Zhao Jiliang also summarized what he saw during this visit:
"(Dong Zhang) changed his orders in the morning and in the evening, and he was happy while sitting and angry. The soldiers had a fighting spirit, but they would not have the will to fight. And he planned to use small things to make big plans, and he had the heart to see the whole world, and eventually caused trouble for both rivers..."
Finally, we came to the conclusion that Dong Zhang would definitely tear up the alliance first and take the initiative to invade Xichuan, and we must be prepared.
Meng Zhixiang believed this, and the subsequent development was exactly the same as Zhao Jiliang's profile and deduction.
It is not that there are no fortune tellers and prophets in the world. The so-called "divination", "fortune telling" and "prophecy" are based on mastering sufficient materials and using logical reasoning to calculate a high probability result, similar to today's big data algorithms. . It's like doing math problems or physics problems. If you know conditions A and B, according to the law of A and B, you can calculate the conclusion C.
There are many such prophets, such as Guo Jia, who "believes in ten victories and ten defeats"; Zhuge Liang, who predicts "Longzhong Dui" in the world of three parts; Zhou Xiang, who predicted the "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms" for Wang Jian twenty years in advance; Zhao Jiliang struck first, won a big victory in the early stage, and suffered a disastrous defeat in the later stage...
As soon as Meng Zhixiang arrived in Chengdu, he received the successful news of pacifying Zizhou the next day, and immediately led 8,000 people to march towards Zizhou, arriving in Zizhou in two days. Zhao Tingyin led the civil and military officials of Dongchuan who surrendered out of the city to greet them and presented the heads of Dong Zhang and his son.
It only took 4 days from the start of the "Battle of Jizong Bridge" to Meng Zhixiang's entry into Zizhou. This was a speed that no one could have imagined. The civil war between Sichuan and Sichuan could only be decided in one battle on Jizong Bridge.
Meng Zhixiang entered Zizhou and began to appease the people and digest the fruits of victory. No need to ask, I have to write another full score essay:
"Gai heard that the emperor has no relatives, but virtue is his assistant. The gods are not ignorant, and if they are evil, they will perish."
--Moral support from many, scant support. Justice will surely defeat evil.
"The traitor Dong Zhang, the envoy of Dongchuan Jiedu, harbored evil intentions and betrayed the covenant...the crime shall be attributed to the original evil..."
——Dong Zhang is the culprit of war crimes and the chief culprit. Only kill Dong Zhang and leave the others alone.
"It will eliminate the troubles in the heart and soul and solidify the foundation of the country forever."
——I, Meng Zhixiang, am here to build Dongchuan, not to destroy, loot, and burn.
When Meng Zhixiang came out to pacify the people, the imperial envoys sent an edict from Li Siyuan. The main message was that they heard that the two Sichuan were in civil strife, which was very bad. I had already notified the nearby military towns to help Xichuan and deal with Dongchuan. He and Comrade Meng Zhixiang were at odds with each other.
Meng Zhixiang proudly asked Li Hao to draft a memorial to tell the court the ins and outs of normal war. In this memorial, Meng Zhixiang gave several shocking time points:
On April 28, Dong Zhang sent troops;
On May 1, Dong Zhang captured Hanzhou;
On May 3, Xichuan counterattacked, the "Battle of Jizong Bridge";
On May 4, Dong Zhang was killed.
"Pull down an army in four days." This is my fighting power in Xichuan.
The description of the "Battle of Jizong Bridge" is as follows:
"The minister (Meng Zhixiang) personally drove away Ge Jia, and Zhao Tingyin raised the flag with his hands. With one blow, the fish were defeated and the birds were separated, and with four combinations, the pigs were divided and the snakes were cut off. More than 10,000 people were beheaded, more than 8,000 people were captured, and they were captured alive...Yuan Zhuang and Dong Guangyan were among the top 80 people, and captured more than 500 horses and horses, and harvested more than 100,000 pieces of clothing, armor, and equipment..."
According to Meng Zhixiang's description, Dong Zhangzhi took his son Dong Guangsi and two cavalrymen, a total of four people, to escape from the battlefield. Restored the miserable state of Dong Zhang and his son:
"Caressing the wheel to hide the weeping, looking at the chaos with salty sorrow."
"Death in Wujiang is not far away, but shame in Chibi is even greater."
Xiang Yu, who committed suicide in Wujiang River, is nothing. Don't laugh at Chibi Meng De Cao. He is so shameless. It depends on the current situation.
At the end of the memorial, Meng Zhixiang joked proudly: "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, I was wrong. I accidentally killed Dong Zhang in 4 days. Your Majesty had just heard about Dong Zhang's use of troops and was still arranging troops and discussing strategies." By that time, the war was over. But that’s fine, it saves people from saying that our two Sichuan sides are inseparable, singing a double act against the imperial court.”
Li Siyuan announced this memorial to all officials, and the result was that "everyone at home and abroad knew about it, and everyone was shocked."
Meng Zhixiang took advantage of He Jie's opportunity to show off his muscles to the court. From then on, the court no longer dared to attack Shu lightly.
It can be said that the "Battle of Jizong Bridge" had a profound impact on Shu. It not only annexed Dongchuan in four days, but also won a peaceful and stable external environment for Shu for decades, creating a "post-war" for Meng Zhixiang. "Shu" laid the foundation.
The "Later Shu" (one of the "Ten Kingdoms") subsequently founded by Meng Zhixiang successfully defeated the Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han, and Later Zhou. It was not until the establishment of the Song Dynasty that Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin dared to pursue the idea of Shu.
It is worth mentioning that the Shu regime, a country with natural dangers and difficult road to Shu, perished at an incredible speed: Li Cunxu destroyed the former Shu in 70 days; Zhao Kuangyin destroyed the later Shu in only 66 days.
Although the civil war between Sichuan and Sichuan lasted less than ten days, the preparations before the war left Meng Zhixiang physically and mentally exhausted. It is difficult to imagine the tremendous mental pressure he endured. In the "Battle of Jizong Bridge", he went into battle again and personally commanded , overloaded work. After Dong Zhang's death, nine states in Dongchuan surrendered one after another, which brought Meng Zhixiang a series of stability maintenance and digestion tasks.
After Dong Zhang's death, the entire territory of Dongchuan surrendered, but Meng Zhixiang finally fell ill and became seriously ill the next day.
As Meng Zhixiang's confidant, Wang Chuhui, the deputy envoy of Zhongmen, was responsible for taking care of Meng Zhixiang's food and daily life. Wang Chuhui has a generous and resourceful character. At that time, Meng Zhixiang was so ill that it was difficult to eat, his appetite was very small, and he was very weak.
Generally speaking, the lord's meals are served by trusted people. People in the kitchen handed the food to Wang Chuhui and waited outside the door. After Meng Zhixiang finished eating, Wang Chuhui sent out the tableware. People in the kitchen were not allowed to meet Meng Zhixiang directly to prevent an assassination incident.
Every time before delivering the tableware, Wang Chuhui would secretly throw away the leftovers, creating the illusion that Meng Zhixiang was in better health and that his food tasted delicious. The morale of the army was thus stabilized, and no one knew Meng Zhixiang's true condition.
A few days later, Meng Zhixiang recovered and continued to deal with the work at hand. The three armies are given a big reward, and rewards are given based on their merits. The most important issue is the ownership of Dongchuan. Who will be the "Dongchuan Jiedu Envoy"?
In Meng Zhixiang's mind, there are two candidates, Li Renhan and Zhao Tingyin. Meng Zhixiang summoned his two confidant generals, with a kind smile on his face, and asked expectantly: "Two generals, who is willing to help me guard this place?"
Meng Zhixiang originally thought that the two would be humble and polite to each other, praise each other's achievements, and create a happy reunion scene in which the monarch and his ministers were harmonious and the generals and ministers were united. As for who will guard it, Meng Zhixiang's answer is that anyone can do it. The two generals are both his favorite generals, and both have made great achievements in the recent past, so they are qualified to sit in Dongchuan.
However, the performance of Li Renhan and Zhao Tingyin greatly disappointed Meng Zhixiang, and the situation was quite embarrassing for a time.
