The first prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 24
In fact, there is a reason why Zhao Xu said that the four prefectures of Qin, Feng, Cheng, and Jie belonged to the Central Plains. These four prefectures became the four prefectures of Houshu later.
The impression that Meng Chang of the later Shu Dynasty gave to posterity is that he was indulging in luxury and pleasure, indulging in beauties and tenderness, but had no way to govern the country, and attacked the young emperor with the feeling of a romantic emperor and a foolish emperor.

But in fact, these do not prevent Meng Chang from being an ambitious and enterprising local overlord.

And the four prefectures of Qin and Feng became the administrative regions of Later Shu precisely during Meng Chang's tenure, which has to be said to be a political achievement of Meng Chang.

In the seventh year of Guangzheng in the later Shu Dynasty, which was also the first year of Kaiyun in the later Jin Dynasty, Wang Junhuai, a military attache and commander of the rebel army stationed in Jiezhou (southeast of today's Wudu in Gansu Province), was discriminated against by the officials because of the militia armed forces under his jurisdiction. Repulsed and dissatisfied.

So he angrily led more than a thousand people under his command to defect to Shu.Wang Junhuai even stated to the frontier generals of Houshu that he was familiar with the military and political situation and the dangers of the mountains and rivers in Longyou, and was willing to lead his troops as a vanguard to lead the Shu army to attack the two prefectures of Jie and Cheng (now Chengxian County, Gansu).

When the news reached Chengdu, Meng Chang was so tempted that he couldn't sit still, and he jumped up happily.

You must know that if Hou Shu can advance to Longyou, this place can be united with Hanzhong, not only to form a stable military defense line in the northwest, but also to use it as an offensive base to collect soldiers, war horses and all kinds of troops that are in short supply in Sichuan and Sichuan. Xiang Junguo supplies, and then went straight to Guanzhong with a high-level momentum.

Back then, the Northern Expedition strategy of Zhuge Wuhou of the Shu Han Dynasty was basically the same.

However, Marquis Wu was unable to take the land of Longyou back to the Shu Han when he came out of Qishan six times. Later, Longyou eventually became the trouble of the Shu Han.

Later, Deng Ai, a famous general of the Cao Wei Dynasty, traveled southward along a tributary of the Bailong River from Yinping, Longyou (northwest of Wenxian County, Gansu Province), crossed the Motianling Pass, walked down the Qingxi River Valley, climbed the Jingjun Mountain, and came out of Pingwu to attack Jiangyou and Mianzhu. , arrived in Chengdu.

Meng Chang was no stranger to this.Therefore, he immediately ordered the generals along the border: to meet Wang Junhuai and quickly capture the state.

However, the Longyou defense line of the Later Jin Dynasty was not empty.The city of Jiezhou is tightly guarded, and the garrisons of Qin and Chengzhou are also numerous and broad.

In particular, He Jian, the Xiongwu Jiedu envoy stationed in Qinzhou, served as the commander-in-chief of the six states along the border. He was promoted step by step through military merits and political achievements. He was a famous general in the later Tang and later Jin dynasties.

Therefore, even though Wang Junhuai descended to Shu and the Shu army aggressively attacked Jiezhou, the Later Jin still had enough strength to counter the Later Shu.Within a few days, reinforcements from Qinzhou (now Tianshui, Gansu) rushed over and defeated the Shu army.

Although Shu was ultimately defeated after the Battle of Jiezhou, Meng Chang was determined to follow the example of Marquis Wu, expanding the frontiers to the northwest through the Longyou.After all, Meng Chang was only 26 years old this year, an age full of ambition and ambition.

The luck of the Meng family father and son seems to be abundant.Who said there won't be pies in the sky?Just over two years later, the three provinces of Longyou arrived as promised!

In the first month of the tenth year of Guangzheng, the Khitan envoy who flaunted his military power came to Qinzhou and read a shocking edict to He Jian, the military governor of the late Jin Dynasty:

After the fall of the Jin Dynasty and the fall of Kaifeng, Shi Chonggui was escorted to Khitan, and Yelu Deguang, the lord of Khitan, ascended the throne in Kaifeng and proclaimed himself emperor.The new emperor requires military and political officials from all over the country to be honest and loyal to the Liao Dynasty!
He Jian immediately went up against the case, angrily drew out his sword and beheaded the envoy, and said firmly to the generals under his command:
"How can I have the status I have today, and the honor of being an extremely human minister is entirely due to the appreciation and trust of the two generations of emperors of the Dajin Shi family.

Now, Khitan Hu'er perishes my Central Plains and destroys my race.It's really a pity that we military generals, hanging those three-foot sharp swords in vain, can't wipe out the smoke of the country, how can we bend our brows and bend our waists, become lackeys of barbarians and slaughter our compatriots? ! "

However, strictly speaking, He Jian was not a real Han Chinese. His ancestors were Uighurs in the Western Regions, and later he followed the Shatuo tribe in the Hedong area.

However, the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties were a matter of national integration.Even the Shatuo Three Dynasties have been integrated into the Central Plains—the melting pot of the Han nationality community.

The Khitan forces broke into the Central Plains, and the crisis of national subjugation and genocide aroused the common opposition and fear of all ethnic groups active in the Central Plains.The formation of new foreign threats actually accelerated the process of ethnic integration in the Central Plains.

He Jian believed that instead of surrendering to Khitan, it would be better to lose his sincerity to Hou Shu.After all, the former is a country that destroys me, a seed that destroys me, and a "barbarian di" who has an unshakable hatred.

As for the latter, although they have fought against each other many times, it is a civil war after all, and everyone is from the Central Plains.What's more, the Meng family and the emperor of the Shi family are still cousins. Meng Zhixiang married the eldest daughter of Emperor Wu (Li Keyong), and Shi Jingtang married the third princess of Mingzong.

It is cheaper to join the Meng family than to join the Khitan and sell themselves for glory!Therefore, He Jian dedicated all the lands of Qin, Jie, and Cheng prefectures under the jurisdiction of the Xiongwu Army to Houshu.

He also suggested to Meng Chang that we should take advantage of the chaos and seize Guzhen (southeast of Fengxian County, Shaanxi today) and Fengzhou (southeast of Fengxian County of Shaanxi today).

Meng Chang smiled, because He Jian's layout is too small, Guzhen and Fengzhou, can the young emperor of Houshu be satisfied?Do you want to clear the customs?Do you want Yongzhou, Liangzhou, and Guanzhong Tianfu?

Guzhen (now Huixian County, Shaanxi Province) is west of Fengzhou and northeast of Qingniling in Xingzhou (now Lueyang, Shaanxi Province). To cross.

Only by capturing Guzhen can the game of chess in the four states of Longyou come to life, and the Shu army can move freely as if they were in an uninhabited territory.

Fengzhou, connected to Dasan Pass in the north and Baoxie Road in the south, is a strategic point connecting Longyou and Hanzhong.When the Shu army won Fengzhou, it would be able to connect Longyou and Hanzhong as one, and put the last strong lock on the northern frontier of Xichuan.

In other words, a noose was put on Fengxiang (now Baoji, Shaanxi), and a sharp sword was placed on top of Guanzhong's head.

And Dasan Pass is the gateway of Fengzhou and the throat of Fengxiang.This grand pass is on Dasanling, 52 miles southwest of Baoji.

Located at the boundary between the west end of the Qinling Mountains and the Longshan Mountains, in the low valley of the upper reaches of the Jialing River, it is an important passage between the north and the south in the west of the Qinling Mountains.Sanguan is the northern end of this passage, and the road stands on the edge of danger.Longshan and Zhongnanshan meet here.

The Sishui (from Long County, Shaanxi Province, confluence with the Weishui River in Baoji) and the Weishui River (from Weiyuan, Gansu Province, passing through the south of Baoji, crossing the Shaanxi Plain, and pouring into the Yellow River) linger in between. The terrain is dangerous and is known as "the throat of Qin and Shu". .

Since ancient times, it has been the traffic channel between Sichuan and Shaanxi.From then on, going south into Shu, Fengzhou was the first to bear the brunt, and then passed through Lizhou (now Guangyuan, Sichuan) to reach Jiange (now Sichuan) on the northern edge of the Sichuan Basin.

Going west to the steps and writing is Deng Ai's old way of attacking Shu.For Sichuan and Shaanxi, which are separated from the north and the south, there is no such way in the north, and there is no way to inspire Liang Yi;

This place has always been a battleground for military strategists. Later, Gu Zuyu summed up the rise and fall of history and came up with a law: "If Liang Yi has something to do, he must go to Sanguan!"

If Meng Chang wanted to make a northern expedition to the Central Plains, he had to capture Guanzhong first.If you want to take Guanzhong, you must first take all the four prefectures in Longyou, and the key point to realize this strategic intention is Dasanguan.

After He Jian surrendered, Meng Chang was keenly aware of the huge changes in the situation in the Central Plains: the late Jin Dynasty was overthrown and Khitan was not stable, and policies such as mowing grass valleys not only hurt the vital interests of all strata in the Central Plains, but also aroused the latter's strong national sentiments.

At this time, if you can take the opportunity to attack Guanzhong, you can go straight to the Central Plains and even rule the world.After all, in terms of strength, Hou Shu had 20 powerful soldiers, both Sichuan, Hanzhong, and Longyou, with strong soldiers and strong horses, and most of the generals at all levels were from the Central Plains and Hedong, and they knew the situation in the interior very well;

In terms of appeal, the Meng family is a close branch of the royal family in the later Tang and later Jin Dynasties, and they are authentic Han people in the Central Plains.

Meng Chang appointed Li Jixun, the general of Youqianniuwei, as the envoy of Qinzhou Propaganda and Consolation, and brought He Jian a large number of special products in central Sichuan to appease the hearts of this new army.

Later, Li Jixun joined forces with Liu Jing, the governor of Xingzhou, and led his troops to capture Guzhen.According to He Jian's suggestion, Meng Chang formulated the tactics of controlling dangerous areas, blocking reinforcements, and gathering troops to attack the city.

He mobilized 3700 Shu troops from Shannan West Road, went out of Xingyuan and went north, and assembled with He Jiansuo and Chengerzhou soldiers in Guzhen to form an eastward corps to threaten Fengzhou.

Sun Hanshao, the governor of the Shannan West Road, led an army of [-], and went straight down to Sanguan, taking the trend of blocking the north to help the enemy and closing the door to beat dogs.Subsequently, the two armies jointly attacked Fengzhou.Forcing Fengzhou's defense envoy Shi Fengkai to surrender the city to Shu.The four prefectures of Qin, Jie, Cheng, and Feng have all been acquired by Hou Shu so far.

Meng Chang's luck was really bad. Just after the collection of the four states, Hou Yi and Zhao Kuangzan, the Jiedu envoys of Fengxiang and Jinchang (now Xi'an, Shaanxi), sent letters of surrender to Chengdu, and they suggested that Hou Shu send troops to Guanzhong.

Although Hou Yi and Zhao Kuangzan changed their minds temporarily, and Wang Jingchong, the general of the Later Han Dynasty, drove the Shu army back to Shuzhong, but Meng Chang believed that the time was ripe for the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains.

Sure enough, not long after, Zhao Siwan from Fengxiang, Wang Jingchong from Guanzhong, joined Li Shouzhen from Hezhong, and set off a new upsurge of rebellion. They all surrendered to Houshu one after another, and the newly established Houhan regime was in jeopardy!
Meng Chang seems to have seen the dawn on the throne in Tokyo. This is a great opportunity that his father never dared to hope for in his life!
Both Shi Jingtang and Liu Zhiyuan were born as governors of Hedong, if Meng Zhixiang didn't go to Xichuan, he might not be able to go south and proclaim himself emperor.

Now, the Meng family is in the middle of Shu, and their strength is strong. It might be impossible to settle in Guanzhong, conquer the Central Plains in the north, and realize the imperial ambition of unifying the world.

However, unfortunately, the opponent Meng Chang met was Guo Wei, who was sophisticated and good at strategy.Compared with the latter, the former is obviously much greener.

When Emperor Shizong of Zhou came to the throne, although Meng Chang had already focused his energy on eating, drinking, having fun and beauties, but sitting on the dangers of mountains and rivers, the Later Shu Dynasty, which had all the wings of Hanzhong and Longyou, was like a long-standing tree. Iron walnut with a hard shell.

In this way, the four prefectures of Qin and Feng fell into Houshu, but the corrupt rule of Houshu had already aroused civil uprisings in these four prefectures, hoping to return to the Central Plains, so Qinzhou came to the people.

(End of this chapter)