History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 1039: You Are Cruel 2.0
【Shu Ni Hen 2.0】

After the "Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun Rebellion" was put down, the imperial court cancelled some of its unequal policies towards the Sichuan region, but only to a certain extent. The resentment and dissatisfaction of the Sichuan people towards the imperial court had not been completely eradicated, and the imperial court's policies always had to be implemented through local officials, so the actions of local officials were hard to describe. Five years after the rebellion was put down, the banner of the "Great Shu Kingdom" was once again raised on the land of Sichuan.

This story starts with a key figure - the eunuch Wang Jie'en.

Ever since hearing that Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun were in rebellion, Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi sent his trusted eunuch Wang Jie'en to lead the charge to suppress the rebels, and gave Wang Jie'en the privilege of "acting at his own discretion."

The eunuch Wang Jie'en became arrogant because of his favor and was given the privilege to do whatever he wanted. After arriving in Shu, where the emperor was far away, he completely let himself go.

The vanguard Ma Zhijie was unwilling to go along with the bandits, so Wang Jie'en regarded him as a thorn in his side and came up with a vicious plan to kill someone with a borrowed knife. At that time, Wang Jie'en had just conquered Jianzhou and sent Ma Zhijie to garrison Pengzhou, but he only assigned him 300 old, weak, sick, disabled and pregnant soldiers. The original garrison in Pengzhou was recalled to Chengdu by Wang Jie'en. Pengzhou was about to face a counterattack by more than 100,000 bandits.

Using only 300 weak soldiers to fight against more than 100,000 bandits, Wang Jie'en's intentions were obvious.

Although Ma Zhijie fought desperately, he was outnumbered. After a day of fierce fighting, the outer city fell when the sun went down. Ma Zhijie was filled with grief and indignation, and sighed to the sky, "To die at the hands of thieves is not a manly man!" I wonder if the "thieves" he was talking about were the huge crowds of thieves outside the city or the eunuch Wang Jie'en.

That night, Ma Zhijie led his men to break out of the siege and stationed his troops in the suburbs. At dawn, reinforcements finally arrived. Ma Zhijie led his troops to attack the enemy troops by surprise, and then miraculously recovered Pengzhou. The victory report was sent to the capital, and Taizong praised him by name and immediately granted Ma Zhijie the title of Yizhou (Chengdu Prefecture was downgraded to Yizhou).

Soon after, Wang Jie'en recovered Chengdu. After receiving the victory report, Emperor Taizong ordered the relevant departments to reward him according to his merits. In order to curry favor with Wang Jie'en, officials of the Secretariat planned to appoint Wang Jie'en as the Xuanhui Envoy, but Zhao Guangyi rejected the proposal, saying that he did not want eunuchs to interfere in government affairs and could not give him the Xuanhui Envoy title.

It is not known whether the prime ministers did not understand what Taizong meant, or whether Wang Jie'en's power in the court was too great. After Taizong made his attitude clear, the prime ministers still tried their best to persuade him, saying that Wang Jie'en's contributions were too great and that he should not be rewarded except as an envoy of the Imperial Palace.

Taizong was furious and scolded the prime ministers. In the end, the prime ministers gave full play to their subjective initiative and invented the title of "Xuanzhengshi" and awarded it to Wang Jie'en.

Although Wang Jie'en conquered Chengdu and captured the bandit leader Li Shun alive, the bandits still elected Zhang Yu as their new leader and continued to wreak havoc on Sichuan and Shu. Ten miles outside Chengdu was the bandit-controlled area, but Wang Jie'en was very passive in hunting down the remnants. The reason is easy to understand. If all the mice are dead, why keep the cats?

Because of the remnant bandits and the tension in the region, Wang Jie'en was able to stay in Chengdu and continue to "do what is convenient for him". This is the most simple principle of keeping the enemy and taking care of oneself. Wang Jie'en was arrogant and domineering in Chengdu, drinking and having fun every day. Whenever he went in and out, he was surrounded by guards and bands. No matter where he went, there was BGM. There were also people holding gambling equipment so that he could gamble for fun anytime and anywhere. In addition, Wang Jie'en also allowed his soldiers to plunder. His subordinates raped, robbed, and committed all kinds of evil in Chengdu, causing public resentment.

Officials forced the people to rebel. Under the call of Zhang Yu, the chief of the rebels, the people of Shu, who had suffered from the Song Dynasty for a long time, went to respond, and the rebellion soon revived. The court repeatedly issued edicts to urge Wang Jie'en to suppress the rebels, but Wang Jie'en ignored them all.

Since ancient times, generals who entered Shu had no good ending, and Wang Jie'en did not escape this curse. From Zhao Guangyi's refusal to grant the title of Xuanhui Envoy, it can be seen that Zhao Guangyi was wary of Wang Jie'en. Zhao Guangyi certainly saw Wang Jie'en's intention of nurturing the enemy and taking advantage of himself, and he was worried, so he consulted with Prime Minister Zhao Changyan.

Zhao Changyan opened the map and drew a plan for the attack. Emperor Taizong was very pleased and immediately appointed Zhao Changyan as the commander of the cavalry and infantry of the 52 states of Sichuan and Shaanxi, and ordered him to lead the expedition to suppress the bandits.

Zhao Changyan quickly declined. This job is not easy to do. It is like snatching meat from a dog's mouth. How can Wang Jie'en let me do it?

Taizong insisted that he go to war, and gave him a horse, fine weapons, and 5,000 taels of platinum. He also gave him several handwritten notes, which were full of strategies for defeating the enemy. From Wang Jie'en down, all were under Zhao Changyan's command. The intention was to use Zhao Changyan to sideline Wang Jie'en.

Just as Zhao Changyan expected, Wang Jie'en's minions reacted quickly and acted quickly. After the appointment letter was issued, they all ran to Emperor Taizong to make things difficult for Zhao Changyan.

Some people said that Zhao Changyan had no offspring, which meant that he had no hostages in the capital, and was a "naked official". If you don't trust Wang Jie'en, how can you trust Zhao Changyan? Aren't you afraid that Zhao Changyan will have his own troops in Chengdu? Besides, Zhao Changyan has a rebellious mind and is a natural traitor. You must not let him enter Shu!
Taizong was indeed shaken, so he issued an edict saying that the Shu thieves were just clowns, and Comrade Zhao Changyan was an important official of the country. It was a waste of talent to let him suppress the Shu thieves. So, let him stay in Fengxiang temporarily. When Zhao Changyan arrived in Fengzhou, the edict caught up with him and asked him to stay there. Later, Zhao Changyan was dismissed from the position of prime minister. After several twists and turns in the local area, he was unable to return to the central government. After Zhenzong ascended the throne, Zhao Changyan applied to return to the capital, but was rejected. It was not until the third year of Xianping (1000) that he returned to the capital. This is a later story.

Taizong wanted to recruit Xin Zhongfu, the Minister of Works, to go to Shu to suppress the bandits, but Xin Zhongfu was seriously ill and could not move easily. Taizong was very considerate and said, "Can you have someone carry him?"

However, Xin Zhongfu was too ill. If he had to force himself to go to Shu, he would most likely die before achieving his goal.

After searching for a long time, Taizong suddenly had an idea and thought of a person, Zhang Yong, a direct scholar of the Privy Council and a doctor of the Ministry of Justice.

Zhang Yong is a very talented and unique person. His haters call him a "madman", while his fans praise him as a genius. Let's get to know this alternative madman through a few stories:
(End of this chapter)