Chapter 795: The Devil Hidden in the Details of History

The Devil Hidden in the Details of History

Li Cunxu, the "Half-Mounted Heavenly King" of Later Tang, once fought many battles against the Khitan people and also summarized some lessons from them.

One of these was "left shooting."

Not every Khitan could shoot with both hands—in other words, it is safe to assume most could not. So when the Khitan executed flanking maneuvers, they were especially fond of the right hook.

To counter the Khitan, Li Cunxu specifically formed an army of "left-handers" (in reality, ambidextrous archers), and its first commander was... Shi Jingtang.

This special unit repeatedly performed extraordinary feats, but for some reason its designation was later revoked—most likely a consequence of Shi Jingtang acknowledging the Khitan as his father.

But while the unit's designation disappeared, its soldiers did not. Because a cavalry archer force capable of "left shooting" could execute a flanking maneuver from the left, they were very much needed on the battlefield.

Liu Zhiyuan of Later Han needed them, and Guo Wei of Later Zhou needed them too, but let us set that aside for now.

When the Battle of Gaoping between Later Zhou and Northern Han broke out, Guo Rong personally led the army on campaign. He commanded the vanguard, while the rear army was led by the veteran general Liu Ci, Defense Commissioner of the Three Cities of Heyang.

After the fact, this decision proved to have saved Guo Rong's life.

In terms of total troop strength, Later Zhou certainly outnumbered Northern Han, but at the encounter at Gaoping, only Later Zhou's vanguard was present, so Northern Han actually had more troops.

At the time, Guo Rong of the Later Zhou central army was in the main formation. Among the guards around him were Zhao Kuangyin, Pan Mei, Zhang Yongde, and others (none of whom had yet risen to prominence, especially Zhao Kuangyin). The central army's forward commanders Xiang Xun and Shi Yanchao held the front line.

On the left route were Bai Chongzan and Li Chongjin; on the right route, He Hui and Fan Aineng.

As soon as battle commenced, facing off against the right route was Northern Han's fiercest general, Zhang Yuanhui, who immediately shattered the formations of He Hui and Fan Aineng. Fan Aineng's cavalry fled first, and in the cascading rout, He Hui had no choice but to run as well.

The left route and the central army's vanguard also took heavy blows, and everyone was pushed forward to plug the line.

An inauspicious start—the situation was once extremely dire.

But at this point two things happened, one subjective and one objective.

The objective one was that a great wind rose—a south wind—directly blowing into the eyes of the Northern Han army advancing from the north. At that moment, Zhang Yuanhui, who had already won, was actually blinded by the wind and sand, fell from his horse by accident, and was hacked to death in the chaos of troops.

And just like that, a generation's fiercest general died. This manner of death was about the same as a stone falling from the sky and taking him out.

In "Ten Kingdoms, Thousand Beauties," the opening scene has the protagonist shoot Zhang Yuanhui dead with a single arrow, but I won't go into detail here.

The second thing was that someone suggested the central army sweep around from the left flank to strike directly at the Northern Han main formation and settle the battle in one decisive blow.

Because beside Guo Rong was a legendary scout, also called a "battle champion," who told him: the Northern Han army has very likely committed all its forces, and their main formation is empty.

It is hard to say which of these two events happened first, but logically, Guo Rong's flanking counterattack clearly came first, and Zhang Yuanhui being blown to his death by the wind and sand came after—call it heaven helping those who help themselves.

Because if Zhang Yuanhui's route had collapsed first, Guo Rong clearly would not have needed to agonize over it; he could have directly counterattacked Zhang Yuanhui's route, and the cascading rout would have crushed Liu Chong, the ruler of Later Han.

It is worth noting that at this point, thrusting at the left route was actually very risky—under normal circumstances, the thrust would not get through. Liu Chong was no fool; he would not just die because you charged at him, with no deployments whatsoever. It was simply that he never expected Guo Rong to thrust at the left route.

As for why thrust at the left route and not the more chaotic right route, which seemingly offered more opportunity? Because everyone who fought in those days knew the left route was likely weaker, so you should thrust there for a better chance of victory.

It was a gamble, either way.

Many people think cavalry just needed to charge through, but in reality that was a battle line between two armies—apart from the central army's troops guarding the emperor, all the rest had gone to plug the line.

If they were to charge, there would certainly be people blocking the way. In fact, I surmise that Zhao Kuangyin's merit came from encountering Northern Han obstruction while thrusting through, and he went to fight a rearguard action.

This is a conclusion reverse-engineered from Sima Guang's history book; readers may have a laugh at it and need not take it seriously.

Thrusting at the left route—this was where the cavalry's combat power truly mattered.

Those beside Guo Rong were all elite cavalry of the army, including Zhao Kuangyin and the others. They were certainly not veterans of the old left-shooting army, but the lineage was still there—those with martial skill would always find a place.

These ambidextrous archers broke through the zone of chaotic fighting between the two armies and drove straight for the Northern Han main formation. Seeing the situation turn against him, Liu Chong simply ran, and the army's collapse was like a mountain tumbling down.

So you see, from this detail it is evident that many things—people and events alike—are all part of one continuous lineage; no one just popped out of a crack in a stone.

Without these ambidextrous elite cavalry, whether Guo Rong could have reached Liu Chong is hard to say. Northern Han was not finished just because Zhang Yuanhui died—the Khitan had not gone far yet.

Liu Chong personally waved banners and shouted from the rear, rallying ten thousand Northern Han troops and about to launch a counterstrike. Then the Later Zhou rear army under veteran general Liu Ci arrived, and the already demoralized Northern Han army simply collapsed.

Fan Aineng and He Hui, those two, ran into Liu Ci on their flight and insisted that the vanguard had collapsed and Guo Rong's fate was unknown. Liu Ci did not believe them and force-marched to Gaoping.

It is hard to say Fan Aineng and He Hui were not killed later because of this very incident. If I were Guo Rong, I would have killed them too.

Honestly, Guo Rong did not fight this battle particularly well. He was too eager, fearing Liu Chong would escape; if he had waited for the rear army to arrive before acting, victory would have been nearly certain. This is a case of one's position dictating one's thinking—when an opportunity arises, you push forward even through difficulty.

But sometimes you cannot help but marvel at the bonus of historical contingency, and the so-called "right mistakes leading to right outcomes."

Doing everything to the best of your ability does not necessarily yield the best result.

Zhao Kuangyin, Pan Mei, and others beside Guo Rong were clearly far superior in caliber to He Hui and Fan Aineng, inherited from Guo Wei's side. Through the Battle of Gaoping, Guo Rong in one stroke chopped off the heads of over seventy generals, freeing up a large number of military posts, which allowed him to leisurely install his own up-and-coming commanders.

He swiftly established his own trusted inner circle.

If the Battle of Gaoping had been fought in a steady and cautious manner, whether Guo Rong could have held his position securely afterward would have been very hard to say.

Victory can earn respect, but it cannot inspire fear. The vicious habits of the Five Dynasties military strongmen would have continued to spread. Whether they might mutiny and kill Guo Rong in the future can only be guessed at.

The earlier chapters laid a lot of groundwork, which is why these two chapters arranged for the Left Shooting Battalion to crush An Shouzhong. That's worth a few monthly votes, isn't it?