History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 214 Unity and Division

[Unity and division]

Zhu Wen replaced the Tang Dynasty and established himself, and he urgently needed to gain recognition and support from various political forces. Therefore, after becoming emperor, Zhu Wen first rewarded his meritorious officials, taking care of his direct descendants and the founding heroes, as well as the former Tang officials and the middle forces.

At the beginning of the founding of the country, united front work was particularly important.

Zhang Quanyi of Heyang was named King of Wei; Liu Yin of Lingnan was named King of Nanping; Ma Yin of Tanzhou was named King of Chu; Shenzhi of Fujian was named King of Min; Qian Liu of Hangzhou was named King of Wuyue; Wang Rong of Zhenzhou was named King of Zhao; and Chuzhi of Dingzhou was named King of Beiping. Wei Bo Luo Shaowei had already been named King of Ye by the Tang Dynasty, so he could only be given the title of Grand Tutor.

Among them, Liu Yin of Lingnan and Wang Shenzhi of Fujian had no connection with Zhu Wen, and they kept to themselves. Moreover, Liu Yin had bribed Zhu Wen heavily before, hoping to curry favor with him. After being granted the title of king by the Later Liang Dynasty, he was naturally more willing to support Zhu Wen.
Ma Yin of Tanzhou and others had many interactions with Zhu Wen. Ma Yin's strategic thinking was to support the central government and Zhu Wen, who represented the Tang Dynasty at the time, and to be an enemy of Yang Xingmi, the "Huai Yi". After the Later Liang replaced the Tang Dynasty, Ma Yin immediately recognized the legitimacy of the Later Liang and was willing to support Zhu Wen.

Qian Liu of Hangzhou was also more inclined to Zhu Wen because of the existence of Yang Xingmi in Huainan. He had previously submitted a petition to the court, asking to be named "King of Wuyue". The Tang Dynasty under Zhu Wen's control flatly refused, which made Qian Liu very unhappy. After Zhu Wen ascended the throne, he immediately named him King of Wuyue, which won Qian Liu's favor. This was a small conspiracy of Zhu Wen when he was plotting to conquer the Tang Dynasty. Zhu Wen succeeded, and Qian Liu also recognized the legitimacy of the Later Liang Dynasty.
Wei Bo Luo Shaowei in Heshuo, Wang Rong in Zhenzhou, and Wang Chuzhi in Dingzhou were also loyal supporters of Zhu Wen, needless to say;

In addition, Liu Rengong of Youzhou encountered civil strife, and his son Liu Shouguang imprisoned him, then claimed to be the governor of Youzhou Lulong Army, and sent envoys to Zhu Wen to express his allegiance and request for appointment. Zhu Wen was delighted and immediately appointed Liu Shouguang as the governor of Youzhou Lulong Army and the prime minister. The dispute between father and son in Youzhou will be described in detail later.

What surprised Zhu Wen the most was that he gained the recognition and support of the Khitan people outside the Great Wall. In the same year that the Later Liang Dynasty was established, the Khitan leader Yelu Abaoji ascended the throne of Khan and sent envoys to visit the Later Liang Dynasty to establish diplomatic relations and pay tribute to the Later Liang Dynasty with fine horses.

At this point, the legitimacy of Later Liang was universally recognized. The territory of Later Liang roughly corresponded to today's vast areas of Hebei, Shandong, Henan, northern Jiangsu, western Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Fujian, Hainan Island, northern Vietnam, Shaanxi, and Ningxia. In these areas, all of them recognized Later Liang as the legitimate regime, changed to the "Kaiping" era, recognized Later Liang as the only legitimate central government on Chinese soil, and recognized Zhu Wen as the legitimate emperor.

[Opposition]

Of course, those who refused to recognize the Later Liang were Li Keyong of Hedong, Li Maozhen of Fengxiang, and Yang Wo (son of Yang Xingmi) of Huainan. These three were all enemies of Zhu Wen. They refused to recognize the legitimacy of the Later Liang replacing the Tang Dynasty and insisted on using the Tang Dynasty's reign title of "Tianyou 4th Year". Wang Jian of Xichuan also chose to side with the opposition for his own interests.

Wang Jian of Xichuan and Yang Wo of Huainan jointly announced to the world that they would form an alliance with Li Keyong of Hedong and Li Maozhen of Fengxiang to fight against Liang and restore Tang, and called on the vassal states of the world to unite and rise up together to respond.

The embarrassing thing is that none of the warlords in the world responded.

Since you, Zhu Wen, learned from Cao Wei, I, Wang Jian, will learn from Shu Han. Wang Jian of Xichuan followed Liu Bei's example and intended to ascend the throne and become emperor in Shu. He also wrote to Li Keyong of Hedong, urging him to ascend the throne and become emperor as well. After all, he, Wang Jian, could not bear the eternal infamy of "splitting China", so he had to drag more people into the water.

In his letter to Li Keyong, Wang Jian explained: We will both ascend the throne and claim our thrones as emperors, each ruling a region. After we eliminate Zhu Wen, we will look for a descendant of the Tang Dynasty surnamed Li and support him in reviving the Tang Dynasty. We will then cancel our titles as emperors and remain loyal to our duties as Tang officials...

Do you believe it yourself?
Li Keyong scoffed at this and wrote back to flatly refuse, claiming that he would never dare to betray his country in his lifetime!
In his reply, Li Keyong said that he was shocked to hear Wang Jian's words of becoming emperor, "tears wet my collar, I was twice as depressed as Shen Xu; sweat ran down my back, as if I heard Jiang Ji's words." Shen Xu is Wu Zixu. King Ping of Chu believed in slander and killed his father and brother. Wu Zixu fled to Wu and vowed to destroy Chu. He eventually helped King Helu of Wu to defeat Chu. At that time, King Ping of Chu had died, so Wu Zixu dug up the grave and whipped the corpse to vent his anger.
Jiang Ji, a minister of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period, served in the reigns of Cao Cao, Cao Pi, Cao Rui, and Cao Fang. He participated in the "Gaopingling Incident" and helped Sima Yi usurp the Cao family's throne. It is said that Jiang Ji was just very stupid and naive. He believed Sima Yi's lies and personally lobbied Cao Shuang, saying that Sima Yi just wanted to seize power and didn't want to kill people. Unexpectedly, Sima Yi killed Cao Shuang and others after Cao Shuang handed over power. Cao Shuang and his entire family were executed. Later, Sima Yi promoted Jiang Ji to a higher position to reward him for his outstanding performance in the "Gaopingling Incident". Jiang Ji refused to accept it because he felt guilty towards Cao Shuang. Not long after, he died of depression in his endless self-blame.

Li Keyong compared Wang Jian to Wu Zixu and Jiang Ji.

In his reply, Li Keyong called Zhu Wen Wang Mang and Chi You. Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty and was an enemy of Han culture; and Chi You, needless to say, was the number one public enemy of Chinese civilization and the descendants of Yan and Huang.

Li Keyong said in the letter that he had "served two dynasties and received grace from three generations", and that he was a general and a prime minister, and that he was a member of the royal family of the Li clan. That's right, his father Zhu Ya Chixin made great contributions in suppressing the "Pang Xun Rebellion", and at that time he was given the national surname Li, and was included in the royal family register, belonging to the Zheng Wang branch. So Li Keyong could proudly claim that he was also a descendant of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin.

In this case, can I, Li Keyong, declare myself emperor? Definitely not. Because you are either Sun Quan, who "did not receive much favor from the Han Dynasty", or Liu Bei, who "rose slightly in Zhuojun". You upstarts "do not thank your family for what you have gained, and do not lose your fame for what you have lost". How can you compare with me?
Li Keyong's sarcastic remarks showed his loyalty to the Tang Dynasty.

Wang Jian was determined to establish a kingdom and become an emperor. Even if no one responded, Wang Jian still resolutely occupied Shu and established a kingdom and became an emperor.

In September of the same year when Zhu Wen established the Later Liang Dynasty, Wang Jian, the King of Shu (enthroned by the Tang Dynasty) officially proclaimed himself emperor, named his country Da Shu (historically known as Former Shu), and established its capital in Chengdu. Its territory roughly corresponds to most of today's Sichuan, southern Shaanxi, southeastern Gansu, and western Hubei.

Before ascending the throne, Wang Jian led all officials and the people to cry for three days to express his mourning for the Tang Dynasty, thereby demonstrating the necessity and legitimacy of the founding of the country, just like Liu Bei's weeping for Emperor Xian of Han.

Afterwards, he bestowed great rewards on meritorious officials and issued a general amnesty, etc., which need not be elaborated.

Interestingly, when Wang Jian first founded the country, he continued to use the Tang Dynasty’s reign title, but the year he used was not “the fourth year of Tianyou” but “the seventh year of Tianfu”.

Tianyou was the reign title of Emperor Ai, but Wang Jian continued to use "Tianfu" instead of "Tianyou", indicating that he believed that Emperor Ai was a puppet of Zhu Wen and refused to acknowledge him. This was also out of considerations of political correctness, refusing to acknowledge that Zhu Wen was the political basis for Wang Jian to become emperor.

In recent years, Fengxiang Li Maozhen suffered a series of heavy losses, and his strength was seriously damaged, especially after the "Siege of Fengxiang". Historical records show that Li Maozhen's "troops were exhausted, his wings were drooping", and his "treasury was empty". One of his adopted sons, Li Yanqi, helped him out of the predicament. Li Yanqi visited the Uighurs via Ganzhou and traded with them. Two years later, "beautiful jade and famous horses arrived one after another, and the gains were worth tens of thousands".

Li Maozhen did not dare to follow Wang Jian's example. He still retained the Tang Dynasty title of King Qi. Although he did not call himself an emperor in name, he actually called himself an emperor. Li Maozhen set up a palace and appointed civil and military officials. The place where he lived was called "palace", his wife was called "empress", the reports submitted by officials were called "memorials", and he also used the imperial guards when traveling.

In 907 AD, there were three era names in China at the same time: the fourth year of Tianyou, the seventh year of Tianfu, and the first year of Kaiping. In this year, China officially entered the "Five Dynasties" period, and chaos and division continued to increase.

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(End of this chapter)