If he grasps it, he will appease the people and guard the danger, which will be more difficult to attack, and it is better to subdue them as soon as possible in the midst of their disputes. Li Siyuan ordered Wang Sitong to use Xingyuan's soldiers to secretly plan and prepare to enter Xishu.

Not long after, hearing that Dong Zhang was defeated and killed, Fan Yanguang said again: "Although Meng Zhixiang has possessed all of Shu, but his soldiers are all from the east, Meng Zhixiang is afraid that they will change their minds, and he also wants to rely on the high hopes of the imperial court to shock his soldiers, if Your Majesty does not give in and tactfully appease him, he will not be able to change his ways." ”

Li Siyuan said: "Meng Zhixiang is my old friend, and he was separated by others to resist the imperial court, what 'condescension' can I say!" ”

So, he sent the enshriner Li Cungui to give Meng Zhixiang an edict saying: "Dong Zhang is a fox and wolf, and he is looking for his own clan to destroy the whole family. Aiqing's ancestral cemetery and relatives are safe, you should protect the good name of your family and observe the great festivals of the monarch and ministers. ”

After Li Cungui returned, he presented Meng Zhixiang's expression, requesting that Zhao Jiliang, Li Renhan, Zhao Tingyin, Zhang Ye, and Li Zhao be appointed as envoys to the festival, and asked for the title of the king of Shu and the title of the king of Shu, and at the same time told the court the news that the eldest princess of Fuqing had died of illness.

Li Siyuan sent Liu Zhengen, the envoy of the pavilion, to mourn the eldest princess of Fuqing, and Meng Zhixiang ordered the general Zhu Rong to go to the court to see the emperor.

After the imperial court learned that Meng Zhixiang had annexed Dongchuan, Fan Yanguang said to Li Siyuan: "If the two rivers merge and are in the hands of a thief

In February 933 (the fourth year of Changxing), Li Siyuan appointed Meng Zhixiang as the inspector and the commander of the Zhongshu Order, and carried out the two Sichuan festivals of Chengdu Yin and Jiannan, and controlled the internal observation and disposal, unified the barbarians in the near realm, and served as the envoy of the eight kingdoms of Xishan and Yunnan to pacify and control the system, and the king of Shu. Zhao Jiliang was appointed as the envoy of the festival. In November of the same year, Li Siyuan died.

934 (the first year of Yingshun). Meng Zhixiang is the emperor in Chengdu, and the country name is Shu. It is known as Houshu in history. Soon, Li Congke, the king of Lu, competed with Emperor Min of Tang for the throne, and after the Tang Dynasty, there was civil strife, and Zhang Qianzhao and Sun Hanshao were attached to Hou Shu by Shannan Xidao Jiedu and Wuding Junjiedu. In June of the same year, Meng Zhixiang suddenly fell ill at a banquet to welcome Zhang Qianzhao and others. In July, Meng Zhixiang died of illness, and he was called Emperor Wenwu Shengde Yinglie Mingxiao, and the temple name was Gaozu.

Li Siyuan, a native of Shatuo. Born in Jincheng, Yingzhou (now Yingxian County, Shanxi), he has no surname, but he has a very tiger nickname called Miao Jilie, and at first glance he knows that this person is definitely not a good stubble. After his father's death, Li Siyuan, who was only thirteen years old, was accepted by Li Guochang because of his bravery and prowess, and became his personal guard. Li Siyuan's martial arts are superb, every time he hunts, he shoots birds on his back, and he must hit the string.

Soon. Li Keyong asked him to come to his side, adopted him as his adopted son, and changed his name to Li Siyuan. In the Hongmen banquet of Shangyuanyi, Li Keyong was besieged by Zhu Wen's troops. At stake, Li Siyuan, who was only seventeen years old at this time, flashed out,

Dodging left and right in the chaos of the army, desperately protecting the master from the rain of bullets. Then climb over the wall and escape from the tiger's mouth.

And he was unscathed, and since then he has been even more valued by Li Ke. At that time, the fierce general Li Cunxin was a general of the Han Dynasty. Although the name is big,

But every time the battle was not good, Li Keyong let Li Siyuan be his lieutenant general, and went out together, with Li Siyuan's help, Li Cunxin was able to return with a big victory every time.

As one of the few brave generals of Li Keyong, Li Siyuan has made great contributions to Li Keyong's conquest and Li Cunxuan's hegemony. If you have to make a list of the five dynasties and ten countries, Li Siyuan can definitely squeeze into the first-class array with his combat effectiveness.

When Zhu Wen and Zhu Jin brothers were fighting, Li Siyuan led the army to the rescue, defeated the Liang army, and attacked Luo Hongxin in Weizhou, and returned victorious. In order to reward him, Li Keyong named the 500 cavalry he led "Hengchong Capital", and since then, Li Siyuan and his "Hengchong Capital" have been famous all over the world, shocking the world, and the limelight is close to the legendary Luo Yi's Yanyun Eighteen Cavalry.

The general Li Sizhao and the Liang general Ge Congzhou fought, and the troops were defeated and retreated to Qingshan Pass, and the Liang army held the main road, so that Li Sizhao's infantry collapsed without a fight and could not be contained. After Li Siyuan arrived, he said to Li Sizhao: "The infantry is scattered, and it will be difficult for us to clean up the mess if we retreat." Let me fight it out for the test. It is better to die without victory than to be defeated and captured. ”

Li Sizhao said: "I would like to be Qing's deputy general." Li Siyuan led his subordinates to line up with a high line, and then unsaddled and sharpened arrows, putting on a desperate look, and then blindly compared left and right for a long time, as if he was dispatching troops, with superb acting skills, Liang Bing was made panicked, thinking that Li Siyuan was going to make some big moves.

At this time, Li Siyuan ordered his subordinates to get on their horses and rush into the enemy formation like flying arrows, Li Siyuan shouted: "My king ordered me to come and take the head of Ge Congzhou Xiang, and other soldiers should not come forward and kill themselves!" ”

The "rampage" soldiers rushed through the enemy formation, as if entering a no-man's land. Li Sizhao led his troops to follow up and support, and repelled the Liang army in one go.

After collecting the troops, it was found that Li Siyuan had a total of four arrow wounds on his body, and the blood soaked his thighs.

Li Keyong personally undressed him and dressed him, and brought a glass of wine with his own hands, stroked his back and said: "My son is really a god, if it weren't for you, I would be ridiculed by Ge Congzhou today for not having a good general." ”

Shortly after Li Cunqiao succeeded to the throne, he sent troops to rescue Luzhou. Li Siyuan led an assault cavalry to march at the same time as Zhou Dewei.

Li Siyuan arrived at the northeast corner of the city between the two armies in the morning, ordered the soldiers to cut off the antlers with axes, and then carried firewood and grass to fill the trenches, and conquered the city in one fell swoop.

Soon, Zhou Dewei also broke through the city in the northwest, and the Jin army broke the Liang army in a battle, completely destroyed the city, and achieved a great victory in the city, thus completely lifting the siege of Luzhou.

In the battle to break the siege, Li Siyuan ranked first.

In the Battle of Baixiang, when the two armies faced each other, Li Cunqiao felt that the Liang army was very vigorous, and he was worried that the soldiers would be afraid and not good for the battle situation, so he held a silver giant cup and gave Li Siyuan wine to fool him and said: "Did Aiqing see the white horse and red horse troops of the Liang army?" It's almost terrifying to look at, and it's up to you to break the enemy and make meritorious contributions. ”

Li Siyuan said indifferently: "They are vain, these things will be owned by us tomorrow." ”

After hearing this, Li Cunmiao slapped his thigh and then flickered: "Aiqing has already swallowed the enemy army, and our army will win!" Li Siyuan took the wine glass and drank it down, then stepped forward and led a hundred cavalry to rush into the white horse formation of the Liang army like a black whirlwind.

At that time, the Jin army wore black military uniforms. Known as the "Raven Army", it is very combative. And the cavalry led by Li Siyuan is a fighter in the elite.

Li Siyuan took the lead and led this hundred elite soldiers into the enemy formation like a sharp knife. The hammer and lance are down, rushing left and right,

In the end, the two cavalry generals of the Liang army were captured alive and returned victoriously, which greatly dampened the sharp spirit of the Liang army, and the arrow feathers attached to Li Siyuan's armor were as many as the spikes on the hedgehog's body. The Jin army was greatly encouraged, and under the leadership of Li Siyuan, within a day,

The two sides fought as many as 100 times, killing and wounding and capturing countless armies. In this battle, the Jin army won a great victory, and Li Siyuan was awarded the Daizhou Assassin History for his merits.

When Li Cunqiao sent Zhou Dewei to conquer Liu Shouguang in Youzhou, Li Siyuan was ordered to lead troops to support, and Liu Shouguang's fierce general Yuan Xingqin met on a narrow road, and the two sides fought as many as eight times, Yuan Xingqin was also very brave, and Li Siyuan fought more than once.

But helplessly, Li Siyuan's shooting level was too high. Yuan Xingqin was shot by Li Siyuan many times,

But Li Siyuan was also shot in the thigh by Yuan Xingqin, and Li Siyuan reluctantly pulled out the sharp arrow and fought again with Yuan Xingqin. In the end, Yuan Xingqin was unable to defeat and asked people to tie himself up. Request for the surrender of Li Siyuan.

Li Siyuan is very generous and has no jealousy of Yuan Xingqin. Instead, he stroked his back and said, "You are really a strong man in this offspring!" "In the end, Youzhou was pacified.

Later, the Khitan soldiers besieged Youzhou for six months. The guard general Zhou Dewei complained to Li Cunmiao. Li Cunmiao convened the generals to discuss countermeasures, and everyone said: "The enemy will not besiege for a long time, and if he can't plunder anything, he will automatically retreat after eating the grain he carries, and then pursue from the rear at that time, and he will win a complete victory." ”

Li Siyuan held the opposite opinion, saying: "Zhou Dewei is loyal to the country, but now that the lonely city is besieged and in danger, we can't wait for the enemy to retreat and pursue it as before." I am willing to lead 5,000 cavalry as a vanguard to rescue Zhou Dewei. ”

Li Cunxuan also agreed with his opinion, so he ordered Li Siyuan, Yan Bao and Li Cunxian to lead the infantry cavalry to immediately march to support.

When more than 70,000 cavalry arrived at Yizhou to assemble, Li Cunxun said: "Now the enemy is outnumbered, the Khitan soldiers are mostly cavalry, and our army is mostly infantry. If we meet the enemy in the plains and wilderness, if the enemy's cavalry comes to storm our troops, then our army is in danger of total annihilation. ”

Li Siyuan said: "Although the Khitan soldiers are strong, they basically have no backup in battle, but supplement supplies by plundering. Our army is accompanied by heavy baggage and sufficient supplies.

If we encounter the enemy on the plains and their rations and baggage are intercepted by them, we will collapse without a fight. For the sake of safety, it is best for our army to take the mountain road to conceal the traces of our army, and then join the defenders in the city after arriving in Youzhou unprepared, and then resist and repel the enemy together.

In the unlikely event that we encounter an enemy on the way, we will take advantage of the favorable terrain to crush the enemy. After setting off from Yizhou, Li Siyuan and his adopted son Li Congke led 3,000 cavalry as a vanguard in the mountains, and encountered the Khitan cavalry at a distance of sixty miles from Youzhou.

The Jin army took advantage of the retreat of the Khitan soldiers to follow up the pursuit from both flanks.

The Khitan soldiers walked on the mountain, and the Jin army marched in the mountain stream, and whenever they reached the mouth of the valley, the Khitan soldiers attacked the Jin army, and Li Siyuan and his son led the army to fight back fiercely, and the troops were able to repel the enemy soldiers and continue to advance. When they finally arrived at the mountain pass, the Khitan cavalry had already lined up with 10,000 people in front of them.

The soldiers of the Jin army were immediately panicked and feared the enemy.

Li Siyuan was not afraid, and said to the soldiers: "For the generals to be ordered by the king to forget their home, to the enemy and forget their own safety, to die for the country, just today."

Ladies and gentlemen, please see how our father and son kill the enemy and serve the country! ”

After speaking, he personally led a hundred cavalry to the front of the troops, took off his helmet in a hurry, and then raised his horsewhip and shouted to the Khitan soldiers in Khitan dialect: "You have violated our frontier for no reason, this time the king of Jin ordered me to lead a million people to fight against you, and I will fight all the way to your hometown in Xilou (now Nanboluo City, Bahrain Left Banner, Liaoning), and completely wipe out your unscrupulous race!" ”

After speaking, he jumped on his horse and raised his hammer, led his troops to rush into the enemy formation three times, and entered a no-man's land among thousands of troops and horses, and held a Khitan chief back in a short time. While rushing to kill him, he shouted to the Khitan soldiers: "You thieves are not my opponents, your emperor (referring to Abaoji) is qualified to compete with me!" ”

The Jin army's reinforcements then followed up and rushed to kill, sweeping the Khitan army in one fell swoop. Then the Jin army walked out of the mountain pass and continued to advance towards Youzhou.

General Li Cunxun ordered the infantry to cut down tree branches and make antlers for camping, each holding one, and when the army stopped, it was inserted into the ground to become a deer village guard barracks.

When the Khitan soldiers passed around the camp, Li Siyuan ordered the soldiers to fire ten thousand arrows, and the arrows flying towards the Khitan soldiers were so many that they covered the sky and the sun, and the Khitan cavalry was shot off countless horses, and the corpses of people and horses blocked the road.

When they arrived in Youzhou, the Khitan soldiers were already lined up and waiting for the Jin army. Li Cunxun ordered the infantry to be deployed behind the Khitan army and ordered that no traces should be exposed. Then let the old and weak soldiers drag the firewood, light the straw and go forward.

Smoke and dust rose and obscured the sky. Li Siyuan took the opportunity to order the drum to attack, and Li Cunxian also launched an attack behind the enemy, flanking the Khitan soldiers.

The Khitan was defeated, packed up the remnants and fled from Beishan, discarded cart tents, armor, weapons, horses and sheep and other livestock everywhere.

Li Siyuan took advantage of the victory and pursued fiercely, capturing and killing tens of thousands of Khitan soldiers. After repelling the enemy, Li Siyuan led his troops into Youzhou City.

Zhou Dewei personally came out to greet him, and excitedly held his hand tightly, and his face was full of cows. After the class teacher returned to Weizhou, Li Cunmiao personally went to the suburbs to greet him and promoted him to the inspector Taibao.

In the first year of Tongguang (923 AD), Li Cunqiao proclaimed himself emperor in Weizhou, and Li Siyuan was named the master of the inspection school, and concurrently served as a servant. At this time, the Jin army and the Liang army were fighting in a life-and-death situation. The armies of both sides fought fiercely on both sides of the Yellow River for a strategic point that could be a matter of success or failure for both sides.

The Liang army also competed with the Later Tang army in other places, and fought fiercely with the Later Tang army in Zezhou, and at this time, Li Jitao, the Later Tang defender of Luzhou, dedicated Luzhou to the Later Liang, which cut off the important return route to the south of the Later Tang army.

In order to gain the initiative, Li Cunqiao ordered Li Siyuan to lead the troops to attack Yunzhou, Li Siyuan quickly sent troops, attacked Yunzhou, and repelled Wang Yanzhang's reinforcements, with the cooperation of Li Cunqiao's reinforcements, Li Siyuan conquered Zhongdu, captured the general Wang Yanzhang, and killed thousands of enemies.

When discussing the direction of the next march, some generals advocated sending troops to the east, seizing territory where there was basically no army to defend it, and then seeking opportunities to advance westward.

However, Kang Yanshou strongly advocated an immediate westward march to the capital Bianzhou, ending the war as soon as possible, and destroying Houliang. Li Siyuan also agreed, he analyzed: "The combat soldiers are expensive at speed, now that Wang Yanzhang has been captured, Duan Ning will definitely not know the news immediately, even if someone reports it, he will analyze and suspect that it will be delayed for two or three days."

Even if he knew where we were going and sent rescue troops to support Bianzhou, the straight road had been blocked by the water of the Yellow River, which he had decided to do.

If he took the White Horse Ferry, it would be difficult for him to collect the ferries he needed for tens of thousands of people in a short period of time. And there is no danger to get to Bianzhou from us, you can drive straight in, even if you walk in a phalanx, you can only reach it in two days and nights.

By that time, when Duan Ning had not finished crossing the Yellow River, Zhu Youzhen, the late emperor of Liang, had already been captured alive by us. Li Cunqiao listened to Li Siyuan's analysis, and then thought of a similar strategy that Guo Chongtao said not long ago, so he made up his mind to attack west to take Bianzhou and eliminate Houliang.

Li Siyuan led the troops like a sharp knife straight into Bianzhou, after arriving to storm Fengqiu Gate, the city was empty, basically unguarded, Liang general Wang Zan opened the door and surrendered, and Emperor Liang committed suicide.

When Li Cunmiao saw Li Siyuan who came to greet him, he couldn't help but be overjoyed, jumped off the horse, grabbed Li Siyuan's clothes tightly with his hand, touched his head and said: "I have the world, thanks to your bloody battle, and I will share the world with you in the future." ”

('I have the world, and the bloody battle of the public should be established with the public'). Soon, Li Cunqiao added the seal of Li Siyuan and Zhongshu Order. (To be continued......)