History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 101 New Pattern
The mantis stalks the cicada while the oriole follows behind.

Many of Yang Xingmi's military supplies were looted by Cai's bandits before they could be transported to Yangzhou. Qin Yan and Bi Shiduo, who had escaped from Yangzhou, were also invited to join Qin Zongheng's team and become his "guides".

At the same time, Zhu Wen's "Three Zhu Alliance" collapsed. Zhu Wen raided Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin, won first and then lost, and the main force retreated to Bianzhou.

Qin Zongquan was worried that Zhu Wen would pose a threat to Caizhou, so he hurriedly mobilized Qin Zongheng's troops to return to Caizhou to first resist Zhu Wen and then attack Yangzhou.

However, the successive defeats on the Caizhou battlefield caused the morale of the Cai bandits to drop and they lost their confidence in the revolution, and some generals began to desert.

For example, Sun Ru, a general under Qin Zongheng, immediately launched a mutiny and killed Qin Zongheng after receiving the news of the withdrawal. Cai Ze's "Huainan Expeditionary Army" was split and disintegrated. Sun Ru sent Qin Zongheng's head to Zhu Wen and sided with Zhu Wen in Bianzhou; another general, An Renyi, led his troops to surrender to Yang Xingmi.

Sun Ru plundered neighboring states, quickly expanded his army to tens of thousands of people, and accepted Qin Yan and Bi Shiduo, coveting Huainan. They first captured Gaoyou, and Zhang Shenjian led the remnants to break through and escape to Yangzhou.

Yang Xingmi hated Zhang Shenjian's character and thought that he was a fickle and profit-seeking villain. Of course, he did not wrongly accuse Zhang Shenjian. Zhang Shenjian wavered between Lü Yongzhi and Bi Shiduo, supporting the dragon when the dragon won and the tiger when the tiger won.

When Bi Shiduo first started his rebellion, he swore an oath of blood with Zheng Hanzhang and Zhang Shenjian. As a result, those two rushed to the battlefield, while Zhang Shenjian hid in Gaoyou and watched the fire from the other side. When Yang Xingmi started his rebellion, Zhang Shenjian sided with Yang Xingmi and broke with Bi Shiduo. His so-called siding with Yang Xingmi was also hiding in Gaoyou and watching the tigers fight. Now that Sun Ru and Bi Shiduo have destroyed his lair, he has run to Yang Xingmi and sworn an oath of loyalty...

Yang Xingmi dispersed the more than 700 soldiers brought by Zhang Shenjian into various units, and arrested and massacred them that night. On the next morning, he executed Zhang Shenjian to prevent future troubles.

Lu Bu is a well-known "three-surnamed family slave" and a typical representative of fickleness. Usually, such ruthless and profit-seeking villains will not have a good end. Zhang Shenjian is one of them.

Facing the aggressive Sun Ru, Yang Xingmi was not sure of victory. He adopted a defensive tactic and ordered Gao Ba, who was stationed in Hailing, to lead all the soldiers, civilians and baggage to retreat to Yangzhou City, fortify the city and fight a protracted war of attrition with Sun Ru.

Yang Xingmi and Gao Ba became sworn brothers.

Zhu Wen, Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin were sworn brothers. In troubled times, stories of the three sworn brothers in Peach Garden were rare, but the big melon of Wagang Yiluxiang was popular.

Yang Xingmi planned to send Gao Ba to garrison Tianchang to build the first line of defense against Sun Ru.

Yuan Xi, the strategist, offered another suggestion, saying that Gao Ba was Gao Pian's old subordinate and was good at changing his attitude according to the situation. How could you let him garrison such an important stronghold? In my opinion, it is better to kill him!
As a result, Gao Ba, all his generals, and Hailing soldiers were killed by Yang Xingmi.

[The fate of traitors]

Lu Yongzhi's gang, who had committed many crimes, finally got the retribution they deserved.

Lü Yongzhi was killed by Yang Xingmi because he did not find the silver he promised. He was first cut in half and then sent to his enemy. In an instant, Lü Yongzhi was cut into two pieces, leaving only a pile of bones.

Zhang Shouyi was also killed by Yang Xingmi.

Zhuge Yin died earlier at the hands of Bi Shiduo. He did not have time to escape and was captured alive by Bi Shiduo. Bi Shiduo convened a denunciation meeting, allowing the people to curse him as much as they wanted, and pulled out his hair and beard to vent their anger, leaving him with a big bald head in an instant. He was then strangled to death, someone dug out his eyes, and more people smashed his body with bricks and tiles, "and it became a mound in a short time."

The rest of Lu Yongzhi's followers were also massacred.

As for Bi Shiduo and Qin Yan, they will also have to pay the price for their rebellious actions.

The two defected to Sun Ru's army, and naturally they were also suspected by Sun Ru. When the two defected, they still had more than 2,000 soldiers and horses, which was not a small number.

Sun Ru adopted the strategy of boiling a frog in warm water, gradually stripping away and eroding the two men's troops.

One of Bi Shiduo's close associates, Tang Hong, keenly sensed the danger and, in order to protect himself, wisely betrayed his old superior.

Tang Hong told Sun Ru that Qin Yan and Bi Shiduo were secretly communicating with Zhu Wen of Bianzhou and plotting to annex Sun Ru.

It is better to believe it exists than to believe it does not exist. Even if you believe it does not exist, you have to borrow its existence. Sun Ru immediately set up an ambush and urgently summoned Qin Yan, Bi Shiduo, and Zheng Hanzhang, saying that he had an important military discussion.

Qin Yan and Bi Shiduo arrived first. Before they could say anything, they were tied up with ropes by the soldiers and thrown in front of Sun Ru.

Sun Ru was full of positive energy, with a righteous and bright face. He shouted sanctimoniously, scolding Qin Yan for treason and murdering his former master. When he was tired of scolding, he dragged Qin Yan out and beheaded him in public.

Take a break, catch your breath, it’s time to scold Bi Shiduo.

Unexpectedly, Bi Shiduo spoke first: "A real man should be upright and upright. Don't use those high-sounding words. To put it bluntly, the winners are the kings and the losers are the bandits. Why are you pretending to be a gentleman? Don't you have any idea of ​​what you are made of? I, Bi Shiduo, have led an army of tens of thousands of people. I can't die at the hands of ordinary people. It's worth it to die under the sword of your great thief Sun Ru."

When Sun Ru heard this, he was ashamed and angry, and cursed: "You bold thief, do you still want to sully my hands? I will let ordinary people kill you." Then he asked ordinary soldiers to drag him out and behead him. Sun Ru's reading comprehension never got a perfect score. Zheng Hanzhang arrived later, saw that the situation was not good, and fought back, and actually killed several people. Unfortunately, two fists were no match for four hands, and the hero could not stand up to the outnumbered, and was eventually captured and killed.

Afterwards, the followers of Qin Yan and Bi Shiduo were purged. Only the traitor Tang Hong, who sold out his master for personal gain, gained the trust of Sun Ru. Not only did he save his life, he was also given an important position.

[Huainan chaos]

Yang Xingmi drove away the rebels Qin Yan and Bi Shiduo, moved into Yangzhou, paid tribute to his old master Gao Pian, cleaned out treacherous officials such as Lu Yongzhi, reorganized the army, eliminated hidden dangers such as Zhang Shenjian and Gao Ba, and basically controlled the situation in Huainan.

The only threat is Sun Ru, and this threat is not small.

What Yang Xingmi most urgently needs now is to obtain official recognition and use political advantages to make up for the military disadvantages.

Without the approval of the central court, Yang Xingmi's "claiming to be the regent" was essentially no different from rebellion.

Therefore, when Yang Xingmi first entered Yangzhou, he could not wait to report the situation in Huainan to the court and request formal enthronement.

This connects to the key point in the previous article: the court appointed Zhu Wen as the governor of Huainan.

Since Bi Shiduo started the rebellion in Huainan, bigwigs from various parties such as Qin Yan, Yang Xingmi, and Sun Ru have appeared on the scene one after another. They were fighting for the title, and it was a dog-eat-dog war. How come the title of "Jiedushi" was suddenly given to Zhu Wen?
Using vassal states to govern vassal states, riding a tiger to drive away wolves, using two peaches to kill three warriors... these are the court's usual tactics, and the leaders' usual means of taking back power from their subordinates and balancing forces.

When we read the imperial edict in full, it is not difficult to see the clues:
Zhu Wen was concurrently appointed as the governor of Huainan and the commander of the Southeast Front Army;

Appointed Sun Ru as deputy commander of the Southeast Front Army;
Yang Xingmi was appointed as deputy envoy of Huainan Jiedushi.

Look, I paired you three up on purpose, just in case you guys can't fight.

Yang Xingmi worked hard to conquer Huainan. Can he easily hand it over to you, Zhu Wen?

Sun Ru sent Qin Zongheng's head to Zhu Wen, which was similar to Sun Quan sending Guan Yu's head to Cao Cao during the Three Kingdoms period. He dragged Zhu Wen into the muddy water and diverted Qin Zongquan's revenge. Sun Ru was attached to Zhu Wen on the surface, but in fact he was just taking advantage of the power of the tiger. On the one hand, he could divert the pressure from Qin Zongquan, and on the other hand, he could increase the deterrence on the Huainan battlefield.

Zhu Wen's tug-of-war with the Cai traitor Qin Zongquan had not yet resulted in any outcome, and he had made new enemies with Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin. He had to guard against his powerful enemy Li Keyong in the north and was concerned about Shi Pu in the east, so he was completely unable to get involved in Huainan.

The imperial court's clever plan to bring peace to the world was to take advantage of this opportunity to sow discord among the emerging vassal states in the Central Plains, balance the forces of all parties by creating geopolitical conflicts, and make them feel centripetal towards the imperial court, thereby gradually bringing Huainan under the control of the central court.

To drive away wolves, we must also guard against raising tigers to cause harm. The court was too wishful.

Zhu Wen was of course aware of the court's sinister intentions. They gave him the fertile and prosperous Huainan for no reason, just to use the power of Bianzhou to control the chaos in Huainan. This "Huainan Jiedushi" was the same as the "Tongzhou Defense Envoy" given by Huang Chao, "let him take it himself".

According to the plan of the great strategist Jing Xiang, Zhu Wen's main task at this stage is to suppress the Cai thief Qin Zongquan in the south and annex the land in the east. His main targets are Zhu Xuan of Yunzhou Tianping Army, Zhu Jin of Yanzhou Taining Army, and Shi Pu of Xuzhou Ganhua Army.

At this stage, Huainan is not Zhu Wen’s core interest. Zhu Wen has no intention of getting involved in the chaos in Huainan, and there is no need for him to act as a scapegoat, a regional arbitrator, or a recaster of order.

Zhu Wen asked Yu Jingxiang for advice on how to take over the hot potato of "Huainan Jiedushi".

Jing Xiang believed that Yang Xingmi would never give up Yangzhou, and that it was wishful thinking for him to occupy Huainan with a letter of appointment from the imperial court. The imperial court's intention to kill someone with a borrowed knife was obvious.

Zhu Wen agreed, "So what should we do?"

Jing Xiang taught him a trick called "throwing a stone to test the water".

Since there was an imperial appointment, it would be a good idea to send administrative officials to Huainan to test Yang Xingmi's attitude. Of course, the result would be that Yang Xingmi would disobey the imperial order and violently resist the law. Therefore, "throwing a stone to test the water" was actually a test for Xuzhou.

Zhu Wen was puzzled.

Jing Xiang smiled slightly, "Marshal, please come closer and listen - we are like this, like this, like this."

After hearing this, Zhu Wen laughed and clapped his hands, saying, "Having Jing Xiang is like the Duke of Pei having Zhang Liang!"

(End of this chapter)