History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 224: The Founding of Former Shu
【Founding of Former Shu】

In the same year that Zhu Wen usurped the Tang Dynasty, Wang Jian established himself as emperor in Shu, and named his country "Da Shu". Later, the name was changed to "Han", but then it was restored to "Da Shu", known in history as Former Shu. In the first year of his reign, Wang Jian continued to use the Tang Dynasty's "Tianfu" era name.

On the first day of the first lunar month of the following year, a monk dug out his own eyeballs and presented them to Wang Jian, expressing his admiration and submission to Wang Jian through such an extreme method of self-mutilation.

Wang Jian was overjoyed and immediately ordered a "banquet for ten thousand monks" to be held in the capital Chengdu. Zhang Jun's son Zhang Ge dissuaded him, saying that a small person who hurt his body for no reason should be severely punished! Not only did you not punish him, but you also rewarded him, then people all over the world would follow suit, what would become of our Great Shu Kingdom?

People in later generations should stop calling us Former Shu and just call us Remnant Shu.

Only then did Wang Jian stop the "Banquet for Ten Thousand Monks".

Many stories tell us that the ancient people seemed to lack the correct way to express extreme emotions. For example, when parents died, they would "cut off their fingers and thighs" to express their grief; when a new king ascended the throne, they would dig out his eyes to express his piety; when they were angry, they would "bang their heads against the ground"...

For this kind of self-mutilation show, the ruler should give correct public opinion guidance, or at least not encourage it. So Zhu Wen and Wang Jian did the same thing, no longer giving any form of reward, loving or not.

On the tenth day of the first lunar month, Wang Jian issued an edict to change the reign title and grant amnesty. The eighth year of Tianfu was changed to the first year of Wucheng. According to the historical perspective of this book, the rest of the text follows the reign title of the Central Plains dynasty, and also uses the reign title of the Later Liang when describing events in the territory of the Former Shu.

Wang Jian was 62 years old this year, and he faced the same dilemma as Yang Xingmi of Huainan, that is, choosing a successor. Wang Jian had 11 biological sons, and his adopted sons were extremely large, as many as 120, of whom 42 were the most famous.

During Wang Jian's campaigns, one of the biggest tasks was to "adopt sons". Meritorious generals had to be adopted as sons, and surrendered enemy generals had to be adopted as sons, as mentioned repeatedly in the previous article.

These adopted sons made great contributions to Wang Jian's expansion of territory, laid the foundation for the Former Shu, but also planted the seeds of disaster. Among them, the eldest adopted son Wang Zongji was a major concern for Wang Jian.

Wang Zongji was the first adopted son of Wang Jian. At that time, Wang Jian was just a junior officer in the Zhongwu Army. He abducted a little boy named Gan, who was tall and handsome, and looked like a good candidate for a son. So Wang Jian adopted him as his son, brought him by his side, and changed his name to Wang Zongji.

Wang Zongji served Wang Jian at every turn, and as he grew older, he followed Wang Jian into battle. He was first in the Zhongwu Army, then incorporated into the "Zhongwu Eight Commands", and later into the "Five Commands of Suijia". He joined the Imperial Army, went out of Shannan, occupied Lizhou, captured Langzhou, entered Xichuan, pacified Pengzhou, and swallowed Dongchuan...

The undisputed "adopted eldest brother" and the eldest eldest brother of the Zong generation.

After Wang Jian gradually occupied Xichuan, this "founding elder" and "His Royal Highness Yu'ergan" became more and more arrogant, self-righteous, arrogant and lawless. In the Xichuan Group, except for Wang Jian himself, there was no one that Wang Zongji dared not insult. "Half of Wang Jian's world was conquered by me!" Wang Zongji publicly said this more than once.

Once, Wang Jian entertained his ministers. During the banquet, Wang Jian suddenly expressed his feelings and said to his ministers, "If there were one or two Han Xin-like people among you, I would be able to conquer the Central Plains." Before he finished speaking, Wang Zongji left the table, knelt down, and said, "Although I am not talented, I am capable of helping Your Majesty conquer the Central Plains!"

Everyone knew that he was just boasting, but they were afraid of his power and kept silent. Only Zhang Fu, a doctor in the Ministry of War, spoke out differently. Zhang Fu was "well-educated and good at writing." He said, "Your Majesty, with his great talent and strategy, still cannot seize an inch of land in Qilong, let alone the entire Central Plains! Zong Ji is arrogant and ignorant, and he speaks without shame. Your Majesty must not listen to his nonsense and do not covet the land of the Central Plains."

Wang Zongji was filled with resentment, so he sent someone to instruct the chef to poison the food, killing Zhang Fu.

Zhang Fu, a doctor in the Ministry of War, was just an insignificant little character, but the arrogant Wang Zongji offended someone he shouldn't have offended - Tang Daoxi.

Tang Daoxi, a handsome young man with delicate eyebrows and beautiful eyes, used to be a dancing boy for Wang Jian. Wang Jian loved him very much and promoted him from the boy group to the central government. After establishing the Kingdom of Shu, Wang Jian promoted him to the position of Privy Councilor, whose power and status were almost equivalent to that of a prime minister. Later, he renamed his hometown "Martyrs' Township".

However, Wang Zongji was very rude to Tang Daoxi. He never addressed him by his official title, but just called him by his name, treating him like a servant. This made Tang Daoxi very angry.

According to records, this handsome young man Tang Daoxi was not only handsome, but also scheming and cunning. Although he hated Wang Zongji in his heart, he became more and more respectful to him on the surface, always smiling carefully and respectfully.

When Wang Jian heard that Wang Zongji called Tang Daoxu by his name, he became very unhappy and said that Wang Zongji dared to be disrespectful to his Privy Councilor, which was a sign of rebellion.

Wang Zongji was not only arrogant but also had many followers and factions. His power was so huge that Wang Jian felt uneasy. So Wang Jian used the old trick of promoting Wang Zongji in public but demoting him in secret. He promoted Wang Zongji to the position of Grand Master and deprived him of his military power.

Wang Zongji was very angry and submitted a memorial to Wang Jian, asking him to quickly identify a successor. He also strongly hinted that he wanted to be the successor and strongly urged Wang Jian to hand over all military power to him.

After reading the memorial, Wang Jian became furious. This kid really wants to rebel!
At this time, Wang Jian was no longer the "thief" in Xuzhou. After a lifetime of military service, the 62-year-old Wang Jian had become more shrewd. He suppressed his anger, pretended to be calm on the surface, and sought the advice of the Privy Councilor Tang Daoxi.

Tang Daoxi, the scheming boy, said solemnly, "Your Majesty, Comrade Wang Zongji is not only your eldest son, but also a meritorious general with great contributions. He has a high prestige among the military and civilians, and the masses have high support for him. I believe that he is definitely qualified for the position!"

People who scold you may not necessarily harm you, and people who praise you may also harm you to death. Tang Daoxi praised Wang Zongji to death with just one sentence.

Tang Daoxi's words finally made Wang Jian determined to eliminate his rebellious son.

A few days later, Wang Zongji came to the palace to meet the emperor. The conversation between the father and son was very unpleasant. Wang Jian tried to persuade him patiently, but Wang Zongji was arrogant and rude, and his words were fierce and rebellious. At this time, deep in Wang Jian's heart, he was more sad than angry. He waved his hand and asked Wang Zongji to leave first, and then slowly persuade him when he was calm and peaceful another day.

Their conversation was "unpleasant", but it did not end. Wang Zongji actually disobeyed orders and refused to leave. He stayed in the hall and forced Wang Jian to make a statement on the spot, either to make him the crown prince or to transfer the national military power to him...

Wang Jian was immediately furious and trembling with anger, "Good boy, you really want to rebel!" Then he shouted angrily and ordered the guards to behead Wang Zongji in court. Later, he also arrested and killed Wang Zongji's followers.

Through this description in the history book, it is not difficult to see that Wang Zongji seemed to have come here to seek death, and he was extremely stupid. The description of Wang Zongji in the history book is very brief, which can be summarized as the origin of his life, arrogance, and courting death everywhere. However, I believe that Wang Zongji is not that simple, it's just that his opponent is more powerful.

Wang Zongji's arrogance has been going on for a long time, and Wang Jian had expected it. As for his private killing of assassins, we have every reason to believe that Wang Jian would not be kept in the dark. Think about the way Wang Jian dealt with Chen Jingxuan back then. Wang Jian's spies were so pervasive that even the poison hidden by Chen Jingxuan could be replaced quietly. So could Wang Zongji's every move escape Wang Jian's eyes and ears?

Wang Zongji submitted three memorials in a row, forcing Wang Jian to "abdicate". Could Wang Jian remain indifferent? Wang Jian was not Emperor Xian of Han or Emperor Ai of Tang. He must have made some preparations. Wang Zongji's actions of going to the palace to force Wang Jian to abdicate and defying the emperor's order showed that he must have made some preparations. He meant that if Wang Jian did not appreciate the favor, he would assassinate Wang Jian in court.

But what he didn't know was that Wang Jian had already set up a tight net. The reason why he had not taken action yet was because of the decades-long father-son relationship. He wanted to give him another chance. As long as he turned back from his wrong path, he would at least save his life.

As the saying goes, good words cannot change a damned ghost. Wang Zongji finally paid the price of his rebellious behavior with his life.

After executing Wang Zongji, Wang Jian appointed his second son Wang Zongyi as the crown prince (his eldest son Wang Zongren died early) as the successor to the Former Shu regime, and appointed his wife Zhou as the empress and the palace maid Zhang (Wang Zongyi's biological mother) as Concubine Zhang.

Afterwards, Wang Jian held a grand military parade to celebrate the founding of the People's Republic of China at Xingxu Mountain, north of Chengdu. According to records, as many as 300,000 troops participated in the review.

After establishing the crown prince, Wang Jian began to pave the way for Wang Zongyi. It goes without saying that he gave him more power and prestige. Another key task was to use the "Wang Zongyi incident" to carry out a systematic purge. Some old officials, such as the adopted son Wang Zongbian, either voluntarily or forcedly handed over their power.

The external strategy was as clear as ever, which was to instigate Fengxiang Li Maozhen to oppose the Central Plains dynasty. Wang Jian had a thorough understanding of the relationship between Qi and Shu from the beginning to the end, which was to let Fengxiang Li Maozhen serve as a barrier for Shu. For a long time, although Wang Jian continued to erode Li Maozhen's territory in Shannan, he never thought of completely annexing it, and would provide assistance to Li Maozhen when he was threatened by Guandong.

Although Wang Jian and Li Maozhen also played out a story of being both enemies and friends, loving and hating each other, at first glance, it was quite similar to the story of Yang Xingmi in Huainan and Qian Liu in Hangzhou. However, the relationship between Qi and Shu was even more sordid. Simply put, Wang Jian was raising pigs, and he would kill them when they were fat.

Sooner or later, a life-and-death war was bound to break out between Li Maozhen and Wang Jian, and the fuse of this war was actually a family affair - a quarrel between the couple. This war also made the Central Plains Dynasty (Later Liang) recognize the legitimacy of the Former Shu regime, turning it from an illegal local separatist regime into a legitimate regime on an equal footing with the Central Plains Dynasty.

This interesting war will be presented one by one in the following text.

(End of this chapter)