History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 374: Gao Conghui, the "Second Generation of Lai"
[“The second generation of Lai” Gao Conghui]

In December of the third year of Tiancheng (928), Gao Jichang was seriously ill and ordered his eldest son Gao Conghui to temporarily take over the military and political power. On December 12, Gao Jichang died of illness, and Yang Pu of Huainan appointed Gao Conghui as the governor of Jingnan and the minister of state.

Gao Conghui was a man of intelligence and cunning, which means he was even more sinister and cunning than his father Gao Jichang. There is also a beautiful legend about his birth:

Gao Jichang had a beautiful concubine named Zhang. When Gao Jichang was young, he would always take Zhang with him when he went to war. After a defeat, the couple strayed into the deep mountains and forests in a panic and hid in a narrow natural cave at night. At that time, Zhang was pregnant and had difficulty moving. Gao Jichang was worried that she would implicate him, so he secretly got up after Zhang fell asleep, came to the entrance of the cave, and chopped the left and right sides of the cave with a huge sword, hoping to cause a landslide and bury Zhang alive.

The strange thing is that Gao Jichang had destroyed the entrance of the cave to the point that it violated classical mechanics, but the small hole refused to collapse.

At this moment, Zhang suddenly woke up, and they both scared each other.

Gao Jichang stood at the entrance of the cave, holding a huge sword in his hand, and was very embarrassed. "You...why did you wake up?"

Zhang was still in shock and said that she had just had a dream in which the cave was about to collapse, and a divine man wearing golden armor and holding a golden spear stood beside her to help her hold up the cave. She also said that she was uneducated and did not understand what the dream meant, and asked Gao Jichang to help her interpret it.

"Oh... Hi, actually... I..." Gao Jichang hesitated and helped her out of the cave. Zhang had just walked out of the cave when she heard a "boom" behind her and the cave collapsed.

Gao Jichang believed that Zhang was helped by gods and immortals and was not destined to die, so he did not dare to have any more improper thoughts and fled with Zhang. In the end, he escaped the pursuers safely.

Zhang was pregnant with Gao Conghui at the time. When Gao Conghui was born, Gao Jichang thought of what happened that night and concluded that Gao Conghui would become rich and powerful, so he loved him very much. Zhang also died rich and powerful.

In fact, I firmly believe that this is Zhang's cleverness and that the mysterious dream must have been her improvisation. Gao Jichang's giant sword chiseled the wall and woke her up. After waking up, she saw Gao Jichang slashing at the cave door in the moonlight. Anyone who is not a fool knows what Gao Jichang wants to do.

But Zhang couldn't catch him, otherwise she would be killed on the spot by this scumbag. So she thought of a clever idea and borrowed the golden armor warrior to protect her body.

The intelligence and talent that Gao Conghui showed in the future was most likely derived from his mother's genes.

There is a poem saying:

"Yingcheng was opened at the foot of Jigong Mountain, and the master group regained their dominance.

I still remember the golden armor guard in my dream, holding the spear to help raise the collapsed Mount Tai. "

The newly ascended Gao Conghui was faced with an extremely dangerous dilemma. To the north, the troops of the Later Tang were constantly heading to Xiangzhou to gather; to the south, Ma Yin of Southern Chu dispatched troops to avenge the defeat of Yuezhou. Previously, Li Siyuan of the Later Tang was fighting on two fronts, because the King of Dingzhou colluded with the Khitan and rebelled, and Li Siyuan focused his main energy on the north. Less than a month after Gao Conghui ascended the throne, the Later Tang completely defeated the Khitan reinforcements and recovered Dingzhou. As a result, a large number of soldiers with rich combat experience were transferred to the Xiangzhou front.

The first to join the battle were Ma Yin of Southern Chu, and his general Wang Huan defeated Jingnan in Shishou (now Shishou City, Hubei Province). Shishou is located almost in the middle between Jiangling Prefecture and Yuezhou. The three cities are all located along the Yangtze River. In other words, Wang Huan has cut off the connection between Jiangling Prefecture and Yuezhou. Next, the Southern Chu army can threaten Jiangling Prefecture if it advances, and can attack Yuezhou if it retreats.

The defeat in Shishou made Gao Conghui extremely worried.

It is said that when Gao Jichang submitted to the Southern Wu, Gao Conghui strongly opposed it, but Gao Jichang did not accept it. Now, Gao Conghui said to his left and right staff: "Tang is close and Wu is far away. We should not give up the near and seek the far."

Therefore, Gao Conghui expressed his apology to the Later Tang court through Ma Yin, admitted his mistakes, pushed all the responsibilities of breaking away from Tang and joining Wu on his dead father, and requested Later Tang to forgive Jingnan, the lost lamb; he also wrote a letter to An Yuanxin, the governor of Xiangzhou, asking him to plead for Jingnan and act as a guarantee; he also sent his confidant Liu Zhiqian to Luoyang in person with a letter of repentance. In the letter of repentance, Gao Conghui called himself "former Jingnan marching Sima, Guizhou governor", which was Gao Conghui's official position in Later Tang before Gao Jichang rebelled and joined Southern Wu. Gao Conghui called himself by this official title, and also showed his attitude of returning to the right path and repenting of his mistakes. Along with the letter of repentance came three thousand taels of silver for redemption.

Of course Li Siyuan chose to forgive him.

The previous article has already introduced the situation of Li Siyuan's new court in great detail. It was really difficult for him to support a decent war. The so-called expedition was just a few words to express his attitude and save the face of the central government. Deep down, he would not fight if he could. So it can be seen that the main force to pacify Jing this time was actually Ma Yin of Southern Chu, and the central army was just bluffing in Xiangzhou.

Li Siyuan appointed Gao Conghui as the governor of Jingnan and the minister of state, and posthumously conferred the title of King of Chu on Gao Jichang, and gave him the posthumous title of Wuxin. By the way, I don't know if Li Siyuan really wanted to show off Gao Jichang's invincibility and his untrustworthy faith, to disgust him on purpose, or to use the homophonic pun "wuxin" to disgust him...

At the same time, it was announced that the Jingnan Recruiting Envoy would be abolished and the war would end.

Gao Conghui also very wisely sent a letter to Southern Wu, explaining why he rebelled against Wu and returned to Tang. "Our ancestral tombs are in the territory of the Later Tang. We are afraid that the Later Tang will dig up our ancestral tombs in anger, so we have to submit to him... I have no choice. Please understand. Thank you."

Nan Wu: Do you believe it yourself? You scumbag!
Southern Wu sent troops to conquer southern Jing, but returned without success. In fact, the attack by Southern Wu and Li Siyuan's annexation of Xiangzhou were in sync, both were just a declaration of attitude and a gesture. Small countries want substance, while big countries want face.

It is even difficult to find any trace of this battle in historical records. Most authoritative historical books do not mention it at all. There is only a sentence in "Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms·Wenxian Wang's Family" that "Wu sent troops to investigate the crime, but returned without success." There are only these nine words in the record. There is no explanation of the generals of both sides, the deployed troops, and even the battle location, exact time, etc.

During the reign of Li Siyuan, the feudal lords (the Ten Kingdoms) had basically reached the stage of stock competition, and internal circulation was serious. This was a challenge for Li Siyuan, but also an opportunity for him. An Zhonghui, a hard-line trusted minister, followed the principle of hawkish diplomacy and pushed forward his proposal to reduce the power of the feudal lords, which was both praised and criticized.

Just Jingnan was not An Zhonghui's ambition; he wanted the whole world to be unified.

Now that Gao Conghui of Jingnan has returned, we can put the wonderful stories of the "Gao Laizi" to a temporary end and continue to tell the intersection between the central Li Siyuan court and the other "Ten Kingdoms":

(End of this chapter)