Five dynasties after Liang, Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han, Later Zhou, which military strength is the strongest? This is not easy to compare, but there are relatively strong, that is, Hou Tang and Hou Zhou. Emperor Zhuangzong of Tang destroyed Yan (Liu Shouguang) in 914, Hou Liang in 923, and Former Shu in 925. Although Zhou Shizong Chai Rong did not destroy any of the countries, he substantively began the process of unifying the ten kingdoms. Chai Rong defeated the combined forces of the Northern Han and Khitan at Gaoping Bagongyuan (高平城, in charge of Jincheng, Shanxi Province) with weak troops, and then sent troops to occupy the four prefectures of Qin (Tianshui City, Gansu Province) and Feng in Later Shu. Beginning in 955, Chai Rong spent three years defeating the most powerful Southern Tang among the Ten Kingdoms. The arrogant Southern Tang Dynasty lord Li Jing was beaten by Chai Rong to the point of being a vassal, calling Chai Rong, who was 5 years younger than himself, his father. In fact, these are all trees planted by Chai Rong, and Zhao Kuangyin can pick fruits so easily. In addition, Chai Rong also launched a large-scale Northern Expedition against the Liao Dynasty in 959 AD, scaring the Khitan people half to death.
It is said that the Southern Tang Dynasty was the most powerful regime in the Ten Kingdoms, and there is a historical basis. The "History of the Old Five Dynasties" is called the Southern Tang: "Its land is east to the border of Gansu and Zhejiang, south to The Border of Wuling, west to the border of Hugan and Gansu, and north to the Huai River, a total of more than thirty prefectures, thousands of miles wide." In modern pseudo-dynasties, the Southern Tang Dynasty was the most powerful. ”
The Southern Tang Dynasty was "borrowing chickens to make eggs", similar to the Northern Song Dynasty. The founding emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Li Fu (昪), claimed to be a descendant of the Tang Dynasty royal family, but he was exiled from childhood, and was discovered by the Huainan warlord Yang Xingmi, who was very fond of him and wanted to adopt him as an adopted son. However, Yang Xingmi's sons became jealous, believing that this son might take away his seat in the future, and vigorously opposed it. Yang Xingmi had no choice but to give Li Fu to his confidant Xu Wen as his adopted son and named him Xu Zhihuan. After Xu Wen gained control of the State of Wu, he did not want to pass on xu Zhihuan, the most capable adopted son, but his own sons were incompetent, and in the end Xu Zhihuan still controlled the State of Wu. In 937, Li Fu established the Qi Dynasty, and two years later changed the name of the country to Tang, which was called Southern Tang. Li Fu was the grandfather of the famous Southern Tang Dynasty lord Li Yu.
After Li Fu's death in 942, his eldest son Li Jing succeeded to the throne. Li Jing was eager to make a difference in the chaos. In 945, the Southern Tang sent troops to destroy the Min state that had divided Fujian, but because of its poor command, It was eaten by Wu Yue in Fuzhou, and the Qingyuan army also divided Quan and Zhang'er Prefectures. In 951, the Southern Tang sent troops to destroy the Chu state that divided Hunan and northern Guangxi, but the outcome was even worse than the destruction of the Min state. The Southern Tang ate how much territory the Chu State had, and finally spit it all out, and did not catch anything.
Even so, the Southern Tang was still the most powerful of all countries. Due to the years of war and chaos in the Later Jin and Later Han Dynasties, they were unable to take care of the Southern Tang at all, which objectively made the Southern Tang relatively powerful. However, after Emperor Chai Rong of Zhou ascended the throne, he wanted to unify the world, no matter what, he also wanted to take the Southern Tang, at least to take the Fourteen Prefectures of Huainan, which was regarded as the number one gateway by the Southern Tang.
From the perspective of the Southern Tang Dynasty, shoujiang must guard Huai. First of all, the Yangtze River, which stretches for thousands of kilometers, is one of the natural north-south dividing lines. If the northern army occupies the line of the Huai River, it can threaten the Yangtze River defense line that is related to the survival of the southern dynasty, and it can go down the river, with an endless supply of grain, grass, soldiers and horses, and can choose any part of the Yangtze River for thousands of miles to cross the river to launch an attack, and the south will have no way to fight back. The Western Jin Dynasty used the Six-Way Army to destroy Eastern Wu; the Sui Dynasty destroyed Chen and used the Eight-Way Army, which was also the same idea.
According to the separatist forces in Jiangnan, its economic center is in the Taihu Plain area downstream of the Changhan Dynasty. If Huainan is lost, the area will become a military frontier. Even if the enemy could not cross the Yangtze River, military harassment alone would undermine the economic development of the south. Therefore, the Huai River defense line can be called the southern dynasty's life-saving defense line, and it must be defended at any cost. Once the Huai River defense line is lost, it will not be far from extinction.
The Southern Tang dynasty was fortunate enough to inherit wu's control over Huainan. With Huainan, the gateway to the north of the river, the Southern Tang could be attacked and retreated, which also made Li Jing, the lord of the Southern Tang, begin to be restless and actively seek external expansion.
The Southern Tang occupied the Huainan region, making the situation in the Later Zhou Relatively Passive. In order to eliminate this threat, Chai Rong spent several years and three personal conquests to occupy the strategically important Huainan region. It can be said that it was Chai Rong who laid the Huainan region and made Nanjing, the capital of the Southern Tang Dynasty, unsurpassed. With only one Yangtze River in Nanjing, it is difficult for the gods and immortals to defend it. In 975, the Northern Song Dynasty destroyed the Southern Tang Dynasty, but it was only the completion of Chai Rong's unfinished work.
The Huainan region of the Southern Tang Dynasty is generally known as the Fourteen Prefectures of Huainan. The so-called Fourteen Prefectures of Huainan actually have two states located on the north bank of the Huai River, namely Sizhou (present-day Xuyi, Jiangsu) and Haizhou (present-day Lianyungang, Jiangsu). The twelve prefectures on the south bank of the Huai River were Gwangju (present-day Huangchuan, Henan), Huangzhou (present-day Huanggang, Hubei), Puzhou (present-day Puchun, Hubei), Shuzhou (present-day Qianshan, Anhui), Shouzhou (present-day Shouchun, Anhui), Luzhou (present-day Hefei, Anhui), Haozhou (present-day Fengyang, Anhui), Chuzhou (present-day Chuzhou, Anhui), Hezhou (present-day Hexian County, Anhui), Yangzhou (present-day Yangzhou, Jiangsu), Taizhou (present-day Taizhou, Jiangsu), and Chuzhou (present-day Huai'an, Jiangsu).
The fourteen prefectures of Huainan, basically centered on Shouzhou, divide the Huainan region into two parts: east and west. The strategic position of Shouzhou is very important, and Chai Rong naturally takes the capture of Shouzhou as the core of the strategy. However, Chai Rong did not rigidly attack Shouzhou, but adopted the strategy of "encircling points to fight for aid" and eliminating a large number of the main forces of the Southern Tang. Later, after several arduous battles, Chai Rong finally captured Shouzhou. After capturing Shouzhou, after a short rest, Chai Rong personally marched for the third time, swept away the Southern Tang army on both sides of the Huai River, and once again went south again, taking the Huainan prefectures in turn.
After three years of hard fighting, Li Jing could not hold on any longer. At this time, Chai Rong had already killed the north bank of the Yangtze River, and Li Jing's hands were only left with Lu, Shu, Pu, and Huang Sizhou. In order to save half of the country and let Chai Rong's army stop crossing the river, Li Jing finally chose to yield, claiming to Later Zhou, going to the emperor's name, and handing over the fourteen states and losing 400,000 tributes.
Chai Rong, who had obtained the fourteen prefectures of Huainan, chose to temporarily retire, and he set his sights on the Northern Han and Khitan in the north, and he knew that this was the biggest threat to the Central Plains. Chai Rong dared to go north because after Later Zhou took the fourteen states of Huainan, Southern Tang no longer became the main threat to Later Zhou. Chai Rong prepared to first be difficult and then easy, first north and then south, and then turn around to collect the ruined Southern Tang after recovering Youyun Sixteen Prefectures. Unfortunately, the day did not leave the year, 39-year-old Chai Rong suddenly died.
The Northern Song Dynasty destroyed the Southern Tang Dynasty, objectively speaking, the first merit was Chai Rong, not Zhao Kuangyin, let alone Cao Bin.