There is no doubt about Li Cunxu’s military genius. Xue Juzheng, the author of "History of the Old Five Dynasties", once commented on Li Cunxu: "We raised the rivers and Fens with a grand plan, and pacified Bian and Luo with strong battles. The family feud was over, and the country was defeated." Zuo Zhongxing, although Shaokang's successor Xia Peitian and Guangwu's Yingtu were appointed, there is nothing to add." But at the same time, when Li Cunxu reached the climax of his life, he suddenly changed from a military genius to a political imbecile. The goods and wealth aroused the resentment of the six divisions; the levies and gifts were collected, and the wealth of the people was exhausted." As a result, the country was destroyed and the whole world was laughed at.
With Li Cunxu’s military genius, as long as he had even half the political talent of Zhou Shizong Chai Rong, it was possible to complete the great cause of unification. After all, the unification situation at that time was relatively clear. The world is very divided, and Li Cunxu has at least seven of it, and there are only five or six small independent regimes left, which are weak. If Li Cunxu can "attack the weak and the ignorant", the world will be unified in a few years. If this is the case, then we will not be able to find the heroic deeds of Chai Rong, the Holy Lord of the generation, and Zhao Kuangyin, who was "forced to become emperor by his subordinates", will become unknown in history. At most, we can find "Zhao Kuangyin, the military commander of such and such Jiedu" from the vast pile of historical papers. ” name, but history cannot be assumed.
When Cao Cao was not yet famous, he met the famous scholar Xu Zijiang. Xu Zijiang believed that Cao Cao was a "capable minister in governing the world and a traitor in troubled times." Like Cao Cao, Li Cunxu also met a "Bo Le". This person is none other than Tang Zhaozong Li Ye mentioned earlier. Once, Li Cunxu followed his father Li Keyong to visit Tang Zhaozong. Zhaozong was shocked when he saw Li Cunxu and said: "This little guy looks different!" It is said that the holder of the "Li Yazi" brand trademark is Tang Zhaozong. Zhaozong, Zhaozong said, "This son is inferior to his father", so the world calls Li Cunxu Li Yazi.
Li Keyong fought with his old enemy Zhu Wen for decades, but there was no winner. He passed away with regrets. Li Cunxu succeeded to the throne of Jin Dynasty in front of his body at the age of twenty-four. Not long after Li Cunxu succeeded to the throne, he proposed to give up the position of King of Jin to his uncle Li Kening, fearing that public opinion would not accept him. Li Kening was not stupid. He knew that his nephew wanted him to cooperate in the scene, so he naturally acted like the real thing and "declined" Li Cunxu's "good intentions."
But before Li Cunxu could reward his uncle for his good acting, Li Kening, under the influence of his talkative wife Meng and Li Cunhao, actually wanted to "fake it for real" and presented Li Cunxu's head as a gift to Zhu. Wen's meeting gift, and then he became the king of Jin and was willing to be a vassal of Liang Dynasty. With the help of the eunuch Zhang Chengye, Li Cunxu captured Li Kening in one fell swoop and put the matter to rest, and a great chaos collapsed.
Speaking of this eunuch Zhang Chengye, he is very legendary. He originally worked in the Tang Palace, but later followed Li Keyong and often made some correct suggestions. Li Keyong never used him as a eunuch, and Li Cunxu also respected him very much. He asked about all matters big and small, which shows Zhang Chengye's status in Jinyang.
Li Cunxu was established not long ago. Although he had won major battles such as the Battle of Sanchuigang and Baixiang, his prestige was not enough to win the public's respect. You must eliminate a strong enemy to establish your own prestige. After all, the capital built by your father will always be used up. It is not as comfortable to eat other people's food as to eat your own. Li Keyong left him three arrows before his death, one of which refers to Liu Shouguang of Youzhou. Compared with Zhu Wen, Liu Shouguang was weaker, and Liu Shouguang had "a place of two thousand miles and an armor of three hundred thousand." If he could take Youzhou If you come down, you can not only establish your prestige, but also expand your strategic periphery.
The decision was made. In the second year of Liang Qianhua (912 AD, Li Cunxu said that he had been blessed by God for ten years. From then on, for the sake of convenience, it was only called the official name of the Five Dynasties), and he sent Zhenwu Jiedu envoy Zhou Dewei. Feihu (now Laiyuan, Hebei Province) marched eastward, and Wang Rong and Wang Chuzhi's troops went out of Qigou to attack Liu Shouguang.
And Liu Shouguang had already claimed to be the Emperor of the Yan Dynasty a year ago (far worse than the real Emperor Murong Chui of the Yan Dynasty). According to common sense, when his son becomes the emperor, I should be the Supreme Emperor, such as Liu Bang’s elder Father Liu Taigong. But Liu Shouguang was the emperor, and his father Liu Rengong was still his prisoner. When Liu Shouguang heard that the Hedong Army was coming to attack, he was also afraid and quickly sent troops to resist. But he didn't expect that the Hedong Army was really powerful. He quickly packaged up the surrounding counties and counties and gave them to Li Cunxu, leaving only an isolated city in Youzhou for Liu Shouguang to enjoy the addiction of "being alone".
Liu Shouguang hurriedly asked for help from the Liang Dynasty, but the "Emperor of Liang Dynasty" at this time was Zhu Yougui. He was busy "stabilizing the situation" and had no time to deal with Liu Shouguang. Naturally, he was in trouble. Liu Shouguang asked Khitan Lord Yelu Abaoji again, but Abaoji also ignored him. Seeing that the situation was over, Liu Shouguang had no choice but to surrender to Zhou Dewei, but he made a condition: "I will personally surrender to the King of Jin." Li Cunxu did not want to leave the first victory over Yan to Zhou Dewei. This was a good opportunity for him to establish his prestige. , how could you give it to Zhou Dewei for nothing? Li Cunxu left Zhang Chengye to guard Jinyang and led several generals to conquer Youzhou in person.
Although Li Cunxu had quite a few generals who could fight at this time, Li Cunxu was still upset about the loss of one of his men, Li Cunxiao. Li Cunxiao had been dead for eighteen years at this time. Speaking of Li Cunxiao, his fame in the Five Dynasties is really "appalling". Li Cunxiao is the "first hero of the Five Dynasties" in the unofficial novels, and his status is comparable to that of the first hero Li Yuanba (a fictional hero) in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Li Cunxiao, whose real name is An Jingsi, is the godson of Li Keyong. He ranks thirteenth and is known as the "Thirteenth Taibao" by people in the world.
Li Cunxiao is indeed well-deserved, and his reputation has been built in the world. When it comes to the "Thirteen Taibao", who in the world doesn't respect him? Li Cunxiao was good at using a big horse, and he could often take the rank of general in a battle of ten thousand people with a single horse. People at that time regarded Li Cunxiao as the reincarnation of Zhang Liao (Zhang Liao needs no introduction). Li Cunxiao made great contributions to Li Keyong's victory in the country and was the number one general in the Hedong military circles at that time. However, Li Cunxiao was narrow-minded and would get angry at the slightest inconvenience. Li Keyong was very unhappy about this.
When Li Cunxiao and Li Cunxin, the commander of the Han Dynasty and Horse Division, joined forces to attack Wang Rong of Zhenzhou, they competed with each other for credit. Li Cunxiao was accused of being cunning. Li Cunxiao was so angry that he begged Wang Rong to surrender. When Li Keyong saw his godson's displeasure, he had nothing to say and led his army to capture Li Cunxiao. Li Cunxiao stayed in Xingzhou for half a year, but he couldn't hold it any longer. In March of the first year of Qianning (AD 894) of Emperor Zhaozong of the Tang Dynasty, Li Cunxiao asked Li Keyong to apologize, hoping to forgive him for his sins. At this time, Li Keyong no longer regarded Li Cunxiao as a treasure, so he deceived Li Cunxiao into Jinyang, cut his body into pieces with five horses, and killed this hero.
Although Li Cunxu misses Li Cunxiao infinitely, Li Cunxiao has long become a withered bone in the grave, so what is the use of thinking about it? What's more, to deal with idiots like Liu Shouguang and Zhu Yougui, Li Sizhao, Li Siyuan and others under his command are enough.
Li Cunxu came to Youzhou to practice his moves with Liu Shouguang. Li Cunxu was very courageous. He rode to the city alone and shouted to Liu Shouguang who was in a daze on the city: "You asked me to come and I will come too." , What else can you say now?" Liu Shouguang expressed his willingness to surrender. In order to gain Liu Shouguang's trust, Li Cunxu broke an arrow and made an alliance, allowing him not to die. Liu Shouguang was also very slippery. He said that he would surrender after I had thought about it for a few days.
Li Cunxu knew that Liu Shouguang was playing tricks on him, so it was okay and he ordered an attack on the city. The Hedong army was vigorous and vigorous, and soon broke through the city and entered Youzhou. Liu Shouguang opened the door and escaped, but was quickly caught by the Hedong Army. Li Cunxu took Liu Shouguang and his father back to Jinyang.
The elimination of the Liu Shouguang Group not only brought quantitative changes to Li Cunxu, but also brought about qualitative changes. From then on, the situation in Jin (Yang) and Liang Dynasties began to reverse, and Hedong took the strategic initiative and turned from defense to offense. , at this time, Jinliang began a period of strategic stalemate, and launched a fierce tug-of-war.
When Liu Shouguang was preparing to live the life of a rich man in Jinyang, he realized that his idea was too naive. Li Cunxu fell out as soon as he said he would, and soon ordered Liu Shouguang to be beheaded. Before Liu Shouguang died, he was still wailing, "King Jin, I can fight on horseback at least. The world is still uncertain. Leave me a way to survive and work for the king!" But Liu Shouguang's wife was happy and spat at Liu Shouguang: "You're a loser. That's it for now. I'm still alive." It’s better to die and give me a happy life! (Don’t say that women don’t have husbands, haha)”, the sword flashed, and the head fell to the ground. Li Cunxu brought Liu Rengong to Li Keyong's spirit and took Lao Liu's head as a tribute to pay homage to Li Keyong. Because Li Cunxu's opponent changed from the treacherous Zhu Wen to the uncertain Zhu Youzhen, in order to take Zhu Youzhen's pulse to know how much he weighed, Li Cunxu died on the seventh day of the fourth year of Qianhua (914 AD). In August, he led his army to join Wang Rong, and the coalition troops took Xingzhou (today's Xingtai, Hebei Province) south. Yang Shihou, the "Emperor No. 2" of the Liang Dynasty, personally went to the rescue. Before the two armies could fight, a sudden riot broke out in the Hedong Army and some soldiers surrendered to the Liang Army. Li Cunxu saw that Liang Chao was not Liu Shouguang after all, and that with Yang Shihou as a fox, he might not be able to get any benefits, so he ordered the withdrawal of his troops.
Unfortunately, Yang Shihou was old and sick at this time, and died of illness in March of the first year of Zhenming (AD 915). Zhu Youzhen buried him generously. In view of Wei Bojun's special position in the Liang-Jin struggle for hegemony, Zhu Youzhen was worried that Wei Bojun was too strong and would always be a threat to him. Yang Shihou also had disobedience during his lifetime. Zhu Youzhen followed the advice of the envoy Zhao Yan (son of Zhao Ji and son-in-law of Zhu Wen) and divided Weibo into two towns, and divided the three states including Xiangzhou (now Anyang, Henan) into Zhaode's army in order to better control Weibo. Bo, to preserve the capital of confrontation with the Hedong Army. At the same time, He Delun, the military envoy of Pinglu, was appointed as the military envoy of Weibo, and Liu Wei was asked to lead 60,000 troops to Weibo to supervise the branch town.
Zhu Youzhen’s idea is not bad, but it is seriously out of touch with reality and is purely talk on paper. First of all, Weibo was the number one stronghold of the Liang Dynasty, and the division of power weakened Weibo's relative advantage against Hedong. It was like hitting someone with one fist instead of hitting them with five fingers. The effect can be imagined.
When the edict to divide the town came, I did not expect to encounter serious resistance. Since Wei Bo's army became a large military town after the An-Shi Rebellion, many companies of the army have relatives and friends, and they have formed a huge relationship. Network, unwilling to divide the town. As a result, Wei Bo's army mutinied, the city was in chaos, and the people suffered heavy casualties. Wei Bo's soldiers put He Dehua under house arrest. The leader of the mutinous soldiers was Zhang Yan. He originally wanted to persuade Emperor Zhu Youzhen to withdraw his order and restore Wei Bo's original organization, but Zhu Youzhen did not agree. Zhang Yan believed that Zhu Youzhen was fatuous and incompetent, so he forced He Delun to surrender to Hedong.
Li Cunxu originally thought that Yang Shihou was a major obstacle to his destruction of Liang, but he did not expect that Yang Shihou died. What made Li Cunxu even more happy was that a major incident occurred in Wei Bojun and he surrendered to Hedong. Opportunities cannot be missed and will never come back. How could Li Cunxu miss this opportunity? Li Cunxu personally led the army to capture Wei Bo. Zhang Yan, who was in the limelight, came to visit Li Cunxu. Unexpectedly, Li Cunxu, who had just arrived in Weibo, had done nothing for the people of Weizhou. He simply betrayed his favor and beheaded Zhang Yan on the grounds that Zhang Yan had killed innocent people indiscriminately. He also ordered those who looted the people to be killed. No forgiveness. Sure enough, the people of Weibo deeply felt that Li Cunxu managed the army strictly and loved the people like a son, and most of them were convinced. Li Cunxu's move was very clever. In newly conquered places, violence should not be used to intimidate people, but soft policies should be implemented to influence the people. This is called subduing the people without fighting, and the people's hearts cannot be insulted!
At this time, Liu Wei learned that Li Cunxu had entered Weizhou and wanted to meet Li Cunxu. Liu Wei set up an ambush near the Huanshui River outside the city to lure Li Cunxu. As expected, Li Cunxu took the risk and was surrounded by Liu Wei's 5,000 ambush troops. Li Cunxu almost became Liu Wei's prisoner. He used all his strength to escape from Liang Jun. After fighting their way out, they encountered reinforcements and escaped from danger.
Liu Wei saw that most of the elites in Hedong were concentrated in the Weizhou area, so Jinyang was bound to be empty. Liu Wei wanted to use a "destroying plan" for Li Cunxu to attack Jinyang. In order to deceive Li Cunxu, Liu Wei came up with a clever trick. He put a flag on the straw man and used a donkey to carry the straw man back and forth in the city. Li Cunxu was deceived for two days and felt that something was not right. Why were there no fireworks in the city? Li Cunxu couldn't control his anger. He went into the city and caught the cook who was responsible for feeding the donkeys and asked, "Where has Liu Wei gone?" The cook said that Liu Wei had led his army to attack Jinyang long ago.
Liu Wei was not very lucky. It was raining continuously and the mountain road was muddy. When Liang Jun rolled and climbed to Leping (today's Xiyang, Shanxi), he found that the food and grass had been exhausted, and Non-combat attrition reduced one-fifth of the army. Liu Wei heard that Li Cunxu's rear team had caught up and thought that the sneak attack plan had failed, so he had to come back and stationed in Xincheng (today's Shen County, Shandong). The Hedong Army also arrived soon after, and the two armies faced off. There were dozens of large and small battles, but the Hedong Army did not have much advantage.
Liu Wei was a famous general in the Liang Dynasty. Zhu Wen, who he assisted before, was also a good general. However, the current emperor Zhu Youzhen did not understand military affairs at all. Sometimes he just gave random orders. This time Wei Bo was in chaos. This is the result of his blind command. Seeing that Liu Wei's efforts were in vain, Zhu Youzhen became impatient and asked Liu Wei for his strategy to defeat the enemy. Liu Wei's most important strategy now is how to prepare food. "Without food, an army cannot be formed." When the emperor asked him, he replied: "I have no choice now. I just need your Majesty to give each of the soldiers ten pieces of food." , After eating enough, I can lead the army to defeat the thieves." Zhu Youzhen was really a nerd, and he actually asked: "Do you want so much food for fighting or for filling your belly?" No wonder Zhu Wenzeng. Saying that none of his sons can compare with Li Cunxu, this sentence shows how stupid Zhu Youzhen is. Logistics and supplies are an important part of war, and the relationship between combat and logistics is not separate. Even a fighter jet will lie on the ground without any fuel, let alone a human being.
Seeing that the emperor was so confused, Liu Wei had no choice but to find a way on his own and led his army to plunder Zhen and Ding, preparing to ask Wang Rong and Wang Chuzhi to "borrow food" from them. The Hedong Army pursued Liang Jun halfway, but Liang Jun was at a disadvantage, so Liu Wei collected the remaining troops and retreated.
In February of the second year of Zhenming (916 AD), Li Cunxu did not want to waste his time like this and looked for opportunities to prepare for a decisive battle with Liang Jun. Li Cunxu lied to others that he had returned to Jinyang. Liu Wei had always had a headache about Li Cunxu's military ability. When he heard that Li Cunxu had left, he was overjoyed and led his army to attack the Hedong Army. When the two armies were fighting fiercely, Liu Wei suddenly saw Jin King Li Cunxu commanding the battle. He was shocked and said, "Isn't this Li Cunxu?" Defeated, with more than 70,000 casualties.
While Liu Wei was confronting the Hedong Army, the Liang Dynasty's Kuangguo Jiedushi Wang Tanzou asked Zhu Youzhen to allow the Guanzhong Army to sneak attack Jinyang to alleviate Wei Bo's unfavorable situation. Zhu Youzhen agreed and mobilized 30,000 troops from Guanzhong, led by Wang Tan, to cross the Yellow River eastward and attack Jinyang directly. Jinyang had always been on guard against Liang Jun on the eastern front, but he did not expect that Liang Jun on the western front would come to attack the city unexpectedly. Unprepared, Liang Jun attacked the city like crazy. Zhang Chengye, who was left behind in Jinyang, gathered craftsmen and people to defend the city. Liang Jun was so victorious at this time that he almost broke the city several times. Fortunately, veteran general An Jinquan gathered his family soldiers to help defend the city. At this time, Zhaoyi Jiedushi Li Sizhao, who was stationed in Luzhou, heard that Liang Guanzhong's army had sneaked into Jinyang and sent troops to rescue him. The Hedong Army gradually improved and fought several battles with the Liang Army. The Liang Army suffered another series of defeats and suffered a lot of losses. Wang Tan saw that there was no hope of making great achievements, so he had to withdraw his troops.