History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 455: Two Generals Compete for Merit
During the days when Meng Zhixiang was recuperating, a small incident happened. Meng Zhixiang was obviously not aware of it, otherwise he would not have been so careless and naive.

Li Renhan was ordered to come to Zizhou from Suizhou, and Zhao Tingyin went to Banqiao (now southeast of Santai County, Sichuan Province) to meet Gao Ying. Unexpectedly, the two had an unpleasant encounter.

As the saying goes, even dogs won't eat evil people. I'm not afraid of no good things, I'm just afraid of no good people.

Zhao Tingyin went to meet Gao Ying from afar, originally intending to show respect to Li Renhan, because Li Renhan's position had always been higher than Zhao Tingyin's. However, his action was misunderstood by Li Renhan, and the two started fighting as soon as they met.

In the Liangchuan War that just ended not long ago, Zhao Tingyin fought against the main force of the imperial army Shi Jingtang on the northern battlefield, pinning Shi Jingtang down at Jianmen Pass, and then captured Lizhou; Li Renhan was on the southern battlefield and fought all the way to Kuizhou.

If rewards were given based solely on the merits of the War between Sichuan and Liangchuan, Li Renhan would rank first.

In the civil war between Sichuan and Sichuan that broke out shortly afterwards, Li Renhan, who was guarding Suizhou, did not have time to participate and became a spectator. At the same time, Zhao Tingyin shined, chasing Dong Zhang all the way from Jizong Bridge until he captured Zizhou and presented the heads of Dong Zhang and his son.

If rewards were given based solely on their contributions to the civil war in the two Sichuan provinces, Zhao Tingyin would rank first.

Li Renhan was dissatisfied.

Because Zhao Tingyin's "first place in achievement" is too exaggerated, the "Battle of Jizong Bridge" was not his alone, his lord Meng Zhixiang was the commander-in-chief of the battle who was present at the scene, and Dong Zhang was killed by an internal traitor, and Zizhou was surrendered by a traitor. Not to mention Zhao Tingyin, even someone else could have taken the credit for capturing the city.

Zhao Tingyin, what's so great about you? It's just luck. Li Renhan was seriously dissatisfied.

In Li Renhan's opinion, Zhao Tingyin's welcoming from afar was Zhao Tingyin deliberately posing as the host, the host of Zizhou coming to welcome the guests who came from afar. This was a deliberate attempt to intimidate him.

I, Li Renhan, should be the governor of Dongchuan. I came to Zizhou not as a guest, but to go home. Is it necessary for you to go far to welcome me? Is it your turn to be polite to me?
According to convention and etiquette, Li Renhan should congratulate Zhao Tingyin for his victory and praise his great achievements in person, "Old Zhao is mighty and powerful!" Zhao Tingyin should be modest, "It is all thanks to the wisdom and bravery of the lord and the dedication of the soldiers. What merit have I made?"

As a result, Li Renhan not only did not praise Zhao Tingyin's contribution, but instead put on the attitude of an "old leader", finding fault with Zhao Tingyin and scolding him from head to toe.

Zhao Tingyin was furious, and the two of them became enemies.

Meng Zhixiang was completely unaware of this matter.

Meng Zhixiang called his two favorite generals to his side without noticing the unnaturalness and hostility on their faces.

"Two generals, who is willing to help me guard this place?"

Li Renhan's face was filled with indignation, and his tone was full of dissatisfaction. "My lord, even if you let me go back to be the governor of Shuzhou, it's not a bad idea." There was something else in his words, and he was sarcastic.

Meng Zhixiang was quite surprised and thought to himself, why are you giving up on me? Did I provoke you?
When he turned around to look at Zhao Tingyin again, he saw that Zhao Tingyin's face was full of anger and he didn't say a word.

When Zhao Tingyin conquered Lizhou Zhaowu Army not long ago, he took the initiative to give up the position of Jiedushi of Lizhou Zhaowu Army to his deputy general Li Zhao. Meng Zhixiang specifically praised Zhao Tingyin for his high moral character. Unexpectedly, Zhao Tingyin would not give up the position this time.

The two generals competed for credit and the position of Dongchuan Jiedu on the spot, which was completely contrary to Meng Zhixiang's design.

The huge gap made Meng Zhixiang very embarrassed, and he did not have a corresponding plan, not knowing how to deal with it. He had to send all the generals out first, and then asked Li Hao to prepare a blank letter of appointment, intending to let all the generals vote between the two. Li Hao did not agree with this method, believing that under the current circumstances, the so-called democratic vote would only deepen the contradiction, and it would be easy for the contradiction between the two generals to extend into the hostility between the two factions. Then he cited the examples of Zhu Wen and Li Cunxu. Before ascending the throne, these two founding monarchs both served as the four towns, and suggested that Meng Zhixiang himself serve as the governor of Dongchuan.

Meng Zhixiang could not make up his mind, so Li Hao suggested that he put aside the issue of Dongchuan's ownership for the time being and return to Chengdu to discuss it with the chief strategist Zhao Jiliang.

Meng Zhixiang immediately ordered Li Renhan to return to Suizhou, ordered Zhao Tingyin to stay in Zizhou as an inspector, and then ordered Li Hao to temporarily take charge of Dongchuan affairs.

Li Hao refused to accept the offer, saying that two fierce tigers were fighting for Zizhou, and he dared not get involved. He asked for permission to return to Chengdu. Meng Zhixiang had no choice but to take Li Hao back to Chengdu.

Meng Zhixiang said to Li Hao in disappointment and loneliness: "I didn't expect that after I got Dongchuan, I would be in even bigger trouble! It's only been a few days, and Li Renhan has written me seven letters, repeatedly emphasizing one thing, 'My lord, you'd better take charge of Dongchuan yourself, otherwise the generals will not accept it'. Obviously, what he meant was 'Zhao Tingyin is in charge of Dongchuan, and the generals will not accept it'. What's going on? Are you threatening me with a mutiny?"

"Where's Zhao Tingyin?"

"It's not easy! Zhao Tingyin said that he didn't dare to hope for Dongchuan, but because Li Renhan insisted on fighting for it and showed no mercy, he fought with him out of spite."

"Then what are you going to do?"

Meng Zhixiang made a compromise: he established Baoning Army in Langzhou, allocated Guo, Peng, Qu and Kai states as subordinate states, let Zhao Tingyin be the governor, and he himself concurrently took charge of Dongchuan.

In this way, there was no room for dispute over Dongchuan, and Baoning Army, like Dongchuan, had five states under its jurisdiction, so Zhao Tingyin also saved his face.

Li Hao told Zhao Tingyin about this decision, but Zhao Tingyin was still indignant. Although the number of prefectures under their jurisdiction was equal and the land area was almost the same, could a house in a small county town on the 18th tier be compared with a house in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou or Shenzhen? Zhao Tingyin asked to duel with Li Renhan, a one-on-one duel, and the one who survived would be the governor of Dongchuan.

Li Hao used his eloquence and repeated persuasion to finally make Zhao Tingyin accept the appointment as the governor of Baoning Army in Langzhou. The dispute over Dongchuan came to an end for the time being.

Zhao Jiliang led the civil and military officials to persuade Meng Zhixiang to become king and issue an imperial edict in the name of the emperor, but Meng Zhixiang refused.

Meng Zhixiang did not openly declare himself king, but he had already established his own regime. After annexing Dongchuan, he did not ask the central government to send officials, but appointed officials on his own and made administrative divisions (Langzhou Baoning Army) without authorization. This caused an uproar in the central government of the Later Tang Dynasty.

As early as the beginning of the civil war between Sichuan and Liangchuan, Wang Sitong, the governor of Shannan West Road, secretly reported to the central government, intending to wait for an opportunity to reap the benefits. Li Siyuan really dispatched a large army to the border of Sichuan and Liangchuan, ostensibly to help Meng Zhixiang, but in fact to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight and look for an opportunity to strike. Unexpectedly, Meng Zhixiang swallowed Dongchuan in four days, and Li Siyuan's central army had no time to react.

That's why, as mentioned above, Meng Zhixiang proudly "reported the good news" to the central government, flexed his muscles, and deliberately disgusted Li Siyuan.

Meng Zhixiang's secessionist rule over Sichuan and Liangchuan was already a done deal. Li Siyuan also adjusted his attitude in time, compromised, acknowledged Meng Zhixiang's absolute authority over Sichuan and Liangchuan, and showed goodwill to him.

Li Siyuan sent Li Cunhuan (son of Li Kening and nephew of Meng Zhixiang) to visit Chengdu, hoping that Meng Zhixiang would uphold the morality of a subject and preserve the family's reputation as a loyal minister for generations.

With tears in his eyes, Meng Zhixiang knelt down to accept the imperial edict, expressed his remorse to the court, and declared that he would be a loyal minister of the Tang Dynasty forever.

(End of this chapter)