Chapter 477: You Think You Can Sweep the Lands Beyond the Northern Frontier Clean?

Zhang Zhao had sensed Shi Chonggui's weakness, and Yelu Deguang had also already figured out the weak points of the Jin army.

Even old foxes like Feng Dao and He Ning understood that this Central Plains dynasty, which had defeated the Liao state several times and sent the Khitan Emperor fleeing on a camel, and which appeared powerful and prosperous, already had a very fatal problem.

But for Shi Chonggui, the very man who held this state in his hands, he not only failed to see this danger clearly — he was even rather pleased with himself.

Because the palace attendants and court servants around him, and the outer-court men Feng Yu, Yin Peng, and others, were all singing Shi Chonggui's praises.

The only three people who knew the true situation and might possibly remonstrate with Shi Chonggui were these.

Jing Yanguang had sunk into self-abandonment, and had also lost Shi Chonggui's trust.

Sang Weihan had been dismissed by Shi Chonggui himself.

As for the remaining Feng Dao — ha! How do you think he got the nickname "the Tumbler"?

It was because this man Feng Dao was extremely skilled at switching freely, without the slightest psychological burden, between being a worthy minister and famous chancellor on the one hand, and a flattering, treacherous sycophant on the other.

When the sovereign was wise, he was a worthy minister; when the sovereign was fatuous, he could instantly turn into a sycophant.

Under Shi Jingtang, Feng Dao still dared to step forward and offer advice and strategies.

But when it came to Shi Chonggui, Feng Dao at first still uttered some flattering words to curry favor with Shi Chonggui, but now, seeing danger, he began joining He Ning in playing the clay Bodhisattva.

Therefore everything Shi Chonggui saw, heard, and felt was not real.

Zhang Zhao marveled at how he dared mistreat the soldiers after the great victory at Baituanwei Village in Yangcheng, but Shi Chonggui felt that in the battle of Yangcheng, his own mighty name had resounded throughout the world.

Not only had he sent Yelu Deguang fleeing in panic, he had also changed the atmosphere of the previous court: when the soldiers returned victorious, awed by his mighty name, they finally no longer extorted money and goods at every turn.

Shi Chonggui had absolutely no idea that the reason he had been able to send those arrogant soldiers and fierce generals packing with just a few tens of thousands of strings of cash was, first, his good luck.

An Shenqi, Fu Yanqing, Gao Xingzhou, Huangfu Yu, and the others were, for the entire Five Dynasties period, absolutely commanders who both had ability and were relatively upright in character.

Second, the spoils the Jin army had taken in the battle of Baituanwei Village in Yangcheng were truly too abundant, so even though Shi Chonggui had not rewarded them with much, the soldiers could still endure it for the time being.

But amid the boasting of those around him, Shi Chonggui took the loyalty of his commanders and the forbearance of his soldiers to be the result of his own mighty name and skillful command.

One truly wonders where this confidence came from.

In the seventh month, letters arrived one after another from Zhao Yanshou, the Liao state's Military Governor of Fanyang and Prince of Yan, and from Liu Yanzuo, the Prefect of Yingzhou.

They submitted memorials to Shi Chonggui, their wording almost pleading, saying that in the Liao state they were bullied and oppressed by the Khitans, and that the officers and soldiers under their command all had the intention of returning south.

As long as the Jin court dispatched a great army north, they would certainly turn their coats and welcome it.

Zhao Yanshou in particular, in his letter, wildly bragged about the Jin army's fighting strength, saying that when the northern caitiffs heard the Jin troops were coming, they were terrified, and the border was startled three times a day.

He even compared Shi Chonggui to Emperor Shizong Wu of Han, whose martial achievements were at their height and who avenged the humiliation his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had suffered at the hands of the Xiongnu.

Shi Chonggui had always liked hearing grand, heroic words, and did not feel in the slightest that Zhao Yanshou was deliberately flattering him with ulterior motives; not only did he gleefully accept it all, it also ignited the heroic passion in his heart.

But the greatest common point between Shi Chonggui and Emperor Wu of Han was probably just that they were both men.

At the end of the seventh month, Shi Chonggui, whose spirits had been roused by the prospect of Zhao Yanshou and Liu Yanzuo defecting and coming over, specially summoned Du Chongwei.

He proposed continuing to appoint Du the Plague Lord as Commander-in-Chief of the Northern March, and also ordered Feng Yu, He Ning, Feng Dao, Li Song, and others to handle the affairs of the great army's northern expedition.

This single order directly left everyone numb. After successive great disasters and great wars, it was already good enough that the state could still function at all — where was the money and grain to supply a great army on a northern expedition?

But Feng Yu knew that Shi Chonggui's resolve was already set. In order to cater to Shi Chonggui, and also to keep Shi Chonggui from learning the truth and continuing to monopolize power, Feng Yu took everything upon himself and declared that he would certainly quickly scrape together the provisions.

He Ning, Feng Dao, and Li Song, those three clay Bodhisattvas, as usual protected themselves by staying wise and did not come out to remonstrate.

This made Shi Chonggui think the state treasury's funds were still ample, so he turned around and delivered a grand, heroic speech to Du Chongwei.

"Today the court's troops awe both north and south; the northern caitiffs lose their courage at the sound of them. We should first take Ying and Mo, secure Guannan, then recover You and Yan, and sweep the lands beyond the northern frontier clean!

Uncle, ever since the day the late Emperor raised his troops at Jinyang, you have campaigned north and south for the court and rendered meritorious service in battle. If this time you can destroy the Khitan, you shall be Prince of Yan and garrison Hebei."

No one had expected Shi Chonggui to be so wildly arrogant. This left even a shameless man like Du Chongwei stunned.

It seemed Shi Chonggui did not merely want to bring Zhao Yanshou and Liu Yanzuo south — he also wanted to recover the lands of You and Yan, and then sweep the lands beyond the northern frontier clean.

In particular, the goal of sweeping the lands beyond the northern frontier clean — let alone Shi Chonggui, even the founder of the military glory and wealth of these Daibei martial houses, Zhuangzong Li Cunxu, had not achieved it.

Even among the emperors of unified dynasties throughout history, those who could sweep the lands beyond the northern frontier clean could be counted on one's fingers.

Then Du Chongwei only felt wave after wave of dread in his heart. He knew exactly how much he was worth, and this was not sending him north to win merit — this was taking his life!

Shi Chonggui thought it was trust; Du Chongwei thought it was a death sentence.

And he had no way to refuse, because the initial contact with Zhao Yanshou had been initiated by him, and he had been the one following up on it afterward.

It was also Du Chongwei who had first reported to the Later Jin court that Liu Yanzuo, the Khitan Prefect of Yingzhou, intended to return south, and had argued that the opportunity must not be missed.

But Du Chongwei had done all this simply out of greed for merit.

Because after Yelu Deguang withdrew north, the Khitans had not completely ceased their activities; instead, relying on their fast horses, they kept harassing the border regions such as Yizhou and Shenzhou.

Just two months before he entered the court, Liu Zhiyuan had again heavily defeated the harassing Khitans at Yangwu Pass in Hedong, taking more than seven thousand heads.

Although this was very likely Liu Zhiyuan boasting, the victory itself was probably genuine.

Immediately after, Du Chongwei himself led troops and repeatedly thwarted the Khitans who came south to harass Shenzhou and other places, taking several hundred heads as well. Zhao Yanshou's claim that the Khitan border was startled three times a day was not entirely exaggeration.

Because the successive defeats had indeed given many Khitans a phobia of the Jin army, and the Khitans garrisoning the border were indeed very afraid of a Jin northern expedition.

Du Chongwei actually wanted to bring Zhao Yanshou, Liu Yanzuo, and the others back, and to gain several of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan-Yun.

That way he could both deal the Khitans a hard blow and win more merit, so as to rise in rank and grow rich.

But he had not planned to recover Youzhou! Especially not to sweep the lands beyond the northern frontier clean.

So after Shi Chonggui withdrew to the rear palace, this matter was actually dragged out and delayed again.

Feng Yu could not raise enough provisions, and Du Chongwei was unwilling to lead troops and take such a great risk — the encirclement at Baituanwei Village last time had truly frightened him badly.

However, after this news was passed out by Empress Dowager Li and sent by fast riders traveling day and night by the Brocade Guard messengers of the Prince of Liang to Liangzhou,

Zhang Zhao, feeling that events had finally aligned with history, knew that the Later Jin army's march north was certain to happen.

In the first year of Kaiyun of the Later Jin, 944 CE, by mid-eighth month, the flow of disaster refugees entering Hexi from Guanzhong and other places had basically come to an end.

Over the course of this year, Zhang Zhao had spent more than four hundred thousand shi of grain and mobilized a great deal of manpower and resources, bringing a total of six hundred fifty thousand refugees into Hexi.

Apart from those used to fill Suzhou (Jiuquan), the area north of Ganzhou, Lingzhou, and other places, more than four hundred thousand of these refugees were organized by Zhang Zhao to participate in tasks such as dredging river channels.

After the dredging tasks were completed, the refugees were settled along the riverbanks, forming a large number of baojia units distributed in a long strip from Shanzhou City to Lanzhou City.

Some of them farmed the land there, while others worked as boatmen on the waterways, keeping firm watch over these vital water routes for Zhang Zhao.

With the refugees settled, word arrived from the Later Jin.

Zhang Zhao then ordered the Grand Envoy of the Xia-Sui Circuit, Cao Yuanzhong, Marquis of Xinting, to draw fifteen thousand troops from Xia-Sui and Lingwu and station them north of Yanzhou.

He also ordered Gao Yunquan, Military Governor of Zhangwu Army in Yanzhou, who had long since submitted to the Liang state, to stockpile grain and fodder and prepare to render support.

The second route was commanded by Yan Jin, Deputy Grand Envoy of the Hexi Circuit and Commander-in-Chief of Xiongwu Garrison, who was to assemble two battalions from Xiongwu and Hanhai Garrisons, sixteen thousand troops in all, conscript thirty thousand laborers, and prepare to enter Guanzhong from Qinzhou (Tianshui).

The third route was the main force, led by Zhang Zhao himself, setting out from Liangzhou.

Nearly the entire Liang state palace guard and garrison troops marched out — the Hanshan Capital, the Left and Right Yulin Guard, the Yingyang Garrison, the Yucheng Garrison, and the Wuwei Garrison were all in the order of campaign.

Militia archers and sworn-follower cavalry from Hexi, Longyou, Longbei, Xia-Sui, and Lingwu were also conscripted in great numbers.

In addition, Zhang Zhao sent orders to Anxi and Beiting, requiring the Uyghur, Kyrgyz, Basmyl, and Karluk tribes to furnish three thousand light cavalry to Hexi.

Together with the palace guard and garrison troops, these made up a total of forty thousand horse and foot.

From this point on, Zhang Zhao carried out a full mobilization across the Liang state, mustering in all seventy thousand horse and foot, fifty thousand army laborers, and as many as three hundred thousand people involved in transport.

He also stockpiled large quantities of grain and fodder in Qinzhou, Weizhou, and Yanzhou, preparing to march south into Guanzhong once Yelu Deguang stormed the Eastern Capital at Kaifeng.

Zhang Zhao had made his preparations, and Yelu Deguang had made his as well — but because the Khitan army had suffered defeats on its previous two southward campaigns, Yelu Deguang's preparations were nowhere near as easy as Zhang Zhao's.

By now, even the prestige of his imperial title alone could no longer rouse the Khitan people's ambition to march south.

He could only rely on spirits and gods at every turn, using prophecies and divination to raise his prestige and draw the various tribes into sending troops south.

But after he had gone through all that, the Later Jin side suddenly went quiet, and Yelu Deguang instantly had a very bad feeling.

He therefore hurriedly instructed Liu Yanzuo to write again to the Later Jin, to lure the Jin army out no matter what.

All chapters have been cached for you. Download the APP to view them.