History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 5: Pacification of Qiu Fu
【Wang Shiping Qiu Fu】

After Prime Minister Xiahou Zi stated his views, other prime ministers and ministers also nodded in support.

On March 3, the 1th year of Dazhong (Tang Yizong had not yet changed the reign title), Wang Shi was ordered to enter the court to accept an interview with the organization.

Emperor Yizong of Tang asked him about his strategy for suppressing the rebels.

Wang Shi was confident and said bluntly: "As long as you give me enough soldiers, I will be able to defeat the bandits."

The eunuch next to him said sarcastically: "It costs a fortune to mobilize thousands of troops every day!"

Wang Shi said, "It is precisely because I want to save money for the country that I want to mobilize the army. The gathering of the royal army is like a huge rock hitting an egg. Although it seems to be a huge expense, it can immediately eliminate the rebels. If the troops are insufficient, the war will inevitably fall into a stalemate and become a long-term stalemate of attrition. The Jiang and Huai areas will be deeply poisoned by the war. Now the financial source of the court is almost entirely from this area. If the rebels roam around in this area for a long time, how can the court spend too much money?"

Wang's strategic thinking was very clear: he wanted to fight a quick battle and make a quick decision to nip the enemy in the bud.

When he heard about the fiscal and taxation, Emperor Yizong of Tang immediately realized the seriousness of the problem. If Chang'an is the heart of the empire, then the Jiang and Huai areas are the lifeblood of the empire!

How dare you cut my vitals?
Wang Shi's character of "fighting if he is not convinced" also suited Emperor Yizong's appetite very much. Young people should act like young people! Emperor Yizong immediately made the decision, "It's you!" At the same time, he issued an order to transfer the divisions of Zhongwu, Yicheng and Huainan to Wang Shi's command.

Qiu Fu was busy looting everywhere, burning, killing, robbing and committing all kinds of evil wherever he went. The people were in dire straits and spontaneously formed militias to build fortifications to resist the invasion of the bandits.

When the news of Wang Shi taking command came, the people were delighted and ran around telling each other that the bandits in eastern Zhejiang were like grasshoppers in autumn - they would not be able to jump for many more days.

The Qiufu bandits were also full of confidence, and they also believed that their doomsday was approaching. So they were in a state of panic all day long. The dog-headed military advisors among the bandits offered suggestions, which could be summed up in one word: run.

Some advocated fleeing to Fujian, while others advocated fleeing to Taiwan. In short, you cannot fight in a group with Wang Shi, otherwise you will be crushed and wiped out in a few minutes.

Some people also suggested that we could deploy heavy troops to guard the strategic locations and form a separatist force like Sun Quan.

Qiu Fu couldn't make up his mind and could only drink every day to relieve his worries.

An ugly daughter-in-law will meet her parents-in-law sooner or later.

In April, Wang Shi led a large army to eastern Zhejiang. The war to quell the rebellion officially began, and the two sides began a battle of wits and courage.

First, Qiu Fu sent an envoy, claiming his willingness to surrender.

Wang Shi laughed and said, "We have just arrived and the bandits have not suffered any hardship yet, so how can they surrender willingly? They are just trying to spy on our army and make us careless."

A few days later, the army entered Yuezhou and handed over the work to the former Zhejiang East Observation Envoy. Wang Shi ordered a farewell dinner and everyone drank heavily. They drank until night, lit candles, and continued to drink heavily. Someone expressed concern, what if the thieves came to attack?
In response, Wang Shi laughed and said, "As long as I, Wang Shi, am here, who dares to come?"
The next day, the outgoing officials were sent to the suburbs and they drank heavily again.

When it was time to count the troops, some troops were not in good order, so Wang Shi wanted to behead the general leading the troops. Many generals begged for mercy, and after a long time, Wang Shi finally relented and spared him.

Military discipline was tightened and rules were announced. Those who had previously been bedridden and claimed to be sick were instantly cured, those who had previously fallen off horses and were injured also recovered miraculously, those who had previously complained about insufficient rewards became mute, and those who had previously requested promotions and salary increases withdrew their requests.

Strategically despise the enemy, tactically take the enemy seriously. This is the significance of Wang Shi's two pre-war actions, especially the all-night revelry before the battle, which puzzled many generals. However, Wang Shi's wonderful and mysterious operation is still to come.

The bandit general had two small leaders who led their troops to surrender in an organized manner.

Wang Shi let them pledge their allegiance first, let them act as pioneers, and prove themselves with practical actions.

They vied with each other to show their loyalty and killed their former comrades savvy. So Wang Shi rewarded them according to their merits, recruited them, and gave them corresponding official positions.

Wang Shi understood that the previous failure of the local army was not only due to the so-called low combat effectiveness of the government troops, but also because it was difficult to guard against thieves at home. The city was full of spies from the thieves’ army, who gathered intelligence and bribed many officials.

If you want to defeat the enemy, you must first find out the traitor.

In just a short time, Wang Shi wiped out the entire spy system that the enemy army had planted in the city and executed all the enemy spies. Not only was Wang Shi good at civil and military affairs, he was also an excellent intelligence officer and was good at anti-spy operations.

After clearing the time bombs around him, Wang Shi began to formally deploy combat missions.

First, he took out a magic weapon that could defeat the enemy - the household registration book.

This is not an ordinary household registration book, it is a local government household registration book. The Tang Dynasty was prosperous and many foreigners settled in the Tang Dynasty. Of course, these foreigners also had to apply for Tang Dynasty visas, green cards, etc., and they were all registered with the local government. And what Wang Shi wanted to find were mainly foreigners from Tubo and Uighur.

The Tang Dynasty distributed the surrendered soldiers and generals and prisoners who were not exchanged in foreign wars to various places, implementing the management of "central decentralization and local unification". Among them, many Tibetan and Uighur prisoners were distributed in the Jiang and Huai areas.

These people are often agile, skilled in archery and horse riding, and are rare elite soldiers. In fact, many of the elite troops of the Tang Dynasty were foreign soldiers and generals.

After being assigned to the local areas, these people suffered discrimination and exclusion, and they were far away from their hometowns, so their lives were not satisfactory. Wang Shi checked the roster and found more than 100 Tibetan and Uighur soldiers. He rewarded them generously and made proper arrangements for their parents, wives and children, taking care of them in every possible way. These old soldiers (not because of their age, but because of their rich combat experience) were very moved, "all wept and cheered", and they expressed their willingness to die for Marshal Wang and go through fire and water to repay Marshal Wang's kindness.

Wang Shi also illegally requisitioned 200 horses from Longpi Supervisor and assigned them to this group of foreign soldiers, thus having a cavalry unit that was the most scarce in the Tang Dynasty. The use of horses from Longpi Supervisor was suspected of violating administrative procedures, but Wang Shi was never a bookworm who followed the rules. During the war, special matters were handled specially and he never engaged in bureaucracy or formalism.

Next, Wang Shi issued a series of incredible orders:

1. Open the warehouse and release the grain.

He ordered all counties to open their government granaries and provide relief to the people.

The generals expressed their doubts, saying that the war had just started and military rations were in short supply. If all the food was distributed to the people, what would the army eat?
Wang Shi said: "This is not something you should ask."
2. Abolish the beacon towers.

Beacon towers were the most efficient means of communication in ancient times. They could quickly transmit military information and facilitate the commander-in-chief to respond. However, Wang Shi ordered that their use beacon towers be banned.

The generals were even more confused about this.

Wang Shi said: "This is not what you should ask."

3. Cowardly soldiers with good horses should serve as scouts.

Select a group of cowards who are greedy for life and death, equip them with the best horses, but do not give them weapons or armor, and let them act as scouts to gather intelligence on the enemy.

The generals were puzzled.

Wang Shi said: "This is not what you should ask."

Finally, Wang Shi divided the troops into two, the Eastern Army and the Southern Army, gave them respective combat missions, and once again enforced strict military discipline: no harassment of civilians; no killing of innocent people for credit; the bandits were allowed to surrender and lay down their weapons and return to their homes; the captured spoils could be disposed of by themselves and did not have to be handed in.

The army set out to defeat the bandits and achieve great success!

The two armies fought 19 battles with the rebel army, with the score being 0:19, and the government army won consecutive victories.

Wang Shi implemented the policy of "a huge rock hitting an egg" to suppress the bandits, and asked the court to recruit the Zhongwu, Yicheng, Zhaoyi and other troops to come to the rescue. He also had a deep understanding of the psychology of the bandits, and arranged people in advance to cut off the bandits' escape routes by land and sea, and tightly besieged Qiu Fu.

The generals were puzzled again, saying that a trapped beast would still fight! The military strategy says that you should surround three sides and withdraw one side, so you should leave one side open.

Wang Shi said: "This is not what you should ask."

The government troops completed the strategic encirclement, and Qiu Fu became a turtle in a jar.

Next came the most intense encirclement and annihilation battle. How intense was it? There were 83 battles between the two sides in three days. Don't tell me about some extraordinary strategies or strategies of Sun Tzu's Art of War. Just roll up your sleeves and do it!

The rebel army was completely routed, and the government troops were exhausted, so Qiu Fu again expressed his willingness to surrender and ask for peace talks.

The generals were about to celebrate their victory, but Wang Shi frowned, "They are pretending to surrender. Stop talking nonsense and don't ask questions. Just keep fighting!"

As expected, the rebel army went out of the city to launch a surprise attack, but was defeated by the government troops who were well prepared. As a result, three larger-scale battles took place.

This time, Qiu Fu's bandit gang could no longer hold on, so Qiu Fu led a few core members and more than a hundred people out of the city to surrender.

Wang Shi escorted Qiu Fu to Chang'an to await his fate, and beheaded more than 20 key members.

Some of the bandits (about 500 people) broke through and escaped, but the government troops pursued them relentlessly and finally wiped out the remaining forces on July 9th.

At this point, the rebellion of Qiu Fu in eastern Zhejiang was declared put down.

It took about six months from the start of Qiu Fu's rebellion to his downfall.

Wang Shi took command in March, set out on the expedition in April, and completely pacified the rebellion in early July, taking only three months in total.

Suppressing Qiu Fu became the second of Wang Shi's three major achievements in life.

At the celebration banquet, the generals could not help themselves and took advantage of the alcohol to ask Wang Shi for advice. "Can we ask now?"

Thanks to the book friend "志处暗灵使Dake" for the recommendation vote!
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(End of this chapter)