[The foreign relatives destroyed the beams 3 Kang Yanxiao betrayed the country]
This four-way counterattack plan not only made Zhu Youzhen like it and pin it to the top of the list, but also made Li Cunxu feel chills stand up on his back:
West Route: Dong Zhang led his army north from Luzhou, aiming for Taiyuan Prefecture;
North Road: "One-eyed General" Huo Yanwei led his army north from Weibo, aiming for Zhenzhou;
East Road: "Wang Tiejian" Wang Yanzhang led his army to station at the border of Yanzhou and Yunzhou, aiming at Yunzhou;
Middle route: Duan Ning leads the main force from Yangcun to attack Deshengdu and contain Li Cunxu's main force.
Magnificent and ambitious.
Huo Yanwei, the adopted son of the famous general Huo Cun, had already joined the army at the age of 14 and made many military exploits. He was once blinded in one eye by a stray arrow during a battle and became the "one-eyed general". Participated in the operation to kill Zhu Yougui;
Duan Ning's deputy is Du Yanqiu, the commander of the Longxiang Army. Du Yanqiu was involved in the "Li Ba Mutiny" incident and led the Longxiang Army's cavalry to put down the rebellion;
Although Wang Yanzhang was assigned to the Yunzhou front line, he was monitored by Zhang Hanjie, the leader of the "foreign relatives gang", who personally served as the supervisor.
It is not difficult to see that Zhu Youzhen's court was still nepotistic, and the army was almost controlled by the "foreign relative gang". The "Foreign Relatives Gang" has inherited all the traditions of stealing power: they are amateurs in foreign wars and experts in civil wars, brave in private fights but timid in public wars. He does not seek to defeat Li Cunxu, but only seeks to control Zhu Youzhen.
As the army gathered, Duan Ning's vanguard officer Kang Yanxiao led more than a hundred cavalry to defect to the Later Tang Dynasty.
Kang Yanxiao, a Hu (Sogdian) from the Daibei region, was a soldier under Li Ke at first. Later, he fled for fear of crime due to violating military law and went to Zhu Wen in Bianzhou. He was gradually promoted from a soldier to a general, and now lives in the right vanguard under Duan Ning's tent. Commander. When Li Siyuan captured Yunzhou, Kang Yanxiao sent people to secretly contact him and expressed his willingness to surrender to Hedong.
Now, the main forces of the two armies were assembled separately, and the war was imminent. Kang Yanxiao waited for an opportunity to desert and defect to the Later Tang Dynasty. Li Cunxu welcomed him warmly, took off his royal robe in person, and rewarded him. He was given the official position of governor of Bozhou and made the commander-in-chief of the conquest of Houliang (the commander of the southern conquest capital).
Kang Yanxiao not only revealed to Li Cunxu the military secrets of Duan Ning's four-pronged counterattack, but also offered a strategy to destroy Liang: the left hook.
Li Cunxu dismissed the idle personnel and asked him why he rebelled against Liang and surrendered to Tang Dynasty.
This is a scoring question. The answer is of course that the time of the Later Liang Dynasty is running out and the Later Tang Dynasty will definitely win.
Kang Yanxiao answered sincerely, saying that although the land of the Later Liang Dynasty was vast and the soldiers and grains were abundant, their monarchs were incompetent and treacherous ministers were in power, especially the "gang of foreign relatives" who stole power and harmed the country, sold their officials and gained titles, were corrupt and perverted the law, and the appointment and dismissal of officials were all based on bribes. How much, regardless of character, talent, and political achievements. Duan Ning, for example, has neither ingenuity nor courage, but he is above Wang Yanzhang and Huo Yanwei. Moreover, since Duan Ning took command, he only deducted military pay and exploited soldiers; others The same is true for the army. The commander is in name only and is strictly supervised by the "foreign relatives gang". Even talented people, such as Wang Yanzhang, are controlled by the "foreign relatives gang" in every move, word and deed, and cannot display their talents at all. Therefore, Houliang must perish!
Li Cunxu nodded frequently, "That makes sense. I just like hearing this."
Later, Kang Yanxiao revealed Duan Ning's plan for a four-pronged counterattack, which shocked Li Cunxu.
"What can I do?"
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, I have a solution."
Kang Yanxiao's suggestion is to open up the world and trade time for space. It doesn't matter how many ways you come, I will only go one way.
Later Liang had the numerical advantage, and a head-on confrontation with them would be detrimental to Later Tang. Therefore, we should recharge our batteries and wait quietly for Duan Ning to launch his four-pronged counterattack. After the four-pronged armies attack separately, they should send five thousand elite cavalry from Yunzhou to Bianzhou to carry out a "decapitation battle" and capture Zhu Youzhen alive. , within ten days and a half, the world can be settled.
Li Cunxu was overjoyed, "That's it!"
Since Wang Yanzhang attacked Desheng Jiacheng, the Later Tang Dynasty lost millions of stones of food and grass. Duan Ning pushed the main force eastward and plundered the areas west of Chanzhou and south of Xiangzhou every day, which reduced the military reserves of the Later Tang army. Seriously insufficient; Kong Qian, deputy minister of logistics in the Later Tang Dynasty, imposed excessive taxes to provide military supplies, causing a large number of people in Heshuo to flee, further exacerbating the fiscal deficit. The existing military rations were no longer enough for half a year; under the instigation of Lu Wenjin and Wang Yu, the Khitan army repeatedly Go south and plunder deep into Hebei. There are rumors among the people that when winter comes and the pastures dry up, the Khitans will plunder further south;
There is definite information that shows that Houliang’s “four-pronged counterattack” plan is scheduled to be implemented in October this year...
Faced with the tense atmosphere, Li Cunxu held a military meeting to discuss the next steps. At the meeting, most civil and military officials were pessimistic and advocated reconciliation. In particular, Li Shaohong, an eunuch whom Li Cunxu trusted very much (it was a great honor to be named "Li Shaox" by Li Cunxu, which shows how favored this eunuch was), proposed the idea of abandoning Yunzhou and dividing the river to rule it. .
He believed that Yunzhou was isolated in the enemy's hinterland, causing hundreds of harms but no benefit. It was better to exchange Yunzhou for Weizhou and sign a friendly treaty with Houliang, agreeing to use the Yellow River as the boundary and rule by dividing the river.
Li Cunxu glanced at everyone with disappointment, "If this is the case, I will die without a burial place!"
During the meeting, Guo Chongtao kept his face as dark as water and said nothing. After the meeting, Li Cunxu motioned to Guo Chongtao to stay, and the monarch and his ministers talked alone.
Guo Chongtao said: "Your Majesty has not washed his hair or taken off his armor, and has been weathering the wind and rain for sixteen years! What do you want? Now, Your Majesty obeys the sky and obeys the people. He has just ascended the throne. The people of Hebei are looking forward to peace in the world day and night, and you have just obtained the throne. How can we talk about the entire Central Plains if we can't defend a few inches of Yunzhou's land? Once we abandon Yunzhou, the morale of the army will be shaken, the hearts of the people will be scattered, the troops will disintegrate, and the consequences will be disastrous!"
Li Cunxu nodded happily, "That makes me feel at ease. What Shao Hong and the others said just now made me very disappointed!"
The opinions of the emperor and his ministers were unanimous. Later Liang opened the Yellow River and believed that it could block the progress of Later Tang by "protecting the water". Therefore, the rear guard was extremely loose, and all its elite forces were concentrated in Duan Ning's hands. Now, Duan Ning has transferred all the elite troops of Houliang to the north of the Yellow River, preparing to continue northward. Once their plan starts to be implemented, the rear must be very empty. Duan Ning is not a general at all, and he has no plan to deal with sudden changes, so there is nothing to worry about. And the empty Bianzhou cannot withstand any disturbance. If there is a slight change, it will automatically collapse. The "left hook" action will definitely work wonders.
However, the "left hook" operation would also put Hou Tang in great danger. Once the advance process was blocked and the beheading goal of the surprise attack on Bianzhou failed to be completed, Hou Tang's own base camp Taiyuan would be taken away by Hou Liang.
For example, the five opponents are demolishing our highland tower, and we have to attack the enemy crystal under the leadership of Liu Chan.
This is a big gamble, the winner gets the world, the loser dies his whole family.
Finally, Guo Chongtao reminded: "The crops will fail this autumn and our military rations will be cut off. Your Majesty must make a decision immediately and stop hesitating!"
Li Cunxu's fighting spirit was high, "Just what I want! A man can become a king or a bandit, life or death depends on this one move!" Then he ordered the entire army to mobilize.
At this time, the Observatory (Si Tianjian) reported that observing the celestial phenomena at night and calculating with fingers would not be conducive to going deep into the enemy's territory. I hope Your Majesty will think twice.
Li Cunxu replied domineeringly: Fuck Si Tianjian!
It happened that Wang Yanzhang's vanguard troops made a tentative attack on Yunzhou and were defeated by Li Siyuan's adopted son Li Congke, killing 200 people and capturing 300 others. Wang Yanzhang retreated to Zhongdu (now Wenshang County, Shandong Province, between Yunzhou and Yanzhou).
Li Cunxu happily said to Guo Chongtao: "Before we leave the army, we will get good news first. It's a good sign. It's a good sign." Taking advantage of the high morale, Li Cunxu finally gave the order to start the "Left Hook" operation.
