On September 16, taking advantage of the great victory, Shi Jingtang's rebels and the Khitan army formally met, surrounded the Tang army in the Jin'an Village, and set up a camp in Liulin, which was further south than the Jin'an Village. Then, Yelu Deguang and Shi Jingtang built a trench around the Jin'an Village with much higher efficiency than Zhang Jingda's surround Taiyuan within a few days, erected wooden stakes along the trench, tied ropes with bells, and sent soldiers to patrol at any time with military dogs. Even if a rabbit was about to enter and exit the blockade line, it would be impossible not to be discovered.

On September 18, Zhang Jingda took advantage of the blockade line not yet completed and sent the last envoy to break out of the encirclement and reported the bad news of his defeat to the court: the Khitan army suddenly appeared, our army had unfavorable battles, suffered heavy losses, and was forced to retreat to Jin'an Village to defend. Now there are still 50,000 soldiers and 10,000 war horses in the village, but there are not many food and grass. Please send troops to rescue as soon as possible!

A few days ago, Li Congke received all the good news and the optimistic outlook of the generals in front of him for the battle. Now he suddenly received this defeat, as if he had fallen from a paradise in his dream and fell into the hell of reality, which shocked the Emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty. Li Congke hurriedly issued a series of orders. First, he ordered Fu Yanrao, commander of the Zhangsheng Capital, to lead a Luoyang imperial guard to first arrive in Heyang to fight for his own vanguard; second, he asked Fan Yanguang, the governor of Tianxiong who had shortly suppressed the rebellion in Zhenzhou, to lead his troops westward, cross the Taihang Mountains through Qingshankou, approached Yuci, and threatened the Khitan army from the east; third, the most critical route, ordered Zhao Dejun, the commander of the northeast to lead his troops out of Feihukou, approached Taiyuan from the north, and threatened the retreat of the Khitan army!

The reason why Zhao Dejun's journey was the most critical, in addition to his high status and strong military strength, was that Lu Long's active actions were the situation that the Khitan was most worried about. Before Yelu Deguang sent troops south this time, Shuluping warned him: "If Zhao Dejun's army leaves Yuguan and attacks our country, you should come back quickly and don't worry about the matter of the Central Plains!" Similarly, after Yelu Deguang won a complete victory and surrounded Jin'anzhai, he also sent light cavalry to reconnaissance the safety of his retreat. Every evening, the Khitan army would pack up so that once it was found that the road to return was cut off, he could throw his godson away and retreat north in time.

In fact, although Yelu Deguang and Shi Jingtang's coalition won a brilliant victory, the Later Tang Dynasty was not doomed to fail until this time, and the outcome of the entire war still had huge uncertainty. It can be said that whether the Later Tang Dynasty could seize the last opportunity and turn defeat into victory depends mainly on Zhao Dejun's current performance.

Zhao Dejun's previous names were Zhao Xingshi and Li Shaobin. His adopted son Zhao Yanshou married Li Siyuan's daughter Princess Xingping, so he was Li Siyuan's in-laws. However, Zhao Dejun was promoted and reused, reused and replaced Li Cunshen, and Li Cunxian was in charge of Lu Long. It was when Li Cunxu became the emperor. Zhao Yanshou's marriage was not because Zhao Dejun was reused, but because he received reused.

Zhao Dejun's previous deeds had few highlights, but he showed certain abilities in the war and was respected by Li Cunxu. Zhao Dejun had some expertise in defending the city. Before Zhao Dejun became the governor of Lulong, Abaoji had seized the camp, pacified the two prefectures, occupied Yuguan, and controlled the eastern section of the Great Wall. Yanshan natural danger had already opened a large gap in Lulong's side. The Khitan army set off from Pingzhou and advanced west to Youzhou, and there was no danger to defend along the way. Therefore, Khitan cavalry harassed for years, and the people of Lulong were miserable, and even the famous general Li Cunshen was

There is no particularly good way to deal with these harassments.

This situation did not change until Zhao Dejun was in charge of Youzhou. Zhao Dejun requested to recruit Hebei Minyi to dig an artificial river with a total length of nearly 200 miles in Lulong, built a fortress along the river, formed a water defense line, replaced the lost eastern section of the Great Wall, and limited the advantages of the Khitan cavalry.

However, not every place has the conditions to dig rivers. In places where the water defense line is not taken into account, Zhao Dejun built the military fortress Sanhe City, which echoed Jizhou and supplemented the defense line east of Youzhou. Since then, the people of Lulong Town have "a little bit of woodcutters" and do not have to worry about being robbed and killed by Khitan cavalry every day. Because of these achievements, Zhao Dejun was in charge of Lulong for more than ten years and was quite popular in the local area. His official position has risen steadily. Finally, he became the chief magistrate of the procuratorate, and was also the Minister of the Central Secretariat, and was granted the title of King of Beiping. In terms of title, he was much higher than Duke of Zhao of Shi Jingtang.

However, except for excellent performance in defending the city and building defense lines, and going out to fight the fallen dog when conditions are favorable, he has never conducted a field battle and has no record of winning battles with the main force of the enemy. In other words, Zhao Dejun is definitely not a fool in military affairs. But what is certain is that his ability is seriously unbalanced.

What's worse is that whether Zhao Dejun is going north to Khitan or west to return to Yelu Deguang, he must leave his carefully crafted turtle shell and fight with the Khitan army to win the wilderness. This is Zhao Dejun's shortcomings. Zhao Dejun is here, but he comes with completely different ideas from Li Congke's expectations, Shuluping and Yelu Deguang's concerns.

In Zhao Dejun's mind, the first enemy to be dealt with this expedition was not the Khitans, but Li Congke. If he strictly followed the edict of the Emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty, he led his army out of Feihukou and joined forces with the troops of Datong, Zhangwu, Zhenwu and other towns north of Yanmen Pass. However, these troops were all transferred to Zhang Jingda to siege Taiyuan, and now they were either destroyed or surrounded by Jin'an Village! In other words, he went deep into the army alone.

Because the Yanmen passes were blocked, the threat to Yelu Deguang Army was too great. The Khitan Emperor was likely to leave Jin'anzhai alone and go north to fight with him! He would not do such a stupid thing as self-sacrificing oneself! So Zhao Dejun threw the edict as waste paper, and sent someone to bargain with Li Congke, proposing another combat plan that poses much less threat to the Khitans.

Zhao Dejun proposed that he had led his most elite cavalry unit under his command, "Yin'an Khitanzhi", as his vanguard, traveling day and night, rushing to Zhenzhou, intending to cross the Taihang Mountains through Tumen and approach Taiyuan from the east. While Zhao Dejun was in charge of Lulong, he surrendered many prisoners or voluntarily defected, and then organized these Khitan soldiers into a cavalry unit of more than 3,000 people, named "Yin'an Khitanzhi".

According to this plan that Zhao Dejun took action first and then reported, his army will first arrive in Zhenzhou. Hua Wenqi, the governor of Chengde, who just took office in Zhenzhou, is a veteran who has been in the battlefield for a long time. Zhao Dejun can join forces with him first to strengthen his strength. Approaching Taiyuan from the east and closer to Fan Yanguang's friendly forces is convenient for mutual support and greatly increase his sense of security. In this way, the Khitan army will be worry-free and the security will be greatly improved.

Received Zhao Dejun's own advice

Before the action plan, the Luoyang court was discussing the issue of Li Congke's personal expedition to defend the enemy. On September 21, Li Congke said in the court that he planned to go out to fight with the Khitans and Shi Jingtang! Li Congke's second son, King Yong Li Chongmei, said: "Your Majesty's eye disease has not been cured yet, so it is not advisable to travel far away in the wind and sand. Although I am young, I am willing to replace Your Majesty in the north!" Li Congke was very happy after hearing his son's words.

From some ominous premonition, he was worried that Li Cunxu's last personal expedition would repeat the tragedy. Li Congke, who had been through many battles, actually did not really want to personally expedition. He was even full of inexplicable fear of this war, but it was hard to say it in public.

But letting a young prince who had never fought a war and had no prestige in the army serve as the head coach to fight against powerful enemies, but not finding someone like Guo Chongtao as deputy. Isn't this a joke about the survival of the country? Ministers such as Zhang Yanlang, Liu Yanhao, and Liu Yanlang all opposed it, all believed that in times of crisis, there was no other way except His Majesty's personal expedition! Li Congke's words had already spoken, so he had to make the fake come true.

On September 22, Li Congke was reluctant to lead the imperial guards to leave Luoyang and headed north. Along the way, the soldiers of this army often refused to listen to the superiors and allowed Hu Wei to do so. Fu Yanrao, who was in charge of military discipline, was afraid of a mutiny and did not dare to care at all. Li Congke was even more worried. He hinted to his appointed prime minister Lu Wenji: "I heard that you have the talent of a prime minister, so I went against the public and promoted you first. Faced with such a big disaster, why don't you see your good idea?"

Lu Wenji understood the spirit and the army crossed the Yellow River and arrived in Mengzhou. He made a suggestion: "The foundation of the country lies in Henan. Your Majesty should not be too far from the north. The Hu cavalry came and went impermanently and erratic, and could not stay in China for a long time. The Jin'anzhai camp was very strong and it was difficult for them to take it down. Moreover, the imperial court had sent several large armies to rescue, so it was safe to be safe. Heyang is an important town in the world. Your Majesty would be better for him to sit here, and he could take into account both the north and south of Henan. He only needed to send an important official to supervise the war. If you really couldn't rescue Jin'anzhai, it would not be too late for Your Majesty to advance north again."

Which important minister was sent north? Zhang Yanlang, who was in charge of the Third Department, was about to squeeze the Privy Councilor Zhao Yanshou out of the court, so he joined forces with the Hanlin Scholar and Ning, who saved the life of the Liang general He Guan after the battle in Huliupi, and recommended together: "Zhao Yanshou's father Zhao Dejun is leading Lu Long's army to serve the king in trouble. It is best to let Zhao Yanshou lead his army northward. The father and son are united and can unite and cooperate to defeat the powerful enemy!" Li Congke accepted their suggestions.

Several large armies were sent out, but no good news came from the front. Li Cong was very worried that the defenders of Jin'an Village could survive until they could rescue the siege, so he had to ask his ministers for advice. Long Min, the Minister of Personnel, proposed a new plan: "Isn't Li Zanhua, the legal heir to the Khitan throne, and we might as well make a decision for Li Zanhua as the Khitan emperor, and send troops from Lu Long and Tianxiong to escort him to the west building. At the same time, he informed the world that everyone knew. In this way, Yelu Deguang had any worries, so how could he not rush back?"

When Li Congke heard this, he thought it was a good plan, which was indeed what Khitan Empress Dowager Shu Luping was most worried about. However, Li Congke just asked his subordinates to discuss the specific implementation method, but did not really implement it. The reason why Li Congke did not adopt this plan in the end was because if this plan was implemented, the army of Zhao Dejun and Fan Yanguang would need to be used.
Chapter completed!