History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 483 Meng Chang ascends the throne
[Meng Chang ascended the throne]

After unexpectedly gaining Shannan West Road and Yangzhou Wuding Army, Meng Zhixiang was overjoyed, so he went to Dexian Gate and announced a general amnesty and a change of the reign title, changing the "fifth year of Changxing" to the "first year of Mingde".

The year 934 AD is a very interesting year because the Central Plains dynasty changed its reign title three times in this year: the fifth year of Changxing (Li Siyuan), the first year of Yingshun (Li Conghou), and the first year of Qingtai (Li Congke).

The principles for using reign titles in this book are: 1. Only reign titles of dynasties in the Central Plains are used; 2. If there is a change of reign title, the old reign title will be used when describing previous stories based on the actual time point of the change.

For example, when describing the story in 923 AD, Li Cunxu established the Later Tang regime in April and changed the reign title to "Tongguang", but he did not invade Bianzhou and overthrow the Later Liang until October. Therefore, according to the first two iron rules, the period before October was still called "the third year of Longde" (Zhu Youzhen's reign title), and the period after October was called "the first year of Tongguang".

But 934 is a bit annoying. It is the same year, but it is divided into three era names. It is easy for people to mistake it for three different years, which can easily lead to unclear expression and confusion. For convenience, I will use the Gregorian calendar directly.

Meng Zhixiang changed the era name to "Mingde", which seemed to be a call for the provincial governors of the Later Tang Dynasty to abandon evil and join the good government.

Shannan West Road is located south of Qinling Mountains, like an arrow drawn from a bow ready to be shot. Going south and breaking through Mantian Pass, you will reach Lizhou, and after Lizhou, you will reach Jianmen Pass, which is the lifeline of Shu. Therefore, Shannan West Road is not only a sharp arrow aimed at Shu, but also an important strategic depth. If Shu wants to rest assured, it must push the defense line to Dasan Pass, not Mantian Pass, let alone Jianmen Pass.

The people of Shu could not access the Shannan West Road, so they could not sleep well and were always in a passive defensive posture.

If all the land south of the Qinling Mountains were obtained, then Shu would be truly impregnable, with the Qinling Mountains as the northern city wall and Dasan Pass as the northern city gate. After passing Dasan Pass, there would be Fengxiang, and further east from Fengxiang would be Chang'an.

Fengxiang is not only the western gate of Chang'an, but also an important strategic stronghold to contain Dasan Pass. If Shannan West Road is a sharp arrow ready to be shot, then Fengxiang is the bottom line of the Central Plains Dynasty's attitude towards Shu, just like Youzhou is to the Khitan.

If we can’t stop the Shu people in Xingyuan Prefecture (Shannan West Road), then we can only do it in Fengxiang; if we can’t stop the Shu people in Fengxiang, then we can only do it in Chang’an; if we can’t stop the Shu people in Chang’an, then... the entire country will be under Shu rule.

Li Congke started his army in Fengxiang and marched eastward. Although the war did not last long, it still caused a very obvious siphon effect, creating a political and military vacuum in the Shannan area.

Meng Zhixiang took advantage of the opportunity and rushed in.

When Li Congke started his rebellion in Fengxiang, he sent people to lobby Xingzhou Governor Liu Suiqing (nephew of Liu Xun and cousin of Liu Suiyong). After much deliberation, Liu Suiqing rejected Li Congke's invitation and took a wait-and-see attitude.

So, he saw his cousin Liu Suiyong surrender Chang'an to Li Congke, saw the imperial army defeated, saw Li Congke enter Luoyang smoothly, changed the reign and issued a general amnesty...

Liu Suiqing was so regretful that his intestines turned green. He hated himself for being so blind that he ruined the good card of being a "founding father". So he quickly led his troops to Luoyang to express his submission and request punishment.

It didn't matter that he left. All the troops stationed in Sanquan, Xixian, Jinniu and Sanglin were withdrawn, making many military fortresses west of Xingyuan Prefecture become undefended tourist attractions.

How could Meng Zhixiang remain indifferent? He immediately made a decision and sent troops to take over the cities one by one. Without firing a single soldier or a single bullet, the Shu people took over all the towns south of Dasan Pass.

Li Congke met with Liu Suiqing and wanted to chop this guy into pieces and blame him for the loss of land. But for the sake of the overall situation, he chose to forgive him.

Zhang Ye, a general of the Later Shu Dynasty, led his troops to station in Xingyuan Prefecture and Yangzhou. The remaining cities west of Shannan West Road were helpless. Faced with the Later Shu Dynasty's increasing military investment, Zhao Cheng, the governor of Jiezhou, also surrendered.

With the surrender of Jianzhou, Wenzhou to the south of Jianzhou was embedded in Hou Shu and became an isolated city, so the commander Cheng Yangui surrendered the city to Hou Shu. In addition, Chengzhou was also taken over by Hou Shu.

Previously, Zhao Tingyin had suggested that Meng Zhixiang take advantage of the victory to attack Shannan and push the front line to Dasan Pass to ensure that Shu could rest easy. Meng Zhixiang refused on the grounds that he had just signed a peace ceasefire agreement with the Later Tang and the people were in hardship.

Now it is easy to take over peacefully. Li Congke rebelled, and Meng Zhixiang became the biggest winner.

Two great heroes, Zhang Qianzhao and Sun Hanshao, moved their entire families to Chengdu to meet Meng Zhixiang.

Meng Zhixiang received the two heroes with great ceremony and prepared a grand dinner. Zhang Qianzhao and Sun Hanshao toasted Meng Zhixiang and offered him a toast to celebrate his birthday. However, a shocking scene happened at the scene: Meng Zhixiang was unable to lift the wine glass.

Meng Zhixiang is seriously ill. Although his condition has improved since he fell ill last year, he has never recovered and is now worse.

Meng Zhixiang set up Yongping Army in Yazhou and appointed Sun Hanshao as the governor; he also appointed Zhang Qianzhao as the governor of Shannan West Road and gave him the title of prime minister. Zhang Qianzhao resolutely declined and refused to go to Shannan West Road.

A few days later, it was the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, the Chinese Valentine's Day. Meng Zhixiang came to Danxia Tower and held a Chinese Valentine's Day dinner, where the palace maids held a talent show to "watch the palace ladies beg for skills." During the banquet, Meng Zhixiang's condition worsened again, and his physical condition took a sharp turn for the worse, and it seemed that he was about to die.

Meng Zhixiang knew that his time was running out, so he hastily appointed his son Meng Renzan as the crown prince and regent. He also urgently summoned Zhao Jiliang, Li Renhan, Zhao Tingyin, Wang Chuhui, Zhang Gongduo, and Hou Hongshi, asking these founding fathers to serve as important ministers to assist Meng Renzan.

That evening, Meng Zhixiang died at the age of 61. The palace blocked the news and asked the elders to discuss the issue of power transfer.

Wang Chuhui urgently met with Zhao Jiliang in the middle of the night and secretly reported the news of Meng Zhixiang's death. He cried as he spoke and was unable to speak.

Zhao Jiliang frowned and said seriously: "Why are you crying? Now, the old generals are holding heavy troops and are waiting and waiting for an opportunity to make a change. We should quickly support the crown prince to ascend the throne and put an end to these people's unreasonable wishes. Crying is useless!"

Wang Chuhui wiped away his tears and apologized to Zhao Jiliang.

Afterwards, Zhao Jiliang asked Wang Chu to go back to find Li Renhan, but not to rush to tell him the news of his lord's death. He should secretly observe Li Renhan's attitude before deciding whether to tell him the truth.

Wang Chuhui visited Li Renhan and found that Li Renhan was under strict guard and indeed had rebellious intentions, so he did not dare to reveal the news of his lord's death.

Subsequently, under the operation of Zhao Jiliang, Meng Zhixiang's will was announced, and the crown prince Meng Renzan was ordered to change his name to Meng Chang (pronounced the same as "chang") and ascend the throne.

With the strong assistance of Zhao Jiliang and Wang Chuhui, Meng Chang, who was only 16 years old, ascended the throne and became the second-generation leader of Later Shu.

The meritorious veteran Li Renhan had other ideas after learning that Meng Zhixiang was critically ill, and all this did not escape Zhao Jiliang's eyes.

In order to ensure the smooth transition of the supreme power of Hou Shu and consolidate Meng Chang's rule, Li Renhan became the first veteran to be eliminated.

(End of this chapter)