History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 319: The Fall of Former Shu
[The fall of Former Shu]

On November 11, Li Jiji crossed the Mianjiang River and arrived in Deyang.

On November 11, Li Jiji arrived in Hanzhou, where the vanguard Kang Yanxiao had been waiting for eight days.

On November 11, Li Jiji arrived in the northern suburbs of Chengdu.

On November 11, under the leadership of Li Yan, Wang Zongyan surrendered at Shengqian Bridge in the north of Chengdu with standard ceremony of the fall of a country: Wang Zongyan was dressed in white, holding a piece of jade in his mouth, with a straw rope tied around his neck. Someone was leading a sheep beside him, and behind him were civil and military officials in mourning and barefoot. The officials wailed and cried under the leadership of Prime Minister Wang Kai, and at the end of the team was an empty coffin.

Li Jiji also accepted his jade according to the rules, ordered Guo Chongtao to untie Wang Zongyan's ropes, and then burned the empty coffin on the spot, and announced the pardon of their crimes in the name of Li Cunxu, the Emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty.

All the civil and military officials of Former Shu kowtowed in the northeast direction of Luoyang to express their gratitude.

At this point, the Former Shu Kingdom officially ended and perished in the second generation.

On November 11, the Later Tang army officially entered Chengdu. Guo Chongtao had set strict military discipline in advance, strictly prohibiting looting and harassment of civilians. On the day when the Later Tang army took over Chengdu, the city was in good order.

Wang Zongyan liked to collect fine horses, and there were hundreds of famous horses in the imperial garden. After Li Jiji took over Chengdu, he selected the best and selected more than 20 world-famous horses.

There were still dozens of Nanzhao captives in Chengdu. A man named Xu Ai claimed that he had been an envoy to Nanzhao, so he brought gifts and sent the Nanzhao captives back to China in the name of the Later Tang Dynasty in order to consolidate bilateral relations and seek a peaceful and stable external environment. As a result, Nanzhao refused to accept them. It is unknown whether Nanzhao did not accept the sincerity of the Later Tang Dynasty or Xu Ai turned into an international fraudster.

The Later Tang expeditionary army left Luoyang on September 9 and entered Chengdu on November 18, which took exactly 11 days. Some historical records (Zhuangzong Shilu, Old Five Dynasties History) say it took 28 days, which is inaccurate, only 70 days. If we count from the time we crossed the border, it was only about a month and a half.

During this one and a half months, the 6-strong Later Tang army took over 10 military towns, 64 states, and 249 counties of Former Shu, accepted more than 3 armed forces, and confiscated weapons, armor, food, fodder, gold, silver, and silk worth tens of millions.

From these figures, we can see that the defense force of the Former Shu Dynasty was useless and surrendered at the first sign of danger. At the same time, we can also intuitively feel the hidden dangers faced by the Later Tang army as a conqueror. With so few people to control such a large area, if someone surrendered and then rebelled again, people who were unwilling to lose their country would gather to respond...

In Chengdu city, there was no joy on the faces of Li Jiji and Guo Chongtao. Instead, they were more worried than before.

How to quickly digest a regime was an urgent problem for Li Jiji and Guo Chongtao to solve. On the invisible front of political struggle, Guo Chongtao was once again ordered to lead the battle.

There was one person who was crucial to the digestion of Former Shu, and that person was Wang Zongbi.

The appearance of Wang Zongbi relieved Guo Chongtao of a lot of work. Driven by greed, Wang Zongbi inadvertently became the vanguard of Guo Chongtao's political struggle.

At the most critical moment of Former Shu, Wang Zongbi launched a coup and surrendered the city to Later Tang. However, Wang Zongbi's actions were all to protect his own interests. He had no need and no possibility to be truly loyal to Later Tang. In fact, this is understandable. Protecting the vested interests of defectors and surrenderers is also an important part of united front work. Otherwise, who would abandon the dark and join the light? We are all adults, and we just take what we need. How can we talk about feelings?

After Wang Zongbi launched the military coup, he immediately raised his butcher knife against the eunuch group, killing eunuchs such as Song Guangsi, Jing Runcheng, Li Zhoulu, and Ouyang Huang. He put the heads into wooden boxes and sent them to Li Jiji, saying that they were big villains who brought disaster to the country and the people, and that the Former Shu was messed up by these eunuchs. They had deceived the king and their crimes were unforgivable.

Afterwards, Wang Zongbi executed Han Zhao, the prefect of Chengdu, and other flatterers, and hung their heads in the downtown area for public display.

As the core figure of the "Adopted Son Gang" and the "Adopted Son Number One", Wang Zongbi, after sending the letter of surrender and on the eve of the country's demise, slaughtered the eunuchs and shameless literati and launched a political purge. It was obviously not to support the country of Former Shu, nor was it just to seek revenge, but to gain greater bargaining chips for himself, so that he could hold more real power before the formal surrender in exchange for corresponding treatment after the surrender.

Song Guangsi and Han Zhao were the leaders of the eunuch group and the civil servant group respectively, and they controlled the most political resources, so they naturally became Wang Zongbi's prey. Then it was natural for the struggle to be expanded. Anyone who Wang Zongbi disliked was considered a traitor who "bewitched the emperor" and "harmed the country and the people", and he would kill them all.

Other powerful people were all frightened. For example, Xu Yanqiong, Pan Zaiying, Gu Zaixun and others were very sensible to the situation. They sold all their property and beauties, gave up all the power in their hands, and begged Wang Zongbi for mercy. Only then were they saved from death.

Afterwards, Wang Zongbi sent his son Wang Chengban to present Wang Zongyan's concubines, palace maids and various treasures and jewels to Guo Chongtao and Li Jiji respectively, requesting that they be appointed as the Jiedushi of Xichuan.

Li Jiji did not treat Wang Chengban well. He pointed at the treasures he presented and said, "These are all my family's things. Do I need you to give them to me?"

Wang Zongbi held military power (in charge of the affairs of the six armies and guards) and had purged his political enemies (eunuchs, civil servants), thus actually controlling the overall situation of Former Shu. If he was willing to work for Later Tang and act as a "Shu traitor", he would become the best candidate for Later Tang to digest Former Shu and establish a dual rule; but once he had other ideas, it would be possible for Later Tang to lose all its previous efforts and instead make things easier for Wang Zongbi.

Under such circumstances, it was actually very difficult for Wang Zongbi to save his life.

After expressing surrender and before the Later Tang army took over, Wang Zongbi actually deployed the city defense and arranged a battle formation, but was ordered by Li Yan to disarm; after the Later Tang took over Chengdu, Guo Chongtao asked Wang Zongbi for reward money, but Wang Zongbi evaded the request with various reasons, resulting in the Later Tang army not receiving any rewards. The soldiers were extremely resentful, and disregarded military regulations and orders, rioted at night, set fire, smashed, looted and burned, causing panic in the city of Chengdu.

Wang Zongbi held real power and enjoyed great prestige in Shu. As long as he was not removed, the Later Tang would not be at peace. Wang Zongbi was a chess piece for the Later Tang to digest the Former Shu. Guo Chongtao never considered whether to abandon him, but when and why to abandon him.

Soon, the opportunity came.

In early December, Song Guangbao rushed back to Chengdu from Zizhou and met with Li Jiji and Guo Chongtao, exposing Wang Zongbi's despicable behavior of framing and killing Song Guangsi and others for his own selfish interests.

Therefore, Li Jiji immediately reached a consensus with Guo Chongtao: to kill Wang Zongbi immediately!
On December 12, the Later Tang occupation army suddenly arrested Wang Zongbi, the "Three Recruits" and others, executed their entire families, and confiscated all their property. In the notice they presented, the Later Tang occupation army listed several major crimes of Wang Zongbi and others: deposing the original ruler without authorization; killing eunuchs; stealing state property... accusing them of being the culprits of the country's demise.

The officials of Former Shu hated Wang Zongbi so much that they competed to cut off and eat his flesh alive on the execution ground. Thus, the biggest hidden danger of Later Tang was eliminated.

(End of this chapter)