But for Zhu Wen, the time is not ripe for the complete elimination of Li Keyong. There are also Youzhou, Chengde and Yiwu towns in Hebei, and it is difficult to tell the enemy from me. Without solving these guys, Zhu dare not go west to Shaanxi.
Fight youzhou again
In recent years, Zhu Wen has easily captured three states of Xingming Temple in western Hebei occupied by Li Keyong, but failed to compete with Li Keyong for two states of Luze in southern Shanxi. The closer to the core area of Li Keyong, the greater the resistance Zhu Wen encounters.
At the beginning of the new year, Zhu Wen considered taking Youzhou in the north of Hebei first, so that it could easily attack the northern Shaanxi of Li Keyong from the flank through the border between the northern grassland and the Central Plains, which was later the eighteen states of Yanyun. Especially last year, Liu Rengong of Youzhou attacked Weibo Town, a die-hard ally of Zhu Wen, but was defeated by Li Sian, Ge and others of Zhu Wen, and suffered heavy losses, just when Youzhou had not recovered its strength.
In April of that year, Zhu Wen ordered General Ge to lead 100,000 troops to attack Liu Rengong in Youzhou, captured Texas in the first battle, and then besieged Cangzhou. You can't resist Liu Rengong, and he has the cheek to ask Li Keyong for help.
Liu Rengong was a general in Youzhou. He defected to Li Keyong after failing to compete for the position of our envoy in Youzhou many years ago. At that time, Li Keyong was in full swing and sent troops to Youzhou. Within a few months, he completely occupied the whole territory of Youzhou and appointed Liu Rengong as our time. Liu Rengong privately assembled forces to alienate Li Keyong from the generals in Youzhou, rebelled against Shanxi's self-reliance during the war between Li Keyong and Zhu Wen in Hebei Province, stabbed Li Keyong from behind, and Li Keyong sent troops to attack Liu Rengong, which was defeated, thus completely losing Youzhou.
The loss of Youzhou is the beginning of Li Keyong's life from prosperity to decline. It is said that Li Keyong had three wishes before his death, one of which was to avenge Liu Rengong's betrayal. Twenty years later, his son Li once again occupied the whole territory of Youzhou and captured Liu Rengong and his son alive, which was a pity for Li Keyong.
The Sixth World War between Zhu Wen and Li Keyong
Although Li Keyong hated Liu Rengong's betrayal, he was not carried away by hatred, knowing that even if you can't get Youzhou, you can't let Zhu Wen get it easily. So, Li Keyong sent general Zhou Dewei to lead five thousand cavalry to attack Zhu Wen's base camp and logistics base in Hebei, such as Xingzhou and Mingzhou. This is a plan to encircle Wei and save Zhao, with the purpose of mobilizing the troops to help back, or causing logistical difficulties to the troops in Youzhou.
With the continuous increase of the troops invested by the three parties, the battle is getting bigger and bigger. Liu Rengong mobilized 50,000 troops from Youzhou base camp to rescue Cangzhou, and Li Keyong also sent 50,000 more troops on the basis of the previous 5,000 cavalry, and sent another general under his command, Li.
Ge is the commander-in-chief of Zhu Wen in Hebei, and a large part of the 100,000-strong army comes from Xingming Magnetic Three States in Hebei. Although the victory in Cangzhou repelled Liu Rengong's reinforcements, it was unable to resist the fierce offensive of Zhou Dewei and Li. Once Xingming Magnetic Sanzhou falls, Ge will lose more than he gains.
Zhu Wen saw Liu Rengong's tenacious resistance here in Youzhou, and caught up with the continuous heavy rain, so he recalled Ge in July. You Zhou, strong in tradition, has average fighting capacity on the field, and there is no problem in guarding the city. If Ge Zhoucong attacks the city one by one, it will take a lot of time and lose a lot. Because of the defeat of the Youzhou army in a few months, the strategic purpose of this invasion was realized to some extent.
This withdrawal is correct. Li Keyong's army launched an offensive in Xingming Magnetic State and even seized Mingzhou. Zhu Wen personally led the army to rescue, but failed to turn the tide until Ge's army returned to the south to fight.
In September of that year, Zhu Wen and Ge joined forces near Mingzhou, with a total strength of156,000. Li and Zhou Dewei are both senior generals under Li Keyong. They led more than fifty thousand people, almost all of whom were mobile troops in Li Keyong. They dare not risk recklessly fighting Zhu Wen at the gates of Mianzhou. If you win, if you lose, Hedong will be finished. Therefore, Li gave up the idea of withdrawing troops from Mingzhou, but he was still ambushed in a dangerous place on his way home, and the loss was considerable.
This is the sixth large-scale engagement between Zhu Wen and Li Keyong. Li Keyong wins first and then loses. Although it has certain influence on Zhu Wen's Youzhou strategy, it also has losses, which is considered as a draw. Zhu Wen still leads with three wins, one draw and two losses.
Conveniently collect virtues
Since Zhu Wen came to Hebei in person, it is natural to solve some problems that Ge is not suitable for, that is, the problem of Chengde Town and Harmony. Zhu Wen's power has developed to such an extent that its generals, such as Ge, must understand which military issues they can decide and which political issues they cannot touch.
When Li Keyong first made his debut, Chengde Town formed an alliance with Zhu Wen, and Wang Rong caused Li Keyong a lot of trouble. Li Keyong's general Li Cunxiao was rebelled by Wang Rong and Zhu Wen, which made Li Keyong very passive. When Li Keyong ruled Hebei, Wang Rong fell into the hands of Li Keyong. Now that Zhu Wen is in power, Wang Rong began to remain neutral, but he kept close contact with Li Keyong in private. This made Zhu look at Wang crossly. Just this time, he went to Hebei to drive away the Li Keyong army, and it was nothing, so he simply solved the problem of Chengde.
When Zhu Wen's army first won Youzhou, then Hedong, and reached the gate of Chengde Town, Wang Rong was frightened. He just wants to rule Hebei forever, and has no intention of hegemony. Don't play so big in Zhu Wen. Before, Li Keyong was wandering in his own territory, but this time, it was Enemy at the Gates and Zhu Wen. These people simply can't sympathize with and understand the innocent and uncontroversial buffer zone in their minds. But want to return to, their own strength, can only try our best to fight for, so Wang Rong immediately sent someone to find Zhu Wenhe.
The emissaries sent by Wang Rong are not low-level and very talkative. He talked with Kan Kan in front of Zhu Wen, who flew into a rage or pretended to fly into a rage, and praised Zhu Wen as Qi Huangong and Jin Wengong, the king who conquered the Central Plains. While threatening, it is difficult for you to capture Zhu Wenyou's 100,000 troops alive. In the era of cold weapons, attacking fortified cities is bound to pay a heavy price. Zhu Wen and other buffer regions have been playing for almost 20 years, so they naturally know what they want. The emissary not only gave Zhu Wen face, but also let Zhu Wen know that they can't fool each other, so they began to enter the next round of negotiations.
Zhu Wen pretended to turn anger into joy. "Play with the public!" Both sides went down the stairs, and the final result was that Wang Rong took his son and the children of military generals as hostages and offered Zhu Wenjun a large sum of money. Zhu Wen married his daughter to Wang Rong's son, and Chengde Town became Zhu Wen's second hardcore ally in Hebei after Weber.
You Zhou San Zhan
Wang Rong then suggested to Zhu Wen to continue to strengthen the offensive against Youzhou, Yiwu and other places in northern Hebei, saying that "if the towns in Hebei are merged into one, Hedong can be controlled". If we can integrate all the forces in Hebei, Hedong Li Keyong is definitely not an opponent.
Wang Rong's suggestion coincides with Zhu Wen's idea. Ge wants to stay and defend Xingming Magnetic Three States, so as to defend Li Keyong from going south again. Zhu Wen sent general Zhang Cunjing to lead the Northern Expedition. Now Zhu Wen is powerful and stars are like clouds. You and Zhou, defeated one after another, can be solved without too many troops.
Zhang Cunjing is also a general under Zhu Wen. If he hadn't died early, his achievements in life should not be under Ge. This period is the most glorious period of Zhang Cunjing, which defeated Youzhou, Yiwu and He Zhong for Zhu Wen.
After entering Youzhou, Zhang Cunjing Lien Chan won in a row, advancing all the way in the northland just entering the winter, and capturing more than 20 cities of Liu Rengong. Liu Rengong, who had just been ravaged by Ge once, thought that winter would come again, and he had little strength to fight back, so he could only exchange space for time. However, Zhang Cunjing was unlucky. One of the reasons for Ge's retreat in autumn is the continuous heavy rain in Youzhou. Although the rain stopped, Zhang Cunjing's roads were muddy and his troops moved slowly, so he could not directly take Youzhou. So Zhang Cunjing led 30,000 soldiers and horses to turn around and attack Yizhou of Yiwu Army to the west.
Zhu soothe Yiwu, the town of Hebei.
Yiwu army is Peiping, one of the later five dynasties and ten countries, located between Youzhou, Chengde and Hedong. Although there are only two states, Yizhou and Dingzhou, the geographical location is very important, among which Dingzhou is equivalent to the national central city of Hebei. At the end of Sui Dynasty and the beginning of Tang Dynasty, Dingzhou was once the seat of general manager office, which governed 32 states north of the Yellow River.
In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, Yiwu Army was used by the Tang Dynasty to supervise and limit the existence of these unstable elements in the three towns of Heshuo. After Huang Chao occupied Chang 'an, the Yiwu army made the king of Chu the first to arise and be a diligent king. Although his exploits were not as good as Li Keyong's, he was a loyal minister. Therefore, although Yiwu Army has a small territory, it has always had the policy inclination of the Tang Dynasty and its strength is not weak.
At that time, Aric, the son of Wang Chucun, organized resistance and asked Li Keyong for help. When Wang Chucun and Li Keyong fought side by side in Chang 'an, they were comrades carrying guns together. Although Wang Chucun died, the relationship between Hedong and Yiwu has always been good.
Zhang Cunjing only took 30,000 people westward to Yiwu, and it is estimated that most troops stayed in Youzhou, after all, Youzhou was the main target of Zhang Cunjing's invasion. Wang Gao sent his younger brother, King Chu, with tens of thousands of people to meet the enemy. The King of Chu was more cautious, thinking that we should rely on the strong city to fight back, while some people thought that Zhang Cunjing, Serenade and Yiwu were the dominant forces and should bravely attack. Aric accepted the proposal and ordered the king of Chu to go straight to meet them.
At that time, Zhu Wenjun's fighting capacity was the best in the world. He was invincible on the battlefield and was ruled by a famous soldier like Zhang Cunjing. In the First World War of Shahe, Zhang Cunjing defeated many with few, and Yiwu army was defeated.
Chu Wangzhi led the routed troops back to Dingzhou, which triggered the incident that Wang Gao abandoned the city and fled. Chu Wangzhi was elected as our Yiwu Army's time envoy by the soldiers in the army. It is estimated that the reason why the King of Chu was defeated was because his brother Aric was in a blind command, so he went back to take his brother's place in a rage.
Zhang Cunjing directly surrounded Dingzhou, no matter whether our time in the city was Aric or straight. A few days later, Zhu Wen also went to Dingzhou Gate and talked with Wang Chuzhi up and down on the wall. Wang Chuzhi said a few soft words and sent a lot of money. Zhu Wen then withdrew, and Yiwu Army became another ally of Zhu Wen. Of course, it's not too strong.
Li Keyong also sent Li to the rescue after receiving the letter of help from Yiwu Army. He also besieged Wei to save Zhao and attacked the three cities of Heyang in the south. In the past, most of Li Keyong's troops fought against Xingming Magnetic States in the Hebei part of Zhao Yi Town. But this time, Ge Zhoucong, the general of the Three Kingdoms, presided over the overall situation. It is estimated that Li Keyong can only attack the three cities of Heyang in the hinterland of the enemy when he sees the opportunity here. The three cities of Heyang are on the bank of the Yellow River. There has been no war for a long time. Sure enough, I was unprepared and almost attacked by Li. Later, our reinforcements arrived and Li withdrew.
The second support army of Yiwu Army came from Liu Rengong of Youzhou. Liu Rengong also knew the truth of United front, so he mobilized troops to help Yiwu. However, although the number of troops in Youzhou is large, their fighting capacity is not strong. They were defeated by Zhang Cunjing in Yishui and lost more than 60,000 people.
Zhu Wen has traveled all over Hebei this time. Weibo Town, one of the forces in Hebei, has long been Zhu Wen's ally. Every time Zhu Wen went to Weibo town, he sent troops to pay for it. Wang Rong, a native of Chengde Town, took refuge in Zhu Wen this time. Under the deliberate netting of Zhu Wen, the strength of the alliance between the two sides is not under Weber; Liu Rengong in Lulong Town, Youzhou has been repeatedly defeated, so he can only shrink in the corner and pray for Zhu Wen not to come again; Although Yiwu is at the two ends of the first mouse, at least it doesn't dare to express its support for Li Keyong in front of Zhu Wen, and even has to pay a large amount of protection money to show its alliance with Zhu Wen; In addition, Zhao Yi Town in the west of Hebei Province was directly occupied by Zhu Wen, and the whole Hebei Province basically became the sphere of influence of Zhu Wen.
"Because all the towns in Hebei are loyal to Quanzhong", although most of them are only alliances rather than direct occupation, we can't worry about this. In the second half of the Tang dynasty, we failed to solve the problem of 1560, the separatist regime in the three towns of Heshuo. It is not easy for Zhu Wen to achieve this level.
Prime Minister Cui Yin is Zhu Wen's new ally.
At the same time, Zhu Wen still didn't ignore the influence on the small court in Chang 'an. Former Prime Minister Zhang Jun is an ally of Zhu Wen. After Zhang Jun stepped down, Zhu Wen hooked up with the new prime minister Cui Yin.
Cui Yin may have some brains, but he just wants to regain power from eunuchs and become the first prime minister to lead troops in the Tang Dynasty. The country wants to die, just want to fight for power and profit. Zhu Wen likes such people, and only such people are prime ministers, so Zhu Wencai doesn't have to worry that the nominal emperor will integrate all the forces of the Tang Dynasty to deal with himself.
In order to protect the ally Cui Yin, Zhu Wen also tried his best. When Cui Yin failed in her struggle with eunuchs and was sent to Guangzhou far away from Chang 'an, Zhu Wen recalled Cui Yin one after another. No one dares to ignore Zhu Wen's strength. The eunuchs were worried that Zhu Wen would turn against them, so they recalled Cui Yin, who had gone to Hunan, to Chang 'an Xinxiang.
At the end of that year, Tang Zhaozong, who was abused by eunuchs and buffer regions and was on the verge of collapse, finally went crazy. After drinking, he personally killed several eunuchs and maids who served him. When eunuchs saw this Xiong Haizi, they put Tang Zhaozong in limbo and prepared for the succession. This process was immediately notified to Zhu Wen by Cui Yin, and Zhu Wen was asked to "find a way to return power".
Zhu Wen's choice
At this time, Zhu Wen had several directional choices. One is to go south to Jianghuai to seek revenge from Yang Xingmi; The second is to completely occupy Hebei in the northern Youzhou; Third, enter Shanxi to destroy Li Keyong; The fourth is to move westward to Guanzhong and control Tang Zhaozong; Finally, Zhu Wen chose the fourth article, and two people made Zhu Wen make this determination.
The first one was Liu, the eunuch in control at that time. The eunuch also knew that the tide was over, so he sent someone to contact Zhu Wen, "Xu Xu lost Tang" and wanted to give Tang to Zhu Wen;
The second is Zhu Wen's deputy, Li Zhen. When Zhu Wen hesitated, Li Zhen proposed: First of all, "the royal family is in trouble, and the capital of this tyrant is also", encouraging Zhu Wen to go further; Secondly, "Ji Guan's ears are vertical, but he dares to imprison and abolish the son of heaven, and the public cannot ask for it." Why can he restore the princes! " It was clearly pointed out that Zhu Wen could not cooperate with eunuchs, but wanted to increase his reputation by attacking eunuchs, so as to save the birthright of the Emperor.
Li Zhen's point of view is correct. If you cooperate with eunuchs, you can't kill them easily. These people are weak, and the little benefit that Zhu Wen gets is far less than the risk of leaving the eunuch, not to mention the negative impact of cooperation with the eunuch on his reputation. Moreover, in the face of Zhu Wen's absolute strength, it is enough for North Korea to have Prime Minister Cui Xian as an ally, and the benefits that eunuchs can bring can be ignored.
This is the scene of Zhu Wen's westward expedition to Guanzhong, capturing Tang Zhaozong and ending the Tang Dynasty. At this time, 48-year-old Zhu Wen joined the Huang Chao Peasant Uprising Army at the age of 25 or 26 and fought in the world. At the age of 32, he went to Bianzhou to serve as our envoy of Xuanwu Army. For more than 20 years, there has not been a day of peace, and his desire for further progress is understandable.
However, Zhu Wen's westward advance was not smooth sailing. Not only do Li and others around Chang 'an not let Zhu Wen control the emperor easily, but Li Keyong and Yang Xingmi will also make trouble. However, with Zhu Wen's absolute strength above the rest of the world, whatever you want to do can be achieved.
Peripheral reading:
Zhu Wen, the terminator of the Tang Dynasty, 1, followed Huang Chao for five years and surrendered to the Tang Dynasty to fight back.
Zhu Wen 2: From survival to expansion, Zhu Wen's third major choice in life.
Zhu Wen 3, Terminator of the Tang Dynasty: Fighting Hebei and Zhou, Zhu Wen, the protagonist with aura, was invincible.
Zhu Wen 4, "The Terminator of the Tang Dynasty": The reality is very skinny, and Zhu Wen achieved almost nothing in the first two years in Tang Zhaozong.
"Zhu Wen, the terminator of the Tang Dynasty, fought hard for five years and won the three towns in the East. Zhu Wen had the capital to compete for the world."
Zhu Wen, the terminator of the Tang Dynasty, 6: Huainan defeated Hebei, and Zhu, Li and Yang fought wildly.