The bottom line Liu Zhiyuan told Guo Wei's court: As long as Bai Chengfu is willing to change his mind, the central government of the later Jin Dynasty is willing to give him the position of Jiedushi.
After Guo Wei's on-site inspection, he reported to Liu Zhiyuan that there was no need to spend so much money. We took these barbarians too seriously. An Chongrong just gave them some rags and bribed him. What kind of military governor was he? Yeah, just give me a few cents more.
When Liu Zhiyuan learned the truth, he couldn't laugh or cry. He thought to himself that these are Tatars who have never seen the world! So he told Bai Chengfu: The central government has ceded your pasture to the Khitans. If you do not want to be ruled by the Khitans, the central government will allocate a new pasture for you. You are now the traitor An Chongrong who is helping the country! An Chongrong has become a street rat and is despised by the world. He is not thinking about the day or night and is about to be doomed. If you do not correct your position in time, you will only be destroyed with him. By then, you will neither be able to return to the north nor stay. South (Central Plains), you should think twice now!
Bai Chengfu was greatly frightened and hurriedly stated that he did not know much about the internal affairs of the Central Plains and was not familiar with An Chongrong... Then he led his tribe to defect to Hedong and expressed their allegiance to Liu Zhiyuan.
Liu Zhiyuan went to the imperial court and relocated Bai Chengfu's Tuyuhun tribe to the two prefectures of Lan and Shi, and appointed Bai Chengfu as the governor of Datong (a false title. At this time, the jurisdiction of Datong was all in the "Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun". Within, it already belongs to Khitan). All the elite cavalry from the Tuyuhun tribe were incorporated into Liu Zhiyuan's troops.
In this way, Bai Chengfu's Tuyuhun tribe drew a clear line with An Chongrong and clearly sided with the central court. At the same time, the Tatar, Qibi and other tribes did not respond to An Chongrong's alliance request.
Only then did people discover what An Chongrong had boasted earlier about how the nomadic tribes in the north could not bear the Khitan's exploitation and were killing their trees one after another, how the tribes jointly requested the Central Plains to send troops to conquer the Liao Dynasty, and how much the Han people who were trapped by the barbarians missed their homeland... It was all directed and acted by An Chongrong and was based on wishful thinking.
The nomadic tribes in the north were indeed exploited by the Khitans, but this situation had existed for decades and was not new. This was the law of survival on the grasslands. After any powerful nation gained an advantage, it would inevitably squeeze other weak ones. nationality. Therefore, although the vast majority of northern nomads have complaints on their lips, they are all grumbling, and overall they are tolerable.
As for Bai Chengfu's Tuyuhun tribe, it was due to other reasons. Bai Chengfu pretended to be confused and made political speculation among the Khitan, Later Jin, and An Chongrong, licking honey at the tip of a knife. He succeeded and transformed into a military governor of the Later Jin Dynasty.
An Chongrong came up with groundless lies, used the topic to his advantage, and used a few common complaints to hype up the situation, causing an uproar. However, as Bai Chengfu abandoned the dark side and turned to the bright side, An Chongrong's lies were self-evident.
When the tide goes out, you will know who is swimming naked. An Chongrong became a one-man thieves.
2. Play hard to get but then turn around
In July of the sixth year of Tianfu (941), when Shi Jingtang left Bianzhou for Weizhou, he had already formulated a strategy with He Ning, the bachelor of Duanming Palace, to deal with An Congjin of Xiangzhou.
As Shi Jingtang's command center moves north, An Congjin in the south is very likely to take advantage of the situation. He Ning suggested leaving a dozen blank edicts and troop deployment instructions for Shi Chonggui, who was left behind in Bianzhou. Once An Congjin made some moves, Shi Chonggui only had to temporarily fill in his name and send troops to conquer. Shi Jingtang accepted. Then he announced in a very high-profile manner that Northern Weizhou would be lucky.
In November, An Congjin launched a rebellion. Send troops to the Northern Expedition to attack Dengzhou.
The governor of Tangzhou rushed to Bianzhou to report the urgent military situation. Shi Chonggui, who stayed behind in Bianzhou, immediately activated the emergency plan and sent Zhang Congen, Jiao Jixun, Guo Jinhai (Turkic), Chen Sirang, etc. to lead the central army south to join forces with the local army of Shenzhou Governor Li Jianchong.
Immediately afterwards, Shi Chonggui mobilized the second echelon of counter-insurgency forces and ordered Gao Xingzhou, who was left behind in Luoyang, to take command and go south.
The military deployment of the central court was quickly released: Gao Xingzhou was the commander-in-chief of the main force, Song Yanjun was the deputy commander-in-chief, and Zhang Congen was the supervisor; the vanguard force was led by the Turkic general Guo Jinhai, and Chen Sirang was the supervisor; Shi Jingtang also ordered Weizhou to stay behind. Li Dejun stayed behind in Bianzhou and replaced Shi Chonggui.
The exchange of orders between Shi Chonggui and Li Dejun is worth pondering. Whether Shi Jingtang should protect him or monitor him is a matter of opinion. I personally think it is the latter, because Shi Chonggui stayed in the capital and held more than a dozen blank edicts and troop deployment instructions. He was an extremely huge threat to Shi Jingtang, and his threat level far exceeded that of the North and South Ans. When the emergency plan was activated, Shi Chonggui just rigidly implemented the emergency plan prepared by Shi Jingtang in advance. Once completed, he was immediately transferred to his side and kept under strict supervision in case the "Crown Prince" suddenly had other ideas.
It's really not easy for Shi Jingtang to protect his son from fire and theft.
An Congjin attacked Dengzhou, but An Shenhui, the commander of Dengzhou's Weisheng Army Jiedushi, closed the city and defended it. An Congjin could not attack for a long time, so he relieved the siege and left. An Congjin wanted to take advantage of Shi Jingtang's attack on An Chongrong in Weizhou to launch a blitzkrieg, take advantage of the weakness and surprise him, but he couldn't afford it.
There are two Northern Expedition routes in Ancongjin. One is Dengzhou in the north, and the other is Tangzhou slightly to the east. These two places are the first line of defense for Luoyang and Bianzhou, followed by Xuzhou. Once we reach Xuzhou, great things can be accomplished.
When Dengzhou could not be conquered quickly, An Congjin chose another road that was blocked and detoured from Dengzhou. He then detoured eastward and wanted to go north through Tangzhou. As a result, he was halfway through the road between Dengzhou and Tangzhou. In Huashan in between, they encountered Guo Jinhai's vanguard.
An Congjin was horrified that the blitz turned into an ambush. They could only rush into the battle in a hurry, and the result was predictable: the rebels were defeated, more than 10,000 people were annihilated, An Congjin's son An Hongyi was captured alive, and the seal of the governor of Shannan East Road was captured. An Congjin only led a few dozen personal cavalry and fled back to Xiangzhou in embarrassment. They pulled up the suspension bridge and closed the city gate, and resisted stubbornly.
After the imperial army won the first battle, Shi Jingtang appointed Gao Xingzhou to be in charge of Xiangzhou affairs (knowing the military affairs of Xiangzhou); he also issued an edict ordering Gao Congjie of Jingnan and Ma Xifan of Nanchu to send troops to help suppress the rebellion and provide food and military supplies for the imperial army.
Jingnan and Southern Chu sent surface troops to respond to the central court's edict, attacking from the north and the south, and advancing by land and water. Xiangzhou An Cong's time was running out, and his life was counting down.
On the day the edict was issued, Zhenzhou An Chongrong also received news of An Congjin's rebellion.
"Young people don't follow martial ethics. There must be a first-come, first-served basis, right?"
This year, there was a disaster in Zhenzhou. Drought and locust plagues occurred simultaneously. An Chongrong gathered tens of thousands of hungry people in the territory and coerced them to follow the army southward to Weizhou, claiming to visit Que.
