History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 434: A rift between the two rivers
[A rift between the two rivers]

It is not impossible for the imperial court to plot against the two Sichuan provinces. Whether it was Emperor Zhaozong of Tang or Li Maozhen, their strategy to get involved in the two Sichuan provinces was always to defeat them one by one. They must sow discord between the two Sichuan provinces and let the two Sichuan provinces fight each other. Once the two Sichuan provinces united and faced the outside world in unison, it would be difficult for a third party to intervene due to the easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack terrain of Bashu.

Nowadays, the relationship between Xichuan Meng Zhixiang and Dongchuan Dong Zhang is not harmonious.

First, there was fierce market competition between the two companies. Armed conflicts broke out constantly between the two sides for the salt profits. According to historical records, although Dongchuan was small, it had 460 salt wells, while Xichuan, with a vast territory, had only 13. Dongchuan's salt production directly surpassed Xichuan.

Dong Zhang, who had an absolute advantage in production, formulated a series of preferential policies to encourage merchants to buy Dongchuan salt and then sell it to Xichuan, dumping salt in Xichuan.

Dong Zhang's actions seriously disrupted the economic order in the Xichuan area, and the wealth of Xichuan continued to flow to Dongchuan.

The seriousness of the problem is not limited to the outflow of wealth. Salt is not an ordinary commodity. It is a national strategic resource, a necessity and consumable that no one can live without. It is related to people's livelihood and the lifeblood of the regime. If Dongchuan controls the salt market in Xichuan, it is equivalent to holding the lifeblood of Xichuan. In the future, any disturbance in Dongchuan's salt market will cause a storm in Xichuan.

"Two whites and one black" is enough to kill a regime. It is not an exaggeration to say that Dongchuan used salt to subvert Xichuan.

Meng Zhixiang was troubled by this, so he came up with a solution - local protection, setting up trade barriers, in simple terms: increasing taxes.

Meng Zhixiang set up many checkpoints at the customs and imposed heavy taxes on imported salt, which directly ate up all the profits of salt dealers. In one year, he collected 70,000 strings of salt tax. Soon, because there was no profit, merchants stopped going to Dongchuan to smuggle salt.

High tariffs are usually questioned and criticized by the people in the country. However, few people know that imposing high tariffs on certain specific commodities is not just as simple as protecting local national enterprises. Behind the obvious tariffs is the invisible financial order, which is the real lifeblood of a regime.

If foreign capital has an absolute advantage in raw materials, production technology, financial services, etc., giving up high tariffs would be tantamount to suicide. It is like pushing a person who has not received any fighting training into the ring, and his opponent is Tyson.

The so-called "rules" must be based on information symmetry. It is unfair for Dongchuan, which has 460 salt wells, to clamor for market economy, freedom of trade, and the removal of trade barriers to Xichuan, which has only 13 salt wells.

Many public intellectuals have criticized my country's high tariffs, especially using automobiles as an example. These people are either ignorant or have ulterior motives.

Raising tariffs substantially was a simple and effective move. Meng Zhixiang quickly solved the huge hidden dangers that salt brought to Xichuan.

When the Wuxin Army of Suizhou was in a slump, Meng Zhixiang of Xichuan crossed the territory of Dongchuan again, snatched the meat that was within Dongchuan's reach, and made Dong Zhang of Dongchuan suffer in silence.

With salt profits as the core and over the hegemony of the two Sichuan regions, the contradiction between Meng Zhixiang of Xichuan and Dong Zhang of Dongchuan has become increasingly irreconcilable. Border conflicts continue to escalate, and the two sides are engaged in an arms race. A life-and-death war may break out at any time.

The discord between the two Sichuans was originally an excellent opportunity for the imperial court to intervene in the affairs of the two Sichuans. It could drive away the wolves and defeat them one by one, and reap the benefits.

However, An Zhonghui, who was eager for quick success, was eager to achieve success and planned to treat both Sichuan as imaginary enemies and make war deployments simultaneously. In addition to the above deployment against Dong Zhang in Dongchuan, An Zhonghui also made similar deployments for Xichuan:
First, he used personnel transfers to drive a wedge inside the two Sichuan provinces. For example, he appointed Wu Qianyu as the governor of Mianzhou, and An Zhonghui placed his cronies in the various states under the jurisdiction of the two Sichuan provinces, including appointing Xia Luqi as the governor of Wuxin Army in Suizhou. Previously, Meng Zhixiang recommended his general Li Jingzhou to stay behind, and now he really stayed behind, and the court sent a governor out of the blue;

On the one hand, these prongs were to monitor the situation in Sichuan and Sichuan. For example, Li Renju hated Dong Zhang so much that he did not hesitate to make up some so-called "Dong Zhang's rebellion" out of thin air. On the other hand, they were to prepare for the military conquest of Sichuan. For example, Xia Luqi, after taking office, immediately began to repair the fortifications of Suizhou City, train soldiers, and manufacture weapons and armor.
As for the infiltration of the imperial army, An Zhonghui racked his brains. He prepared guard troops (Yajun) for his confidants who were sent to serve in the two Sichuan provinces. The size of the Yajun was selected according to the prefectures and counties they were to visit. The largest number was 2,000 to 3,000, and the smallest was no less than 500. They were all carefully selected elite soldiers and brave generals. Using the identity of the "Yajun" as a cover, he minimized the stimulation to the two Sichuan provinces.

An Zhonghui's method of infiltrating the army into the two Sichuans is similar to Yan Keqiu's infiltration into Qianzhou in Huainan. The only difference is that An Zhonghui's method was "one-shot", while Yan Keqiu's method was "close-up magic".

The number of troops Yan Keqiu sent each time was reasonable and within the normal routine, so the people of Qianzhou naturally thought they were changing guards and training. The trick was that the number of people leaving was always smaller than the number of people coming, so each time he could leave a number of troops behind. Over time, Yan Keqiu finally completed the assembly of a large force under the eyes of the Qianzhou military and civilians.

Compared with Yan Keqiu's silence, An Zhonghui's behavior can be said to be a joke of blatant display of power and trying to cover up one's own guilt.

The imperial court increased its military input in the two Sichuan regions and also tried to squeeze out the war energy of the two Sichuan regions. For example, it previously used the Jingnan war as an excuse to order Xichuan to be responsible for the food and grass supply of the Kuizhou garrison. With the recovery of Kuizhou, Meng Zhixiang and Mao Chongwei on the front line performed a double act and withdrew the 3,000-man task force, but in order to save the face of the imperial court, the supply of food and grass continued.

At this time, Meng Zhixiang wrote a memorial to the court, saying that "the landlords don't have any surplus grain" and could not afford the supply, and requested that the blood transfusion to Kuizhou be stopped.

Not only did Li Siyuan not approve it, but he increased the intensity of tax collection in Xichuan.

Meng Zhixiang's action was even more decisive. He directly threw out a letter of complaint, "Sorry, no more. Thank you." From then on, he openly disobeyed the order and no longer sent a single grain of food to Kuizhou.

At this time, a rumor was circulated that the imperial court was planning to separate Mianzhou and Longzhou from the territory of Dongchuan after the Langzhou Baoning Army, and to establish a new military town. The current Mianzhou governor Wu Qianyu would be the governor of this military town...

After An Zhonghui's actions, both Sichuan and Lichuan felt an unprecedented sense of oppression: the imperial court was about to take action!
Prior to this, Meng Zhixiang and Dong Zhang had long since severed ties, and the two sides were on the verge of war. Under the tremendous pressure of external forces (the central government), the two finally had the possibility of dialogue.

An Zhonghui's tactics were barely acceptable, but his strategy was terrible.

Dong Zhang sent envoys to propose an alliance between the two Sichuan provinces, formulate a joint combat plan, and jointly resist the common enemy. He also asked the two Sichuan provinces to become friends as close as Qin and Jin, and for Dong Zhang's son to marry Meng Zhixiang's daughter.

Facing the olive branch Dong Zhang offered, Meng Zhixiang sneered, "Now you're thinking of me, what were you doing before? The court beats you? You deserve to be beaten to death, you son of a bitch!"

In terms of comprehensive strength, Xichuan is far superior to Dongchuan, so the previous target of "assistant teaching gift money" given by the imperial court was 100 million strings of cash for Xichuan and 50 strings of cash for Dongchuan.

Meng Zhixiang's hatred and contempt for Dong Zhang of Dongchuan made him plan to sit back and watch the court deal with Dongchuan without any help. He thought that maybe he could take advantage of the situation and make some money from Dong Zhang.

(End of this chapter)