Chapter 4 4. New strongman Guo Wei

Twenty years ago, few people would have thought that Guo Wei, who loved to fight, could rise to the top and become a famous and powerful figure in the world. In September 949 AD, Yeluruan, the leader of the Daliao Kingdom, sent several armies to invade the Central Plains, burning, killing and looting in Weizhou, Nangong, Tangyang and other areas in Hebei.In October 950 A.D., under the agitation of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Liao Shizong personally led his troops to the south and captured Anping, Neiqiu, Shulu and other cities.Although the "History of Liao" described these southern expeditions as victories of the Liao Kingdom, in fact, the Liao Kingdom did not gain much from the southern invasion, and the price paid was not small.Because, they met a tough opponent - Guo Wei.

At this time, Guo Wei was stationed in Yedu. Everyone has to ask, how did Guo Wei transfer to Yedu? Speaking of this, we want to explain Guo Wei's origin in detail. Guo Wei's early experience is quite similar to that of Zhu Quanzhong.Guo Wei was born in Yaoshan, Xingzhou, Hebei.Born on July 28, 904 AD (the first year of Tang Tianyou).When Guo Wei was born, as usual, like all emperors were born, he had an unusual vision, the room was full of lights, crackling and crackling, and sparks were flying everywhere.It is now speculated that the furnace exploded due to the burning of coal containing sulfur and ammonium nitrate.

During Guo Wei's childhood, his parents died, and he grew up with his aunt.When Guo Wei grew up, he was tall and strong, not afraid of the sky and the earth, he fought fiercely and fought fiercely, but he didn't like farming and managing his family. In the previous document "Iron and Blood Central Plains", Li Sizhao, a famous general in Hedong, died in battle in Zhenzhou.Li Sizhao's sons fell out with Li Cunxu, and carried Li Sizhao's coffin back to Luzhou to separate the regime. Li Sizhao's son Li Jitao recruited troops, expanded his army and prepared for war, and wanted to fight Li Cunxu to the end.At this time, Guo Wei, who was not doing business properly, had no way of life, so he wandered to the Zelu area and lived in the home of his relative Chang's family in Huguan.Seeing that the Luzhou military camp was recruiting troops to prepare for war, Guo Wei went to Li Jitao's camp to recruit.Because of his tall, mighty, powerful and daring, Guo Wei was spotted by Li Jitao at a glance, and he was recruited to work under his command.Guo Wei was eighteen years old this year.

After joining the army, Guo Wei is still fierce and aggressive, likes to fight, and often violates regulations and disciplines.Since Li Jitao is in the midst of employing people, and he cherishes Guo Wei's bravery, he often pardons and treats Guo Wei.Li Jitao's generosity encouraged Guo Wei's bad habits, and Guo Wei became more unscrupulous, and finally performed a section of "Lu Ti governs the boxing town of Guanxi" in the busy city of Shangdang. There is a butcher in Shangdang Street Market who kills pigs and dogs. He is born with well-developed limbs, big arms, round waist, and fleshy body, similar to Japanese sumo wrestlers.Everyone in Shangdang City was afraid of this butcher, they didn't dare to quarrel with him, let alone fight with him.Most people would fight this butcher for no more than three rounds, and they would definitely be beaten to the ground, only exhaling but not inhaling.This butcher is very famous, he is known as the "Town Party", and he is a famous person.

One day, Guo Wei was on vacation and strolling on Shangdang Street.The companions said: "I heard that there is a butcher in Shangdang City, who is strong and strong, and no one dares to provoke him. Let us also be careful not to collide with him." Hearing this, Guo Wei sneered a few times: "Why are you so afraid of people? I'm going to meet this fellow today!" Everyone knows that Guo Wei likes to stir up trouble, and they are afraid that he will cause trouble and implicate everyone, so everyone persuades him to abide by the law and not cause trouble.The more everyone persuaded, the more energetic Guo Wei became.

What are you afraid of? Originally, the Shangdang market was not big, so Guo Wei and others found a tavern to drink and eat meat.After drinking and eating, Guo Wei and others continued to wander the street. As they walked, Guo Wei and his group came to a stall selling raw meat.Guo Wei has always been thinking about the famous butcher in the legend, and he wants to meet this "town party" for a while.After seeing the butcher shop, Guo Wei's eyes lit up, and he deliberately raised his voice and shouted: "Who is the legendary butcher?" As soon as Guo Wei finished speaking, a person came out after a row of raw meat.This person is like a door panel, with the fat all over his body stacked on two pillars in the shape of tires.The messy hair on the head was tied in a knot at the top of the head.There is a pair of small mung bean eyes under the two broom eyebrows.Under the two big pouting cheeks is a short unkempt beard.Accompanied by this person walking out, a gust of wind "hoo" blows towards his face, covering Guo Wei and others.

The butcher came up to Guo Wei with three wobbles, and asked in a low voice, "Who is looking for me?" Although Guo Wei is tall and big, compared with this guy, he is still two sizes smaller.Guo Wei looked the butcher up and down, deliberately put on the posture of a military master, with the smell of alcohol spraying from his mouth and nose, and said carelessly: "Cut five catties of fine meat for me, and I will take it back to make dishes." Following Guo Wei's other The soldiers were always worried that Guo Wei would provoke the butcher, and everyone's hands were sweating.Seeing that Guo Wei doesn't fight and only buys meat, everyone feels relieved.

Seeing that he was a military master, the Shangdang butcher didn't dare to be negligent. He took a steel knife as big as a cattail leaf fan, cut off a piece of meat from the whole fan, cut it into thumb-sized slices, wrapped it in lotus leaves and handed it to Guo Wei.Guo Wei took the meat slices, weighed them, and then said, "Cut another five catties of simmered dumplings for me, and go back to steam the buns." The Shangdang butcher glanced at Guo Wei, thinking to himself, "This guy must be the fire leader in the barracks", but Without saying anything, he turned around and cut off another piece of fat and thin meat, chopped it into minced meat, wrapped it in lotus leaves, and handed it to Guo Wei.Guo Wei took it in his hand, and said: "Cut another five catties of diced meat for me, and I want barbecue skewers." The soldiers who followed Guo Wei were very surprised. What meat skewers, what does Guo Wei want to do?Are you going to have a bonfire party?But we didn't bring so much money.Someone stepped forward and pulled Guo Wei's skirt, which meant to block Guo Wei, and ask for meat after he figured it out.

Guo Wei pretended not to notice, staring at Shangdang Butcher, waiting for him to cut the meat.The Shangdang butcher was also angry, and cursed secretly: "His grandma, where did you come from? You didn't make fun of me, did you?" Thinking of this, the Shangdang butcher said to Guo Wei: "Master, you first Give me the money for these two packets of meat, and I will cut the meat into cubes." Hearing what the Shangdang butcher said, Guo Wei scolded: "Fatty man, what kind of meat did you cut for me? It's not long or short, fat or thin, how can I use it when I take it back? Money? Delusion!"

The Shangdang Butcher now fully understands that the brawny soldier in front of him is indeed here to find fault.The Shangdang butcher has been on this street for so long, how has he ever been molested and humiliated like this?At the beginning, because I saw Guo Wei was a soldier, I was afraid of him three points in my heart, so I endured it in every possible way until now.Seeing that Guo Wei made it clear that he was picking faults, Shangdang Butcher couldn't bear it any longer. He yelled a few times, stepped forward, and punched Guo Wei straight in the face with his left hand. The Shangdang Butcher's fist was as big as a football, and rushed towards Guo Wei instantly with a strong wind.Guo Wei took half a step diagonally to the left, turned his head to avoid the punch.Who knew that Shangdang Butcher's punch was a false move, and the real killer move was his right hand.Guo Wei stepped into the attack range of the butcher's right hand.Shangdang Butcher swung his right hand and hit Guo Wei's temple with a thunderbolt.This move is ferocious, and there is no time to send it out.

In a critical moment, Guo Wei did not dodge.Because his left foot had just landed, it was too late to change his pace and dodge.Guo Wei didn't reach out to block either, he knew that if he blocked the butcher's fist head-on with his arm, even if he didn't get smashed to pieces, he would be injured and defeated.Before he could speak, Guo Wei landed on his left foot, leaned back, raised his right foot and kicked the butcher's chin.Guo Wei's movements were quick, and the last one came first.At the same time that Shangdang Butcher's fist reached the front, Guo Wei's foot had already kicked his opponent's chin.Hearing a scream, the butcher's tall body fell to the street with a "boom" like a mountain, dust splashed more than a foot high, and the aftershock of the fat meat lasted for a long time. This battle came so suddenly, no one expected that there would be someone in Shangdang City who would dare to fight this butcher, and in a blink of an eye, this butcher known as the "Town Shangdang" was knocked to the ground with one move .The Luzhou soldiers who accompanied Guo Wei were even more frightened, and before they could step forward to stop them, Guo Wei had already fought with the butcher.Seeing that Guo Wei defeated the enemy with one move, the companions were relieved from their worries, cheered and cheered for Guo Wei.The common people who watched the excitement all around also followed suit and shouted together: "Good fight, good fight, kill you, it's really relieved." The "town party" butcher was lying on the ground, with blood dripping from his mouth.This guy is also a rascal, seeing that Guo Wei is a powerful character, he didn't dare to stand up and fight again, and simply lay on the ground playing a rogue bachelor.The butcher was lying on the ground, dissatisfied, cursing and yelling: "The bandit, you have offended my grandpa today, and I will never end with you. If you have the guts, stab your grandpa in the chest. If you don't dare, you It's a coward." At this time, Guo Wei's brain was swelled by the fighting and alcohol, and his nerves were extremely excited.Annoyed by Shangdang Butcher's words, Guo Wei grabbed the meat cleaver on the chopping board and slashed it into Shangdang Butcher's chest with a "click".Accompanied by the burst of blood, the Shangdang Butcher groaned and tilted his head to death. Killing people in the street is no small matter. "Wow!" The crowd was chaotic and shouted into a ball.The common people on the street were worried that Guo Wei would escape, and the government would punish them for letting the murderer go. They "hula" surrounded Guo Wei in the center, and then tied him up and escorted him to the government. The case was quickly reported to Li Jitao, Luzhou Jiedu envoy.When Li Jitao heard that Guo Wei was responsible for the murder, he was anxious and angry.He has always cherished Guo Wei's talents, and couldn't bear to chop off Guo Wei's head to punish him, so he let Guo Wei go quietly, creating the illusion of jailbreak.Guo Wei took his life. Hundreds of years later, the story of Zhonglu Tijutsu beating Guanxi to death with three punches is probably based on Guo Wei's experience. Later, Li Jitao was defeated, and his troops were incorporated by Emperor Zhuangzong of the Later Tang Dynasty, Li Cunxu.Guo Wei is also included in the list. He has been doing nothing in the post-Tang army and has had no chance to develop for several years. Guo Wei, who did not make a breakthrough in his career, suddenly fell in love with studying. Guo Wei is not a fool with well-developed limbs and a simple mind. He is very scheming and has a bright head. After being exposed to cultural resources by chance, he keenly realized that he needs to learn culture.Learn mathematics, physics and chemistry, and you will not be afraid to travel all over the world. Guo Wei likes to play with words and ink. Even when he is marching and fighting, he will not put down the books. He reads the army's bookkeeping books and military books and war strategies. There is a story that vividly illustrates Guo Wei's love for learning.This created a huge divide between him and his former warlord leader Cao Mangwufu.When Guo Wei was in the army, he made friends with ten men of the same period, and became brothers of different surnames. They swore blood to form an alliance, and agreed to share joys and sorrows. Among the ten brothers, Li Qiong has the highest level of education. He was born in a family of officials and received a good education.Guo Wei and Li Qiong are the closest.One day, Guo Wei saw his elder brother Li Qiong was reading, Guo Wei leaned over and asked Li Qiong what book he was reading.Li Qiong replied that it was "Hunwai Chunqiu".Guo Wei hadn't heard of it before, so he couldn't figure it out, so he continued to ask: "What's in this book?" Li Qiong replied patiently: "The "Hunwai Chunqiu" talks about the way to govern the country and use the army. It should govern the country with the right way, use the army with strange tactics, analyze the principles of survival and chaos, and record the success and failure of the virtuous and foolish. There are everything you can expect." Guo Wei's eyes lit up when he heard what Li Qiong said, and he said to Li Qiong seriously: "Brother Li, you must teach me to read this book, so that I can learn and gain insights." Li Qiong has always attached great importance to Guo Wei and believes that Guo Wei will have great success in the future.Guo Wei had a request, and Li Qiong readily agreed.From then on, Guo Wei kept this "The Spring and Autumn Period" in his sleeve every day, and whenever he had time, he took it out and read it as soon as possible, and asked Li Qiong for advice when he encountered something he didn't understand.The two were also teachers and friends, and Guo Wei later made a fortune, and took Li Qiong as a confidant and high-ranking ginseng all the time.Although this Li Qiong did not have any earth-shattering careers, he has been a senior official for several generations until he retired in the early Song Dynasty and was awarded the honor of the prince's junior teacher. He lived to be seventy-three years old. Time flies, the sun and the moon fly by. Guo Wei is still unknown. When Li Siyuan proclaimed himself emperor and became Emperor Mingzong of the Later Tang Dynasty, official Shi Jingtang worshiped as the commander of the deputy capital of the guard Ma Bujun.Guo Wei was appointed as a military administrator by Shi Jingtang because he was good at keeping accounts and calculating accounts, and was smart and sophisticated.At this time, Guo Wei still had no chance to show his talents, neither military achievements nor fame.The problems of fighting and fighting have subsided a lot, and he is more low-key, and he pays more attention to using his mind instead of his fists when encountering things. Guo Wei loves to spend money lavishly and make friends, but the money on hand is always not enough.Fortunately, Guo Wei has a rich wife, Mrs. Chai.Mrs. Chai is both rich and knowledgeable. She used her private money to support Guo Wei and let him get closer and assist Liu Zhiyuan.As for why Mrs. Chai is rich, we will talk about it later.Because the gap between Guo Wei and Shi Jingtang's official ranks was too great, Guo Wei had no chance to serve Shi Jingtang at all.At this time, Liu Zhiyuan was Shi Jingtang's dental general, and he was full of heroic spirit, and was admired by everyone.From then on, Guo Wei worked hard to follow Liu Zhiyuan.In Liu Zhiyuan's place, Guo Wei was appreciated. After Shi Jingtang became Emperor Gaozu of Jin Dynasty, Fan Yanguang of Weizhou was not convinced and started a rebellion.Shi Jingtang sent general Yang Guangyuan to lead troops to attack.According to the deployment of troops, Guo Wei's troops should join the battle.But Guo Wei was reluctant to go.His brother asked him: "Mr. Yang Ling is an important minister in the court. Don't you want to follow him to do business?" Guo Wei shook his head and said: "Mr. Yang Ling has never been a hero, and I have no future if I follow him. The one who can really use me to play my role is Mr. Liu Zhiyuan." Later, Liu Zhiyuan had no ambitions in the Jin Dynasty, and lived in the Hedong Fan Town in a low-key manner.As Liu Zhiyuan's aide, Guo Wei devoted himself to Liu Zhiyuan, made suggestions, and successfully planned a series of major actions, including raising troops to proclaim himself emperor and establishing the Later Han Dynasty. Although Guo Wei joined the army with courage, his later career was promoted by relying on civilian strategies. Whenever an emperor is born, there must be some extraordinary legends attached to it.This not only exaggerates the meaning of God's destiny, but also reflects the lack of self-confidence of these troubled times. They come up with some magical ghost stories to deceive people's eyes and ears, and put on a legal cloak for their repeated usurpation of the throne and Jianyuan. According to Mrs. Chai, once she saw five-colored insects crawling in and out of Guo Wei's nostrils when he was taking a nap, she immediately thought it was an abnormal phenomenon, a hint that the Ninth Five-Year God was possessed by a dragon.Mrs. Chai hurriedly told Li Qiong the news, and Li Qiong played it up again, using several brothers to package Guo Wei into a miraculous. Another time, Guo Wei garrisoned troops next to Wu's house.There is a young woman Wu Shi in the private house, who is possessed by ghosts and will not recover for a long time.The house is haunted by ghosts every day, and the bewitched Wu family not only yelled, but also threw rubble and stones at people passing by.No one in the neighborhood dared to pass by Wu's house. The strange thing is that when Guo Wei passed by Wu's house, the Wu family quietly stopped making noise.After Guo Wei left, Wu continued to be haunted.After Guo Wei came back, Mrs. Wu was quiet again.People were very curious, so they asked Wu Shi from a long distance: "Aren't you a god? Why didn't you call out when Lord Guo Jun came?" Wu replied, "Because he is a greater god." The story of the big ghost crushing the little ghost added a bit of legend to Guo Wei. Liu Zhiyuan, Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, became the emperor, and Guo Wei was promoted accordingly, and became the Deputy Privy Envoy of the Later Han Dynasty.After Liu Zhiyuan's death, Liu Chengyou succeeded to the throne, and Guo Wei, as one of the ministers of Gu Ming, was named a privy envoy and an inspector Taiwei, with power pouring into the government and the public. Liu Zhiyuan left behind four Ministers Gu Ming, namely Su Fengji, the minister under the door, Yang Bin, the privy envoy, Shi Hongzhao, the commander of the guard Ma Bujun, and Guo Wei, the deputy envoy of the privy.As the prime minister, Su Fengji was the head of all the ministers. He appointed officials everywhere and made a wish. If there was a vacancy, he would fill it. If there was no vacancy, he would invent a half-job.Yang Bin believed that the world was so difficult and the finances were tight, so there was no need to set up and promote so many officials. Moreover, the level of officials was generally poor, so Su Fengji's work was often restrained.Su Fengji harbored a grudge, and together with his party members Su Yugui and Li Tao urged the young emperor Liu Chengyou to push Yang Bin and Guo Wei out of the imperial court and go to other places as magistrates. After Yang Bin and Guo Wei heard the news, they hurriedly found the Empress Dowager, and cried out their hearts with snot and tears.The empress dowager understood that her son was newly enthroned at this time, and his qualifications and experience were shallow, so he needed the assistance of ministers.It is very common for ministers to have party and factional struggles, but if the strife is too excessive, it will endanger the safety of the court.The empress dowager knew that her son had been fooled, so she immediately called Liu Chengyou, reprimanded her, and kept Yang Bin and Guo Wei. Emperor Yin of the Han Dynasty, Liu Chengyou, who understood the situation, immediately reprimanded Su Fengji, dismissed Li Tao, appointed Privy Envoy Yang Bin as Zhongshu Shilang, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and Tongping Zhangshi, and still served as Privy Envoy, and promoted Guo Wei to Privy Council As an envoy, Wang Zhang, the third envoy, was promoted to Tongping Zhangshi.All major and minor matters in the DPRK and China basically require the nod of these three people first.Although Yang Bin devoted himself to serving the country, he looked down on scholars, especially after Su Fengji promoted a group of useless scholars, Yang Bin hated these people even more and dismissed most of the mediocre officials.If there are not so many people who meet Yang Bingao's requirements, how can he do things?Government affairs are often stagnant, and work piles up like a mountain.On the one hand, there are too many things to do, and on the other hand, there are no talents, and even more suitable manpower. This is also a vicious circle in the middle and late stages of the Five Dynasties. In March 948 AD, the Hou Han Kingdom, which had just taken a breath, was in great trouble. Li Shouzhen, the Jiedu envoy of Shanzhou and Zhongshu Ling, Wang Jingchong, the Jiedu envoy of Yongxing, and Zhao Siwan, the Jiedu envoy of Fengxiang, conspired to rebel. Li Shouzhen was the general who had a good relationship with Du Chongwei, the son-in-law of the later Jin Dynasty. He thought he was a general of the Jin Dynasty and made great achievements.What's more, once the emperor and the courtiers, the current emperor of Han used all the old people from Hedong, Li Shouzhen was ignored and marginalized.The aggrieved Li Shouzhen secretly recruited troops, bought horses, accumulated grass and stored grain, planning to become emperor himself. Wang Jingchong was originally deeply trusted by Liu Zhiyuan, and he inspected Hezhong to put down the rebellion of Zhao Yanshou's son Zhao Kuangzan.But the thief shouted to catch the thief, Hou Yi, another guy who secretly communicated with the Shu Kingdom, bit back and pushed Wang Jingchong into a situation of infidelity and injustice.After Liu Zhiyuan's death, the new emperor succeeded to the throne. In the absence of mutual trust between the monarch and his ministers, Wang Jingchong was uneasy. In order to protect himself, he also turned his back on Han to Shu. Zhao Siwan was originally an old general of Zhao Zaili, but was later recruited by Zhao Yanshou, and then followed Zhao Yanshou's son Zhao Kuangzan. The feudal towns were separated, the feudal towns were dissidents, the feudal towns and the court lacked trust, the trees wanted to be quiet but the wind continued, the country wanted to be peaceful but the chaos was frequent, this was also a persistent disease in the Five Dynasties period.Those who make chaos and those who make peace are very helpless. The court of the Later Han Dynasty sent several nearby armies in Henan, Shaanxi, and Hebei to encircle and suppress Li Shouzhen and others.Zhaoyi Jiedu sent Chang Si to Tongguan, Hezhong Jiedu sent Bai Wenke to Tongzhou, and Heyang Jiedu sent Zhao Hui to Xianyang.Guo Congyi and Wang Jun approached Chang'an, but they couldn't go together, and they hated each other like fire and water.The Judgment War lasted from spring to autumn, but due to the disharmony of the Han army, there was no progress in the war. Liu Zhiyuan didn't leave any family background either. He was originally the foundation of the Hedong feudal town, and he was still a feudal town that was under pressure everywhere, with few generals and counselors under him.There is no comparison with Li Cunxu, the King of Hedong Jin Dynasty. In order to supervise the war west of Tongguan, the emperor of the later Han Dynasty had no choice but to send important officials to govern the various soldiers and horses.Who has weight?Four Gu Ming ministers.Who is familiar with marching and fighting?Shi Hongzhao and Guo Wei.Who can walk away?There is only Guo Wei.So Guo Wei was appointed by the imperial court as the comfort envoy of the West Front Army to supervise the battle. Judging from Guo Wei's more than 20 years of military career, he has no substantial experience in leading troops to fight, let alone fighting big and tough battles. Strictly speaking, he cannot be regarded as a military general.This expedition was the first time he took over such a major military operation. He did not expect to eat a hard crab for the first time, or the emperor crab, and personally led a major event related to the success or failure of the Later Han Empire.And Guo Wei's opponent is Li Shouzhen who has been fighting for a long time.Although Li Shouzhen can't be called an ancient famous general, he is a veteran general after all. He has fought all his life and has a certain influence in the military world.In terms of marching and fighting, Li Shouzhen has crossed more bridges than Guo Wei. How to deal with Li Shouzhen, a tough opponent? How to deal with the three-person alliance of Li Shouzhen, Wang Jingchong, and Zhao Siwan? What's more terrible is that the strength of the officers, soldiers and horses is very weak.Since Liao Emperor Taizong Yelu Deguang entered the Central Plains, Khitan transported 200,000 later Jin official army horses and a large number of armor weapons to the Liao Kingdom, directly emptying the later Jin army.While weakening the armed forces of the Later Jin Dynasty, Yelu Deguang also planned to physically eliminate the main force of the Later Jin Dynasty, and almost buried alive the 100,000 Jin troops who Du Chongwei brought over to surrender.Therefore, after the fall of the Later Jin Dynasty and the founding of the Later Han Dynasty, the strength of the official army was extremely weak. Coupled with the emptiness of national power and lack of finances, the imperial court was unable to equip the army at all, but barely maintained it.This is also one of the important reasons why Li Shouzhen dared to rebel and challenge the court. This is an extremely difficult task before Guo Wei, and it seems to be an impossible task. How does Guo Wei, as a civil servant, accomplish this task? Guo Wei has his own way. Before leaving, Guo Wei made some plans for strategy and tactics.He first consulted the Grand Master Feng Dao.Although Feng Dao was among the three men, but after the failure of the Later Han Dynasty, especially after the rise of new forces, Feng Dao Mingzhe hid at home and stopped working in order to avoid the edge.Guo Wei personally went to Feng Dao's mansion to ask for advice on the strategy of the expedition.Feng Dao shook his head and said, "I'm no longer in my position, so it's not easy to talk nonsense." Guo Wei said: "Guo Wei's knowledge is shallow, and I hope that Mr. Zhang will not hesitate to enlighten me." Feng Dao stroked his beard and said slowly, "Mr. Guo, are you familiar with gambling?" Guo Wei was addicted to gambling in his early years and suffered a lot of punishment for it.Hearing Feng Dao talk about gambling now, he thought it was Feng Dao who exposed his shortcomings, and his face suddenly sank.After all, Guo Wei is a powerful official in the court, and he doesn't take Feng Daotai seriously in his heart. Feng Dao smiled slightly and continued: "Look at the casinos, people with strong financial resources are full of confidence, shouting five times and drinking six, commanding momentum, and can afford to lose. They can fight many times, so there is a chance to comeback and win. People with small financial resources , First of all, lose momentum, and if you lose money in one or two games, you have to leave." Guo Wei didn't understand what Feng Dao said, so he listened patiently with doubts. Feng Dao continued: "Li Shouzhen considers himself an old man, has been in the army for a long time, and is deeply supported by soldiers. We should not underestimate his combat effectiveness. I hope Taiwei Guo will not be stingy with money and encourage and reward the soldiers. This way he can gain an advantage." Guo Wei suddenly realized: man dies for wealth, and bird dies for food.Now, after the war-torn years without tomorrow, everyone wants to reap the benefits as soon as possible. Everyone wants to be drunk today, and spend today's money today.For decades, these arrogant soldiers and warriors have all been rich and their mothers, and whoever has money will work hard for whomever has money.If you can't come up with money, you might as well go cool off. As for San Francisco, which one should we fight first?The generals have different opinions.In the end, Guo Wei adopted the strategy of fighting Li Shouzhen, who is the most difficult and toughest, as long as he defeats Li Shouzhen, Wang Jingchong and Zhao Siwan will be self-defeating. After Guo Wei arrived at the front line, he conducted investigations and studies, scouted the enemy's situation, planned deeply with the soldiers, shared the joys and sorrows with the soldiers, encouraged and rewarded the soldiers generously, comforted and visited the wounded without hesitation, listened to everyone's opinions without slack, and never spoke harshly when commanding and deploying. Occasionally, someone contradicted him Nor angry. Through superb political strategies and solid on-site management, Guo Wei greatly united the discordant post-Han officers and troops, boosted morale, gained a firm foothold, and held the former army's position. Guo Wei commanded several armies to reach Shanzhou, the township of Hezhong, and instead of rushing for quick success and quick profit, he sent people to block the four gates.Then 20,000 civilians were recruited to dig a zhang-deep trench outside the city of Shanzhou.The official army of the Later Han Dynasty implemented a long-term siege strategy against Li Shouzhen. Li Shouzhen thought he was the second Liu Zhiyuan, so he raised his arms and the responders gathered.Li Shouzhen was quite superstitious, became a prince, and wanted to be an emperor.He invited several monks and Taoist priests to give him fortune-telling, and it seems that he does have the appearance of an emperor.As a result, Li Shouzhen became even more coquettish.When the Han army came before him, it seemed that as long as Li Shouzhen waved his hand, the Han army would immediately defect to Hezhong.But Li Shouzhen was wrong. He stood on the top of the wall and waved his hands vigorously a dozen times, until his brow was sweating. Li Shouzhen's heart turned cold. The scene he expected didn't come. In order to break out of the encirclement, Li Shouzhen repeatedly sent troops to steal camps and raid villages, but was robbed and killed by the Han army every time, and ended in failure.The messengers Li Shouzhen sent for help to Later Tang, Later Shu, and Khitan were also captured and beheaded by the Han army.Li Shouzhen became the turtle in the urn, sitting in a city of sorrow. As time passed, Li Shouzhen's military spirit began to waver. Li Shouzhen's two allies Wang Jingchong and Zhao Siwan sent small groups of troops to meet the enemy many times, but were defeated by the Han army, and finally huddled in the city and dared not go out to fight. The counter-insurgency war in the Later Han Dynasty was protracted and lasted until the autumn of the second year.The food and grass in Hezhong City were cut off, and there were no reinforcements outside. They were isolated from each other, and they were defeated one by one, and the San Francisco disintegrated.In July 949 AD, Guo Wei organized a general attack and wiped out San Francisco in one fell swoop. Guo Wei became famous in the first battle, his power shocked the world, and he became an expert in war. In August, Guo Wei triumphantly returned to Kaifeng, the capital of the Later Han Dynasty. Emperor Liu Chengyou of the Later Han Dynasty held a grand welcome ceremony, and all civil and military officials, common people, and imperial guards lined up to welcome him.Slaughter cattle and cook sheep, wine and fresh fruits, and reward the armed forces.The city of Kaifeng is decorated with lanterns and festoons, gongs and drums are noisy, colorful flags are fluttering everywhere, and singing is fluttering.The pacification of San Francisco was the greatest victory since the founding of the Later Han Empire and the greatest achievement since Liu Chengyou succeeded to the throne. It is worthy of grand commemoration and celebration. The emperor of the later Han Dynasty gave the highest standard reward to Guo Wei, the commander-in-chief of the San Francisco War.The emperor took out the money from the bottom of the box to reward the civil and military officers of the Manchu Dynasty and the soldiers of the three armies.Liu Chengyou rewarded Guo Wei with silk cloth inlaid with gold and embroidered with silver thread, brand-new official uniforms, a belt inlaid with beautiful jade, and a carved BMW saddle. Guo Wei was not elated, nor arrogant, nor did he take credit for himself.He declined these compliments politely and calmly. Guo Wei said: "I took the command for a year to conquer a city in the river. How can I get any credit for it? Besides, when I was away, I guarded the capital, raised food, and transferred supplies. All these important responsibilities will be undertaken by the ministers. How dare I enjoy these great achievements alone! Your Majesty, please reward everyone." Although Liu Chengyou is young, he can also tell that Guo Wei is modest, with high political consciousness, proceeds from the overall situation, thinks well, and knows how to behave.The emperor was both happy and secretly praised Guo Wei.The more humble Guo Wei was, the more the emperor wanted to reward him.The emperor suggested: "Then give Guo Aiqing another square town. You can discuss it to see where it is more suitable." Although the capital officials are important, they are not lucrative.The emperor proposed to give Guo Wei a piece of land, which was fat for Guo Wei. Guo Wei hurriedly bowed and saluted, and declined, saying: "Yang Bin's position is higher than that of the minister, and he has not yet had an inch of land. How can the minister, He De, enjoy this treatment. In addition, Master Shi Hongzhao is responsible for strategizing and providing staff assistance for these important tasks. The minister dare not have unreasonable thoughts." Not only did Guo Wei not take the credit, but he also praised the others one by one, and insisted on not accepting the award.The stubbornness of Emperor Liu Chengyou also came up, and he said: "Well, do as you say, Guo Aiqing. For the leaders of the nine major groups, including the prime minister, the privy envoy, the Xuanhui envoy, the third envoy, and the guard envoy, The same standards as yours, promotion to rank, rewards and property. However, Guo Aiqing, I still think there should be special rewards for you. How about this, I won’t reward you for the time being, and give you the treatment of a servant." Seeing the seriousness on the emperor's face, Guo Wei didn't dare to refuse any more, fearing that he would embarrass the emperor too much.Guo Wei saluted and thanked him: "Thank you, Your Majesty. However, I still want to summarize the reasons for the success of the pacification of the San Francisco this time. The planning and decision-making, overall planning and coordination all depend on the emperor and courtiers. The deployment of troops to raise food and transportation guarantees all depend on the various towns. .Exposing the wilderness and fighting on the battlefield are all dependent on the soldiers. I can't bear to monopolize their achievements!" Guo Wei is very good at being a man, and he praised all the powerful and powerful people in the later Han Dynasty.Who is not happy to hear such words?From this point of view, Guo Wei is much wiser than Guo Chongtao of Li Cunxu's court in the later Tang Dynasty, An Chonghui of the Li Siyuan court of the Later Tang Dynasty, and Sang Weihan of the Shi Jingtang court of the Later Jin Dynasty. It is difficult to make meritorious deeds, and it is even more difficult to promote meritorious deeds.Most people want to make great contributions, take great achievements, stand out from the crowd, and shine brightly.But once the light is shot out, who will it shoot at?Weak people will not rebound if they are shot, at most they will be tested because they are too far away.The heavyweights around the hero are shot and probably burnt, and they are certainly uncomfortable and bound to reflex.Under the reflection of many big people, the taste must be uncomfortable, and the life must be difficult.Guo Wei knows this truth very well, so he is very low-key, very restrained, and does not radiate light indiscriminately. Han Yin Emperor Liu Chengyou and Guo Weijun and his ministers were very polite. After a few rounds, the emperor got tired of it, waved his hand, and said, "Let's do it this way, there is no need to refuse." Not long after. September. Yeluruan, Emperor Shizong of Liao Dynasty, kept the throne and launched a southern expedition to the Central Plains. In the past few years, due to internal struggles in Liao Dynasty, I have no time to look south.There was no foreign invasion in the later Han Dynasty, so it was able to take a breather.But the San Francisco Rebellion was not a trivial matter, and it made the later Han out of breath. At the time when the monarchs, ministers, government and the whole country were celebrating the victory of pacifying San Francisco, war alarms came from the prefectures in Hebei Province of the Later Han Dynasty, and the flames of war spread everywhere, and the flames of war spread across the banks of the Yellow River again.Since Shi Jingtang ceded the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun to the Liao State, and the base of the Liao army moved south to Yanjing (that is, the former Youzhou, now Beijing), the Khitan cavalry can reach Weizhou, Beizhou, Linqing area.The northern portal of the Central Plains Empire was wide open, lacking a barrier of strategic depth, and Luoyang in Xijing and Bianliang in Tokyo were directly exposed to the enemy. The flames of war between Liao and Han raged. At this time, the imperial court of the later Han Dynasty valued Guo Wei, who had made great achievements again, and believed that he was the Le Yi and Wu Qi of the present. They all asked Guo Wei to go to Weizhou, the capital of Ye, to supervise the war and command the war against Khitan. Looking at the court and the public at this time, Guo Wei is undoubtedly the number one military strongman in the Later Han Dynasty. Guo Wei is in this position. Guo Wei should be worthy of this post. Guo Wei had to pick this job. The privy envoy and servant Guo Wei and the military supervisor Wang Jun were ordered to go to Hebei to inspect and supervise the war.In fact, the Liao Kingdom did not have sufficient preparations for its southward march this time. Seeing that the Han army had reorganized and came to fight, they had to plunder and then retreat.Guo Wei planned to take advantage of the retreat of the Liao army and lead his army to chase the enemy into Khitan territory, but was stopped by Emperor Liu Chengyou.To be honest, the Han army did not have the ability to sweep Hebei and expedition to Khitan, so they could only accept it as soon as it was good. The Khitan left, and Guo Wei returned to court to return to his command. But things are much more than that simple. Khitan is like a tide, it will come back when it goes. What if the Liao army comes again? In the later Han Dynasty, the Hebei feudal towns were empty, with no generals guarding them, let alone heavyweights who extensively organized and coordinated the forces of the Hebei feudal towns to preside over the situation. For a long-term plan, Emperor Liu Chengyou of the Later Han Dynasty and some ministers believed that Guo Wei should be arranged as an official in Yedu to lead all the Houma in Hebei to fight against Liao. Guo Wei was originally a Beijing official, a member of the imperial court, how could he move places easily? In order to take care of both the government and the public, the court finally came up with a way to let Guo Wei go to Yedu as Tianxiong Jiedu envoy while retaining the post of privy envoy.All soldiers and horses in Hebei were under the control of Guo Wei, and the anti-enemy forces in all feudal towns were coordinated and supervised by Guo Wei.To use the current metaphor, it is equivalent to the chief of the general staff, the commander of the military region, and the military and political coordinator of the local region. As a result, Guo Wei's power and responsibility are too great, almost unprecedented.Guo Wei grew up from a fierce and fierce soldier to a civil servant with power over the government and the public by chance, and successfully transformed into the most powerful figure in the military circle of the dynasty, integrating military power and administrative power in one person.This career has been quite dramatic. Does no one object to Guo Wei's appointment? Isn't the imperial court afraid that Guo Wei's high position and power will threaten national security? Isn't the emperor afraid of Guo Wei's meritorious service? There are objections to this. There are also those who support it. There are reasons for both opposing and supporting. For this matter, there was a fierce struggle among the senior leaders of the Later Han Dynasty.I won't show it here for the time being, and I will talk about it later in the document.