History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 318 Wang Zongbi's Coup

【Wang Zongbi's coup】

On November 11, Wang Zongyan arrived in Chengdu, and all the civil and military officials, concubines, and palace maids lined up to welcome him. Wang Zongyan ordered the concubines to surround him and march back to the palace in a procession, sometimes forming an "S" shape, sometimes forming a "B" shape (the emperor and the palace maids entered as a Uighur team).

On November 11, Wang Zongyan came to the Wenming Hall and summoned all the civil and military officials to discuss the strategy of repelling the enemy. The civil and military officials looked at each other in silence. Wang Zongyan could only cry, and his tears even soaked his clothes.

On November 11, Kang Yanxiao arrived in Lizhou and urgently repaired the bridges and plank roads destroyed by Wang Zongyan. Lin Si'e, the governor of Lizhou, had already fled to Langzhou and now hurriedly sent envoys to welcome the surrender.

On November 11, Li Jiji led the main force to Jianzhou, and the Suizhou Jiedushi and Prince Jia Wang Zongshou was forced to surrender the five states under his jurisdiction, namely Suizhou, Hezhou, Yuzhou, Luzhou and Changzhou.

On this day, Wang Zongbi led his troops back to Chengdu and climbed the Daxuan Gate with armed forces. Wang Zongyan and the Empress Dowager, Consort Xu, and others went to the Daxuan Gate to greet and comfort them, but were surprised to find that Wang Zongbi's face was no longer respectful, and his attitude towards the emperor and the empress dowager was extremely arrogant and rude.

Wang Zongyan had a bad feeling.

That night, Wang Zongbi launched a coup.

On the next day (November 11), Wang Zongbi kidnapped Wang Zongyan, Concubine Xu, and all the princes and placed them under house arrest in the West Palace; he confiscated all the royal seals; and looted all the gold, silver and treasures in the palace warehouse; Wang Zongbi's son Wang Chengjuan, who regarded money as dirt, did not plunder the royal property, but broke into the harem with a sword in hand and picked out several of Wang Zongyan's favorite concubines.

On November 11, Wang Zongbi claimed to be the governor of Xichuan and sent people with gold, silver, treasures, famous horses, beef, and fine wine to reward the three armies of the Later Tang Dynasty. He also sent a letter to Li Yan in the name of Wang Zongyan, saying: "If you come, I will surrender."

Kang Yanxiao advanced to Mianzhou and found that the granaries and houses had been completely destroyed. The floating bridge on the Mian River had also been damaged. The Mian River was turbulent and no ship dared to cross it. The Later Tang's advance was about to be forced to stop.

Kang Yanxiao said to Li Yan: "We are alone and deep in the enemy's territory, so we must fight quickly and decisively. Judging from the current situation, as long as a hundred cavalrymen rush through Lutou Pass, they will surrender in a hurry; if we slow down and wait for the pontoon bridge to be repaired before moving forward, we will lose the advantage of blitzkrieg. If someone teaches Wang Zongyan to block all the checkpoints along the way, the war will be dragged into a stalemate. In less than ten days or half a month, I am afraid the situation will be reversed."

Li Yan agreed with this, and the two of them mounted their horses and led the way in crossing the Mian River. Only more than a thousand people successfully landed, and more than a thousand people drowned in the Mian River.

As high as 50% of the non-combat casualties, this is Kang Yanxiao's courage. With only more than a thousand cavalrymen, Kang Yanxiao successfully occupied the strategic location - Lutou Pass.

On November 11, Kang Yanxiao captured Hanzhou and stopped to rest. Three days later, the main force arrived to join him.

Wang Zongbi specifically asked Li Yan to come and accept the surrender in the letter. Li Yan was also very happy, thinking that this was a piece of cake, and the enemy took the initiative to give him the first credit for "recovering Chengdu". Someone reminded him not to act rashly, saying that he was the initiator of this war and that the ruling class of Former Shu hated him to the core. If he went there this time, he would inevitably fall into a trap!
Li Yan mustered up the courage to attend the meeting alone and happily went to Chengdu.

Wang Zongyan led Li Yan to meet Concubine Xu, and put the lives of the whole family in Li Yan's hands, asking for protection. Li Yan readily agreed, and on behalf of the Later Tang court, he guaranteed that they would not be harmed.

Li Yan read out the imperial edict of Li Cunxu, the emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty:
"Shu was originally an inseparable part of our dynasty's territory. It was only because of the wars and chaos in recent decades that the roads were blocked, especially the false Liang usurping the Tang Dynasty, that the current situation of division was created. Although you have usurped the throne, it is also a temporary measure and cannot be regarded as splitting the country.

Moreover, Wang Jian, the former ruler of Shu, was also a great contributor to our dynasty. He was loyal and righteous. Since the beginning of the chaos, he had been thinking about supporting the Tang Dynasty and being loyal to Li Tang.
Now the royal army has arrived and the motherland is united. If you surrender sincerely, I promise that you will not be harmed, will not be disturbed, and will not deceive people like a puppy. "

It is obvious that the smell of gunpowder has faded a lot, and Wang Jian is no longer a "thief bastard" who splits the motherland, but an old minister of the dynasty who has always been loyal and righteous. As for all the infamy of splitting the country, all the blame should be placed on Huang Chao and Zhu Wen, especially Zhu Wen, who was the source of all evil when he established the Later Liang Dynasty and should bear all the responsibility.

The total force that the Later Tang Dynasty deployed to attack Shu was only 60,000, and the food and wages were insufficient, and the preparations were very hasty. Now the army was alone and deep in the enemy's territory, with no follow-up support at all, let alone logistical supply lines (that's why Guo Chongtao issued a desperate warning when entering Dasan Pass). Even these 60,000 people had to be scattered across the vast Shu land, and when they entered Chengdu, the Later Tang Dynasty's military strength was very empty.

Take Kang Yanxiao's vanguard troops as an example. When he entered Shu, the vanguard troops under his command consisted of 13,000 people. But when he forced his way across the Mianjiang River, there were only two or three thousand people left. After he successfully landed, there were only more than one thousand people left.

There were still more than 100,000 troops of Former Shu who had not surrendered, so even after entering Chengdu, Li Jiji and Guo Chongtao did not have enough confidence. Facing the newly surrendered Former Shu, they could only appease them with kind words and try not to stimulate their will to resist.

Wang Zongbi's followers were still in a fighting stance, and Li Yan ordered him to disarm all of Chengdu.

On November 11, Li Jiji arrived in Mianzhou. Wang Zongyan ordered Hanlin scholar Li Hao to draft a letter of surrender, and ordered Prime Minister Wang Kai to draft a letter of surrender, which were delivered to Li Cunxu and Li Jiji respectively. He also sent Ouyang Bin to welcome Li Jiji and Guo Chongtao into Chengdu.

In the letter of surrender, Wang Zongyan referred to himself as "minister" at the beginning, and praised Comrade Li Cunxu's greatness, glory and correctness throughout the letter. He made a profound review of his own serious crimes, expressed repentance, and prayed for the leniency and mercy of the Later Tang Dynasty, believing that a great man should not take the mistakes of a small man seriously. At the end of the letter, he did not write the year name, but only wrote "Yiyou Year".

In the letter to Li Jiji, Wang Zongyan's words were even more humble, and he began by saying, "Brother, I kneel down and kowtow to you. I was wrong..."

In the letter, Wang Zongyan said that he had long wanted to return to the Tang Dynasty and was recently discussing the unification issue. I didn't expect that we had the same idea and bothered you to send a large army. Of course, I would quickly give up resistance and welcome the army...

Anyway, it's just polite talk, everyone knows it's fake, but after all, he is the king of a country, so he should be more righteous.

(End of this chapter)