[Wang Yanzhang died for his country]
Li Cunxu ordered that all civil and military officials should send their families to Weizhou, burn their boats and fight against Hou Liang.
October 1st, solar eclipse.
Li Cunxu sent his wife Liu and his son Li Jiji back to Weizhou. When they were leaving, Li Cunxu said to them with tears in his eyes: "Life and death, honor and disgrace, we have to fight here. If it fails, you can gather your family members in the palace and fight with the whole clan." Self-immolation and sacrifice for the country!" Afterwards, from Li Cunxu on down, all the civil and military officials and their families all shed tears to say goodbye, wrote wills and explained the funeral arrangements.
On October 2, Li Cunxu personally led the army from Yangliu and crossed the Yellow River south;
On October 3, he met up with Li Siyuan in Yunzhou; at night, he continued to advance without stopping;
In the early morning of October 4th, they encountered the army and the Houliang patrol. Houtang pursued them all the way and directly surrounded Zhongdu. The defenders were caught off guard and immediately broke out. The army of the Later Tang Dynasty pursued them closely.
At this time, General Xia Luqi of the Later Tang Dynasty single-handedly chased dozens of Houliang cavalry. No one could be seen in the darkness, but the conversation between them could be vaguely heard. After hearing a few words, Xia Luqi was very excited, "Hey, Wang Tiejian!"
Xia Luqi was originally a junior high school student in the Xuanwu Army in Bianzhou. He defected to Hedong because of a conflict with his general. He once fought with Zhou Dewei in Youzhou. At that time, the famous Youzhou generals Shan Yangui and Yuan Xingqin were both said to be brave and invincible. Fighting with them, the two cannot be separated, and the soldiers all release their troops to look around).
Li Cunxu was ambushed by Liu Wei before and was trapped in a tight siege. His life was hanging by a thread. Xia Luqi, holding a gun in one hand and a sword in the other, killed more than a hundred Bian soldiers with his own hands and rescued Li Cunxu. Xia Luqi was also seriously injured, so He was given the name Li Shaoqi by Li Cunxu.
Xia Luqi once served in the Xuanwu Army and was a good friend of Wang Yanzhang, so he instantly locked onto Wang Yanzhang's back with his voice.
"Wang Tiejian!"
The voice sounded familiar to Wang Yanzhang, and he didn't know whether the person behind him was an enemy or a friend, or what his intentions were, so he turned around in response. But in the darkness, a glimmer of cold light passed by, and the cold spear hit Wang Yanzhang's neck.
Wang Yanzhang was seriously injured and captured, "So it's you?"
More than 200 generals including Commander-in-Chief Zhang Hanjie and Assistant General Zhao Tingyin were captured alive, and thousands of others were killed. The Eastern Route Army planned by Duan Ning was completely annihilated and ceased to exist.
Zhao Tingyin was originally on the list of people to be executed. When he was about to be executed, Xia Luqi shouted to save people under the knife and hurriedly played Li Cunxu, saying that this material could be used. Therefore, Li Cunxu pardoned Zhao Tingyin, and Zhao Tingyin became loyal to the Later Tang Dynasty. Later, he assisted Meng Zhixiang in establishing Houshu (one of the "Ten Kingdoms").
For Wang Yanzhang, Li Cunxu wanted to surrender.
Previously, in order to boost morale, Wang Yanzhang once said to his subordinates, "Li Yazi is just a kid who is obsessed with cockfighting and walking dogs. There is nothing to be afraid of." Now, when Li Cunxu saw Wang Yanzhang, he jokingly asked: "You often say that I am a You little brat who doesn’t have anything to worry about, have you taken it today?”
Wang Yanzhang smiled bitterly and said nothing.
Li Cunxu asked again: "You are a wise general. Why don't you defend Yanzhou and choose Zhongdu, which has no city walls, to garrison troops?"
Obviously this is the work of Zhang Hanjie and other "foreign relatives gang". Wang Yanzhang didn't bother to explain, and just said, "The big thing is over, and it can't be done by manpower."
Li Cunxu was joking, but he understood Wang Yanzhang's difficulties in his heart. He very much hoped that Wang Yanzhang would abandon the dark side and turn to the bright side and join the Later Tang Dynasty, so he comforted him with kind words and ordered the imperial doctor to treat his wounds.
Faced with Li Cunxu's sugar-coated bombs, Wang Yanzhang said a heroic saying, "How can the dynasty of Liang and twilight of Jin be seen by the people in the world?"
Li Cunxu's persuasion failed, and others tried to persuade him, but still failed. Finally, Li Cunxu sent Li Siyuan to lobby.
After Wang Yanzhang saw Li Siyuan, he said with great contempt: "Aren't you Miao Jilie? Don't waste your efforts. I would rather die than surrender."
Li Siyuan was an "inferior citizen" in the Shatuo tribe. He didn't even have a surname. He only had a nickname of "Miao Jilie". After being adopted as an adopted son by Li Keyong, he got the name "Li Siyuan". Calling him "Miao Ji Lie" was the biggest insult to Li Siyuan. In order to show his determination not to surrender, Wang Yanzhang deliberately angered the people who came to lobby.
Li Cunxu still refused to give up. When the army set off, he sent someone to carry the seriously injured Wang Yanzhang on a stretcher to let him see the power of the Later Tang army. "How about this, do you think I can achieve a complete victory in this attack and wipe out the Later Liang?"
Wang Yanzhang rolled his eyelids and said, "Wishful thinking! Although Duan Ning has no outstanding talent, he still has 60,000 elites at his disposal. Just relying on your sneak attacks, humph, it's not certain who will have the last laugh."
Li Cunxu knew that Wang Yanzhang would never surrender, so he ordered him to be beheaded.
After annihilating Wang Yanzhang's troops, the civil and military officials congratulated Li Cunxu. Li Cunxu toasted Li Siyuan and Guo Chongtao, saying that today's victory depends entirely on the two of you. If I listened to Li Shaohong's words, the consequences would be disastrous.
At this time, most generals still did not have enough confidence in Operation "Left Hook" and thought it was too risky. They proposed to expand territory eastward, extending all the way to the seaside, occupying today's Shandong and northern Jiangsu, and slowly develop operations. Let’s slowly start thinking about Bianzhou.
Kang Yanxiao firmly supports the "Left Hook" operation.
Li Siyuan supported the continuation of the "left hook" and pointed out that Duan Ning did not know about Wang Yanzhang's capture. Even if the defeated army rushed there to report, he might not be credulous. With his urine, even if he believed it, he would at least It would take three days to make a decision. When he went south for rescue, he would also be blocked by the floods he had launched. He would have to take a long way to Hakumatsu, transporting tens of thousands of troops in a few small broken boats, which would also take a lot of time; The straight-line distance between us and Bianzhou is less than five hundred miles, and there are no mountains or rivers in the middle. The road is flat. If we travel day and night, we can reach the city of Bianzhou in three days. Before Duan Ning could react, Zhu Youzhen had already become our prisoner.
Li Siyuan pointed and drew on the map, using data as support, and what he said was clear and logical. Finally, Li Siyuan once again volunteered, "I would like to lead a thousand cavalry as the vanguard and rush into Bianzhou. Your Majesty can lead the main force to follow slowly."
Li Cunxu approved.
So Li Siyuan led a thousand Shatuo troops and galloped across the vast Central China Plain, running towards Bianzhou day and night.
On October 7, they arrived in Caozhou, which was between Zhongdu and Bianzhou, close to Bianzhou. In other words, the army of the Later Tang Dynasty had completed more than half of the journey. The Caozhou defender gave up resistance and surrendered to Kaicheng.
On October 8, Bianzhou received information that the army of the Later Tang Dynasty had crossed Caozhou. The dust was flying, covering the sky and the sun, and the number of the troops was unknown. The monarchs and ministers of Hou Liang panicked, and the last emperor Zhu Youzhen committed suicide in despair and martyred his country. From Zhu Youzhen onwards, all civil and military officials fled to death.
In the early morning of October 9, Li Siyuan's troops arrived at the gate of Bianzhou City. Wang Zan, the former commander-in-chief of the Northern Expeditionary Army in Houliang, surrendered in Kaicheng. Li Siyuan went to the city to appease the people.
After dawn, Li Cunxu entered Bianzhou. All civil and military officials from Houliang knelt on both sides of the road and kowtowed, begging for forgiveness. Li Cunxu Ming comforted them with words and allowed them to return to their respective jobs.
Three days, just three days, Houliang perished.
