[Zhu Wen’s Northern Expedition]
During the battle between Qishu and Qishu, Zhu Wen sent senior officials as envoys to Chengdu. In a letter to Wang Jian, Zhu Wen affectionately called Wang Jian the "Eighth Brother of the Emperor."
Wang Jian was born in the "Eight Capitals of Zhongwu" and served under Yang Fuguang. He had a brief friendship with Zhu Wen. Zhu Wen took this as an entry point and said that we were officials in the same dynasty in the past, and each had a different surname. He is a super general and prime minister, and we have been exchanging letters and have a deep relationship. I hope that the two countries will continue to maintain the past friendship.
Zhu Wen's status as Emperor of the Later Liang Dynasty affirmed the legitimacy of the former Shu, commensurate with the "two countries", and pointed out that Li Maozhen was our common enemy.
The significance of this letter is quite significant, as it directly established the political status of the former Shu. Wang Jian's "former Shu" ranked among the "Ten Kingdoms", while Liu Shouguang's Jie Yan was an illegal puppet regime.
In his reply to Houliang, Wang Jian was not polite. It read, "The Emperor of Shu sent a letter to His Excellency the Emperor of Daliang." The content of the letter was neither humble nor arrogant. He only recognized the equal political status of the two countries, but did not recognize that "Daliang legitimately inherited Daliang." In the Tang Dynasty, the Shu region was separatist in a corner of the country, and the two countries were politically equal.
In the credential of Hou Liang, the seal reads "the seal of Daliang entering Shu", and Wang Jian also engraved "the seal of Daliang entering Shu". The equality between Liang and Shu is shown everywhere.
Of course, our mainstream historical view still regards the Later Liang Dynasty as the orthodox dynasty of the Central Plains, one of the "Five Dynasties", while the former Shu was a local separatist regime, one of the "Ten Kingdoms".
Zhu Wen took the initiative to reach a "two-state friendship" with them, deigned to recognize the political status of Qianshu, and created a relatively stable external environment so that he could feel at ease during the Northern Expedition.
Zhu Wen ordered Yang Shihou to lead 30,000 troops to Xingzhou to prepare for the attack, while he personally led the army to cross the Yellow River north and marched in person.
When he arrived in Weizhou, he suddenly received information that the Hedong Army had crossed the Taihang Mountains and rushed towards Dongzhaoyi. Zhu Wen ignored the need to rest and immediately ordered to go straight to Dong Zhaoyi to fight the Hedong Army in person.
Under Zhu Wen's urging, his troops did not dare to delay for a moment, and marched all the way day and night. Arriving in Xiangzhou two days later, I received the latest news, saying that the previous news was wrong and the Hedong Army did not come at all.
Disappointed, Zhu Wen ordered him to rest where he was.
The governor of Xiangzhou at this time was Li Sian. And Li Sian was in a mood, because Li Sian was demoted to a small governor due to his defeat in the "Battle of Luzhou", and he was unwilling to do so. So after he took office as Prime Minister, he ignored political affairs and abandoned his job, leaving his fields deserted and warehouses empty.
Zhu Wen's sudden visit made Li Sian panic. Not only did he not have a majestic and neat guard of honor to welcome him, he couldn't even provide enough food to supply military supplies, and he had no time to cover up the poor people's livelihood.
Zhu Wen was furious and removed Li Sian from all official positions and titles on the spot.
A few days later, Zhu Wen set out from Xiangzhou and received another piece of information: the Hedong and Chengde coalition forces were moving south!
Zhu Wen was eager to fight, so he ordered a hasty march. Zhu Wen was eager to wash away the shame of the first two wars, but his soldiers were frightened by the first two wars. When they heard that the Hedong Army was coming, they fled one after another. Even the most cruel punishment could not resist this trend.
Soon, the latest news: Shatuo soldiers did not come. The morale of the military was stabilized.
Zhu Wen was ill and went on an expedition, and his physical condition was deteriorating. Several intelligence errors in a row caused the army to rush in hastily, become embarrassed and tired, which made the army disorganized and morale low. Zhu Wen's violent temper could no longer be suppressed. People around him were often killed for small mistakes, making people even more fearful and uneasy.
Zhu Wen decided to return to the DPRK first to adjust his physical condition and army morale.
When passing through Huaizhou, Duan Ning, the governor of Huaizhou, greeted Zhu Wen with thoughtful etiquette and generous hospitality. Zhu Wen finally showed long-lost joy on his face and praised Duan Ning for his loyalty. Duan Ning is not an outsider, he is Zhu Wen's eldest brother-in-law, and his sister is one of Zhu Wen's favorite concubines.
After returning to Luoyang, Zhu Wen's condition worsened.
A few months later, Zhu Wen's condition improved slightly. At this time, Liu Shouguang was already trapped in the isolated city and sent an urgent letter of distress to Zhu Wen. Zhu Wen decided to go on a personal expedition again to support Liu Shouguang of Youzhou.
When the news came that the emperor was about to go on a personal expedition, all the civil and military officials looked sad. Only because Zhu Wen was moody and killed people to vent his anger during the last personal expedition, no one was willing to follow him. After Zhu Wen heard about it, he was furious and determined to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys.
On the day of departure, Zhu Wen suddenly ordered a rest, rewarded the officials with food and drink, and ordered the officials to gather to receive the rewards. As a result, Zhang Yan and other three people finally arrived, and Zhu Wen beheaded them on the spot. Zhang Yan, nephew of Zhang Quanyi.
When passing through Huaizhou, Duan Ning's offerings were much richer than last time. Zhu Wen was very happy and full of emotions, and suddenly ordered Li Sian to be exiled to Yazhou (today's Qiongshan City, Hainan Province) indefinitely and "suicide in search of a gift." In the edict, Zhu Wen praised Duan Ning by name, "If you see Mingyuan's loyalty and diligence, how can you see Si'an's rebellion?" Duan Ning, whose original name was Duan Mingyuan.
The famous general Li Sian was killed by Zhu Wen in this way. And Duan Ning, Zhu Wen's "loyal and diligent" uncle, will also slap Zhu Wen in the face with actual actions in the future.
Zhu Wen arrived in Weizhou and ordered Northern Expedition Commander-in-Chief Yang Shihou and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Li Maoxun to surround Zaoqiang County; he ordered He Delun and Yuan Xiangxian to surround Quan County. The two armies served as the first echelon of the Northern Expedition, and Zhu Wen personally led the army to Beizhou as a response.
On this day, Zhu Wen personally climbed up the high slope to inspect the terrain.
Fu Xi, the Chengde general, happened to lead hundreds of cavalry on patrol. When he saw the Houliang army, he immediately launched an attack and dispersed them. He didn't know that Emperor Zhu Wen of the Later Liang Dynasty was in this team. He just regarded him as an ordinary straggler of the Later Liang Dynasty and did not pursue him. An unparalleled achievement that will go down in history forever was missed.
At this point, Zhu Wen was so frightened that he abandoned his imperial tent and rushed to Zaoqiang County to join forces with Yang Shihou. I don’t dare to bring it alone.
Zaoqiang's city was not big, with only a few thousand German troops inside, but it was able to share the same hatred and resist tenaciously, causing horrific casualties of tens of thousands to the Houliang army.
When the city ran out of arrows, the defenders used stones. Later, they ran out of stones, and in desperation, the generals discussed surrender. They really tried their best.
At this time, a soldier volunteered to have a "death experience" and told everyone that since the Battle of Baixiang, Houliang had especially hated us for becoming a German army. Surrendering at this time was tantamount to a sheep entering a tiger's mouth. It's death, I'm willing to take a gamble.
That night, the warrior left the city and went to the Houliang military camp, claiming to surrender. Deputy Commander-in-Chief Li Maoxun personally summoned him and asked about the situation in the city. The warrior replied that there were many soldiers in the city and sufficient ammunition, and I was afraid it could last for ten days and a half. Immediately afterwards, the warrior asked for a sword, saying that he was willing to take the lead in rushing to the city wall, cut off the head of the guard, and cast a certificate of honor to Liang Na.
Li Maoxun refused and only arranged for him to be a porter.
After dawn, the warrior followed the troops with his burden. Suddenly, he seized an opportunity to get close to Li Maoxun, pulled out his pole and hit Li Maoxun on the head. Li Maoxun screamed and fell to the ground, and his attendants immediately stepped forward to protect him.
Li Maoxun suffered a head injury, which was not life-threatening. In the land of Yanzhao, there have been many generous and tragic people since ancient times, and in Hebei there have been many righteous people.
After Zhu Wen heard about this, he became even more angry and scolded the soldiers and civilians of Zhenzhou for not respecting martial ethics. They were all capricious villains from Wang Rong on down! Yang Shihou was ordered to attack Zaoqiang day and night.
Soon, Zaoqiang County, which lost its ability to resist, was captured by Houliang. Zhu Wen ordered: Massacre the city!
The strong Zaoqiang County suddenly became a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. Horrible.
Subsequently, Zhu Wen and Yang Shihou led their troops to Quan County to join forces with He Delun and Yuan Xiangxian.
The situation in Gan County is not optimistic either.
During Zhu Wen's Northern Expedition, he announced an army of 500,000 troops. The Hedong generals who stayed in Zhaozhou were a little scared, and some even suggested temporarily retreating to avoid the enemy's edge.
Li Cunshen firmly opposed it and sent Shi Jiantang and Li Sigong to rescue Gan County. Before setting off, Li Cunshen told them, "The king is leading the main force to fight in Youzhou, and it is impossible for us to send reinforcements. If the Zhu thieves take Gan County, then It will threaten the two states of Shenzhen and Hebei, and then we will be even more passive. Therefore, we must resist the thieves in Qian County."
Put simply. There are 500,000 red thieves, but we only have a few thousand. How can we reject them?
Answer: Use a strange trick! The crowd is so different that you must use some tricks and think of a way to fuck him.
Li Cunshen led the main force to guard the strategically important underground Bo Bridge. Shi Jiantang and Li Sigong selected 500 elites and divided them into five teams of 100 people each to intercept the soldiers sent by the Houliang army to collect firewood and capture them. In one day, hundreds of people were captured.
The next day, five teams of scouts gathered at Xiabo Bridge, leaving a few prisoners alive and slaughtering the rest. Then they cut off one arm of each of the remaining prisoners and ordered: "Send a message to your commander for me. , just say that Jin King Li Cunxu has arrived with the main force, let him prepare for battle!" and then released him.
Later, Shi Jiantang and Li Sigou each led 300 cavalry. They put on Houliang military uniforms and held Houliang military flags in their hands. They followed the soldiers who went out to collect firewood in Houliang and sneaked into the Houliang military camp when it got dark. When they arrived at Hedron's camp, they suddenly killed the guard sentry, then set fire to all directions, shouted loudly, shot arrows in all directions, rushed left and right, and slashed and killed.
In an instant, the Houliang military camp was in chaos. At this time, the sky was completely dark, and the two Hedong death squads hijacked another group of prisoners, took advantage of the chaos, and escaped unscathed. Only the panic-stricken Hou Liang army was left in a mess in the wind.
At this moment, the prisoners who had one arm cut off fled back to the camp. They shouted in great horror: "Li Cunxu is here!"
The Houliang army, which was already in chaos, exploded. Zhu Wen was heartbroken and hurriedly ordered the military camp to be burned down and retreated overnight.
The house leaked and it rained continuously all night. The panicked Zhu and Wen's army lost their way in the night and circled for 150 miles.
The tiger falls in Pingyang and is bullied by the dog. When the Houliang army retreated in disgrace, the farmers in Quan County, holding rakes, hoes and dung forks, waited for the opportunity to beat and kill the defeated Houliang soldiers who were left alone. The Hou Liang army abandoned countless baggage in a hurry.
After Zhu Wen withdrew to a safe area, he sent scouts to investigate, and finally got reliable news: Li Cunxu did not come at all! The main force from Hedong did not come either. Those who attacked us were only a few hundred rangers from the vanguard officer Shi Jiantang.
This... Zhu Wen felt ashamed and angry, and his condition worsened. Today, Zhu Wen cannot even sit in a small sedan carried by four people. After staying in Beizhou for more than ten days, he gradually gathered the remaining defeated soldiers from all walks of life.
Afterwards, Zhu Wen, who was seriously ill, stopped and went. It took him nearly twenty days to slowly return to Bianzhou, and another week to return to Luoyang from Bianzhou.
