History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 252 Southern Crisis
Southern Crisis

Zhu Youzhen deployed his troops and sent Yuan Xiang, a member of the "foreign relatives gang", to resist first. After Yuan Xiang arrived at the front line, the Huainan Army immediately retreated. This result was really incredible.

The vanguard officer of the Huainan Army was Zhu Jin, and its commander was Xu Zhixun (son of Xu Wen). The following article will describe the political turmoil in Huainan. By then, it may not be difficult to understand the secret confrontation between Xu Zhixun, the son of a powerful official, and the "foreign relatives gang".

Huainan only played a supporting role in the southern crisis, and the greater crisis came from the southernmost part of the empire - the Lingnan region.

During the Huang Chao Rebellion, Lingnan was also affected. There was a local officer who repeatedly made meritorious contributions in the battles against Cao's army and was promoted to the governor of Fengzhou.

The following is a moment of witnessing miracles: The officer's name is Liu Qian. It is said that he is extremely talented and has an amazing character... He was appreciated by Wei Zhou, the former prime minister and governor of Lingnan, who married his niece to him despite the disparity in their social status.

Wei Zhou was born into the Jingzhao Wei family and was already a prominent figure in the political arena during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. His father Wei Dan made great contributions to the "Yuanhe Restoration". When Emperor Xuanzong read the "Yuanhe Veritable Records", he was deeply moved, and issued an edict to carve a stone to record Wei Dan's merits and promoted Wei Zhou to an official position.

Wei Zhou was later promoted to Prime Minister and Governor of Lingnan. The father and son made outstanding achievements in the reigns of Emperor Xianzong and Emperor Xuanzong, and were highly praised by the people. As a result, they were both included in the Biography of Officials Who Follow the Rules. The Biography of Officials Who Follow the Rules specifically records good officials who value agriculture, preach education, are honest and upright, and are highly praised by the people.

Such a high-ranking official (Premier of the State Council, member of the Political Bureau, and provincial senior official) actually wanted to marry his niece (daughter of his younger brother Wei Xiu) to Liu Qian, a low-ranking officer (platoon rank) who came from a commoner and small business family. At that time, many people around him expressed opposition to this marriage, but the brothers Wei Zhou and Wei Xiu had a unique vision and said that one should not despise a young man because he was poor, as this man would surely achieve great things in the future.

After Liu Qian married Wei, Wei Zhou died of illness. A few years after his death, the Huang Chao Rebellion broke out. When Huang Chao invaded Lingnan and Liu Qian was promoted to the governor of Fengzhou, Wei Zhou had been dead for more than ten years. The governor was not Wei Zhou's final prediction, but his prediction was for the longer term future.

Huang Chao did not stay in Guangzhou for long, and then he started the Northern Expedition, crossing the Huai River, entering the Eastern Capital, occupying Tongguan, and attacking Chang'an.

Although Huang Chao's forces left Lingnan, they completely undermined the Tang Dynasty's ruling foundation here, causing serious chaos and vacuum, and leaving a hotbed for heroes to compete for supremacy.

Liu Qian and other heroes rose up one after another, annexing and integrating. Within a year, Liu Qian had a huge military force with more than 10,000 soldiers and more than 100 warships, becoming a famous warlord in the coastal areas of Guangdong and Guangxi.

After Liu Qian passed away, more than 100 aborigines under his rule planned to take the opportunity to revolt, but were quickly and decisively suppressed by his eldest son Liu Yin (son of Wei). Subsequently, Liu Chonggui, then governor of Lingnan East Road, recommended Liu Yin to replace his father.

Liu Chonggui's family background has been mentioned in the previous article (Chapter 140 "The Last Straw"), because his brother Liu Chonglu was used by the Guanxi Group and staged the farce of "looting hemp and dismissing him from office". Coincidentally, "looting hemp and dismissing him from office" and Liu Chonggui's memorial to Liu Yin to succeed the throne occurred in the same year (894).

Liu Chonggui was so angry that he died in less than a year. In that year (895), Emperor Zhaozong was busy planning the "Prince Commanding the Army", so he changed the East Road of Lingnan to the Qing Navy and sent Prince Xue Li Zhirou to Guangzhou to serve as the governor of the Qing Navy in Guangzhou, replacing Liu Chonggui.

There is a widely circulated story about Liu Chonggui. Let us first look at a preliminary investigation report of a criminal case:

Cause of the case: burglary and murder.

On-site investigation: The deceased was a young woman, about 20 years old, with fair skin and beautiful looks, who was killed on the spot by a sharp knife wound; the time of death was midnight; there were a large number of bloody footprints at the scene, extending all the way to the dock, and there were also bloody handprints on the clothes of the deceased. After investigation, it was found that the bloody footprints and bloody handprints were left by a rich second-generation; at dawn the next day after the incident, the rich second-generation had left the crime scene for more than miles.

Key evidence: A bloody murder weapon, a butcher knife, was left at the scene. After forensic investigation and evidence collection, the shape and depth of the deceased's wounds were completely consistent with the murder weapon, and it can be identified as the murder weapon in this case.

Eyewitness testimony: On the night of the crime, several eyewitnesses identified the rich second-generation man as running to the dock in a panic and leaving the crime scene by boat overnight.

The suspect (a second-generation rich man) confessed: He had never met the deceased before, but they met by chance during the day and agreed to meet at the woman's home in the evening. When he arrived at the scene, he found that the victim had been killed, and he knew nothing else.

At present, the suspect has been arrested and is being tortured in prison, but he has denied breaking into the house and killing people. The family of the victim demands that the government severely punish the murderer.

All the evidence seems to point to the rich second generation. Both the victim's family and the onlookers believe that the rich second generation is the culprit in this case. Public opinion also clearly favors this view and continues to put pressure on the government. However, there are still many doubts in this case, and the chain of evidence is incomplete. It is not possible to arbitrarily determine that the rich second generation is the murderer.

The official who was under great pressure was Liu Chonggui. At this moment, he was standing alone in his study, carefully reviewing the thick case files, then frowning, stroking his beard, with a serious expression. After a long time, his brows relaxed slightly, and a smile appeared on his face, "Let's do it!"

【Liu Chonggui changes his knife】

Liu Chonggui issued an order, saying that in order to welcome a major festival, the government decided to hold a grand celebration ceremony and a big banquet, and that all the butchers in the country needed to be gathered to come to the stadium to slaughter animals.

The butchers came to the stadium in high spirits. The government centralized procurement, a big project, and lucrative. The officials explained to the butchers the precautions, work discipline, etc., etc. In short, the time was delayed until the evening. The government ordered: It is too late to slaughter, so it will be postponed to tomorrow.

From ancient times to the present, kitchen knives, butcher knives, etc. are all controlled knives. Especially in ancient times, when every inch of iron was a weapon, kitchen knives and other knives were strictly controlled, which was almost equivalent to the current real-name system. They had to be registered, and unless there were special circumstances, people were not allowed to carry knives on the streets.

This time, the butchers brought their own knives, so the government naturally asked the butchers to leave the knives they carried with them at the stadium and wait for their use tomorrow.

After the butchers left, Liu Chonggui secretly swapped the butcher knife involved in the case with a random replacement for a similar knife.

The next day, the butchers gathered again and took back their knives. In the end, only one butcher was left with nothing, and the only tool he had was the one he had used to commit the crime.

The official asked him why he didn't take back his knife, and the butcher replied that it was not his knife. As I just said, in that era, kitchen knives and butcher knives were strictly controlled and had real-name registration. Although there was no numbering or QR code traceability, everyone knew their own knives.

The official pretended not to know and asked the butcher, "Oh, maybe someone took it by mistake... Then who do you think this knife belongs to?"

The butcher took it and examined it carefully. "It looks like that person's."

So the authorities immediately rushed to the home of Mr. So-and-so and found that the house was empty. After visiting the people around, they learned that this person had disappeared after the incident.

XXX is a major suspect in the crime!
But the question arises again. This person has already fled for fear of crime. How can we bring him to justice?

Liu Chonggui selected a death row inmate who was of similar age and appearance to the rich second generation, and publicly pronounced the verdict: In this case, the rich second generation was tempted by beauty, attempted rape and then killed someone. The facts are clear and the evidence is conclusive. In view of the fact that the means of crime in this case are extremely cruel, the nature is vile, and the social impact is extremely bad, so he will be executed today without waiting for the autumn to be executed!
That afternoon, he was to be beheaded in a downtown area. There were huge crowds of onlookers, including relatives of the suspect, who had already been monitored by plainclothes police mixed in with the crowd.

The "murderer" was beheaded and the authorities announced that the case was closed.

Two days later, XXX finally showed up and was arrested as soon as he returned home. After interrogation, XXX confessed the whole process of the crime. The truth of the case was finally revealed:
On a sunny afternoon, at a busy and bustling dock, a handsome and generous second-generation rich man met a young, beautiful and charming victim. They exchanged glances and fell in love. So the second-generation rich man and the girl agreed to meet at her home tonight to release their youthful hormones.

That night, the moon was dark and the wind was strong. The woman half-opened the door, waiting for her ideal lover. Suddenly, a figure sneaked into the house. The woman was filled with joy, rushed forward enthusiastically, and hugged the figure.

As luck would have it, the figure was the criminal, the butcher. Seeing a door half open in the dark, he wanted to steal something from the house, but he was caught as soon as he entered the house.

Feeling guilty, in a panic, the thief stabbed the woman with a butcher knife he was carrying, then dropped the weapon and fled. The woman fell in a pool of blood and died on the spot.

After a while, the rich second generation arrived as promised. As soon as he entered the door, he stepped on the slippery blood on the ground and fell into the pool of blood. At first, the rich second generation thought it was water, but it felt slippery and sticky, with a faint smell of blood. In addition to being surprised, he touched the body on the ground. He was immediately panicked and fled the scene in a panic. He ran directly back to the dock and fled by boat overnight. When daybreak came, he had sailed more than a hundred miles.

Finally, the murderer, the butcher, was sentenced to death according to law; the rich second-generation, who broke into a private house at night and committed "adultery", was beaten with a stick several times according to law, and then released in court.

This case has been included in many books from ancient times to the present. In Mr. Guo Degang's long stand-up comedy "The Picture of Good and Evil", there is a plot about a county magistrate in the late Qing Dynasty, which is very similar to this. I don't know if it is a historical coincidence or an artistic reference. In addition, many storytelling and stand-up comedy about handling cases have similar plots, which shows the status of "Liu Chonggui changing the knife" in history.

In addition, Liu Chonggui was also a calligrapher and painter. He was good at painting flowers and birds, especially lychees (he was not the governor of Lingnan for nothing).

One of his poems is included in the Complete Tang Poems:

"Bi Chuang Ren Shi He Hong Jun,

The spring is doubly bright in front of the osmanthus forest.

Don't be obsessed with the beautiful scenery at this time,
Panxi is not a fisherman. ”

(End of this chapter)