History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 1015 How the Steel Was Tempered 1
How the Steel Was Tempered

During the tug-of-war between the Song and Liao dynasties, there was a small episode. The Song Dynasty took advantage of the civil strife in Jiaozhou (now northern Vietnam) to recover Jiaozhou.

The Annan region has been Chinese territory since ancient times. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Nanzhao invaded in large numbers, and one of the main directions of the invasion was Annan, which was later recovered by General Gao Pian, as described in detail above. During the Five Dynasties, this region was under the jurisdiction of the Southern Han. Later, a mutiny broke out in Jiaozhou, and Liu Yan of the Southern Han was unable to suppress it, so Jiaozhou achieved de facto independence. Afterwards, the Central Plains dynasty was powerless and could only allow Jiaozhou to grow stronger.

Back in 937, the Central Plains dynasty was the Later Jin Dynasty. Jiaozhou was occupied by the local warlord Wu Quan. Liu Yan of the Southern Han Dynasty sent troops to suppress the war, and the "Battle of Bach Dang River" broke out. The Southern Han Dynasty was defeated, and one of Liu Yan's sons, Liu Hongcao, died for the country. Two years later, Wu Quan proclaimed himself king and established his own regime, known in history as the "Wu Dynasty".

After Wu Quan's death, his second son Wu Changwen overthrew the Oboi-style "regent", his uncle Yang Sange, and then jointly ruled with his eldest brother Wu Changji. In 965, with the death of Wu Changwen, the forces of Jiaozhou entered an extremely chaotic period of "Twelve Lords' Separatism", which is simply a miniature version of the "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms".

In the end, the unification was completed by Dinh Bu Ling, which was known in history as the "Dinh Dynasty".

When the news came that the Song Dynasty had easily wiped out the Southern Han (970), the entire Ding Dynasty was shocked. Ding Buling hurriedly sent his eldest son Ding Lian to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty and request the Song Dynasty to confer a title on him. The following year, Zhao Kuangyin conferred Ding Buling the title of "Prince of Jiaozhi" and Ding Lian the title of Jiedushi of Jinghai Army and Protector of Annan, which marked that the Central Plains Dynasty recognized its status as a vassal state.

After that, every time Ding Buling paid tribute, he used Ding Lian's name to pave the way for a successor. However, when one of Ding Buling's favorite concubines gave birth to a son, Ding Buling's attitude towards the successor changed. He planned to depose the eldest and appoint the youngest as the crown prince. This move caused great dissatisfaction to Ding Lian, so he physically strangled the "second child" with the same father and mother in the cradle. As a result, the father and son turned against each other, and civil strife broke out again in the Annan region.

At the end of 979, a coup finally took place in Jiaozhou. It was said - according to people who later entered the palace to "rescue the emperor" - that a eunuch killed Ding Buling and Ding Lian. When they heard the news, they led their troops into the palace, chopped the eunuch into pieces, and then enthroned Ding Buling's second son Ding Xuan as king.

Ding Xuan was only 6 years old at the time, so the power of the country had to be controlled by ministers who came to the palace to rescue the king, such as Nguyen Bo, Li Huan and others.

Soon, Li Huan had an affair with Ding Xuan's biological mother, and gradually gained power in the court. He was even given an incredible title - "Vice King", which is equivalent to "Vice Emperor", and he even played poker with the king and the queen.

So Nguyen Bo and others "served the king" for the second time and went to war with Le Huan. In the end, Le Huan won, and Nguyen Bo and other opponents were killed. From then on, Le Huan controlled the government.

A few months later (April 980), Song Dynasty diplomat Lu Xi visited Jiaozhou and reported the "Giaozhou Incident", saying that Ding Buling and Ding Lian were both dead, and the successor Ding Xuan was still young and was under house arrest by the general Li Huan, "with his entire family imprisoned and in charge of their people."

Zhao Guangyi was overjoyed when he heard this. This was a great excuse to recover Jiaozhou! Although the "Battle of Gaoliang River" had just happened, as mentioned above, the Song Dynasty had not been hurt. Zhao Guangyi was still confident that he could use his troops in Lingnan, from the Great Wall in the north to the shore of the South China Sea in the south. He could attack anyone he wanted. There was also an interesting episode here, which was the party struggle between Zhao Pu and Lu Duosun in the court.

Zhao Pu had a brother-in-law named Hou Renbao. The eldest son of Hou did not like being an official and had been holding idle positions for a long time. After Zhao Pu became the prime minister, he assigned him to Xijing and let him live a leisurely life in Luoyang. In the political struggle, no one can be independent. Although the Hou was not competitive, he was still affected by Lu Duosun vs. Zhao Pu. Lu Duosun recommended Hou Renbao to be the governor of Yongzhou.

This is not a promotion in name only, but a demotion in reality. Although Hou Renbao was assigned to Xijing, a sinecure without real power, it was at least a first-tier city with high status, high salary, and high benefits. He only had music and dance every day, but no paperwork. Hou Renbao was happy with his position. Yongzhou is located in the distant Lingnan, now Nanning, Guangxi. Don't judge Hou Ye by today's Nanning. In that era, Lingnan was a barren land of wild smoke and miasma, an ecological prison for the imperial court, and a place of exile chosen by heaven.

The Marquis went to Guangdong and Guangxi, cursing his mother. According to convention, local officials should be transferred every three years based on their performance, in order to maintain the vitality of the civil service and prevent local officials from becoming too powerful and separatist. However, under Lu Duosun's special care, the Marquis was transferred for three years after three years, three years after three years...three terms and nine years without being transferred.

Lu Dosun grinned evilly: Even if I eat 300 lychees a day, you are still my brother as long as you move north!

Just when the Marquis was worried that he would die in Lingnan, his elder brother-in-law Zhao Pu showed him a clear way: Jiaozhou!
The civil unrest in Jiaozhou gave the Song Dynasty a reason to quell the rebellion. The ambitious Zhao Guangyi was very likely to use military force against Lingnan. Before that, he would definitely summon local officials from the border (Yongzhou) back to Beijing to inquire about relevant information in detail. Hou Renbao could then naturally return to Beijing to report on his work. If the war in Jiaozhou went well, he might even be rewarded.

Hou Renbao immediately submitted a petition to the court, saying that there was civil unrest in Jiaozhou and that we could take it with a small army, "I am willing to take a train to the palace to report the situation in person so that I can get the details." Your Majesty, it's not clear over the phone, please allow me to take the high-speed train to Beijing to meet you and we can talk in person.

Just as Zhao Pu expected, Zhao Guangyi needed an experienced person who knew the inside story to find out the truth about Jiaozhou. Hou Renbao, who had worked in the border area for nine years, happened to recommend himself. What a coincidence! So Zhao Guangyi ordered the post station to summon him. Come quickly!
Lu Duosun would not let Hou Renbao move a single step north. Being a shrewd man, he immediately submitted a memorial to the emperor, saying that there was civil strife in Jiaozhou and that this was God's will for its destruction. We must take them by surprise, with lightning speed. And if we summon local officials on the border, such as Hou Renbao, to Beijing, it would inevitably stimulate the Jiaozhou side, giving them sufficient time to rely on the mountains and obstacles to resist our army. In this way, we would miss the opportunity. It would be better to let Comrade Hou Renbao take charge, coordinate the overall situation, and be fully responsible for the work of attacking Jiaozhou. The court can then allocate to him 10,000 to 20,000 elite troops from Lianghu, and he can march straight in and crush our enemy with ease. This is the perfect plan!
Zhao Guangyi thought it made sense, so he modified the order, appointing Hou Renbao as the water and land transportation envoy of Jiaozhou Road, and sending Sun Quanxing, Chen Qinzuo, Hao Shoujun, and Cui Liang from Yongzhou, and Liu Cheng, Jia Xi, and Wang Zhen from Lianzhou, to advance both by land and water.

Lu Dosun was really vicious. He used a trick of praising and killing. On the surface, he gave Hou Renbao unlimited glory and let him be fully responsible for the conquest of Jiaozhou. It sounded like he was a glorious marshal, but in fact, he put a heavy burden on Hou Renbao's shoulders.

As we all know, Hou Renbao was originally a carefree young man who didn't want to be an official. He couldn't write to pacify the world, nor could he ride a horse to decide the fate of the world. But he chose to take on the important task of recovering Jiaozhou. If things didn't go well, Hou Renbao would be primarily responsible for the defeat. Moreover, Hou Renbao needed the strong support of the court for this battle, such as the allocation of troops and the transportation of materials. As long as someone in the court, such as Lu Duosun, was a little bit of a hindrance, even if the situation was good, it would fail due to logistical supply problems.

In a word, Hou Renbao is dead this time.

(End of this chapter)