Chapter 39 Once a brave young general

Since the Huang Chao uprising, the Tang Dynasty has fallen into a situation of collapse.The warlords, who had different ideas, took advantage of this opportunity to become independent one after another, proclaiming themselves emperors and kings.Among them, the most powerful belonged to Zhu Wenwen, who was originally Huang Chao's rebel general, Li Keyong, a Shatuo nobleman.Zhu Wen took the first step and controlled the emperor in his own hands, just in time to coerce the emperor to order the princes.Later, he felt that this was not enough, so he simply killed the emperor of the Tang Dynasty and established himself as the emperor. This is the Taizu of the Later Liang Dynasty, and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms began.

Li Keyong also started his business when he suppressed the Huangchao Uprising. He was originally from Shatuo, but was later given the surname Li by Tang Yizong.Although he and Zhu Wen jointly suppressed the Huangchao Uprising, they later became incompatible.Zhu Wen usurped the Tang Dynasty to stand on his own, which made him find an excuse to "rescue him and destroy the thieves". He refused to proclaim himself emperor, but remained the Jinwang of the Tang Dynasty.But although he is good at fighting, he is inferior to Zhu Wen in winning people's hearts.He once helped Liu Rengong win the land of Youzhou, but Liu Rengong watched from the sidelines when he and Zhu Wen fought hard, and later he took refuge in Zhu Wen.Khitan leader Yelu Abaoji once made a promise of brotherhood with him and attacked the Liang together, but later seeing the strength of the Houliang, he turned his back on him.In this way, he will inevitably be at a disadvantage in the tug-of-war with Zhu Wen.He also worried about it day and night, and finally fell ill.

When Li Cunxu was dying, he called his son Li Cunxu to the bed, took out three arrows and said to him: "Zhu Wen is my world enemy; Yan Wang Liu Rengong is the territory I took back for him. Khitan and I were brothers. But they all betrayed me and went to Zhu Wen. I can’t hold my breath, and I will die in peace.” Li Cunxu took the three arrows with tears in his eyes, expressing that he would live up to his father’s trust.Li Keyong asked the generals again: "My son has great ambitions, and he will surely achieve my career. You must assist him well." After saying these words, Li Keyong passed away. The 23-year-old Li Cunxu, inherited took the throne of King Jin.

Li Keyong's trust and hope for his son did not come out of thin air. The tiger father had no dogs. When Li Cunxu was eleven years old, he followed his father to fight. After the victory, he followed his father to Chang'an to meet Tang Zhaozong.Tang Zhaozong admired his talent very much, and Xu Zhi was a pillar of talent. He also said to his father: "This son is inferior to his father", which means that he will definitely surpass his father in the future.Li Cunxu also got the name "Yazi" because of this.Just like his name, his military talent is far superior to that of his father: he is as brave and good at fighting as his father, but better in strategy.Since Li Keyong had followed him for many years, he was very tolerant to them and often rewarded them, which caused these arrogant soldiers to disturb the people from time to time. Li Cunxu advised his father to pay attention to rectifying military discipline.Liu Rengong, the king of Yan, captured Youzhou with Li Keyong's strength, but he ignored him when Li Keyong borrowed troops from him. Later, he was besieged by Zhu Wen, so he had the cheek to ask Li Keyong for help.Li Keyong hated him for being ungrateful and planned to ignore him, but Li Cunxu advised him: "Zhu Wen is very powerful now, and the only people in the world who can contend with him are us and Youzhou. If he captures Youzhou, we will be even more powerful." Those who do great things should not care about minor grievances." So Li Keyong listened to his words and broke the siege of Youzhou, thereby preventing the development of Zhu and Wen's forces.Later, Li Ke used to lose repeatedly in the battle with Zhu Wen, and he was very pessimistic.It was Li Cunxu who came to persuade him again: "Zhu Wen's vain attempt to conquer his neighbors by force and usurp the throne is an act of self-destruction. If things do not go to the extreme, they will not reverse. He has reached the extreme now. We should not be discouraged. We must save Power, wait until he declines." After his father died, Li Cunxu was determined to destroy his enemies, and solemnly enshrined the three arrows left by his father in his family temple.Every time he goes out for an expedition, he first sends an official to the family temple to take out the arrows, put them in a delicate silk bag, and take them with him to battle; after winning the battle, he sends them back to the temple.

The young King Jin's behavior showed his extraordinaryness from the very beginning.Li Keyong once asked his younger brother Li Kening to assist Li Cunxu, but Li Kening had other ideas. Therefore, with the help of his mother Empress Dowager Cao and his father Zhang Chengye, Li Cunxu quickly quelled Li Kening's rebellion.During the Five Dynasties period, the custom of adopting adopted sons prevailed for a while, and many leaders of the separatist regimes liked to adopt their fierce generals as adopted sons, and Li Keyong was no exception, such as the famous "Thirteen Taibao".At that time, someone advised Li Cunxu that in order to prevent these people from disobeying and rebelling, it is better to kill them first.But Li Cunxu disagreed. He took the lead in every battle, and used his bravery to convince those people to him.Li Keyong died when the Jin army and the Liang army were fighting in Luzhou City.Some people think that it is inappropriate to send troops during the mourning period, but Li Cunxu said: "The enemy will think that we are in mourning at this time, and I am young and inexperienced, so I will definitely not send troops. We happened to surprise the enemy camp and attack the enemy camp, and we will succeed." Sure enough. As he expected, Liang Jun was defenseless and fled in embarrassment after being killed by him.When Zhu Wen learned of this, he couldn't help being very surprised, and sighed: "You should have children like Li Yazi, like my sons, but they are just a bunch of pigs and dogs."

After Li Cunxu won the victory in the Battle of Luzhou, he returned to Jinyang and started to reorganize the army, turning the original sloppy army into a powerful force.After that, he and Zhu Wen started a scramble for the area north of the Yellow River, and defeated the Liang army in Baixiang.Since then, the great reputation of King Jin has made Liang Jun frightened.Later, even when they heard that the Jin army was coming, they ran away one after another.The army led by Zhu Wen was defeated before meeting the main force of the Jin army.Zhu Wen was so ashamed and angry that he fell ill and was killed by his son Zhu Yougui soon after.

At this time, Liu Rengong in Youzhou had been imprisoned by his son Liu Shouguang. Liu Shouguang was arrogant and wanted to be the leader of the northern alliance, and later even became emperor.Li Cunxu used the strategy of arrogant soldiers to respect him as "Father Shang". Later, when he was going south, he sent troops to capture Youzhou, captured Liu Rengong and his son, and presented them in the ancestral temple.After Liu Shouguang was executed, Liu Rengong was escorted to Daizhou and sacrificed in front of Li Keyong's tomb.This can be described as evil and evil for capricious villains.

After Li Cunxu fulfilled his father's wish for the first arrow, he started the war of destroying Liang, and started a tug-of-war with Liang Jun by the Yellow River. small loss.Due to the lack of follow-up forces, in order to accumulate strength, Li Cunxu had to wait for another two or three years, and the two sides formed a confrontational situation. At this time, a rebellion broke out in the base area of ​​Hebei, and the rebels united Houliang and Khitan, preparing to attack the Jin army.Li Cunxu returned to his master to fight in person, defeated the Khitan army, and drove Abaoji to the north.After stabilizing the rear, Li Cunxu continued to march south without stopping.

As Zhu Wen lamented, those sons of his are really pigs and dogs.Needless to say, Zhu Yougui who killed his father and seized the throne, after he seized the throne, his brothers were not convinced, especially his son Zhu Youzhen, who played the banner of crusade against the rebels and asked the teacher for their crimes.Later, he killed Zhu Yougui and won the throne as the last emperor of Liang.But Zhu Youzhen was also very incompetent, allowing the officials to run amok and domineering, and the power of Houliang gradually declined.Moreover, he does not know how to employ people, and the selection of talents and generals is not based on merit and military exploits. Generals have to send close officials to monitor them when they go out to battle.After Li Cunxu's father's death, he rectified military discipline, won the hearts of the people, and consolidated the rear, laying a solid material foundation.He is also good at employing people, whether it is a brave general or a civil servant, and he can always make correct decisions in specific strategies and tactics.Comparing the two, the defeat of Houliang is a foregone conclusion.

In April 923 AD, Li Cunxu proclaimed himself emperor in Weizhou.Li Cunxu became Emperor Zhuangzong of the later Tang Dynasty, named Tongguang in the year, established Xingtang Mansion with Taiyuan as Xijing, Weizhou as Tokyo, and established the Northern Capital with Zhenzhou as Zhending Mansion. In October, the Jin army invaded Bianzhou, Zhu Youzhen, the last emperor of the Liang Dynasty, committed suicide, and the Later Liang Dynasty perished.So far, Li Cunxu has fully fulfilled his father's vow of three arrows.After destroying Liang, Li Cunxu sent troops to capture Guanzhong and Liangchuan.The territory of the Later Tang Dynasty ranked first in the Five Dynasties, and the country was in full swing, and the great cause of unification seemed to be just around the corner.