【Defeat the enemy in three days】
Hearing the news that "Wang Tiejian" Wang Yanzhang had taken command, Li Cunxu attached great importance to it. He personally led his army to Chanzhou and ordered his confidant Zhu Shouyin to garrison in Deshengjia City. He also warned him that Wang Tiejian was brave, courageous and resourceful, so he should not take it lightly. .
Many times, competitors' evaluations are the most realistic, because they were obtained with blood. The evaluation of one's own people is often mixed with conflicts of interest, and often cannot truly reflect the true value of someone or something.
Through Li Cunxu's reaction, we can already get a glimpse of the clues of "defeating the enemy in three days".
Wang Yanzhang bid farewell to Zhu Youzhen, rushed to the front line of Huazhou non-stop, and then held a grand banquet to reward the soldiers of the three armies. He secretly sent people to secretly assemble the landing ships in Yangcun, and selected 600 warriors, holding giant axes and carrying tools to fan the storm. With a manual blower and fire starter, and a group of blacksmiths, they quietly went down the river under the cover of night and approached Desheng Jiacheng.
The banquet was in progress. Wang Yanzhang's face was red and full of drunkenness. He staggered up and left the banquet, saying that he had to go to the bathroom for a while. However, as soon as he left the tent, Wang Yanzhang became energetic and personally led thousands of elite troops to attack Desheng Nancheng with lightning speed.
This is the glorious tradition left by Zhu Wen to confuse the enemy under the guise of a banquet.
As expected, the guard general Zhu Shouyin had no warning and hurriedly responded to the battle.
The surface troops who had been secretly lurking on the Yellow River cooperated, burning the large iron chains used by the Later Tang army to block the river, and using giant axes to cut off the pontoon bridges, thus splitting Deshengjia City into two parts again. The troops on the north bank were unable to support the south city, so they could only Can watch Nancheng fall.
The army of the Later Tang Dynasty that stayed in Nancheng was almost completely wiped out, losing thousands of people.
At this time, it was exactly three days since Wang Yanzhang left Bianzhou. Wang Yanzhang was both wise and brave, completing the myth of defeating the enemy in three days.
After conquering Desheng Nancheng, Wang Yanzhang used the remaining power of his victory to capture all the post-Tang strongholds on the south bank of the Yellow River such as Panzhang, Majiadu, and Jingdian, clearing the south of the Yellow River in one fell swoop.
Later Liang's army became more powerful, and the army and the people rejoiced. It’s bottomed out and is about to take off. It’s hitting the daily limit. It’s too late to explain. Get on board!
Wang Yanzhang continued to move his army eastward, heading towards Yang Liu. If Yang Liu is captured, Li Siyuan of Yunzhou will be completely surrounded by the Later Liang, and the control scope of the Later Tang Dynasty will completely return to the north of the Yellow River.
Li Cunxu hurriedly sent the eunuch Jiao Yanbin to Yang Liu to assist the defender Li Zhou to hold on. This implied that Jiao Yanbin was also appointed as the highest political commissar and military supervisor to monitor Li Zhou and prevent him from betraying and surrendering in fear of the power of the rear Liang. Zhu Shouyin was ordered to abandon Desheng North City and demolish it. The houses were transformed into rafts, and then the weapons and baggage were quickly transported down the river to Yangliu.
The hero had the same idea. Wang Yanzhang also demolished the houses in Desheng Nancheng and converted them into rafts to carry troops and baggage down the river to the Yangliu front line.
Then, an interesting scene took place: on the water of the Yellow River, two continuous fleets were racing eastward along the river at the same time, racing dragon boats. Whenever they encounter a narrow and rugged bend, the distance between the two fleets will continue to close, so that they will scrape and collide. At this time, the crews of both sides will engage in hand-to-hand combat and fight.
Depending on the distance, the two sides used shouting curses, bows, crossbows, and rocks, and personal fighting to greet each other. Since most of the rafts were made in a hurry and were of unreliable quality, many ships capsized and sank when they collided with each other, resulting in the death of all people on board.
This kind of dragon boat race-style battle is very fierce. There are more than a hundred battles in one day, with each side winning or losing. By the time they arrived at Yangliu, both sides had reduced their numbers by more than half.
Wang Yanzhang and Duan Ning led an army of 100,000 to attack Yang and Liu. Taking advantage of their numerical advantage, they launched attacks from multiple directions and continued day and night. They also chained nine giant ships across the middle of the Yellow River to prevent the Hou Tang Dynasty on the north bank. Reinforcements.
Yang Liu is in danger. Li Zhou resisted with all his strength and sent people to ask Li Cunxu for urgent help. He asked Li Cunxu to march quickly and asked him to march hundreds of miles in a day to help Yang Liu.
However, Li Cunxu was calm and composed, and said to those around him, "With Li Zhou here, what should I worry about?" He only advanced sixty miles a day, and he did not forget to hunt and amuse himself along the way.
Li Cunxu would never fail to know that soldiers are valuable and quick. The reason why he behaved so calmly and calmly was not only to stabilize the morale of the army and improve morale, but more importantly, he looked at the problem from a different perspective.
The generals only viewed Yang Liu from a tactical perspective, while Li Cunxu viewed him from a strategic perspective.
Yangliucheng and Yunzhou City are not the core interests of the Later Tang Dynasty. Simply put, their fall will only delay the Later Tang Dynasty's attack, but will not harm the Later Tang Dynasty itself, let alone threaten the foundation of the Later Tang Dynasty; while Deshengdu, Majiadu, etc. The ferry to the west and Luzhou were the core interests of the Later Tang Dynasty.
Wang Yanzhang rushed to attack Yang Liu. What if it was just a feint attack? What if Li Cunxu led the main force to rush to the aid of Yang Liu, and Wang Yanzhang suddenly came back and transferred the Huazhou troops to cross the river for the northern expedition? You should know that the ferries on the south bank of the Yellow River are all under the control of Houliang, and Weizhou and other lands on the north bank of the Yellow River are also under the control of Houliang. Luzhou in the rear and Zezhou, which guards the entry and exit of the Taihang Mountains, are also under the control of Houliang.
In other words, at this stage, the initiative in the war along the river is completely in the hands of the Later Liang Dynasty, and the Later Tang Dynasty turned from offense to defense.
Jiang, think about "how to do it"; Shuai, think about "why to do it".
Li Cunxu fought steadily and slowly eastward, precisely to find out Wang Yanzhang's true intention and observe the main strategic attack direction of the Houliang army.
Li Cunxu arrived at the Yangliu front line and found that the Hou Liang army dug numerous trenches around Yangliu City and built layers of bunkers. The blockade was so tight that Yang and Liu's defenders could not escape.
While secretly admiring Wang Yanzhang, Li Cunxu could not hide his sorrow and asked Guo Chongtao for advice.
Guo Chongtao proposed a plan to open up the second battlefield and proposed the "left hook" in the "left hook". He pointed out that although Li Siyuan of Yunzhou was trapped deep in the enemy's hinterland and was isolated and surrounded, he had actually become a thorn in the rear Liang's side and contained a large number of rear beam troops. Since the Yang and Liu fronts were in a stalemate and all the ferries to the west were controlled by the rear beam, then We should continue to detour eastward, force a crossing at the weakly defended ferry in Houliang in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, establish a stronghold, and connect with Yunzhou.
Li Cunxu nodded frequently, but will Wang Yanzhang sit back and watch us make detours?
Guo Chongtao set the flag, "Ten days, as long as you give me ten days, I can build a stronghold. I hope your majesty will recruit warriors to challenge the back beam day and night and hold back Wang Yanzhang."
Li Cunxu approved Guo Chongtao's plan and sent Guo Chongtao to lead 10,000 people to set off at night and march eastward. Finally, they crossed the Yellow River at Majiakou, and then built cities and fortifications day and night. Li Cunxu challenged Yangliu day and night, attracting Wang Yanzhang. attention.
It only took Guo Chongtao six days to complete the new city ahead of schedule.
After Wang Yanzhang learned that the Later Tang army was detouring eastward, he immediately led tens of thousands of people to kill them. Then they launched an attack on Majiakou New City, followed the prescription, connected more than a dozen large ships with iron chains, and set them across the middle of the Yellow River to block the reinforcements of the Later Tang Dynasty.
Although Guo Chongtao was a civil servant, he took the lead in resisting. With a small number of enemies, he held on while sending people to take a small road to ask for help from Li Cunxu.
Different from supporting Yang Liu, this time Li Cunxu rushed to help and assembled in formation on the other side of the river. When Guo Chongtao's defenders saw the reinforcements, their morale was greatly boosted, and they loudly criticized the Houliang soldiers who were besieging the city on the city wall.
Wang Yanzhang was unsuccessful in the battle, so he withdrew his huge ships, lifted the siege, and retreated to Zoujiakou in the west.
Li Cunxu opened the road to Yunzhou and got in touch with Li Siyuan. Li Siyuan secretly reported to Li Cunxu, asking him to hold Zhu Shouyin responsible for the fall of Desheng Jiacheng, but Li Cunxu refused.
The story of Li Cunxu’s doting on the actor will be described in detail later, so it only needs to be briefly mentioned here. It was only because Zhu Shouyin lost the city of Desheng that Li Siyuan was trapped in Yunzhou. Li Siyuan petitioned to kill Zhu Shouyin, which was both public and private, so it needs to be mentioned here.
After a short rest, Li Cunxu advanced along the Yellow River. Wang Yanzhang abandoned Zoujiakou and returned to Yangliu.
A few days later, a guerrilla harassment force from Hou Tang, led by Li Shaoxing, suddenly appeared near Desheng Nancheng and ambushed the scouts from Hou Liang. Duan Ning mistakenly thought that the army of the Later Tang Dynasty had crossed the Yellow River in a roundabout way, so he was shocked and reprimanded Wang Yanzhang in person for abandoning Desheng Crossing and heading east to attack Yang Liu.
After crossing the natural dangers of the Yellow River, the broad and flat plains were the grand showplace for Li Cunxu to show off his skills. The pioneer Yuan Xingqin marched forward with great success, captured the Houliang patrols alive and burned the Houliang warships. The soldiers of the Later Liang Dynasty were in panic all day long.
Wang Yanzhang continued to retreat backwards, lifted Yang Liu's siege, and retreated to Yangcun.
The army of the Later Tang Dynasty pursued them all the way and took advantage of the situation to recapture Deshengdu.
At this point, Wang Yanzhang's results of "defeating the enemy in three days" were exhausted and he returned to the starting point.
