seeks out thieves for the world, and jointly carries out great events.
He Longzhou is the number one general under Pu Gang. This man came to Liaodong to raise a banner to rebel despite the generous salary awarded by Emperor Guangde. He must be said to be very courageous.
He Longzhou was quite experienced in the army and was very popular with the soldiers. At that time, the eldest princess Liu Yufei was imprisoned by Emperor Guangde. There were rumors that the princess had been executed by the emperor.
The rebels promptly launched the slogan "Qing Jun side, restore the old system", and the crowd was excited. They supported He Longzhou as Emperor Zhaode, named the country Liao, and fought against Daqi.
In just two months, the rebels captured more than 100,000 troops (including more than 70,000 bankrupt villagers), and their momentum shocked the world.
At the beginning of He Longzhou's army, it was so powerful that many retired sergeants, bankrupt villagers, and factory school workers who were dissatisfied with Guangde in Liaodong, Shandong, Hebei and other places defected to the army.
Among the many staff in He Longzhou, there is one of the three outstanding figures in the early Qi Dynasty. Zhang Ying (also named Dunfu, also named Mengdun, named Xuepu, born in Tongcheng, Anhui, named Zhang Ying, a famous bachelor of Baohe Palace) The father of Prime Minister Zhang Tingyu.)
At this time, Zhang Dunfu would not have thought that he would become the most powerful chief minister of Da Qi in the future, let alone that his son Zhang Tingyu would become a powerful official comparable to Zhang Juzheng in controlling the affairs of Da Qi.
During the rebellion in Helongzhou, Zhang Ying was just a small official in Tieling. After the rebels captured Tieling, Zhang Ying surrendered to the rebels and was named Prime Minister of the Right by Emperor Zhaode.
Zhang Ying burst into tears with gratitude and immediately gave the Emperor of Liao three strategies: upper, middle and lower:
The best strategy was to attack Shanhaiguan, sweep through Yanyun, invade Chu and Yu, and lead the world's heroes to Nanjing;
Zhongce landed in Denglai, joined forces with the White Lotus Sect, occupied Shandong, and confronted Emperor Guangde from north to south;
The next best option is to close the Liaoxi Corridor, stick to Liaoshen, and separatize Liaodong.
In the end, He Longzhou chose the last resort and spent a lot of troops to capture Liaoshen. As a result, when he was preparing to attack Shanhaiguan, Deng Changxiong's army had already left the customs in advance.
When He Longzhou and others rebelled, Zhang Ying gave him the upper, middle and lower strategies. Why did the rebels choose the lower strategy?
According to Zhang Ying's later recollection, the rebel generals unanimously believed that the reason why they chose to attack Liao and Shen was that Daqi used Liao and Shen as its capital, and a small number of officials and their families moved to Nanjing, while a considerable number of people still stayed in Shen and Liao. Therefore, only by taking Liaoshen, a large number of hostages can be harvested, thus shaking the morale of the Qi army. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity not to be missed.
Of course, the choices made by the rebel generals such as He Longzhou cannot be said to be wrong, but they were made as a last resort due to the situation.
Although Zhang Ying's strategy is clever, in terms of actual operation, it is actually extremely risky.
The best strategy is for He Longzhou to attack Shanhaiguan, occupy the Central Plains and Huguang in one go, separate the Qi armies in Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Liaodong, Shandong, and march straight to Nanjing. This is a strategy that accomplishes all the work in one battle, with huge benefits, but unlimited risks. Sun Tzu's Art of War says: Don't stop when you return to the enemy. It means that it is very risky to block the enemy's way forward.
Let He Longzhou lead hundreds of thousands of partial troops to fight against the Qi army's elite troops, which are several times his own, in the hope of a quick victory. It is tantamount to wishful thinking. I am afraid that it is not the Qi army that will be outflanked in the end, but He Longzhou himself;
As for Zhongce, Wu Aheng's navy was still loyal to the imperial court at this time. The rebels were far away in Liaodong and wanted to land in Shandong. Without thousands of warships, it would be difficult to do so.
Even if enough merchant ships can be collected to land, if they want to go south to Shandong, they will still have to challenge the Denglai defense line. It is not clear whether the Qi generals stationed at Denglai at that time are willing to follow the "Qingjun side" of He Longzhou, and whether they are willing to restore the old system of the Supreme Emperor;
To sum up, although Zhang Ying gave the rebels three strategies: upper, middle and lower, in fact, what He Longzhou and others could implement were only lower strategies.
Of course, this strategy is not so easy to succeed.
Both Shenyang and Liaoyang are the key cities of Qi State. After capturing these two major cities, the rebels were severely weakened. By the time they wanted to break through Shanhaiguan and enter the capital, they had lost their energy.
~~~
"General He, Cheng Guogong is thinking about the future of the general and all the soldiers. Now the army has broken through Shanhaiguan, and a steady stream of troops and weapons have arrived in Liaodong. If we continue to fight, you know the result. Cheng Guogong and the Eighth We have a close relationship with General Pu, the commander of the Corps. He couldn't bear to see General Pu's men die innocently. You guys stepped back from the brink in time so that Duke Cheng could intercede for you..."
In Guangjimen Wengcheng, Shenyang, the envoy sent by Deng Changxiong faced a group of rebel generals with an attitude that was neither humble nor overbearing.
A group of traitorous generals drew their swords and looked fiercely at the arrogant instructor. They were about to go forward and chop him to death when they heard Emperor Zhaode cough lightly and say:
"The two armies are fighting. If I don't kill the envoy, I won't kill you today. I appreciate Deng Changxiong's kindness. However, I am also the emperor now, so you should call me your majesty."
The messenger was not afraid at all: "Haha, you are a self-proclaimed emperor."
He Longzhou waved the hem of his dragon robe and said angrily: "How did he get the kingdom of Qi? Liu Zhaosun also took it from the hands of orphans and widowed mothers. He can take it, why can't I?"
The messenger smiled and said, "That depends on whether you can capture it or not. There are more than a million elite soldiers and generals. You are just a partial division. No, you are not even a partial division. The heavenly troops are pressing down on the territory. You are also aware of the result. You know that you will be annihilated. Why not give yourself and your brothers a good home?"
The Prime Minister on the right stepped forward quickly, grabbed the envoy by the collar, and said angrily:
"Hmph! Like you, being Liu Kan's eagle and dog and working for the tiger! How can you get a good ending by attacking your own comrades?!"
Zhang Ying continued to scold: "Xing Zhongyi! You used to be the instructor of the Sixth Corps. General Pu was persecuted by the court. For the sake of your own glory and wealth, you dare not even submit a memorial, but you still have the nerve to come here to lobby today!"
Xing Zhongyi said loudly: "I have already said what needs to be said. Now that you are trapped in Liaochen, Duke Cheng Guo couldn't bear the death of more brothers in this fight, so he ignored the emperor's anger in the future and negotiated a truce with you. If it were Wu Aheng and Zhao Lingjiao who came here, they wouldn’t be able to say this, and with such indiscriminate bombardment, I’m afraid your bones would have been wiped out!”
"kill him!"
"kill him!"
Xing Zhongyi obviously angered the rebel generals. All the generals drew their swords and roared that they wanted to chop the man into pieces.
He Longzhou waved his hand and dismissed the generals:
"How could Liu Kan be so virtuous? Not long after he ascended the throne, he acted arbitrarily, used women to serve as sycophants, and gave his uncle a higher funeral than his own father! He implemented the New Deal and forced the people to rebel! It made the people and gods of Daqi angry! Deng Changxiong's subordinates all He is a heroic man who is good at conquering and fighting. Go back and tell him that if you and I can join forces and bring him a peaceful life, why worry about not having a good destiny? Why should he be a female gangster under a foolish king? In the meantime, how about looking up to others and picking up people's teeth?"
Xing Zhongyi contends:
"Gong Cheng Guo is loyal to the Qi Dynasty. He cares about the common people, as can be seen from the sun and the moon! On the contrary, the general, under the pretext of seizing the throne for himself, asked the soldiers and civilians of Liaodong to kill for you! Even if you are lucky enough to win the world in the future, you will die for you! How can I feel at ease? Does the general have too much selfish desires?"
He Longzhou stood up and said:
"Liu Zhaosun's life and death were unknown, so Deng Changxiong hurriedly supported Liu Kan. For the sake of his own future, he did not hesitate to dismantle various corps and bloodyly suppressed the Eighth Corps. Even his old brother Zhang Dong was not spared! He used the blood of his brothers in Paoze to blacken himself Wearing an official robe, he not only has excessive selfish desires! He is simply crazy! Today he is negotiating peace with Daliao behind the back of the imperial court. With Liu Kan's virtue, if he knows about it in the future, how can he spare you...
"
"Xing Zhongyi, because you saved the 8th Corps, I will not kill you today. The peace talks will be abandoned and Deng Changxiong will send troops to attack the city! I will welcome you in Shenyang! Get out!"
