[Three Major Battles: Battle of Yangcheng]
After the first battle, Shi Chonggui sent an envoy Zhang Hui to sue for peace, but Yelu Deguang refused and Zhang Hui was detained.
Obviously, Yelu Deguang was not willing to give up. He would not give up until the Central Plains was destroyed. The main reason has been mentioned many times, which is the internal line struggle of Khitan. Yelu Deguang wanted to compete with his mother and queen for power by going south to make contributions.
Secondly, although the Battle of Qicheng did not achieve the strategic goal of overthrowing the Later Jin Dynasty, the Khitan did not gain nothing.
Strategic locations in the hinterland of Hebei such as Beizhou, Dezhou, and Bozhou were conquered by the Khitan, allowing the Khitan to take the initiative in the subsequent war.
Beizhou was quickly recovered by the Later Jin Dynasty, which illustrates another serious issue, that is, the Khitan's control over the newly occupied areas is very weak. If they cannot continue to exert pressure, Dezhou, Bozhou, etc. will inevitably suffer the same fate as Beizhou. The state is in ruins. These lands captured in the first battle were the futures positions in Yelu Deguang's hands, and margin calls (troops) had to be added to make a profit.
In order to consolidate his own vested interests, Yelv Deguang also needs to continue sending troops.
Third, through the Battle of Qicheng, Yelu Deguang also saw through Liu Zhiyuan's ambition to separatize Hedong. Just like Zhao Dejun during the Hedong War, Liu Zhiyuan watched the fire from the other side, and also restrained Ma Quanjie, Du Chongwei, etc., so that they did not dare to leave their posts without authorization. , for fear of being annexed by Liu Zhiyuan. This is the fatal flaw of the Later Jin Dynasty, which has been exposed.
These three reasons made the Second War inevitable. What about the triggering conditions? There are two triggering events:
First, according to the "History of Liao" records, in August Zhenzhou soldiers took the initiative to attack Feihu to compete for this strategic location in Hebei, but were repelled by the Khitan's Datong Jiedushi. This matter is not recorded in the "Old History of the Five Dynasties". In "Zi Zhi Tong Jian", Shi Chonggui had just listed the "Fifteen Generals of the Liao Dynasty" at that time, and "History of the Liao" only mentioned it in one sentence. It is estimated that the scale was not large and it should be border friction.
Second, Yelu Deguang will celebrate his birthday in November, and "all the countries came to congratulate him, but Jin did not come." If this record is true, then Shi Chonggui is really not very wise. Although the two countries are still at war, envoys should still be sent to congratulate and express condolences during weddings, funerals and birthdays. This is a basic international etiquette. What's more, Shi Chonggui is still eager to end hostilities and restore peace, so he should take this opportunity to strengthen contacts and engage in "birthday diplomacy."
I don’t know whether Shi Chonggui’s court really didn’t send an envoy, or Yelu Deguang secretly instigated Khitan Customs to deliberately obstruct it. In short, at Yelu Deguang’s birthday party, only the envoys from the Later Jin Dynasty were absent.
Therefore, Yelu Deguang immediately ordered a nationwide mobilization, scheduled to go south on December 1st!
On leap December 1st, the Khitan army assembled at the designated location as agreed. With a melodious horn blast, the Khitan army set off.
Yelu Deguang ordered Zhao Yanshou, the "vanguard of destroying the Jin", to be the vanguard and attack Xingzhou with lightning speed, cutting off the connection between Ma Quanjie and Du Chongwei and the central government; the main force of the Khitan followed up and captured the town in one go. Nine counties under the state's jurisdiction.
Just about half a year after the Battle of Qicheng, the Second Battle broke out. Yelu Deguang carefully summarized the experience and lessons of the Battle of Qicheng. He no longer paid attention to Liu Zhiyuan who was entrenched in Hedong, but concentrated his main force to start the war in Hebei. Yelu Deguang set up the general headquarters in Yuanshi County, south of Zhenzhou and north of Xingzhou.
Yelu Deguang's strategy was to kill Ma Quanjie and Du Chongwei first. As long as the Khitans controlled Xingzhou, they would have completed the strategic siege of Tsui Ma Quanjie and Du Chongwei, because Liu Zhiyuan to the west of the Taihang Mountains would definitely not send troops to rescue, let alone allow their armed forces to enter Hedong. Liu Zhiyuan was stronger than the Taihang Mountains. A wall of copper and iron.
The only thing that Shi Chonggui was thankful for was that he wisely dealt with Qingzhou Yang Guangyuan and smoothed the eastern part of the empire.
Facing the menacing Khitan army, Shi Chonggui was so furious that he couldn't even get sick. He originally wanted to conduct the expedition in person, but due to "no hesitation", he could only send Zhang Congen, An Shenqi and others to lead troops to Xingzhou to tear apart the encirclement of the Khitan cavalry.
Shi Chonggui, who commanded the front line remotely, made a small mistake, that is, before the war started, he ordered Zhang Congen and others to lead their troops to withdraw south to avoid the enemy's edge.
The bayonet is pointed at the tip of the nose, where can we retreat? Li Yunlong should really be allowed to teach him a lesson.
Sure enough, as soon as the army retreated, it immediately lost control and the retreat turned into a rout. The soldiers rushed to throw away their weapons and armor and fled for their lives. The unruly soldiers burned, killed and looted along the way, and retreated to Xiangzhou. At this time, the army of the Later Jin Dynasty was in chaos, its structure was disrupted, and it became an unorganized and undisciplined stragglers.
Before the Khitans could take action, the Later Jin Dynasty was already defeated.
The panic quickly spread to the rear, causing Shi Chonggui to cancel the New Year's greetings on the first day of the first lunar month (the second year of Kaiyun, 945). "The emperor does not accept congratulations from the court, so he does not hesitate."
It is true that Shi Chonggui is ill, but it does not mean that he will not be congratulated. At this time, he was busy with military deployment. Like the first battle, the Khitan started by pushing to the highland tower.
Shi Chonggui ordered Zhang Congen to retreat to Xiangzhou, and transferred Qizhou defense envoy Liu Zaiming to stay in Xiangzhou. Zhao Zaili retreated to Chanzhou, and Ma Quanjie retreated to Weizhou. He sent Zhang Yanze to station in Liyang, and ordered Jing Yanguang to lead his army to guard Huliangdu (northeast of Huazhou, between Liyang and Liyang). South).
It can be seen from the military deployment of both sides that the main battlefields were in the Xingzhou and Weizhou areas, and the Later Jin Dynasty lost the peripheral defense lines such as Dingzhou and Zhenzhou.
Soon, a report came from the front line of Huazhou: From the second day of the first lunar month to the fourth day of the first lunar month, the war in Xiangzhou would not come.
Obviously, the initiative in Xiangzhou is also controlled by the Khitan, and there is a danger of falling at any time.
Shi Chonggui ordered Huazhou Jiedu envoy Huangfu Yu to lead his troops to Xingzhou, and ordered Ma Quanjie to go to Xiangzhou to aid Xiangzhou and push the front northward.
At the same time, the Khitans launched an attack on the three prefectures of Xing, Ming, and Ci, "killing and plundering them all" in a bloody massacre. Dongzhaoyi has become a no-man's land thousands of miles away. Subsequently, the Khitan army invaded Weizhou eastward, and Weizhou was in danger.
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the day of the Shangyuan Festival, the decisive battle began.
Zhang Congen, Ma Quanjie, and An Shenqi gathered all their troops, tens of thousands in total, and formed an array on the south bank of the Anyang River north of Xiangzhou, relying on the Anyang River as the first line of defense.
Huangfu Yu and Murong Yanchao led thousands of cavalry to wander north to scout the whereabouts of the Khitan army and illuminate the field of vision for the army. They came to Ye County. Ye County is located in the south of Zhangshui River, beyond which is Cizhou. The two generals planned to cross the Zhang River and continue to scout the movements of the Khitan army to the north.
At this moment, tens of thousands of Khitan troops suddenly appeared. Without saying a word, the Khitan army immediately launched a fierce attack.
