Attacks
When Empress Dowager Wu heard of Li Chong's rebellion, she commissioned the general Qiu Shenji (丘神勣) to attack Li Chong. Meanwhile, Li Chong gathered some 5,000 men and was preparing to attack Ji Prefecture. In preparation, he first attacked Wushui (武水, also in modern Liaocheng). Guo Wuti (郭務悌), the magistrate of Wushui County, fled to Wei Prefecture (魏州, roughly modern Handan, Hebei) to seek aid, and one of Wei Prefecture's county magistrates, Ma Xuansu (馬玄素) the magistrate of Shen County (莘縣, also in modern Liaocheng), took 1,700 men, initially intending to confront Li Chong, but then felt that he had insufficient strength, and so entered Wushui to defend it. Li Chong took up position south of Wushui and placed wagons filled with straw near Wushui's south gate, preparing to set it aflame so he could charge in, but as soon as he ignited the fire, the wind shifted from the south to the north, instead cutting off Li Chong's attack. Meanwhile, one of Li Chong's officers, Dong Xuanji (董玄寂), started telling his colleagues that Li Chong was committing treason. Li Chong beheaded Dong, but this made the soldiers even more fearful, and they began to desert, to the point that Li Chong only had his servants and guards with him. He was forced to flee back to the capital of Bo Prefecture, and when he arrived there on September 22, he was killed by the guards of the city gate.
Read more about this topic: Li Chong (Tang Dynasty)
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