History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 313 Regional Discrimination
Regional discrimination

There was a deep-rooted regional discrimination against Shu in the Central Plains. At that time, Henan was the center of the world, Bianzhou and Luoyang were first-tier cities, and Youzhou (now Beijing) was a remote rural area bordering the northern barbarians, not to mention the southeast coast, Shenzhen, Guangdong, Macau and Hong Kong... At that time, it was a barren land full of wild smoke and miasma, specially used to exile serious criminals.

The people of Shu - including their rulers Wang Jian and Wang Zongyan - never considered themselves as people from the Central Plains. From the top dignitaries to the ordinary people, they all considered themselves to be a marginal civilization outside the Central Plains culture, a buffer transition zone between the Central Plains dynasty and the southern barbarians. That inferiority complex was innate.

The people in the Central Plains even regarded Shu as a barren land where no birds lived and the people of Shu as uncivilized savages.

1. Chen Jingxuan kills the chicken to scare the monkey

When Emperor Xizong entered Shu, the slaves who accompanied him were full of discrimination against Shu. They shouted and pointed in the Chengdu Palace. Only after Chen Jingxuan killed them as a warning did they keep their mouths shut and dared not talk nonsense anymore.

2. There is a shortage of horses in Shu

In the third year of Tianfu (903), Wang Jian sent Wei Zhuang to pay tribute to Chang'an and took the opportunity to make peace with Zhu Wen in order to create a relatively friendly external environment. Zhu Wen then sent his confidant Wang Yin to visit Chengdu.

After Wang Yin arrived in Chengdu, he was warmly received by Wang Jian. During the banquet, Wang Yin, as the "special envoy of friendship between Bian and Shu", could not suppress his inner pride and made some inappropriate remarks that discriminated against Shu.

At that time, in order to show his strength to Zhu Wen, Wang Jian showed off the military strength of Shu to Wang Yin. Wang Yin first praised politely, and then said: "Shu has many soldiers, but they lack horses." In the era of cold weapons, the number of war horses was the most intuitive reflection of military strength, just like when we discuss naval strength today, we cannot do without the number of aircraft carriers and destroyers. So Wang Yin's words were full of hidden meanings, and the four words "but they lack horses" overturned all the previous compliments and tactfully belittled Wang Jian's military strength, which was not very harmful but extremely insulting.

Wang Jian's face darkened instantly, and he said angrily: "The mountain roads in Shu are rugged and dangerous, which is not suitable for cavalry combat. Besides, I really have no shortage of war horses. Come, come and have a look with me!"

Wang Jian assembled his cavalry and held a grand military parade at Xingxiu Mountain. According to records, there were a total of 12,000 war horses participating in the parade, and the troops were well-organized and well-trained.

Wang Yin was greatly impressed.

Wang Jian himself was a cavalry general and was well aware of the importance of cavalry. After gaining control of Shu, he purchased good horses at high prices at border trading posts and domestic trade transit stations for more than ten years without interruption, so he had a cavalry unit of 12,000 war horses.

Sincerity is only the intention of cooperation, while strength is the foundation of cooperation. Under Wang Jian's rule, Shu not only had the natural danger of the Shu Road, but also had an armed force that could not be ignored. Therefore, the Later Liang Dynasty never listed the Former Shu as a strategic imaginary enemy, and Shu was able to have a twenty-year period of peaceful development.

3. Treat Shu as a foreign country
In the second year of Qianhua (912), Later Liang sent an envoy to visit Former Shu. In the letter, Zhu Wen respected Wang Jian as his brother, acknowledged the political status of Former Shu, and expressed his willingness to make friends with Liang and Shu and recognize them as brother countries.

Everything seemed normal, but the knowledgeable Zhang Ge pointed out a detail that is easily overlooked: the seal on the letter read "The Seal of Daliang Entering Shu".

Zhang Ge told the story slowly, saying that during the Tang Dynasty, the seal inscription for envoys sent to foreign countries was "Great Tang Entering a Certain Seal". Now that Daliang is treating Your Majesty as a brother, why is it insulting our country with barbarian etiquette?
Wang Jian was immediately furious and wanted to kill the envoy from Daliang on the spot.

Zhang Ge stopped the fight again, saying that the two countries were at war, so why not kill the envoys? Moreover, Liang and Shu were in a friendly alliance, so how could they kill their envoys? This was the fault of the relevant departments of Daliang, and they should not vent their anger on the envoys, let alone destroy the friendship between the two countries.

Wang Jian regained his sanity and specially engraved the "Seal of Great Shu Entering Liang" as a reply. The letterhead of his reply was also "Written by the Emperor of Great Shu to His Excellency the Emperor of Daliang".

Later Liang was the first of the "Five Dynasties", and Former Shu was the first of the "Ten Kingdoms". This visit became the first diplomatic event between the central court and the local separatist regimes, and became the diplomatic template for the "Five Dynasties" and "Ten Kingdoms" in the future. When Later Tang was established, the headings of the state letters from various local regimes also basically maintained a consistent formation, basically "The Emperor of a certain country writes to the Emperor of the Great Tang" and so on, as listed in the previous article.

According to historical records, both sides used the "enemy etiquette". Note that the "enemy" here does not mean the enemy of the enemy, but the enemy of the rival, which means equality.

4. Maixiu Liangqi
In the second year of Zhenming (916), Later Liang sent Feng Shunqing to visit Former Shu.

Feng Shunqing's father was Feng Ao, a Hanlin scholar and Shangshu You Pushe. He was outstanding in literary talent and was highly appreciated by Li Deyu. There are two of his poems in the Complete Tang Poems and 2 of his articles in the Complete Tang Prose. Some historical records say that Feng Shunqing was outstanding in literary talent, while others say that he was illiterate. When he was a Hanlin scholar in the Later Liang Dynasty, he often had others write for him. However, no matter how talented he was, many historical materials have reached a high degree of consensus on one issue: this person was frivolous and arrogant. There are differences on "talent" and "no talent", but there is a consensus on "no virtue".

At that time, Fengxiang Li Maozhen was at war with Houliang, so the delegation had to take a long detour, going upstream from the Han River, through Quanzhou to Hanzhou, and then to Chengdu.

Feng Shunqing was frivolous and arrogant. He had always looked down on Shu and deliberately put on an arrogant attitude (he had always looked down on the mountains and rivers and was often arrogant), intending to embarrass the Shu officials along the way.

When he arrived in Quanzhou, the commander of Quanzhou treated him as a distinguished guest and held a grand banquet to entertain Feng Shunqing with the highest standards. During the banquet, the actors played music to help him get drunk. Feng Shunqing held up his wine glass and ordered a song called "Mai Xiu Liang Qi".

The actor from Quanzhou was sweating profusely and said that he had never heard of this piece of music before and begged for another piece that he was good at to replace it.

This was exactly the effect Feng Shunqing wanted. He waved his hands repeatedly and said, "No, no, I don't want to listen to anything else. I'll just listen to "Mai Xiu Liang Qi."" Then he began to mock Shu.

The commander of Quanzhou was so humiliated and angry that he could only vent his anger on his own actors. "He was so ashamed and angry that he beat the actor with a stick."

Feng Shunqing was very proud. He left Quanzhou and headed for the next stop - Hanzhou.

The Hanzhou opera officials had heard about the tragic experiences of their colleagues in Quanzhou, and they were ordered to attend the banquet with fear. As expected, Feng Shunqing asked for "Mai Xiu Liang Qi" again, but "he called three times but could not respond", and the Hanzhou opera officials also could not play it.

Feng Shunqing puffed out his chest and pursed his lips, "I'm telling you, a bunch of country bumpkins who have never seen the world, how can you expect to hear about the great joy of my Celestial Empire?" His contempt was evident in his words.

At this time, an opera singer named Wang Xin bowed and said, "Sir, please forgive our ignorance. Could you please enlighten us and let us listen to it and learn from it?"

"Hmph, listen to me carefully." Feng Shunqing put down his cup and began to sing.

Before he finished singing, Wang Xin wrote down the score of "Mai Xiu Liang Qi" and gave it to the band, who unexpectedly played it completely and flawlessly. The exquisite skills left Feng Shunqing dumbfounded.

Wang Xin said, "Sir, this is a new song written by Daliang, so we didn't have it in Shu before, but - now we have it."

Feng Shunqing failed to show off, and was depressed and drank alone. At the same time, the Hanzhou actor had already sent the music score to Chengdu, and told Chengdu exactly what happened in Quanzhou and Hanzhou, and told them to be prepared, as Daliang's special envoy Feng Shunqing had come with bad intentions.

When Feng Shunqing arrived in Chengdu, it was his turn to be embarrassed:

Before the banquet began, the music "Mai Xiu Liang Qi" was played in the hall. Several farm tools for harvesting wheat were placed in the middle of the hall. Dozens of poor people played their true selves. They were skinny, ragged, carrying boys and girls, holding baskets and pretending to pick wheat. They sang loudly with the ups and downs of the music. The lyrics generally told about the hardships of life and the poverty of the people. The melody was sad and miserable, which made people sad and cry when they heard it.

"Sir, you like this, please——"

Feng Shunqing looked pale and didn't say a word from beginning to end. After the banquet, Feng Shunqing "returned in shame and resentment" and returned the same way. When passing through Hanzhou and Quanzhou, he never mentioned "Liangqi". Feng Shunqing tabooed Liangqi.

The people of Shu finally had a chance to feel proud. When Feng Shunqing was on his way back, "the people of Shu laughed at him."

(End of this chapter)