History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 1004 Qian's Ancestor's Teachings
【Qian Family Ancestor’s Teachings】

In the official (Song Dynasty) statement, the Wuyue Kingdom always adhered to the orthodoxy of the Central Plains and was loyal to the imperial court. This was especially true during the royal army's expedition to the south. It first sent troops to cooperate with the royal army in encircling and suppressing the Huaiyi (Southern Tang), and then took the initiative to return to the imperial court and offer land. In one word: a great loyal minister!

This is a great achievement that deserves to be written about in great detail, and no amount of praise can be overstated.

It not only avoided a large number of casualties, but also successfully protected the prosperity and stability of the free shipping area of ​​Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, enabling the Song Dynasty to compete with the Liao Kingdom in the north. More than a hundred years later, the reason why the Southern Song Dynasty, which was isolated in a corner, could coexist with the powerful Jin Kingdom was also due to the prosperous economy in the Jiangnan region, and all of this was closely related to Qian Hongchu's initiative to donate land.

We can even say that Qian Hongchu's surrender of the Wuyue Kingdom was one of the important foundations for the prosperity and stability of the two Song dynasties.

This is why Zhao Guangyi treated the Qian family so well. For example, as mentioned above, the Qian family name was ranked second in the Hundred Family Surnames, second only to the national surname. Another example is that Zhao Guangyi constantly entertained and rewarded him.

When Qian Hongchu donated his land, his sons were given official titles such as Jiedushi and Defence Envoy, becoming deputy provincial-level officials, and were later promoted. Historical records say that Qian Hongchu had 68 sons and nephews, but only a dozen of them are actually recorded in historical documents, so we don't need to examine them one by one.

It is worth mentioning that after the Song Dynasty, the descendants of the Qian family did not sink into decline like many once-prominent families, but instead continued to produce outstanding people. Even today, the descendants of the Qian family are still shining for the Chinese nation. Let’s put it this way: in the feudal era, the descendants of the Qian family produced 5 top scholars, 360 Jinshi, 133 generals and ministers, and more than 1000 celebrities; in modern times, there are 108 world-class scientists, 18 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1 Nobel Prize winner, 2 diplomats, and 3 “fathers of disciplines”…

For the specific names, please ask Baidu yourself, those who know will know.

The media often hypes up the so-called "rich families". What are rich families? Did they switch from selling plastic flowers to real estate? If there is such a thing as a "rich family" in China, then the Qian family of Hangzhou is the real rich family.

As a commoner, I want to express my highest respect to the Qian family. What I can do is to write as much as possible about the Qian family's negative information when writing this book. After all, only shadows can make the story three-dimensional.

The negative information about Comrade Qian Liu has been recorded in the previous article. Here I will only make a small supplement to the official announcement of the Song Dynasty.

Strictly speaking, the Wuyue Kingdom respected the Central Plains for most of the time. However, during this period, the Wuyue Kingdom also obeyed the Liao Kingdom (Qian Hongzong) and used the Liao Dynasty's reign title - "Huitong"; it also changed the reign title (Qian Liu) and used its own reign titles - "Tianbao", "Baoda" and "Baozheng".

Therefore, before donating the land, Qian Hongchu ordered people to destroy everything with the imprint of the false reign title, such as official seals, letters, etc., and then declared to the Song Dynasty that he had always used the reign title of the Central Plains. Of course, the Song Dynasty officials were also masters of playing dumb and admitted the claim of the Wuyue Kingdom. In fact, there were many fish that slipped through the net at that time, such as the inscriptions on the bells of some temples, tombstones, and some inscriptions and funerary objects that were unearthed later, which means that the people of the Song Dynasty knew the truth. They should not know it, and they didn't know it even if they knew it.

Among the various stories about Comrade Qian Liu, the most talked-about one is "Family Instructions of the Qian Family". Qian Liu was good at managing his family and formulated family instructions twice, which were summarized by later generations as "The Last Instructions of King Wu Su" or "Family Instructions of the Qian Family".

In April 907, Zhu Wen sent an envoy to announce the Tang Chan's death in Liang, and conferred the title of King of Wuyue on Qian Liu, increased his fief by 4 households, and granted him an actual fief of households, and bestowed on him the honorary title of "A Meritorious Official with Great Virtue and Contribution to the Development of the State of Qi".

At that time, many people criticized Zhu Wen and called him a traitor who usurped the Tang Dynasty. For example, Hedong Li Keyong, Fengxiang Li Maozhen, Xichuan Wang Jian, Huainan Yang Xingmi... formed a united front against Liang and threatened to overthrow Liang and restore Tang. There were also many people in Qian Liu's group who held this view and advised Qian Liu to oppose Zhu Wen, such as the great talent Luo Yin. In addition, more warlords were fence-sitters, taking a wait-and-see attitude towards the new Liang regime.

Amidst a chorus of opposition and doubt, Qian Liu chose to stand firmly on Zhu Wen's side.

Many people were puzzled by this, because the Qian family group and the Zhu Wen group had no interest alliance before, and Zhu Wen had deliberately disrupted the Jianghuai affairs and provoked a war between Qian Liu and Yang Xingmi. Now that the Zhu Wen group was at the center of the storm, why did Qian Liu choose to board Zhu Wen's pirate ship at this time?

Qian Liu laughed and said, "How could I be Sun Zhongmou?"

Since then, Wang Jian of Xichuan, Yang family of Huainan, Liu family of Southern Han, Wang family of Min, etc. kept sending private messages to Qian Liu, inviting him to join the "Ten Kingdoms" circle of friends, and also sent him tailor-made dragon robes, jade books and other gifts, urging him to quickly become emperor. Whenever this happened, Qian Liu would laugh "haha" and say to the people around him, "These people are like sitting on the charcoal, and they want to trick me into jumping into the fire pit. I'm not that stupid!" As emphasized in the previous article, Wuyue Kingdom is very special among the "Ten Kingdoms". One of the reasons is that it was "established by imperial order". The political status of Wuyue Kingdom is fundamentally different from that of other countries.

Qian Liu earnestly warned his descendants to respect the Central Plains and not to claim to be emperors or to be independent. No matter how the dynasties in the Central Plains changed, the two Zhejiang regions would always be an inseparable part of China's territory. At some point in the future, they must follow the trend of history and "surrender as soon as possible."

This is a matter of national justice.

In terms of governing the country, Qian Liu warned his descendants to stop fighting and support the people, emphasizing that "people are the most important, and the country is second". It is rare for feudal rulers to have the awareness that people are more important than the emperor. In short, don't learn from your neighbor, the Southern Tang, don't be warlike, and develop the economy and care about people's livelihood.

After Qian Liu's death, until the Central Plains launched the Huaihe River Conquest War, Wuyue Kingdom did not fight for decades and never took the initiative to launch foreign wars. The people were able to recuperate and recuperate. After entering the Song Dynasty, the elderly in Liangzhe did not know how to fight. The people of Zhejiang lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the economy prospered.

Of course, there are also feudal dregs in his family precepts. For example, on the issue of marriage, Qian Liu emphasized "equal status" and required his descendants to choose families of famous and prominent families and high-ranking officials, and not to marry "lowly" people for the sake of beauty, because marrying a commoner would "disgrace the family tradition."

Studying history requires restoring the historical background.

Qian Liu's remarks are obviously not appropriate today, but in the feudal era, especially in the late Tang Dynasty, this view was the most mainstream view. At that time, marriages between officials could be seen as a social tool, such as marriages between the Min Kingdom, Southern Chu, Southern Han, and Southern Tang, and marriages between civil and military officials. Politicians wanted a good relationship between Qin and Jin, not Liang Zhu's transformation into butterflies. Marrying a commoner? It's a waste of resources.

There is also a very meaningful one: "Beware of listening to women's words and hurting your own flesh and blood", which means don't listen to women's words and harm your brothers. Qian Liu is reminding his descendants not to let the harem and uncle's family become too powerful, especially not to let the harem interfere in politics, and not to wield the butcher knife against brothers in order to fight for power.

Throughout the Wuyue Kingdom, Qian Liu's will was basically implemented. For example, Qian Yuanguan's biological mother, Chen, although she was honored by her son, she never interfered in politics. Not only did she not take the opportunity to promote her own family, she also deliberately suppressed the children of the Chen family, "so no one with the surname Chen became famous for his achievements."

Of course there are exceptions, such as Qian Yuanguan's wife Gongyi Wu. Wu herself was very low-key, but her five brothers were not so worry-free. It is said that they once conspired to rebel in the early years of the Song Dynasty. The ministers advised Qian Hongchu to kill them. Qian Hongchu could not bear to kill his five uncles, so he just demoted them and exiled them.

Another example is Qian Hongzuo's wife Du, whose nephew is Du Zhaoda. Of course, the reason why Du Zhaoda reached the pinnacle of power was not only because of this aunt, but also because his grandfather was Du Jianhui, the founding father of the Qian Group.

In comparison, the descendants of the Wuyue Kingdom were one of the most law-abiding descendants during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.

Qian Liu had many descendants, and he was also worried that they would fight against each other for power, especially after being instigated by their uncles and descendants, so he made special instructions. The descendants of the Qian family did a good job, and there were very few bloodshed incidents. For example, after Qian Hongchu came to power, although he did not return power to Qian Hongzong, he always supported him generously and took care of him until his death; for example, Qian Yuanguan, in the bloodiest and most turbulent era, he also reduced the death list to the smallest range.

Don't nitpick and bring up the "Qian Yuan and Qian Yuan's rebellion case" and so on. To be honest, the number of Qian Liu's descendants has reached three digits, but how many of them were killed? Look at other forces of the same period, such as the Southern Han that destroyed its entire family, or other dynasties, such as the Xuanwu Gate Incident in the Tang Dynasty, the Jingnan Campaign in the Ming Dynasty, and the Nine Princes Fighting for the Throne in the Qing Dynasty... The Qian family is very loving.

The younger brother succeeds the elder brother, and the brothers are friendly and respectful to each other, which is very much like the Song Dynasty.

Thanks to my old friend “江湖刘白” for the monthly ticket support!

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(End of this chapter)