History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 111 Hangzhou Qian Liu
【Hangzhou Qian Liu】

Two years ago, the Zhenhai Army mutinied, and the generals Liu Hao and Xue Lang expelled the governor Zhou Bao. Zhou Bao fled to Changzhou and took refuge with the general Ding Congshi.

Ding Congshi was a tyrannical man, nicknamed "Ding the Mutilator". He had previously occupied Changzhou on the pretext of suppressing a rebellion, but later stopped obeying Zhou Bao's orders.

After the Zhenhai Rebellion, Zhou Bao was really desperate. Although the world was vast, there was no place for Zhou Bao to stay. After Zhou Bao arrived in Changzhou, he actually became Ding Congshi's hostage.

When his lord was in trouble, Qian Liu, the governor of Hangzhou, raised an army to "help the king". Qian Liu was a subordinate of Dong Chang, who was a subordinate of Zhou Bao. So when Zhou Bao was in trouble, Qian Liu had no choice but to go to his aid.

Qian Liu sent his general Du Ling to capture Changzhou. Ding Congshi fled to Hailing and took refuge with Gao Ba. Not long after, Gao Ba, Ding Congshi and others were all killed by Yang Xingmi.

Qian Liu personally dressed in his best clothes and welcomed Zhou Bao to Hangzhou with great ceremony, just like a general welcoming a general. But Zhou Bao died of illness just two months later.

There are two records about Zhou Bao's death in history books. One says he died of natural causes, and the other says he was killed by Qian Liu (New Book of Tang, Chronicles of the Ten Kingdoms). My personal opinion supports the theory of natural causes.

One of the reasons was that Zhou Bao was already 74 years old at the time.

Zhou Bao was born into a military family, a typical "rich Nth generation" and "official Nth generation". He lived a life of luxury, but in his later years, he suffered a sudden change, fell into disgrace and lost everything. According to records, Zhou Bao spent his later years "feasting all day long, with more than a hundred prostitutes in the back garden, and a rich and delicious meal every day". It can be said that he was used to a life of luxury and extravagance.

It is understandable that he could not withstand such a blow at his age and became ill due to worry and anger.

The second reason is that Qian Liu had no motive to kill, which is the key.

Killing Zhou Bao would only bring harm to Qian Liu. Although Zhou Bao was in a bad state, he was the legal "Zhenhai Jiedushi". With him around, Qian Liu could "serve the emperor to punish the disobedient" and control the Zhenhai Army in the name of Zhou Bao.

Zhou Bao was chased away by the rebel generals Liu Hao and Xue Lang, who were the targets of public criticism. If Qian Liu killed Zhou Bao, wouldn't he be taking the blame for those two and becoming the target of public criticism?
It is neither reasonable nor moral for Qian Liu to kill Zhou Bao.

Qian Liu ordered General Du Ling, who had conquered Changzhou, to guard Changzhou, and ordered his general Ruan Jie and others to continue attacking the main culprits Liu Hao and Xue Lang who were entrenched in Runzhou.

Ruan Jie captured Runzhou in the blink of an eye, captured Xue Lang alive, and Liu Hao escaped.

Qian Liu cut open Xue Lang's abdomen and dug out his heart to offer sacrifice to Zhou Bao, which was also to declare to the world the legitimacy of his succession to the Zhenhai Army. Afterwards, he ordered Ruan Jie to guard Runzhou.

After this, Qian Liu sent his cousin Qian Qiu to conquer Suzhou, and his sphere of influence gradually expanded.

It is not difficult to see that Yang Xingmi and Qian Liu's trajectory of prosperity are highly consistent:

The two were separated by a river, in Huainan and Zhenhai respectively, and served Gao Pian and Zhou Bao respectively. As fate would have it, the two towns encountered mutiny and civil unrest at almost the same time, and Yang Xingmi and Qian Liu also started their armies at almost the same time, taking advantage of the opportunity to quell the rebellion to expand their power. They also eradicated the culprits of the rebellion, avenged their masters, and became the true successors of their old masters.

There are too many similarities between the two. Now, their spheres of influence are closely connected, sparking a spark of passion.

Yang Xingmi captured Xuanzhou, but lost his hometown of Luzhou to Sun Ru. He lost in one place, but gained in another. Yang Xingmi sent his favorite general Tian Yu to attack Changzhou and ask Qian Liu to make up for Sun Ru's losses.

Tian Yu's attack was quite brilliant and can be recorded in history. The method he used was actually very common, digging a tunnel. But he maxed out the technology tree of this skill and unlocked it to the highest level: his soldiers actually dug accurately into the bedroom of the defending general Du Ling.

This was truly a midnight scare. Du Ling, who was soundly sleeping, was dragged out of his bed and tied up with ropes while still half asleep.

Yang Xingmi snatched Changzhou from Qian Liu without bloodshed.

It was at this time that Zhu Wen smelled an opportunity to infiltrate Huainan. He was a legitimate "Huainan Jiedushi" with a business license, and it was his unshirkable responsibility to maintain regional stability. Therefore, after the defeat in Xuzhou and the betrayal of Wei Bo Luo Hongxin and Dong Zhaoyi Meng Qian, Zhu Wen chose to take Huainan, where he had the most confidence in victory, to heal his spiritual trauma.

Zhu Wen contacted Yang Xingmi and agreed to attack Sun Ru from both the north and the south.

The two hit it off immediately.

Zhu Wen ordered the newly appointed commander-in-chief Pang Shigu to lead an army of 100,000 to attack Huainan. He defeated all the generals along the way, first conquered Tianchang, then captured Gaoyou, and penetrated deep into the heart of Huainan.

The mantis catches the cicada, and the oriole is behind.

Yang Xingmi had just seized Changzhou from Qian Liu, but before he could even warm up to it, it was taken away by Sun Ru. Afterwards, Sun Ru led the main force back to Yangzhou, leaving General Liu Jianfeng to guard Changzhou.

Changzhou was taken too easily, and General Liu Jianfeng felt unsatisfied, so he made another effort and snatched Runzhou from Qian Liu.

The reality was indeed cruel for Qian Liu, a new generation man. In front of the two senior leaders, Yang Xingmi and Sun Ru, he could only be slaughtered or used as a vent for others.

Qian Liu's era has not yet arrived, and he needs to keep a low profile. Although he is bullied and bullied now, he will be a dragon among men in the near future.

Sun Ru dispatched troops to deal with the threat from Zhu Wen in Bianzhou.

Yang Xingmi took this opportunity to counterattack Runzhou and Changzhou.

Things are unpredictable. The Bianzhou Army, which had been advancing triumphantly all the way, suffered a disastrous defeat at Lingting, northeast of Yangzhou. The commander Pang Shigu led the remnants to withdraw from Sizhou.

Zhu Wen's plan to infiltrate Huainan was shelved.

As the saying goes, misfortunes never come singly. When he was in Xuzhou, Pu also knew the truth that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". Taking advantage of Zhu Wen's move of his troops south, he sent a letter to Li Keyong for help.

Li Keyong was overjoyed to receive the letter, and immediately sent General Shi Junhe to lead 500 cavalry to reinforce Xuzhou.

After receiving reinforcements, Shi Pu led the Hedong reinforcements to invade Zhu Wen's hometown, Dangshan, with the goal of digging up Zhu Wen's ancestral tomb and destroying Zhu Wen's feng shui.

Zhang Yun, a young general from Suzhou, changed his mind and rebelled against the forces of Bianzhou, announcing his return to the Xuzhou Ganhua Army.

Zhu Wen led a large army to besiege Suzhou and sent his eldest son Zhu Youyu to rescue the ancestral tombs in Dangshan. As the saying goes, a tiger father will have a dog son. Zhu Youyu wiped out the tomb-robbing army in Xuzhou and captured the Hedong reinforcement general Shi Junhe alive. Zhu Wen beheaded all the captives in Hedong, including Shi Junhe.

Although Li Keyong only sent 500 troops to the Xuzhou battlefield, this had already attracted enough attention from Zhu Wen.

Zhu Wen and Jing Xiang reassessed the external environment and believed that the established strategy must be changed. Because the previous premise of the "Look East" strategy was that there was no interference from Li Keyong. Now, these 500 Hedong soldiers were a dangerous signal: Li Keyong was coming.

After a rigorous review, Jing Xiang pointed out that the main task at this stage should be to eliminate Li Keyong. Li Keyong is the biggest threat to Zhu Wen. Huainan will be left to Sun Ru and Yang Xingmi, and they will fight each other and restrain each other. We will sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, and reap the benefits; as for Xuzhou Shi Pu, he is a weakling and not worth worrying about.

Zhu Wen was also very clear that he could not fight against Li Keyong on his own. So he once again used his skills of vertical and horizontal maneuvering, jumping up and down, uniting a large number of forces that could be united, forming the "Killing Hu Alliance" to launch a devastating disaster against Li Keyong.

(End of this chapter)