Chapter 23 The two heroes immediately set up Shatuo

On December 29, 1964, Mao Zedong said in a letter to Tian Jiaying: "Recently reading the history of the Five Dynasties Tang Zhuangzong's Biography of the Three Chuigang Battles, I remembered reading an epic poem when I was young, and I forgot who wrote it. Please check it out and tell me what to look forward to!" In order to facilitate checking, Mao Zedong also wrote "San Chui Gang Poem" from memory: "The hero immediately raised Shatuo, but Zhu Liang is so domineering. It is difficult to support Tang Sheji with one hand. Liancheng still embraces the mountains and rivers of Jin. There are strange children under the wind and cloud tent, and there are many tears in front of the drum and horn lamp. The desolate Sanchuigang descends the road, and people have sung a song for a hundred years." At the end of the poem, it is noted: "Poetry praises Li Keyong and his son".

In this epic poem written by Mao Zedong, in addition to miswriting the "Gang" in the title "Three Chuigangs" (according to "Old History of the Five Dynasties" and "New History of the Five Dynasties") as "Gang", there are two clerical errors: One is "尤" (should be "and") in the fourth sentence "Liancheng still embraces Jinshan River"; the other is "Gangxia" (should be "Gangside").All other characters in the poem are correct.Mao Zedong can still clearly remember this epic poem he read when he was young after many years of war, which shows how deeply he was impressed by it.In his later years, Mao Zedong once said to the staff around him: "Now I cry a lot in front of the drum horn lamp."

The poem "Three Chuigangs" was written by Yan Suicheng, a poet of the Qing Dynasty.Although Yan Suicheng was not very well-known among the poets of the Qing Dynasty, his epic poems were well written.In this poem of seven rhythms, a few words not only express the sympathy and vicissitudes of future generations for the historical figures and ancient battlefields of the previous dynasty, but also outline Li Ke's heroic demeanor and grandeur with his father and son's arrogance. The "Li Keyong father and son" that Mao Zedong, the great man of a generation, focused on were Li Cunxu, the founding king of the late Tang Dynasty during the Five Dynasties period, and his father Li Keyong.In the last days when the lords competed for the throne, Li Keyong and his son did stage a mighty and majestic drama.The reason why Li Keyong chose to make a separate article is because Li Keyong always regarded Tang as Zhengshuo. Even if Zhu Wen usurped Tang and established the Later Liang, Li Keyong refused to admit it and still used Tang's "Tianyou" reign name.Li Cunxu later proclaimed himself emperor, knowing his father's wishes, so he still used Tang as his country name, which was called Later Tang in history.

Li Keyong's earliest rise was due to the suppression of Pang Xun's leadership of the Guilin Shuzu Uprising, when he was only fifteen years old.He officially entered the political stage of the Tang Dynasty and attracted the attention of the government and the public because of the Yunzhou Incident. In the fifth year of Qianfu (878) of Emperor Xizong of Tang Dynasty, a famine occurred in Daibei. The defense officer of Yunzhou (now Datong, Shanxi) Duan Wenchu ​​took the opportunity to reduce the military rations and uniforms, which aroused the dissatisfaction of the army.Duan Wenchu's military academy Kang Junli, Xue Tieshan, Cheng Huaixin, Wang Xingshen, Li Cunzhang and others secretly plotted together: "Duan Wenchu ​​is a cowardly and stupid person, and it is difficult to work with him. Now that the world is chaotic and the morale of the army is low, it is a good time for us to stand out. .Li Guochang and his son are brave champions of the army and have a great reputation. If we jointly elect him as the leader to riot together. As far as the present is concerned, the land of Daibei can be occupied in less than ten days, and fame and wealth are just around the corner."

After the discussion, Kang Junli and dozens of people set off from Yunzhou overnight to meet Li Keyong in Weizhou. We wait for the border people, how can we guard the death! The father and son of the public family, who have always benefited the five tribes with their prestige, should jointly eliminate the cruel commanders and thank the border people, who dares to be different." ") Li Keyong had long been ambitious, and deliberately said in a tentative tone: "The emperor is here, and you should act in accordance with the country's laws and regulations. You should not act rashly. Besides, my father is far away in Zhenwu (the name of the town in Tangfang, where the government is today. Inner Mongolia and Ringer Southwest Tuchengzi), even if there is an incident, you have to report to your father." Kang Junli and others thought that Li Keyong did not want to join the army, and said anxiously: "Now the matter has been leaked, and it will change if it is too late."

Li Keyong saw that the time was right and the matter was urgent, so he raised troops from Weizhou, and more than 10,000 mutiny troops rushed to the outside of Yunzhou City, and stationed troops on the cockfighting platform (on Xiwang Mountain in Datong).In Yunzhou city, it was heard that Li Keyong's army had mutinied, and when they came outside the city, the soldiers and civilians in the city immediately killed Duan Wenchu ​​and welcomed Li Keyong into the city.Afterwards, everyone listed Duan Wenchu's many crimes and reported it to Emperor Xizong, asking Li Keyong to serve as the defense envoy of the Datong Army to stay behind.The Tang court couldn't tolerate it and planned to send troops to crusade.

At that time, the Huangchao Peasant Army was in full swing, and the Tang court was at a loss for resources. In order to concentrate its forces on dealing with the rebel army, the Tang court was forced to adopt the method of conferring officials and making wishes, and appointed Li Keyong as the Jiedu envoy of the Datong Army.Li Ke used his father and son to take advantage of the time when the Tang court was busy suppressing peasant uprisings, constantly expanding their power and consolidating their territory.Helianduo of the Tuyuhun clan also wanted to fight for territory, so he took the opportunity of Li Guochang's troops to attack the Dangxiang clan and captured Li Guochang's old camp Zhenwu, and all the Shatuo clan in Zhenwu were captured by the Tuyuhun clan.Seeing the sudden change in the situation, Li Keyong hurried to Dingbian Army (now northwest of Shaanxi Province) to welcome Li Guochang back to Yunzhou.Seeing that Li Keyong and his son were alone, the general of Yunzhou also closed the city gates to prevent them from entering.

At this critical juncture, Li Keyong led a small number of troops to fight in Yuzhou, Shuozhou and other places, and got more than 3,000 troops to station troops in the new city, while Li Guochang withdrew to Weizhou.In order to annex the Shatuo tribe, Helianduo led troops to surround Xincheng and commanded the army to attack day and night. The situation was quite critical.At this moment, Li Guochang arrived from Weizhou leading reinforcements, so he attacked from inside and outside.This battle revived Li Keyong's army. The Tang Dynasty saw that Helianduo was powerful, so he appointed Helianduo as the envoy of the Datong Army, and Li Jun was appointed as the emissary to recruit the North, in order to eliminate Li Keyong's influence.As a result, Helianduo and Tang Guanjun lost several more battles. Not only was Li Keyong not eliminated, but his territory became bigger and bigger.In the first year of Emperor Xi Zong Guangming (880), the Tang court appointed Li Zhuo as a recruitment envoy, and together with Li Keju of Youzhou and Helianduo of Yunzhou, sent troops again to aggressively attack Li Keyong and his son.In the case of disparity in strength, Li Keyong and his son were defeated by the Tang army in Yaoerling and Weizhou respectively, and suffered heavy losses. Finally, they led the remaining troops to flee to the northern Datar (who lived in Yinshan) tribe.At this time, it was the time when Huang Chao's army marched from north to south.

At the end of the first year of Guangming (880), Huang Chao occupied Chang'an, and Tang Xizong fled to Sichuan.In the first year of Zhonghe (881), the Tang court sent people to Daizhou to recruit 30,000 soldiers to resist Huang Chao.Most of these soldiers are wild beards from the north, rough and brutal, tyrannical and tyrannical, and Tang generals are often unable to restrain them.Under such circumstances, Li Youjin, the governor of Shatuo, suggested to the Tang court to use Li Keyong, and use the brave Shatuo soldiers to deal with Huang Chao in the future.At this time, Xizong really had no strong generals in his hands who could resist the peasant army, so he had no choice but to use Li Keyong and appointed him as the Yanmen Jiedu envoy.Li Keyong was ecstatic after hearing the news, and immediately led tens of thousands of Tatar tribes through Yanmen and went down to Taiyuan.

At this time, Li Ke was full of ambition.He felt that he was ordered to be in danger, and he had a great desire to save the Tang Dynasty from the abyss of fire and water.He sent an ultimatum to the Jiedu Mansion in Hedong, claiming that he was ordered by Tang Xizong to conquer Huangchao, and asked the Jiedu Mansion to prepare wine and food along the road for the army.Zheng Congyu, the governor of Hedong, was the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty before, and he had many famous people under him. People at that time called his shogunate a "little court".After he knew that Li Keyong had gone south, he immediately ordered the gates of the city to be closed tightly to guard against the Shatuo army.Li Ke thought to himself: "I was invited by the emperor to exterminate Huang Chao. I am on the same front as you, but you still regard me as an enemy." He felt that he was underestimated, and decided to show Zheng Congzhen a little color.

At that time, Li Keyong stationed troops in Fendong.Zheng Congxuan sent people to reward him, and sent military supplies and food.However, Li Keyong stayed in Fendong and refused to go south.This naturally made Zheng Congxuan very nervous, not knowing what kind of medicine the Shatuo man was selling in his gourd. Li Keyong personally led the Shatuo Army to the city of Jinyang. The Jinyang defenders had already received strict orders from Zheng Congxuan to guard them closely, preventing Li Keyong from entering the city alone.Li Keyong asked to meet Zheng Congyu, the Jiedu envoy of Hedong.Zheng Congxuan climbed up the tower and had a conversation with Li Keyong on the city.Li Keyong also asked for food and reward money, and Zheng Congxuan gave some money and rice.Despite this, Li Keyong was still not satisfied, and began to indulge the Shatuo army to loot the residents outside Jinyang City, causing panic in Jinyang City.Zheng Congxuan sent someone to ask Zhenwu Jiedu envoy Qizhang for help.Qizhang led the Turkic and Tuyuhun soldiers to attack the two strongholds of the Shatuo army first. Li Keyong led the army to fight, but Qizhang's army was defeated and fled into Jinyang City in embarrassment. After that, Li Ke connived at Shatuo's army to plunder Yangqu and Yuci, and then planned to return to the north, regardless of Xizong's edict.On the way back to the north, the Shatuo army encountered a rare torrential rain, so they simply occupied Xin and Daizhou by force and stayed there.Zheng Congxuan, the envoy of Hedong Jiedu, did not dare to relax at all, and dispatched his coach Lun'an and others to station his troops in Baijing to guard against the attack of the Shatuo army. Obviously, the situation in the Central Plains at this time is quite complicated, not just as simple as the confrontation between the peasant army and the Tang court.It was quite common at that time for Li Keyong and Zheng Congyu to attack each other due to minor conflicts and ignore imperial edicts.Between the Jiedushi and the Jiedushi, and between the Jiedushi and the supervising army, they often met each other at every turn.Even the local thugs gather together to make troubles, occupying land as king.Wang Xu, a butcher in Shouzhou, and his brother-in-law Liu Xingquan, seeing the chaos in the world, unexpectedly gathered more than 500 people to occupy Shouzhou.A month later, Guangzhou was captured again, and Wang Xu called himself a general.Under such circumstances, the Tang court even appointed Wang Xu as the governor of Guangzhou.At this time, the complexity of the situation was far beyond the control of the Tang court. In fact, the great social turmoil had already begun at this time, and the subsequent Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms were just a continuation. After Li Keyong occupied the Xin and Dai states, he repeatedly asked Emperor Xizong to surrender.Xi Zong was very troubled, because Yiwu Jiedu envoy Wang Chucun and Li Keyong were related by marriage for generations, Xi Zong ordered Wang Chucun to warn Li Keyong: "If you are sincere and sincere, you should return to Shuozhou for the time being to wait for the imperial court's order. If the tyranny continues as before, the imperial court will send the officers and troops from Hedong and Datong to carry out the crusade." But Li Keyong did not obey. At this time, although Zhu Wen had surrendered to the Tang court, Huang Chao's forces occupying Chang'an were still relatively strong.Tang Hezhong Jiedu envoy Wang Chongrong proposed to recall Li Keyong to fight against Huang Chao's army.Therefore, Prime Minister Wang Duo came forward to summon Li Keyong to the river, and advised Zheng Congyu, the Jiedu envoy of Hedong, not to compete with Li Keyong again.Therefore, Li Keyong led 17,000 Shatuo troops to the south again and rushed to Hezhong, but he dared not enter Taiyuan for fear of being attacked by Zheng Congxuan's army.Li Keyong also took hundreds of cavalry to bid farewell to Zheng Congxuan at the foot of Jinyang City. Zheng Congxuan also pretended to present him with famous horses, utensils and coins. In December of the second year of Zhonghe (882), Li Keyong's army went to Hezhong (now Yongji, Shanxi), and faced Huang Chao's army across the river.As mentioned earlier, both the Tang court and Huang Chao used means to win over Li Keyong, but Huang Chao made a mistake and only sent Li Keyong's brother-killing enemy and gold, silver and jewelry, so he lost his alliance with Li Keyong Opportunity. Starting from the first month of the third year of Zhonghe (883), Li Keyong and his Ya'er Army began to show off.In the first month, Li Keyong defeated Huang Kui (Huang Chao's younger brother) in Shayuan.In February, Li Ke used a big weapon to break Shangrang's 150,000 horses. The fierce battle lasted from noon to evening, Shangrang's peasant army was defeated, and the peasant army suffered heavy losses.Then, Li Keyong defeated Huang Chao's reinforcements at Lingkou and marched into Weiqiao. Li Keyong also sent generals Xue Zhiqin, Kang Junli and others to sneak into Chang'an City at night, killing people and setting fires everywhere, burning wealth and food, which made the people in Chang'an City uneasy and panicked. In the third year of Zhonghe (883), on the eighth day of the fourth month of summer, Li Keyong and others entered the capital Chang'an from Guangtai Gate. Huang Chao led his army to resist tenaciously, but seeing the strength of the Tang officials' army, he set fire to the palace and fled.After the Tang official army entered Chang'an, they looted violently again, no different from the peasant army.However, there were very few houses and people left in Chang'an City at this time, and there was really nothing to loot. Huang Chao entered Shangshan from Lantian. Seeing Tang Guanjun's pursuit, he ordered to throw money and treasures on the road.Seeing Qian's eyes wide open, the Tang officials who followed him rushed to snatch him, but no one continued to pursue him, so Huang Chao escaped. Li Keyong took the lead in entering the capital and won the first prize. Because of his meritorious service, he was promoted to Tongzhong Shumenxia Pingzhang Zhengshi (Prime Minister), Longxi County Duke, and soon Dr. Jin Ziguanglu, the right servant of the school, and the Jiedu envoy of Hedong. He was twenty-eight years old.In the battle to recover the capital Chang'an for the Tang court, "the meritorious service is the first, the army is the strongest, and all the generals are afraid of him."From then on, Li Keyong started his fortune by suppressing the Huangchao Uprising, and relying on his military strength, he became one of the influential figures on the political stage in the late Tang Dynasty. After Li Ke returned to Hedong, he began to expand his territory and strengthen his power.He captured Luzhou and appointed his cousin Li Kexiu as the envoy of Zhaoyi Jiedu. At this time, although Huang Chao withdrew from Chang'an, his strength was still there, and he approached Bianzhou with his army.At this time, Zhu Wen served as the Tang Xuanwu Jiedu envoy and guarded Bianzhou.He was afraid of his former boss, and knowing that he was powerless to stop Huang Chao's attack, he asked Li Keyong for help.Satisfied with his righteousness, Li Ke planned to take the opportunity to show his skills, so he readily accepted the invitation.In the spring of the fourth year of Zhonghe (884), Li Keyong led 50,000 troops across the river to the south, defeating Huang Chao's army in a row.Huang Chaoxiao's general Shangrang saw that the situation was not good, and led his people to surrender to Tang general Shi Pu, and the other generals of Daqi also surrendered to Zhu Wen. At this time, the failure of the Peasant Army was settled, and the Huang Chao Rebel Army had to retreat to Shandong.Li Keyong led his troops in hot pursuit, trying to wipe out Huang Chao. He marched 200 miles a day and one night, but it was difficult for the army to keep up. In the end, only a few hundred cavalry followed Li Keyong.Because of lack of people and horses, and lack of food and grass, Li Keyong had to return to Bianzhou.During this pursuit, Li Ke captured Huang Chao's youngest son, and also seized Huang Chao's carriage and horses, honor guards, dragon robes, talisman festivals and seals. After Huang Chao was chased and beaten by Li Ke this time, there were only more than a thousand people left. Soon, he was besieged by Tang General Shi Pu in Laiwu (now Laiwu, Shandong) and fled to Langhu Valley (now southeast of Laiwu, Shandong) ), with only a few cronies left around, Huang Chao was so desperate that he committed suicide. After Li Ke used Bianzhou, he camped outside the city. In order to thank Li Keyong for sending troops to help, the "landlord" Zhu Wen specially hosted a banquet at Shangyuan Post in Bianzhou Post to celebrate his success.Satisfied with his new military exploits, Li Ke happily went to the appointment.He did not expect that this would be a night banquet full of murderous intentions. That night, Zhu Wen had a big banquet, "very polite".Li Keyong attended the banquet together with the military supervisor Chen Jing and hundreds of people.This was a historic banquet. In the future, Zhu Wenwen and Li Keyong became the founding emperors of Houliang and Houtang respectively, but neither of them knew it yet. Li Ke was young and energetic, and he thought he was kind to Zhu Wen, so he was extremely arrogant and indulgent at the banquet.He thought he was a hero of the Tang Dynasty, and deep down in his heart he looked down on Zhu Wen, who was born as a bandit. After he was drunk, his words slowly revealed that he was arrogant and insulting to Zhu Wen, which was hurtful. Zhu Wen has never been a broad-minded person, and he feels aggrieved in his heart.After he surrendered to the Tang court, he was highly valued.Li Keyong's sudden rise once threatened his status.Zhu Wen was already on fire with jealousy, but after being humiliated by Li Keyong, he became murderous in his heart.However, Li Ke was famous for his outstanding martial arts skills. At that time, both the peasant army and Tang generals were afraid of him.Coupled with the fact that his entourage is dressed in black, it is daunting.Therefore, although Zhu Wen held a grudge, he didn't dare to explode on the spot. Instead, he tried to persuade him to drink and got Li Keyong drunk. After the banquet, Li Keyong and others were so drunk that their clothes were soaked by the wine, so they stayed at Shangyuan Station that night.After Zhu Wen left Shangyuan Station, he looked unhappy.Xuanwu general Yang Yanhong, who had been with him all the time, saw Li Keyong's rudeness at the banquet, so he persuaded Zhu Wen to kill Li Keyong overnight to avoid future troubles. Afterwards, anyone who sees a horse must be shot with an arrow." Only then did Zhu Wen make up his mind to eradicate Li Keyong.He drove Li Ke thousands of miles to rescue him. After many fights, he defeated Huang Chao and broke the siege of Bianzhou. However, he was murdered because of a few words after drinking.This shows that Zhu Wen is mean and ungrateful. Zhu Wen sent people to block the exit with connected carriages and fences overnight, and then sent Bian soldiers to surround Shangyuan Post, firing random arrows, intending to put Li Ke to death.And Li Keyong was already drunk, lying on the bed and sleeping soundly, ignorant of the changes outside.Fortunately, his entourage Xue Zhiqin, Shi Jingsi and others were brave and resisted with all their strength, and a fierce fight began.Xue Zhiqin's archery skills are extremely good, and he shot dead dozens of Bian soldiers without fail.The soldiers of the Bian army who were besieging were frightened. Although they clamored loudly, they dared not go forward easily. So they set fire from all sides and threw torches at the posthouse, intending to burn Li Keyong and others to death. After Guo Jingzhu extinguished the candles, Li Keyong hid under the bed, then poured cold water on Li Keyong's face and told him what happened.Li Ke used "Start to open eyes and raise the bow", and then stood up staggeringly. Given his current condition, he was naturally unable to participate in the fight.Probably because his life should not have died, when the smoke and fire just started, suddenly "heavy rain shook the electricity, and the sky and the earth were dark."The fire was doused by the torrential rain and immediately extinguished.Xue Zhiqin supported Li Keyong, and used the light of lightning to climb over the wall and break out. It was midnight at this time, and no one could be seen at all.Li Keyong and others were able to escape from Shangyuan Station.The crossing bridge was guarded by the Bian army.Xue Zhiqin and others fought hard and finally broke a bloody path.Shi Jingsi took charge of the rear and died heroically.Li Keyong and others rushed to the Weishi Gate, killed the Bian soldiers guarding the gate, and escaped from the top of the city under the cover of a thunderstorm.But the supervisor Chen Jing and more than 300 followers were all killed by the Bian soldiers.Since then, the two sides have formed a deadly feud, and the conflict between Jin and Bian kicked off. Coincidentally, Xuanwu general Yang Yanhong said in advance that he would shoot when he saw the rider. That night, Yang Yanhong happened to appear in front of Zhu Wen on horseback.Because it was difficult to distinguish in the dark, Zhu Wen immediately ordered to shoot arrows and killed Yang Yanhong. Like Zhu Wen's wife Zhang, Li Keyong's wife Liu is also a very powerful character.Not only is she resourceful and resourceful, but her judgment on the situation far exceeds that of ordinary counselors.It's not Zhang's kind of weak and elegant lady. Every time she goes on an expedition, she always joins the army and stays by her husband's side with a lot of pride.When Li Keyong was besieged at Shangyuanyi, someone around him escaped from Bianzhou City first, and ran back to the barracks to report the situation to Liu.If it were an ordinary woman, she would either cry and cry, bewildered, or be furious, and immediately send troops to rescue her husband.But Mrs. Liu kept his face and killed the person who fled back to report the news immediately to cover up the news.She then secretly summoned the generals to "seek to protect the army and pay back." At dawn, Li Ke fled back in embarrassment, and immediately sent troops to attack Bianzhou to avenge his deep revenge.His wife Liu believed that this would be unreasonable, and advised him to play the Ming and Tang courts in order to attack Zhu Wen in a legitimate way.Liu's role in Li Keyong cannot be underestimated. Not only did he remain calm and make suggestions this time, but he also played a role in many critical moments. Li Keyong obeyed Liu's words and led the army to leave.But Zhu Wen harmed him for no reason at Shangyuanyi, which made Li Keyong furious.Before leaving, he issued a statement accusing Zhu Wen of being ungrateful.Zhu Wen wrote back and said: "I really don't know about the incident the night before yesterday. It was planned by the envoys sent by the imperial court and Yang Yanhong. Since Yang Yanhong has already pleaded guilty and executed, I can only ask you to understand and forgive me." Li Ke immediately reported to Tang Xizong, listed Zhu Wen's crimes, and asked the Tang court to issue an edict to crusade.However, there were also many ministers in the Tang court who were inclined to Zhu Wen, so they excused Zhu Wen in front of Emperor Xizong.Xi Zong had no soldiers, no power, and no financial support, so he could only issue an edict to reconcile the two.At the same time, in order to comfort Li Keyong, Emperor Xizong also conferred on him the title of King of Longxi County in the name of his meritorious service in breaking Huangchao, so as to appease his anger.In order to deal with Qin Zongquan in the west with all his strength and avoid being attacked by the enemy, Zhu Wen also sent envoys to the door to apologize for his sins, and presented heavy gifts such as gold and silver.Li Keyong considered that his own wings were not yet full at this time, and he wanted to annex other regions to expand his power. At the same time, he would send troops to Guanzhong with Wang Chongrong to disperse his forces.Under the balance of various interests, the conflict between the two sides has not erupted for the time being. After the Shangyuanyi incident, the conflict between Li Keyong and Zhu Wen became superficial and direct.In fact, even without the Shangyuanyi incident, the conflict between Li Keyong and Zhu Wen would have been inevitable.In the process of suppressing the Huangchao uprising army at the end of the Tang Dynasty, Zhu Wen and Li Keyong gradually became the two largest factions.Li Keyong occupied Hedong at that time, but he was not satisfied. If he wanted to develop eastward, he would inevitably conflict with Zhu Wen, who was dominating the Central Plains.After the Shangyuanyi incident, the open and secret struggle between him and Zhu Wen never stopped.In the first few years, Li Keyong took advantage of the contradictions between warlords in various places to continue fighting, attacking Yunyou in the north, Zhenji in the east, Guanzhong in the south, pacifying Sanfu, and even sent troops to Shandong, further strengthening the power in the Hedong area. Li Keyong has one eye, and there is a very interesting story about it.After Li Keyong occupied the Hedong area, he gained a great reputation.Yang Xingmi, who occupies Huainan, is often distressed because he doesn't know his appearance.In order to know his appearance, Yang Xingmi secretly sent a painter to pretend to be a businessman to Hedong, waiting for the opportunity to paint Li Keyong's portrait.Shortly after arriving in Hedong, the painter revealed his identity and was captured by Li Ke with his army.Li Keyong was quite annoyed after hearing the news, and said to the left and right: "It's true that I'm blind in one eye. You might as well call them to paint and see how they paint me." When the painter arrived, Li Keyong scolded him with his knee He said: "Yang Xingmi sent you to paint my portrait, then you must be an excellent painter. If you can't draw me today, you will die under the steps!" After the painter kowtowed, he began to paint the portrait.It was midsummer at that time, and Li Ke held an octagonal fan in his forehand to drive away the heat.The painter was very clever, and covered Li Keyong's blind eye with a fan corner in the painting.But Li Keyong said: "You are flattering me!" He ordered the painter to repaint.Life is at stake, and the artist was quick to think, and painted Li Keyong as shooting an arrow with a bow, with one eye slightly closed (actually the blind eye), as if he was observing the straightness of the arrow.Li Ke was overjoyed after seeing it, rewarded the artist and sent him back to Huainan. At the end of the first year of Guangqi (885), Li Ke used to send troops to help Hezhong Jiedu envoy Wang Chongrong defeat the Tang general Zhu Mei in Shayuan (now south of Dalin, Shaanxi), and once invaded the capital.Tang Xizong traveled to Fengxiang (now part of Shaanxi), Baoji (now part of Shaanxi) to Xingyuan (now Hanzhong), and returned to Chang'an two years later.After Zhaozong ascended the throne, he took a palliative attitude towards Li Keyong, but under the pressure of Zhu Wen, he asked Prime Minister Zhang Jun to lead the army to conquer. As a result, Zhang Jun was defeated, and Zhaozong had to continue to make concessions, and he was appointed at the end of the second year of Qianning (895). As the king of Jin, he became the first person to be crowned king among the separatist forces in the late Tang Dynasty. In the first month of the following year, Emperor Zhaozong planned to appoint Zhang Jun as chancellor again. Li Ke said in the form above: "If your majesty chooses Zhang Jun as prime minister, then the minister will come to Que court at dusk!" So scared that Zhaozong had no choice but to change his mind. When Zhu Wen attacked the Zhu Xuan brothers in Yan (now in Shandong) and Yun (northwest of Dongping today), Li Keyong sent troops to rescue them in order to restrain Zhu and Wen from developing power in Hebei.Since then, Li Keyong has fought bloody battles with Zhu Wen for years to compete for the southern regions of Hedong and Hebei. Although he was once at a disadvantage, his foundation in Taiyuan is already deep and unshakable. Because Li Ke used his troops for an expedition and attacked from all directions, he made enemies on all sides, and the military discipline was corrupted, which made the Jin army lose the hearts of the people.From the central government of the Tang court to the local vassals, there are a group of people who regard him as a tiger and wolf.They often bowed their heads and surrendered when Li Ke used large soldiers to suppress the border, and once they had the opportunity to take advantage of it, they would wait for the opportunity to fight. In the first year of Tianfu (901), Bian captured Zhang Congjin from Jinzhou and Jiangzhou, cutting off Li Keyong's access to the south.Hezhong Jiedushi Wang Ke is Li Keyong's son-in-law, and he urgently asks his father-in-law for help.Li Ke couldn't take care of each other head to tail, so he wrote back to his daughter, saying: "You can abandon the city and surrender with Wang Lang." He gave up Hezhong. The loss in the river was a major turning point in Li Keyong's decline from prosperity to decline.In April of this year, the Bian army entered Jin from the east and the south and surrounded Jinyang.In June, Li Keyong asked Zhu Wen for peace. In the second year, the Bian army attacked Jinyang again, and the situation was critical. Li Keyong wanted to go to Yunzhou and fled north to protect his strength.His wife, Liu, encouraged and dissuaded her: "Your Majesty often laughs at others abandoning the city and fleeing to be slaughtered. Why do you want to follow suit today? Your Majesty once sought refuge outside the Great Wall and was almost killed. Now if you abandon the city and flee to the north, there will be no guarantees. It’s hard to protect yourself, so what’s the big deal!” Li Keyong followed Liu’s suggestion and gathered the scattered soldiers.Fortunately, thanks to the hard work of the generals, the Bian army retreated again.Although the Bian army was still powerful at this time, and Zhu Wen coerced the emperor to command the princes, Li Keyong had already stepped out of the trough after all. Although Li Keyong is the overlord of one party, his own strength has been severely weakened by his shortcomings in military strategy and control of his subordinates, making him always at a disadvantage in the early stages of competing for hegemony with Zhu and Wen.However, he has a bit more strategy than Zhu Wen, that is, he has never blatantly surpassed Emperor Tang like Zhu Wen did.Li Keyong also knew that the Tang Dynasty was coming to an end, and he himself had no ambition to become emperor, but at that time, supporting the Tang Dynasty was still a very appealing and popular signboard.Therefore, he always appears as a king who seeks rebellion, and he can take advantage of the situation to expand his power and buy people's hearts. In the first year of Tianyou (904), Zhu Wen forced the Tang court to move the capital to Luoyang, killed Emperor Zhaozong of the Tang Dynasty and established Li Hui, the king of Hui, as Emperor Ai.When the mourning envoy came to Jinyang, Li Ke used the south to cry bitterly, and ordered the three armies to wear plain clothes in mourning.In the fourth year of Tianyou (907), Zhu Wen couldn't wait to abolish Emperor Ai of the Tang Dynasty, proclaim himself king, and establish Houliang. After Zhu Wen proclaimed himself emperor, Wang Jian, who ruled Sichuan at that time, also wanted to proclaim himself emperor, so he sent an envoy to persuade Li Keyong to proclaim himself emperor together, but Li Keyong politely declined, saying that he was "tired of the throne and lost his loyalty". Therefore, "swear to this life, extravagant dare to lose integrity".On the surface, he seemed to be loyal to the Tang court, but in fact, Li Keyong didn't want to proclaim himself emperor, but wanted to take advantage of Zhu Wen's proclaiming emperor to promote and destroy Zhu soldiers.He has already seen that Zhu Wen's hasty proclaiming emperor has aroused opposition from all over the world. It can be seen that although the Tang Dynasty fell, it still did not lose the hearts of the people.So Li Keyong stood up and launched a crusade as a loyal minister of the Tang Dynasty. Taking advantage of Zhu Wen's internal conflicts and external loss of popular support, he expanded his territory and gradually gained the upper hand in the confrontation with Houliang. As early as the second year of Tianyou (905), Li Keyong allied with Abaoji, the leader of the Khitan, and wanted to cross the south of the river.In the third year of Tianyou (906), Li Ke sent troops to attack Xingzhou, Keze, and Luzhou.In the fourth year of God's Blessing (907), Zhu Wen surrounded Luzhou (now Changzhi, Shanxi) with 100,000 soldiers, and Li Keyong also sent troops to help.Zhu Wen sent another army to build a stronghold outside the city, and surrounded Li Keyong's subordinate Li Sizhao inside the city. The two sides held each other for a year.Li Ke sent Zhou Dewei to relieve the siege. The two sides fought fiercely, but they failed to defeat Zhu Wen's army.The two armies faced each other, and it was hard to tell the winner. When the two sides were at each other's stalemate, Li Keyong suffered a sudden illness due to head gangrene, and died in Jinyang in the second year of Kaiping (908) in the Later Liang Dynasty. He was only fifty-two years old at the time. After Li Keyong's sudden death, Zhou Dewei's reinforcements withdrew to Jinyang, and Zhu Wen thought it would be no problem to break through Luzhou.Unexpectedly, Li Keyong's son Li Cunxu led reinforcements day and night, defeated Zhu Wen's army by surprise, broke the siege of Luzhou, and seized a large amount of food and weapons.Later, Li Cunxu used outsmart methods to defeat Zhu Wen's army many times. As a result, Zhu Wen's army became psychologically afraid of Li Cunxu, and often the two armies collapsed before taking over.Zhu Wen felt that he had no successors, and that he was not the opponent of Li Keyong's son, so he sighed and said: "Having a son should be like Li Cunxu's, and my son is just a pig and dog in comparison." As expected, after Zhu Wen's death, his son Zhu Youzhen was destroyed by Li Cunxu. When he was dying, Li Keyong ordered a thin burial, and the mourning clothes could be removed 27 days after the funeral.At that time, it took three years for a son to mourn for his father, which was the longest period of mourning.The shortest mourning period is three months.Li Keyong's request for shortening is naturally to ask his son Li Cunxu to focus on the overall situation and focus on defeating the Liang army. When Li Keyong was dying, he also gave Li Cunxu three arrows, and encouraged his son, saying: "First attack Liu Rengong with one arrow. If you don't capture Youzhou first, it will be difficult to capture the Henan area. One arrow hits Khitan in the north. At the time, Abaoji You swore to be brothers with me, and agreed to revive the country of the Tang Dynasty. Later, he broke his promise. You must attack him. The last arrow is to destroy Zhu Wen. If you can fulfill my three unfulfilled wishes, I will die No regrets." Apparently, Li Keyong had a lot of regrets because of his unfulfilled ambitions, and it can be said that he will not rest in peace.Fortunately, the son is still up to date.Li Cunxu hid three arrows in Li Keyong's imperial temple. When he attacked Liu Rengong, he took out one and put it in his kit. Restricted use of the Taimiao, and it was the same after the Khitan was defeated and the Houliang was destroyed. Li Keyong never dared to claim the title of emperor during his lifetime, but got the title of emperor after his death.When Li Cunxu proclaimed himself emperor and built the Later Tang Dynasty, he was posthumously recognized as Emperor Wu, and the temple name was Taizu. Here is another mention of the Battle of Sanchuigang.After Li Keyong's death, Li Cunxu went out in mourning. At that time, Zhu Wen's back Liang Jun was competing with Li Jun for Luzhou, and Luzhou was Shangdang.Shangdang was known as the spine of the world in ancient times, and its strategic position is extremely important. It has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times.Whoever occupies the geographical advantages of Shangdang and Taihang can sweep the Three Jins, leap horses to seclude Ji, wield his sword to Qilu, and aspire to the Central Plains.Therefore, from 883 to 907 AD, for more than 20 years, Zhu Wen and Li Keyong repeatedly competed for the Shangdang, and the main cities and passes changed hands five times, and the war was fierce.In 907 AD, after Zhu Wen usurped Tang and made himself emperor, he sent 100,000 troops to attack Shangdang again.Li Sizhao, the guard, stayed in seclusion. Liang Jun was unable to attack for a long time, so he built a small Great Wall on the outskirts of Shangdang City, which was shaped like a scorpion.The two armies have been stalemate for more than a year, and the war has entered a stalemate. Li Cunxu called all the generals and said: "The people of Liang are fortunate that I have a great funeral. They say that I am young and new, and I am incompetent. I should take advantage of my slack and attack." He personally led the army and galloped for six days to Sanchuigang. At that time, after the great victory in Xingzhou, Li Ke used to return to the Shangdang army and rested at Sanchuigang.Li Cunxu was only five years old.One day, Li Keyong went out for school hunting and took Li Cunxu with him.During the hunting break, he went to an ancient temple to drink wine, and the accompanying actors played the "Hundred Years Song" with a sad tone, implying that the years are ruthless and life is easy to grow old.Li Keyong, who was accustomed to his life as a soldier, was not affected by the sad melody of the music. Instead, he optimistically caressed Li Cunxu who was snuggling on his knees and said, "I have a strong heart. Twenty years later, this son will definitely fight here." Revisiting the old place and recalling the past, Li Cunxu couldn't help sighing: "This is where the king bought wine!" Li Cunxu immediately assembled the whole army in secret, but Liang Jun didn't notice it.In the early morning of the next day, under the cover of heavy fog, Li Cunxu led his troops forward and directly smashed into the "Jiazhai" of the Liang army.At this time, Liang Jun was still in a dream, and he was too hasty to fight. He was beheaded by the Jin army for more than ten thousand ranks.Fu Daozhao and other 300 generals were captured, and only Kang Huaiying and more than 100 people escaped from Tianjing Pass (a Taihang Pass) by riding out.When Zhu Wen heard the news in Kaifeng, he exclaimed: "You should have a child like this. The Li family will not perish! All the sons of my family are porcupine dogs (pig dogs)!" The Battle of Sanchuigang was a long-distance raid, and the victory was won by a concealed surprise attack, which laid a solid foundation for Li Cunxu to go to Taihang and compete in the Central Plains. It is true that Li Keyong and his son are all-powerful, wise and courageous heroes in troubled times, but it is a pity that the heroes may not be able to live up to expectations in their lifetime.What is more tragic than Li Keyong's death with regret is that Li Cunxu died with hatred. He was good at military affairs but short at politics.About Li Cunxu, I will tell it again in the last article about the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, "The Rise and Fall of the World Competing".