History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 454: Unification of the Two Sichuan Provinces
Zhao Jiliang summarized what he saw and heard during this visit:

"(Dong Zhang) changes his orders every day, and is happy or angry every moment. The soldiers are willing to fight, but the generals are not. He also intends to make a big plan with a small one, and he wants to spy on the world, and he will eventually become a threat to the two rivers..."

We finally came to the conclusion that Dong Zhang would definitely tear up the alliance first and actively invade Xichuan, so we must be prepared.

Meng Zhixiang deeply agreed with this, and subsequent developments were exactly the same as Zhao Jiliang's profiling and deduction.

It's not that there are no fortune tellers and prophets in the world. The so-called "divination", "fortune telling" and "prophecy" are to use logical reasoning based on sufficient materials to calculate a high probability result, similar to today's big data algorithms. It's like doing math problems or physics problems. Given conditions A and B, according to law A and rule B, you can calculate conclusion C.

There are many such prophets, such as Guo Jia who made the "Ten Wins and Ten Losses Theory"; Zhuge Liang who made the "Longzhong Plan" to divide the world into three parts; Zhou Xiang who predicted the "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms" for Wang Jian twenty years in advance; Zhao Jiliang who was sure that Dongchuan would take the initiative, win a big victory in the early stage, and suffer a miserable defeat in the later stage...

Meng Zhixiang had just arrived in Chengdu when he received the news of the victory of pacifying Zizhou the next day. He then led 8,000 people to Zizhou and arrived there in two days. Zhao Tingyin led the surrendered civil and military officials of Dongchuan to welcome him out of the city and presented the heads of Dong Zhang and his son.

It took only 4 days from the start of the "Battle of Jizong Bridge" to Meng Zhixiang's entry into Zizhou. This was a speed no one could have imagined. The civil war between the two Sichuan provinces was decided in just one battle at Jizong Bridge.

Meng Zhixiang entered Zizhou and began to appease the people and digest the fruits of victory. No need to ask, I have to write another full-mark essay:
"I have heard that the Emperor of Heaven has no relatives, but only virtue can help. The God of Heaven is not ignorant, and those who are wicked will perish."

——A righteous person will have many supporters, while an unrighteous person will have few. Justice will surely prevail over evil.

"The traitor Dongchuan Jiedushi Dong Zhang harbored evil intentions and broke the covenant... The crime should be attributed to the original culprit..."

——Dong Zhang is the war criminal, the main culprit. Only Dong Zhang should be killed, and the rest should not be questioned.

"Having eliminated the threat from within, the foundation of the state will be permanently secured."

——I, Meng Zhixiang, came to build Dongchuan, not to smash, loot and burn.

When Meng Zhixiang issued a notice to reassure the people, the imperial envoy brought an imperial edict from Li Siyuan, which said that he had heard that there was internal strife between the two Sichuans, which was very bad. He had already notified the nearby military garrisons to help West Sichuan and deal with East Sichuan, and to support Comrade Meng Zhixiang.

Meng Zhixiang proudly asked Li Hao to draft a memorial to the court to explain the ins and outs of a normal war. In this memorial, Meng Zhixiang gave several shocking time points:
On April 4, Dong Zhang sent out his troops;

On May 5, Dong Zhang captured Hanzhou;

On May 5, Xichuan counterattacked, the "Battle of Jizong Bridge";
On May 5, Dong Zhang was killed.

"It only takes four days to pacify the people of one area." This is the combat effectiveness of our Xichuan.

The description of the "Battle of Chicken Bridge" is as follows:

"I (Meng Zhixiang) personally drove the spears and armor, and Zhao Tingyin raised the drums and flags. One strike destroyed the fish and the birds, and four attacks cut the pigs and snakes apart. We beheaded more than 10,000 people, captured more than 8,000 people, and captured alive... Yuan Qi, Dong Guangyan and more than 80 other captains, seized more than 500 armored horses, and more than 100,000 items of clothing, armor and equipment..." According to Meng Zhixiang's description, Dong Zhangzhi fled the battlefield with his son Dong Guangsi and two cavalrymen, a total of four people, "fleeing at full speed, abandoning armor and escaping." Even worse was yet to come. Meng Zhixiang sarcastically restored the miserable state of Dong Zhangzhi and his son:

"I stroked the wheel and wept, looking at the mess of tracks I felt sad."

"Death at Wujiang is not far away, and the shame at Chibi is even thicker."

What a waste Xiang Yu who committed suicide at the Wujiang River. Don't laugh at Meng Decao at the Red Cliff. They were so shameless. The last thing you see is today.

At the end of the memorial, Meng Zhixiang smugly joked: "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, I was wrong. I accidentally destroyed Dong Zhang in just four days. When Your Majesty just heard that Dong Zhang was using troops and was still arranging troops and discussing strategies, the war was already over. But it's good, so that no one will say that our two Sichuans are in cahoots with each other and are playing double game against the court."

Li Siyuan announced this memorial to all officials, and the result was that "everyone at home and abroad knew about it and was shocked."

Meng Zhixiang took the opportunity of congratulating the victory to flex his muscles in front of the imperial court. From then on, the imperial court never dared to talk about attacking Shu lightly again.

It can be said that the "Battle of Jizong Bridge" had a profound impact on Shu. Not only did it annex Dongchuan in 4 days, but it also won Shu a peaceful and stable external environment for decades, laying the foundation for Meng Zhixiang to establish the "Later Shu".

Meng Zhixiang subsequently founded the "Later Shu" (one of the "Ten Kingdoms"), which successfully outlasted the Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han, and Later Zhou. It was not until the establishment of the Song Dynasty that Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin dared to set his sights on Shu.

It is worth mentioning that the Shu regime, a country with dangerous natural barriers and difficult roads, perished at an incredible speed: Li Cunxu conquered the Former Shu in 70 days; Zhao Kuangyin conquered the Later Shu in only 66 days.

Although the civil war between the two Sichuan provinces lasted less than ten days, the preparations before the war exhausted Meng Zhixiang physically and mentally. It is hard to imagine the tremendous mental pressure he was under. He was once again on the battlefield in the "Battle of Jizong Bridge", personally commanding and working overtime. After Dong Zhang's death, nine states in Dongchuan surrendered one after another, which brought Meng Zhixiang a series of stability maintenance and digestion work.

After Dong Zhang's death, the entire Dongchuan surrendered, and Meng Zhixiang finally fell ill and became seriously ill the next day.

Wang Chuhui, the deputy envoy of Zhongmen, who was a close confidant of Meng Zhixiang, was responsible for taking care of Meng Zhixiang's diet and daily life. Wang Chuhui was kind and resourceful. At that time, Meng Zhixiang was so sick that he had difficulty eating, had a small appetite, and was very weak.

Generally speaking, the lord's meals were served by trusted people. The kitchen staff handed the meals to Wang Chuhui and waited outside the door. After Meng Zhixiang finished eating, Wang Chuhui brought out the tableware. The kitchen staff could not meet Meng Zhixiang directly to prevent assassination.

Before delivering the tableware, Wang Chuhui would secretly throw away the leftovers, creating the illusion that Meng Zhixiang was in good health and ate everything with relish. This calmed the army's morale, and no one knew Meng Zhixiang's true condition.

A few days later, Meng Zhixiang recovered from his illness and began to deal with the work at hand. He rewarded the three armies and gave rewards according to their merits. The most important issue was the ownership of Dongchuan. Who would be the "Jiedushi of Dongchuan"?
Meng Zhixiang had two candidates in mind, Li Renhan and Zhao Tingyin. Meng Zhixiang summoned his two trusted generals, with a kind smile on his face, and asked expectantly: "Generals, who is willing to help me guard this place?"

Meng Zhixiang originally thought that the two would be humble and polite to each other, and praise each other's achievements, creating a happy scene of harmony between the monarch and his subjects, and unity between the generals and ministers. As for who would guard the city, Meng Zhixiang's answer was that anyone would do. Both generals were his trusted and beloved generals, and both had made great contributions recently, so they were both qualified to be in charge of Dongchuan.

However, Meng Zhixiang was greatly disappointed by the performance of Li Renhan and Zhao Tingyin, and the scene was quite embarrassing for a while.

(End of this chapter)