The First Great Ancestor of the Five Dynasties

Chapter 416 Chaos in Changsha
In the first year of Kaiping in the Later Liang Dynasty (907 AD), Zhu Wen appointed Ma Yin, the governor of Wu'an Army, as the King of Chu, and Changsha was upgraded to a prefecture and became the capital of Southern Chu.

After more than [-] years of governance by the Ma family, Changsha City was also prosperous for a while, and the population of the capital was close to [-].

Unfortunately, since Ma Xifan died of illness four years ago, Nanchu has fallen into a situation where many horses are fighting for control, and wars have continued. Changsha, as the center of the struggle for power, has experienced countless fires and inner city street battles in just a few years, and the bustling Changsha has been completely destroyed. The city was in ruins.

The commander-in-chief of the Tang Army, Bian Hao, captured Changsha, leaving his trusted lieutenant general Wang Shaoyan to lead an army to guard the city and suppress the prisoners, while he led an army to Hengzhou.

There were tens of thousands of Southern Chu military and civilian prisoners in Changsha City, including a large number of Ma family's old generals and a group of Xizhou barbarians who were loyal to Ma family.

A few days ago, Ma family's old generals Liu Yan, Wang Kui, and Zhou Xingfeng planned a rebellion and led more than [-] Chu army prisoners to fight out of Changsha City.

For this reason, Bian Hao sent people back to Changsha, severely reprimanded Wang Shaoyan, and ordered him to take good care of the prisoners. If trouble occurs again, he must be punished according to military law.

Wang Shaoyan was in his forties, a native of Jinling, and the same hometown as Bian Hao.

Party style prevailed in Jiangnan Township, and the army was no exception.

Wang Shaoyan's martial arts skills were mediocre, he was illiterate in Dou Da, and had very few military exploits. He was reused by Bian Hao because of his loyalty and hard work.

This time, Liu Yan and other Chu generals rebelled and fled, causing him to be scolded bloody by Bian Hao's men. Wang Shaoyan was very angry.

He ordered a group of troublemakers to be captured and executed in public, and their bodies were hung around the city wall as a warning.

In the past few days, the Tang army had become much stricter on the surrendered soldiers, beating and scolding them at every turn, ranging from skin to flesh wounds to severe cases showing their heads in public. The Southern Chu soldiers were deeply frightened, but their hatred also deepened.

The Wengcheng, the north gate of Changsha City, was temporarily converted into a prisoner of war camp. Hundreds of tattered tents were scattered in disorder, and a dozen or even dozens of surrendered soldiers were crowded into one tent.

The weather is hot and dry in midsummer, and many injured soldiers cannot receive timely treatment. Their wounds are ulcerated, pus leaks, and smelly, and they lie in tents unable to move.

People died every night, and Wang Shaoyan just ordered the soldiers to carry the bodies to the southwest corner of Wengcheng and discard them.

There were piles of dead bodies, flies and maggots everywhere, and a foul stench filled the sky.

Soon an epidemic broke out in some camps and spread rapidly, making the soldiers who surrendered in Nanchu become more and more frightened.

Wang Shaoyan simply ordered that in any tent where an epidemic broke out, all the soldiers inside would be executed regardless of whether they were infected, and then the bodies and tents would be burned.

After dozens of days of rotting and stench in the southwest corner of Wengcheng, Wang Shaoyan thought of burning these piles of bones.

As a result, the descendants became more and more panicked and did not dare to report the disease, which instead led to the spread of the disease.

The entire urn city is like purgatory on earth.

At noon that day, the Tang army opened the gate of the urn city as usual, brought in gruel and thick buns, and organized the soldiers to queue up to receive food.

In the tents emitting a rotten smell, the soldiers of Southern Chu, who were yellow and emaciated with empty eyes, came out one after another, listless, like walking corpses.

"It's time to serve the food~ The old rules don't allow you to grab or jump in line. If any son of a bitch breaks the rules, I'll cut his heart open and hang it on the wall!"

The head of the Tang army, who was responsible for watching the surrendered soldiers distribute food, roared at the top of his lungs and pointed at the tower.

Under the parapets on both sides of the city tower, there were still several corpses hanging, all of them only half-body, with their blackened intestines and internal organs hanging out, and a large section of their white spines exposed.

The soldiers queued up numbly to receive food.

In the team, there was a short man with a dark face, his dirty hair and beard were connected together, as if he had put straw on his head with pot ashes.

His name was Sun Lang, and he was originally a subordinate of Xian Shilang, an old general of the Ma family.

Xian Shilang died early in the battle, and Sun Lang led the remaining troops to defect to Liu Yan.

Not long ago, Liu Yan instigated an incident and escaped from the city. Sun Lang was unfortunately stopped by Wang Shaoyan's army.

Sun Lang was a barbarian from Xizhou and was called a native by the Tang army.

He had a low position in the Chu army, but he was respected for his bravery and skill in fighting.

After Liu Yan and other generals escaped from the city, the surrendered soldiers in Wengcheng were gradually led by Sun Lang.

Sun Lang followed the long queue and moved forward slowly. A soldier wanted to give up his position in front, but he waved his hand and refused.

Sun Lang looked at the Tang troops standing on the walls of the Wengcheng with a gloomy face, and from time to time stared at the closed Wengcheng gate. He was thinking about the feasibility of instigating another rebellion.

During the incident not long ago, Liu Yan's task beforehand was to lead his brothers to guard the Wengcheng gate.

As a result, a fight broke out between him and Wang Shaoyan, who had arrived late, but Liu Yan and others successfully fought their way out of the city.

Now that I think about it, it is very likely that Liu Yan did this on purpose.

He is not Liu Yan's direct descendant, so Liu Yan won't care about his life or death.

Sun Lang gritted his teeth and was secretly annoyed, wishing he could slap himself a few times, but now he figured it out.

"Ah! dead man! dead man!"

A shrill scream came from the front of the team, interrupting Sun Lang's thoughts. He took a few steps forward, wanting to know what was happening ahead.

The sudden commotion finally caused some changes in the lifeless eyes of the Nanchu soldiers. Many soldiers gathered around and whispered.

"Poison! There is poison in the porridge!"

After a few more frightened shouts, Sun Lang pushed through the crowd and approached. When he saw a few soldiers at the front of the team who had received the food and couldn't wait to eat it, they were holding their stomachs and falling to the ground in pain, vomiting and vomiting black food. Something red.

Some of them were lying on the ground, their legs and feet twitching violently, their bodies stiff and stiff, and their eyes turned white and died after a while.

The Tang army actually poisoned the food distributed to the soldiers!

Sun Lang was shocked and furious.

"These beasts! They bully people too much!" Sun Lang raised his fists and roared. The angry soldiers rushed forward, smashed the porridge buckets, and trampled several baskets of glutinous rice buns made of bran skin to pieces.

The military leader responsible for distributing food hurriedly led the people to escape from the Wengcheng. With a bang, the Wengcheng gate was closed tightly again.

"Dangdangdang~"

The piercing sound of gongs rang out from the top of the city, and a large number of Tang Army crossbowmen arrived, surrounding the city from all sides, and aimed their sharp arrow clusters at the urn below.

Sun Lang clenched his fists and looked up at Tang Jun angrily, filled with grief and anger.

Even though he had all kinds of courage, he could only sit back and wait for death in the face of the condescending shooting by the Tang army.

"Hunger strike! Hunger strike!"

I don't know who was the first to shout slogans among the angry soldiers.

Soon, clenched and waving fists were raised high, and the soldiers roared in anger in the urn city.

Then, Sun Lang heard a desolate voice:

"Tell Wang Shaoyan to come out! If you don't give an explanation to the brothers, you would rather die than eat a ration of Tang Jun!"

This sudden roar aroused enthusiastic resonance among the soldiers. They waved their fists and roared. The angry sound seemed to knock down the entire urn city and annihilate it.

Even the Tang army on top of the city was frightened and quickly sent someone to report to Wang Shaoyan.

Following the desolate voice, Sun Lang squeezed through the crowd and realized that the person who made the voice was indeed a gray-haired old man.

It's just that this old man looks unfamiliar, and Sun Lang actually feels that he has never seen him in Wengcheng.

"Brother, which general do you serve?" Sun Lang asked loudly, cupping his fists.

The old man grinned at him, and Sun Lang actually felt a little frightened in his heart.

"Wang Shaoyan is out!"

There were shouts from the soldiers.

Sun Lang hurriedly turned around and saw Wang Shaoyan coming from the tower angrily.

When he turned back, the white-haired old man had disappeared.

"A bunch of damn Chu barbarians, do you want to rebel?"

Wang Shaoyan stood at the top of the urn city, akimbo and shouting.Although he wanted to order all the thousands of surrendered soldiers to be shot, Bian Hao had already issued strict orders to appease the surrendered soldiers and not cause chaos.

Bian Hao said that if the Tang army wanted to capture Nanchu, they not only had to defeat them with force, but more importantly, they had to win over people's hearts.

If this group of Chu prisoners could be surrendered, it would be helpful for the soldiers and people of Southern Chu to accept the rule of Tang State psychologically in the future.

Wang Shaoyan did not dare to disobey the general's orders.

He would never let people intentionally poison the porridge, so he decided that it was a deliberate disturbance by the soldiers of Chu.

Wang Shaoyan was very angry. He decided to find out a few leaders and execute them in public to serve as a warning to others!

"you."

Wang Shaoyan pointed downwards and was about to speak. Suddenly, a short crossbow shot out from the crowd of soldiers and plunged into his waist and abdomen!
The soldiers below could clearly see that Wang Shaoyan's gorgeous blue robe was stained with blood.

Wang Shaoyan screamed in horror, covered his stomach and stepped back.

"Whoosh~" Two more arrows broke through the wind, coming from different directions.

This time it was actually shot from a Tang Army soldier, hitting Wang Shaoyan's back and chest one after the other.

With a miserable howl, Wang Shaoyan vomited blood, fell down from the city, and fell into the urn city!

The shock happened in an instant, and no one reacted.

There was silence all around the barbican city.

Even the Tang Army soldiers present were stunned.

"General Wang Shaoyan of the Tang Army is dead!"

"Brothers, kill! Run for your life!"

"General Liu Yan has led his army to attack Changsha City and wants to rescue our brothers from the city!"

An unknown person shouted a slogan, but the soldiers were immediately awakened.

Suddenly billowing black smoke came out of the tower, as if someone had set off a fire.

The Tang army at the top of the city led a rebellion. Someone pointed out that another group of Tang soldiers were spies of the Chu army. They also shot Wang Shaoyan.

The Tang army at the top of the city fell into a civil war for no apparent reason, and the sergeants of the two squads started fighting each other.

Soon, the turmoil spread, and the Tang army was leaderless. Several of them hurriedly gathered their own sergeants, put out the fire, and fought in a melee. No one paid attention to the surrendered soldiers in Wengcheng.

There was even a sergeant wearing Tang army uniform who wanted to open the urn gate, but was stopped by other Tang soldiers and then violently killed them.

Chaos in Wengcheng!

As if they saw the hope of survival, the soldiers rushed to the two urn gates like crazy, smashed the doors with all kinds of useful tools, and even set up ladders to climb to the top of the city.

Sun Lang, as one of the few leaders who could convince the surrendered soldiers, was surrounded by the angry surrendered soldiers and rushed to the gate of Wengcheng.

In the chaos, Sun Lang vaguely saw a gray head hiding behind him.

The surrender soldiers tore down the pillars of the camp tent, surrounded by a dozen people, and used them as battering rams to attack the urn gate with all their strength.
With a "boom~", the Beiweng City Gate was the first to collapse under the crazy attack of the soldiers, and thousands of prisoners poured out like a tide.

The turmoil spread rapidly from the north of the city. Fires broke out everywhere in Changsha City, and shouts of death filled the city. The Tang army's flag fell from the city top, and the broken Chu army's war flag was hung again.

The remaining Tang troops had no one to command them, and they fell into chaos and fled out of the city in panic.
~~~
Five days later, there was a city gate a hundred miles west of Yuanzhou.

This is the junction of Tang State and Nanchu State, and it is also the Tang State Pass closest to Changsha City.

Five days ago, news of the Changsha incident came. The city gate guard hurriedly ordered the gate to be closed and entry and exit were strictly prohibited. At the same time, he urgently reported to the Yuanzhou defense envoy to report the news about Changsha to the imperial court.

The city gate is built between mountains and the terrain is narrow. Most of them are shops and restaurants, making it convenient for business travelers to settle down.

In an inconspicuous mansion, Wang Lingwen was dressed in coarse linen and short brown clothes, dressed like the most common trafficker pawn in the city gate.

In the bare earthen house, Wang Lingwen took out a bamboo tube from his arms, held it above his head with both hands, bowed in the direction of Kaifeng, and then checked that the sealing paint was correct, then cut the sealing paint, unscrewed the cover tube, and took out the secret edict inside. .

Wang Lingwen squinted his eyes and read it carefully, laid the secret decree flat on the table, and sat aside to meditate.

In order to wait for this secret order, he has been lingering here for two days.

This pass seemed to be tightly sealed, but it was easy for him to leave if he wanted to. It only cost a hundred thousand dollars.

The decree was written in the official's own hand, and he was ordered to burn it on the spot after reading it.

The official's order had two meanings. One was to order him to fully cooperate with Zhu Xiu and help him escape safely.

The second is to closely monitor Zhu Xiu's actions. Once he finds that Zhu Xiu has another heart and acts a fake show to serve Tang, then he will take his life at all costs.

Wang Lingwen was not surprised at all.

On the contrary, this is proof that the officials valued Zhu Xiu.

In order to save him, all Wudesi's operations in Jiangning can be sacrificed.

To kill him, too.

Wang Lingwen had previously thought that Zhu Xiu was just a shrewd and cunning young man with a bit of cleverness and some sordid literary talents. His greatest use might be to engage in some strange skills and make black fire thunder for the court.

But after Jiang Ning had an in-depth conversation with Zhu Xiu, Wang Lingwen knew that his opinion was too superficial.

Zhu Xiu's emphasis on and use of intelligence, manipulation of public opinion, and control of people's hearts shocked even him, the intelligence chief of Wude Division.

There is also a mysterious force around Zhu Xiu that even Wu Desi has not thoroughly identified.

Wang Lingwen sometimes even thought that if Wu Desi's enemy was Zhu Xiu, then this secret battle would be extremely fierce and even cruel.

In comparison, the Registry Department under the Privy Council of the Tang Dynasty was simply a group of losers. After fighting with that group of trash for a long time, Wang Lingwen was worried that the Chazi buried in Jiangning by the Wude Department would also degenerate into a group of trash.

After thinking for a moment, Wang Lingwen picked up the secret decree, placed it on the candle and lit it, watching Yunlong's golden paper quickly burn into a pile of black ashes.

He took out two more unfinished secret notes from his arms.

When it came to dealing with Zhu Xiu, the officials asked him to be prepared, and he was not the same.

The contents of the two secret reports were very different. One of them detailed how Wang Lingwen discovered the mysterious warrior buried next to Zhu Xiu, and reminded the officials to investigate closely.

The other one didn't mention a word about this matter, and the content was only about Zhu Xiu's actions in Jiangning.

Wang Lingwen looked at the two secret notes in front of him with a strange smile.

If Zhu Xiu returns to Kaifeng, what he will present to the officials will be the second secret memorial.

If Zhu Xiu betrayed his master and defected to the Tang Dynasty, the first secret report would appear on the official imperial court.

As a military envoy, Wang Lingwen's main responsibility was to supervise all officials, especially the generals of the imperial army and the commanders of the feudal towns who held real power.

But Wang Lingwen is a smart man and will not do things too badly.

He would turn a blind eye to those who were favored by officials and had close connections, as long as their private actions were not excessive.

For example, Wang Jun wanted to encircle official and civilian fields in the suburbs of Kaifeng, for example, Han Tong, the favorite general of the official family, placed his cronies in the Pingsheng Army, and for example, the tomb built by Qi Wang Gao Xingzhou for himself in Puzhou had many violations.
He would never take the initiative to report this information to the officials. He would only find ways to let the officials know it from elsewhere, so as not to offend anyone.

As a veteran who has survived several dynasty changes, Wang Lingwen fully understands the principle of not putting all your eggs in one basket.

Zhu Xiu was deeply favored by officials and had close relationships with Chai Rong, Duke of Taiyuan, and Li Chongjin, Duke of Hanoi, so he was also eligible for this special care.

Therefore, Wang Lingwen personally rushed to Changsha and personally planned the Wengcheng Rebellion.

For this reason, Wu Desi's Chazi in Jiangning suffered a loss of nearly [-]%.

Wang Lingwen put the two secret memorials into his arms and murmured:

"Zhu Xiu, Zhu Xiu, don't let me down."

(End of this chapter)