In 946, Emperor Taizong of Liao, Yelude Guang, attacked Bianliang and captured more than 500 Emperor Shi Chonggui and Later Jin Dynasty, hundreds of officials, concubines, and princesses, and destroyed the Later Jin Dynasty. The great political turmoil in the hinterland of the Central Plains made the Later Shu regime (established by the Later Tang general Meng Zhixiang) keenly aware of the opportunity to expand its land north. Taking advantage of the great turmoil in the Central Plains, the Later Shu army quickly captured Qin, Cheng, Ji, and Feng (Qinfeng Four Prefectures) near Guanzhong (present-day central Shaanxi), forming a condescending favorable situation for Guanzhong and preparing to further encroach on the Guanzhong region.
Just as Later Shu was gradually encroaching on Guanzhong Dynasty, the Central Plains experienced political turmoil in which Later Zhou replaced Later Han, coupled with the long period of Northern Han attacks and occupation of Later Zhou from Later Han, for a time the Central Plains dynasty had no time to take care of the far northwest.
In the first year of Later Zhou Xiande (954), Chai Rong, Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou, defeated the 40,000 combined forces of the Northern Han and Liao states in the Battle of Gaoping, severely damaged the main force of the Northern Han army, completely relieved the threat of the Northern Han, and stabilized the northern front of Later Zhou. After the Battle of Gaoping, Chai Rong used Wang Pu's "Pingbian Strategy" as a strategic blueprint to begin the journey of unifying the world. The core of the "Pingbian Strategy" is "first the south and then the north", that is, first pacifying the south (the ten southern countries), and then pacifying the north (the Northern Han and Yanyun sixteen states). The key to pacifying the south is to pacify the Southern Tang regime, the strongest of the ten separatist regimes in the south.
At the same time, the people of the Guanzhong region, suffering from the oppression of Later Shu, organized groups to Bianliang (present-day Kaifeng) to "petition", asking the imperial court to send troops to expel Later Shu and recover the four prefectures of Qin and Feng. Chai Rong thought that in the future, there would be no chaos in Guanzhong in the war with Southern Tang, so Chai Rong decided to attack Houshu first and pull out the "nail" behind this side.
In the second year of Xiande (955), Chai Rong led the Zhou army to the west with Wang Jing as the commander of the Fengxiang Festival, and began the war to recover the four prefectures of Qin and Feng. Later Shu emperor Meng Chang heard of the Zhou army's western expedition, so he actively organized the Shu army to resist.
(Meng) Chang sent Li Tinggui as the leader of the Northern Road Army, Gao Yanjian as the envoy of the Zuowei Shengbu Army, Lü Yanke as Li Tinggui's deputy general, and Zhao Chongtao as the superintendent of the Hakka Province, and led all the armies to the north to seek an opportunity to fight a decisive battle with the Zhou army.
Just when the Later Shu army was actively preparing for war, Wang Jing did not wait for the Shu army to be assembled, and suddenly attacked, capturing eight camps including Houshu scalpers, and the initial battle was successful, the morale of the Zhou army was greatly boosted, and the morale of the Shu army was low. On the 10th day of June, Meng Chang sent envoys to the Northern Han and Southern Tang dynasties to seek support, and both the Northern Han and Southern Tang promised to attack Later Zhou from both northern and southern directions to deal with Later Shu.
The impatience of the Northern Han and Southern Tang Dynasties made Chai Rong desperate to end the war in Guanzhong , and Chai Rong asked Wang Jing to concurrently serve as the envoy of the southwestern camp and Xiang Xun as the commander of the soldiers and horses in the camp to control all the Zhou troops in Guanzhong , and instructed Wang Jing to quickly annihilate the Shu army to prevent the war from prolonging for a long time. Chai Rong also sent his henchman Zhao Kuangyin to lead 5,000 elite horses to aid the Guanzhong battlefield, and Wang Jingsui launched a general attack on the four prefectures of Qin and Feng, and the defender of Later Shu Qinzhou Zhao Xuan saw that Later Zhou "will be all brave and brave, and all will be sharp", so he surrendered the city.
After the Zhou army captured Qinzhou, it completely blocked the Shu army that attacked the pass from the Xie Valley, and this part of the Shu army was completely destroyed. Later, the Shu army of Cheng and Ji Erzhou also returned to Houzhou. In November of that year, Wang Jing led his army to surround Fengzhou and sent Han Tong to Guzhen to block the Later Shu reinforcements. On December 30, the Zhou army captured Fengzhou, captured Later Shu and made Wang Huan and the capital supervisor Zhao Yanpu and other Shu soldiers 5,000 killed, so that the four prefectures of Qin, Feng, Cheng, and Jie were all included in the territory of Later Zhou, and the forces of Later Shu completely withdrew from Shaanxi, and the gate to Shu in Later Zhou was opened.
The Battle of Shu planned by Chai Rong recovered the four prefectures of Qin and Feng, which were extremely strategically important, and the Zhou army also annihilated a large number of elite Later Shu troops through this battle, so that the later Later Shu could no longer organize effective military forces, and the backbone of Later Shu was broken in World War I.