History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 195 The Song of the Seven Sons
【Song of the Seven Sons】

Du Hong of Ezhou, Zhong Chuan of Hongzhou, Ma Yin of Tanzhou, Zhao Kuangning of Xiangzhou, Cheng Li of Jingnan, Lei Yangong of Langzhou, together with the powerful "outsider" Yang Xingmi of Huainan in the east, are finally going to put on a good show in this marginal land.

Yang Xingmi frowned in front of the map, then he smiled.

Although most of them are attached to Zhu Wen, most of them are fence-sitters, forgetting their loyalty when they see profit, and are fickle. As long as they can be shown the advantages of Huainan, they will switch sides without hesitation. However, it seems difficult to achieve an absolute crushing of Zhu Wen on the front battlefield at this stage, so this road is blocked.

Looking at these six people, none of them is easy to deal with, and the relationship between them is not so harmonious. Although they live under the same roof, they also hide irreconcilable contradictions or unpleasant pasts. As long as they can provoke trouble and fan the flames, they will kill each other, and then Huainan will reap the benefits. This is the essence of Yang Xingmi's westward plan.

What are the things they have to say to each other?
First, there was a direct conflict between Zhong Chuan of Hongzhou and Ma Yin of Tanzhou. The two sides fought against each other in order to fight for territory.
Secondly, there was also a "family feud" between Lei Yangong of Langzhou and Ma Yin of Tanzhou.

When Lei Man rebelled against Gao Pian and occupied Langzhou, his close comrade Zhou Yue also rebelled against him. The reason was that the two of them were fighting over the unequal distribution of meat during hunting. Zhou Yue tried to kill Lei Man but failed. Lei Man occupied Langzhou and was very powerful. So Zhou Yue led his people to capture Hengzhou and took the position of governor. Later, another comrade of Lei Man fought with Min Xu for Tanzhou. Min Xu was betrayed by a traitor and died. Zhou Yue took advantage of the situation and occupied Tanzhou.

Deng Chu'ne, a subordinate of Min Xu, blamed Zhou Yue for the incident, prepared his troops, and endured it for eight years. Eight years later, he joined forces with Lei Man, conquered Tanzhou, and killed Zhou Yue. This has been mentioned in the previous article.

Therefore, Lei Man and Deng Chu'ne were allies, and Deng Chu'ne was killed by Liu Jianfeng a year later. Liu Jianfeng's successor was Ma Yin.

Although there was no direct military conflict between Lei Man and Ma Yin, there were subtle frictions of interest because of Deng Chu'ne.

After Lei Man died, his son Lei Yangong succeeded him and inherited this contradiction.

Secondly, the conflict between Lei Yangong of Langzhou and Cheng Li of Jingnan was the most irreconcilable.

Langzhou and Lizhou occupied by Lei Man were originally subordinate states of Jingnan. From Cheng Li's point of view, "Langzhou and Lizhou have been the territory of Jingnan since ancient times and are an inseparable part of Jingnan." Lei Man is of course a "Lang independence" and "Li independence" element.

From Lei Man's point of view, he and Cheng Li are essentially the same. I occupy Li and Lang, and you occupy Jiangling Prefecture. As for the saying that Li and Lang are prefectures under the jurisdiction of Jingnan, and Jiangling Prefecture is the capital of Jingnan... then Huang Chao once occupied Chang'an, who recognized him as the emperor? Why should I, Lei Man, obey Cheng Li's control?

Previously, Cheng Li repeatedly submitted memorials to the court, accusing Lei Man of splitting up Southern Jing, but the court never responded positively. Later, when Prime Minister Xu Yanruo was demoted and sent to a distant place, he was warmly entertained by Cheng Li when he passed through Jiangling Prefecture. During the banquet, Cheng Li once again complained to Xu Yanruo, hoping that he could help him speak a word in the court to assist him in completing the great cause of unifying Southern Jing.

Xu Yanruo said sarcastically, "You live in a chaotic world, and you call yourself a peerless hero, often comparing yourself to Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin. Now, you can't even deal with a small barbarian bandit, and you still have the nerve to turn around and complain about the injustice of the court?"

Cheng Li's face was filled with shame and guilt, and he wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

There was a huge contradiction between Lei Yangong and Cheng Li over "dividing the land", which was as irreconcilable as water and fire.

Finally, there was the conflict between Cheng Li of Jingnan and Ma Yin of Tanzhou.

This clue is not complete, the relevant information is not sufficient, and there is basically no direct evidence. We can only find indirect records from other records. For example, when Jingnan Cheng Li decided to send troops, one of his advisers reminded him that Ma Yin and Lei Yangong were our enemies.

Cheng Li and Ma Yin controlled Hubei and Hunan respectively, and their forces came into contact along the Yangtze River and around Dongting Lake, so friction and disputes were inevitable.

So far, after some sorting, it is not difficult to see that Ma Yin of Tanzhou, Cheng Li of Jingnan, and Lei Yangong of Langzhou all have conflicts with each other. Any one of them can join forces with the other to attack the third party, and can also be attacked by the other two parties, forming a strange triangle relationship in the west of Huainan; among them, Ma Yin of Tanzhou is relatively the strongest, and he has the most enemies. In addition to Cheng Li of Jingnan and Lei Yangong of Langzhou, he also has unpleasantness with Zhong Chuan of Hongzhou;

Besides the territorial dispute with the regional bully Ma Yin of Tanzhou, Hongzhou Zhongchuan also had an unstable factor internally - Wei Quanfeng of Fuzhou, who was like a time bomb;
As for Zhao Kuangning of Xiangzhou, he was playing two games, sometimes submitting to Zhu Wen and sometimes joining Huainan. He was greedy for profit and forgot his principles. It was impossible for him to go to war with Huainan just for an order from Zhu Wen.

After weighing the pros and cons, Yang Xingmi concluded that these six towns were nothing to worry about. Not only would they not be a threat to Huainan, they could also be used by Huainan.

Now let's sort out the current situation in this area: Du Hong of Ezhou took advantage of the power of others and Zhu Wen's support to openly rob the emperor, and the court ordered Yang Xingmi to suppress him;

Yang Xingmi, following the imperial order, led an expedition under the pretext of encircling Ezhou;

At that time, Wang Shifan of Qingzhou rebelled and Zhu Youning was killed in the battle. Zhu Wen was busy suppressing the rebellion. The Bian army that came to aid Ezhou and the Huainan army were stuck in a stalemate in Ezhou and failed to lift the siege of Ezhou.

【Death of Cheng Li】

The stronger a person is, the better he knows how to preserve his strength and use it to his advantage. Just like the bigger a company is, the more it values ​​financing. Although Ma Yin, an old subordinate of Sun Ru, was always wary of Yang Xingmi of Huainan, Yang Xingmi of Huainan did not list Ma Yin of Tanzhou as an imaginary enemy. On the contrary, Yang Xingmi positioned Ma Yin as a "comrade who can be won over."

Ma Yin is strong and surrounded by powerful enemies, so he can be used as a stepping stone and vanguard for Huainan to expand its power to the west. Once Tanzhou is used by Huainan, Yang Xingmi can control the western part of Huainan freely. If he controls, he can fan the flames and make Ma Yin the target of public criticism, and take the blame for Huainan; if he controls, he can form alliances and let Ma Yin take advantage of the situation, while Huainan will reap the benefits.

So while attacking Ezhou, Yang Xingmi took the initiative to extend an olive branch to Ma Yin, asking for an alliance with him and offering to become sworn brothers with him.

After weighing the pros and cons, Ma Yin still thought that Zhu Wen's thighs were thicker, so he politely declined Yang Xingmi's kindness. However, Yang Xingmi did not give up his efforts to win over Ma Yin, which is another story.

Ezhou and Guangzhou asked Zhu Wen for help at the same time. Zhu Wen sent his general Han Xing to lead 10,000 reinforcements to station in Luokou, and ordered the "weird triangle" of Jingnan Cheng Li, Tanzhou Ma Yin, and Langzhou Lei Yangong to send troops together to assist Ezhou Du Hong.

Cheng Li of Jingnan gladly accepted the order. He thought this was a good opportunity to expand his power. He planned to seize the land of Huainan in the name of aiding Hubei and expand his own territory. So he mobilized 100,000 naval forces and sailed eastward along the Yangtze River.

This surface force was built by Cheng Li over a three-year period. It has numerous huge ships, the size of which is rare in the world. The flagship is named "Hezhou Zai", which, as the name suggests, can accommodate the people of a state, comparable to today's aircraft carriers; the others, such as "Qishan", "Jiehai", "Pilang"... just from the names of the ships, you can imagine their size.

Almost all the people came out.

His advisers advised him not to do so, reminding him that his two "comrades-in-arms" - Ma Yin of Tanzhou and Lei Yangong of Langzhou, were all enemies of Jingnan, so he should be on guard against them! Moreover, although this huge navy seemed to be powerful and invincible, it actually had a fatal flaw, that is, the ships were too heavy and inconvenient to move, and the Huainan Army was always known for its agility, so it was not easy to compete with them! It would be better to send an elite force to station in Baling (the intersection of the Yangtze River and Dongting Lake, the junction of the four towns of Jingnan, E, Tan, and Lang, a strategic location), and stop the main force on the opposite bank. In this way, Ezhou would be controlled in the north to restrain the Huainan Army; Tan and Lang would be controlled in the south to prevent the "friendly army" from stabbing in the back. Within a month, the Huainan Army would not be able to supply food and grass, and would inevitably retreat without a fight, and the siege of Ezhou would be lifted.

From a bird's eye view, the counselor's plan was flawless, but what he didn't know was that Cheng Li's goal was not to lift the siege of Ezhou, but to seize the land of Huainan. The counselor saw through the current situation, but didn't see through Cheng Li's mind. Cheng Li flatly rejected this safe proposal, and went his own way, relying on his invincible fleet, and went east along the river.

As expected, Ma Yin of Tanzhou and Lei Yangong of Langzhou reached a secret agreement to divide the spoils. The two armies met at the mouth of the Jingjiang River where Dongting Lake flows into the Yangtze River, and then headed north to take advantage of the opportunity to launch a surprise attack on Cheng Li's old nest - Jiangling Prefecture.

The Tan-Lang coalition forces easily captured Jiangling Prefecture and abducted all the residents and property in the city.

When the soldiers on the front line heard that their families were destroyed and their loved ones were killed, their morale collapsed immediately and they completely lost their fighting capacity. Cheng Li's invincible fleet became like the walking corpses.

At the same time, Huainan General Li Shenfu also tailored a set of tactics for this invincible fleet, combining geographical factors and launching a fire attack.

Cheng Li's navy completely collapsed and the situation was out of control.

With his old nest in the rear destroyed and the front line facing total annihilation, Cheng Li knew that the situation was hopeless. He looked up to the sky and sighed, regretting not listening to others, and then he committed suicide by drowning.

Li Shenfu captured more than 200 remaining warships, further strengthening Huainan's strength. Han Jing, the army supporting Hubei and Kaifeng, retreated hastily after receiving the news.

On his way back to the army, General Xu Dexun of Tanzhou persuaded Deng Jinzhong, the governor of Yuezhou, to surrender. Deng Jinzhong moved his family to Tanzhou, and Ma Yin appointed Xu Dexun as the governor of Yuezhou and Deng Jinzhong as the governor of Hengzhou. Yuezhou is located to the east of the confluence of Dongting Lake and the Yangtze River, facing Langzhou across Dongting Lake to the west; connected to Tanzhou by the Xiang River to the south; connected to Ezhou in the northeast along the Yangtze River; connected to Jiangling Prefecture in the northwest along the Yangtze River. It is an important strategic location, now controlled by Ma Yin of Tanzhou.

However, Lei Yangong of Langzhou did not have such great talent and vision. He was "barbaric and cunning, and had a lot of his father's style", just like his father. What was his father like? Answer: "He was probably not a human being."

Lei Yangong's favorite entertainment activity was killing and arson, which made the area of ​​southern Jing "uninhabited for thousands of miles."

The final verdict on Cheng Li, who committed suicide by drowning, can now be made. He has a legendary story. Like many heroes in troubled times in history, he was a knight-errant when he was young and "killed people while drunk". Later, he went into exile and became a monk to avoid being hunted down. He had been a robber and a soldier, and he had the shadow of Xiahou Dun and Lu Zhishen.

He had been wandering around the world for many years, and his personality was bold and irritable. He was also tainted with warlord habits, and was despised by scholars. He was narrow-minded, and history also recorded a stain on him:
There was a counselor named Zheng Zhun beside him, who was good at writing and famous among the princes. On one of Cheng Li's birthdays, Yang Xingmi of Huainan sent an envoy to congratulate him and present birthday gifts to keep in touch with him. Among these birthday gifts, there was actually a book called "Chuxueji". "Chuxueji" is a comprehensive book compiled in the early Tang Dynasty, which includes single sentences from the classics, history, philosophy, and collections of the early Tang Dynasty and previous generations. In short, it is a concise guide to famous sayings and aphorisms, a paper version of Baidu.

When Zheng Zhun found out, he was furious and told Cheng Li that "Chuxueji" was a "book for training children" and that we are in a hostile state with Huainan. They sent this book to disgust you deliberately and to scold you for being uneducated. We should write back to condemn them to show our dignity!

It is not known whether Cheng Li was magnanimous or heartless. He did not adopt Zheng Zhun's suggestion, but still accepted "Chuxueji" with a smile and asked the messenger to take back his cordial greetings to Yang Xingmi.

Zheng Zhun shook his head and sighed, "If this happens, the enemy country will laugh at me and make fun of me for having no one in Jingnan! It seems that Jingnan cannot last long." So Zheng Zhun handed in his resignation and quit.

Cheng Li did not show him any mercy and secretly sent someone to assassinate Zheng Zhun.

Zhu Wen, the boss behind Ezhou, was fighting with Wang Shifan of Qingzhou on the Shandong Peninsula. A serious internal conflict broke out among the reinforcements, and Cheng Li of Jingnan died before he could accomplish his mission.

Ezhou seemed to be within reach, but Yang Xingmi failed to expand his victory as he wished, because at this moment, a series of difficult things happened in Huainan.

(End of this chapter)