History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 321: The End of Former Shu
【The End of Former Shu】

1. Prince Jia and Wang Xiancheng

When the Later Tang invaded on a large scale, Wang Zongshou, the governor of Wuxin Army of Suizhou and Prince of Jia, wanted to fight a decisive battle with the Tang army. However, his morale collapsed, his troops eagerly surrendered, and he had no choice but to surrender due to the trend of the times.

When he heard that Wang Zongyan surrendered his country as a token of national sacrifice, he could not help but burst into tears.

When Wang Zongyan and his entourage were moved to Luoyang and arrived at Fengxiang, Wang Zongshou bribed the soldiers in charge of guarding the place with a large sum of money and was able to see Wang Zongyan.

Wang Zongyan cried until his clothes were wet, thinking of "Prince Jia's Sadness in Wine", feeling regretful and ashamed, and cried to Wang Zongshou: "If I had listened to your advice earlier, I wouldn't have ended up like this!"

Wang Zongyan finally shed tears of regret, and Wang Zongshou also said nothing, but cried and hugged Wang Zongyan and cried bitterly.

What could he say? In his mind, perhaps an emoticon would flash by, with Wang Zongyan wearing an indescribable and mysterious smile, and a line of words underneath: Forget it, my Great Shu is dead, what's the point of saying this?

Later, at the request of Wang Zongshou, the court of the Later Tang Dynasty posthumously conferred the title of "Duke Shunzheng" on Wang Zongyan, reburied him with the rites of a prince, and found a total of 18 remains of the Wang clan and reburied them.

On the day of burial, Wang Zongshou walked along with the coffin and the people praised him. The rulers of the Later Tang Dynasty were also moved by Wang Zongshou's loyalty.

Wang Zongshou was first the governor of Zibo Prefecture in the Later Tang Dynasty, and later the military governor of Pinglu Army in Qingzhou. As a surrendered general of the Former Shu Dynasty, Wang Zongshou was low-key and introverted. He did not make friends with the powerful, but was only willing to discuss scriptures and Taoism with monks. He usually amused himself with calligraphy and poetry, and many of his calligraphy works were collected by temples and Taoist temples. Wang Zongshou also had a good end because of this.

However, Wang Zongshou had a small flaw: he killed a man named Wang Xiancheng.

Wang Xiancheng has been mentioned in the previous article. He was originally a scholar in Shu. He joined the army in troubled times and was just an ordinary soldier. At that time, Wang Jian attacked Yang Sheng in Pengzhou and failed to capture it for a long time. Wang Xiancheng recommended himself to meet with the general Wang Zongkan, explained the fatal drawbacks of "eliminate the enemy", and offered a plan to conquer Pengzhou. After Pengzhou was successfully conquered, Wang Xiancheng was promoted to the governor of Kuizhou for his merits.

In the fourth year of Qianhua (914), Gao Jichang of Jingnan launched a naval attack on Kuizhou. Previously, Kui, Wan, Zhong, and Fuzhou were all territories of Jingnan. After they were taken away by Former Shu, Former Shu set up the "Zhenjiang Army" with the four states, with Zhongzhou as its headquarters. The governor of Zhenjiang Army was Jia Wang Zongshou.

Wang Xiancheng was arrogant and rude because he relied on his contribution to the conquest of Pengzhou, which Wang Zongshou was very disgusted with.

Facing Gao Jichang's invasion, Wang Cheng first asked his superior Wang Zongshou for help and requested armor. Wang Zongshou only gave him a batch of white cloth robes. They wanted plate armor, but you gave them cloth armor.

Later, Gao Jichang was defeated by the resistance of Zhang Wu, the "Hero of Locking Gorge". Wang Chengxian secretly reported Wang Zongshou's actions of not giving him armor, being passive in dealing with the enemy, killing people with borrowed knives, and avenging personal grudges. Unexpectedly, the messenger was captured by Wang Zongshou, so Wang Zongshou tricked Wang Chengxian to Zhongzhou on the pretext of holding a military meeting, and then killed him.

2. Loyal and Righteous Officials

Pu Yuqing

He repeatedly advised Wang Zongyan and wrote a 2,000-word memorial to persuade Wang Zongyan to tour Qinzhou in the north, which offended many dignitaries. Han Zhao threatened to put him in prison. When Wang Zongyan moved east, Pu Yuqing was also in the "group" and followed him to Luoyang. After Wang Zongyan was killed at Qinchuan Posthouse, Pu Yuqing cried bitterly and wrote a poem on the posthouse gate:
"My king accepted the jade and pledged his loyalty, why did he kill his entire family?
The name of Ziying in the Han Dynasty still exists, and the matter of Liu Chan in the Wei Dynasty is still fresh.

It's not that they are completely ignorant of the big country, it's that there are no people in the Central Plains.

I am alone in Chang'an, feeling sad, and I have no way to repay my parents. "After writing, Pu Yuqing threw his pen to the ground, left with a flick of his sleeves, and his whereabouts have been unknown since then. I don't want him to jump off a cliff or drown for his country, but I hope he can live in seclusion in a mountain temple.

马全
He served in the two dynasties of Wang Jian and Wang Zongyan, father and son, and was promoted to the military governor of Yongping Army and the minister of state. He was also one of the "Wang Zongyan group". After Wang Zongyan suffered the disaster of Qinchuan Post, the remaining civil and military officials finally arrived in Luoyang in June. The Later Tang court pardoned them all, gave them corresponding official positions, and rewarded them. From Prime Minister Wang Kai down, everyone was overjoyed and thanked him endlessly, but Ma Quan sighed to the sky, saying that the master was worried and the minister was humiliated, the master was humiliated and the minister died, the country was destroyed to this point, and we ministers would rather die than live! So he starved himself to death.

Niu Xiji

One day, the then Later Tang Emperor, Mingzong Li Siyuan, summoned the Prime Ministers of Former Shu, Wang Kai, Zhang Ge, Yu Chuansu, and the Hanlin scholar Niu Xiji to the palace, and then gave each of them a rhyme, and ordered them to write a seven-character regulated verse with the theme of "The Shu Lord surrendered to the Tang Dynasty".

A broken drum is beaten by thousands of people. The poems of Wang Kai and others are all sarcastic and mocking to the former master Wang Zongyan, accusing him of usurping the throne and being licentious and immoral... like a group of dogs wagging their tails and begging for mercy, they tried their best to lick the ass of the Later Tang Dynasty.

Only Niu Xiji did not slander his former master. He only said that the fate of Former Shu had run out and it was time for destiny.

The poem ends:
"It has been like this since ancient times, with many laughs and many tears."

If you read it carefully, you will find that it not only does not criticize Wang Zongyan, but instead has the meaning of admonishing the current emperor. It seems to have a flavor of "if future generations mourn him but do not learn from him, future generations will also mourn future generations."

Mingzong Li Siyuan expressed deep admiration for Niu Xiji's loyalty and integrity in not disgracing his former master, and praised him as a rare loyal and filial person in the world. He immediately appointed him as the deputy envoy of Yongzhou Jiedushi.

Niu Xiji was good at poetry, and his poem "Linjiangxian" was most praised by the world. It sang about the past and expressed feelings, opening up a new path for the development of poetry.

A poor family has a virtuous wife, and a ruined country has loyal ministers. Ma Quan starved himself to death and died for Shu, and Niu Xiji did not disgrace his former master. Although they were ministers of a fallen country, they still left their names in history.

When the historians made their final judgment on the rulers and ministers of Former Shu, they bluntly expressed their regret for Former Shu, believing that Former Shu could have survived a few more years because Li Cunxu was far inferior to Sima Zhao, and Li Jiji and Guo Chongtao were not as good as Deng Ai and Zhong Hui. Moreover, Later Tang only controlled half of China and was relatively weak. In addition, there were powerful vassal states such as Huainan, and the country itself had fatal contradictions such as dark and corrupt politics.

Even the people of Shu said that although the Later Tang launched a large-scale attack on Shu, even the Tang people did not have full confidence, or even firm belief.

As we have mentioned in the previous article, the Later Tang Dynasty only sent 60,000 troops and had insufficient food and grass. In fact, the situation of the Later Tang Dynasty did not support launching a large-scale war of annihilation. Li Cunxu also knew his own situation, so his original intention was to plunder in the name of annihilation, and his purpose was only to plunder the gold, silver and silk in Shu (although he intended to attack Shu, he did not have a definite plan, and only sought gold, silk and brocade to satisfy his desires).

However, the Later Tang Dynasty never expected that they would encounter no resistance, and the Former Shu army rushed to surrender. They were welcomed into Chengdu without knowing it, and an entire country was destroyed without them noticing...

In Li Cunxu's biography, the most common character is "hunting", which means he hunted all day long, while in Wang Zongyan's biography, the most common character is "traveling", which means he was a hardcore travel enthusiast. The two are really the same, eating meat without a mouthful of food - don't even say fat.

The historian even fantasized: "If Wang Zongyan could be diligent in government affairs, use his wealth to bribe his neighbors and maintain good relations with them, perhaps he could have prolonged the country's prosperity and waited for the right emperor to come and take care of it..." Former Shu deserved to perish, but it should not have been destroyed by Li Cunxu.

The war of Later Tang Dynasty to conquer Former Shu Dynasty was a miracle in the history of human warfare, very confusing and very strange. For example, the process of the war was that the Later Tang Dynasty intended to rob and loot, just like the Khitan harassment in Hebei Province, and they wanted to stop when they saw the opportunity, grab a handful and run away, but unexpectedly, the blind cat picked up a dead mouse, and Former Shu Dynasty directly surrendered by six points.

The most bizarre thing is its ending and impact. The war lasted for a short time, and the casualties were almost negligible. It was by no means a war quagmire, but it still dragged down the victorious Later Tang. After the fall of Former Shu, the Later Tang Empire immediately fell into the brink of collapse. Less than half a year later, Li Cunxu died in a mutiny, and the country changed hands.

(End of this chapter)