Chapter 151 Du Chongwei

[Yelü Deguang accepted the news with pleasure, but this time he did not intend to simply fight a war like he did the previous two times.

He sent Zhao Yanshou.

In the second year of Kaiyun, that is, the eighth year of Huitong, Shi Chonggui sent someone to secretly send a letter to Zhao Yanshou, trying to persuade him to surrender. This was not a fantasy, after all, there were many people who first surrendered to Khitan and then to the Central Plains. At that time, Zhao Yanshou's response was ambiguous. He did not agree, but he did not explicitly refuse.

In March of the third year of Kaiyun, Shi Chonggui once again sent someone to secretly deliver a letter to Zhao Yanshou, expressing the court's intentions and promising him huge benefits. He also specially sent Zhao Xingshi, who had once worked under Zhao Yanshou.

In July, Zhao Xingshi returned to the Later Jin Dynasty and brought back a letter from Zhao Yanshou: "I have been trapped in the Khitan for a long time and would like to return to the Central Plains. Please send a large army to support me. I will escape and return to the south."

At the end of June, Yelu Deguang once again paid homage to the ancestral mausoleum; on July 23, he summoned troops from all regions.

The early years of the Han Dynasty.

There is no need to read further, the result is already obvious: Shi Chonggui believed what Zhao Yanshou said, and the entire court of the Later Jin Dynasty, or those who had the right to speak, also believed that Zhao Yanshou intended to surrender.

Liu Bang couldn't help feeling a toothache.

For him, this is too easy to believe, isn't it? If it were him, he would never really believe it without trying several rounds and using several methods. Even if he accepted Zhao Yanshou's letter of surrender, he must have other plans. In short, it is impossible to trust him completely.

After all, from Zhao Yanshou's perspective, there are many ways to deceive people - who would have thought that Shi Chonggui would choose to believe it so easily? Or even if he didn't believe it completely, he didn't make sufficient preparations?

Lu Zhi said coldly: "What else is there to say? It's just that the previous war gave you the confidence." There was a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

Did Shi Chonggui show his confidence? It was obvious that his confidence was overflowing.

"Moreover, the intelligence gathering of the Later Jin Dynasty on the Khitan was obviously not sufficient." Or even if they collected intelligence, they were simply unable to connect and integrate the various types of intelligence and piece together the key information.

Liu Bang's brows were somewhat solemn. He exchanged a glance with Lu Zhi, Xiao He, Zhang Liang and others. They all planned to strengthen the construction of the Han Dynasty's intelligence system as much as possible in the coming period of time. They needed to train and select people who were good at this. Not only did they need someone who could spy on intelligence, but they also needed someone who could analyze the information obtained.

Liao Dynasty, the first year of Huihe.

Yelu Deguang's eyes lit up. He had thought of such a simple trick before, but he didn't expect it to be so useful?
He could not help but feel more confident about his previous appointment of Zhao Yanshou, and he became more satisfied with Zhao Yanshou as a minister: Zhao Yanshou is really very useful! It is really worth using him.

It’s not that the Great Khitan was without other Han generals or ministers, but the non-general ministers who were ranked high and had the right to speak were basically among the top-level ones. They were already deeply bound to the Great Khitan and had fewer connections with the Central Plains, especially the Later Jin Dynasty, and were difficult to trust.

The same goes for other Han generals, either they were already deeply tied to the Great Khitan or they had little connection with the Later Jin. In short, none of them was as effective as Zhao Yanshou.

Yelu Tulu laughed awkwardly and said, "Great Khan, it seems that this successor of the Later Jin Dynasty is not very good at handling internal affairs." He knew that Yelu Deguang would definitely take action against Shi Chonggui. In his opinion, since there was such an intention, they must not stop halfway, so what they had to do was to find Shi Chonggui's weakness.

Now it seems that it is hard to say anything else, but when it comes to internal affairs and employing people, Shi Chonggui is really not smart enough - if that is the case, how can they let go of such a good opportunity?

Yelu Deguang understood that this was indeed a good entry point.

Of course, the problems of the Later Jin Dynasty are not limited to these. There are also constant natural disasters and an imperfect intelligence system...

[In August, Yelu Deguang once again led the troops in person and began to march south.

On the fifth day of September, Yelu Deguang inspected the troops at Zaolindian, west of Yuyang. At the same time, Yelu Deguang also did another thing: adding an insurance policy for Zhao Yanshou's false surrender.

In September, Yingzhou Governor Liu Yanzuo wrote a letter to Wang Luan, the military supervisor of Le Shou of the Later Jin Dynasty. It was also a letter of surrender, saying that he was willing to surrender the city. At the same time, there were less than a thousand Khitan troops in the city, so he requested the Later Jin Dynasty to send troops to attack and cooperate with him from inside and outside.

In addition, Liu Yanzuo also described the current situation of Khitan in the letter: This autumn, the rains were flooding, and the water levels of rivers everywhere rose and even overflowed, especially north of Waqiao Pass, where the water flowed everywhere and was boundless. Yelu Deguang had already returned to his country. Now, if something happened south of Waqiao Pass, he would be too late to react even if he wanted to because of the road and the rising river.

This letter was sincere and contained a lot of information. The Later Jin court, which had already believed in Zhao Yanshou and planned to send troops north to support Zhao Yanshou, could not help but begin to believe in Liu Yanzuo.

Moreover, the temptation of Yingzhou returning to the Later Jin Dynasty was too great. Wang Luan, the military supervisor of Leshou, repeatedly wrote to the emperor to state how good the situation was and how the timing of conquering Yingzhou and Mozhou was right. Shi Chonggui and a group of ministers immediately believed it after a little probing and included Yingzhou and Mozhou in their action plan.

Song Dynasty, Kaibao period.

Zhao Defang concluded: "However, facts have proven that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Any sudden 'good news' should be viewed with suspicion."

How come all these good things suddenly happened to you? Moreover, this is not just a good thing for you personally, but a good thing for the whole country - is it that easy? Even if what those people said and wrote were basically true, as long as they concealed the most critical and important part or changed their words, it would be enough to drag the other party into an irreversible situation.

"No, we should still believe them appropriately when we should, but we can't believe them completely." Zhao Kuangyin said, "Just like the false surrender of Liao and Hou Jin, a lot of the information they provided was true, which made it easier for people to believe. The most important thing is that the young emperor did not make a second or third plan. He was not prepared for the possibility of being deceived."

The Liao Kingdom provided some information, which was fine, so the information could be used. But the most important point was that one could not risk everything on it - especially when the Later Jin did not have a sufficient intelligence network in the Liao Kingdom and did not have an absolute advantage over the Liao Kingdom.

Zhao Guangmei also joined the discussion: "That's true. Sometimes people really surrender, so it still depends on our own grasp of intelligence and the means to deal with unexpected situations." If you are deceived, can you stop the loss in time? Can you avoid being really damaged to the core?

Intelligence, intelligence... [So, Shi Chonggui began to prepare for this goal.

The first thing was the appointment of military generals. Among them, Du Chongwei still served as the commander-in-chief of the Northern Camp, and Li Shouzhen served as the chief military supervisor of the Northern Camp.

At the same time, Shi Chonggui also issued an imperial edict: first take Ying and Mo, stabilize the south of the Guan Pass; then recover You and Yan, and pacify the north of the Great Wall.

In this way, the Later Jin army set out in a mighty manner to the north, with the expectation of conquering Yingmo and even further conquering Youyan and inflicting heavy damage on the Khitan.

On October 25, Du Chongwei and Li Shouzhen met in Guangjin and marched north together. During this process, Du Chongwei also asked Shi Chonggui for reinforcements, saying, "To go deep into the enemy's territory, we must rely on the strength of the people." Shi Chonggui really agreed to his request and sent most of the imperial guards out.

In November, Du Chongwei led his troops to the city of Yingzhou.

At this time, Yelu Deguang had already led his troops south and surrounded Zhenzhou on the first day of November. On the ninth day, he sent cavalry to detect the imminent arrival of the Later Jin army.

From here on, everything will go in the direction that Yelu Deguang wants. 】

Tang Dynasty, Zhenguan period.

Although Li Shimin anticipated that Shi Chonggui would be mentally unbalanced and misjudge the current situation, he did not expect that Shi Chonggui would go to such lengths: "First, take Yingmo, stabilize Guannan... Then recover Youyan, and pacify Saibei?"

This was a step too big. According to the situation of the Later Jin Dynasty, let alone recovering Youyan and pacifying the northern frontier, even if they wanted to seize Yingzhou and Mozhou and make the area south of Waqiaoguan a stable place, it would be a difficult task.

Yes, the situation of the Later Jin Dynasty. If they wanted to go north, the biggest impact would be on the Later Jin Dynasty itself - natural disasters continued, famines were everywhere, and officials extorted the people. With such national strength, how could the Later Jin Dynasty possibly support a large-scale war, or a war to the north far away from the mainland?
When Emperor Wu of Han went to war against the Xiongnu, he still tried his best to maintain normal domestic production and obtain military supplies and fodder from all over. Even so, by the late period, the economic situation of the Han Dynasty was no longer optimistic, and it began to turn to recuperation and reduce large-scale active warfare.

As for the Later Jin Dynasty... The land area alone determined the upper limit and frequency of the wars that Shi Chonggui could launch, not to mention the natural disasters and man-made tragedies. He had just fought for two consecutive years, and now it was the third year.

Li Shimin looked at Shi Chonggui's appointment of generals this time and made a judgment: "This Du Chongwei may have chosen to surrender in the end... before Yelu Deguang conquered the Later Jin Dynasty." What he said was more tactful, but his meaning was very clear. Du Chongwei would not only surrender before the demise of the Later Jin Dynasty, but he might also open the prelude to the demise of the Later Jin Dynasty.

Changsun Wuji's eyes twitched as he watched: "Did Shi Chonggui really send out most of the imperial guards?!" In all the previous battles, none of the imperial guards were sent out - in history, what was the fate of most of the emperors who lost their imperial guards and left the central government empty? Isn't it clear enough?
Apart from other things, the imbalance between the central and local governments in the Tang Dynasty is a living example that is still very close to the time of the Later Jin Dynasty! That was when the central government of the Tang Dynasty still had military power.

"Therefore, as soon as Du Chongwei surrendered, the central military power of the Later Jin Dynasty was basically exhausted." Li Shimin could not understand this behavior, but this was also one of the reasons why he judged that Du Chongwei's surrender marked the beginning of the demise of the Later Jin Dynasty.

[Du Chongwei arrived at the city of Yingzhou, and Yingzhou, which was used as bait, also began to close in on the Later Jin army.

When Du Chongwei arrived with 300,000 troops, the gate of Yingzhou was open. It was quiet and unguarded. Du Chongwei and others were afraid of something unusual and did not dare to enter.

At this time, a message came: the Khitan general Gao Mohan had led his troops out. They did not dare to enter Yingzhou City for the time being. How could they let go of this weak and unsupported Khitan army?

So Du Chongwei sent Liang Hanzhang, the governor of Beizhou, to lead two thousand cavalrymen to pursue.

In fact, Gao Mohan was the premise for Yelu Deguang to let Yingzhou Governor Liu Yanzuo implement this feigned surrender strategy. Gao Mohan did not have many soldiers under his command, but he was not an ordinary person. In these battles with the Later Jin Dynasty, Gao Mohan "captured Chicheng, destroyed De and Bei camps, occupied Yanshan, and destroyed Raoan" and "commanded the left and right Iron Harriers and conquered dozens of cities and towns south of Xiaguan."

Yelu Deguang trusted him even more, "Since I started my army, I have fought more than a hundred battles, and you have been the most meritorious. Even the famous generals in ancient times could not surpass you." "This is a brave general of our country. It is your power that helped me unify the world."

At this time, knowing that Du Chongwei had arrived with his troops, Gao Mohan was not panicked. Instead, he said to his subordinates: "Military law is about justice, not numbers. To use the majority to oppress the minority is unjust and will surely lead to defeat. This is what Jin means!"

Regardless of the question of justice, Gao Mohan did demonstrate in this battle that having more people does not necessarily mean victory. In the early morning, he led 300 men under his command to fight Liang Hanzhang, killing him directly and causing the remaining soldiers of the Later Jin Dynasty to flee in all directions.

When Du Chongwei learned that Liang Hanzhang had died in the battle, he had no intention of continuing to fight. Instead, he withdrew his troops and retreated to Wuqiang.

After retreating to Wuqiang, Du Chongwei learned that Yelu Deguang had led his army southward, so he simply did not want to stay in Wuqiang, nor did he plan to go anywhere else. Instead, he wanted to retreat directly southward from Jizhou and Beizhou.

Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

Huo Qubing agreed with Gao Mohan's words and said, "That's right. Military law is about justice, not numbers. If everything else is wrong, it will be useless no matter how many people there are."

When he led his troops to attack the Xiongnu, which time did he win by sheer numbers? And which time did he not cause massive casualties to the Xiongnu?
Not to mention small-scale battles like the one fought by Gao Mohan in Tianmu, there were also many large-scale battles where the outnumbered side won.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Wu Qi's Battle of Yinjin, Bai Qi's Battle of Yique, Tian Dan's Battle of Jimo, Lian Po's Battle of Zhaodai... None of the winners had the advantage in numbers, but they all achieved the ultimate victory through various means.

Liu Che listened to Huo Qubing's talk about his battle experience. After he finished, he suddenly asked, "Did someone stop Du Chongwei, or did someone already turn to the Khitan?" Seeing Huo Qubing was a little confused for a moment, he continued, "Du Chongwei wanted to retreat south, so if he surrendered to the Khitan in the end... At the speed he retreated south, could the Khitan catch up with him before he retreated back to Yedu or even the capital?"

Moreover, if they retreated too far and too violently, Shi Chonggui would most likely react and ask Du Chongwei to reorganize the army and redeploy it to various places. Then, Khitan and Later Jin would easily return to the tug-of-war mode of the previous two times - but this time Emperor Taizong of Liao achieved his wish, so Du Chongwei should not have really retreated too far.

Huo Qubing immediately reacted: "The main force of the Khitan is now near Zhenzhou. If we want to cut off the possibility of fighting the army led by Du Chongwei as soon as possible, the best way is to let him take the initiative to move closer to Zhenzhou."

But again, how could Du Chongwei have the courage to take the initiative to move closer to the Khitan army? It can only be pushed by someone. And the possibility that this person surrendered to the Khitan is quite high.

(End of this chapter)