History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 335 Beizhou Mutiny
【Beizhou Mutiny】

In February of the fourth year of the Tongguang reign (926), a group of Wei Bo (now renamed "Tianxiong Army", for ease of memory, we will continue to use its old name) soldiers who had been stationed at Waqiaoguan to guard against the Khitan were replaced after their term of office. They returned to Weizhou under the leadership of commander Yang Renzheng. When passing through Beizhou, they received an order from the court: stay where they were and await further instructions.

Because Weizhou was very empty at that time, the main forces had been transferred to the front line of the attack on Shu, and were now on the way back. Weizhou was empty, and Li Cunxu was worried that these border guards would cause trouble in Weizhou, so he asked them to stay in Beizhou on standby.

At that time, Guo Chongtao was killed, and rumors spread that Guo Chongtao had killed the crown prince Li Jiji and wanted to establish his own kingdom in Bashu, so he was killed along with his entire family. In fact, this rumor was spread by the eunuchs, with the purpose of guiding public opinion and stimulating Li Cunxu, so that Li Cunxu would be determined to kill Guo Chongtao.

The cost of making a rumor is very low, but the cost of refuting it is extremely high. Moreover, the eunuchs could not show up to refute the rumor, so how could they do so? They could not declare to the public, "We deliberately framed Guo Chongtao, please stop believing and spreading rumors." This statement was recognized by the general public.

Soon, Zhu Youqian's entire family was massacred, and his court sent many troops to slaughter Zhu Youqian's sons and branches. As mentioned earlier, there were two groups of people who caused trouble, one was Li Jiji in Shu, and the other was Shi Yanqiong, the eunuch who supervised the army in Weizhou.

Shi Yanqiong, the military supervisor eunuch of Weizhou, received a secret order from Li Cunxu to go to Chanzhou to kill the governor Zhu Jianhui. It was already late at night when Shi Yanqiong received the secret order. Without further delay, Shi Yanqiong acted decisively and immediately rode a fast horse to Chanzhou. Shi Yanqiong was the military supervisor eunuch of Weizhou. On the surface, he was a cadre of the same level as the highest military and political chief of the local area, the Jiedushi, but in fact he was indeed a local emperor in name only, with more actual authority than the Jiedushi. When he wanted to leave the city, the city gate officials did not dare to stop him.

The city gate officer could only wait until he rushed out of the city before reporting to the military and political chief, Wang Zhengyan, the governor of Ye City.

"Report - General Shi rode out late at night, looking flustered and in a hurry. No one knew where he was going, let alone what business he was going to do."

This time, the rumor has a new twist: Empress Liu blamed the emperor for Li Jiji's murder and had already killed him, so she urgently ordered Shi Yanqiong to come to Beijing to discuss the aftermath!

The story was so convincing that everyone believed it and became even more terrified, thinking that the world was about to fall into chaos.

There is no coincidence in the world. Yang Renzheng's troops stationed in Beizhou had nothing to do, and the soldiers were bored, so they had to gamble to pass the time. On this day, a soldier named Huangfu Hui gathered to gamble and lost a lot of money. The gambler who lost a lot of money was crazy. He took advantage of the turmoil in people's hearts and instigated a mutiny. He kidnapped the main general Yang Renzheng and said:
"The reason why Li Cunxu was able to seize the world is all due to the efforts of our Wei Bo Army! We have fought bravely for more than ten years without taking off our armor or saddles, and now the world has been settled. Li Cunxu not only does not reward us for our past contributions, but is deeply suspicious of us, guarding against us like thieves, and sending us to the distant frontier for more than a year. Now we can happily return home, but he stops us from going home for no reason. Is this fair? Now, the queen has killed the emperor, and the capital is in chaos. The soldiers are willing to return home under your leadership!"

Simply put, it means to return without permission. Like Pang Xun, return armed without permission.

Yang Renzheng disagreed, saying that if the emperor was really killed, it would not affect us. Even if the dynasty changed, it would not prevent us from returning home.

So, Huangfu Hui spoke out his true thoughts, "If the emperor is not dead and wants to punish us for returning without permission, then the Wei Bo army is also capable of protecting the country and the people. Maybe you and I can take this opportunity to gain more wealth and glory!"

I really want to learn from Pang Xun. First, return to the country, then establish a separate regime, and then wait for the surrender and negotiate terms.

"Oh - so you want to rebel? I'm sorry I won't obey you!" Yang Renzheng refused to take the lead and was killed by Huangfu Hui.

Huangfu Hui then supported another officer, who also refused and was killed.

Zhao Zaili, the commander of the Silver Spear Xiejie Army, did not even have time to put on his pants after hearing the news of the mutiny. He hurriedly put on a coat and tried to escape over the wall. Huangfu Hui quickly caught up with him and grabbed Zhao Zaili's ankle, "Get down!" He threw Zhao Zaili to the ground, then showed him the heads of Yang Renzheng and the officer, "Either be our head, or leave your head here."

Faced with the threat of death, Zhao Zaili submitted and was then supported by Huangfu Hui as the leader of the rebellion. The rebellion first set fire to Beizhou City and looted, then marched south from Beizhou to Weizhou, burning, killing, looting and committing all kinds of evil along the way.

On February 926, 2, the eunuch Shi Yanqiong, the military supervisor, had already killed Zhu Jianhui and returned to Weizhou. In the evening, someone who had escaped from Beizhou reported the Beizhou mutiny and warned that the mutiny would arrive in Weizhou in five seconds, so please be prepared.

General Sun Duo and others hurriedly went to the military supervisor eunuch Shi Yanqiong to explain the matter, and asked Shi Yanqiong to distribute weapons and armor and arrange for soldiers to go up to the city to guard.

Shi Yanqiong suspected that Sun Duo and his men had ulterior motives and was unwilling to distribute weapons and armor, so he said, "According to intelligence, the rebel army has just arrived in Linqing. According to the calculations, they will arrive here at the earliest tomorrow night. Let's talk about it tomorrow daytime."

In addition to being suspicious of generals such as Sun Duo, Shi Yanqiong also saw the lesson of Zhang Xian. Without Li Cunxu's order, who would dare to privately issue weapons and armor?

When Li Cunxu punished Zhang Xian for privately sending armor to Li Siyuan, he certainly did not expect that the butterfly effect of this incident would be so ironic.

Sun Duo said: "The rebels have already started a rebellion. They will surely launch a surprise attack while we are not fully prepared. How can they continue to march at their usual speed? They will surely speed up and travel day and night. Please lead the main force to defend the city. I will recruit young warriors to ambush at Wangmang River (a tributary of the ancient Yellow River) to give the rebels a head-on blow and dampen their spirits. Once their morale is dampened, they will scatter and flee. Otherwise, when they swagger to the city, if there are traitors in the city who are cooperating, the situation will be unpredictable."

Shi Yanqiong still refused and said, "We just need to defend the city tightly. Why should we go out to fight?"

Sure enough, that very night, the vanguard of the rebel army rushed to the north gate of Weizhou, shouting and yelling, and fired arrows at the gate tower.

After hearing the noise, Shi Yanqiong and his men immediately fled. Shi Yanqiong escaped from Weizhou alone and headed straight for Luoyang. The next morning, the rebel army entered Weizhou. Sun Duo and others led their troops to resist, but the enemy was too powerful and the morale of the defenders collapsed. Sun Duo knew he could not defeat them, so he had to lead his troops to move.

Zhao Zaili took control of Weizhou, and then ordered Huangfu Hui and others to allow their troops to plunder and sack the city of Weizhou.

Following Shi Yanqiong's heroic escape, the Weizhou defenders collapsed and fled in all directions. No one had time to notify Comrade Wang Zhengyan who stayed behind.

At this moment, Wang Zhengyan was still working hard at his job, handling official business. He needed a clerk to draft a memorial, but he called several times in succession and no one showed up. He was very annoyed, "This is outrageous. They left their jobs during working hours! It would be fine if one person left, but they all left. How shameful!"

Wang Zhengyan was furious, and his family rushed in, "The rebels have entered the city, and are killing and burning people in the streets. The officials have already fled!"

Wang Zhengyan was horrified, "Why didn't anyone tell me? Come on, prepare the horses!" He shouted several times, then slapped his forehead, "I forgot, they all ran away."

The rebels had imposed martial law in the city and could no longer escape. So Wang Zhengyan walked into the headquarters building and paid a visit to Zhao Zaili. As soon as the two met, Wang Zhengyan knelt down and kowtowed, asking for forgiveness.

Zhao Zaili hurriedly knelt down, kowtowed to Wang Zhengyan, and said, "The soldiers just miss their hometown. Marshal Wang is highly respected and virtuous. Please don't condescend like this!" He helped Wang Zhengyan up, comforted him for a long time, and then sent him home with courtesy.

Afterwards, the rebel army nominated Zhao Zaili as the commander of the Wei Bo army and reported it to Li Cunxu, requesting for his formal appointment.

The family members of Zhang Xian, who was left behind in Taiyuan, were all in Weizhou. Zhao Zaili treated them very well and sent an envoy to Zhang Xian to persuade him to surrender. Zhang Xian did not open the envelope, but beheaded the envoy who delivered the letter, and then sent the letter of persuasion to Luoyang intact.

The eunuch Shi Yanqiong, the military supervisor, was as panic-stricken as a dog that had lost its home and as anxious as a fish that had escaped the net. He fled back to Luoyang in one breath and reported Wei Bo's rebellion to Li Cunxu.

Li Cunxu asked the eunuch Li Shaohong who could lead the army to quell the rebellion.

The loyal Li Shaohong recommended Duan Ning again. Before the attack on Shu, Li Shaohong had tried his best to recommend Duan Ning, but was rejected by Guo Chongtao. Now, he strongly recommended Duan Ning again. Now that Guo Chongtao was no longer there to make trouble, Li Cunxu finally agreed and decided to let Duan Ning lead the rebellion.

However, in the battle plan drafted by Duan Ning, all the nominated and appointed were former surrendered generals of the Later Liang Dynasty, with the "Later Liang Gang" as the core, holding heavy troops and recovering important towns in Hebei... Li Cunxu was furious, "What does Duan Ning want to do?" He immediately revoked his order and revoked Duan Ning's appointment.

Empress Liu said: "It's just a few petty thieves from the Wei Bo army causing trouble. Sending Yuan Xingqin will be enough!"

Li Cunxu then dispatched Yuan Xingqin to lead 3,000 cavalrymen to Weizhou to seek surrender and appease the rebels. At the same time, he mobilized other armies to prepare for the failure of negotiations and the full suppression of the rebellion.

Yuan Xingqin arrived at the city of Weizhou and launched a deterrent attack on the south gate. At the same time, he sent people with an imperial edict to solicit surrender.

The rebel leader Zhao Zaili gave Yuan Xingqin's army some good meat as a reward. Zhao Zaili knelt down and kowtowed to Yuan Xingqin on the city gate tower, explaining: "The soldiers missed their wives and children in their hometown, so they returned without permission. They had no other intentions. If the general is willing to report to the emperor and plead for us to save our lives, how dare we not repent and make meritorious contributions?" Then he took the emperor's edict of amnesty and circulated it among his soldiers.

Things are moving in a good direction. If nothing unexpected happens, the result will definitely be that the emperor will appease them with kind words and pardon them all, and the rebels will be jubilant, shout long live the emperor, and surrender in the city...

But if there really was "nothing unexpected", we wouldn't need to prepare for and emphasize it so much. This rebellion was the most influential one during Li Cunxu's era.

Zhao Zaili and Huangfu Hui rebelled in Beizhou and attacked Weizhou. The eunuch Shi Yanqiong, the military supervisor, had an unshirkable responsibility. At the very least, he neglected his duties and failed to command the situation. Even if the rebels were successfully recruited, Shi Yanqiong would still be held accountable. Therefore, the person who hated this group of rebels the most in the world was the eunuch Shi Yanqiong.

At the critical moment when the situation was about to turn for the better, the eunuch Shi Yanqiong pointed at the tower and cursed: "You damned thieves, when the city is captured, I will tear you into pieces!"

Huangfu Hui said to the soldiers, "Look and listen, the emperor will not let us go!" The crowd was outraged, and everyone shouted, snatched the edict of amnesty, tore it to pieces, then climbed up the city to defend it, and cursed the dead eunuchs under the city.

Yuan Xingqin looked at Shi Yanqiong helplessly, sighed, and then ordered an attack on the city. Yuan Xingqin had few men and lacked siege equipment, so he was bound to fail. So after the defeat, he retreated to Chanzhou and reported to Li Cunxu.

Tearing up the imperial edict was like slapping the emperor in the face. Li Cunxu was very angry and the consequences were serious. He ordered to expand the scope of mobilization, mobilize a large army to fight, and gave the highest instruction: "On the day the city is broken, no one will be left alive, regardless of age!"

(End of this chapter)