Chapter 338: The Plan to Drive the Tiger to Swallow the Wolf

On the fourth day of the seventh month of 937, Zhang Zhao crushed the mutinous troops of the Jingyuan Military Governor's Zhangyi Army and the Binning Military Governor's Jingnan Army south of the Wei River.

The rebels numbered twelve thousand; more than three thousand were cut down in battle, most of the rest were taken prisoner, and over a hundred officers from the rebel leader He Chuan down were captured alive.

Zhang Zhao seized more than two thousand mules and horses, fifteen hundred suits of iron armor, over three thousand suits of leather and paper armor, countless swords, spears, and staves, more than two hundred thousand finely made arrows, fifteen hundred shi of stored grain, and seventeen thousand strings of gold and silver the rebels carried on them.

For the Guiyi Army, which had never been well supplied with iron armor, weapons, and arrows, this was a huge windfall; the ten-thousand-odd strings of cash and the mules and horses mattered little by comparison.

But in the commander's great tent, I, Minister of Works Zhang, lost my temper as never before, even overturning the low-legged desk in front of me.

There was only one reason Zhang Zhao could be so furious: someone had stolen the fruit of his victory.

Just as he defeated the rebellion, An Shenqi, Acting Grand Guardian, Chief Minister, Military Governor of Jinchang, and Acting Governor of Jingzhao, finally led several hundred yabing guards around Luoyang, which Zhang Congbin had blockaded, entered Shanzhou from the north bank of the Yellow River, and reached Chang'an.

Arriving with him were thirteen thousand troops of the Zhenguo Army of Huazhou under Military Governor Zhao Kuangzan.

At the same time, Kang Fu, Military Governor of the Xiongwu Army of Qinzhou, led eight thousand Xiongwu troops to Zhouzhi County.

Li Congyan, Military Governor of Fengxiang and Prince of Qi, led twenty thousand Fengxiang troops to camp at Wugong County.

Damn it all — when Zhang Zhao and the Guiyi Army were fighting their bloody battle, not a single one of them could be seen; once the fighting was over, they popped up one after another like ground squirrels.

What angered Zhang Zhao most was that Li Congyan's Fengxiang troops had actually sent their elite soldiers to seize Xingping County while Zhang Zhao was locked in a death struggle with the rebels.

Xingping County, it must be known, was one of the two key strongholds where the rebels had stockpiled their wealth and goods; the grain alone amounted to over ten thousand shi. With this one move, Li Congyan had stuffed himself to bursting.

At the same time, the Zhenguo Army of Huazhou, beating Zhang Zhao to it, routed the several hundred rebels at West Wei Bridge and swallowed up the portion of the rebel goods they could not carry off; the Jinchang Army in Xianyang also refused to let the Guiyi Army enter the city.

Moreover, his situation was beginning to turn somewhat unfavorable.

The Fengxiang Army's twenty thousand men were camped in Wugong and Xingping counties, to his northwest.

The Xiongwu Army of Qinzhou's eight thousand men were garrisoned at Zhouzhi County, to Zhang Zhao's southwest.

The Zhenguo Army of Huazhou, thirteen thousand strong, was stationed to Zhang Zhao's east, holding West Wei Bridge and blocking the Guiyi Army from entering Chang'an.

The Jinchang Army, originally charged with defending Chang'an, had also, after An Shenqi's arrival, occupied Xianyang to Zhang Zhao's northeast, and made it plain they would not let him pass.

East, south, west, and northeast were all blocked off; these forces together numbered at least fifty thousand, of whom the yabing guards alone could hardly be fewer than twenty thousand. If it came to a fight, Zhang Zhao would be hard pressed to cope.

Worse still, he now had no reliable base; the surrounding county towns were all occupied, and his Guiyi Army was still out in the open field.

To ensure safety, the best course now was simply to turn north and return to Qianzhou — but the moment he left the banks of the Wei River, the Guiyi Army would lose all bargaining power.

Zhang Zhao had now single-handedly destroyed the rebels, yet far from being able to plunder Chang'an as was customary in these times, even the size of his reward would depend on other men's whims.

This must be An Shenqi's doing!

Zhang Zhao thought to himself. The man came from the three tribes of Daibei, had served at the side of Li Cunxu, Emperor Zhuangzong of the Later Tang, since childhood, and had taken part in the Tang's destruction of Liang and the great war when the Khitan entered the Central Plains. He was one of the few renowned generals of the Five Dynasties.

Eight years from now, An Shenqi would charge alone into Yulin Store to rescue the surrounded Huangfu Yu and win fame throughout the realm, ranking with Huangfu Yu and Murong Yanchao as one of the three fierce generals of the Later Jin; men like Fu Yanqing and Gao Xingzhou would have to step back a pace.

What was more unusual was that among the warlords of the Five Dynasties, he stood out as a man of rare integrity, skilled at pacifying the people — stern but not cruel, awe-inspiring but not violent, lenient and unpretentious, so that the common folk felt his benevolence.

Well, damn! Zhang Zhao rubbed his chin. That's a bit like my own image!

It had to be An Shenqi behind this. Only such a veteran commander — of the three tribes of Daibei, with fathers, grandfathers, and brothers all serving as high court and provincial officials — could make old foxes like Li Congyan and Kang Fu obey.

So how to break the deadlock?

Zhang Zhao sat thinking in the command tent, now a shambles. Guo Tiance hurriedly had several guards clear the area, then withdrew so as not to disturb Zhang Zhao's thoughts.

As things stood, An Shenqi had only just arrived in Chang'an and had not yet fully sorted everything out.

Li Congyan, Kang Fu, and the others were following his orders only to save face and grab some advantages for themselves.

They certainly had not yet reached a cooperative agreement, and only wanted to force him away; things had not yet reached the critical, perilous moment.

But if this continued, it was hard to say — after all, the Guiyi Army had smashed the rebels, gained a great quantity of armor, weapons, mules and horses, and captured several thousand prisoners.

To the warriors of this age, these were treasures on which their very lives depended.

Once they grew covetous and reached an agreement to divide the spoils, there was no saying they would not come snapping and biting.

So a decision had to be made now — whether to go or stay, fight or make peace — all must be settled quickly.

Zhang Zhao began analyzing them one by one. First, the Jinchang Army of Chang'an: they had been badly beaten by the rebels and were already terrified. Since Zhang Zhao could annihilate the rebels in open battle, they surely lacked the nerve to come seeking a beating.

Moreover, An Shenqi had only just entered Chang'an and could not possibly have taken control of the Jinchang Army so quickly, so those several thousand men could be set aside for the moment.

As for the Zhenguo Army of Huazhou, its Military Governor Zhao Kuangzan was in fact still a callow youth. Born in 923, he was now only fourteen.

His mother was Princess Xingping, the fourteenth daughter of Emperor Mingzong of the Later Tang, of the Li clan; his grandfather was the great villain Zhao Dejun, Military Governor of Lulong.

That was the unlucky fellow who tried to compete with Shi Jingtang to be a traitor, but whose bottom line was slightly higher, which led to his failure.

Zhao Kuangzan's father, Zhao Yanshou, had by now gone over to the Khitan and deeply enjoyed the favor of Yelu Deguang.

Although Zhao Kuangzan was clever from childhood — at the age of ten, Li Siyuan, Emperor Mingzong of the Later Tang, had granted him the "child prodigy" examination degree — and historically he did have some ability,

he was at present simply too young. Even in his post as Military Governor of the Zhenguo Army of Huazhou, he relied on the support of the Lulong yabing guards and yabing officers left by his father and grandfather.

Zhang Zhao guessed that his military authority had by now certainly been taken by An Shenqi, and that the control of West Wei Bridge was also An Shenqi's arrangement.

But Zhao Kuangzan's position was now extremely awkward: both his father and grandfather had grievances with Shi Jingtang, and the main force of the Zhenguo Army was precisely those Lulong yabing guards and officers — the very foundation of Zhao Kuangzan's standing.

Therefore Zhao Kuangzan could be used by An Shenqi, but would certainly not obey without limit.

As for Kang Fu, Military Governor of the Xiongwu Army of Qinzhou — how to put it — he too was of the three tribes of Daibei.

But he was not a the the Shatuo; he was of Sogdian stock from the state of Kang. That joke about barbarians caring about pedigree — Kang Fu was the one who supplied it.

Kang Fu was born in the fourth year of Zhonghe of Emperor Xizong of Tang (884) and was now fifty-three. In his youth he had been a brave general skilled in bow and horse, but by now he had not many years left to live.

His greatest wish, presumably, was to return to the Central Plains to live out his old age; and with his Xiongwu Army numbering only eight thousand, he probably would not contend with Zhang Zhao.

In that case, the only man An Shenqi could make use of was Li Congyan, Military Governor of Fengxiang and Prince of Qi.

This gentleman — now he was an old acquaintance of mine, Minister of Works Zhang. He was the son of that Li Maozhen, whose posthumous title was the absurd "Loyal and Reverent Prince of Qi." People of the time said he was gentle by nature, without integrity, and fond of flattery.

More than ten years ago, after the founding of the Later Tang, Li Maozhen came to court and submitted; Li Congyan was then appointed Acting Military Governor of Fengxiang. Later, Emperor Zhuangzong took the opportunity of his visit to Luoyang to detain him.

But after the Xingjiao Gate Incident, Li Congyan bribed and curried favor with the empress of Emperor Mingzong Li Siyuan and smoothly obtained permission to return to Fengxiang.

But Li Siyuan soon regretted it, and appointed his own adopted son — the future Last Emperor of the Later Tang, Li Congke — as Military Governor of Fengxiang, to keep an eye on Li Congyan.

Later still, when Li Congke was forced to weep on the walls of Fengxiang and moved the soldiers sent to attack him to turn their coats, Li Congyan seized the chance to offer up wealth and goods to aid Li Congke, and Li Congke thereupon appointed Li Congyan Military Governor of Fengxiang.

Li Maozhen's descendants were thus able to continue holding Fengxiang.

By the time Shi Jingtang established the Later Jin, Li Congyan had been operating in Fengxiang for several years and his position was already secure; Shi Jingtang had no good way to deal with him.

Li Maozhen and his son had run Fengxiang for decades, and everyone above and below was one of their people—it was a solid iron plate.

So the Child Emperor bestowed on Li Congyan the title of Prince of Qi, returning this specially significant princely rank to Li Congyan as a means of conciliation and control.

Once Zhang Zhao sorted out these relationships, his vision suddenly opened wide.

Well, well! Shi Jingtang, you bastard! An Shenqi!

Who would have guessed that you barbarian whelps actually had a bit of Xun Yu's talent!

What An Shenqi was doing was the strategy of driving the tiger to swallow the wolf—treating Li Congyan, who held a region as his own, as a sitting tiger like Liu Bei or Yuan Shu, and treating him, Zhang Zhao, as a Lu Bu with fierce military strength but little foundation.

He was driving Li Congyan to attack Zhang Zhao, making them slaughter each other, in order to achieve the goal of driving both men out of Guanzhong—or at least out of the vicinity of Chang'an.

Then how should his own side respond? Would Li Congyan be driven by An Shenqi? Zhang Zhao thought it over—it was very likely.

Because Li Congyan had just recently gotten back the princely title of Prince of Qi from Shi Jingtang, comparable to how Liu Xuande received the governorship of Xuzhou from Cao Cao—he was eager to prove himself, lest the court come after him again.

And compared to the Central Plains court, Zhang Zhao was undoubtedly a small fry. Although the Guiyi Army of Hexi was skilled in war, they had crossed a thousand li to get here and had no foundation whatsoever in Guanzhong.

Li Congyan's Fengxiang army was twice the size of Zhang Zhao's Guiyi Army, and he felt he had court support; moreover, the Guiyi Army had armor, weapons, mules, and horses—goods that made his mouth water. If Zhang Zhao were Li Congyan, he would certainly give it a try.

So could he himself go toe-to-toe with Li Congyan? Zhang Zhao nodded—it should be possible!

Although Li Congyan had gotten back the title of Prince of Qi, he could not compare at all to Li Maozhen's era.

The current Li Congyan held only two territories—Fengxiang Prefecture and Fengzhou—with a registered population of only three or four hundred thousand, so he could not possibly support too many troops.

His twenty thousand soldiers looked strong and well-equipped, but his true yabing guards probably numbered only a few thousand.

So he could absolutely use Li Congyan as his whetstone. And as long as Zhang Zhao did not reveal the strength to swallow Fengxiang, An Shenqi would likewise sit back and watch.

Driving the tiger to swallow the wolf—whether the tiger gets slide-tackled or the wolf gets beaten into a husky, the scheme counts as a success. Whoever suffers, the schemer does not care.

But Zhang Zhao had to move fast! If he waited until An Shenqi firmly controlled the Jinchang Army, other complications might well arise. At this thought, Zhang Zhao let out a great roar and charged out of the tent.

"Li Congyan! You have gone too far in bullying me! Someone, send word to Grand Guardian An—I am raising troops, and I swear to kill that slave wretch Li Congyan!"

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