History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 203 Many crises
[Crisis]

For more than a decade, Zhu Wen was always in a strong position compared to Yang Xingmi, but the three expeditions to Huaihe all ended in failure. Although this failure did not cause Zhu Wen too much material loss, the political loss was immeasurable, which was what annoyed Zhu Wen the most.

At that time, what made Zhu Wen irritated was not only Huainan, but also Wang Jian of Xichuan and Weizhou of Hebei.

Let’s talk about Wang Jian of Xichuan first. He has always taken advantage of the geographical location and enjoyed the benefits. He encroached on Li Maozhen’s territory south of the Qinling Mountains to the north and expanded eastward along the Yangtze River. Wang Jian basically completed his control over the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and his sphere of influence has penetrated into the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

In the geopolitical map of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, although Wang Jian was a rising star, this new wave had the momentum to beat the old wave Zhu Wen to death on the beach.

Previously, when the weaklings in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River were fighting each other, the losers' first choice of refuge was Chengdu rather than Bianzhou, which shows the political influence of Wang Jian of Xichuan on this region.

Zhu Wen was the overlord of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in name only, while Wang Jian and Yang Xingmi shared the actual power equally.

Now, Wang Jian had thrust his greedy hands directly into Zhu Wen's trouser pockets and sent troops to attack Zhu Wen's goalkeeper, Feng Xingxi of Jinzhou.

Feng Xingxi was unable to resist and fled the city, while his general Quan Shilang surrendered the city. Wang Jian adopted Quan Shilang as his son, renamed him Wang Zonglang, and appointed him as the governor of Jinzhou. He also allocated Qu, Ba, and Kaizhou as the jurisdiction of Jinzhou Road.

If Li Maozhen of Fengxiang was the western buffer zone between Xichuan and Zhu Wen, then Jinzhou was the southern buffer zone between Xichuan and Zhu Wen. Wang Jian's brazen annexation of Jinzhou indicated that he was no longer satisfied with being in a corner of Shu, and wanted to strive for the Central Plains and directly challenge Zhu Wen's authority.

This was Xichuan Wang Jian's "going out" strategy, and it was also one of Zhu Wen's pain points.

Zhu Wen’s second pain point was Weizhou, Hebei.

The situation in Wei Bo was rather awkward. Jiedushi Luo Shaowei had an unusual relationship with Zhu Wen, very close, close to the point of "incest":
Zhu Wen and his father Luo Hongxin were brothers. Zhu Wen called Luo Hongxin "Sixth Brother", so Luo Shaowei should call Zhu Wen "Uncle", and Luo Shaowei's son should call Zhu Wen's daughter "Aunt";
Luo Shaowei's eldest son married Zhu Wen's two daughters successively, forming a double aunt-niece relationship;

Luo Shaowei's second and third sons married Zhu Wen's two granddaughters (daughters of Zhu Youzhen) respectively. As a result, Luo Shaowei's daughters-in-law were sisters-in-law in their husband's family and aunts and nieces in their own family.

Of course, up to now, Luo Shaowei should only have the eldest son as his marriage proposal. In short, Luo Shaowei was loyal to Zhu Wen. So where was the problem? Luo Shaowei's control over the Wei Bo army began to loosen.

To make a long story short, after the "An Lushan Rebellion", in order to appease the former subordinates of An Lushan and Shi Siming, the court appointed Tian Chengsi (an old subordinate of An Lushan) as the Jiedushi of Weizhou. Tian Chengsi was stationed in Weizhou with 100,000 soldiers, which was like a separatist regime. Together with the Chengde Army and the Lulong Army, they were called the "Three Towns of Heshuo". They nominally submitted to the court, but in fact they dominated one side, which had always been a concern for the Tang Dynasty.

Before his death, Tian Chengsi handed over power to his nephew Tian Yue, setting a precedent for hereditary feudal lords, which was a milestone in the separatist regimes of feudal lords in the late Tang Dynasty.

The Tian family passed down four generations and six people. Finally, Tian Hongzheng presented Weizhou to the court. Tian Hongzheng also became a key figure in the "Yuanhe Restoration". Later, the court moved him to Chengde Army, but he was killed by Chengde general Wang Tingcou (Wang Rong's great-grandfather). The court also appointed Tian Hongzheng's son Tian Bu as the governor of Weizhou. Tian Bu was forced to death by his general Shi Xiancheng, who was killed in a mutiny. The three armies supported He Jintao as the governor. From then on, the Weizhou Army was transferred from the Tian family to the He family;
The He family passed down the throne for two generations, but was killed in a mutiny. The three armies elected General Han Junxiong (Han Yunzhong) as the governor.
The Han family passed down the throne for two generations, and then encountered a mutiny. The three armies elected General Le Yanzhen (Le Xingda) as the governor.
Before Le Yanzhen could pass the throne to his son Le Congxun, he encountered a mutiny, and the three armies recommended General Zhao Wenbian as the governor;
Zhao Wenbian was slightly displeased by the three armies, so he was beheaded in public. The three armies held Zhao Wenbian's head and shouted, "Who wants to be the governor?" Someone in the crowd responded, and this person was Luo Hongxin. Luo was in charge of Wei Bo, and this story has been detailed in the previous article.

After Luo Hongxin's death, the three armies supported his son Luo Shaowei as the successor of the Jiedushi. A little review shows that the arrogance of the troops in Weizhou has reached an outrageous level. They have the final say on the selection of Jiedushi and even the life and death of Jiedushi. The imperial commission is just a formality. And this army is the dreaded "Weizhou Yajun".

The Yajun system also originated from Tian Chengsi. Simply put, it was a private armed force, which Tian Chengsi was responsible for recruiting, training, and paying, so the Yajun was only loyal to the Jiedushi himself.

In order to take care of morale, improve efficiency and save costs, the Ya Army has been professionalized and socialized since its birth. The Ya Army not only brought their families with them, but also had relatively independent and closed residential areas, namely "Yacheng", which can be understood as military compounds. They enjoyed many privileges and benefits and belonged to the privileged class within the jurisdiction of the vassal state. Therefore, they were often unwilling to intermarry with ordinary people and basically chose internal marriages. Over time, the Ya Army became intricately connected and no one could shake it.

Because of its "socialization", a Ya soldier was responsible for the support of a whole family, and the military pay was obviously not enough to support the huge expenses of the Ya soldiers and Ya generals. Therefore, in addition to the fixed salary, the biggest source of income for the Ya soldiers was the rewards from the Jiedushi. Gathering people to ask for rewards also became the daily work of the Ya soldiers.

If the Jiedushi was an upright gentleman with clean hands, he would certainly not be able to satisfy the appetite of the Yajun army. Therefore, the Yajun army forced the Jiedushi to exploit the people in the territory, squeeze the people's fat and blood, and support this privileged class.

If they were just vampires and parasites, then the Ya Army would not be so scary. The real scary thing is the way the Ya Army eliminated the honest and incompetent Jiedushi, killing them and exterminating their entire families at will, which is really bloody. In the late Tang Dynasty, the Wei Bo Ya Army and Wuning (Xuzhou) Ya Army were the most famous for their arrogance.

The Wei Bo Ya Army had a history of 200 years since Tian Chengsi founded it, and it was difficult to get rid of it. Luo Shaowei had always regarded it as a thorn in his side, fearing that one day they would mutiny again and chop off his head.

Sure enough, in July of the second year of Tianyou in the Tang Dynasty (905), General Li Gongquan led his soldiers to launch a mutiny in Weizhou. Fortunately, Luo Shaowei discovered it in time. After smashing, looting and burning, Li Gongquan fled to Cangzhou and took refuge with Liu Shouwen of Cangzhou.

As early as when Zhu Wen besieged Fengxiang and fought for Emperor Zhaozong, Luo Shaowei sensed the approach of danger and repeatedly sent secret letters to Zhu Wen, asking him to help resolve the crisis of the Ya Army. At that time, Zhu Wen was too busy to do anything and could only comfort him with kind words.

Li Gongquan's "Weizhou Mutiny" made Luo Shaowei even more uneasy. He hurriedly informed Zhu Wen of the situation in the country and asked Zhu Wen to step in to resolve the civil strife.

Weizhou was the focus of the towns in Heshuo. If Zhu Wen could not even protect this closest partner, then the restless Li Keyong of Hedong and Liu Rengong of Youzhou would inevitably re-intervene in regional affairs. Moreover, Luo Hongxin and Luo Shaowei were regional agents cultivated by Zhu Wen with great efforts. How could he easily give them up?

If Wei Bo is pacified, Heshuo will be at peace.

Zhu Wen no longer pretended to be nice to Luo Shaowei, but secretly made a plan of internal and external cooperation to help Luo Shaowei completely solve the threat of the Ya Army.

But if the army is urged to go to Wei Bo, it will inevitably provoke a strong backlash from the Wei Bo army, and it is inevitable that they will take risks, and the consequences will be disastrous.

Just then, good news came from Weizhou: Zhu Wen's daughter died.

(End of this chapter)