Fu Yanqing and others asked the supervisor Li Shouzhen for instructions whether to engage in a tug-of-war in which the enemy advances and we retreat, and when we retreat we advance, or whether they should continue to move forward regardless of the situation.
Li Shouzhen's pupils were filled with blood, "With the current situation, there is no reason to turn back? Charge, charge, charge!"
The sandstorm is getting bigger and bigger, flying sand and rocks, covering the sky and the sun, and the entire land is shrouded in darkness, just like night.
Fu Yanqing and others led 10,000 cavalry, quietly detoured back to the rear of the Khitan array, turned the headwind into a tailwind, and then violently attacked the rear of the Khitan, with a loud killing sound. In the darkness, the Khitan army was frightened by the sudden arrival of the Later Jin cavalry, and mistakenly thought that reinforcements were arriving. As a result, the Khitan cavalry was defeated and fled like a landslide.
Li Shouzhen ordered the infantry to dismantle the wooden fence, and the entire army attacked to fight the barbarians!
The Khitan's most elite heavy armored troops, the Iron Kites, had all dismounted to demolish the Luzhai. In a hurry, they had no time to mount their horses, so they could only throw away their armor and horses, and fled in despair in the darkness and fear.
The army of the Later Jin Dynasty chased north for more than 20 miles at a stretch, until they reached the waterside southeast of Yangcheng. Then they gradually gathered the remaining troops and prepared to form an array to save the decline.
Du Chongwei finally made a correct decision, saying that we should not give the enemy a chance to breathe. So he sent cavalry to continue the pursuit.
The Khitan army was shattered and defeated, and they fled north across the river. Even Yelu Deguang had to abandon the luxurious and heavy "Khitan No. 1" car and switch to a camel to escape north.
The soldiers of the Later Jin Dynasty were greatly encouraged and prepared to cross the river to pursue them.
"Stop!" Du Chongwei ordered to stop the pursuit and shouted loudly: "We are lucky to be alive until now. Do you still want to covet the loot? Are you willing to die?"
Li Shouzhen thought what he said made sense, saying that our soldiers had not drunk water for two days and their feet were so swollen that they could hardly walk. It was better to retreat safely and preserve their strength.
As a result, the troops of the Later Jin Dynasty withdrew into Dingzhou; Yelu Deguang ran back to Youzhou in one breath.
As the supreme commander of the army, Du Chongwei has been criticized for his cowardly performance. If his performance in the Battle of Yangcheng can barely be regarded as prudent, then it is difficult to find excuses for his other performances in this war, which will be discussed later. will be mentioned.
At the end of March, soldiers and horses from all walks of life set up their own headquarters in Dingzhou.
In early April, Shi Chonggui returned to Bianzhou from Chanzhou. Taizhou was placed under the Dingzhou Volunteer Army, and then officials were sent to Luoyang to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth, the ancestral temple and the country, thanking heaven and earth, and thanking their eight generations of ancestors.
Shi Chonggui announced a general amnesty for the world and awarded meritorious officials:
Liu Zhiyuan was named King of Peiping; Du Chongwei was appointed Grand Tutor; Li Shouzhen was appointed Grand Master and Deputy Commander of the Imperial Guard; An Shenqi was appointed Imperial Attendant; Huangfu Yu was appointed Tongping Zhangshi... There is no need to list them all in detail, but there is one The little obvious details: Liu Zhiyuan.
As mentioned before, in the second battle - the "Battle of Yangcheng", Liu Zhiyuan did not do anything at all, and he was not even considered a substitute. Shi Chonggui did not assign any tasks to him, but when he was rewarded after the fact, Liu Zhiyuan ranks first in merit list, and the first person on the reward list is Liu Zhiyuan.
After Liu Zhiyuan received the edict, he couldn't stop laughing. "Has the Emperor already suspected me to this extent? Hey!"
Yelu Deguang fled back to Youzhou in embarrassment on a camel, and also held a post-war summary meeting. The core theme was one word - "fight"! The tribal chiefs and generals who accompanied the army on the expedition were severely beaten. It is said that each of them received hundreds of military sticks. There was only one person who was not beaten, and that person was Zhao Yanshou.
The second battle - the "Battle of Yangcheng" lasted less than five months. It still ended with the victory of Later Jin Dynasty.
The first two battles are basically the same template:
That is, the Khitan struck first, intersecting and cutting with lightning speed, and gained the opening advantage; the later Jin Dynasty reacted quickly, took advantage of the vast strategic depth, traded space for time, and immediately switched in after blocking the first wave of the Khitan offensive. In the stalemate stage, positional warfare in mobile warfare was carried out on the Hebei plains; the Khitan tribes retreated when they were in trouble, and stopped when they were in trouble. After entering the stalemate stage, the will to fight dropped sharply and the combat was passive, so the Later Jin Dynasty launched a counterattack stage, and then the Khitan retreated , and then the Jin Dynasty did not dare to go deep into the enemy's territory. Both sides took up separate positions, and the battle ended.
After the battle, the Later Jin Dynasty's approach was consistent. They first sent troops to launch a tentative attack on the Sixteenth Prefecture of Youyun, and then were repelled. Then they sent envoys to Khitan to demand negotiations and a ceasefire.
After the Battle of Qicheng, Zhang Hui was sent to Khitan to negotiate peace, but was detained. After the Battle of Yangcheng, the Later Jin Dynasty sent Meng Shouzhong to negotiate peace in June.
The defeat of the two battles put Yelu Deguang under tremendous political pressure.
The war was fair. It not only severely damaged the economy of the Han region in the Central Plains, but also destroyed the national strength of the Khitans. People in the border areas died and fled in large numbers. The livestock that the herdsmen relied on for survival also died in large numbers. The Khitans were filled with anti-war sentiment.
At this time, Empress Dowager Shulu of the "Fu Jin Sect" stood up and reminded Yelu Deguang not to resort to violence. If he persisted in going his own way, Khitan would be in danger of falling apart.
Comparatively speaking, nomadic civilization is more fragile than agricultural civilization. A snowstorm or an unsuccessful war (not necessarily a failure, as long as there is not enough loot, it is considered unsuccessful), may make a huge empire instantly collapse. collapse.
Because the political and ecological environment of nomadic civilization is more primitive, simpler and rougher, and the laws of the forest are more simple. Whoever can lead us to rob the wealth will be our boss, who will be the Khan; otherwise, choose a new more capable Khan, Youcanyouup.
A disgraceful defeat will greatly question Khan's majesty, and what will follow is a simple and crude chicken-eating contest, like choosing the Wolf King or the Lion King.
For example, the Khitan's previous khan was Yaonan Qinde (also known as "Hende Jin") of the Yaonan clan. He failed in his attack on Youzhou and was defeated by Liu Rengong, the governor of Youzhou at the time. Therefore, Yelu of the Yelu clan Abaoji took his place and became the new Khan.
Agricultural civilization is more likely to evolve a management system called "etiquette" and refine the core idea of "loyalty, filial piety, justice". Therefore, in the face of military failure, agricultural civilization is more likely to evolve Being inspired to cohesion, the more disastrous the defeat, the more united the people will be.
This is the most puzzling thing about the invaders of nomadic civilization. Why are the people of the Central Plains not afraid of death? Why is it that the more they massacre the city, the stronger their will to resist becomes?
Now, Yelu Deguang has suffered two major defeats in less than a year and a half. His domestic prestige has dropped sharply, and the public's anti-war sentiment is rising. If the war continues, I'm afraid your grandson will still be a grandson, but his grandfather will not be his grandfather. .
