Chapter 146: Repulse the Liao Army
[The first to take action was Yang Guangyuan.]

On December 23, news came from Zibo that Yang Guangyuan rebelled and sent troops to attack Zibo. He also abducted the governor Zhai Jinzong to Qingzhou.

On the first day of the first lunar month of the seventh year of Huihe, which was also the first year of Kaiyun in the Later Jin Dynasty, Zhao Yanshou and Zhao Yanzhao stationed 50,000 cavalrymen, the main force of the Eastern Army vanguard, in Renqiu (Renqiu, Hebei). The overall direction of this Eastern Army was to move south to support Yang Guangyuan and approach Bianjing at the same time.

On the third day of the first lunar month, the Western Army, led by King Yelu Anduan, marched out of Yanmen Pass as a diversionary force, and headed straight for Xinzhou and Daizhou (Dai County, Shanxi), and surrounded them. The next step was Taiyuan Prefecture, Beijing of the Later Jin Dynasty.

The Later Jin received the news very quickly. On the second day after Zhao Yanshou led the Eastern Army south, which was the second day of the Chinese New Year, four states including Cangzhou had already sent horses to report the news. However, the Eastern Army advanced so quickly that they captured several cities before Shi Chonggui and others could react.

On the sixth day, Zhao Yanshou surrounded Beizhou (Qinghe, Hebei), and then Beizhou military officer Shao Ke opened the city gate himself, Beizhou fell, and the governor Wu Luan committed suicide; at the same time, the Eastern Route Army was divided into several groups, each attacking several important cities in the Eastern Route, including Hengzhou, Cangzhou, and Xingzhou.

Song Dynasty, Kaibao period.

Zhao Kuangyin looked at it and sighed: "Beizhou is such a good place. Logically, it should have been able to hold out for a few days. It would never have been conquered so easily by the Liao Kingdom." During the Later Jin Dynasty, Beizhou was not an ordinary city that could be found everywhere, but an important grain storage town. At the same time, Beizhou was adjacent to the Yongji Canal in the southeast, which was also an important waterway.

As an important grain and fodder base, next to the Yongji Canal, this configuration should clearly make it a strong military town capable of resisting foreign enemies for a long time. Moreover, if the situation is favorable, other places can also support Beizhou through the Yongji Canal.

What a pity! It was all the fault of that traitor who opened the city gate himself! He was indeed arrogant and disrespectful. Wang Lingwen was right to dismiss him at that time.

"It's okay, Daddy. I don't think these people will have a good ending." Zhao Dezhao comforted Zhao Kuangyin, "Although there is no news about Shao Ke, Yang Guangyuan was dealt with, and was sold by his own family."

Although the actions of these people in the Yang family can be called returning to the right path after straying, and they still have a sense of shame and know how to repent, but since we are talking about Yang Guangyuan's fate, it is indeed the Yang family who sold him out.

Zhao Kuangyin nodded, accepting Zhao Dezhao's consolation, and then asked: "Who was guarding Hengzhou at that time? Was it Du Chongwei?"

Liao Dynasty, the first year of Huihe.

Yelu Deguang raised his lips and said, "It is right to treat Han officials well and keep in touch with those who are interested in the Central Plains." Otherwise, how could there be so many people willing to serve the Liao Dynasty? Although many of them came to him for help mainly because they failed in internal struggles or were not in an advantageous position.

But, after all, who made Shi Chonggui feel that he had grown too powerful and was unwilling to abide by the agreement?
More importantly, who made the Later Jin internally so unclean and disorganized, with loopholes everywhere? Otherwise, before Shi Jingtang appeared, didn't the Liao Dynasty pay attention to the Central Plains? It's just that they couldn't find enough loopholes and opportunities. Just like when Li Siyuan of the Later Tang was still there, the Liao Dynasty was just a small-scale test confrontation on the border.

Yelu Deguang felt that he could not just passively wait for such a gift package from the sky. He should give full play to his subjective initiative, increase his efforts and take the initiative to send people to the Later Jin Dynasty to find suitable candidates, and then induce and persuade the other party.

After all, there are never too many people willing to work for the Liao Dynasty! Especially those who might be able to make a big difference one day.

Coincidentally, the emperors of the Liao and Song dynasties in later generations also planned to strengthen their intelligence gathering on the Song/Liao countries - after all, after the establishment of the Song Dynasty, intelligence gathering and espionage infiltration between the Song and Liao dynasties had become a daily routine.

[Battle reports from the Khitan continued to arrive as they marched southward. On the ninth day, the central government of the Later Jin Dynasty had finally made most of the preparations to resist the Khitan. So Shi Chonggui issued an edict, deciding to lead the army to the north on the thirteenth day.

All matters concerning Tokyo, namely Kaifeng Prefecture and Bianjing, were temporarily entrusted to Li Zhou, the former governor of Binzhou (Bin County, Shaanxi).

At the same time, Shi Chonggui appointed Gao Xingzhou as the commander of the northern camp, Fu Yanqing and Huangfu Yu as the left and right wing commanders of the cavalry respectively, and Wang Zhou and Pan Huan as the left and right wing commanders of the infantry respectively, and went to Chanzhou (Puyang, Henan) to fight against the Khitan on the Yellow River line.

In addition, Jing Yanguang was also among the entourage, serving as a general, "all the advances and retreats of the six divisions were based on his own ideas." By the way, Shi Chonggui also appointed Li Shouzhen, the commander of the imperial guards cavalry, as the commander of the front army.

At this time, the Khitans had continued to move south.

On the 16th, Yelu Deguang arrived with a large army and stationed in Yuancheng (east of Daming, Hebei), while Zhao Yanshou, who led the vanguard, was stationed in Nanle (Nanle, Hebei). He was named King of Wei and Jiedushi of Weizhou, and attacked Yedu (northeast of Daming, Hebei) every day.

On the 23rd, Zhao Yanshou attacked Liyang (Jun County, Henan).

Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

Since he ascended the throne, Liu Che has been eager to attack the Huns. Having actually fought the Huns for several years, he is still somewhat sensitive and knowledgeable about the war.

At this moment, he looked at Yelu Deguang's series of arrangements and could not find any major problems for the time being. Up to this point, the Khitans had fought well, whether it was their own outstanding strength or excellent intelligence work. In short, they had indeed won battle after battle.

As for Shi Chonggui... It was not wrong to entrust military affairs to people who understood military affairs. Liu Che had always done so - find someone who was capable and whom he trusted very much, and hand over the command of the battle to him. However, he was not sure about Jing Yanguang's ability.

Although in theory, someone who can be regarded as a confidant by Shi Jingtang cannot be a complete waste, but can Jing Yanguang command such a battle and grasp the opportunity and key points?

"Also, I remember that one of the pieces of information about the Later Jin Dynasty that Yang Guangyuan leaked earlier was that the Later Jin Dynasty suffered from natural disasters and the treasury was empty?" Liu Che said. Suffering from natural disasters and an empty treasury were no trivial matters.

Although he was determined to fight the Huns and did his best to squeeze money out of various places to supply the army, it did not mean that he was unaware of the meaning of an empty treasury, especially an empty treasury caused by natural disasters - there was no surplus food in any place!
With this background, it seems that Shi Chonggui has brought both the central imperial army and the local vassal army to the battlefield to deal with Yelu Deguang... Can the food and grass support it? Is the rear still stable enough?

[Unlike the smooth progress of the Eastern Route Army, the Western Route Army did not achieve its set goal. In fact, not only did it fail to achieve its goal, but it also suffered a great defeat. After besieging Xinzhou and Daizhou, Yelu Anduan met Liu Zhiyuan, who was guarding Taiyuan at the time. At that time, Liu Zhiyuan had been left behind in Beijing and was appointed by Shi Chonggui as the Recruiting Envoy of the Youzhou Road Camp. His main job was to beat back Yelu Anduan's Western Route Army.

So, on the 28th, Yelu Anduan and Liu Zhiyuan fought a fierce battle in Xiu Valley, and Liu Zhiyuan won the final victory, killing 3,000 enemies, capturing 500 alive, and capturing 17 enemy generals.

Thus, the original route of the Western Army ended here, the soldiers were scattered, and the remaining main force entered the Crow Valley, intending to go east and go to Yuancheng to join the main force. 】

Khitan, the second year of Tianzan.

Yelu Deguang saw a familiar name. It was his younger brother from the same mother. He had participated in several rebellions, but he had not punished him for the sake of brotherly love and allowed him to continue his daily life. He did not expect that his second son would actually entrust him with such an important matter.

Seeing the great defeat of the Western Route Army led by him, Yelu Deguang could only say: "Weiyin does not have any extraordinary talents, his temperament is mediocre and cowardly, and he does not restrain his words... He is not suitable to be the core general of a side and lead the troops forward."

Moreover, no matter what Liu Zhiyuan's level was or how he performed in this battle, he won a great victory in short. He even captured 17 Khitan generals - this was definitely due to Yelu Anduan's improper command.

Yelu Abaoji always felt that attacking the Later Jin Dynasty was not a goal that could be accomplished in one go, at least not this time - no matter what, if it really could not be accomplished this time, then the next time he tried, he hoped that Yao Gu would not let Yelu Anduan lead the army alone.

[On the eastern side, another person appeared who was willing to help Yelu Deguang reduce his losses. ]

Someone surrendered again?

After seeing this sentence, many people, especially those who lived in a peaceful period in the Central Plains, sighed that the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period was really chaotic!
Surrender and then rebel again, rebel and then surrender again, today's affairs are one day, tomorrow's affairs will be another day...

[Strictly speaking, this person was not so proactive in wanting to share Yelu Deguang's worries.

On the first day of February, Yelu Deguang sent troops to attack Bozhou (Liaocheng, Shandong). Without much effort, the Bozhou governor Zhou Ru opened the gates and surrendered.

But he not only surrendered, he also helped Yelu Deguang to contact Yang Guangyuan, planning to let the Khitan army go east from Bozhou and cross the Yellow River at Majiakou. If the Khitan successfully crossed the river here, they could truly connect with Yang Guangyuan's side, and at the same time, they could better threaten Kaifeng, the capital of the Later Jin Dynasty.

At the same time, the Later Jin Dynasty, which received the news that Yelu Deguang sent troops to attack Bozhou, also strengthened the defense of the ferry along the Yellow River. Jing Yanguang ordered Shi Binbei to guard Majiakou (northeast of Juancheng, Shandong), He Jian to guard Yangliu Town (Yangliu Town, Dong'a, Shandong), Bai Zairong to guard Majiakou (east of Liaocheng, Shandong), and Anyanwei to guard Heyang (Mengxian, Henan).

However, the Khitan army was not stopped by this. On the contrary, the Khitan army that crossed the river at Majiakou gained the upper hand. The vanguard troops had already crossed the Yellow River and attacked the ferry crossing related to the Yellow River in the north of Yunzhou in order to meet Yang Guangyuan.

Yunzhou reported the latest battle situation, and then Guo Jin, who was guarding Wenyang, sent General Cai Xingyu of the Left Guard with hundreds of cavalry to Majiakou for support. As a result, they were defeated by an ambush of the Khitan army in a reed bush, and the soldiers fled.

Finally, the Later Jin Dynasty sent Li Shouzhen with 10,000 soldiers to provide support from both land and sea.

(Shi Chonggui's life of losing his country is a cause for regret... He hated Du Chongwei and Li Shouzhen to the core, and never said a word to reflect on himself. Jing Yanguang, the "patriotic hero" who actually made the decision to challenge the powerful neighbors, Shi Chonggui and his son did not condemn him at all! Moreover, including Du Chongwei and Li Shouzhen, a group of official scoundrels, none of them came from outer space. They were all appointed by Shi Chonggui and his son, and they trusted them without doubt. The mother and son did not blame themselves for using the wrong people. When the country was in danger, Sang Weihan urgently asked for an audience, but Shi Chonggui remained calm as usual and concentrated on mobilizing hawks. He never regretted it. A mediocre person, after failure, is not incapable of self-reflection, but the result of the self-reflection must be someone else's fault, and he becomes the victim Snow White instead. Shi Chonggui and his son are just role models.)
Eastern Han Dynasty, the 22nd year of Jian'an.

Liu Bei decided to train Liu Chan well, spending more energy and time on him. He didn't believe that he might not be able to make Liu Chan a wise ruler. But couldn't he let him grow a little more brains and character?
This is a good opportunity. The battle between Khitan and Later Jin is not complicated and is suitable for initial teaching.

So Liu Bei looked at Liu Chan, who was brought here specially for this occasion, and asked, "Adou, how do you think the Later Jin should respond to the Khitan army's plan to cross the Yellow River from Majiakou?"

Liu Chan was still young, only ten years old at this time. Although Liu Bei had not forgotten his education before, after all, after so many years of fighting, there were always some shortcomings, and he was not able to deal with them well: "Uh... this... I... should I support as soon as possible? Let Yunzhou strengthen its defense and vigilance?"

He looked at the movements of the Khitan army shown on the sky and hesitated.

Liu Bei had already prepared himself mentally, and he was not angry at all. Instead, he continued, "Then the Later Jin sent Li Shouzhen to support us."

Liu Chan was a little stuck and said hesitantly: "Can we transfer some more troops from the central government?" He remembered that the main forces of the Later Jin Dynasty were concentrated with Shi Chonggui, and there seemed to be not many extra troops in other places.

Liu Bei patiently asked, "Adou, do you still remember where the Liao Taizong Yelu Deguang and the Later Jin Shi Chonggui were stationed?"

Liu Chan recalled: "In Yuancheng, and that Zhao Yanshou is... in Nanle, and Shi Chonggui of the Later Jin is in Chanzhou..." He thought about it and understood what Liu Bei meant, "So, the central army of the Later Jin cannot move without authorization, right? Otherwise, the Khitan army stationed in Yuancheng and Nanle can take the opportunity to launch an attack here."

Song Dynasty, Kaibao period.

Zhao Defang said: "Majiakou must not be broken. If it is broken and the Liao Kingdom is connected with Yang Guangyuan, Yunzhou will be in danger." Yunzhou is still very important. Among the eastern routes, after crossing the Yellow River, only Yunzhou can still defend itself with the natural barrier of the Yellow River. The following series of prefectures and counties do not have such conditions.

Therefore, although Shi Chonggui was stationed in Chanzhou, he was always on guard against the Khitan troops stationed in Yuancheng and Nanle on the other side of the Yellow River, and was always on guard against when they might suddenly attack the city or try to cross the river. He also had to allocate 10,000 people to support Majiakou.

(End of this chapter)