Chapter 147 Liao-Jin War
[As the Later Jin Dynasty dispatched troops to the east to provide support, the Khitan troops in Yuancheng and Nanle areas also began to take action.

On the third day of February, Yelu Deguang sent a large number of troops southward and surrounded Shi Gongba, the vanguard commander of the Later Jin Dynasty, in the north of Qicheng (Puyang, Henan). Afterwards, Gao Xingzhou and Fu Yanqing, who were resting under the woods and came to help after hearing the news, and the vanguard of the northern camp led by them were also surrounded by the Khitan army.

The number of Khitan troops that carried out the siege was large, at least several times more than the troops led by Shi Gongba, Gao Xingzhou and Fu Yanqing who were surrounded. Therefore, the encirclement was heavy and it was difficult for the Later Jin side to escape.

Therefore, Gao Xingzhou and Fu Yanqing took advantage of the chaos to lead their men out of the encirclement, reported the battle situation to Jing Yanguang, and hoped that Jing Yanguang could send troops to reinforce the area in time.

However, Jing Yanguang did not send troops to support, but remained in the city, saying that he would report the situation to Shi Chonggui, because the army's advance and move would be decided by Shi Chonggui - and the troops from other places could not come to support because Jing Yanguang required each unit to strictly guard their positions and not to act at will.

Therefore, for a while, Gao Xingzhou and his three companions were the only ones in the encirclement fighting hard, trying to hold out for a while longer, and praying that Jing Yanguang would report immediately and Shi Chonggui would quickly send troops to support them.

Finally, Shi Chonggui, who received the news, personally led his troops to the scene, forcing the Khitan army to retreat and ending the siege.

Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

Liu Che snorted and laughed: "I seem to remember that when we sent troops to Chanzhou before, Shi Chonggui still let Jing Yanguang be in charge of various military affairs. Wasn't it up to him to mobilize the six divisions to advance and retreat?" Why is it that now, in order to send troops to support our own army that is surrounded, we need to report to Shi Chonggui before making a decision?
Did Jing Yanguang have some disagreement with these people and wanted to take this opportunity to try to cheat them; or did he feel that at that time each unit was guarding one place and there were no extra troops to be mobilized, and if they were to be mobilized they would have to take responsibility, which he did not want to take?
Or maybe, Shi Chonggui really took back the power to mobilize the Sixth Division, and Jing Yanguang was just holding a title?
The ministers present looked at each other and did not respond to the emperor's words. After all, the emperor did not want to hear their answers after he said this.

They had not forgotten that Jing Yanguang was the core figure in supporting Shi Chonggui to ascend the throne. Of course, this was not the key point. The key point was that Jing Yanguang later boasted of his achievements, became arrogant, and acted recklessly... This was what their majesties hated the most. And according to common sense, Shi Chonggui of the Later Jin Dynasty should not like such a minister either.

It is hard to say whether there is any political struggle involved.

After all, in this matter, the lack of timely support must have been due to Jing Yanguang - if he really held the power and did not go to rescue, that would be a big handle.

[The battle here is over, and the battle in Majiakou in the east is about to end.

Li Shouzhen and others led 10,000 troops to Majiakou. At that time, the Khitan army was crossing the river, and some soldiers who had crossed the river had built barriers on the east bank of the Yellow River and used cavalry to block the periphery to prevent attacks from the Later Jin army.

The two sides fought for a long time and fought hard. Finally, Li Shouzhen led his troops to defeat the Khitan army on the east bank, seized 800 war horses, captured 78 generals and 500 soldiers, and the rest of the Khitan troops on the east bank fled in all directions.

At this point, Yelu Deguang's plan to cross the Yellow River from Majiakou to contact Yang Guangyuan and head south failed.

Khitan, the second year of Tianxian.

Seeing this, Yelu Abaoji felt quite regretful. Although the final result of this southward march had not yet been revealed, it was already very clear to him that this southward march would not be able to destroy the Later Jin Dynasty.

"What a pity." He sighed. The Khitan was developing day by day, and the Later Jin had Yang Guangyuan as an insider. Shi Chonggui himself had ascended the throne not long ago. Such a good opportunity...

Shulü Ping also felt regretful, but she felt that the contradictions in the Later Jin Dynasty would not be eliminated, so Yelu Deguang still had a chance: "Although my Khitan suffered some losses this time, the Later Jin Dynasty also suffered considerable losses." After all, the battlefield was not in the Khitan, but on the land of the Later Jin Dynasty, which was a natural negative impact.

"Besides, if there is Yang Guangyuan who wants to rebel against the Later Jin Dynasty now, won't there be others in the future? The Later Jin Dynasty is not a monolithic entity." She came to a definite conclusion about the political situation in the Later Jin Dynasty, that is, sooner or later someone will have ulterior motives, and Shi Chonggui may not be able to deal with them effectively.

Yeyelu Abaoji nodded, and he also agreed with this judgment. At the same time, he was somewhat fortunate that the Central Plains was in a mess and did not have much ability to reach out to the Khitan. After all, the Khitan was not harmonious internally, and the old nobles were not very willing to give up their original power.

[Since the plan failed, Yelu Deguang decided to lead his troops to ambush in the ancient city of Dongqiu (Qingfeng County, Henan Province), pretending to abandon the Yuancheng where they were originally stationed. However, after many days of ambush, the Later Jin army stayed in the city without going out. At this time, a heavy rainstorm fell. Yelu Deguang felt that there was no chance, so he might as well return home for the time being.

However, Zhao Yanshou thought that they could still fight, so he proposed to take the initiative to attack. Anyway, the Later Jin army had been stationed in the city and set up camps along the Yellow River, and did not dare to take the initiative to attack. So why not let us do it? "If we lead a large army directly to Chanyuan and occupy its bridge, Jin will surely be able to take it."

Yelu Deguang adopted his suggestion and began to prepare for an offensive.

At this time, the main force of the Later Jin army was stationed in Chanzhou, while the vanguard army, led by Gao Xingzhou, was stationed in Qicheng.

On the first day of March, Zhao Yanshou and Zhao Yanzhao led tens of thousands of cavalry to attack from the west of the Later Jin army, while Yelu Deguang personally led elite cavalry to attack from the east. The two sides fought until dusk.
At this time, Yelu Deguang changed his formation again, and led his elite cavalry to attack the central army of the Later Jin Dynasty, charging back and forth.

Facing Yelu Deguang's cavalry charge, Shi Chonggui led his personal troops to serve as the rear guard and changed the army's formation to a crescent shape, personally stabilizing the Later Jin army's position to avoid being overwhelmed by the cavalry's high-intensity charge.

Tang Dynasty, Zhenguan period.

Li Shimin looked at the Khitan army's formation with some yearning: "The Khitan cavalry is really abundant..." Although the number of cavalry in his Tang Dynasty has been increasing after development, who would complain about having too many cavalry!

Look at the Khitan troops, they are divided into two groups. The tens of thousands of people led by Zhao Yanshou are cavalry, and the cavalry led by Yelu Deguang himself are also cavalry. Such a number... plus the previous one at Majiakou on the Yellow River, the Later Jin Dynasty captured 800 war horses from the Khitan army on the south bank alone.

What a huge cavalry, and what a sufficient number of war horses!
Should we say that they are indeed a nomadic people? The number of cavalry and war horses is so great that one cannot help but envy them.

As for Yelu Deguang leading the cavalry to charge, this is the basic operation of the cavalry. When he led his troops to fight, he also led elite cavalry to charge the enemy many times - but in many cases, charging requires seizing the opportunity, and the opportunity sometimes requires multiple guidance and arrangements. Back then, he stationed his troops, continued to surround, and moved his troops left and right, wasn't it just to let the enemy appear at the opportunity he wanted?

Moreover, seizing the opportunity does not mean that you can immediately break through the enemy's formation. You also need to capture the weak points of the enemy's formation. After breaking through the weak points, your own troops must be able to follow up quickly. Otherwise, simply breaking through the enemy's formation will not be able to stop the subsequent enemy troops from gathering again.

[The two sides were in a stalemate for a while. At this time, someone came to help Yelu Deguang solve his problem.

The spy revealed to Yelu Deguang a piece of information related to the deployment of the Later Jin army: the number of Later Jin troops in the east was relatively small, and the camp fence there was not solid and was loose, which was exactly the weak point of the Later Jin and a good target for attack.

Yelu Deguang gladly accepted the news, and he quickly led his elite cavalry to the eastern flank of the Later Jin army. As expected, the defense in this area was quite loose, and when the Khitan army arrived, they quickly scattered and fled, and even Shi Chonggui and his personal army fled with them.

Yelu Deguang led his troops to catch up with the Later Jin army and defeated it.

Later, the flags of more than 1,000 Later Jin soldiers who were building water forts between the riverbanks were exposed. The Khitan army saw them. Fearing that this was an ambush by the Later Jin army, Yelu Deguang temporarily stopped the pursuit of the Khitan army. After that, the Later Jin general Li Shouchao led his troops to attack the Khitan army and temporarily stopped the Later Jin army's rout.

Seeing this, Yelu Deguang gradually withdrew his troops and headed north. 】

(The Liao-Jin War was not a good thing for the Later Jin.)
(Yes, in order to resist the possible attack from Liao at any time, Hou Jin had to stockpile a large number of troops on the border, which was undoubtedly a huge burden for a regime that had just been established.)

(The Later Jin also faced threats from the Southern Tang and other regimes in the south. Some of these regimes maintained close relations with the Khitan and were likely to launch a joint attack on the Later Jin, which put the Later Jin in an unfavorable position of being attacked from both sides.)
Song Dynasty, Kaibao period.

Zhao Kuangyin once again reaffirmed his idea of ​​strengthening foreign intelligence work - intelligence work is so important! Especially for a dynasty like the Song Dynasty that was not able to completely unify the world and sit firmly on the throne.

In order to consolidate the rule and go further, it is necessary to strengthen the collection of intelligence on the Liao State, so as to know the appropriate time and place to send troops, as well as various key figures who can be turned against.

Not to mention anything else, just look at how much help Yelu Deguang received from the people of the Later Jin Dynasty who were arranged or instigated by the Liao Kingdom when he went south this time!

Even the subsequent wars against the Later Jin Dynasty and the final successful elimination of the Later Jin Dynasty were inseparable from Yelu Deguang's control over the key figures of the Later Jin Dynasty and the help of spies in the Later Jin Dynasty.

Although the Later Jin Dynasty was indeed in a state of disarray internally, this cannot deny the outstanding intelligence work of Yelu Deguang.

At the very least, Zhao Kuangyin did not want to see another emperor in his Song Dynasty who was like Zhao Guangyi in the film, who saw an enemy country's "orphans and widows" and thought the enemy was weak and unable to resist! That would be a disgrace to him, the founder of the Song Dynasty.

[Afterwards, Yelu Deguang led the main force back to the capital, leaving Zhao Yanzhao to guard Beizhou, moving the captured civilians to the Khitan territory, and letting Zhao Yanshou stay behind to look for opportunities to capture cities in Beizhou, Jizhou, and Shenzhou.

On April 11, Yelu Deguang returned to his army and stationed in Nanjing.

Khitan and Later Jin temporarily entered a truce phase, during which there was no large-scale war between the two sides, but the fighting in various border areas did not stop.

As for Yang Guangyuan, after Yelu Deguang withdrew his troops, Shi Chonggui sent Li Shouzhen and Fu Yanqing to attack him. Qingzhou was besieged for many days. Yang Guangyuan's eldest son Yang Chengxun and several brothers imprisoned Yang Guangyuan, killed his confidants, opened the city to surrender, and finally Yang Guangyuan was killed by Li Shouzhen. 】

Seeing this, many people felt very happy, as if they had seen the end of the story - Yang Guangyuan was finally dead!
This is not because they put themselves in Shi Chonggui's shoes. In fact, there are very few people who put themselves in Shi Chonggui's shoes. They feel so happy because they have positioned Yang Guangyuan as a traitor. How can a traitor live well?
Tang Dynasty, Zhenguan period.

Li Shimin gently said to Li Chengqian: "Gao Ming, when do you think Emperor Taizong of Liao will start the second war?"

Yes, Yelu Deguang will start the second war. This is something that does not need to be discussed. Unless some major changes suddenly occur within the Khitan, such as his own death, he will definitely go south.

The only question, then, was when to go south.

Li Chengqian secretly calculated the time, and compared it with the military deployment of the Tang Dynasty and the Turks, and estimated: "The Liao Taizong returned to Khitan's Nanjing on April 11. If there are no accidents, he should go south again within this year... The Khitans also need to develop production. The last time he went south was at the end of the year, and the second time should also be at the end of the year."

Li Shimin nodded and asked again: "What problems do you think exist in the Later Jin Dynasty?"

Li Chengqian did not hesitate and quickly said, "I doubt whether their food and supplies can sustain their long-term war with the Khitan." Is the treasury of the Later Jin Dynasty sufficient? Will the people be plundered to support the war? Another thing is that, if a war breaks out, it will basically be Yelu Deguang who goes south and places the battlefield on the territory of the Later Jin Dynasty. Can the Later Jin Dynasty afford such damage?

Li Shimin did not deny Li Chengqian's suspicion, but continued to look at him, waiting for him to have any other ideas.

After saying this, Li Chengqian added, "There is also disunity among the people." He paused, "It's not just a question of whether the generals can fight resolutely and whether some people have second thoughts. Also, if Shi Chonggui orders various places to collect food and grass, will some people take the opportunity to oppress the people and enrich their own coffers?"

This is not aimless. Since the beginning of the Tianmu era, there have been many such incidents, especially in a country like the Later Jin Dynasty, which has a lot of internal chaos. If such incidents were more serious and lasted for a long time, I am afraid that even before the Khitan successfully conquered it, turmoil would have broken out in the Later Jin Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)