After receiving the news of An Chongrong's rebellion, Shi Jingtang mobilized his troops and generals to actively respond. Du Chongwei was ordered to take charge of the expedition to suppress the rebellion, and Ma Quanjie, the envoy of Anzhou Jiedu, was appointed deputy commander.
Obviously, Ma Quanjie was allowed to fly and Du Chongwei lay flat to gain experience. Many times, the commander-in-chief is just a temporary post, and it is the deputy commander-in-chief who really contributes.
On December 13, the sixth year of Tianfu (941), Zhenzhou rebels and the imperial army encountered each other in the southwest of Zongcheng (now Wei County, Hebei Province), and a fierce exchange of fire broke out.
An Chongrong had a large number of people and formed a moon formation.
The Yanyue Formation is like a ">", opening its mouth to charge at the enemy. The main general is located at the corner of the center, coordinating and commanding the two wings. This formation is also like a big bag, luring the enemy into the seemingly weak spot in the center, and then outflanking the enemy to make dumplings. If the enemy attacks the left and right wings respectively, the two wings can support each other or change into a circular formation. (First change from > to =, and then circle around to form ○) to surround the enemy in the center of the circle.
One of its shortcomings is that it requires sufficient troops. "Sun Tzu's Art of War" says "encircle an enemy in ten." Otherwise, the enemy will be able to successfully break out of the encirclement by choosing a direction at will.
In this encounter, An Chongrong had an absolute advantage in numbers, so he put up a very confident Yanyue Formation.
Comrade Du Chongwei strategized and cooperated very well to launch three meaningless exploratory attacks, which helped An Chongrong verify the invincible advantage of the Yanyue Formation, successfully asserted the enemy's arrogance, and effectively frustrated our own morale.
Therefore, Du Chongwei decided to avoid the enemy's edge and planned to order a retreat.
Commander Wang Chongyin hurriedly stopped him, saying that the two armies had entered the fighting range. It was a taboo for military strategists to retreat at this time. The enemy would take advantage of the situation to cover up the attack, and our troops would inevitably scatter in panic. It was impossible to retreat. We could only retreat in rout, covering thousands of miles. That's it. Now we should allocate our elite forces to attack the enemy's two wings respectively. I am willing to lead the Khitan cavalry to attack its core. Only in this way can we make it disorderly and our army can win.
In fact, what Wang Chongyin meant was to use himself as bait, actively deliver it into the enemy's pocket, lure the enemy's wings to close toward the center, and then our army would circle back to the outermost side to form an encirclement of the enemy.
Let’s simply make a simple sketch to vividly outline Wang Chongyin’s plan to break the formation:
Initial: three>
Cloth bait: 21＞
Bait: two one two
Bite hook: two or three
2nd
Closing the net: 䘘
The elite forces of the Yanyue Formation are all in the middle, together with the generals, because this is their bait. They must withstand the enemy's impact and drag the enemy back before the two wings can close together to attack.
Wang Chongyin's strategy was to bring the elite Khitan cavalry to attack this strong point. After being surrounded by two enemy wings, although he was trapped in a tight siege, he also exposed the enemy's weaker wings to the friendly forces, allowing the "two" to eat up the "sun". .
Du Chongwei readily accepted this suggestion. So Wang Chongyin regarded death as his own, and led the Khitan cavalry company to resolutely plunge into the enemy's preset trap to win opportunities for his comrades.
Sure enough, the Zhenzhou soldiers fell into the trap. Just like Wang Chongyin's deduction, the two sides quickly evolved into a "gentle"-shaped massacre formation. Only then did the Zhenzhou soldiers realize that they had been tricked by the Central Army and that the clown turned out to be themselves. So their morale was frustrated and they began to retreat. They showed a slightly defeated look, and the balance of the battlefield gradually tilted towards the Central Army.
At this critical moment, an episode occurred on the battlefield, which directly caused the entire Zhenzhou rebel army to collapse.
It is said that An Chongrong had a good friend before he became famous - Zhao Yanzhi. The two were low-level casual commanders (without military power) at the time. "forget" the oath. Later, An Chongrong made the right bet in the Hedong War and was suddenly promoted to Zhenzhou Jiedushi. As a friend in times of need, Zhao Yanzhi continued to serve as a commander of scattered soldiers in the Kansai region, living and waiting to die. Hearing that his iron buddies were prosperous, he traveled thousands of miles from the Kansai region to Zhenzhou to seek refuge with his brothers. Give yourself a lift.
An Chongrong was very happy, "If I have something to eat, you will have something to eat, brother. Who among our buddies will follow whom." An Chongrong did treat Zhao Yanzhi favorably, letting him be responsible for recruiting troops to expand his own strength.
Zhao Yanzhi was also very happy, but he didn't know an unspoken political rule. The poorer the brothers were, the more they would be jealous. We have analyzed the political struggles of many military and political entities before, including the "Conglong Sect", "Conglong Sect", The "hero faction" and the "veteran faction" have always been the top targets of attack, but on the contrary, reduced generals are more trusted and reused. In business activities, entrepreneurial groups cannot escape this rule.
Generally speaking, the top leaders will give generous treatment to the Conglong heroes in terms of material conditions, but will not give them real power. Therefore, although An Chongrong gave Zhao Yanzhi generous treatment, he only gave Zhao Yanzhi a small position when he rebelled, which Zhao Yanzhi hated very much.
Now the two armies were in a stalemate. At this extremely critical moment, Zhao Yanzhi suddenly led his troops to roll up their flags and mount their horses, rush towards the Central Army of the Later Jin Dynasty, and surrender before the battle.
Zhao Yanzhi surrendered to the enemy before the battle, which not only destroyed the position of the Zhenzhou soldiers, but also severely damaged the morale of Zhenzhou. An Chongrong was shocked when he heard this. He hid in the baggage team at the back and slipped away quietly.
An Chongrong's escape caused the Zhenzhou soldiers to completely collapse. The soldiers had no intention of fighting, abandoned their armor and fled in all directions.
The Central Army of the Later Jin Dynasty took advantage of the situation and killed 15,000 enemies in one breath. An Chongrong had just gathered the remaining defeated soldiers and retreated to Zongcheng County. The Central Army did not give him a chance to breathe. They pursued him all night and launched a night battle. That night At the third watch, they broke through the county town and captured 3,000 war horses, more than 30,000 pieces of silk, and other baggage. An Chongrong's subordinate Shi Qianwu tied himself up and surrendered.
In the end, An Chongrong fled back to Zhenzhou with only a dozen personal cavalry and closed the city to hold on.
A cold air from Siberia arrived at Zhenzhou before the Central Army. The temperature dropped suddenly, and nearly 20,000 Zhenzhou defenders froze to death.
It is said that when An Chongrong led the hungry people southward, some folk experts predicted that An Chongrong would be defeated. Because An Chongrong's surname is "An", which is homophonic with the "an" of saddle. The saddle is stable on the back, but the mane is dangerous. Therefore, if An Chongrong went down via Beizhou, it would be a saddle and a back, but if he chose to pass through Daozongcheng, it would be a saddle and a mane, so he would be doomed.
Homophonic memes are really not something that has only become popular on the Internet in recent years. The ancients more than a thousand years ago were having fun playing with them.
Zhang Jianwu, the governor of Jizhou, led his troops to conquer Zhaozhou under the rule of Chengde's army in Zhenzhou, opening the southern gate to Zhenzhou.
The troops led by Zhao Yanzhi who revolted before the battle had their armors and saddle bridles all inlaid with silver decorations. Du Chongwei went so far as to kill Zhao Yanzhi and all his troops and seize their property.
