History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 172: Qi Bian Confrontation
[Qi Bian Contest]

Zhaozong was forced by eunuchs to travel west to Fengxiang, and hastily formed the "Fengxiang Exile Government". Like the "Xingyuan Exile Government" of Xizong's reign, its legitimacy was questioned because there were no civil and military officials accompanying him, and Zhaozong in Fengxiang was just a lonely emperor.

Cui Yin refused to accompany him because he was irreconcilable with the eunuch Han Quanhui and the Guanxi group behind him, and going to Fengxiang would be like going to his death. It is said (according to Cui Yin) that before Zhaozong went west, he gave Cui Yin a secret letter with very sad words, which said that I had to go to Fengxiang for the sake of the country, and you should lead all the civil and military officials to the east (to join Zhu Wen). This statement was even confirmed and quoted by the authoritative historical book "Zizhi Tongjian".

The Old Book of Tang and the New Book of Tang are more interesting. They all say that Cui Yin "resented the emperor for not following him after he was deposed." They say that eunuchs like Han Quanhui instigated the imperial guards to cause trouble, which led to Cui Yin's dismissal from his lucrative post. After that, they went even further and demanded that he be dismissed as prime minister. Cui Yin therefore resented Zhaozong and refused to follow him to the west. They are talking about facts on the table, but intentionally or unintentionally ignore the undercurrents under the table.

No matter what selfish motives Cui Yin had, in short, he and other civil and military officials were protected by Sun Dezhao from being kidnapped by the eunuchs and became the thorn in the side of the "Fengxiang Exile Government", thus shaking its legitimacy and providing a legal basis for the "two central governments" or local powerful vassals to forcibly enter Chang'an.

It was for this reason that Sun Dezhao was ranked first in the reward system afterwards.

Although the eunuch Han Quanhui failed to kidnap all the officials, he kidnapped all the royal family members, thus preventing Zhu Wen, Cui Yin and others from appointing princes and emperors as new monarchs, and preventing the farce of "Huang Taisan's great-uncle usurping the throne" from happening again.

Cui Yin waited eagerly, looking at the eastern sky, enduring the darkness before dawn, waiting for the east to turn red, the sun to rise, and Zhu Quanzhong (Zhu Wen's current name) to come from the east. After finally seeing a glimmer of light, he heard that Zhu Wen had withdrawn his troops halfway, and he was so anxious that he jumped up and down, and ordered the crown prince's grandmaster Lu Wo and 263 other senior officials to jointly invite Zhu Wen to the west to welcome the emperor back to Beijing; he also sent Prime Minister Wang Pu to Zhu Wen's camp to urge him to advance quickly and not hesitate.

Zhu Wen said in a high-sounding manner: "If we march forward, I am afraid someone will slander me for threatening the emperor; if we withdraw our troops -" he held up a joint letter signed by 263 senior officials, which was his amulet, "then the people of the world will accuse me of betraying the country. What should I do? Haha, I eat the salary of the emperor, and I should be loyal to the emperor. I can only make a fuss for myself. I would rather let the world betray me than let me betray the world."

On that day, Zhu Wen's troops marched towards Chang'an.

Cui Yin led the civil and military officials to go out of the city to welcome the relatives. They stood in line at Changle Slope in the east of the city, expressing their warm welcome and playing the song "Welcome the Relatives" loudly.

Sun Dezhao was also among the welcoming crowd and saluted Zhu Wen.

Zhu Wen was very grateful to Sun Dezhao, and ordered his attendants to help him onto his horse and enter Chang'an together. He first appointed Sun Dezhao as the acting governor of the Kuangguo Army in Tongzhou (Quanzhi Liuhou), and then made him the military and political director of Chang'an (Liangjie Zhizhishi), and gave him a million yuan.

Sun Dezhao was also very tactful and took the initiative to hand over his military power and offered thousands of his troops to Zhu Wen. Zhu Wen then appreciated him even more and gave him a luxurious villa.

Zhu Wen sent someone to Fengxiang to report to Emperor Zhaozong, saying that he had received a secret decree and a letter from Prime Minister Cui Yin, ordering me to lead the army to meet the emperor, and asked him not to misunderstand.

The eunuch Han Quanhui forged an imperial edict in reply: I voluntarily went to Fengxiang to avoid a fire. I was not forced by the eunuchs. As for the so-called secret edict, it was forged by Cui Yin. Don't believe the slander and take your troops home quickly!
The next day, Zhu Wen led his army westward, and Cui Yin led all the civil and military officials to march in a line in the west of Chang'an City, playing a song "Returning in Victory". However, Cui Yin was humming "Sending Off My Lover" in his heart.

Li Maozhen sent his adopted son Li Jiyuan to lead 10,000 troops to stop the enemy. They fought many times but were repelled by Bian general Kang Huaizhen, and more than 6,000 people were captured.

Zhu Wen took advantage of the victory to advance towards Fengxiang and set up camp in the east of the city.

Li Maozhen personally climbed up the city wall and rebuked Zhu Wen for his impoliteness: "The emperor came to my humble abode temporarily to avoid the fire. You were misled by the slander of the treacherous people and led your troops to commit a crime. Can you bear the crime of disturbing the emperor?"

Zhu Wen didn't want to argue with him, so he sent someone to tell him, "The eunuch Han Quanhui kidnapped the emperor, and I came here to punish him and escort him back to the palace. What do you have to do with this? Do you need to come forward to explain?"

Li Maozhen was at a loss for words and hurried to discuss countermeasures with Han Quanhui. Han Quanhui and others continued to forge imperial edicts, using Zhaozong's tone to scold Cui Yin, saying that "a leaky cup is hard to fill, a small vessel is easy to overflow, and he has never had the heart to serve the country, but has made plans to endanger the country", "the right and wrong of the four directions depends on him", and said that they had sent people to Chang'an five times to urge him to report to Fengxiang, but he "refused to come" and refused to obey the imperial edict;

And I emphasized again that it was a fire in the palace, and then the soldiers were causing trouble (soldiers entangled the chariot, the fire illuminated the palace, smoke and dust rose to the sky, and the war was everywhere), so I had to come to Fengxiang for refuge (which forced me to flee and reach Qiyang), and what was the result? Before I could even catch my breath, you brought your troops to force me in, killing people and setting fires outside (the chariot was not yet in place, and the iron cavalry came and surrounded the imperial court and burned the houses), who will be held responsible (who will be held responsible)?

Then he emphasized again that Zhu Wen's so-called "secret edict" was all forged by Cui Yin, severely reprimanded Cui Yin's illegal behavior, and announced his dismissal from the prime minister.

Imperial edicts came in like snowflakes, again and again, accusing Cui Yin of forging the imperial edict, accusing Zhu Wen of being misled by rumors, and ordering Zhu Wen to lead his troops back to the town.

Although they knew that the eunuch Han Quanhui had forged the imperial edict, they could do nothing about it. This was the political advantage of "using the emperor to command the princes".

Zhu Wen retreated slightly and turned to attack Bingzhou in the northeast.

Li Jihui (Li Maozhen's adopted son), the governor of Jingnan, Bingzhou, held out for three days before opening the city and surrendering.

Zhu Wen sent Li Jihui's wife as a hostage to Hezhong Prefecture, and ordered Li Jihui to stay in Bingzhou, and restored Li Jihui's real name, Yang Chongben. As usual, he is still called Li Jihui in the following text. In just three days, Zhu Wen took over the second-in-command of the Guanxi Group, the Bingzhou Jingnan Army.

After capturing the Jingnan Army in Bingzhou, Zhu Wen continued to retreat eastward and stationed his troops in Sanyuan.

Upon hearing that Zhu Wen's army was retreating eastwards, Cui Yin could no longer sit still, and hurried to Sanyuan in person to advise him not to waste his efforts and not to seek fame and reputation, but to go west, west, and west again, and finally get it done.

Cui Yin repeatedly explained the pros and cons, telling Zhu Wen that he must take back the emperor. If he obeyed the eunuch's order and returned to the town, Li Maozhen and Han Quanhui would issue another order to kill him. Would he really die? Since you would resist the order then, why not do it now? With the emperor in hand, the world is mine.

With Cui Yin as a scapegoat, what else did Zhu Wen have to worry about? He immediately sent his nephew Zhu Youning to continue westward to attack Zhuozhen, an important stronghold west of Chang'an. This was a transit station from Chang'an to Fengxiang, and its geographical location was very important.

Zhu Youning attacked for nearly ten days, but to no avail. Zhu Wen was furious and went to the front line to supervise the battle. Zhuozhen surrendered. Zhu Wen ordered: Massacre the city!

Subsequently, Zhu Wen ordered Cui Yin to lead all civil and military officials and all residents of Chang'an to move to Huazhou.

Eunuchs Han Quanhui and Li Maozhen continued to issue imperial edicts in the name of Emperor Zhaozong, denouncing Zhu Wen for raising troops to invade the capital and intending to be disloyal, and calling on the vassal states across the country to rise up in arms and fight against the traitor Zhu Wen.

The only "vassal states" who were capable of serving the emperor were Wang Jian of Xichuan, Yang Xingmi of Huainan, and Li Keyong of Hedong. These three leaders gladly obeyed the imperial edict. Everyone had a responsibility to strike back at Zhu Wen, and the key was that everyone would benefit.

Zhu Wen is about to face an important test and also usher in a major turning point in his life.

(End of this chapter)