History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 369: Pingjing War
Some people interpreted this as Gao Jichang's confession to the people of Bashu, believing that it was he who instigated the war, brought the flames of war to the people of Bashu, and caused the people of Shu to become slaves of a conquered country, so he felt guilty towards the people of Bashu.

nonsense.

So the people of Huainan deserved to be slaves of a conquered country? Attacking Shu was a crime, but conquering Huai was a merit?
This explanation is to beautify and flatter Gao Jichang. This book does not flatter or criticize him (in fact, I really want to criticize him). The "faults" mentioned by Gao Jichang are the faults of the people in Jingnan under his rule. Because he thought that Li Cunxu easily destroyed the Former Shu, his strength, confidence and ambition doubled, and the next step was to go south along the river and clean up Jingnan. He instigated Li Cunxu to attack Shu, but in the end he brought the war to Jingnan.

Liang Zhen, a great strategist, held the opposite view. He smiled and said to Gao Jichang, "Don't worry! After Li Cunxu gained control of Shu, what doubled was not his ambition, but his arrogance. He must have become even more arrogant, complacent, extravagant, and even less motivated to make progress, thus quickly perishing. Li Cunxu's destruction of Former Shu was a blessing in disguise for Jingnan."

Gao Jichang immediately recalled what he had seen and heard in Luoyang. "Yes! Sir, you are right!"

Gao Jichang's nickname was "Gao Laizi". He was shameless and everyone in the world knew him. After the pacification of Shu, he shamelessly asked Li Cunxu for Kui, Zhong, Wan and other states several times, "Your Majesty, you said that you would return these states to me in Jingnan."

Li Cunxu was a little undecided. Yes, I did say it... but the prerequisite is that you have to conquer it yourself.

However, Gao Jichang had already figured out the true intentions of Li Cunxu's court, and bribed Empress Liu, eunuchs, actors, and Prime Minister Dou Luge and Wei Shuo. Wei Shuo, in particular, had lived in Jingnan and was an old friend of Gao Jichang, so he strongly favored Gao Jichang. As a result, voices in and out of the court supported ceding Jingnan. Li Cunxu was forced to agree to it reluctantly.

But before the imperial edict was officially issued, the "Xingjiaomen Mutiny" occurred.

As mentioned above, Li Siyuan entered Luoyang and made a weak claim, so various political forces took the opportunity to extort money and make money from the national crisis. When it comes to extortion, blackmail, and blackmail, how can we forget Gao Jichang? This man has been a professional rogue for thirty years.

Previously, Gao Jichang had only shamelessly asked Li Cunxu for the three states of Kui, Zhong, and Wan. Now, taking advantage of Li Siyuan's eagerness to stabilize the four directions, he asked Li Siyuan for the land of the five states of Kui, Zhong, Wan, Gui, and Xia. "I remember that the late emperor had originally promised these five states..."

"I have never seen such a shameless person!" Li Siyuan was furious.

Some historical records say that Gao Jichang did not send troops during the attack on Shu, but demanded land after the war; other historical records say that Gao Jichang sent troops but was defeated. Regardless of which version is true, everyone agrees that Gao Jichang "did not accomplish anything".

Prime Ministers Dou Luge and Wei Shuo also unanimously agreed to the request to cede land. Li Siyuan compromised and agreed to Gao Jichang's request to cede land.

Afterwards, Gao Jichang went even further and submitted a memorial to the central court requesting that it not appoint any governors, but that the power to appoint personnel in Kui, Zhong, Wan and other states be entirely handed over to himself, with his sons serving as governors of various states.

Theoretically, although the Jiedushi was the top military and political leader of a local government, he was usually only responsible for administration, military affairs, part of the judiciary, and taxation (local tax), while the power of personnel appointments and dismissals, taxation (national tax) and other powers were still directly controlled by the central court. As for administration, military affairs, and justice, the Jiedushi could not act arbitrarily, because there were Jiedushi deputy envoys, military supervisors, eunuchs, prosecutors, judges and other officials around him to share his power, and these people were basically dispatched by the central government. The authority of the "Jiedushi" was greatly reduced.

This was the control system at the beginning of the design of the "Jiedushi" system. Coupled with the Jiedushi's relocation of towns and the rotation and rotation of troops, it made it impossible for the Jiedushi to split up and threaten the central government. Of course, this was only in theory.

Usually, if you emphasize "in theory...", the actual situation must be the opposite.

There is no need to elaborate on the qualitative change of the Jiedushi in the late Tang Dynasty. The binding force of the system is proportional to the military strength.

For example, Gao Jichang, the governor of Jingnan, theoretically only had the right to use the Jingnan area, not the ownership. All land under heaven belongs to the king, and all the people are his subjects. The world belongs to Li Siyuan, and Gao Jichang and other vassals only help the emperor to defend the land. Therefore, although Kui, Zhong, Wan and other states were assigned to Jingnan, the power of personnel and taxation was still in the hands of the central government. Now, Gao Jichang's practice is to frantically test the bottom line of the central government, openly asking for the right to appoint and dismiss personnel, which is equivalent to declaring separatism.

Although Li Siyuan had to consider the overall situation and make compromises, this was the bottom line of the court, a red line that no central court, no matter how weak, could tolerate!
Li Siyuan did not call his ministers to discuss the matter, but flatly rejected the proposal. He also sent provincial governors and other officials to Kui, Zhong, Wan and other states, making clear the central government's tough attitude.

What Li Siyuan never expected was that Gao Jichang responded with an even tougher attitude.

It happened that the governor of Kuizhou, Pan Kang (who had the same name as the Privy Councilor of Former Shu, Pan Kang, but was not the same person), resigned, so Li Siyuan transferred Xifang Ye to serve as the governor of Kuizhou.

Gao Jichang was quick to act and immediately sent troops to raid Kuizhou, massacred all the central garrison troops, and then forcibly took over Kuizhou and refused to accept Xifang Ye. He then sent troops to attack Fuzhou, but failed to capture it.

Li Siyuan was furious. This was simply a blatant rebellion!

What happened next made Li Siyuan unable to tolerate it any longer:
A transport team carrying 400,000 gold, silver and silk from Shu sailed down the Yangtze River, escorted by the camp manager Han Gong to Luoyang to help Li Siyuan solve his financial problems. When passing through Jingnan, Gao Jichang robbed the imperial treasure, and Han Gong and other transport personnel were killed, and all the money and supplies were robbed.

The previous article has analyzed in detail the two fatal problems faced by Li Siyuan. The spoils of war in Shu were the lifeblood of Li Siyuan's new regime.

Li Siyuan sent people to interrogate and ask for the information, but Gao Jichang replied: "Han Gong's fleet sailed eastward from the Three Gorges, thousands of miles of water. If you want to know the accident of the shipwreck and the death of people, you should ask the water god."

Gao Jichang was madly testing the brink of death.

This is intolerable, what is intolerable? Li Siyuan was furious and decided to teach this shameless guy a lesson.

On February 927, 2, Li Siyuan issued an edict to deprive Gao Jichang of all his official positions and titles.

With Xiangzhou Jiedushi Liu Xun as the commander-in-chief, Xuzhou Jiedushi Xia Luqi as the deputy, they marched south from Xiangzhou and attacked the heart of southern Jing - Jiangling Prefecture;

Dong Zhang, the governor of Dongchuan, was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the auxiliary forces, and Xifang Ye, the governor of Kuizhou, was appointed as the deputy commander. They went down the Yangtze River from Shu and attacked Zhong, Wan, Kui and other states;

Ma Yin of Tanzhou set out from the south and attacked Jiangling Prefecture together with Liu Xun and Xia Luqi.

Tens of thousands of troops were divided into three routes to encircle and suppress Jingnan.

(End of this chapter)