The Zhaoyi area has always been the focus of competition between Hedong forces and Bianzhou forces, and it is also a barometer of Shanxi-Bianzhou's strength. The ownership of the Zhaoyi area is an intuitive reflection of the strength of both parties.
For a long time before Zhu Wen usurped the Tang Dynasty, the forces in Bianzhou were in a state of crushing the forces in Hedong. The Zhaoyi area was always firmly controlled by Zhu Wen, and Zhu Wen also took the initiative in the war, while Li Being unable to use it is like sitting on pins and needles, feeling uneasy all the time.
Until Zhaozong was killed, Ding Hui, a direct descendant of the Bian army who guarded Xi Zhaoyi and a trusted general of Zhu Wen, actually surrendered the city to the Jin Dynasty and offered Luzhou to Li Keyong in Hedong. The calm was immediately broken. Zhu Wen is like a lump in the throat.
After Zhu Wen became emperor, the first major thing he had to do was to regain Luzhou. The Battle of Luzhou became the first battle of the founding of the Later Liang Empire.
In the Battle of Luzhou, the top leaders of both Shanxi and Bianzhou attached great importance to it and dispatched the most elite armed forces to engage in a pinnacle showdown with Luzhou as the core and the entire West Zhaoyi area as the main battlefield. The outcome of the battle had a profound impact on the current situation in the world and became one of the "three major battles" in which the Later Tang Dynasty destroyed the Later Liang Dynasty.
This battle lasted for more than a year. The Houliang side invested more than 100,000 direct combat troops and changed commanders three times in more than a year. The Hedong side devoted all its resources and mobilized almost all the troops in the territory.
The Houliang troops were first commanded by General Kang Huaizhen. After a fierce attack in March, but to no avail, they changed their command to Li Si'an.
Kang Huaizhen built the "Chipeng Yan" outside Luzhou City. After Li Sian arrived at the front line, he continued to expand the scale of the fortifications and actually built a "Jiazhai" (also known as "Jiacheng"), which was a complete circle around the enemy city. huge fortifications.
Generally speaking, the so-called "siege" or "siege" only means cutting off the main roads in and out of the city and setting up checkpoints at strategic points. That's why after a certain city is besieged, there are still warriors who go out at night and take small roads to seek help. bridge section. And Li Sian's "Jiazhai" is a veritable siege, airtight.
The benefits of "Jiazhai" are self-evident, for example, it can "defend against sudden advances internally and reject reinforcements externally"; but its disadvantages are also obvious, such as the huge demand for labor and materials.
In particular, the demand for labor requires not only countless laborers, but also patrol and combat troops that are several times the number of laborers to perform security and combat tasks.
The city's guard is Li Sizhao, a famous general of the Hedong Group. He will not sit back and watch the "Jiazhai" be completed. Although the overall number of troops is not as good as that of the Bian Army, Li Sizhao can always wait for opportunities to go out of the city to harass, concentrate his forces to launch attacks on the weakly defended areas of the Bian Army, turn the overall disadvantage into a local advantage, and gain a lot. The Bian army was tired of dealing with it and could not bear the disturbance.
In order to ensure the smooth completion of the "Jiazhai", Li Sian kept recruiting reinforcements and supplies from the rear. Zhu Wen had to mobilize grain and grass from Shandong to support the Luzhou front line. Zhou Dewei, the Hedong aid general, specifically intercepted the Shandong supply line. Li Sian had no choice but to build the second phase of the "Jiazhai" project and built a "Great Wall" to protect the entire transportation line and connect it to the "Jiazhai". This undoubtedly increases the burden on the front line.
In this way, between Li Sizhao's tenacity in Hedong and Li Sian's crazy money-burning, the famous "Battle of Jiazhai" in Luzhou lasted for more than a year.
In March of the second year of Kaiping (908), Zhu Wen went on a personal expedition and stationed in Zezhou, south of Luzhou. At the same time, Liu Zhijun, the governor of Kuangguo Army in Tongzhou, led the forces of the western theater to Zezhou to join forces.
Later, Zhu Wen summoned Li Sian to Zezhou and blamed him for his long-term futility (more than 40 generals and tens of thousands of soldiers died). He was dismissed from his post and investigated, stripped of all official positions and titles, escorted back to his hometown, and reformed through labor; and the General Political Commissar (In custody) Yang Minzhen was beheaded directly. Liu Zhijun was ordered to take command and continue the conquest.
Liu Zhijun, a surrendered general in Xuzhou, was originally a general under Shi Pu in Xuzhou. He was jealous of Shi Pu because of his outstanding bravery, so he led 2,000 of his troops to surrender to Zhu Wen during Zhu Wen's Eastern Expedition. After that, he made many military exploits under Zhu Wen, and was nicknamed "Liu Kaidao".
Zhu Wen looked at him expectantly, "Please open a road to Taiyuan for me."
Liu Kaidao was confident and agreed immediately.
At this time, the Hedong reinforcements suddenly retreated towards Taiyuan Prefecture. Liu Zhijun led 10,000 elite troops to attack, capturing and beheading many of them. Liu Zhijun was so proud that he asked Zhu Wen to return to the capital first. The important task of taking over Luzhou and conquering Taiyuan would be placed on me, Liu Zhijun.
Since Zhu Wen had mobilized a large number of Guanzhong troops, he was also worried that Li Maozhen and Wang Jianhui would take advantage of the situation, so he ordered Liu Zhijun not to rush forward greedily and to garrison troops first to rest.
The Bian Army on the Luzhou front line was also immersed in joy. It seemed that the capture of Luzhou was just around the corner. There was a sense of passive laziness in the whole army, waiting for victory.
In addition to guarding against potential threats from Li Maozhen and Wang Jian, another reason why Zhu Wen moved from Zezhou was that, like the Bian army on the Luzhou front, they believed that Luzhou was already certain and victory was just around the corner.
The reason for this hallucination is that a major event suddenly happened on the ground in Hedong, which gave the Zhu Wen Group every reason to have this kind of confidence - Li Keyong was dead.
[Three Arrows Tou Gu]
In the first month of the second year of Kaiping (908), Li Keyong was critically ill.
Before his deathbed, Li Keyong summoned his younger brother Li Kening, the eunuch Zhang Chengye, general Li Cunzhang, staff Lu Zhi and others to explain the affairs of the family, and asked these people to act as ministers to help his son Li Cunxu ascend the throne.
Li Keyong took out three arrows, handed them to Li Cunxu solemnly, and said to him: "I have three major hatreds in my life, which are also my three major last wishes. You must fulfill them for me!"
The first arrow was from Youzhou Liu Rengong and his son. "Liu Rengong, what I established was betrayed by me."
The second arrow is from Zhu Wen of Bianzhou. The "Shangyuanyi Incident" is an eternal pain in my heart. The Zhu thieves killed the emperor and usurped the Tang Dynasty to establish itself. People and gods were angry. Our family is full of loyalists and Tang officials from generation to generation. You must eliminate the Zhu thieves and overthrow the Later Liang Dynasty!
The third arrow is from Khitan Lord Yelu Abaoji. He and I became brothers and swore to destroy Liang and revive Tang, but he betrayed his faith and joined the Zhu bandits.
The saying "three arrows support the orphan" is recorded in "History of the Five Dynasties", and it is clearly stated to be a "folk legend" and anecdotal rumors. But I still adopt it, because even if it is a folk fabrication, it has a certain reference value. It not only romantically depicts the transfer process of the highest power of the Hedong Group, but also has profound political significance. It is the future military action program and political code of conduct of the Hedong Group.
If you don’t capture Youzhou, you can’t control Heshuo. Without Heshuo, you can’t pose a fatal threat to Zhu Wen. Therefore, Youzhou is the key to conquering the Central Plains;
Zhu Wen killed the emperor and usurped the Tang Dynasty, and became the public enemy of the world. "Destroy Zhu Wen and rejuvenate the Tang Dynasty" is the political guiding program of the Hedong forces, and it is the legal basis and political correctness for the Hedong forces to dominate the world;
The Khitan is a potential threat to the Central Plains Dynasty. If the Khitan is not eliminated, the "national destiny" of the Hedong forces will not last long.
Therefore, Li Keyong's "Three Arrows to Support Gu" is actually the future development plan for the forces in Hedong, a "three-step" strategy. In this way, Li Keyong's descendants can sit back and relax in the Central Plains, and the throne will be passed down forever.
The gift of arrows has a special meaning in Tibetan rites, especially the one given at the time of death. It is equivalent to the meaning of "Jade Seal to pass down the country" in the Central Plains culture, which means the transfer and inheritance of the highest power.
Therefore, Li Cunxu offered these three arrows in Li Keyong's temple. Before going out for the expedition, he had to use Shaolao (one each for pig and sheep) to sacrifice and report, and then he would ceremoniously take out one of them and put it into the beautiful arrow. In the bag, personal guards are sent to carry it with them. When the target is achieved and the victory is achieved, the arrow and the enemy's head are presented in the same solemn ceremony.
Very ceremonial.
In the later "Water Margin", Chao Gai broke an arrow in two before his death. Song Jiang and Lu Junyi each held one half, and agreed that the one who captured and killed Shi Wengong would become the lord of Liangshan. This section should be a tribute to Fan, which is both romantic and worldly.
What's interesting is that Li Cunxu only completed the first two steps brilliantly, but did not complete the last step. In line with Li Keyong's idea, he first controlled Youzhou and Hebei, and then used Hebei as a springboard to overthrow the Liang Dynasty. And Li Keyong's descendants also suffered the disaster of Khitan and ruined the country and the country.
Therefore, when we look back from God's perspective, we can't help but be in awe of "Three Arrows to Support the Gu". Even if it is just a rumor, I still insist on recording it here.
Finally, Li Keyong looked sad and said that Li Sizhao was trapped in an isolated city. It was too late for me to see him again. After burying me, you and Zhou Dewei must do your best to rescue Li Sizhao!
Li Cunxu burst into tears.
Li Keyong pointed at Li Cunxu and said to Li Kening and other trusted ministers: "Yazi, I leave it to you." As soon as he finished speaking, Li Keyong closed his eyes forever and died at the age of 53.
"Yazi" is Li Cunxu's nickname. When "three towns were in trouble", Li Ke used King Qin to rescue him and ordered 11-year-old Li Cunxu to meet Emperor Zhaozong. Emperor Zhaozong was surprised to see Li Cunxu's extraordinary appearance and bones. He once sighed and said: "This son is as good as his father." Respecting the words of gold and jade, Li Cunxu gained the reputation of "Li Yazi".
Another note: In one of Li Cunxu's character entries, it was shown that "Yazi" was his character, which is not accurate and should be regarded as an "alias".
24-year-old Li Cunxu took the top position of Hedong Group. The so-called young master ascends the throne, and the young master of the country is doubtful. Li Cunxu faced serious internal and external troubles, and the Hedong Group was even in danger of collapsing.
A severe test awaits the 24-year-old.
