History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 183 Peninsula Crisis
Peninsula Crisis

The Pinglu Army, headquartered in Qingzhou (now Weifang City, Shandong Province), is located in the central part of today's Shandong Province. Its governor is Wang Shifan.

When Zhu Wen besieged Fengxiang, the eunuch Han Quanhui forged an imperial edict ordering all towns and provinces across the country to raise troops to "serve the king."

At that time, Li Keyong of Hedong gladly obeyed the imperial edict, but was "besieged Taiyuan three times" by Zhu Wen, and was beaten to the point of doubting his life; Wang Jian of Xichuan gladly obeyed the imperial edict, but took advantage of the situation to encroach on Li Maozhen's territory in Shannan; the two heroes of Jianghuai were hindered by their own internal strife; Feng Xingxi of Jinzhou helped Zhu Wen intercept and kill the eunuch envoys who were passing through the south... As a result, Zhu Wen was able to concentrate all his efforts to achieve a great victory in Fengxiang and bring back Emperor Zhaozong.

During this period, Wang Shifan, the usually low-key commander of the Qingzhou Pinglu Army, suddenly made his presence felt. He accepted the call of the Guanxi Group and the eunuch forces and plotted to rebel against Zhu Wen.

In October of the first year of the Longji era (889), Wang Jingwu, the former governor of Pinglu Army in Qingzhou, died of illness, and the army elected Wang Jingwu's son, Wang Shifan, who was only 16 years old, as the governor of Pinglu. The young ruler made the country suspicious, and the frontier officials took the opportunity to rebel.

Zhang Chan, the governor of Dizhou under his jurisdiction, was the first to start the riot, refusing to recognize Wang Shifan and openly rebelling, so the court appointed Cui Anqian as the governor of Pinglu Army, intending to take the opportunity to bring the Qingzhou Pinglu Army back to the central government. Zhang Chan welcomed Cui Anqian to Dizhou and planned to attack the young master Wang Shifan.

Wang Shifan sent General Lu Hong to suppress the rebellion, but Lu Hong turned against his allies on the battlefield and conspired with Zhang Chan to attack the headquarters in Qingzhou.

At the critical moment, the 16-year-old Wang Shifan showed extraordinary wisdom and courage. He sent a large sum of money to Lu Hong as a bribe, saying that he was young and ignorant, and was forced to stay behind by the three armies. He knew that he was not worthy of the heavy responsibility, so he was willing to hand over the position of Jiedushi to Lu Hong, only asking to save his life and guard the tombs of his ancestors, and he would obey your orders.

Secretly, they ambushed elite soldiers on both sides of the road, waiting for the big fish to take the bait.

Lu Hong didn't take the young Wang Shifan seriously at all, thinking that what he said was reasonable, so he relaxed his vigilance and happily fell into the trap. At the welcoming banquet prepared by Wang Shifan for him, he was beheaded by his general Liu Xun.

Afterwards, Wang Shifan announced to Lu Hong's troops the enlightened policy of "only executing the main culprit and not questioning the rest". Not only did he not punish them, but he gave them generous rewards to comfort them and win over the hearts of the troops. Then he personally led them to redeem themselves from their crimes and counterattack Zhang Chan, capturing and beheading him. He also deliberately let Cui Anqian go so that he could return to Chang'an smoothly to avoid offending the central court.

From then on, Wang Shifan firmly established himself as the governor of Pinglu Army.

He is good at both kindness and severity, and he also understands politics.

When Zhu Wen annexed the two Zhu states of Yan and Yun in one fell swoop, he took advantage of the victory and intended to march eastward to take Qingzhou as well. Wang Shifan immediately sent an envoy to express his allegiance, thus avoiding the suffering of war.

Qingzhou Pinglu Army, whose jurisdiction covers the eastern part of today's Shandong Province, the entire Shandong Peninsula, is surrounded by the sea on three sides, and borders Yanzhou Taining Army and Yunzhou Tianping Army only on the west. Its geopolitics is relatively simple, as it is blocked in the peninsula by the two Zhus of Yan and Yun, isolated from the world and not competing with the world. The two Zhus of Yan and Yun are both his roadblocks and his watchdogs.

For a long time, two generations of the Wang family have been law-abiding, defending the land and protecting the people for the emperor, almost no external military expansion, and wholeheartedly seeking development. Although their presence is not high, historical evaluations are generally positive.

According to historical records, after Wang Shifan received the "edict" to support the emperor, he burst into tears and cursed the local warlords who were self-reliant and watched the emperor suffer humiliation. He then decided to eliminate the enemy for the country and attack Zhu Wen.

Who in the world doesn't know that these imperial edicts were written by eunuchs and Li Maozhen? Even Li Keyong and Wang Jian, who "followed the imperial edict", were motivated by their own interests and had their own agenda.

Wang Shifan's super fighting power at the age of 16 made me doubt his naive behavior at the age of 25. Wang Shifan obviously had his own plans.

Zhu Wen completed the strategic goal of "looking eastward", eliminated Xuzhou Shi Pu and Yanyun Erzhu, crippled Youzhou Liu Rengong and his son Cangzhou Liu Shouwen, and conquered the various towns in Heshuo. The process of Zhu Wen's power expansion was also the process of indirectly helping Qingzhou to clear obstacles. Outside the peninsula, no one could check and balance Wang Shifan.

Now, Zhu Wen placed his strategic focus on the Guanzhong region in the west, and lacked strength in the east. During this period, Wang Shifan of Qingzhou, located in the easternmost part of Zhu Wen's power, and Yang Xingmi of Huainan in the southeast had been flirting with each other and had a close relationship.

If Wang Shifan joined forces with Yang Xingmi, Li Keyong, and Li Maozhen to launch an attack, Zhu Wen would be caught in a dilemma of fighting on two fronts. Yang Xingmi could occupy Xuzhou Wuning Army, while Zhu Jin could recapture Yanzhou Taining Army, and Wang Shifan could divide up Yunzhou Tianping Army. At that time, Wang Shifan could not only seize Cangzhou Yichang Army to the north, but also reach out to the Heshuo area, and even directly threaten the Bianzhou base camp.

Even if Zhu Wen counterattacks, Zhu Jin in Yanzhou will become the strongest barrier for Wang Shifan. Zhu Wen not only robbed Zhu Jin's foundation, but also killed his flesh and blood, and even took possession of his beloved wife. If Zhu Jin can regain control of Yanzhou, he will become a natural ally of Wang Shifan, allowing Wang Shifan to confidently march to the Hebei region in the northwest.

Therefore, after receiving the "edict" from Fengxiang Li Maozhen and the eunuchs, Wang Shifan immediately contacted Hedong Li Keyong and Huainan Yang Xingmi to discuss the joint attack on Zhu Wen. However, there is no record in history books that he contacted Youzhou Liu Rengong. This is very interesting. This can also be seen as an indirect evidence of Wang Shifan's expansion. In addition, Wang Shifan's betrayal of Zhu Wen was also "forced" by the court, because before that, the court ordered Yang Xingmi to "kill the pig" and appointed Zhu Jin as the governor of Qingzhou Pinglu Army. Therefore, Wang Shifan took the initiative to contact Yang Xingmi secretly, expressing his willingness to stand with him and oppose Zhu Wen.

In short, Wang Shifan was not a naive person. He cried bitterly while holding the imperial edict in his hands. It was a political show to find a legal basis for his rebellious behavior.

Looking at the rebellion plan formulated by Wang Shifan, it is really chilling and cruel: send generals to disguise themselves as tribute envoys or small vendors, hide weapons, and go to Bian, Xu, Yan, Yun, Qi, Yi, Meng, Hua, Shaanxi, Guo, Hua, Luo, Hezhong and other prefectures to lie in ambush, and agree on a date in advance (the fifth day of the first lunar month) to rebel at the same time on that day.

In terms of location, they covered almost all the important towns and strategic locations from Shandong to Chang'an, and were spread everywhere; in terms of the method of action, it belonged to the "terrorist attacks" that are still very popular in the world today, targeted "decapitation", that is, using special forces to raid military and political headquarters, capture and kill military and political leaders, and paralyze the enemy.

Wang Shifan is truly the forefather of terrorists.

Even Li Keyong praised Wang Shifan's plan, and under the persuasion of the military supervisor eunuch Zhang Chengye, he raised an army to respond, attack Jinzhou, and help Fengxiang to relieve the siege.

On the fifth day of the first lunar month, Zhang Juhou, the general of the Pinglu Army, arrived at the east of Huazhou City with 200 warriors, pushing a cart, claiming to be an envoy to pay tribute to the court. The Bian general Lou Jingsi, who was guarding the city, ordered the car to stop for inspection. Just as he was about to open the box for inspection, more than 200 people suddenly shouted loudly, rushed forward, killed Lou Jingsi, and then attacked the city. At that time, Prime Minister Cui Yin was in the city. Hearing about the change, he hurriedly led the troops to resist. After all, the Pinglu Army had only 200 people, and was outnumbered and quickly wiped out.

Like the special forces responsible for seizing Huazhou, the special forces of the Pinglu Army in other places were also discovered and arrested. Only Yanzhou brought good news.

The one who was in charge of the attack on Yanzhou was Wang Shifan's "founding hero", the great general Liu Xun. As early as when Wang Shifan first took over the throne, it was he who personally killed the rebel general Zhang Chan at the Hongmen Banquet.

Liu Xun was both intelligent and brave. He had done sufficient intelligence work in advance and sent people dressed as oil sellers to investigate the city. He found a loophole in the defense of Yanzhou City: the sewer.

On the evening of the fourth day of the first lunar month, Liu Xun selected 500 warriors, sneaked into the city through the drainage ditch under the cover of darkness, and carried out a silent "snitch" attack in the middle of the night. By dawn the next day, they had already controlled the inner city, and the people in the city knew nothing about it. Liu Xun also took control of the headquarters office without anyone noticing. At this point, Liu Xun announced that he had taken over Yanzhou.

The current Jiedushi of Yanzhou Taining Army is Ge Congzhou. He is currently stationed in Xingzhou and has taken away all the elite troops of Yanzhou Taining Army.

After Liu Xun took control of Yanzhou, he treated Ge Congzhou's wives with special favor, especially Ge Congzhou's mother. Liu Xun respected Ge Congzhou's mother like his own mother, and he would kneel and kowtow to her every morning to greet her. Ge Congzhou's children continued to hold their original positions, and their salaries and various subsidies were paid as usual.

At that time, Pei Di, the general of Bian, was stationed in Bianzhou and received the messenger sent by Wang Shifan. This person should be a messenger for daily official correspondence and had nothing to do with the series of terrorist attacks. Pei Di took the official letter and asked politely, "What is the situation in the east?" Unexpectedly, the messenger's face changed drastically and sweated profusely.

Pei Di immediately dismissed his attendants and questioned the messenger alone. The messenger was already terrified and told everything he knew in one breath, like a bamboo tube pouring out beans.

The situation was urgent, and there was no time to report or ask for instructions. Pei Di directly ordered Zhu Youning to lead 10,000 vanguard troops to inspect the ground in Yan and Yun. While marching quickly, Zhu Youning notified Ge Congzhou, the mobile force stationed in Xingzhou, to jointly attack Wang Shifan in Qingzhou. At the same time, Pei Di sent an expedited horse to report to Zhu Wen in the west.

After Zhu Wen received the news, he immediately dispatched a part of the troops to march eastward and obey Zhu Youning's orders.

Soon, under Zhu Wen's high pressure, Fengxiang Li Maozhen surrendered, killed the eunuch Han Quanhui as a scapegoat, sent Zhaozong back, and negotiated peace with Zhu Wen, as described above.

After receiving the news that Emperor Zhaozong had returned to Chang'an, Li Keyong realized that there was no hope of "killing the pig", so he lifted the siege of Jinzhou and returned to Taiyuan.

After settling the affairs in Chang'an, Zhu Wen began to transfer the main forces from the western battlefield to the eastern battlefield. In order to prevent Li Keyong from attacking from behind, he asked Zhaozong to act as a middleman to convey his desire to reconcile with Li Keyong.

This matches the point in the previous article.

Thanks to my old friend “Bedroom King” for his recommendation and support!


(End of this chapter)