After Wang Jun heard about it, he wrote a letter and said that the reason why I stayed was not to fear the enemy, but to avoid the enemy's sharp edge. The city of Jinzhou is strong and cannot be easily conquered. Liu Chong's morale is at a high level at this time, so it is not appropriate to confront him head-on. He only needs to wait for a while. If they cannot attack for a long time, their morale will decline. As the saying goes, one can go all out and then decline again. Three and three are exhausted. If I attack suddenly again at that time, the enemy will definitely fall apart.
At the end of the memorial, Wang Jun also pointed out: His Majesty has just ascended the throne and cannot leave Bianzhou easily. Once the imperial commander goes on a personal expedition, and Murong Yanchao takes advantage of the opportunity to enter Bianzhou, wouldn't we be left in the cold?
After reading the memorial, Guo Wei raised his hand and slapped himself, "Why am I so confused!" He immediately announced the cancellation of the personal expedition.
It was more than a month after Wang Jun set off from Bianzhou that he slowly arrived in Jiangzhou. It took another five days before he slowly moved towards Jinzhou.
Between Jiangzhou and Jinzhou, there is a place called "Mengqian" with the most dangerous terrain, with cliffs on one side and turbulent rivers on the other.
Wang Jun was most worried that Liu Chong would station heavy troops here, and he waited uneasily for news of the expedition. Soon, Tanma came to report that Mengqian had no soldiers stationed and the forward troops had passed safely.
Wang Jun was so excited that he couldn't believe his ears, "It seems that Liu Chong really doesn't know how to fight, and great things can be accomplished!"
At this time, it was already the twelfth lunar month, and the weather was freezing. The coalition forces of the Northern Han Dynasty and the Khitan camped in the north of Jinzhou for more than 50 days without achieving any gains. The surrounding people had also transferred personnel and materials. The coalition forces lost supplies, and there was heavy snowfall. The morale of the coalition forces was low.
Liu Chongshang was supported by the belief in destroying the Later Zhou Dynasty, but the Khitan army was a "mercenary" and a political speculator who needed to see high short-term returns. In comparison, the morale of the Khitan army was even lower.
When news came that Wang Jun's reinforcements had crossed Menglan, the Khitan army immediately burned down the camp and evacuated overnight. The Hedong Army lost its powerful allies and its morale was on the verge of collapse.
Wang Jun's army entered the Jinzhou battlefield, and the generals requested to fight. However, Wang Jun did not move and waited until the next day before sending Yao Yuanfu, Kang Yannum and others to attack with cavalry.
The Northern Han army, which had lost its Khitan allies, was defeated and suffered heavy casualties. Kang Yannumao was worried about being ambushed, so he stopped pursuing and watched the remnants of the Northern Han Dynasty flee.
Yao Yuanfu pointed out that Liu Chong had devoted all his country's power and came with Khitan reinforcements, aiming to annex Jin and Jiang. Now, their strength was exhausted. If they could not take this opportunity to annihilate their effective forces, they would surely have endless troubles.
However, the other generals did not intend to pursue, and the commander-in-chief Wang Jun also sent an envoy to order the squadron.
In this way, the Northern Han Dynasty's second march south ended in failure.
There is a reason why Wang Jun is cautious and conservative. Soldiers have to consider how to fight, while politicians have to consider whether to fight.
First of all, it is considered from a military perspective.
As Wang Jun said, Jinzhou City is tall and strong and will not be easily conquered. What about Taiyuan? Taiyuan's city defense system is even worse than that of Jinzhou. Although the latter week won the victory in the Jinzhou battlefield, with the current strength, it is absolutely impossible for the latter week to annex Hedong in one go.
Both soldiers and politicians should keep a clear head. They should not be dazzled by the joy of a victory and become reckless and aggressive, nor can they be stunned by the frustration of a failure.
Secondly, it is the exchange of diplomatic bargaining chips.
Guo Wei's enemy is not only Liu Chong in Hedong, but as Wang Jun mentioned, there is also Murong Yanchao in Yanzhou in the east. He is a time bomb in the territory of Later Zhou Dynasty;
In addition, Huainan has been ready to take advantage of the civil strife in the Central Plains since the Later Han Dynasty;
Of course, what will be considered most in the coming weeks is the Khitan, an old friend of the people of the Central Plains. Guo Wei does not want to completely break up with the Khitan. The escalation of the conflict with the Khitan at this stage is not in line with the overall interests of the coming weeks.
Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, especially since the founding of Yelu Abaoji, the Khitan has always been a force that cannot be ignored in the Central Plains. The Khitan's political attitude towards the Central Plains will have a serious impact on the Central Plains dynasty. This influence of Khitan is mainly due to its role as a shit stirrer.
The Khitan was not the arbiter of affairs in the Central Plains, but used the Northern Han Dynasty to blackmail the Later Zhou Dynasty. The price is directly linked to the strength of the Northern Han Dynasty. If the Northern Han Dynasty is strong, then the Khitan can charge a lot of money, until it is like helping the Later Jin Dynasty to destroy the Later Tang Dynasty; but now, the Northern Han Dynasty is unable to support the wall with mud, so the price is lowered to One hundred thousand guan every year.
What was the concept of one hundred thousand guan at that time? Just in April of this year (951), Guo Wei had just issued an edict to regulate the salaries of some local officials, which can be used as a reference:
"The defense envoy has two hundred guans, one hundred shi of millet, five shi of salt, ten horses of grass and millet, clothing and food for thirty people in Yuan Dynasty... The governor has one hundred guan, fifty shi of millet, five shi of salt, Yuan With twenty people.”
However, due to the weak national power of Hedong Liu Chong, civil servants in the Northern Han Dynasty had lower wages. The prime minister had one hundred guan per month, and the Jiedushi only had 30 guan per month.
Another reference is the reward Liu Chengyou gave to the officers and soldiers when Guo Wei went south and proclaimed himself emperor. Each person was given twenty guans at a time. Although twenty guan is not much, don't forget that everyone has it. The number of troops is tens of thousands. Even if there are only 10,000 people, it is still 200,000 guan. This is only based on soldiers and low-level officers. Senior military officers cannot be spent with twenty dollars.
It is conceivable that if a mere hundred thousand guan can change the world, it will undoubtedly be a great victory in the coming weeks.
Therefore, as long as Liu Chong cannot achieve his expected goals, let him return without success, and expose his weakness and incompetence to the Khitan, it will be Guo Wei's greatest victory.
And if Guo Wei persists in pursuit and inflicts heavy losses on the Khitan army, it will arouse the voices of war within the Khitan. Yelu Jing, who has just ascended the throne, will not be able to stop him even if he wants to stop. Once the war machine is launched, both sides will lose. Letting the Khitan reinforcements retreat not only left a step for Yelujing, but also left a way out for himself.
Third, it is a political game.
Let the Khitans go, and also let Liu Chong go.
As Yao Yuanfu said, letting Liu Chong go was letting the tiger return to the mountain, but from another perspective, Liu Chong of Hedong was also the watchdog of the Central Plains dynasty. The Northern Han Dynasty and the Later Zhou Dynasty fought hard and both sides suffered losses. Of course, the happiest one was the Khitan.
If the later Zhou Dynasty wiped out the active forces in Hedong, but was unable to annex them all, then Guo Wei was helping the Khitans make wedding clothes. Just because you can't swallow it doesn't mean that Khitan can't swallow it. The Khitan could not only aid Hedong, but also take advantage of it, attack Guo on a false route, and attack back to take over Hedong.
This scene had already been staged during the Shanxi-Liao War. This was how Zhao Dejun and Zhao Yanshou and his son were taken away.
