History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 192: The Marginal Heroes
【Marginal Heroes】

For a long time, Jianghuai, the Yellow River Basin, Sichuan and Shaanxi have been hot spots, and various characters have appeared in pairs, such as Zhu Wen vs. Li Keyong in the Yellow River Basin, Yang Xingmi vs. Qian Liu in the Jianghuai region, Li Maozhen vs. Wang Jian in the Sichuan and Shaanxi regions, etc., all of which are responsible for traffic. However, the two lakes, Guangdong and Guangxi, which exist as fillers between these forces, have been artificially marginalized, and it seems that they will only bubble up when senior central officials are demoted. In fact, this is just an illusion. There was no paradise in that period, and no one could be immune.

The warlord infighting here was equally fierce and brutal, but it did not have much overlap in core interests with the above-mentioned mainstream regions, and thus evolved in a relatively closed environment. It was not until Zhu Wen, Yang Xingmi and other bigwigs completed the integration of the hot spots that more intense frictions, conflicts and infiltrations of forces inevitably arose between the major forces, and these "marginal" areas were forced to be drawn in, gradually changing from extras to supporting roles.

Affected by geopolitics, these "marginal" regions survived in the cracks between Qi and Chu. The one who exerted the greatest influence on them was Yang Xingmi of Huainan.

After Yang Xingmi occupied Huainan, he bordered Qian Liu of Hangzhou to the southeast. The two sometimes flirted with each other and sometimes fought to the death. After a series of contests, they finally reached a strategic balance. To the east was the sea; to the north was Zhu Wen, the most powerful vassal in the Central Plains. From the beginning, the two were at odds with each other and used each other until later they fought. Yang Xingmi, who was at an absolute disadvantage, could only maintain a defensive position and did not dare to act rashly for the time being; to the west was this fragmented "marginal area" where weaklings were fighting each other, so it became Yang Xingmi's first target for expanding his power.

Among this group of rookies, Ezhou Du Hong has become the first choice among the choices.

[Ezhou Du Hong and Hongzhou Zhong Chuan]

Du Hong was born as an actor. When Huang Chao was in chaos in the Central Plains, the imperial court ordered local officials to recruit soldiers and organize local militia to protect the country and the people. Du Hong gave up his acting career and resolutely enlisted in the army. Because of his bravery in combat, he was promoted to a junior officer. At the same time, the famous "Eight Capitals of Hangzhou" responded to the call. Dong Chang, Qian Liu and others also joined the local militia in Hangzhou at almost the same time and started their military careers.

It happened that the imperial court transferred Lu Shenzhong as the governor of Hangzhou, and Dong Chang had already had the intention of separatism, so he used troops to stop him and interfered with him by force. Lu Shenzhong had no choice but to live in Huangzhou (now Huanggang City, Hubei Province).

Not long after, Lu Shenzhong heard that the governor of Ezhou had passed away and the position of governor was vacant, so he recruited 3,000 soldiers and forcibly took over Ezhou, setting an example for Du Hong.

Following suit, the junior officer Du Hong immediately led his troops to expel the governor of Yuezhou and took his place in his place in the fourth year of Zhonghe reign of Emperor Xizong (884).

The demonstration effect of the example backfired on Lu Shenzhong. Two years later, Zhou Tong, the leader of a gang involved in organized crime, gathered a crowd to attack Ezhou, and Lu Shenzhong abandoned the city and fled. Du Hong, who was close to the water, led his army to Ezhou and called himself the regent. As expected, he was officially appointed as the military governor of Wuchang Army in Ezhou by the imperial court.

Later, Du Hong of Ezhou borrowed troops from Yang Xingmi of Huainan to quell the small group of warlords who were not obedient to discipline in the territory. Yang Xingmi also took the opportunity to occupy part of the territory of Wuchang Army, and the conflict between the two began from then on.

Facing the threat from Yang Xingmi, Du Hong had two options: one was to ask Zhu Wen for help, and the other was to join forces with Hongzhou Zhong Chuan to fight against Yang Xingmi.

Zhong Chuan and Du Hong are a pair of brothers in distress. They have many similarities, so much so that in historical records, they are always inseparable and introduced together.

Unlike actor Du Hong, Zhong Chuan was born a small merchant, who gave up business to join the army. He was promoted to a low-ranking officer due to his merits. He first occupied Fuzhou and then Hongzhou. He drove out the Jiangxi Surveillance Commissioner and proclaimed himself the regent. He was then appointed as the Jiedushi of Hongzhou Zhennan Army by the court.

Zhong Chuan was also a tiger-fighting hero. The later "Wu Song Fighting the Tiger" was probably based on him, and the two stories are quite similar: Zhong Chuan went out to drink and came back drunk. When he passed through the mountains, he encountered a tiger. Zhong Chuan suddenly sobered up and confronted the tiger with a wooden stick. After a fierce fight, Zhong Chuan dropped the wooden stick and fought the tiger with his bare hands. The stalemate lasted until the evening, and it was hard to tell who would win. When Zhong Chuan's family saw that he had not returned for a long time, they went out to look for him. They found Zhong Chuan locked with the tiger, and then they stepped forward and swung their swords to kill the tiger.

Although he left behind the reputation of a "tiger-fighting hero" and hung a painting of "Zhong Chuan Fighting a Tiger" in his home, Zhong Chuan was not proud of it. Instead, he often pointed to the painting and warned his descendants to learn from it and not to learn from his recklessness and use himself as a negative example.

When Zhong Chuan occupied Hongzhou, Fuzhou local militia leader Wei Quanfeng and his brother Wei Zaichang took advantage of the situation and established their own regimes in Fuzhou and Xinzhou respectively.

Fuzhou is low-lying and often flooded, which is not conducive to production and labor, nor to war and defense. After occupying Fuzhou, Wei Quanfeng first carried out a city relocation project, moving it to a higher place. It took three years to build the Fuzhou city wall, which became the first large-scale city wall construction project in Fuzhou's history. He laid the foundation for the modern Fuzhou City and became the founder of Fuzhou.

Wei Quanfeng actively developed the economy of Fuzhou, and soon turned this barren land into a well-known metropolis. Merchants and travelers flocked in, and people came to settle there.

Wei Quanfeng attached great importance to education and promoted Buddhism, which enabled Fuzhou to cultivate several major schools of Zen Buddhism within a few decades. Fuzhou was therefore known as the "Zen River Center of the World".

Fuzhou and Xinzhou, controlled by the Wei brothers, were subordinate states of the Zhennan Army, and Zhong Chuan was the governor of the Zhennan Army in Hongzhou. Zhong Chuan could not tolerate this embarrassing situation of being in name only, so he used force against the states within his jurisdiction that did not obey his orders.

Other states and counties surrendered one after another, but Fuzhou Governor Wei Quanfeng did not surrender. Zhong Chuan personally led the army to besiege Fuzhou. One night during the siege, a fire broke out in Fuzhou City. The fire spread rapidly and became uncontrollable. The flames reached the sky, and the soldiers and civilians in the city wailed in fear. The situation was precarious. At this time, the generals under Zhong Chuan asked for battle, saying that this was a godsend opportunity and they should take this opportunity to capture Fuzhou in one fell swoop.

Zhong Chuan flatly refused, saying that a gentleman should not take advantage of others' misfortune. Then he set up an altar, swept the ground to offer sacrifices to the heavens, and prayed devoutly for Fuzhou City: "It is not the people's fault that Wei Quanfeng did not surrender. Please take back the heavenly fire and do not punish the innocent people!"

Oddly enough, the fire was put out soon after.

When Wei Quanfeng in the city heard about it, he surrendered the next day and asked to marry his daughter to Zhong Chuan's son Zhong Kuangshi, expressing his willingness to accept Zhong Chuan's control. A great battle was turned into peace under the influence of Zhong Chuan's great personality charm. It has become a legend for all ages.

Zhong Chuan thus achieved the actual unification of the Hongzhou Zhennan Army.

Du Hong of Ezhou and Zhong Chuan of Hongzhou were located in the southwest of Yang Xingmi's sphere of influence in Huainan, and they supported each other and united to resist Yang Xingmi's invasion. However, with their combined strength, they were no match for Yang Xingmi, so they both expressed their allegiance to Zhu Wen and sought the protection of the Bianzhou forces.

Ezhou, located in the eastern part of Hubei Province today, is located on the south bank of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. It is an important transportation hub and freight transfer station with convenient water transportation. Du Hong was blessed with unique advantages. Like Feng Xingxi of Jinzhou, he killed all the eunuch envoys of Wuchang Army passing through Ezhou to show his loyalty to Zhu Wen. At the same time, he blocked the southeast tribute road and took it for himself.

Because Du Hong blocked the tribute route, Emperor Zhaozong ordered Yang Xingmi to be the commander-in-chief of Jiangnan (commander-in-chief of all the Jiangnan roads) to attack Du Hong in Ezhou. Thus, Yang Xingmi had a legitimate reason to launch a war of annexation against Du Hong in Ezhou.

It was the fourth year of Qianning (897), and Yang Xingmi of Huainan was fighting fiercely with Qian Liu of Hangzhou. Although he received the imperial edict, he was powerless to do so, and due to Zhu Wen's interference, he did not make the expected progress.

Until the third year of Tianfu (903), Yang Xingmi of Huainan controlled Huainan, Xuanzhou Ningguo Army and other territories, and absorbed and digested the powerful enemy in the territory - Feng Hongduo of Shengzhou; he also established friendly relations with his old enemy Qian Liu of Hangzhou and helped Qian Liu suppress the "Xu Xu Rebellion"; the powerful enemy Zhu Wen in the north also shifted his strategic focus to Guanzhong to compete for Zhaozong.

So in the first month of the third year of Tianfu, Yang Xingmi, full of high spirits, pointed westward and, in the name of the emperor, appointed Zhu Jin as deputy commander-in-chief of the Zhengdong Army Group (deputy commander-in-chief of the eastern camps), and gave him the title of prime minister; he ordered Li Shenfu to be the chief of staff for the Huainan War and commander of the expedition to E and Yue (the recruiting envoy of the E and Yue camp), and Liu Cun as deputy commander.

Target: Du Hong, Ezhou!
As soon as the Huainan army set out, the Ezhou general stationed in Yongxing immediately abandoned the city and fled. Huainan general Li Shenfu took over Yongxing without bloodshed.

Li Shenfu could not hide his joy and said to the generals around him, "Yongxing is not only a big county, but also the granary of Ezhou. Most of Ezhou's military rations are supplied by it. Taking Yongxing is equivalent to taking half of Ezhou!"

The Huainan Army took advantage of the victory and surrounded Ezhou.

Li Shenfu looked at Ezhou from afar and found that there were a lot of reeds piled up in the city for use in war. He said to the eunuch who was supervising the army beside him: "I will burn it tonight. Do you believe it?"

"Do not believe."

Li Shenfu smiled slightly and said nothing more. He sent his generals to secretly go to the opposite bank of the river, Luokou (where the Luoshui River flows into the Yangtze River, an important strategic location), by speedboat and climb to the top of the tree at night holding torches.

The defenders in the city thought that it was the reinforcements sent by Zhu Wen who were sending a secret signal, so they happily lit up the reed piles to echo it. Li Shenfu's plan succeeded.

At that time, Zhu Wen had just brought Emperor Zhaozong back to Chang'an from Fengxiang, and Wang Shifan of Qingzhou launched a rebellion. Zhu Wen shifted his main energy from the west to the east, focusing on pacifying the situation in Shandong. As mentioned above, Wang Shifan of Qingzhou also asked for help from Yang Xingmi of Huainan, who sent Wang Maozhang to lead his troops to reinforce and assist Wang Shifan in killing Zhu Wen's nephew Zhu Youning.

This is interesting. Zhu Wen's core interest is in Shandong, so he supports Du Hong in Ezhou and contains Yang Xingmi. Yang Xingmi's core interest is in Ezhou, so he supports Wang Shifan in Qingzhou and contains Zhu Wen.

Yang Xingmi sent envoys to the west of Du Hong of Ezhou and Zhong Chuan of Hongzhou to contact Ma Yin, the governor of Wu'an Army of Tanzhou, and proposed that the two sides attack from the east and west to divide Ezhou. He also proposed to become sworn brothers with Ma Yin to jointly resist Zhu Wen.

(End of this chapter)