【Zhu Youqian in the River】
In order to facilitate the narrative and take into account the readability, the previous article takes the Hedong Group as the main perspective and tells the story of Li Cunxu's efforts to find a breakthrough to break the deadlock in the Jiahe confrontation. Therefore, some important events have been artificially omitted, such as Yanzhou Zhang Wanjin's rebellion against Liang Gui Jin, another example is that Zhu Youqian from Hezhong rebelled against Liang and returned to Jin. In the following articles, we will also play back these events from the perspective of Hou Liang and tell their ins and outs.
In April of the sixth year of Zhengming (920), Zhu Youqian of Hezhong brazenly annexed the Tongzhou Zhongwu Army (previously the Xuzhou Zhongwu Army exchanged military names with the Tongzhou Kuangguo Army), and sent his son Zhu Lingde to serve as a post-resident of the Tongzhou Zhongwu Army to report to the court. , requested formal canonization and appointment, but was rejected by Zhu Youzhen. As a result, Zhu Youqian expressed his allegiance to Li Cunxu from Hedong and requested to send troops for support.
A gift from heaven! Li Cunxu immediately appointed Zhu Lingde as the military governor of Tongzhou Zhongwu Army.
The Hezhong area is also a strategic location that the Liang and Jin sides repeatedly competed for. It connects to Guanzhong in the west and Hedong in the north. Using the Hezhong area as a springboard, pressure can be exerted on Hedong, Bianzhou, and Chang'an.
Zhu Youzhen hurriedly asked Liu Wei to take command and led his troops to attack Tongzhou. Zhu Youqian asked Li Cunxu of Hedong for urgent help. Li Cunxu sent Li Cunshen, Li Sizhao, Li Jianji, Li Cunzhi and others to help.
Once Hedong controls the Hezhong area, it will form a pincer offensive against Bianzhou, attacking Bianzhou from the east and west directions. It can also separate Chang'an and other important western towns in Houliang, making it difficult to look at the beginning and the end. Even if the country will not be destroyed, it will Guanzhong territory will be lost.
The leaders of both sides attached great importance to the changes in the river and mobilized almost all the elite forces in the territory. The battlefield of the bloody battle between the two sides moved from Desheng Jiacheng to Tongzhou.
Before the reinforcements from Hedong arrived, Liu Wei of the Later Liang Dynasty had already arrived at the battlefield first and began to clear the troops' lines, winning several small victories. The military literacy of the soldiers protecting the country in Hezhong was relatively low, and their combat effectiveness was never high. Therefore, they were always looked down upon by the Houliang Field Army. Every time they fought, the soldiers in Hezhong always collapsed at the first touch, and the Houliang Field Army would pursue them to expand the results.
After Li Cunshen, the pioneer from Hedong, arrived, he picked out 200 elite soldiers, mixed them with the soldiers from Hezong, and went to the Houliang military camp to challenge. Liu Wei sent cavalry to pursue him. As soon as they engaged in battle, he realized something was wrong. Why did the cowardly and incompetent river rats suddenly become kings? Immediately recognizing the soldiers from Hedong, Liu Wei marveled at the rapidity of the reinforcements from Hedong, so he withdrew his troops and stopped fighting, never daring to leave the camp easily again.
The Liang and Jin sides faced off again in the Hezhong area.
No matter which battlefield it is on, a confrontational war of attrition is extremely detrimental to the Hedong Army.
The Hezhong area has been affiliated to Hou Liang for a long time. It has been twenty years since Wang Ke surrendered to Zhu Wen. No ambitious person will ignore the management of the Hezhong area, so Zhu Wen took great pains to package himself from the beginning when he took over the Hezhong Mansion, creating a grateful and nostalgic persona, crying at the tomb of Wang Chongrong Accepting Wang Ke as a family gift rather than a gift of national subjugation not only made Zhu Wen numerous fans in the Hezhong area, but also created the illusion that Zhu Wen legally inherited his uncle's business as a nephew.
If calculated in this way, then the Zhu Wen Group has controlled the Hezhong area not only for twenty years, but since Wang Chongrong guarded Hezhong for a longer period of time, which would have to be pushed to the time when Huang Chao invaded Chang'an. It’s been nearly 40 years now!
If 40 years is too far-fetched, 20 years is always undisputed. Therefore, the Zhuwen Group has a deep mass foundation in the Hezhong area and the people's will.
Now, just because the Jiedu Envoy (Zhu Youqian) led the entire territory to surrender to Hedong for his own selfish reasons, the people in the Hezhong area were reluctant and deeply resisted. The soldiers in the army also complained about this.
The gathering of troops from all walks of life resulted in food shortages, skyrocketing prices, inflation, and boiling public dissatisfaction. And all of this must be attributed to Zhu Youqian's selfish interests. The military and civilians in the Hezhong area are at odds with each other.
Zhu Youqian's sons were keenly aware of this turmoil, so they lobbied their father to return to Daliang and let the Hedong army withdraw to avoid causing trouble.
Zhu Youqian was in a dilemma, saying that the last time we rebelled, Li Cunxu personally led the army to save us from danger, and even fought by night, but what about us? Shameless and shameless, I drove people back. This time, they fought hard and bloody by the Yellow River, and even divided their troops to rescue us. No matter how shameless and shameless we are, we can’t be too shameless and shameless...
"Dad, it's not just once or twice that we have been shameless. If we have too many lice, we don't feel itchy. If we have too many debts, we don't have to worry about repaying them. So what if we are shameless again?"
"...Then let's wait and see first, and then decide whether we need to be shameless anymore."
The Hedong Army couldn't afford to wait and launched a fierce offensive on Huazhou. Later, Li Cunshen defeated Liu Wei and forced Liu Wei to retreat to Bao Paulo Wen Village, tightly closing the gate of the camp and unable to leave.
Li Cunshen and Li Sizhao discussed countermeasures and thought that the trapped beast was still fighting, so it was better to open a wider net and lure Liu Wei into fighting.
As a result, the Hedong Army divided its troops and went out to graze, relaxing the siege of Luowen Village.
As expected, Liu Wei retreated at night and fell into Li Cun's plan. Li Cunshen launched a pursuit and annihilated the Houliang army on the banks of the Weishui River, achieving a great victory.
Later, Li Cunshen took control of the Guanzhong area, and visited the imperial mausoleum of the Tang Dynasty to weep and pay homage. The military operations did not forget to intersperse political performances to awaken people's nostalgia for the Tang Dynasty, inspire hatred for the traitors who usurped the Tang Dynasty, and undermine Zhu's mass base in the Hezhong area.
The political foundation of the Houliang Group in the Hezhong area is "legitimate inheritance", emphasizing that Zhu Wen legitimately inherited the mantles of Wang Chongrong and Wang Chongying; the Hedong Army took a different approach, jumping out of the narrow values of feudal separatism, emphasizing loyalty, filial piety and justice, and describing the entire Houliang army as an illegal pseudo. regime.
The military victories and the glorious political correctness finally strengthened Zhu Youqian's belief in following the Hedong Group. Zhu Youqian sent troops to counterattack the Houliang army and attack Wen Tao of the Jingsheng army in Chongzhou.
Wen Tao was frightened and at a loss.
Wen Tao, one of the most famous tomb robbers in history, was different from other thieves in that he only focused on digging up imperial tombs and dug up all the imperial tombs of the Tang Dynasty. According to records, he dug 17 of the 18 imperial tombs of the Tang Dynasty, and only the Qianling Mausoleum survived.
Of course he also coveted Qianling, and mobilized troops three times with the intention of stealing it. But every time they started construction, there would be sudden supernatural events. The clear sky suddenly turned into dark clouds, thunder, wind and rain. But after they withdrew, it became cloudless again. After doing this three times, Wen Tao finally Don't dare to touch Qianling.
During the tomb robbery, a large number of peerless cultural relics were destroyed. For example, authentic works such as "Lanting Preface" collected by Taizong Li Shimin. In the eyes of the illiterate Wen Tao, only gold and silver jewelry, emerald agate, silk and satin are considered treasures. As for calligraphy and painting, they are all waste paper. He actually asked soldiers to tear off the silk and satin used for packaging and decoration of calligraphy and painting works. , took away the silk and satin and discarded the calligraphy and painting works themselves, and countless authentic works of famous people were lost from then on... Some people also have a good hope, that is, the authentic work of Wang Xizhi's "Lanting Preface" is hidden in Qianling.
In short, Wen Tao is the most notorious tomb robber in Chinese history. Even Sun Dianying wants to give him three points. The damage he caused to Chinese culture cannot be described in words, and it can never be repaired.
The tomb robber Wen Tao later defected to Fengxiang Li Maozhen and was adopted by Li Maozhen as his adopted son and named Li Yantao. He later surrendered to Zhu Wen and was named Wen Zhaotu. Later, he rebelled against Li Maozhen again. After Zhu Youzhen came to the throne, he betrayed Li Maozhen and surrendered to the Later Liang Dynasty, where he remains today. There is no doubt that he will change his ways in the future. God knows, and he will not end well in the future.
Now that the war in the river is critical, Zhu Youzhen is of course worried about this capricious villain and is worried that he will seek refuge in Hedong, so he lures him to leave the town and go to Beijing with the promise of a high official and generous salary.
Wen Tao is short-sighted and forgets his righteousness when he sees benefits. When he heard that he was going to be promoted, he immediately agreed to Zhu Youzhen's "promoting overtly and demoting under cover" routine.
Zhu Youzhen finally preserved one-third of an acre of the Jingsheng Army in Chongzhou despite Zhu Youqian's rebellion and Liu Wei's defeat, which can be regarded as a victory.
On the battlefield of the Yellow River, the Hedong Army had advanced its forward position to the west of Deshengdu and approached Huazhou, the most favored area of Houliang. It successfully opened a second battlefield, controlled the area in the middle of the river, and formed a pincer offensive against Houliang.
Zhu Youzhen of the Later Liang Dynasty was already worrying about day and night.
But at this time, Hebei experienced drastic changes and the Khitans invaded the south. Li Cunxu in Hedong was about to face a difficult test.
