[Emperors in the same frame]
Li Cunxu went to the Weizhou base camp to express condolences to the injured hearts of the people. By the way, he recruited tens of thousands of strong men to work as coolies in Desheng Jiacheng to expand Desheng North City.
The Houliang army harassed them day and night, and conflicts broke out between the two sides every day, with more than a hundred battles.
During this period, an archer commander encountered the concentrated fire of the Houliang army during the battle (kill the archers first!), and the straps on the saddle were cut off. In an emergency, another general gave up his horse to him, and he Then he rode the broken-belt war horse and took the initiative to retreat to the rear to help the archer commander retreat.
The two finally escaped death and returned to the camp. From then on, the two formed a deep friendship.
The archer commander who was rescued was Li Siyuan's son-in-law, named Shi Jingtang; the general who rescued him was named Liu Zhiyuan.
The two of them have many things in common. For example, their ancestors are both Shatuo people. Another example is that they will both be emperors in the future.
From Zhu Wen's establishment of the Later Liang Dynasty (907) to Zhao Kuangyin's establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty (960), the "Five Dynasties" have a total history of about 53 years. In 53 years, five dynasties (Liang, Tang, Jin, Han, and Zhou) were changed, and fourteen emperors with eight surnames were born. An emperor was replaced every three and a half years on average. The change of political power was like a revolving lantern.
The Eight Surnames and Fourteen Emperors only refer to the emperors of the "Five Dynasties", that is, the orthodox dynasties of the Central Plains in the traditional sense, and do not include the small separatist regimes in the "Ten Kingdoms". The former Shu Wang Jian, the Huainan Yang family, and the Southern Han Dynasty Liu Yan all Not included here.
Therefore, there was a very interesting phenomenon during the Five Dynasties period, which was almost unprecedented. I call it "all emperors in the same frame". When I read the History of the Five Dynasties, interesting illustrations always flash in my mind, such as this time:
The picture is horizontal, with the Bianzhou Palace on the left. Zhu Youzhen looks like a coward, surrounded by a few sycophants (wailing gang) with sharp mouths and monkey cheeks; in the middle of the picture is a broad and turbulent palace with blood red in the sand. The water of the Yellow River; on the right you can see two walls, far and near, which separate the two banks of the Yellow River. They are the Desheng Wall. Nearby are the tired but fortunate silhouettes of the two generals. Behind them are two war horses, one of which has a broken saddle. Flying away, not far in front of the two generals, there was a group of people coming out of the city to welcome them. It seemed that they had just walked out of the walled city in the distance. The person walking at the front was a man in his thirties. Behind them are two people, an old man and a young man.
This painting should be said to be almost realistic. The only impression is the distance, because it is impossible to put Bianzhou and Deshengdu in the same frame according to the actual proportion.
This illustration can be called "The Battle of the City", or it can be nicknamed "The Emperors in the Same Frame". Because in this shot, six emperors from three dynasties appear: Later Liang (Zhu Youzhen), Later Tang (Li Cunxu, Li Siyuan, Li Congke), Later Jin (Shi Jingtang), and Later Han (Liu Zhiyuan).
Six Emperor Pills.
In Luo Guanzhong's "History of the Fragmented Tang Dynasty and Five Dynasties", there is a famous scene, "Five dragons forced Wang Yanzhang to death", but the above-mentioned Li Congke was replaced by Guo Wei (Taizu of the later Zhou Dynasty). After all, it is a romance, not official history.
The bloody battle between Hedong and Houliang was going on in Desheng Jiacheng. Yanzhou sent envoy Liu Churang to meet with Li Cunxu and asked Hedong to send reinforcements quickly to relieve Yanzhou's crisis.
More than a year ago, it was precisely because of Zhang Wanjin's surrender in Yanzhou that Li Cunxu used Majiadu as a breakthrough to go south to attack Houliang. Youdao is because the war situation was erratic, and Hedong adapted to the situation. After breaking through the natural dangers of the Yellow River, he did not go east to support Yanzhou, but approached Bianzhou to the west.
After Zhang Wanjin of Yanzhou collaborated with the enemy and rebelled, Zhu Youzhen restarted Liu Wei and let Liu Wei take command of the expedition.
Zhang Wan entered the closed city and held on for more than a year. During this period, Zhang Wanjin repeatedly urged Li Cunxu to return to the army for rescue. However, Li Cunxu fought hard along the river. The outcome was difficult to determine, and he was really unable to do his job.
This time, envoy Liu Churang burst into tears and asked Hedong to send troops to rescue, otherwise Yanzhou would not be saved.
You can't have your cake and eat it too, you have to give up Yanzhou and take Bianzhou.
What Li Cunxu never expected was that Liu Churang actually adopted an extreme method: cutting off his own ears in front of the camp gate, holding the bloody ears in his hands and wailing: "If the king doesn't send troops, Yanzhou will die." Undoubtedly, my life would be worse than death!"
Li Cunxu was deeply moved by Liu Churang's feat, so he decided on the spot to send troops to rescue Yanzhou. But just as Li Cunxu was dispatching his troops, the latest news came from the east: Liu Wei had captured Yanzhou, Zhang Wanjin's entire clan was killed, and the city was massacred.
History is full of bad taste, which is true to the idiom of a blessing in disguise.
If Li Cunxu impulsively sends troops to Yanzhou, the situation along the river will undergo major changes, and the Houliang Dynasty may turn defeat into victory. While the reinforcements from Hedong are rushing thousands of miles away, and Liu Wei is waiting for work, Yanzhou may not be saved by Hedong... If Liu Wei had delayed a few more days , maybe history will be rewritten.
Later Liang Wang Zan launched a tentative attack on the Hedong Army, but was repulsed by Li Siyuan.
The Hedong Army discovered the stronghold where Houliang stored grain, grass and baggage, which was located in Panzhang, about fifty miles away from the Yangcun garrison. Li Cunxu was overjoyed when he heard the news. Isn't this the "Burning Wuchao" in the "Battle of Guandu" in the story of the Three Kingdoms?
Therefore, Li Cunxu personally led a small number of light cavalry and marched west along the south bank of the Yellow River in an attempt to "burn Pan Zhang" to pay tribute to Cao Cao. Unfortunately, they encountered an ambush. Li Cunxu and several cavalrymen were surrounded by hundreds of Houliang cavalry. Fortunately, Yuan Xingqin once again led reinforcements to arrive and rescued Li Cunxu.
Looking back at the eighteen years of bloody battles along the river, Li Cunxu repeatedly showed off his bravery and risked his life. He was heavily surrounded by enemy troops many times. The ones who rescued him the most were Yuan Xingqin, Li Cunshen, Li Jianji and others. Strong general. Therefore, Yuan Xingqin was given the name "Li Shaorong" by Li Cunxu, and Yuan Xingqin was used in the following articles.
A few days later, another large-scale conflict broke out between the two armies. Houliang won first and then lost, and the Hedong general Shi Junli was captured alive.
Shi Junli was appointed by Li Kerou first and Li Sizhao later, and he made many military exploits. Wang Tan had made a sneak attack on Taiyuan before. Shi Junli followed Li Sizhao's order and led 500 light cavalry day and night, rushing thousands of miles to help. Together with An Jinquan and other veterans, he defeated Wang Tan and saved Taiyuan.
Zhu Youzhen heard that Shi Jun was famous and planned to use high-ranking officials and generous salaries to lure him into abandoning the dark side and turning to the bright side. Faced with the temptation of sugar-coated bullets, Shi Junli smiled bitterly and asked: "A defeated general cannot be brave. Even if I swear allegiance, can you really trust me? Everyone has his own master, why are you forcing me to turn against my old master? What?" He declined politely.
Zhu Youzhen remembered the allusion of his father's kindness in receiving congratulatory roses, so he followed the example of his ancestors and beheaded all the other Hedong generals who were captured together, except Shi Junli, hoping to influence him. Shi Junli remained silent, still refusing to surrender.
Zhu Youzhen threw him into prison and supervised him, but ordered him to have good food and wine every day, and not to mistreat General Shi in life, hoping that he could change his mind. Shi Junli accepted it silently, but still refused to submit.
Shi Junli was unyielding and was imprisoned in prison until the eve of the fall of the Later Liang Dynasty. In despair, Zhu Youzhen issued an order: execute Shi Junli!
The army of Houliang was victorious first and then defeated. The commander-in-chief Wang Zan grabbed a small boat and fled to the rear. The Hou Liang army suffered tens of thousands of losses.
Mud cannot hold up a wall. Zhu Youzhen recalled Wang Zan, dismissed him from office, and appointed Dai Siyuan as the new commander-in-chief of the Northern Route Army. So far, during the Battle of Jiahe, Houliang had changed commanders four times (Liu Wei, He Gui, Wang Zan, and Dai Siyuan).
