Not long ago, Li Jinquan rebelled in Anzhou, and Ma Quanjie took charge of the expedition. He returned with success and moved to Zhendong Zhaoyi; now he followed the army to conquer An Chongrong and made similar achievements.
Shi Jingtang admired him very much and trusted him both publicly and privately. Like An Shuqian, although he did not belong to Shi Jingtang's direct lineage from Hedong, he was still highly regarded.
Obviously, it was not Shi Jingtang's real intention to replace Ma Quanjie with An Shuqian. In this operation, Shi Jingtang's real intention was to replace Ma Quanjie with Dingzhou Wang Tingyin.
Wang Tingyin, the grandson of Wang Chucun, had previously been short of military envoy in Dingzhou. Yelv Deguang wanted Wang Wei (youngest son of Wang Chuzhi), who grew up in Khitan, to be the military envoy of Dingzhou in order to control the Dingzhou rebel army. Control, extending the Khitan's tentacles to the south of the Sixteenth Prefecture of Youyun, gradually encroaching on the entire Hebei region. Shi Jingtang found Wang Tingyin, a living treasure, and appointed him as the governor of Dingzhou, thus cutting off the Khitan conspiracy.
In addition to being Wang Chucun's grandson, Wang Tingyin was also Li Keyong's nephew. His father, Wang Ye, married Li Keyong's sister, and was one generation older than Shi Jingtang.
The ethical title is not the point. The point is whether Comrade Wang Tingyin has the ability to sit in charge of the state.
Dingzhou has extremely important strategic significance. Especially after the "Sixteen Youyun Provinces" were ceded to the Khitan, Dingzhou's importance in geopolitics suddenly increased. The important task of resisting the barbarians in the north changed from Youzhou to Dingzhou.
There are mountains surrounding Youzhou to the north, and there are dangers to defend. Even so, those who are in charge of Youzhou are not idle. They are all generals who can take charge of their own affairs, such as Zhou Dewei and Zhao Dejun.
However, Dingzhou is located in the North China Plain south of Youzhou and is almost undefendable. The burden of defending the Khitans in Dingzhou is far heavier than in Youzhou.
In contrast, Comrade Ma Quanjie, who has rich combat experience, is obviously more suitable for this role than Wang Tingyin, a "relative of the emperor and the country".
From this point of view, Shi Jingtang's intention for this wave of town relocation operations is obvious-to guard against the Khitans.
We have repeatedly emphasized that both Shi Jingtang and the "pro-Liao" ministers such as Sang Weihan whom he relied on regarded pro-Liao as a means to be pro-Liao but not refined. They are always preparing to fall out with the Khitan, and the "Sin-Liao War" will happen sooner or later.
For example, after quelling Fan Yanguang's rebellion in Weizhou, in order to weaken Yang Guangyuan's power, Shi Jingtang divided Weibo and carried out drastic operations on the Heshuo area, which contained concerns about Khitan's southern invasion. For example, the government agencies in Chanzhou were Moved south to Deshengdu.
Now that An Chongrong of Zhenzhou was pacified, Shi Jingtang transferred his capable generals to Dingzhou, Xingzhou and other strategic locations, and moved the military iron fist northward to solidify the peripheral defense line and consolidate the strategic depth.
All of Shi Jingtang's actions were in preparation for the "Sin-Liao War".
Shi Jingtang's approach is not to worry out of nowhere, but to prepare for a rainy day. The imperialists never gave up their desire to destroy themselves, and the Khitan never gave up their illusions about the Central Plains and Han Dynasty.
As mentioned earlier, while An Chongrong was shouting anti-Liao slogans and overthrowing the traitor and puppet emperor Shi Jingtang, he was also secretly in contact with the Khitan, preparing to follow Shi Jingtang's old path and rely on the help of the Khitan people to go south to seize power, change dynasties, and pass. An emperor's addiction.
So the Khitans were not completely ignorant of this rebellion. The Khitan collected intelligence from the Central Plains through various channels and built a pervasive spy intelligence network in the Central Plains. It can be said that the Khitan knew the situation in the Central Plains well.
When it was learned that An Chongrong was going to launch a rebellion, there were intense and secret discussions within the Khitan. The plans discussed were summarized into three major factions: left, center and right.
Conservatives believe that the Khitan's current main task is to digest vested interests and maintain the new order after the Hedong War, that is, to ensure Shi Jingtang's rule over the Central Plains, thereby ensuring the legitimacy and effectiveness of the cession of the "Sixteen Youyun States";
Radicals believe that An Chongrong is the second Shi Jingtang, and the Khitan can completely copy the "Hedong model" and reap greater benefits, such as asking An Chongrong to cede the entire land north of the Yellow River;
The centrists believe that there should be a compromise, that is, they should still protect Shi Jingtang's later Jin regime, but they should also blackmail An Chongrong severely so that Shi Jingtang can make greater concessions and provide greater benefits.
No matter what the specific stance or operation is, the Khitan is "fortunate to China's troubles", and the ultimate goal is to take advantage of the chaos.
Due to Khitan's own internal problems, namely the power struggle between Yelu Deguang's "Emperor Party" and Empress Dowager Shulu's "Queen Party", Yelu Deguang's ideas became more radical, advocating that large-scale military operations should be used to complete the control of the Central Plains. Reorganize resources and build a new order in the Central Plains; while Queen Mother Shulu's ideas are relatively conservative, advocating that the Sixteen States of Youyun should be managed first, and the intervention in the Central Plains should be mainly diplomatic.
Unexpectedly, An Chongrong was defeated so quickly. He officially rebelled in December, and his heads were sent to Khitan in January of the following year. The full deal only lasted a month. The Khitan did not have time to react, or Yelu Deguang did not have time to settle internal affairs.
Yelu Deguang really wanted to reap another wave of profits and continue to get rid of the control of his mother, but the resistance he faced was also quite huge, because half a year ago, there was a rebellion in Shuozhou, and Zhao Chong, the deputy envoy of Jiedu, expelled the Khitans. Jiedushi announced his return to the Central Plains.
Although the "Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun" have legally changed hands to the Khitan, the vast majority of the soldiers and civilians here are still in Cao's camp and their hearts are with the Han. They never forget that they are Han Chinese in the Central Plains, and it is shameful to change their nationality to the Khitan. When he first took over, Yunzhou Wu Luan led his troops to hold on to the city and refused to carry out the transfer order; Lu Qi led the soldiers and civilians of Xinzhou to flee Zhenzhou... Now, Shuozhou expelled the Jiedushi and rebelled back to the Central Plains.
A series of events all point to one problem, that is, the Khitan has not yet completely digested and absorbed the "Sixteen States of Youyun". This is also the main basis for the conservatives headed by the Queen Mother Shulu. The Khitan does need a certain amount of time and energy to consolidate its vested interests and should not expand blindly.
Yelu Deguang sent the Hui envoy Niao Gu to lead his troops to quell the rebellion. The siege of Shuozhou lasted for half a year, from June to December.
When the Later Jin Dynasty notified An Congjin and An Chongrong of rebellion, Yelu Deguang's main energy was still on Shuozhou, in order to be able to fight against the "Second An's Rebellion" - especially An Chongrong's Rebellion in Zhenzhou in the north. Occupying a dominant position in order to maximize political benefits, Yelu Deguang increased the pressure on Shuozhou, striving to devote all his energy to the Zhenzhou war after solving the Shuozhou issue.
At the end of the year, the Khitan finally captured Shuozhou, but its commander-in-chief Niao Gu only died in the battle. Yelu Deguang was furious and immediately ordered to kill all the adult men in Shuozhou City (ordering the strong men in the city to be executed)! And some people with registered residence were punished as slaves and used as the private property of the martyr Niao Guzhi.
