History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 106 Harvesting the Vegetables
Zhu Wen was shouldering the heavy responsibility of "harvesting vegetables" because he had now replaced Shi Pu and became the commander-in-chief of "harvesting vegetables" (commander-in-chief of the four-sided camp in Caizhou), and all war zones and regions had to obey Zhu Wen's orders.

This was all because Shi Pu brazenly sent troops to intercept the imperial officials (the officials sent by Zhu Wen to Huainan). Of course, this was also a trap set by Zhu Wen.

Killing the Cai traitor Qin Zongquan was not only Zhu Wen's political mission, but also an opportunity for him to enhance his prestige and expand his power.

In fact, from now on, Zhu Wen was very similar to Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. As a loyal minister of the Tang Dynasty, he helped the emperor solve problems, fight against rebellion, and enforce justice on behalf of heaven.

When the great leader was reading the "Twenty-Four Histories" and came across the "Old History of the Five Dynasties", he made a very famous comment on Zhu Wen, "He is similar to Cao Cao, but more cunning than him." This can be said to be a very insightful evaluation.

In fact, since Huang Chao withdrew from Chang'an, Zhu Wen has been one of the main forces in the "sweeping Huang Chao and mowing the grass". By the time of "harvesting vegetables", he had become the vassal who contributed the most. However, at that time he was only famous in name only, and his official title was only the commander of a front. Now, he has deservedly become the national "harvesting vegetables" commander-in-chief, and he has truly played the role of Prime Minister Cao.

From here on, Zhu Wen's actions became more and more like Cao Cao's, "obeying the emperor to punish disobedience."

Being loyal to Zhu Wen meant being loyal to the imperial court and the emperor; similarly, any hostile behavior towards Zhu Wen would be considered as rebellion against the Tang Dynasty. This is called political advantage.

"Political advantage" is also a double-edged sword. If used properly, you can gain both fame and fortune. Otherwise, it will become a hot chicken rib, which is tasteless when eaten and you can't bear to throw it away. If you hold it in your mouth, it will burn your mouth.

In order to use the "political advantage" properly, in addition to being strong, one also needs luck. For example, Zhu Wen should thank his pig opponent, the Cai thief Qin Zongquan.

At the beginning of the war, Qin Zongquan seriously misjudged the situation on the battlefield. He allowed Zhu Wen to grow and develop, and set his strategic goal on grabbing land. He was like a Teddy bear that had broken free from its reins, complaining about the sky, the earth, and the air, and successfully sowed the seeds of his own destruction.

First, Sun Ru invaded Heyang and brought chaos to Heyang. Then Zhu Wen took advantage of the situation and took over Meng and Luo, as mentioned above.
Secondly, Zhao Dezhen (pronounced the same as "yin"), who invaded Jiangling, also fed Zhu Wen in time.

When Sun Ru led his troops to invade Heyang, Qin Zongquan sent his general Qin Gao to capture Shannan East Road and Jingnan area. His general Zhao Dezhen was awarded the pseudo "Shannan East Road Jiedushi" of the Huang Qi regime for his merits. Qin Zongquan's younger brother Qin Zongyan besieged Jiangling City, the capital of Jingnan, for two full years.

At that time, the food in the city had been cut off, and even the leather on the armor and drums had been eaten up. The soldiers patrolling at night could only knock on the door panels to warn, and people died of hunger and plague everywhere. Even so, Zhang Gui, the governor of Jingnan, did not give in and continued to climb the city to defend it.

After two years of siege, Qin Zongyan could no longer bear the consequences and lifted the siege.

A few months after Qin Zongyan withdrew the siege, Zhao Dezhen captured Jiangling City in one fell swoop, and Zhang Gui, the governor of Jingnan, died for his country. At that time, there were only a few hundred households in the entire Jiangling City.

Zhao Dezhen left his general Wang Jianzhao to defend the city, while he led his troops back to the base camp in Xiangzhou (the capital of Shannan East Road).

Four months later, Cheng Li, the governor of Guizhou, captured Jiangling City and was appointed as the governor of Jingnan by the court. At that time, there were only 17 households in Jiangling City.

At this time, Zhu Wen had already obtained the support of Luo Hongxin of Wei Bo and Zhang Quanyi of Heyang, and was preparing to concentrate his efforts on "harvesting the crops."

Zhao Dezhen, the pseudo governor of Shannan East Road of Huang Qi, had just been captured by Cheng Li in Jiangling. Seeing that the Cai thief Qin Zongquan was doomed to fail, he judged the situation and decided to surrender to Zhu Wen. He expressed his willingness to give up Shannan East Road and return to the embrace of the court. He was also willing to turn against the enemy and "harvest the crops" to atone for his sins.

Zhu Wen was overjoyed and immediately reported the good news to the court, and recommended Comrade Zhao Dezhen as his deputy.

The court approved the request and ordered the change of Shannan East Road into the Loyalty Army, with Comrade Zhao Dezhen as the Jiedushi of the Loyalty Army. At the same time, Zhao Dezhen was appointed as the deputy commander-in-chief of the "Shoucai" (Deputy Governor-General of the Caizhou Four-Sided Camp).

A man who knows the current situation is a hero. Zhao Dezhen betrayed Qin Zongquan at a critical moment, just like Zhu Wen betrayed Huang Chao. The two heroes who left Huang Qi's regime one after another sympathized with each other, "Your shameless appearance is very similar to my charm when I was young."

Without the threat from the west and with the strong support from the people of southern Han, Zhu Wen was confident of victory.

Zhu Wen led his army to join Zhao Dezhen on the Ru River and besieged Caizhou. Within five days, 28 camps were set up around the city, forming a line of stars.

Although Zhu Wen was the commander-in-chief of a large army, he still insisted on going to the front line in person, braving the arrows and stones, directing the battle and boosting morale.

One day, a stray arrow hit Zhu Wen's left armpit, and blood gushed out, soaking his battle robe. When his attendants were about to help him up and ask him about it, Zhu Wen glared at them and shouted, "Get out of here!" He endured the severe pain and continued to command and dispatch troops as before, as if he had not been injured, and his morale was not affected. From May to September, although Cai the bandit was defeated repeatedly, he still resisted stubbornly.

The current Qin Zongquan is repeating the experience of Huang Chao who was trapped in Chang'an a few years ago. Although he is known as the "Emperor of the Great Qi Kingdom", his rule is only a lonely city.

Jing Xiang gave Zhu Wen advice, pointing out that continuing to besiege Caizhou would be twice as much work with half the result, so it would be better to take this opportunity to attack Xuzhou in the east.

Qin Zongquan's troops were squeezed into an isolated city. They were numerous but had low morale. If they attacked quickly, they would work together and it would be easy to defend but difficult to attack. If they were slow, they would become suspicious of each other and collapse without attacking. Moreover, the siege of nearly half a year also made Zhu Wen face the dilemma of insufficient food and grass supply. If he continued to hold on, he was afraid that there would be trouble.

Zhu Wen followed Jing Xiang's advice and withdrew from the siege.

Sure enough, at the end of the year, Qin Zongquan's general Shen Cong launched a mutiny, captured Qin Zongquan alive, cut off one of Qin Zongquan's feet, and then surrendered the city to Zhu Wen.

Zhu Wen immediately reported the victory to the court and recommended Shen Cong as the commander of the Fengguo Army in Caizhou.

A few days later, another general of Qin Zongquan, Guo Fan, killed Shen Cong and escorted his head and Qin Zongquan to Bianzhou, reporting to Zhu Wen that Shen Cong was plotting to support Qin Zongquan again.

Zhu Wen smiled slightly, thinking, "Do you believe it yourself? Forget it. Don't use dog paddling in front of pirates. Everyone knows it." So he recommended Guo Fan to be the commander of the Fengguo Army in Caizhou.

Before escorting Qin Zongquan to the capital, Zhu Wen specially dressed up to see him off, wearing the most gorgeous military uniform, surrounded by the most majestic guard of honor. He lifted the curtain outside the prison car, wanting to appreciate this living trophy as a victor and humiliate this old rival at the same time.

"Tsk tsk tsk, I have tried to persuade you many times with kind words, reason and emotion. If you had come to your senses earlier and joined me in being loyal to the court, you wouldn't have ended up in such a miserable state today. You, you, hahahaha..."

Qin Zongquan slowly raised his head, looked at him through the messy locks of hair on his forehead, and said sarcastically, "If it weren't for me, Qin Zongquan, would you still be where you are today, Zhu Wen? Heaven gave me to you as a stepping stone for promotion and wealth (If I hadn't died, how could you have prospered? Heaven gave me to dominate you)."

This one sentence revealed the secret, and Zhu Wen was speechless, feeling extremely ashamed and angry.

Qin Zongquan laughed loudly towards the sky.

Zhu Wen angrily threw the curtain and said, "Take him away!"

"Squeak—bang—" The prison van swayed and slowly went on the road.

Qin Zongquan, who was in the car, had seen through life and death, and the world, and laughed wildly in the prison car. It was a laugh from the bottom of his heart, a laugh that showed he had seen through everything and had gained great enlightenment, and it was a merciless mockery of Zhu Wen who was chasing after fame and fortune.

Zhu Wen was ashamed. Qin Zongquan, who was walking away, laughed like a pig.

Tang Zhaozong, who had just ascended the throne, was captured in Yanxi Tower in Chang'an. He ordered the leader of the bandits, Qin Zongquan, to be paraded through the streets and then beheaded under the willow tree in the West Market. It was not Goujiling, which was quite a courtesy to Qin Zongquan; his fake queen, Zhao, was flogged to death.

When he was paraded through the streets, Qin Zongquan suddenly stuck his head out of the prison car and said to the supervising official Sun Kui: "Please examine me, sir. How can I be considered a traitor? I just have no way to serve my country."

Qin Zongquan's response was the onlookers' bursts of laughter.

Truth does not need to be proven, and fallacy does not need to be refuted.

Qin Zongquan is dead.

As Qin Zongquan said, Zhu Wen became the biggest winner in the "harvesting vegetables" war.

(End of this chapter)