Chai Rong said history, history said Chai Rong. Welcome to follow me, together with the ancient and modern history, and discuss the general trend of the world. On the seventeenth day of the first month of the first year of Xiande (954), Guo Wei, the Taizu of the Later Zhou Dynasty, died of illness, and his adopted son Chai Rong ascended the throne and was honored as Zhou Shizong after ascending the throne.
Liu Chong of the Northern Han Dynasty thought that this was a good time to fight in the south, so he asked the Khitan to send troops again. Chai Rongqi, originally from Longgang, Xingzhou, Hebei Province (now Longgang, Xingtai, Hebei), his family was poor, and he took refuge with his aunt Chai when he was a child, and was later adopted by his uncle and aunt as a righteous son.
Chai Rong and his adoptive father Guo Wei founded the imperial industry together, and he worked hard in the business world for many years, accumulating a lot of wealth by selling porcelain and tea, which provided financial support for Guo Wei to enter politics.
However, his two biological sons were killed by Emperor Liu Chengyou of the Han Dynasty, forcing Chai Rong to inherit the throne as adopted sons. In the early years of his reign, he faced the challenge of a powerful enemy in the north, and the outcome of this war would be directly related to the survival of the Later Zhou regime.
Liu Chong, with 30,000 soldiers and reinforcements from the Liao State, planned to move south from Tuanbai Valley, attack Luzhou, and then approach Daliang. They chose a narrow but close route in order to reduce the marching time and men**.
However, on the other side of this route is Luzhou, an important military town in the Later Zhou Dynasty.
Zhou Shizong concluded that Liu Chonghui would take advantage of the great funeral of Zhou Taizu to lead the army to invade the south. He ordered the Later Zhou army to set out in three routes, meeting the Northern Han army from the rear road, the left and the front.
After 8 days of continuous rapid marching, the advance of the Later Zhou army met the Northern Han army at Gaoping. Zhou Shizong immediately ordered the army to advance quickly to prevent the Northern Han army from escaping. Liu Chong led the Chinese army in Bagongyuan, while the Khitan general Yang Gon set up a formation in the west.
In the end, the Northern Han army was defeated by the Later Zhou army in the Battle of Gaoping.
In the Later Zhou Heyang Festival, Liu Ci led the rear army to the front, and everyone was panicked, but Sejong was firm and decisive. He ordered Bai Chongzan and Li Chongjin to lead the left army to be located in the west, Fan Aineng and He Hui to lead the right army to be located in the east, and Xiang Xun and Shi Yanchao to lead the elite cavalry to be in the **.
In front of the palace, Zhang Yongde led the forbidden army to follow. Sejong personally commanded the army. Liu Chong saw that the number of the Later Zhou army was small, and regretted that he should not have asked the Khitan to send troops. The Khitan generals advised him not to take risks, but he resolutely refused to listen, and ordered the Khitan army to be on the side**, and immediately commanded Zhang Yuanhui on the Eastern Front to attack the Right Army of Hou Zhou.
The two armies soon began to fight, and the Later Zhou general's Ma army general Fan Aineng and the infantry general He Hui led thousands of cavalry to flee, and thousands of infantry surrendered to the Northern Han. At this critical moment, Zhou Shizong was calm and calm, fearless in the face of danger, and personally led his own soldiers to supervise the battle.
In front of the palace, Zhang Yongde and Zhao Kuangyin, the general, each led 2,000 cavalry and charged into battle, and the enemy was terrified. The inner temple straight horse Renyu jumped on the horse and opened the bow, shooting dozens of people in a row.
Ma Quanyou, the general of the army in front of the palace, also led hundreds of cavalry to rush into the enemy formation. Liu Chong of the Northern Han Dynasty learned that Zhou Shizong personally supervised the battle, so he ordered Xiao general Zhang Yuanhui to seize the opportunity to pursue the victory.
However, Zhang Yuanhui was immediately killed by the Later Zhou army, which led to low morale of the Northern Han army. The Later Zhou army became more and more courageous, competing to kill the enemy, and finally defeated the Northern Han army. Liu Chong of the Northern Han Dynasty raised the banner and commanded the Northern Han army to make a truce, but he could not stop the Later Zhou army from rushing and killing.
The Khitan general Yang Gon was afraid of the strength of the Later Zhou army and did not dare to rescue Liu Chong, and the whole army retreated. In the evening of the same day, Liu Chong of the Northern Han Dynasty led the rest of the more than 10,000 people to use a river stream to deploy defenses.
At this time, Liu Ci led the rear army to arrive in the Later Zhou Heyang Jiedu, and immediately pursued with the army, defeated the Northern Han army again, and killed the general Zhang Hui and the privy envoy Wang Yansi.
The Northern Han army threw away its armor and corpses were everywhere. **Later Zhou troops arrived in Gaoping, surrendered thousands of Northern Han troops, and captured a large number of baggage, camels and horses.
Although the Battle of Gaoping was short and small in scale, it had a significant impact on the rise and fall of the Later Zhou and Northern Han dynasties, as well as the unification of the whole country. Volume 114 of the "History of the Old Five Dynasties" recorded: "When the day is critical, it is impossible to ** in an instant, fortunately, the emperor is wise and resolute and personally commands the battle, otherwise the country will be crumbling like a hanging flag." ”
This is in line with the actual situation. Since this defeat, the national strength of the Northern Han Dynasty has gradually weakened, and it has been entrenched in Taiyuan and its surroundings for a long time, and it is no longer able to provoke a large-scale war against the Later Zhou.
After the Battle of Gaoping, Zhou Shizong's prestige increased greatly, and he stepped up reforms, and his national strength became stronger and stronger, and the cause of national reunification continued to develop. Liu Chong, who was defeated in the Later Zhou Dynasty, collected scattered soldiers, repaired armor and weapons, and strengthened the defense of the Later Zhou.
The Khitan general Yang Gon led the army of Beitundai Prefecture and prepared to serve as the military backing of the Northern Han Dynasty. Liu Chong of the Northern Han Dynasty again sent an envoy Wang Dezhong to Liao to beg for troops, and Liao Muzong promised to send troops to rescue Taiyuan.
Zhou Shizong ordered Fu Yanqing to deploy and know the affairs of Taiyuan for the camp in Hedong, and led 20,000 people to ride north from Luzhou, meet with the armies of Wang Yanchao and Han Tong, and besiege Taiyuan.
Some prefectures and counties in the east and south of Taiyuan were occupied by the Later Zhou, and the defense of Fenzhou in the Northern Han Dynasty made Dong Xiyan surrender, and Zhang Hanchao, the assassin of Liaozhou, also surrendered. Zhou Shizong sent Fu Yanqing from Luzhou to the north, due to the inconvenient transportation in Taiyuan and the difficulty of military supplies, he did not discuss the attack for the time being, and planned to wait for another battle.
When the Later Zhou army stepped into the territory of the Northern Han Dynasty, the people from all over the country sent food to welcome them, and confided that the Liu clan of the Northern Han Dynasty paid heavy taxes and was willing to provide military supplies to help capture Taiyuan.
After Zhou Shizong learned of this news, he made up his mind to destroy the Northern Han in one fell swoop; The military operations of Fu Yanqing and Wang Yanchao went smoothly, and it also strengthened Sejong's determination to capture Taiyuan.
Sejong sent envoys to consult with the generals. However, the generals believed that the army was short of food and fodder, and requested the withdrawal of the troops, waiting for the opportunity to fight again. Sejong disagreed. Later Zhou's army and people gathered under the city of Taiyuan, where discipline was corrupted, plundering and harassing, disappointing the people of the Northern Han Dynasty.
Sejong quickly issued an edict strictly prohibiting the plundering of soldiers, pacifying the peasants, allowing only the current year's taxes to be levied, and recruiting men to pay grain in exchange for official positions. At the same time, he ordered the third division to send Li Gu to the area near Taiyuan to raise military rations, and to requisition and transfer Ze, Lu, Jin, Jiang, Ci, Xi, and the people of Hebei Zhuzhou near the eastern side of Taihang Mountain to transport grain**.
On 18 April, Fu Yanqing reported that Xianzhou and Lanzhou of the Northern Han had surrendered. On the 19th, Wang Yanchao captured Shizhou and captured An Yanjin, the assassin of Shizhou in the Northern Han Dynasty. On the 20th, Li Tinghai, the assassin of Qinzhou in the Northern Han Dynasty, surrendered the whole city.
On the 27th, considering that the Later Zhou army had captured several states of the Northern Han Dynasty, Sejong decided to set out from Luzhou and personally go to Taiyuan to conquer Liu Chong. On the 30th, the Xinzhou superintendent of the Northern Han Dynasty killed Zhao Zhen and the Khitan general Yang Yungu, and surrendered to the Later Zhou, and was awarded the post of Xinzhou Assassin.
On May 3, Sejong led his army to the city of Taiyuan. The Later Zhou army was deployed 40 miles outside the city of Taiyuan, and the morale was high, which brought great pressure to Liu Chong of the Northern Han Dynasty and Yang Gon, the Khitan general of the Tun army in Daizhou.
In this case, Yang Gon had a serious rift with Zheng Chuqian, the assassin of the Northern Han Dynasty. Yang Gon sent dozens of Khitan soldiers to guard the gate of Daizhou City to obstruct Zheng Chuqian's contact with the Later Zhou side.
Zheng Chuqian killed all the Khitan soldiers guarding the city gate, closed the city gate, prevented Yang Gon from entering the city, and forced Yang.
During the period from the end of March to the beginning of May, Hou Zhou adopted a two-pronged strategy, on the one hand, deploying troops outside the city of Taiyuan to continuously attack, and on the other hand, capturing other prefectures and counties, forcing the Northern Han army to surrender, accounting for two-thirds of the entire territory of the Northern Han Dynasty, and the situation of besieging Taiyuan was very favorable.
However, the Later Zhou army then lost the battle in the Xinzhou area, and the situation took a major turn. Zhou Shizong believed that the Khitan had thousands of cavalry stationed between Xinzhou and Daizhou to provide assistance to the Northern Han, so he decided to personally lead a large army to meet the attack.
On May 7, Shizong sent Fu Yanqing, Guo Congyi, Xiang Xun, Bai Chongzan, Shi Yanchao and other generals to lead more than 10,000 cavalry into Xinzhou, and the Khitan army retreated to Xinkou. On the 20th, according to Fu Yanqing's request, Sejong sent an additional 3,000 troops led by Li Yun and Zhang Yongde to support Xinzhou.
On 23 May, Fu Yanqing and the generals lined up outside Xinzhou to wait for the enemy. Shi Yanchao led 20 cavalry as the vanguard to engage the Khitan army, and Li Yun led his troops to pursue, killing 2,000 Khitan soldiers.
However, Shi Yanchao was too light on the enemy, far away from the army, outnumbered, and was killed by the Khitan army, only Li Yun was able to escape, and the Zhou army suffered heavy casualties. Fu Yanqing was forced to retire to Xinzhou, and then led his troops back outside Taiyuan.
At the same time, the Later Zhou army attacked Taiyuan for a long time, and encountered heavy rain, and the soldiers were exhausted. On June 1, Sejong ordered the withdrawal of the army, and appointed Kuang Guojiedu as the rear army, and the Northern Han army pursued, and Yao Yuanfu repulsed it.
However, the Later Zhou army retreated in a hurry, hundreds of thousands of firewood, grass and grain under the city were burned, rumors spread in the army, and even robbery incidents occurred, the military supplies suffered heavy losses, and the occupied counties of Northern Hanzhou were lost one after another.
On June 28, Zhou Shizong returned to Daliang. The Battle of Gaoping was an encounter between the Later Zhou and the Northern Han in the mountains and wilderness, and the attack on Tai was a siege operation, and there was an essential difference between the two.
Zhou Shizong achieved a brilliant victory in the Battle of Gaoping, but in ancient times when cold weapons were used to fight, it was far more difficult to attack the fortified city of Taiyuan, which had been fortified for many years and had strong walls, than the Battle of Gaoping.
Zhou Shizong lacked a full understanding of this, lacked an understanding of the characteristics of siege operations, was poorly planned, had difficulties in transporting military supplies, and did not have a unified ideological understanding among the generals. In these cases, rushing to siege the city is hardly effective.
The discipline of the Zhou army was corrupted, which led to a popular revolt and made the long-term attack on Taiyuan fruitless. Fortunately, Zhou Shizong was keen and retreated early to avoid greater losses.
Hu Sansheng mentioned in his commentary on the Zizhi Tongjian that Zhou Shizong attached great importance to Wang Pu's strategy of first going south and then north, and then going north after winning the battle in the south. But in fact, if Zhou Shizong wants to unify the world, there are great threats and obstacles in the north and south.
The geographical location of Hou Shu was remote, the transportation was inconvenient, and the Later Tang Dynasty sent troops twice but failed, which had a great impact on Zhou Shizong. The Southern Tang Dynasty was the most powerful country in the south, with abundant resources and population, and had a strong resistance to Zhou Shizong's invasion.
After the destruction of the southern states, Zhou Shizong had to face longer and arduous battles, as well as the danger of the restoration of the old warlords in the south. Therefore, Wang Pu's strategy is likely to be difficult to implement and even pose a threat to the survival of Hou Zhou.
According to the actual situation, Zhou Shizong clearly divided the priorities and formulated a practical plan for unifying the world. He sent troops to Later Shu and Southern Tang, but did not occupy too much land, but hoped that they would continue to rule his territory.
At the same time, he also maintained friendly relations with these countries and did not take advantage of the victory to pursue other countries of the South.
Zhou Shizong adopted such a military strategy, not only taught a profound lesson to Later Shu and Southern Tang, so that they did not dare to easily invade the border of Later Zhou, thus ensuring peace between Guanzhong and the area north of the Huai River; Moreover, it obtained a large amount of resources from the economically rich 14 states of Jiangbei, strengthened the military strength of the Later Zhou, and prepared for the crusade against the Liao State and the Northern Han, the recovery of the lost land in Hebei, and the elimination of the Northern Han.
Therefore, when Zhou Shizong led the army south to destroy the southern states, everything seemed logical and went smoothly. This shows that Zhou Shizong's strategic decision to unify the whole country was to start with the south and then the north, and then from the north to the south, and this strategy was both sound and reliable, and although there were some similarities with Wang Pu Cewen's combat strategy, there were also major differences.