[Left hook]
I gave you a chance, but you didn’t use it.
Mutinies and rebellions occurred in Zhenzhou and Dingzhou successively, and the Khitan invaded the south, forcing Li Cunxu to focus his main efforts on the north. This is another great opportunity for Houliang to counterattack Heshuo.
Commander-in-chief Dai Siyuan took the opportunity to plunder the southern part of Weibo, and Duan Ning, the "foreign relative gang", recovered Weizhou and other Weibo's homelands. The back-liang forces seem to have bottomed out and are gaining momentum. Many people expressed their optimism about the development of Houliang, such as Li Jitao, who ran to the car and offered Luzhou.
The Khitan invaded heavily, Weizhou fell, and Luzhou rebelled... Li Cunxu was helpless.
The appearance of one person broke the suffocating situation. This person is simply Li Cunxu’s angel sister. His name is Lu Shunmi, a general stationed in Yunzhou. He suddenly surrendered to Li Cunxu and betrayed Yunzhou’s intelligence. He bluntly said that Yunzhou was empty and asked Li Cunxu to attack quickly.
Why did Lu Shunmi rebel against Liang and surrender to Tang? Another historical mystery that can never be solved. The history books do not give any valuable clues as to the reason for his rebellion. If there is no conspiracy behind this, then I can only say that Lu Shunmi is a discerning investment master. When others were frantically reducing their positions and fleeing, he decisively increased their positions and jumped on the bus.
Perhaps even he himself did not expect that his surrender knocked down the first domino, which triggered a series of chain effects. After half a year, this "bottoming out" backbone was completely delisted.
Lu Shunmi's surrender initiated Li Cunxu's "Left Hook" military operation. The army of the Later Tang Dynasty made a strategic detour, bypassing the iron-walled river front, and directly attacked Bianzhou. It left a wonderful chapter in China's military history and even the world's military history. This is something.
Lu Shunmi reported to Li Cunxu that the garrison of Yunzhou was less than 1,000 men, and the general was greedy and unruly, and was not in line with the morale of the army and the people. Please attack as soon as possible.
Li Cunxu held a meeting to discuss. The result was an almost unanimous vote. Even the great counselor Guo Chongtao expressed his opposition, "It is too dangerous to go deep into the enemy's territory for a sneak attack alone. If there is a slight mistake, the entire army will be wiped out. Moreover, Lu Shunmi's motives are doubtful. What if he pretends to surrender to lure the enemy?" "
Guo Chongtao was to Li Cunxu as Gai Yu was to Li Keyong.
Li Cunxu is Li Cunxu after all. Li Keyong lost his eternal opportunity to conquer the Central Plains because he followed Gai Yu's advice. Li Cunxu was so brave that he withstood huge pressure and decided to launch a surprise attack on Yunzhou despite the unanimous opposition of Guo Chongtao and other civil and military officials.
This is Li Cunxu's character.
Li Cunxu asked Li Siyuan for advice, saying that after Liang had newly acquired Luzhou, he was concentrating on using the Luzhou Anyi Army to conquer Taiyuan. However, they must have seriously neglected the defense in the east. If we can capture Yunzhou, the situation will be very serious. The question is, is it possible for us to capture Yunzhou?
This is the embodiment of Li Cunxu's political wisdom. Don’t ask anyone else, just ask Li Siyuan. He firmly believed that Li Siyuan would not only support his suggestion, but would also volunteer to be the vanguard in the attack on Yunzhou.
why? Just because of the "Northern Crossing of the Yellow River" event occurred during the Battle of Huliupi. It was a serious political incident, and Li Siyuan could not be freed from the charge of "rebellion." If his adopted son Li Congke had not made great contributions, Li Siyuan would have been beheaded in public.
Since that incident, Li Siyuan has been marginalized and isolated internally, and he is eager to find opportunities to make amends.
Now, everyone is opposed to Li Cunxu's plan to attack Yunzhou. At this time, Li Cunxu asked Li Siyuan, who was suspected of treason, "Yunzhou is dangerous and critical. Tell me, who should entrust this glorious and arduous task to?"
Who else could it be? Of course it’s me!
Li Siyuan immediately expressed his stance, "I am willing! As long as it is beneficial to the country, I will go through fire and water, even if I die!"
"good!"
Li Cunxu allocated five thousand elite cavalry and gave them to Li Siyuan to command. "The empire will rise and fall. In this battle, we can only win, not lose!"
The Battle of Yunzhou was related to Li Siyuan's personal honor and disgrace, and even more related to the life and death of the Later Tang Empire.
If you know your shame and then become brave, your soldiers will surely win. Li Siyuan did not dare to neglect, so he set out from Desheng Jiacheng and arrived at Yangliu that night.
Night has fallen and it's raining again. The soldiers were exhausted and unwilling to move forward. Li Siyuan's favorite general Gao Xingzhou encouraged him and said: "God help me! In this kind of weather, the enemy will definitely not be alert, so hurry up!" Five thousand cavalry crossed the river in the rain all night and rushed directly to the gate of Yunzhou City.
As expected, Yunzhou City was unguarded, not even a sentry.
Li Siyuan's adopted son Li Congke took the lead. He was the first to climb the city wall, raised his sword and killed the defenders. Then he opened the city gate and let the Later Tang army enter the city.
The cavalry of the Later Tang Dynasty descended from the sky, and the city of Yunzhou fell into chaos.
After a night of fighting, when the sun rose early the next morning, Yunzhou fell. Li Siyuan entered the city to take over, and captured Cui Huang, deputy envoy and acting governor of the Yunzhou Tianping Army appointed by Hou Liang, and others. They sent people to escort Weizhou News achievement.
That night, Li Cunxu tossed and turned and could not sleep. After receiving the memorial document, he said excitedly: "Li Siyuan is really a genius. With him, I can accomplish great things!" Then he issued an edict and appointed Li Siyuan as the governor of Yunzhou Tianping Army. He also sent people to contact Huainan, informing him that Yunzhou had been conquered, and asked both sides to attack Houliang from the north and the south.
Huainan weighed the left and right, unwilling to get involved in the war between Later Liang and Later Tang, and rejected the "choose one from two" multiple choice question. Decline politely.
When news of the sudden loss of Yunzhou reached Bianzhou, Zhu Youzhen was shocked. He immediately beheaded the generals of Yunzhou who had fled back to Bianzhou. At the same time, he dismissed the commander-in-chief Dai Siyuan and demoted him to stay behind in the Xuanhua Army of Dengzhou. He also sent envoys to the front line. , severely reprimanded the frontline general Duan Ning, "Wang Tiejian" Wang Yanzhang and others, "What did you do? Attack me quickly!"
Zhu Youzhen was already confused.
Jingxiang couldn't stand it anymore, so he stepped forward and openly challenged the "foreign relatives gang". He even threatened to die and asked Zhu Youzhen to let Wang Yanzhang take command.
Zhu Youzhen summoned Wang Yanzhang to interview the new coach and asked him the date when he would defeat the enemy.
Wang Yanzhang was confident and blurted out, "Three days!"
Before he finished speaking, the attendants around Zhu Youzhen couldn't help laughing. Three days to defeat the enemy? Wang Yanzhang, you really know how to joke. The straight-line distance on the map from Bianzhou to Huazhou is 170 miles. It would take Wang Yanzhang more than a day to go from the palace to the frontline base camp to assemble troops, mobilize and deploy, and make logistics arrangements. , Make a plan...to defeat the enemy in three days? Wang Yanzhang, just pick up your mouth and say it? Wang Yanzhang, you really dare to say it, and Your Majesty, you really dare to believe it!
No one believed Wang Yanzhang's words.
Zhu Youzhen didn't believe it either, but now he was in a hurry and sought medical treatment. He was hungry and had no choice but to treat a dead horse as a living horse.
Wang Yanzhang set a flag in front of Zhu Youzhen to "defeat the enemy in three days". Is this "Wang Tiejian" Xiu'er or Dou'er? Can the Houliang Empire still be saved?
