History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 220 Huainan Yang Wo 2
Yang Wo of Huainan sent his general Qin Pei to lead the expedition to Jiangxi, where he captured Hongzhou in one fell swoop and captured Zhong Kuangshi alive.

Yang Wo denounced Zhong Kuangshi, blaming him and his son for being enemies with Huainan for many years. Zhong Kuangshi wept and expressed his repentance, knelt on the ground and begged for death. It was difficult to hit a smiling person, so Yang Wo suddenly felt compassion and only killed Zhong Kuangshi's staff.

Yang Wo appointed Qin Pei as the governor of Hongzhou, and Yang Wo also served as the governor of Hongzhou Zhennan Army. From then on, Huainan also included Jiangxi.

After Hongzhou was conquered, Peng Gan, the governor of Jizhou in the territory, was deeply grateful to Zhong Chuan and was unwilling to submit to Huainan, so he turned to surrender to Ma Yin of Tanzhou in order to resist Huainan.

Peng Gan also took advantage of the Huang Chao Rebellion to form his own militia, and later joined Zhong Chuan, who appointed him as the governor of Jizhou. According to relevant historical records, Peng Gan had many similarities with his lord Zhong Chuan, both of whom respected Confucianism and vigorously promoted education. Interestingly, historical records show that Peng Gan liked to read the Spring and Autumn Annals, and paid a lot of money for books. There is a saying that "ten gold coins for one stroke, one hundred gold coins for one volume", which is very similar to Zhong Chuan's "one word costs a thousand gold coins".

During his tenure in Jizhou, Peng Gan repaired the city, developed the economy, and rectified social customs (such as strictly prohibiting gambling and cracking down on theft). He was honest in his administration and was praised by the people. Jizhou, now Ji'an City in Jiangxi Province, was built by Peng Gan, laying the foundation for today's Ji'an City.

Ma Yin valued Peng Gan very much and married his children to Peng Gan's. Ma Yin's son Ma Xifan married Peng Gan's daughter.

Of course, some historical materials have also severely criticized some of Peng Gan's stains, such as when he joined Ma Yin, he forced thousands of Jiangxi people to go to Hunan, and he was sarcastic and mean to his subordinates...

The New Book of Tang praised him because Ouyang Xiu was one of the compilers, and Ouyang Xiu and Peng Gan were fellow villagers, both from Luling; while the Wild History of Jiangnan recorded in detail the negative stories about Peng Gan "plundering people and entering Chu" and other sarcastic stories.

The author of "Jiangnan Wild History" was from Jizhou. The book was written from the perspective of Southern Tang. The Huainan Yang Clan was the predecessor of Southern Tang and was an enemy of Peng Gan, so it recorded many negative stories about him. In addition, the "wild history" contained many errors, especially the record of Peng Gan's death. The book said that after Peng Gan defected to Ma Yin, Yang Xingmi dug up Peng Gan's ancestral tomb to vent his anger and found a two-meter-long snake in the tomb. Yang Xingmi killed the snake immediately, and Peng Gan, who was far away in Chenzhou, died immediately as if he had sensed it.

This record has obvious flaws, because Huainan annexed Hongzhou after Yang Xingmi's death, while Peng Gan lived until the fourth year of Changxing (933).

Fourth, Wei Quanfeng of Fuzhou and Wei Zichang of Xinzhou.

Yang Wo of Huainan also served as the governor of Zhennan Army, but he did not achieve substantive unification of the Zhennan Army. For example, the Wei brothers in Fuzhou and Xinzhou refused to obey Huainan's orders.

Fuzhou and Xinzhou were both under the jurisdiction of Hongzhou Zhennan Army. Zhong Chuan rose to prominence in Fuzhou. When he occupied Hongzhou, Wei Quanfeng took advantage of the situation and seized Fuzhou. He also ordered his younger brother Wei Zaichang to steal Xinzhou. After Zhong Chuan became the Jiedushi, he used force to attack and eventually made the Wei brothers surrender.

After Zhong Chuan's death, Wei Quanfeng believed that he had fulfilled his duties as a vassal and no longer obeyed Zhong Kuangshi's orders. He declared independence from the Zhennan Army and said, "I will let Zhong Lang serve as the governor for three years, and I will do it on my own."

As a result, the conflict between Huainan Yang Wo and the Wei brothers became irreconcilable, and a fierce battle broke out. In the end, the Wei brothers were defeated by the powerful Huainan forces, and Fuzhou and Xinzhou were incorporated into Huainan. From then on, Huainan had all the land of the Zhennan Army and completely controlled Jiangxi.

Wei Quanfeng was defeated and captured, while Wei Zichang fled to Hangzhou and took refuge with Qian Liu, who disliked his surname and changed it to "Yuan".

Fifth, Zhu Wen of Later Liang.

The contest between Huainan and Zhu Wen was relatively complicated, and was often intertwined with the forces of Jingxiang. It can be called a "three-way melee among Liang, Huai, and Chu"; there were also small-scale local direct conflicts, such as the Huai general Mi Zhicheng's attack on Yingzhou.

The ones who intensified regional conflicts and provoked a three-way fight between Liang, Huai and Chu were the famous problem child, Lei Yangong from Langzhou, and his internet celebrity grandson, Gao Jichang.

Gao Jichang was the adopted son of Zhu Wen's adopted son, and the adopted grandson of both. This grandson was really too much of a grandson. Zhu Wen appointed him as the governor of southern Jing, as the watchdog of the southern gate of Bianzhou's power, but he turned out to be a fierce dog of the state (not a curse, this is really a classical Chinese sentence, from "Yanzi Chunqiu", the idiom "hotel fierce dog").

At that time, the southern vassal states, such as Ma Yin of Tanzhou, Wang Shenzhi of Fujian, and Liu Yin of Guangzhou, all paid tribute to Zhu Wen. However, due to the blockage of Huainan forces, the Jingnan area became the only way for the southern tribute to enter Bianzhou. One thing Gao Jichang often did was to rob people on the road, "detaining their envoys and plundering their goods." People are sending money to your grandfather, but you rob them. You are worthy of being a grandson.

Faced with Gao Jichang's robbery, provinces as far away as Fujian could only write letters of condemnation and protest, while provinces like Ma Yin of Tanzhou, which were neighboring and powerful, used force to defend their rights.

Whenever the victims protested, "writing letters of criticism or sending troops to punish them," Gao Jichang would always obediently hand over all his illegal gains, apologize humbly, and "return them all without any guilt."

According to historical records, Jingnan "is narrow and weak, between Wu and Chu". As mentioned many times in the previous article, the Jingnan area has been repeatedly invaded by wars and has almost become a thousand-mile uninhabited area, with very weak strength. In this case, either don't provoke the southern vassal states, don't be mean, and be a grandfather's watchdog; or do it once and for all, yes, I robbed you, I robbed you, what should I do, who am I afraid of? My father is Li Gang... No, it's Li Rang, and my grandfather is Zhu Wen!

They robbed the money transport truck as soon as it arrived, and returned the property to the original owner as soon as the owner protested. What's the point? The more important thing is the three words "without shame", which really makes all the robbers in the world lose face.

Therefore, the southern vassal states gave Gao Jichang a resounding nickname - "Gao Laizi".

Ma Yin of Tanzhou was so annoyed that he sent troops to attack and defend his rights by force. Lei Yangong of Langzhou, a clown who only wanted to make the world chaotic, applauded and formed an alliance with Ma Yin to jointly attack Gao Jichang of Jingnan.

The shameless Gao Jichang immediately apologized and asked for peace with Ma Yin.

Lei Yangong of Langzhou was attached to the Huainan forces, while Ma Yin of Tanzhou was attached to Zhu Wen. When beating a dog, look at its owner. Since Gao Jichang admitted his fault, Ma Yin could not continue to pursue the matter, so he accepted Gao Jichang's request for peace and withdrew his troops.

The sound of the cannon brought a fortune. Lei Yangong of Langzhou was unwilling to return empty-handed, so he allied with Huainan in the east and Bashu in the west, doing the same business as Gao Jichang did when he invited people to rob tribute roads, and constantly harassed the Jingxiang area.

Zhu Wen was furious. He was reluctant to fight his grandson, so how could he be reluctant to fight a "Huaiyi running dog"? So he ordered Gao Jichang and Ma Yin to attack Lei Yangong.

Lei Yangong immediately asked for help from Huainan, and Yang Wo of Huainan sent troops to rescue him.

In this battle, Huainan was defeated again, and the two main generals Lingye and Li Rao were captured and killed. Lei Yangong was isolated and helpless, and soon after, Langzhou was also conquered. His brother Lei Yanxiong and seven other core members were sent to Bianzhou in chains, and were all beheaded under the Bian Bridge. Lei Yangong fled to Huainan.

There is also controversy about Lei Yangong's fate. Some say that he fled to Huainan and eventually died there; some say that he was killed during the capture of Langzhou; some say that he committed suicide by jumping into the river after his defeat.

Ma Yin of Tanzhou was undoubtedly the biggest winner in this melee, because Langzhou and Lizhou were all taken over and controlled by Ma Yin. The Wuzhen Army of Langzhou was annexed by Ma Yin of Tanzhou from then on, and the strength of Ma Yin of Tanzhou was greatly strengthened.

The above is Yang Wo's foreign actions after he succeeded to the throne of Huainan. He launched five attacks and attacked powerful enemies on three sides. Although Huainan took over Jiangxi, it allowed Qian Liu of Hangzhou to unify Liangzhe, and Ma Yin of Tanzhou took over the Wuzhen Army of Langzhou. It also lost Lei Yangong, the only ally of Huaixi. In this series of foreign wars, it suffered heavy losses.

In general, after Yang Wo succeeded to the throne, the Huainan forces suffered losses in managing the external environment, and even greater losses in managing internal power.

How serious was the internal loss? Yang Wo verified Zhou Yin's statement. He was not the head of the family. What he lost was the foundation left to him by his father.

(End of this chapter)