History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 102 Zhu Wen's Opportunity

Zhu Wen sent his confidant Zhang Tingfan to Yangzhou to read to Yang Xingmi the official document appointing Zhu Wen as the governor of Huainan; and sent General Guo Yan to escort Li Fan (formerly the governor of Zhengzhou, who fled back to Bianzhou when Zhengzhou was invaded by Cai thieves) through Xuzhou to the post of governor of Huainan.

When Yang Xingmi first occupied Yangzhou, he was alone and isolated, and urgently needed political legitimization and military alliance.

Zhu Wen's enemy was Qin Zongquan, the traitor of Cai, and Yang Xingmi's enemy was Sun Ru, who had just broken away from the traitor of Cai. From this perspective, there was a basis for an alliance between Yang Xingmi and Zhu Wen. Sun Ru sent Qin Zongheng's head to Zhu Wen in order to use Zhu Wen's power to oppress Yang Xingmi.

Therefore, Zhu Wen’s statement at this time was particularly critical to Yang Xingmi.

Yang Xingmi received Zhang Tingfan with great ceremony and treated him as a distinguished guest. Welcome, welcome, warm welcome.

Zhang Tingfan conveyed the court's concern and Zhu Wen's condolences: "Comrade Yang Xingmi has made outstanding contributions to maintaining regional stability. He has worked hard and made great contributions. The organization will fully consider your request to become a Jiedushi. After careful discussion, the organization has decided to grant the post of Jiedushi of Huainan to Comrade Zhu Wen..."

As expected, Yang Xingmi was furious and said on the spot that he would not accept the appointment, "I'm sorry, I can't obey your order!"

Zhang Tingfan also fell from being a VIP guest in Yangzhou to a thorn in Yang Xingmi's side. After lingering in Yangzhou for a while, Zhang Tingfan seized the opportunity to escape back.

Zhang Tingfan told Zhu Wen all about Yang Xingmi's strengths and weaknesses, reporting that Yang Xingmi was meticulous, had many soldiers and generals, was ambitious, and would be difficult to deal with. It might require Zhu Wen to lead the army himself to control Huainan.

On the surface, Zhu Wen pretended to be furious and strongly condemned Yang Xingmi's rebellious behavior of disobeying the imperial order, putting on a show for the people around him to see.

Almost at the same time, Guo Yan and Li Fan also escaped back, bringing another "bad news": on the way into the Huai River, they were ambushed by the Xuzhou Ganhua Army and suffered complete losses.

On the surface, Zhu Wen still wanted to strongly condemn and solemnly protest, but in his heart he was very happy, "That's exactly what I want!"

When Pu was in Xuzhou, he came to power through a military coup, occupied Xuzhou, and was appointed as the "Ganhua Jiedushi". Because he presented the head of Huang Chao, he was ranked first in the "sweeping Huang Chao" campaign and was awarded the title of Prince of Julu.

However, Shi Pu's "first place in achievement" was widely questioned. The feudal lords who had long fought against Huang Chao, represented by Zhu Wen, expressed their dissatisfaction. Shi Pu and Zhu Wen competed for merit and became enemies, which led to a rift between them.

In the following "Harvest Vegetables" war, Shi Pu was appointed as the "Harvest Vegetables" commander-in-chief, responsible for controlling the various towns, commanding and dispatching to eliminate the Cai thief Qin Zongquan.

Xuzhou is in the northern part of today's Jiangsu; Caizhou is in the south-central part of today's Henan. If Shi Pu wanted to send troops to harvest vegetables, he had to cross the entire Anhui Province and fight across the border.

As mentioned earlier, in the entire "Harvesting Vegetables" war, the role of Commander-in-Chief Shi Pu was almost negligible, and the one who really played a role was Zhu Wen.

Therefore, while the court gave Zhu Wen the title of "Huainan Jiedushi", it also gave him the title of commander-in-chief.

The court's affirmation of Zhu Wen's "harvesting" was a silent criticism of Shi Pu's inaction. At this time, silence was better than words. Shi Pu had no words to express his grievances and was very angry. Zhu Wen even wrote a memorial to the court, asking the court to remove Shi Pu's title of commander-in-chief and replace him with himself. This further angered Shi Pu.

The court gave Huainan, Shi Pu's favorite place, to Zhu Wen, which made Shi Pu even more psychologically unbalanced.

At this time, Zhu Wen sent an official document requesting to pass through Xuzhou to take up his post in Huainan.

You are taking advantage of me and still acting like a good kid. If you had made a fortune quietly and taken up your post quietly, it would have been fine. But you had to parade in front of my house, sincerely trying to disgust me? Shi Pu was furious and immediately rejected the request of the Bian army to borrow his way.

Zhu Wen did not take Shi Pu's anger seriously, and still sent a thousand-man army to escort the "Huainan Governor" through Shi Pu's territory to take office with great fanfare, with gongs and drums blaring and firecrackers blasting...

I just do it to make you angry and disgusted. Do you have a temper?

Shi Pu was of course hot-tempered, and he dispatched troops to intercept and kill the Bian army passing through the Sizhou area.

The Bian army suffered a crushing defeat, and Guo Yan and Li Fan fled back in a panic and reported that they were ambushed by the Xuzhou Ganhua Army.

Zhu Wen immediately reported the "Sizhou Incident" to the court, accusing Shi Pu of rebellious behavior, and at the same time recommended Yang Xingmi as the governor of Huainan. Shi Pu's revenge for personal gain made the court's wishful thinking come to nothing. Therefore, the court removed Shi Pu's title of commander-in-chief and appointed Zhu Wen as the commander-in-chief of "Shoucai" (the commander-in-chief of the four-sided camp in Caizhou), and all the vassal states and prefectures had to obey Zhu Wen's orders; Zhu Wen's request was approved and Yang Xingmi was appointed as the governor of Huainan.

This was completely consistent with Jing Xiang's plan. Zhu Wen became the biggest winner of the chaos in Huainan, winning over Yang Xingmi, appeasing the threats from Huainan, and more importantly, having a legitimate reason to send troops to Xuzhou.

Plans are worse than changes.

Just when Zhu Wen and Jing Xiang were planning to annex Xuzhou, another opportunity came their way: the Wei Bo army asked for help.

[Wei Bo mutinies again]

Han Jian, the former governor of Weizhou Army, attempted to annex Tianping Army but failed. He was ambushed from behind by Zhuge Shuang, the governor of Heyang Army, and was defeated, which led to a mutiny. Le Yanzhen, a general of Weizhou Army, replaced Han Jian and took charge of Weizhou.

Le Yanzhen and his son Le Congxun were mean, ungrateful, greedy, violent and cruel. Especially Le Congxun, this young man, was described by history as "rebellious by nature", a born bastard, and bad from birth. The people of Hebei were boiling with resentment and complaints.

When Prime Minister Wang Duo passed through the territory of Wei Bo Army, Le Congxun coveted his wealth and wives and concubines, so he ambushed his troops, robbed and killed Wang Duo and his followers on the way, and took Wang Duo's wives, concubines, prostitutes and all property for himself.

The people of Hebei have always admired Wang Duo's reputation, which made them hate the father and son of the Le family even more.

Le Congxun knew that his reputation was not good, and fearing that the people would riot, he carefully selected 500 local hooligans to form his own bodyguard team, called "Zijiang". Unexpectedly, his move caused anxiety in the army, who believed that Le Congxun's behavior of cultivating personal soldiers was to attack the army. So rumors began to spread in the army that Le Congxun wanted to purge the army.

This misunderstanding is hard to explain, and the more you explain it, the worse it gets. It was a common practice during that period for superiors to become suspicious of the army, form personal guards, and massacre old subordinates.

Le Congxun was worried that the army would take the initiative, so he changed his clothes and escaped overnight.

Misunderstandings have been created and the rift is growing.

Le Congxun sent people to the headquarters in Weizhou to transport weapons, armor, gold, silver and silk, and the transport team kept coming and going. The soldiers of the Weizhou Army became even more nervous. Look, the young master has just established a new personal guard, and now he is raising military supplies, military pay and food, and he still says that he has no other intentions? So what do you mean?
To strike first is to be strong, but to strike later is to suffer disaster.

The Weizhou army launched a mutiny, imprisoned Le Yanzhen, and nominated Zhao Wenbian as the acting governor of the Weizhou army (in charge of the governor's affairs).

Le Congxun led an army of 30,000 to the city of Weizhou and challenged the rebels in Weizhou.

Zhao Wenbian immediately gave in and stayed in the city without leaving.

The Wei Bo rebels were very disappointed and suspected that Zhao Wenbian was secretly communicating with Le Congxun, so they killed Zhao Wenbian. The rebel generals held Zhao Wenbian's head and shouted, "Who among you wants to be the next Zhao Wenbian... no, the next Jiedushi?"

Someone in the crowd shouted, "Me!"

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice, and the person who answered was a big black-faced man with a strange appearance, different from ordinary people, and seemed extraordinary. This man was called Luo Hongxin. According to him, a master had told him earlier that a white-bearded immortal had appeared in his dream and said that Luo Hongxin should be the master of Wei Bo.

"The White-bearded Immortal has already appointed me as the governor. What are you still discussing?" Luo Hongxin's words were well-reasoned and unquestionable.

Seeing that he had a good appearance, all the generals immediately reached a consensus and nominated Luo Hongxin to be the commander of the Wei Bo army.

Luo Hongxin lived up to everyone's expectations and led his army to attack, defeating Le Congxun outside the city in one fell swoop. Le Congxun led the remnants to flee to Neihuang (now Neihuang County, Hebei Province), and Luo Hongxin led his troops to pursue and besiege Neihuang.

So, the previous point is connected: Zhu Wen received a letter asking for help from Le Congxun of Wei Bo.

Thanks to my old friend "Shang Jianxiu" for the reward! I got rich, I'll have noodles tonight (#^.^#)
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(End of this chapter)