History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 396 Assassination of Xu Zhixun

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Diao Yanneng moved to Xuanzhou with his father to avoid war since he was young. In other words, Diao Yanneng immigrated to Huainan as a refugee, so his family conditions were very difficult, "poor and lonely at a young age", but he was very filial to his mother and was one of the "Ten Filial Sons Who Moved Xuanzhou".

Later, he joined the army and was under the jurisdiction of Wang Maozhang, the governor of Ningguo Army in Xuanzhou. Because of his tall stature, excellent martial arts, and good knowledge, he was highly regarded by Wang Maozhang and was promoted repeatedly.

After Yang Wo succeeded to the throne, he forced Wang Maozhang to leave. When Wang Maozhang abandoned the city and went to Hangzhou, he was not alone, but brought his own troops, about two to three thousand people, and Diao Yanneng was among them.

However, Diao Yanneng did not want to be forced to become a traitor, so he secretly arranged for his family to help his old mother to the roadside. When Diao Yanneng passed by here with the army, he hugged his mother and cried to Wang Maozhang: "To serve the general is loyalty, to serve my mother is filial piety. Since ancient times, it has been difficult to be both loyal and filial. Today, I really can't bear to abandon my mother and follow the general. I am really conflicted. Oh - my lord, please kill me!"

The previous article detailed the ins and outs of Wang Maozhang's "treason and surrender to the enemy". What kind of person is Wang Maozhang? Wang Maozhang was very moved and felt very guilty. He said that I was forced to abandon my country and go far away, which was already unfaithful. How could I force someone to abandon my mother? Yanneng, I won't kill you, you stay.

After Wang Maozhang led his troops away, Diao Yanneng rushed back to Xuanzhou City, which was already in chaos due to the defection of the commander. Some people fled in fear, while others smashed, looted and burned.

Diao Yanneng drew his sword, climbed up the city gate tower, and lied to everyone, saying, "I came from Yangzhou as a vanguard officer to comfort everyone. The main force will be here soon! Don't panic, just do what you need to do, nothing will happen!"

Everyone believed it, and order was restored in Xuanzhou City.

After breaking away from Wang Maozhang's "rebel army" and using clever strategies to stabilize Xuanzhou, the young general Diao Yanneng immediately caught the attention of the top brass (Xu Wen), was promoted to "Princeling" and transferred to Xu Zhixun's side.

When Ma Qian and Li Qiu were in chaos, Diao Yanneng and Zhu Jin arrived in time. It is said that Ma Qian was killed by Diao Yanneng himself. Xu Zhixun later rewarded him greatly for his "merit in saving the emperor."

Diao Yanneng often wrote letters to advise Xu Zhixun. Although Xu Zhixun did not accept his advice, he never distanced himself from him or blamed him for it.

There is no harm without comparison. The difference between Xu Zhixun and Xu Zhigao is like heaven and earth. Many people believe that Xu Zhigao will achieve great things in the future, so they secretly follow him. Diao Yanneng is also in Cao's camp but his heart is with Han. Although he is Xu Zhixun's "confidant", he has helped Xu Zhigao out of trouble several times.

As usual, I'll give you a hint. I'll tell the story first, and then review this foreshadowing: Is Xu Zhixun really that bad? Did Xu Zhixun behave like a retard in murdering Xu Zhigao?
According to historical records, Xu Zhixun also had deep conflicts with his tutor, Zhu Jin. It is said that Zhu Jin had a BMW horse, which he treated like a pearl in his palm. Zhu Jin specially built a luxurious single room for the horse that was warm in winter and cool in summer. In summer, he also used a green gauze tent to repel mosquitoes for the horse. He was a model horse owner in the horse breeding industry.

After hearing this, Xu Zhixun asked Zhu Jin for the horse, but Zhu Jin politely declined. As a result, Xu Zhixun became angry and immediately sent assassins to kill Zhu Jin.

Zhu Jin, who has been on the brink of death all his life, successfully killed the assassin. After the assassination, the relationship between Zhu Jin and Xu Zhixun as teacher and student reached a freezing point, and they both understood each other tacitly.

Zhu Jin, who was born a surrendered general, had a status in the Huainan Group that was beyond our imagination.

Zhu Jin was not an ordinary surrendered general. Before he came to Huainan, he was also a "lord" who dominated one side. He was the governor of Taining Army in Yanzhou. Together with his cousin Zhu Xuan, the governor of Tianping Army in Yunzhou, he was the leader in southwest Shandong. Zhu Wen of Bianzhou took away his foundation and wife. He had nothing and came to surrender desperately. However, he was a martial arts expert with a big spear in his hand, which was second to none in the Jianghuai area. He was also good at commanding cavalry to fight, which filled the gap of the southern army.

From a practical point of view, Zhu Jin's contribution to the Huainan Group is quite huge. He not only brought the mature cavalry system in the north to Huainan, lighting up the Huainan arms technology tree, but also had a deep hatred for Huainan's rival, Zhu Wen of Bianzhou, and became a "pig-killing vanguard". He made great contributions in all the battles with Bianzhou forces, such as the famous "Battle of Qingkou". To some extent, it is precisely because of Zhu Jin's existence that Huainan can compete with the Central Plains Dynasty. From the perspective of political struggle, Zhu Jin is even more lovely. In the era of Yang Xingmi, Yang Xingmi used Zhu Jin to balance Zhu Yanshou, Tian Yu, and An Renyi; in the era of Xu Wen, Xu Wen used Zhu Jin to balance Liu Wei, Li Jian, etc.

Therefore, Zhu Jin's position in Huainan was the second in command of the group, ranking as deputy governor, and even Xu Zhixun ranked behind Zhu Jin.

Students and subordinates want to assassinate their teachers and superiors, but the victims dare not speak out. Zhu Jin, who was hired by Xu Zhixun to kill, is very similar to Lin Chong, whose wife was molested by Gao Yanei. After all, he is Xu Wen's son.

Zhu Jin always looked for opportunities to contact Yang Wei alone and secretly persuaded him to kill Xu and his son. Emperor Xian of Han also conspired to kill Cao Cao many times. Why are you so cowardly?
Yang Wei: I’m just such a coward.

Zhu Jin was very scheming. The more he wanted to get rid of Xu Zhixun, the more submissive he became to him on the surface, in order to make him complacent and reveal his flaws.

On this day, Zhu Jin sent one of his concubines to Xu Zhixun's house to pay his respects. Sending a beautiful woman to visit Xu Zhixun's home was like throwing meat buns at a dog.

Xu Zhixun was aroused by her beauty and immediately raped the beautiful woman who came to his door.

The concubine returned and told Zhu Jin, who was furious, "This is simply outrageous!" and became even more determined to get rid of Xu Zhixun.

Coincidentally, Xu Zhixun was also planning to get rid of Zhu Jin. His plan was to first send Zhu Jin to a remote place, and then slowly fabricate charges against him. He would always find excuses to accuse him, using the old routine of "demoting him again and again, and then ordering him to commit suicide".

Xu Zhixun specially set up the Jinghuai Army in Sizhou and appointed Zhu Jin as the governor. However, this Jinghuai Army only governed three counties in Sizhou (Linhuai County, Lianshui County, and Xucheng County). It was called an army, but actually a state; it was called a governor, but actually a governor.

The intention is obvious.

Zhu Jin was no pushover, he knew that Sizhou was his gate to hell, if he went there, he would have no good ending. Now that things had come to this, he could only take the initiative.

The day before Zhu Jin was to go to Sizhou, Xu Zhixun came to give Zhu Jin a farewell party. Zhu Jin behaved more respectfully than usual and said that he planned to give the BMW horse to Xu Zhixun.

"Really? You're kidding?"

Zhu Jin had a beautiful dancer, and she invited Xu Zhixun to come in and drink and watch the singing and dancing. Some historical records say that this dancer was the concubine who was raped by Xu Zhixun before; others say that Zhu Jin lied to Xu Zhixun and said that he would give him a BMW and this beauty...

In short, Zhu Jin used the two baits of BMW and beautiful women to lure Xu Zhixun into his home.

(End of this chapter)