History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 219 Huainan Yang Wo 1
【Huainan Yang Wo】

The situation in Huainan after the change of ownership was not optimistic, as evidenced by a poem:
“Surrounded by enemies on three sides, attack from five directions;

Hongnong Yangwo, Huainan Taidi. "

Which three sides?
Ma Yin from Tanzhou, Qian Liu from Hangzhou, and Zhong Chuan from Hongzhou.

Which five routes?
One horse, two coins and three bells were passed on, and Wei comforted Zhu Houliang.

First, let’s look at Ma Yin of Tanzhou.

When Yang Xingmi was alive, he wanted to form a strategic partnership with Ma Yin of Tanzhou, and repeatedly extended an olive branch to Ma Yin. I wanted to turn my heart to the bright moon, but the bright moon shines on the ditch. Between Zhu Wen and Yang Xingmi, Ma Yin decisively chose to stand with Zhu Wen, thus repeatedly rejecting Yang Xingmi's goodwill.

When Yang Xingmi died and his eldest son Yang Wo succeeded to the throne, Ma Yin took advantage of the mourning period to launch an attack on Huainan, but was repelled by the Huainan defenders.

Therefore, Yang Wo sent his general Chen Zhixin to organize a counterattack. Chen Zhixin captured Yuezhou in one fell swoop and incorporated Yuezhou into the territory of Huainan. Yang Wo appointed Chen Zhixin as the governor of Yuezhou.

The "Huai-Chu Dispute" officially began.

Taking advantage of the victory, Yang Wo of Huainan sent Liu Cun, Chen Zhixin, Liu Wei, Xu Xuanying and others to lead 30,000 naval forces to attack Tanzhou headquarters. However, Liu Cun and others were first hit by heavy rain and then by land and sea attacks. More than 100 generals and 10,000 soldiers were killed, more than 800 warships were captured, Liu Cun and Chen Zhixin were captured, and Liu Wei and Xu Xuanying led the remnants to escape back to Huainan.

Ma Yin took advantage of the victory to recapture Yuezhou.

Liu Cun and Chen Zhixin had been fighting against the Huaixi forces such as Ma Yin of Tanzhou for a long time, and their talents and personalities were fully recognized by the enemy camp. Ma Yin respected them very much, and personally untied them, treated them with courtesy, and persuaded them kindly, hoping that they would work for him.

However, the two men were ready to die. Facing Ma Yin's kindness, they cursed, "A real man should repay his master with his death. How can we kneel down and serve the thief!"

Liu Cun and Chen Zhixin died bravely.

The second is Qian Liu from Hangzhou.

Huainan Yang Xingmi and Hangzhou Qian Liu were known as the "Jianghuai Twins". Sometimes they helped each other, and sometimes they fought against each other. It was the newly-inherited Yang Wo who started a new round of "Twin Heroes Competition".

When Yang Wo received Xu Wen's summons and left Xuanzhou for Yangzhou, he planned to take his personal guards and officials with him to strengthen his own strength. However, the new Xuanzhou Observation Envoy, the veteran general Wang Maozhang, strictly enforced the law and sternly refused. Yang Wo therefore held a grudge.

After Yang Xingmi died, Yang Wo immediately took revenge and sent troops to attack Wang Maozhang of Xuanzhou.

Wang Maozhang was a senior official of Yang Xingmi, and had made great military achievements. He knew that Yang Wo left Xuanzhou to inherit his father's position and become his new master, but he still refused to bend the law for personal gain, which shows his uprightness and strict law enforcement. However, the new master ruthlessly raised the butcher knife to such a veteran of the previous dynasty.

Wang Maozhang could not bear to use force against the son of his former master, nor could he bear to see Huainan fall into civil strife, but surrendering would only lead to his death. In great pain, Wang Maozhang abandoned the city and led his trusted followers to seek refuge with Qian Liu in Hangzhou.

Qian Liu of Hangzhou was overjoyed and immediately appointed Wang Maozhang as the deputy governor of Yuezhou Zhendong Army, and changed his name to "Wang Jingren" (to avoid the taboo of Zhu Wen's great-grandfather, Zhu Wen's great-grandfather Zhu Maolin). As usual, he will still be called "Wang Maozhang" in the following text.

Wang Maozhang's departure had a butterfly effect. Tao Ya of Muzhou and Chen Zhang of Wuzhou abandoned their cities and fled for fear of being attacked by Wang Maozhang. Qian Liu of Hangzhou seized the opportunity and sent troops to station in. Without a fight, he took Muzhou and Wuzhou. Chen Zhang of Wuzhou fled back to Quzhou. He was originally a rebel general of Hangzhou, so Qian Liu followed the clues and sent troops to pursue him and besieged Quzhou.

Huainan sent troops to rescue Chen Zhang, but Quzhou was recaptured by Qian Liu.

After recovering the three states, Qian Liu opened the road to Wenzhou, so he sent his sons Qian Yuanlang and Qian Yuanguan to attack Lu Ji of Wenzhou and Lu Yue of Chuzhou. Lu Ji was captured alive, and Lu Yue surrendered the city.

In the first year of Zhonghe (881), Lu Yue took advantage of the Huang Chao Rebellion to establish his own regime in Chuzhou. In the second year of Tianyou (905), he sent his younger brother Lu Ji to attack and seize Wenzhou.

At this point, Qian Liu of Hangzhou easily took over five states and unified the Liangzhe region.

Yang Wo of Huainan forced Wang Maozhang away, but this allowed Qian Liu of Hangzhou to gain unprecedented power, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent "battle between the two heroes".

Yang Wo of Huainan can be said to be a skilled pig farmer who can deliver heads from thousands of miles away.

The third is the separatist force in Jiangxi, Zhong Chuan of the Hongzhou Zhennan Army.

The deeds of Zhong Chuan in the first half of his life have been introduced in the previous article. He took advantage of the Huang Chao Rebellion to occupy Fuzhou first and Hongzhou later, and then took over the territory of Jiangxi. He had the experience of killing a tiger after drinking, which is suspected to be the prototype of "Wu Song Killing the Tiger".

Although Zhong Chuan was born into a small business family with limited education, he respected scholars and attached great importance to education. Many students at that time went to Jiangxi to admire his reputation. Jiangxi thus became a paradise for scholars in the late Tang Dynasty, and a large number of intellectuals were able to realize their ambitions in Jiangxi.

At that time, Zhuge Hao, a minor official in Sizhou (roughly equivalent to the deputy director of a police station), heard that Zhong Chuan was eager to recruit talents, so he wrote a propaganda article praising Zhong Chuan, listing Zhong Chuan's ten glorious deeds, and submitted it to Jiangxi. The text was beautiful and talented.

Zhong Chuanlan was very pleased and said to his attendants, "I often hear people say that a single word is worth a thousand gold coins, so let's pay the author according to this price!"

The article had a total of 5,000 words, and Zhong Chuan really rewarded him with 5,000 strings of cash and hired Zhuge Hao as his aide at a high salary.

In addition to attaching importance to cultural education, Zhong Chuan was also devoted to worshiping Buddha. He vigorously promoted Buddhism in Jiangxi and became good friends with Shanglan Monk of Hongzhou Shanglan Temple.

This Shanglan monk was good at fortune-telling and could predict the future. Later, when Shanglan monk was seriously ill, Zhong Chuan went to visit him and wanted to accompany him through the last journey of his life. Seeing that the monk was about to pass away, Zhong Chuan finally couldn't help but said, "I have treated you well over the years. Although I will be punished for leaking the secrets of heaven, you are about to die now, right? Can you leave me some clues to inspire me?"

Monk Shanglan struggled to sit up, asked for paper, ink, brush and inkstone, and wrote a verse, at the end of which he said "Old Yang's hair is thin and tender, it can be used as a bell hammer", and he passed away immediately after finishing it. Zhong Chuan had no time to ask for an explanation, and he recited it over and over again, but he could not understand the meaning. Zhong Chuan never understood the meaning until his death.

The second half of Zhong Chuan's life was also tainted, and it can be said that he lost his integrity in his later years. Historical records record that he "became greedy in his later years" and drove away wealthy businessmen in the country.

In the spring of the third year of Tianyou (906), Zhong Chuan died of illness. The three armies elected his eldest son Zhong Kuangshi as the successor of the Zhennan Army. His adopted son Zhong Yangui, then the governor of Jiangzhou, was resentful that he could not inherit the position of Jiedushi, so he surrendered to Yang Wo of Huainan and bravely led the Huainan army to attack Hongzhou.

There is a little controversy in historical records about this "guide" who was a traitor. Some say it was the adopted son Zhong Yangui, some say it was the second son Zhong Kuangfan; some say Zhong Yangui was "Zhong Yangui" and said he was a little monk in Shanglanyuan; some say Zhong Kuangfan was the twentieth son; some say Zhong Tinggui was Zhong Kuangfan...

In short, Zhong Chuan's sons fought against each other, rolled pancakes and fried meatballs - set up cannons and fired inside, relying on foreign enemies to seize their father and brother's foundation.

(End of this chapter)