Chapter 445: The Bloody Battle of Qicheng

The seventh year of Tianfu, 942 CE, the twentieth day of the twelfth month.

The Later Jin Emperor Shi Chonggui, with great reluctance, stripped Jing Yanguang of his title of Chief Commander of the Palace Guard Cavalry and Infantry, and that same day brought out silks and brocades from the treasury to reward the various armies.

On the twenty-first of the twelfth month, Shi Chonggui promoted Li Shouzhen, who had won the battle at Majiakou, to Supervisor of the Palace Front Troops, seemingly handing Jing Yanguang's command authority over the troops to Li Shouzhen.

But in fact Li Shouzhen was still at Bozhou near Majiakou, guarding against the Khitan, and could not possibly return to supervise the palace front troops; the military power was held in Shi Chonggui's own hands.

Afterward Shi Chonggui dispensed rewards according to merit, appointing Huangfu Yu as Military Governor of Huazhou, Hu Cile as Military Governor of Weizhou, and Gao Xingzhou, Fu Yanqing, and the rest all received rewards.

The great army at last submitted willingly and obeyed Shi Chonggui's commands, and in the end no mutiny broke out.

Three days later, the sixty thousand troops of the Jin army struck camp, began crossing the Yellow River, and advanced north to Qicheng, seeking a decisive battle with the Khitan army.

On the twenty-seventh of the twelfth month, Shi Chonggui arrived at Qicheng. Because the New Year was fast approaching, the Jin army did not continue north but spent the New Year right there at Qicheng.

At this moment, Jing Yanguang had already been dismissed, and his fall from power had come only in recent days.

Sang Weihan, who had long been shut out of the inner circle of power by Jing Yanguang, immediately perked up.

Feng Dao, He Ning, and others were also glad to have a powerful minister like Sang Weihan, a man of letters, with whom to discuss state affairs, and so together they recommended Sang Weihan before Shi Chonggui.

And Sang Weihan did indeed have real ability. At this time, the Later Jin was in fact facing a great drought north and south of the Yellow River, with poor harvests for two years running.

Yet even under such conditions, Sang Weihan still managed to procure enough supplies for sixty thousand troops to enjoy a bountiful New Year.

For a time, from Shi Chonggui at the top down to the lowest soldiers, everyone thought Sang Weihan was a man of talent and remembered his kindness.

Shi Chonggui immediately promoted Sang Weihan to Secretariat Director and concurrent Commissioner of Military Affairs, and he began to serve as the Later Jin's de facto chancellor.

After the New Year, the Later Jin's sixty thousand troops could not all remain crammed inside Qicheng, so Shi Chonggui made An Shenqi the Right Army Formation Commander, leading twenty thousand troops to camp on the right of Qicheng.

Fu Yanqing was made Left Army Formation Commander, leading fifteen thousand troops stationed on the left of Qicheng.

Shi Chonggui personally commanded the twenty-five thousand men centered on the Later Jin palace army, stationed in Qicheng as the central army.

In the eighth year of Later Jin Tianfu, 943 CE, the fifth day of the first month, the Liao Emperor Yelu Deguang held the Shooting the Ghost Arrow ceremony at Changle, south of Weizhou, in present-day Nanle County, Puyang, Henan.

This was the most important ceremony before the Khitan great army set out: enemy captives were brought to the direction in which the army would advance and then shot dead with a volley of arrows, thereby praying for blessings and driving away evil spirits for the army.

However, because the Khitan army had previously captured very few Jin prisoners, Yelu Deguang seized more than three hundred innocent residents of Changle county town and shot them together with several dozen Jin captives, completing the Shooting the Ghost Arrow ceremony.

After successive blows, this Liao Emperor had at last begun to lose his composure, no longer performing the manner of a benevolent sovereign of the frontier.

Changle county was no more than eighty li from Qicheng. The Khitan great army set out on the seventh day of the first month, and in barely a day, by the time Shi Chonggui climbed the walls of Qicheng again, the Khitan great army had already appeared within his line of sight.

But Shi Chonggui was not much surprised, because he had known of the Khitan army's movements even before they held the Shooting the Ghost Arrow ceremony.

For the seven hundred Liangzhou great horses of the newly appointed Military Governor of Weizhou, Hu Cile, had all arrived, and across the several hundred li of territory from Changle to Qicheng, they had fought fierce cavalry dogfights with the Khitan Right Pishi Iron Pigeon Army's mounted scouts.

In this kind of cavalry combat, which steppe horsemen excelled at most, Hu Cile's troops were not at a disadvantage, because they too were mostly Tatars, and once equipped, they were in fact even better at mounted archery than the Khitan.

Therefore, Shi Chonggui was able to receive timely intelligence of the Khitan army's movements, and it was not until the eighth day of the first month, after the Khitan great army reached the walls of Qicheng, that Hu Cile's troops withdrew and ceased their probing.

For this southern campaign, Yelu Deguang had levied eighty thousand troops from the Khitan main army, fifty thousand from Zhao Yanshou's forces together with Yan-Yun Han troops and Bohai soldiers, and forty thousand from the Xi chieftain Wei Wang's division.

A full one hundred seventy thousand troops; excluding the ten thousand assigned to logistics, one hundred sixty thousand reached the front.

Only, at this moment only one hundred twenty thousand remained, because Wei Wang's division had been defeated and had not yet arrived.

After reaching Qicheng, Yelu Deguang's disposition was much the same as Shi Chonggui's.

He made the Right Pishi Army's Xiangwen Yelu Wuzhi commander of the right army, and the Left Pishi Xiangwen Yelu Pode commander of the left army, each leading thirty thousand troops on the flanks, while he personally commanded sixty thousand elite troops as the central army.

The Khitan forces were exactly double the Jin army's.

At this moment, from Shi Chonggui's vantage point, the Khitan troops seemed boundless.

Because they had an enormous number of horses, although their numbers were only sixty thousand more than the Jin army's, in visual effect they appeared at least twice as large.

Shi Chonggui was never very skilled in military matters to begin with, and now, seeing so many Khitan, his face turned deathly pale.

He began to wonder whether Gao Xingzhou, Hu Cile, and the others were fooling him.

How could this sky-covering, earth-filling Khitan army possibly be defeated so easily?

Fortunately, however, directing the battle did not require this half-baked amateur, because the veteran generals An Shenqi, Gao Xingzhou, and others were all at Shi Chonggui's side.

As mentioned before, Shi Chonggui had one outstanding virtue: at critical moments he still knew what mattered, and he understood that professional matters should be left to professionals.

This fellow, though greedy for money, lustful, and fond of pleasure, easily stirred by grand words, was no fool.

Had he been born in a peaceful age, he could at least have been a pleasure-loving ruler like Ming Muzong Zhu Zaiji.

But unfortunately he was born into the chaos of the Five Dynasties, and what he inherited was a Son-Emperor dynasty.

When An Shenqi and the others saw that Shi Chonggui was somewhat frozen with fright, they said no more and simply took over command.

The Jin army's sixty thousand men were now spread out along the Yellow River line, and the camps had only just had abatis stakes planted; they absolutely could not hold out in a static defense.

Because the Yellow River was at their backs, there was no depth for maneuver at all. If they defended the stockade and any single point was broken through, they would be in immediate danger of being driven into the river. The great army had to advance forward and leave as much room for maneuver as possible.

Moreover, this was the Five Dynasties: the soldiers would fight in the open field and never hole up in a city. The Khitan might be numerous, but they had lost three battles in a row and could hardly put on a show of might; the men were not afraid of them.

Under An Shenqi's orders, the Jin army threw open the camp gates, struck camp, and advanced to meet the Khitan army on their own initiative.

On the tower of Qicheng, more than ten great drums sounded at once, and orderlies darted about like swarming bees, carrying military orders everywhere, while the identifying banners of each unit rose one after another.

The officers, following the drumbeats, controlled the soldiers' pace. At the very front were elite troops clad in iron armor; though they could not march in the perfect unison of the Liangzhou army, they were still quite impressive.

The Liangzhou army under Zhang Zhao had systematic training in military formations. The Jin army could manage drill once every three days and that was considered diligent; where would they find the time to waste on practicing parade-ground formations?

At this moment Yelu Deguang was also observing the Jin army. Seeing that the Jin troops were orderly and disciplined, he was not much surprised.

Although Yelu Deguang's military skill was a disgrace among the Taizong emperors, compared to a second-generation heir like Shi Chonggui, he was still stronger by an incalculable margin.

The Jin army's front ranks were orderly and all wore iron armor, but the troops behind were not as good, and they lacked cavalry.

Of the sixty thousand troops, the cavalry could not exceed ten thousand, and they were quite scattered.

When the Khitan fought an army with this much infantry, even if they could not win, withdrawing was still no problem.

"Your Majesty, to the east is the small road leading to the pontoon bridge. If the heavenly troops can seize that place, they can bypass the Jin army and reach the great river's pontoon bridge directly."

Beside Yelu Deguang, a middle-aged man with a Khitan-style leather cap on his head but wearing a Han-style leather coat was pointing to a spot east of Qicheng as he spoke.

This man was named Ma Polong, a native of Qicheng, who had come forward to offer his allegiance after seeing Yelu Deguang's imperial procession.

Because he was a local, he knew there was a hidden path northeast of Qicheng that led to the pontoon bridge behind the town.

This greatly stirred Yelu Deguang's interest. The path was difficult, but if they could get through, a few hundred elite troops could seize the pontoon bridge and cut off the Jin army's retreat, which would surely make the Jin army collapse outright.

So Yelu Deguang made his first adjustment: he ordered the Shushan Army to detach a thousand elite cavalry and strike first at the Jin troops on the northeast corner of Qicheng.

From the center army, the Dragon Army, Phoenix Army, and Eagle Army sent out three thousand armored cavalry to assault the Jin center.

Behind the armored cavalry, he arrayed the Yan-Yun Han troops and Bohai troops and other infantry to advance in linked waves.

On the left and right wings, he sent out light cavalry to circle around the Jin vanguard's armored soldiers and strike at their flanks.

At the end of the mao hour (7 a. m.), the Khitan army launched its attack. The Shushan Army's thousand elite cavalry first swung around the Jin front and headed northeast.

Yelu Deguang assumed the Jin army did not know of this path, but in fact, the Jin army had long been prepared.

The moment the Shushan Army's thousand elite cavalry moved out, Yao Yuanfu, Hu Guang, and Murong Ye each led two hundred riders and galloped out at once, with Yao Yuanfu's unit as the spearhead to meet the enemy.

The Shushan Army concentrated their arrows on Yao Yuanfu's unit in the center. Yao Yuanfu charged through the arrow storm, at the cost of a dozen or so men, and slammed into the Shushan Army's front, killing several enemies in succession with his iron claw.

The enraged Shushan Army abandoned Hu Guang and Murong Ye on the flanks and chose to surround Yao Yuanfu, easily cutting his unit into three sections.

But Yao Yuanfu fought with ferocious courage, charging left and right through the Khitan cavalry and killing several more. The Khitans' so-called Shushan Army iron cavalry could do nothing to him.

By then Hu Guang and Murong Ye had arrived and immediately threw the Shushan Army's formation into chaos. Six hundred Jin riders scattered a thousand Khitan Shushan elite cavalry and sent them fleeing in disarray.

In the distance, Yelu Deguang could only order Yelu Wuzhi to bring several hundred cavalry to reinforce them, and only then was the situation stabilized.

But at that very moment, the Jin army formed a silver-spear formation in front of the Khitan center and opened fire on it with crossbows.

Yelu Deguang sent out the Dragon Army, Phoenix Army, and Eagle Army's iron cavalry to drive the Jin troops back.

But the Jin army fought with extraordinary tenacity. The center withstood several charges by the Khitan iron cavalry; though their formation was battered to the point of collapse, it still did not break.

Yelu Deguang could only continue by ordering the Han and Bohai infantry to attack.

The Jin army had endured charges by several thousand iron cavalry and was then attacked by Liao infantry that outnumbered them. At last they could hold no longer and began to fall back.

Yelu Deguang seized the chance to send the Pishi Army's iron cavalry charging again, and this time added a thousand Bear Army iron cavalry as well.

The exhausted Jin troops put up brief resistance and then broke completely. More than four thousand Khitan iron cavalry drove them like sheep and plunged into the Jin center.

Yelu Deguang was overjoyed and was about to commit more, but his expression immediately turned ugly.

Because the Jin army had, in the second line of their center, arrayed several thousand powerful crossbowmen. When the Khitan iron cavalry charged to within eighty-some paces, just as their horses were flagging, the crossbowmen suddenly loosed a storm of bolts.

In an instant, Khitan iron cavalry dropped to the ground like dumplings into boiling water. Those behind, seeing disaster, turned and fled back.

Gao Xingzhou and his son Gao Huaide had been lying in wait within the infantry formation with several hundred elite riders, and now they suddenly charged out from left and right.

The Khitan iron cavalry, struck without warning, completely lost the ability to resist. Yelu Deguang, his face ashen, could only throw his reserves forward again, and only then did he hold off the Jin attack.

Gao Xingzhou took a small loss in the process: his warhorse was shot out from under him, and he himself was riddled with arrows like a hedgehog.

Had his personal guards not pulled him out quickly, he would have been speared to death by the Khitan iron cavalry closing in. He had no choice but to withdraw and reform his ranks.

After that, the two sides seesawed back and forth in the center several times, until the ground ran with rivers of blood.

Meanwhile on the left wing, the Khitans were being surrounded and pounded by Yao Yuanfu, Hu Guang, and the others, and only Yelu Wuzhi's sound command kept them from collapsing.

On the right wing, Fu Yanqing was being pressed hard by Yelu Pode.

Fu Yanqing's unit was short on cavalry and could only defend passively. The Khitan force was twice his size, so the fighting was extremely bitter.

The two sides battled back and forth from the end of the mao hour all the way to the end of the shen hour, a full five double-hours and more. Both the Liao and Jin armies suffered enormous casualties, and neither could gain the upper hand.

But in terms of the overall situation, the Liao army was in greater danger, because they had used a hundred twenty thousand troops to besiege sixty thousand Jin soldiers, yet had only fought them to a draw.

This showed that the Jin army's fighting strength and resolve far exceeded the Liao army's.

Furthermore, the Liao army had more cavalry, which was an advantage but also a disadvantage, because horses' endurance is far inferior to that of humans.

The Khitan cavalry had charged and fought repeatedly all day, and most of them had nearly exhausted the strength of their second horses. If the fighting continued, their combat power would only weaken further.

Most importantly, the hundred fifty thousand shi of grain Yelu Deguang had seized at Beizhou was nearly gone. If the fighting dragged on, provisions would become a problem.

So the unwilling Yelu Deguang devised a vicious scheme, a common trick of the Khitans and other northern nomadic fishing-and-hunting peoples.

That night he withdrew more than ten li, pretending to flee north in disarray, and laid ambushes on both sides of the road from Qicheng to Changle, hoping to lure the Jin army out and destroy it.

The next day, when the Jin army rose, they discovered the Khitan host had withdrawn. The generals all believed the Khitans were afraid of them, and every man was stirred up, demanding pursuit.

But Heaven favored Shi Chonggui: at that moment a great rain fell from the sky, torrential and unbroken, lasting five or six days. The roads turned to mud, and the Jin pursuit came to nothing.

This badly wrecked Yelu Deguang. Not only did the ambush come to nothing, but the Khitan host was soaked in the open field for days.

On the twentieth of the first month, the still-unwilling Yelu Deguang led his army back to Qicheng. Only then did the Jin command realize the previous Khitan withdrawal had been a feint, and the two sides again fought a great battle beneath Qicheng's walls.

After three double-hours of bitter fighting, Yelu Deguang had lost more than two thousand men. He could hold out no longer, so under cover of darkness he abandoned his baggage train and the whole army struck camp and returned north.

The Jin army again suspected the Liao army was pulling another feint, so they stayed inside Qicheng. Only after ten days, when they were certain the Khitan host had truly returned north, did they come out to recover the prefectures and counties along the way.

Thus ended the first great war between the Liao and the Jin.

Yelu Deguang had marched south full of pride, only to smash his head into a wall. He lost nearly forty thousand men, including more than three thousand from the Pishi Army, and gained not a single hair for his trouble.

Fortunately, the heaviest losses fell on the Xi Prince Wei's twenty thousand-plus men, while the losses to the inner guard were not yet severe.

But the Later Jin had not won much either. More than three thousand of their soldiers were killed in battle, over ten thousand wounded, and the prefectures and counties along the route were plundered clean by the north-returning Khitan army.

Around Weizhou's Daming Prefecture in particular, the land for dozens of li in every direction was virtually laid waste.

But from this point on, Shi Chonggui's fame soared, and his seat on the throne was finally secure.

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