[The foreign relative destroyed the beam and Duan Ning took charge]
Wang Yanzhang was the last backbone of the Later Liang Empire. At the beginning of taking command, he defeated the enemy in three days, captured Deshengdu and other ferries on the south bank, and drove Li Cunxu back to the north of the Yellow River. How powerful! But why did he suffer successive defeats and retreat, so that he returned to the starting point?
Don't be afraid of opponents who are like gods, but be afraid of teammates who are like pigs.
Don't forget Wang Yanzhang's deputy, the deputy envoy Duan Ning from the north, the "foreign relative gang".
Wang Yanzhang has an upright and loyal character, and hates the "gang of foreign relatives" who control the government and harm the country and the people. After taking command, he said to his close relatives, "When I return in triumph, I will eradicate the treacherous villains in the court and give an explanation to the people of the world." What he said The traitors are of course the "foreign relatives gang".
The "foreign relatives gang" has many ears and eyes, and this sentence quickly reached their ears. Zhao Yan, Zhang brothers and other core leaders of the "foreign relatives gang" gathered together, discussed with each other, and reached a high degree of consensus. They actually said, "We would rather die by the sword of the Shatuo people than fall into the hands of Wang Yanzhang!"
Therefore, the Zhao Yan and Zhang brothers at home, and Duan Ning by Wang Yanzhang's side outside, colluded and united with each other inside and outside, and deliberately planned to put Wang Yanzhang to death. They would rather let the country lose the war than kill Wang Yanzhang.
As Wang Yanzhang's deputy, the deputy commander-in-chief of the army Duan Ning obstructed Wang Yanzhang's actions at every turn and became Li Cunxu's supernumerary senior spy. He spared no effort to be an actor and strive to fail.
Therefore, Wang Yanzhang could only achieve impressive results in the initial blitz of "defeating the enemy in three days" because Duan Ning really had no time to make mistakes. When the battle entered a stalemate stage, such as the battles of Yangliu, Majiakou, and Zoujiakou, Duan Ning had sufficient time to carry out sabotage and successfully reverse the situation of the battle.
Whenever good news came, Zhao Yan and others attributed all the credit to Duan Ning; whenever there was a failure, they placed all the blame on Wang Yanzhang.
When Wang Yanzhang lifted the siege of Yang Liu and retreated to Yangcun, the "foreign relatives gang" even encouraged Zhu Youzhen to recall Wang Yanzhang to the court and hold him responsible for the defeat.
It was the same routine as the one used to frame Liu Wei. When the army is defeated, you are recruited into the court to report on your duties. If you resist the order and do not go to the capital, you are treason; if you enter the capital, you are a sheep in a tiger's mouth.
Wang Yanzhang was ordered to go to Beijing to meet the saint. Faced with Zhu Youzhen's questioning, Wang Yanzhang tried his best to defend himself and detailed the battlefield situation to Zhu Youzhen. Wang Yanzhang didn't have time to do PPT, so when he had an idea, he used the wat board in his hand to write and draw on the ground and pointed, from strategy to tactics, from shallow to deep, explaining the way of victory and defeat for Zhu Youzhen.
Zhu Youzhen was just blinded by the "foreign relatives gang". After all, he was the emperor of Daliang, and he did not want Daliang to perish. After listening carefully to Wang Yanzhang's explanation, he believed it and no longer held him responsible for the defeat.
The "Relatives Gang" was so angry that they finally found out Wang Yanzhang's "crime" - impoliteness! He actually used a wat board to mark circles on the ground in front of the emperor. He was arrogant, rebellious, rude, and had no eyes for the king. It was really unreasonable!
"He's morally questionable."
If you cannot outperform your opponent in terms of professional skills and business literacy, then you will be slandered and criticized in terms of morality. From ancient times to the present, it has been tried and tested repeatedly.
As a result, Wang Yanzhang was removed from his title of commander-in-chief and ordered to go home and reflect.
After all, Zhu Youzhen did not completely lose her mind. After careful consideration, she still let Wang Yanzhang return to the army, but the position was lower, and he was not returning to the front line of Desheng Jiacheng, but to assist Dong Zhang in the siege of Zezhou.
This intersects with the previous node. Li Jitao surrendered Luzhou to the Liang Dynasty. Later Liang sent Dong Zhang to join Luzhou and besieged Zezhou south of Luzhou. Zezhou defender Pei Yue resisted to the death.
Previously, Wang Yanzhang and Li Cunxu fought fiercely in Desheng Jiacheng, Yunzhou, Majiakou, Zoujiakou and other places. As a result, Li Cunxu was unable to do anything at all. Therefore, Pei Yue has not seen reinforcements for a long time, and Dong Zhang has not made any progress.
Now, Wang Yanzhang rushed to the city of Zezhou. Within ten days, Zezhou fell and Pei Yue was killed in battle. This shows that Wang Yanzhang's military ability is indeed beyond doubt.
After the "foreign relatives gang" removed Commander-in-Chief Wang Yanzhang, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Duan Ning was promoted to Commander-in-Chief without any suspense.
Duan Ning, a native of Bianzhou, whose original name is Duan Mingyuan, is the chief registrar of Mianchi County and an insignificant temporary employee of the county government. After Zhu Wen conquered Bian, he took his sister as his concubine (later named a beauty), so Duan Ning clung to Zhu Wen's lap. Duan Ning had no other talents, but he was best at observing people's thoughts and observing people's thoughts. Therefore, he gradually gained Zhu Wen's trust and was repeatedly promoted to the position of governor of Huaizhou.
During Zhu Wen's Northern Expedition, whenever he passed through Huaizhou, Duan Ning always tried his best to make Zhu Wen happy. He thought his loyalty was commendable, and he even sent to death the general Li Sian who had not entertained him well. Later, he trusted Duan Ning even more.
After Zhu Youzhen came to power, Duan Ning actively moved closer to the "foreign relatives gang" and bribed the leaders Zhao Yan and Zhang brothers with large sums of money. As a result, he obtained better resources than during Zhu Wen's period, and became extremely glorious until he became the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expeditionary Army.
Duan Ning easily peeked into Zhu Youzhen's inner world and can be simply summarized as "Hebei Hero".
Zhu Wen came from a humble background, but he worked hard in actual combat. He was also assisted by advisers such as Jing Xiang and Li Zhen. He could be called a master of great talents and broad strategies. And his son Zhu Youzhen is a second-generation kid who grew up in a honeypot. He lacks experience and understands neither military nor politics. Zhu Youzhen believes that anyone who can push the front to the north of the Yellow River is a heroic general, and anyone who retreats to the south of the Yellow River is a useless snack.
Therefore, after Duan Ning took command, he immediately stationed his main force north of the Yellow River to prove his strength to Zhu Youzhen. Zhu Youzhen really praised them greatly and believed that it was his uncle Duan Ning who could eliminate the Shatuo people in Hedong.
In order to prevent the Later Tang army from advancing towards Bianzhou, Duan Ning ordered the Yellow River to be cut off at Huazhou.
The rushing floods spread ruthlessly south and east, affecting Huazhou, Caozhou, Puzhou, Yunzhou and other vast lands. Countless civilians were swallowed up by the floods and countless fertile fields were destroyed. It was the eighth month of the lunar calendar and the crop belt was about to mature. The farmers' annual harvest was wasted.
Countless people died directly from the floods, as well as from starvation due to the destruction of farmland, far exceeding the losses caused by a fierce battle.
Looking at Qianli Swamp, Duan Ning was extremely pleased and called it "protecting the water". The Later Liang court tried to use the power of nature to keep the regime alive, regardless of the lives of the people. It was a wishful thinking to think that it could rest easy and continue to dominate with a flood.
In fact, in just over a month, they will completely collapse.
After blocking the advancing troops of the Later Tang Dynasty, Duan Ning kept asking for more troops. In the end, almost all the elite forces of the Later Liang Dynasty were concentrated in Duan Ning's hands. Zhu Youzhen pinned her hopes of revitalizing the Later Liang Dynasty and unifying Hebei on Duan Ning.
Subsequently, Duan Ning formulated a four-pronged counterattack plan that would swallow up mountains and rivers.
Zhu Youzhen said happily, "Great things can be accomplished!"
