Chapter 8 1. New Youth

Whether it is a hero or a bear, it is impossible to fight against the sky. In the end, it will always come to the end of life. Whether it is willing or not, it will eventually withdraw from the stage of history.Today's world is dominated by young people. The descendants of Yang Xingmi, Zhu Quanzhong, Li Keyong, Liu Rengong, Wang Jian, and the new leader of Khitan have appeared one after another.In this age-old arena, the games of their ancestors are inherited or repeated, and the competition for power and profit is going on. In Zhu Quanzhong's strongman era, he relied on many personalized methods to rule Zhuliang territory for 30 years. Although it was effective, many problems were exposed later.Contradictions within the Zhuliang Group have intensified one after another.After Zhu Yougong killed his father and seized power, the people in the Zhuliang Empire were panicked.The way Zhu Youzhen obtained the power of Liang was still "violent seizure", but he eliminated Zhu Yougui, who was not very powerful, so on the surface, Zhu Youzhen's method had a certain degree of "legitimacy".

Compared with Zhu Yougui, Zhu Youzhen seems to be more likely to get sympathy and support in terms of reason.Compared with Zhu Yougui, Zhu Youzhen's slightly superior advantages can be attributed to two main aspects. One is that he belongs to Zhengshuo, which is much better than Zhu Yougui, who was born of a prostitute and was discriminated against by others, and even better than Zhu Yougui, who was appointed by Zhu Quanzhong. The successor Zhu Youwen has to be justified, because Zhu Youwen is a godson.This is extremely important in that era when one was talking about one's background and one's family background.Regardless of whether the seedlings are strong or not, root red is a great natural advantage.Although Zhu Quanzhong started his career by rebellion, his successor must still belong to the Zhu family.The second is that Zhu Youzhen has the support of some relatives and relatives of the emperor. The foundation of relatives and friends is stronger than that of Zhu Yougui. He has some supporters around him, such as Zhao Yan, the emperor's nephew, and Yuan Xiangxian.Zhu Youzhen also has a precious wife, she is Zhang Guiba's daughter.For Zhang Guiba, you may still remember that we explained it in the previous article.The three brothers Zhang Guiba, Zhang Guihou, and Zhang Guibian were the main force in Zhu Quanzhong's early entrepreneurship. They once made great contributions to Zhu Liang's foundation, and their influence cannot be underestimated.

Although people don't know much about Zhu Youzhen, a young man who has always been low-key, and don't know what virtues and abilities he has, but after the disaster, most people in the government and the opposition are still looking forward to the situation being stabilized as soon as possible, and as soon as possible to deal with Zhu Quanzhong's legacy. Maintain or reassess major military affairs. "A country cannot live without a king" actually means that a large country cannot live without a leader, it must have a backbone, and someone needs to make final decisions on matters large and small.Although the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs was not very enthusiastic about Zhu Youzhen, but after looking and picking and picking the few sons left by Zhu Quanzhong, it seemed that he was the only one who got along.No way, just use it.

The young prince Zhu Youzhen is indeed smarter than Zhu Yougui, but he does not have such bad habits as lewdness, walking dogs and fighting cocks, but it seems that his ability to govern the country is not much better.A few months passed, and Zhu Youzhen, who still retained the title of King Jun, couldn't figure it out for a long time. It was difficult to determine which major matters the empire needed to deal with urgently. Since no programmatic and constructive policies can be put forward, things must be in a mess, or continue to disperse in the direction of a mess.If it's just "scattered", it's fine. The terrible thing is that if they are mixed together, physical or chemical interactions will occur with each other, squeezed and fermented, and unexpected disasters will occur if they are not handled properly.

Zhu Youzhen, who ascended the throne during the crisis, was about the same age as Li Cunxu, who also ascended the throne during the crisis, and faced similar internal and external troubles, but their reactions were vastly different.Li Cunxu quickly gained a foothold, stabilized the situation, and put forward a strategy of internal political repair, hard work, external contact and calm, but Zhu Youzhen did not have any clear political ideas.This is the difference between people, this thing can't be helped.Once there is a difference in the nature of a person, the difference in his performance can basically be speculated.The situation is pressing, the situation is urging, and the situation is tormenting. Zhu Youzhen, whose life is suffering, began to ask herself in the middle of the night: "Why should I be this bird emperor?"

Strange to say, since Zhu Quanzhong's death, Jing Xiang, who had power in the government and the public and had a deep foundation, seemed to have disappeared. He didn't show any affection for Zhu Youwen, Zhu Yougui, or Zhu Youzhen.Zhu Yougui usurped the throne, dismissed Jingxiang, and replaced Jingxiang with Li Zhen as the envoy of Chongzhengyuan.After Zhu Youzhen came to the throne, Li Zhen was squeezed out by Zhao Yan, Uncle Zhang Guo and others, and often pretended to be sick and asked for leave to not go to work.A group of ministers such as Jing Xiang and Li Zhen did not put forward too many suggestions on military affairs to Zhu Youzhen. At least in the early days when Zhu Youzhen proclaimed himself emperor, they were basically waiting or watching in silence.Compared with Zhang Chengye of Hedong, the performance of Jingxiang and others is also very different.Zhang Chengye was entrusted by Li Keyong, and took on the important task of Minister Gu Ming. He dared to speak up and advise Li Cunxu with all his heart and soul.Jingxiang and the others remained silent.

There are three sentences in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The first is "the king who is capable of physical ability and ability". It means that if the monarch and ministers are very capable, they can unify the world and lead the world.The second sentence is "He who can't do what he can will dominate", which means that the monarch himself has no ability, but if there is a group of capable civil and military ministers, a country can dominate the world.It should be said that there are quite a few capable people in the Zhuliang Empire.Obviously Zhu Youzhen's situation is more in line with the second sentence.However, the ministers of the Zhuliang Empire are silent, or it is difficult for capable ministers to come out, so what will be the result?The third sentence, "Those who are physically unable but do not know how to seek ability will perish", even the monarch and ministers cannot do it, and the only way is to perish.

Why are the civil and military ministers of the Zhuliang Empire unwilling to play a role?This seems like a strange phenomenon. In China's feudal society, once the emperor and the courtiers came, new people came to replace the old ones. This is a law known to all women and children.In the process of regime change, those who gain power are generally those who assist the new monarch to successfully seize power.Xinjun has more trust in these supporters who have gone through the test of blood and fire, and it will not be in vain to work hard with the boss. Naturally, the new major policies will listen to the opinions of these people.Those who lack support, support, and sponsorship are naturally left aside, not valued and not trusted.Even if they were so idle that a bird would fade out of their mouths, they would not dare to use their heads to try luck or bad luck.They generally don't dare to suggest any changes to the new monarch rashly, and they don't even dare to say a word, so as not to cause trouble to their upper body.

Jing Xiang, the number two figure in the Zhuliang Empire, is very representative.Although Jingxiang had been highly trusted by Zhu Quanzhong, and although he had a clearer view of the situation in the world, he was not very familiar with Zhu Youzhen, who had been a vassal king in other places for a long time, and had no interest in Zhu Youzhen.In this bloody struggle for power, Jingxiang did not help Zhu Youzhen at all.Therefore, there is a lack of trust between them.Lack of trust means that Jingxiang is an "outsider".Since Zhu Youzhen was not a crown prince who came to the throne in a reasonable and legal manner according to the law of natural replacement, a group of veteran officials such as Jing Xiang would not try their best to come up with ideas and solutions in their capacity as ministers of Gu Ming.Or even if you have the heart, you can't get in your hands, and the seats are taken by others.

There were only a few people who assisted Zhu Youzhen in seizing power, including Zhao Yan, Yuan Xiangxian, and Yang Shihou.Yuan Xiangxian is just a young man in the army, who can brandish a sword a few times and shout a few times.Zhao Yan was originally a third-rate politician. He hardly held a decent position in the imperial political circles. He lacked political experience, and his vision and insight were far from the level of a country's pillar.Zhu Youzhen relies on people like Zhao Yan to eat, drink and get along well, but if he governs the world, he is a bunch of idiots.There is still one Yang Shihou who holds a heavy soldier in his hand.Even if Yang Shihou knew some strategies for governing the country, it is estimated that it is very limited, and Yang Shihou's trustworthiness has yet to be tested.From this point of view, it is not surprising that at the beginning of Zhu Youzhen's ascension to the throne, he did not put forward clear political ideas, let alone introduce new major policies.

But there is one thing that no one can learn by himself, and that is to win people's hearts.Regardless of whether it is a power grab or an opportunistic one, as long as there are more than two minds, they will and must win people's hearts when they come to power. In March of the third year of Liang Qianhua (AD 913), Zhu Youzhen did a few things after sitting on the dragon chair, which have certain symbolic significance.The first thing is to confer the title of Yang Shihou and Zhongshuling, and bestow it on King Ye, and consult with him before doing anything.It seems that Zhu Youzhen trusts Yang Shihou a lot, and asks Yang Shihou about everything big and small.However, Yang Shihou was a general after all, and he was inexperienced in politics and governing the country, so he didn't give Zhu Youzhen much valuable advice. The second thing is that Zhu Youzhen sent someone to send a letter to Zhu Youqian who had surrendered to Hedong, telling him that Zhu Yougui had been eliminated and that he was welcome back to the embrace of the motherland.Zhu Youqian was originally forced to leave, but now seeing the olive branch sent by the motherland, although he still feels uneasy, but while pulling Li Cunxu with one hand, he freed the other hand to grab Zhu Youzhen. The third thing is that Zhu Youzhen named his younger brother Zhu Youjing King Kang. The fourth thing is that in April, Yuan Xiangxian was granted the title of Zhennan Jiedushi and Tongpingzhangshi, and he was also promoted to an official position, and the strength was not small, and he was promoted by leapfrogging.It can be said that Zhu Youzhen has spent a lot of time trying to appease those who are assistants, those who are close to them, and those who have been wronged. Among the people who were appointed officials and received rewards, Yang Shihou was the most eye-catching.He was already attracting people's attention. He was stationed in Hebei with hundreds of thousands of troops.Yang Shihou, who has been appointed a high-ranking official and rich salary, can't just sit around and do nothing. The so-called "eating the king's salary, being loyal to the king", Yang Shihou needs to make some political achievements, even if it is a show.Because he not only needs to eliminate some negative news in public opinion, but also needs to ensure his own safety. Yang Shihou was originally a celebrity and a strong man, and now he is even more famous in the government and the public, and he is under the prominent spotlight.Yang Shihou was a little dizzy under the spotlight, he was not used to this kind of life of over-publicity, after all, Yang Shihou had been keeping a low profile for many years. Yang Shihou used the imperial army to help Zhu Youzhen seize the Zhuliang regime. This is a great achievement, but there is also a crisis hidden in it.Yang Shihou's behavior exposed the problem of his high position and weight. Not only did the new emperor and civil and military officials depend on his face, but he also acted arbitrarily in Weizhou, expropriated and domineering.People began to discuss, speculation, doubt and even slander ensued.Yang Shihou felt himself sitting on the crater.Such a large imperial army is under the control of Yang Shihou alone, and it has easily carried out major events to overthrow the regime.Yang Shihou realized that other people's views on him were changing, which he didn't realize before raising troops to help Zhu Youzhen seize power.Now Yang Shihou suddenly felt the pressure of power.If he still wants to continue to control this army, then he must play the role of this army as soon as possible, and must play its role in a legitimate direction. After thinking about it, and after sifting through a lot of "major events" with various names, Yang Shihou took up the banner of the Northern Expedition again. After all, this matter made sense to both the old and the young, as well as the new emperor and ministers, and no one would rush to object.Furthermore, for the Northern Expedition, Yang Shihou was relatively handy. After all, fighting was his duty, and there was no risk of transformation or difficulty in changing jobs. In April, Yang Shihou and his surrendered general Liu Shouqi split into two groups for the Northern Expedition. They made a large circle first to the north and then to the east. Several state capital sites.Liu Shouqi is Liu Shouguang's third younger brother. After he escaped from Youzhou, he surrendered to Hedong. Later, Zhou Dewei was jealous and squeezed out, and he surrendered to Zhu Quanzhong. He has been serving in Yang Shihou's former enemy camp. Yang Shihou and Liu Shouqi commanded an army of 100,000 gathered by Bian, Hua, Xu, Yan, Wei, Bo, Xing, and Ming, and launched a large-scale attack on Wang Rong's Zhao State.This time Zhu Liang went to Hebei and fought unannounced.Yang Shihou sent troops from Baixiang, broke into the Tumen of Zhao State, and pressed Zhaozhou.Liu Shouqi sent troops from Beizhou (now Qinghe County, Hebei Province) and invaded Jizhou.Wherever Liang Jun went, he had no intention of fighting, and his focus was on rampage, burning, killing and looting. A few days later, Yang Shihou led his army to Wang Rong's hometown, Zhenzhou.Liang Jun set up camp outside the south gate of Zhenzhou, clamoring to attack the city.Wang Rong was trembling with fright, and hurriedly wrote a letter to General Zhou Dewei, who was nearby, asking for help.Zhenzhou has been governed by Chengde for many years. The city is strong and easy to defend and difficult to attack. Yang Shihou made no progress after rushing several times, so Liang Jun set fire to Guancheng at the south gate of Zhenzhou.At this time, Li Cunshen, Shi Jiantang, and Zhou Dewei's general Li Shaoheng from Hedong came to rescue Zhao Guo one after another.Liang Jun did not intend to entangle with the Jin-Zhao coalition forces. After joining forces in Xiabo (now Shenzhou, Hebei Province), Yang Shihou and Liu Shouqi crossed the river from Gonggao Ferry (about 40 miles southwest of Dongguang County, south of Tianjin today) to East, go straight to Cangzhou to kill. Zhang Wanjin, Yan Guo's defender in Cangzhou, was terrified. He never expected that Liang Jun, who had been in a truce for more than a year, would raid Cangzhou.Without firing a single shot, Zhang Wanjin surrendered directly to Master Yang.Yang Shihou appointed Liu Shouqi to take over Cangzhou. Liang Jun's Northern Expedition was a good mobile battle, which was remarkable. It changed the positional tactics that Zhu Quanzhong insisted on in the past, and he did not get entangled in fighting in one place, and achieved a better record.This battle galloped for thousands of miles, and set off a whirlwind on the vast land of Hebei. After Zhu Liang suffered repeated setbacks in recent years, it was a result that could be put on the table. Some people accept high officials and high salaries, while others don't, because such people want even greater benefits.In August, Zhu Youzhen granted Gao Jichang the title of King Bohai and envoy of Jingnan Jiedu.Apart from serving Zhu Quanzhong, this kid Gao Jichang "supported" the wall, and no one else could support his eyelids.Seeing the prospect of Zhu Liang's decline, Gao Jichang was unwilling to continue his allegiance to Zhu Liang, and decided to start a separate regime by himself.Therefore, Gao Jichang recruited troops wantonly, expanded his army to prepare for war, built more than 500 warships, dug deep ditches and built high walls, opened arsenals to manufacture armored swords and guns, accumulated grass and grain, expanded his army, and secretly communicated with Wu and Shu. semi-independent state.Zhu Youzhen's central court had no choice but to let him go. Due to repeated defeats, Zhu Quanzhong gave up the Southern Expedition for many years.But for some reason, Zhu Youzhen, who had just ascended the throne and had no stable foothold, started the war against Huaiyang impatiently.It is estimated that this is the New Deal that Zhu Youzhen held back for a long time before coming out. In November 913 AD, Wang Jingren, the governor of Ningguo, was ordered to go to Huainan.This time, Wang Jingren's job was to be the envoy for recruiting in the northwest of Huainan.Wang Jingren was the commander who suffered a failure in the Northern Expedition and was demoted by Zhu Quanzhong.He was originally Zhu Quanzhong's secret weapon.The real role of Wang Jingren is to conquer Huainan at the right time for Zhu Quanzhong.Because Zhu Liang's soldiers were not familiar with water warfare, they suffered repeated defeats in the battle with Huainan, which made Zhu Quanzhong very annoyed.Later, Zhu Quanzhong made up his mind to develop the navy.By chance, King Qian Liu of Wuyue sent General Wang Jingren to Zhu Liang.Zhu Quanzhong saw that Wang Jingren had a general's equipment, and he felt love in his heart. He kept Wang Jingren in Bianliang, Kaifeng through both soft and hard measures.But Zhu Quanzhong died early, before Wang Jingren was sent to conquer Huainan.After the Northern Expedition, Wang Jingren was even more idle at home with nothing to do. Now it's finally time to wait.Wang Jingren cheered up and wanted to show his talents. His attack targets were Luzhou and Shouzhou in Huainan, which were the north gates of Huainan.Wang Jingren's sorrow is that what he met was inhumane, and the present Zhu Youzhen is no longer the former Zhu Quanzhong.For such a big event as the conquest of Huainan, Zhu Youzhen only gave Wang Jingren a mere 10,000 troops, which should not be too much, which to a certain extent caused the defect of insufficient troops.The decision to send troops to Huainan is incomprehensible, and the preparations for such a huge military operation are extremely insufficient, which is even more incomprehensible.There is not enough evidence found in the history books to explain the whole story of the Southern Expedition.I really don't know what the lead actor Wang Jingren thinks? At this time, Huainan was also in a mess.After Yang Xingmi's death, Yang Xingmi's son Yang Wo succeeded to the throne.This son-in-law doesn't do business all day long, and he can't do business, which makes Huainan's upper and lower distances fall apart.In December, Huainan's Zhenhai Jiedu Envoy Xu Wen and Pinlu Jiedu Envoy Zhu Jin jointly led an army to face Wang Jingren.Due to the haste to face the battle, the soldiers and horses recruited from Huainan had not yet arrived, so Xu Wen had to fight Wang Jingren with 4,000 men. Xu Wen was not Wang Jingren's opponent, and was defeated by Liang Jun.The defeated Huai army broke up and fled south. Wang Jingren led the army to pursue the victory.Liang Jun chased and killed while the Huai Army threw away their helmets and armor.Seeing that he had caught up to the pass, Liang Jun followed him.The defeat is like a mountain, and the victory is like a tide. In the chaos, the winning Liang army is likely to level the defeated Huainan army and the pass like a storm. The pass was getting closer and closer, and more and more defeated and chasing soldiers piled up under the pass, and the Huai army was about to be surrounded and wiped out by the Liang army.At this critical juncture, the Huai army is as dusty as the ground, and the hearts of the people are on the verge of collapse.Suddenly, a person in the slanting stab yelled: "Brothers of the Huai Army, lure the enemy into deep, it's almost time, let's fight back!" Everyone saw that it was Chen Shao, the general Zuo Xiaowei of the Huai Army, from Wanqiu.Chen Shao swung his big gun and rode his horse to fight with the pursuers. After Chen Shao's precipitous call to rein in the horse, coupled with his "white lies", he deliberately described the retreat of the Huai army as a tactic to lure the enemy. Counterattack and fight with Liang Jun.Liang Jun was chasing and killing excitedly, victory was in sight, and he even began to think about how to celebrate at night, but unexpectedly Huai Jun turned around and opened up a large sword.The Liang army and the Huai army fought hand in hand, fighting in a scuffle.After a hard struggle, Wang Jingren saw that it was difficult to capture the pass, and he was in ambush in fear, so he temporarily stopped the attack and withdrew his troops to set up camp. Seeing Liang Jun retreating, Xu Wen wiped the sweat from his forehead, patted Chen Shao on the shoulder and praised, "If you hadn't been wise and brave enough to turn the tide, we would have been in big trouble!" Xu Wen gave Chen Shao gold, silver, cloth and other rewards .Chen Shao didn't keep any money, and gave all the prizes to his soldiers. The Huai army survived the battle, and reinforcements from all walks of life arrived one after another.After regrouping, Xu Wen, Zhu Jin and Wang Jingren fought again, and Liang Bing was defeated in this battle.Although Liang Bing was defeated, Wang Jingren's reputation spread far and wide, and he was always known for his toughness. He personally led a few people to take charge of the rear, protecting Liang Jun from retreating slowly.Although Wang Jingren had only a few people, none of the Huai army dared to come forward to chase and kill easily, and watched Liang Jun go away. Originally, this battle was not a catastrophe for the Liang army. Winning or losing is a matter of routine for military strategists. Moreover, Wang Jingren preserved his vitality.But it happened that something happened in an "accident".Huainan is a water town, full of ponds and rivers, scattered all over the place.Liang Jun crossed the Huainan expedition, was not familiar with the geographical environment, and was always worried about getting into a pool of water and swamps by mistake. Therefore, he marked the shallow water area when exploring the road to guide the march.However, during the defeat and retreat of this battle, the mark left by Liang Jun was secretly moved by the Huai Army.The buoys that originally indicated shallow water areas were moved to deep water areas or swamp areas.Liang Jun was not killed by the Huai army, but countless were misled into deep water and swamps and drowned. Zhu Liang's war against Huainan ended in failure again. Wang Jingren is really a coward. He led two expeditions in the Zhuliang Empire, and both of them were wars with great symbolic significance, but they all ended in failure.Analyzing the reasons for the failure of the two wars, Wang Jingren seems to have insufficient evidence for subjective mistakes.It should be said that Wang Jingren is not a first-class military commander, let alone a military prodigy, so he cannot be more demanding on him, and he cannot be expected to create miracles and win battles under unfavorable internal and external conditions.I can only send him one sentence: "Oh, bad luck." The evolution of the world environment is not determined by one person, and its advantages and disadvantages are not always biased towards one side, but seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages is optional, or it can be subjectively planned and implemented hard.The further development of the current situation continued to prove that the young Jin Wang Li Cunxu was a wise monarch.After he formed an alliance with Zhao Guo to consolidate the war situation in the south, he did not take the initiative to provoke the Liang Empire.As the saying goes, "a lean camel is bigger than a horse." Although the Liang Empire fell into civil strife due to two regime changes, its powerful military power must not be ignored.Although the Hedong cavalry were brave and good at fighting, and although Li Keyong was once invincible in the heyday of the world, after all, the current Hedong has a small territory, few people and less food, and the gap between strength and weakness is too great compared with Zhu Liang.Although it is not like an egg hitting a rock, it is almost like an ostrich egg hitting a rock.Therefore, Li Cunxu adopted a strategy of stalemate with Zhu Liang in the south.Liang Guo also interrupted the Northern Expedition due to the inactivity of the high-level internal officials. Both Jin and Liang took a breather, so Li Cunxu followed suit and tried to avoid confrontation with Liang Guo.Even if Yang Shihou swept Hebei once in a blitzkrieg, the Jin-Zhao Alliance seemed to endure the anger and did not retaliate against debt collection. While adopting a defensive strategy in the south, Li Cunxu adopted an aggressive strategy in the north.There are very few forces on the vast land to the north that can compete with Hedong.Li Cunxu launched an attack on Yan.Of course, you have to pick the soft ones to eat persimmons. Liu Shouguang of the current Yan Kingdom has experienced a short-term bluff and quickly declined. He has undoubtedly become an excellent prey for Li Cunxu.Moreover, every time the Hedong Army fought south, it was this smelly and tough Liu Shouguang who made King Jin flustered, and he was always on guard against Liu Shouguang copying his back.King Jin must first eliminate the hidden dangers in this backyard before he can let go of his hands and feet and strive for hegemony in the world. In 913 A.D., Lulong, an old feudal town that lasted for hundreds of years, came to an end in the hands of Liu Shouguang. Do you guys know if you have fallen from a glorious peak to a dark valley?Do you have any personal feelings about this?Or have you ever seen this kind of world in others?How do you feel after watching it?Liu Shouguang is undoubtedly a case in such a historical fragment. A few years ago, Liu Shouguang, King of Yan, was arrogant and arrogant, dominating the neighbors, even Zhu Quanzhong and Li Keyong were ignored, how arrogant and arrogant he was on the territory of Lulongfan Town!If the sky wants it to perish, it must first make it crazy.What Liu Shouguang has done has already angered the heavens and the people, and now it is his turn to perish.Didn't he even refuse to accept Zhu Quanzhong and Li Keyong, and had no opponents in the Youyan area?How could it suddenly fail?Who is so capable of cleaning up Liu Shouguang?Let's wait and see how this kid leads to destruction step by step. Yan Wang Liu Shouguang felt that there were no opportunities for development in the south, so he began to use his brains to plan for the north.Who's up north?The eight Khitan tribes, the newly unified Khitan eight tribes.Although the eight tribes of the Khitan were unified, at this time the Khitan was still backward in productivity and was evolving from a semi-primitive tribal society to a feudal centralized society. Its economic and military strength, political operation system, and cultural knowledge accumulation were still relatively weak.Liu Rengong, Liu Shouguang and his son had defeated the Khitan several times, and once caused the Khitan such a headache that they dared not go south to herd horses casually.Liu Shouguang has an advantage over Khitan. He thinks he can go to war with Khitan and wants to expand his territory northward. In 913 AD, Liu Shouguang sent the top general Yuan Xingqin to lead 7,000 cavalry across the Yanshan Mountains to herd horses in the north of the mountain to stock up on horses.In addition, Liu Shouguang also sent Gao Xinggui, a cavalry general, as the governor of Wuzhou (now Xuanhua County, Hebei), echoing Yuan Xingqin from a distance, and jointly serving as the peripheral defense force of Youzhou. After Li Cunxu determined the strategic goal of attacking Lulong in the east, he sent important forces to implement it.Hedong dispatched Zhou Dewei, the number one general who was seasoned and prudent, and Li Siyuan, who was brave and skilled in combat, was his deputy.You already know Zhou Dewei, but you may not have a deep impression of Li Siyuan.This person has appeared many times in the previous article.Here we explain in detail the origin of Li Siyuan.Because Li Siyuan will be a heavyweight in the following text, twelve years later, after Li Cunxu, he became the emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty.Here we focus on it, so as to analyze the direction of Li Siyuan's fate in the course of his development. Li Siyuan, whose ancestral home is Daibei (northwest of Shanxi, Hebei), was born on September 9th, the eighth year of Xiantong in the Tang Dynasty (867 A.D.). Several generations of his ancestors worked for Li Keyong's family.Later, due to his military exploits, he was given the surname Li, and joined Li Keyong's lineage household registration, belonging to Li Keyong's adopted son army. At that time, Li Ni, Li Siyuan's father, was the beloved general of Li Keyong's father Li Guochang. He followed Li Keyong and his son through major events such as fighting against the imperial court, fighting Helianduo, and fleeing to Mobei.When Li Siyuan was thirteen or fourteen years old, he was already proficient in martial arts, especially good at horseback riding and archery, which was appreciated by Li Guochang.Later, Li Siyuan served as an errand in the tent of Li Keyong's relatives. Since then, he has followed Li Keyong for decades, and was adopted by Li Keyong as his godson. During the incident of Zhu Quanzhong's assassination of Li Keyong at Shangyuan Station, most of Li Keyong's generals were assassinated by the Bian army. Li Keyong was in danger and his life was hanging by a thread.Seventeen-year-old Li Siyuan covered Li Keyong with his body, dialed the arrow rain, and covered Li Keyong to escape by climbing the wall.Later, Li Keyong served as the Jiedu envoy of Hedong, and Li Siyuan was in charge of commanding Li Keyong's Chinese cavalry.After Li Cunxiao, the number one general in Hedong, died unjustly, Li Cunxin succeeded him as the commander of the Han soldiers in Hedong.However, Li Cunxin's talent is much inferior to Li Cunxiao's, and he always loses the battle every time he gets a bad start.In order to enrich Li Cunxin's strength, Li Keyong sent Li Siyuan to assist Li Cunxin.With Li Siyuan's best help, Li Cunxin's troops began to get out of the trough and continued to win. Li Siyuan is a relatively low-key person, and he doesn't have any problems with jealousy.According to historical records, he was "powerful and assertive, humble and corporal. Every time he made military exploits, he never attacked himself." A few words outlined Li Siyuan's main character and value orientation. Qi, pay attention to respect people.When not fighting, the main energy is spent on training and preparing for war.When there was really nothing to do, Li Siyuan was calm and calm, with a breeze in his sleeves, and he didn't like to take advantage of small things to eat and drink.Li Siyuan was very good at fighting, but he never fought for meritorious service, nor did he show off. He didn't keep any bonuses and property rewarded by his superiors, and distributed them to his subordinates.Li Siyuan is not good at words and is not keen on politics. Perhaps this is one of the main reasons for his slow promotion.Among his peers, many people have taken up leading positions in their own right, but Li Siyuan has always been in a supporting role.He never seemed to express dissatisfaction with this. So what achievements does Li Siyuan have? In the third year of Qianning, during the "Three Zhu" war, the Bian army attacked Yanzhou and Yuncheng, and Li Keyong sent troops to rescue Zhu Xuan.At this time, Li Siyuan was in Li Cunxin's army, and alone led 300 cavalry to defeat the Bian army in Rencheng, lifting the siege of Yanzhou.Later, Wei Boluo Hongxin formed an alliance with Zhu Quanzhong, and Wei Bian teamed up to almost encircle and wipe out Li Keyong who came to support the Zhu Xuan brothers.After the defeat of Hedong, Li Siyuan was in charge of the rear, covering the retreat of the main force of Hedong and returning to Jinyang.Li Siyuan and his 500 cavalry were rewarded by Li Keyong's general order for their meritorious service in covering the area, and their troops were named "Hengchong Capital", which is equivalent to the current honor of "Company of Heroes".Since then, Li Siyuan's reputation in the Jin army has become very loud. In the fourth year of Qianning, Li Sizhao, the general of Hedong, was defeated by Ge Congzhou, a general of the Bian army, at Qingshankou.The infantry of the Jin army was defeated and completely lost its combat effectiveness.At this critical juncture, Li Siyuan, the deputy general, stood up and asked for a war to curb the decadent momentum of defeat.Li Sizhao agreed to Li Siyuan's suggestion.Li Siyuan urged the horse to charge into the Bian army formation with long iron shovels, dashing from left to right, and the Bian army fell one by one.After Li Siyuan's brave resistance, the Bian army stopped pursuing and retreated temporarily.Only then did the Jin army gain a respite and retreat into the Xiamaling Pass.At this time, Li Siyuan was hit by four arrows, bleeding down his thigh.Li Keyong personally applied the medicine for Li Siyuan, patted Li Siyuan on the shoulder and praised him: "My son is a god! I am so slight to my son, I almost laughed at it from Cong Zhou." This battle made Li Siyuan famous all over the world. During the Tianfu period, Li Keyong began to go downhill, and the Hedong territory was squeezed by Zhu Quanzhong, and life was very difficult.General Shi Shucong of the Bian Army attacked the city of Jinyang several times, attacking the city day and night, and the situation in Jinyang was precarious.Due to the situation, Li Keyong planned to give up Jinyang and flee northward to Yunzhong. It was only with the persuasion of Mrs. Liu and Li Cunxu that he strengthened his determination to persevere.In the battle to defend Jinyang, Li Siyuan played the mainstay role, leading the death squads, going out of the city day and night to harass the Bian army.Later, due to the long delay of the war, the Bian army's logistical support could not provide support, so it had to give up the siege of Jinyang and retreat to the river. In the fifth year of Tianyou, after Li Cunxu succeeded to the throne, he sent troops to rescue Li Sizhao of Luzhou.Li Siyuan and Zhou Dewei partnered to lead the reinforcements and rescued Li Sizhao thousands of miles away.In this operation, Li Siyuan was the first to break through the siege and entered the city. The credit goes to Zhou Dewei, but Li Siyuan was the lieutenant general, and in view of the political environment at that time, the credit mainly goes to the chief general Zhou Dewei.From then on, Zhou Dewei no longer served as Li Sizhao's lieutenant general, but commanded an army alone. Li Siyuan began to cooperate with Zhou Dewei and fight side by side.During the Northern Expedition of Zhu Liang General Wang Jingren, Li Cunxu joined forces with Wang Rong to fight against Liang Jun.In the Battle of Baixiang, in order to kill the morale of the Liang army, Li Cunxu deliberately used the aggressive method to let Li Siyuan start the first battle.Li Siyuan drank the Zhuangxing wine handed over by Jin Wang Li Cunxu, and urged his horse to charge into the Liang army camp.In the blink of an eye, Li Siyuan had killed one back and forth from Liang Jun's formation, with a cavalry leader of Liang Jun under his left and right arms.Looking at Li Siyuan again, Liang Jun's carved feather arrows were filled with Li Siyuan's armor, and he was shot all over his body like a hedgehog.In this battle, Li Siyuan was awarded the post of governor of Daizhou for his military merits, and he finally became the top leader of the local officials. This is Li Siyuan, a heroic and low-key man. We introduced Zhou Dewei's weight in the previous article, and now Li Siyuan is his deputy. This shows how much Li Cunxu attaches importance to the conquest of Youyan.He not only made strategically thoughtful deployments, but also carefully organized and prepared in action.In terms of preparation, it was much more adequate than Zhu Youzhen's attack on Huainan.At the same time, it can be seen from the war to subdue Youyan that Li Cunxu grew up more mature, and his handling of military operations and political issues was much more stable than when he first succeeded to the throne.He has gradually grown from a vigorous young monarch to a politician who can rule one side. So, how did Hedong get Lulong in his pocket?This is no easy task.