History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 414 Diplomatic Crisis
Luo Yin was ambitious and wrote passionately, and he despised the former marquis. He looked down upon the small errand that was given to him as alms. Not only did he not thank him, he also publicly said that Luo Shaowei and Zhu Wen were blind and could not recognize a great man!

Everyone was quite dissatisfied, "Why are you so arrogant?"

"Hmph." Luo Yin was too lazy to deal with these ordinary people. He wanted to win them over with practical actions, so he threw himself into the imperial examination, hoping to make a splash.

The reality slapped him in the face. “I thought I could be of great use, but I failed the first place.” The next time, I failed again. I made a small mistake, and failed again. I was not careful, and failed again… I failed the tenth time.

Luo Yin made a fool of himself. He was too ashamed to stay in the Central Plains, so he returned to Jiangdong in disgrace.

However, his die-hard fan Luo Shaowei still cheered for him crazily, sent people to send him generous gifts, and traveled thousands of miles to chase his idol. Luo Yin gave him his own poems in return. Luo Shaowei was a famous book collector in the Five Dynasties. He loved to talk with literati and scholars, and he also loved to recite poems and compose essays. He praised Luo Yin as "Luo Jiangdong", meaning the most talented person in Jiangdong, and named his own poems "Stealing Jiangdong Collection", making no secret of his imitating Luo Yin's style.

A line of Luo Yin's poem is still widely quoted today:
"Today there is wine and today is drunk, and tomorrow's worries come tomorrow's worries."

Because of his straightforward personality and reputation for foresight, Luo Yin became the most famous "crow's mouth" in Chinese history. He was also given the euphemistic name "the beggar's mouth with an imperial edict", which was said to be because "every word he said came true."

The stories about his "crow's mouth" are widely circulated among the people. They are basically mysterious and very anti-scientific. They can be seen as "folk legends" at a glance.

I'll just pick out one that's relevant to the main thread:
Qian Liu built the defenses of Hangzhou City, with a tower for every 100 steps. When the construction was completed, Qian Liu was very satisfied and boasted to his attendants on the spot about the city's impregnability. Luo Yin, who was standing by, said, "It would be better to have a tower facing the city." This meant that someone "from our side" was going to rebel. Everyone was very unhappy when they heard this, and Qian Liu also found it offensive, but he did not blame him.

Sure enough, not long after, a rebellion really broke out in Hangzhou City, namely the "Xu-Xu Rebellion".

When Zhu Wen usurped the Tang Dynasty and established the Liang Dynasty, Qian Liu rejected all the advice and decided to submit to the Later Liang Dynasty, learning from Sun Quan during the Three Kingdoms period. Among those who "overwhelmingly" advised Qian Liu to establish his own regime was Luo Yin. Luo Yin advised Qian Liu to hold high the banner of "supporting the Tang Dynasty" and march north to the Central Plains. Even if he could not successfully restore the Tang Dynasty, he could retreat to Liangzhe and establish himself as the "Eastern Emperor". Why should he submit to the thief Zhu?

Although Qian Liu did not adopt Luo Yin's suggestion, he was impressed by his words. Because Luo Yin was not appreciated for his talent and was buried for a long time in the Tang Dynasty, people thought that Luo Yin had resentment towards the Tang Dynasty. Unexpectedly, when the Tang Dynasty was about to fall, Luo Yin actually said something to support the Tang Dynasty. This instantly made his image in Qian Liu's heart much taller.

Qian Liu loved eating fish, and ordered the fishermen in West Lake to hand over several kilograms of fish every day. Sometimes the catch was insufficient, and the fishermen had to pay out of their own pockets to buy fish at the market and hand it over. This unique tax (called "house fish") made Hangzhou fishermen overwhelmed. No one dared to advise, so this glorious and arduous task fell on Luo Yin's shoulders.

One day, Luo Yin was accompanying Qian Liu. Qian Liu suddenly felt like writing a poem for the painting "Fishing in Panxi" hanging on the wall. Luo Yin wrote the poem without hesitation:
"In those days, Lü Wang displayed his wisdom in the temple and fished for the country with his straight hook. Who knew that?

If I were born in West Lake, I would also need to feed the fish.”

The story of Jiang Ziya and King Wen of Zhou was used to satirize and admonish Qian Liu.

After hearing this, Qian Liu suddenly came to his senses and laughed out loud. He then ordered the cancellation of the "Shi Zhai Yu" policy.

In the third year of Kaiping (910), Luo Yin died of illness at the age of 77 (some say over 80). He left behind works such as "Jiangnan Jiayi Collection", "Huaihai Yuyan", "Slanderous Books Collection", and countless folk stories. [Diplomatic Crisis]

In view of the unique geographical location of Liangzhe, Qian Liu wisely formulated the basic national policy of "respecting the Central Plains", which was also adhered to by Qian's descendants for decades.

However, during the reign of Li Siyuan of the Later Tang Dynasty, this situation was briefly broken. It was An Zhonghui, a hawkish official in Li Siyuan's court, who broke it.

In February of the third year of Tiancheng (928), the Later Tang court sent Wu Zhaoyu and Han Mei to lead a delegation to visit Liangzhe. Before that, Qian Liu considered that he was old and wanted to pass on his inheritance to his son Qian Yuanguan, so he submitted a petition to the Later Tang court, requesting that Qian Yuanguan be appointed as the military governor of Hangzhou Zhenhai Army and Yuezhou Zhendong Army. The court approved the request, so the delegation was sent to pay a friendly visit to Liangzhe, and Qian Liu's son Qian Yuanguan was officially appointed as the military governor of the two armies.

This was originally a good interaction between the local government and the central government, which would enhance mutual trust between the local government and the central government, strengthen friendship, and deepen strategic cooperation. However, this was something that the hawkish figure An Zhonghui did not want to see. An Zhonghui tried every means to sabotage this diplomatic action, and finally turned it into a political struggle.

The weak Li Siyuan was a dovish leader who was eager to maintain and further improve the relationship between the central government and local governments, especially political forces that were "isolated overseas" such as Liangzhe.

In this year (928), the Later Tang broke off diplomatic relations with Huainan because Yang Pu proclaimed himself emperor; the Later Tang went to war with Gao Jichang of Jingnan. The Later Tang army surrounded Jingnan with three routes, but not only did it fail to win, but it also caused Jingnan to break away from the Later Tang and become a vassal of Huainan; the King of Dingzhou colluded with the Khitan in rebellion.

Under such circumstances, Li Siyuan did not want any more trouble in Liangzhe. Peaceful coexistence and maintaining the status quo were Li Siyuan's real demands.

However, An Zhonghui was determined to destroy his relationship with Qian Liu of Liangzhe. Why?

It is generally believed that Qian Liu did not give An Zhonghui enough respect. For example, in the letter he wrote to An Zhonghui, he was not humble enough, which angered An Zhonghui. Some historical books also say that An Zhonghui was greedy for money and collected a lot of money, and Qian Liu's kindness was not good enough, so An Zhonghui felt that Qian Liu was very boring, so he had to show some respect.

In short, the official history only says that the two had an old grudge.

In this diplomatic mission, Han Mei was An Zhonghui's confidant and understood An Zhonghui's intention to stir up trouble. After arriving in Liangzhe, Han Mei deliberately humiliated Wu Zhaoyu in public, even disregarding basic diplomatic etiquette, deliberately got drunk and whipped Wu Zhaoyu with a horsewhip, creating a serious diplomatic incident.

Wu Zhaoyu was fully aware of the court's good intentions to maintain local harmony. Putting the overall situation first, he chose to remain silent and tolerant, but in return Han Mei's outrageous behavior became even more severe.

Even Qian Liu couldn't stand it anymore and expressed his intention to submit a memorial to the Later Tang court to expose Han Mei's rude behavior.

Once this memorial was sent to Li Siyuan, it would cause a series of butterfly effects. In order to put the overall situation first, Wu Zhaoyu took the initiative to persuade Qian Liu to stop, saying that big things should be reduced to small things and small things should be reduced to nothing, and it should be as if nothing happened.

(End of this chapter)