History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 128 Little Wang Rong

Taking advantage of the momentum of annexing Xuzhou, Zhu Wen ordered Pang Shigu to march north to attack Zhu Jin in Yanzhou. Pang Shigu was unstoppable and fought all the way to Qufu before setting up camp to rest.

Zhu Jin was defeated without any resistance. Like Shi Pu in Xuzhou, he was forced to retreat into Yanzhou City at the beginning of the war. He lost almost all his strongholds and allowed the Bian army to penetrate deep into his hinterland and plunder at will.

Another Bian army, led by Ge Congzhou, besieged Qizhou (now Jinan City, Shandong Province).

Pang Shigu was the main attacking force, and Ge Congzhou was responsible for assisting and feinting attacks, which caused the two Zhus of Yan and Yun to be frequently mobilized and suffer from the pain of running around, and the war resources were greatly consumed.

Zhu Wen personally led the army to station at Yushan (more than 70 miles away from Yunzhou); Pang Shigu stationed at Liangshan (more than 60 miles away from Yunzhou); Ge Congzhou stationed his troops at Xintai (more than 200 miles away from Yanzhou), responsible for containing the reinforcements from Yanzhou.

At the beginning of the game, the two Zhus of Yanyun lost the opportunity to seize the line in the river and had to fight directly to defend the crystal.

Zhu Xuan of Yunzhou was eager to break the passive situation, so he personally led a large army to attack Zhu Wen's troops in Yushan.

The two armies deployed their battle arrays at the foot of Yushan Mountain, preparing for a group battle.

Suddenly, a southeast wind blew up, carrying sand and rocks, and rushed towards Zhu Wen's formation. Zhu Wen's flag with the word "Marshal" on it was blown all over the place by the strong wind. The soldiers could hardly stand and could not open their eyes amid the flying sand and rocks. The army was in a panic and was in danger of collapsing without a fight.

Zhu Wen ordered: All cavalrymen, shout towards the wind!
The soldiers risked getting a stomach upset from drinking the cold wind and howled loudly, their voices echoing through the sky and reaching dozens of miles away. The Bian army was inspired and their morale was high. The Yunzhou soldiers were also deeply shocked by this formation and did not dare to take advantage of the wind.

Zhu Xuan ordered the soldiers to hide in the dry grass to avoid the wind, keep their mouths shut to prevent diarrhea, cover their ears to avoid being frightened by the enemy's roar, and close their eyes to avoid being blinded by the sand...

In comparison, Zhu Xuan's operation was mysterious.

Soon, history staged another dramatic scene: the southeast wind suddenly turned into northwest wind, and Zhu Wen took the upper wind.

Zhu Wen seized this precious opportunity and hurriedly ordered a fire.

In an instant, tongues of fire flew out, flames rolled across the ground, and mercilessly pounced on Zhu Xuan's army.

While Zhu Xuan was busy putting out the fire, Zhu Wen led his troops to attack. The Bian army came roaring like a mountain torrent and a ferocious beast, and the sound of killing shook the sky.

Zhu Xuan's troops were immediately scattered, more than 10,000 of them were captured and killed, and the rest jumped into the Ji River to swim to escape, many of them drowned. The defeated troops were secretly rejoicing after landing, but unexpectedly, Pang Shigu's reinforcements came to attack them, and the defeated soldiers of Yunzhou suffered another devastating disaster, with heavy casualties.

Zhu Xuan escaped in a panic and saved his life.

The two Zhus of Yan and Yun were in a critical situation, and as expected, they sent a request for help to Li Keyong of Hedong. Li Keyong sent the "Three An Brothers" An Fushun, An Fuqing, and An Fuqian to lead 500 cavalrymen to Weizhou and go south to reinforce.

It was still the same recipe, and the same familiar taste. Five hundred cavalrymen passed through Wei Bo.

Last time, only 500 cavalry were sent because Li Keyong was fighting with Helian Duo of Datong and Li Kuangwei of Lulong and was unable to withdraw. This time, only 500 cavalry were sent because Li Keyong encountered a bigger trouble - Li Cunxiao rebelled. [Hebei Chengde Army]

Li Keyong defeated Zhang Jun's plan to encircle Hedong, consolidated Hedong, and then attacked his old enemy Helian Duo and eventually annexed him. Helian Duo defected to Li Kuangwei of Lulong.

After clearing the obstacles in the north, Li Keyong did not stop advancing. At the suggestion of Li Cunxiao, the Hedong Army used Dongzhaoyi as a springboard, went east out of Taihang Mountains, and attacked the Chengde Army in Zhenzhou.

Wang Rong, the governor of Chengde Army, was less than 20 years old.

Wang Rong's ancestor was a Uighur from the Abusi tribe. His name was Wu Gezhi. He served as a cavalry general under Li Baochen, the first governor of Chengde Army. Wu Gezhi's son was named Mo Yuanhuo. Later, he was adopted by Wang Wujun, a deputy general under Li Baochen, so he took the surname "Wang". Mo Yuanhuo's son was named Wang Shengchao.

Wang Shengchao's son was called Wang Tingcou. ​​Wang Tingcou instigated a mutiny and killed Tian Hongzheng, then military governor of Chengde, forcing the court to appoint him as military governor of Chengde. That was in the second year of the Changqing reign of the Tang Dynasty (822). From then on, the Uighur Wang family began to rule Chengde.

Wang Tingcou gave birth to a son named Wang Yuankui, Wang Yuankui gave birth to a son named Wang Shaoding, Wang Shaoding gave birth to a son named Wang Jingchong, and Wang Jingchong gave birth to a son named Wang Rong.

Among them, Wang Yuankui married Princess Shou'an and became the prince consort.

Here are three digressions:

First, the four official histories (Old Book of Tang, New Book of Tang, Old History of Five Dynasties, New History of Five Dynasties) all have records about this branch of the Uighur Wang family, but they are only a few sentences each, and they are all missing and contradictory on key issues, such as who Wang Wujun actually adopted as his son.

These contradictions cannot be verified, nor is there any need to verify them. According to the historical view of this book, we can completely put aside the disputes and seek common ground while reserving differences. In short, a man named "Wugezhi" from the Uighur Abusi tribe gave birth to a son named "Moyuanhuo", and then a grandson named "Wang Shengchao". One of the three generations of grandparents and grandchildren was Wang Wujun's adopted son.

Second, the Uighur Wang family was a slave who took his master's surname, and only took the surname "Wang" because he was adopted by Wang Wujun; Wang Wujun was a member of the Khitan Nujie tribe, an important general under Li Baochen, and also Li Baochen's relative. Wang Wujun's eldest son, Wang Shizhen, married Li Baochen's daughter. It is difficult to verify how the Khitan Wang Wujun got the surname "Wang".

Li Baochen was not originally surnamed "Li". He was a member of the Xi ethnic group. He was first adopted by a general surnamed Zhang, so he took the surname "Zhang" and was named Zhang Zhongzhi. Later, he was adopted by An Lushan, so he changed his surname to "An". He made great contributions to An Lushan in the early stage of the "Anshi Rebellion", and then he turned from darkness to light and surrendered to the court. Later, he betrayed the court and surrendered to Shi Siming. After Shi Siming's death, he surrendered to the court again.

After the "Anshi Rebellion" was completely quelled, the court believed that this slave of three surnames was truly loyal and commendable, so they named him Duke of Zhao, gave his army the name "Chengde Army" (the origin of Chengde Army), gave him a red-lettered iron certificate and a golden medal of immunity from death, gave him the imperial surname "Li", and named him Baochen.

In short, they change their names just like we change our online names.

Third, when Wang Tingcou married Princess Shou'an, a man was filled with righteous indignation and denounced the court's compromise and tolerance of the warlords. He compared the princess' marriage to a "peaceful marriage" and said it was a very humiliating political marriage. For this reason, the man even wrote a poem to satirize, criticize and lash out.

This poem is also included in the Complete Tang Poems, with the title "Princess Shou'an's Surrender". The name of this gentleman is Li Shangyin.

In fact, at that time, the emperor's daughter was very worried about getting married. The court officials were ashamed to marry a princess, the scholar-official class was proud and noble, and was ashamed to rely on nepotism to get promoted. The son-in-law was usually regarded as a gigolo, the biggest son-in-law in the world, and was unanimously despised and rejected by the civil service group.

When Emperor Xuanzong of Tang wanted to marry a princess, all the sons of the noble families avoided her like a plague god, and the scene was very awkward. After repeated persuasion from another son-in-law of Emperor Xuanzong, Zheng Hao, Yu Cong finally mustered up the courage and agreed to marry Princess Guangde.

When a son of an aristocratic family marries a princess, you call him a loser who lives off his wife; when a son of a vassal state marries a princess, you call him a bully of the central government... You are a bunch of cowards!
(End of this chapter)