History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 516: Jin-Fujian Grudge 2
Clue 3: Suspicious “tribute”

During Lu Sun's stay in Fujian, he was never able to have a formal meeting with Wang Jipeng. When Lu Sun returned to China, Wang Jipeng sent Zheng Yuanbi, a deputy minister of the Ministry of Personnel, to accompany Lu Sun to the north, bringing with him a letter from the country and a lot of tribute.

After listening to Lu Sun's report, Shi Jingtang opened Wang Jipeng's letter and became furious because the letter contained many rude words.

How "disrespectful" is it? In his letter, Wang Jipeng accused the Central Plains of political unrest, constant changes of dynasties, and emperors. In short, you, Shi Jingtang, claim to be the ruler of the Central Plains, but you don't even take a piss and look at yourself. Do you have a guilty conscience? Don't feel good about yourself all the time, and always call yourself the "Heavenly Kingdom". You also say that we are barbarians. We are much more stable than you! I won't waste my words on you. From now on, the two countries of Shanxi and Fujian are equal, and we will use "enemy etiquette" when we interact with each other.

Shi Jingtang was furious and ordered the Min envoy Zheng Yuanbi to be thrown into prison and the gifts he brought to be sent back. "Our Celestial Empire is vast and rich in resources. Who would want his rags? Return them. Refuse to accept them!"

Li Zhisun, a deputy minister of the Ministry of War, hastily petitioned to stop them, "No, just leave the goods behind."

Shi Jingtang thought about it and thought, that's true, okay, detain both the people and the goods.

The Min Kingdom's special envoy Zheng Yuanbi was very courageous. He reported to Shi Jingtang that our master was originally an uneducated barbarian who did not know the rules and etiquette. He said that it was not worth your happiness if he said something nice, and it was not worth your anger if he said something unpleasant. You are just about to set an example for the people of the world, so why do you do something like this today? Aren't you afraid of being ridiculed by the world? How about this, I am willing to die to apologize for my master's sin, you kill me.

Shi Jingtang suddenly felt great respect for Zheng Yuanbi, so he ordered his release without charge, gave him some gifts, and sent him back to his country.

Just when Zheng Yuanbi was on a diplomatic mission to the Later Jin Dynasty, a palace coup d'état occurred again in the Min Kingdom. Wang Jipeng was killed and his uncle Wang Yanxi ascended the throne and became emperor.

After Wang Yanxi proclaimed himself emperor, he immediately sent people to the Later Jin Dynasty to report that Wang Jipeng was killed by the imperial guards and that he was supported as the highest military and political chief in Fujian. He emphasized that he was only the "Jiedushi of the Weiwu Army", denied that he had proclaimed himself emperor, and expressed his willingness to be a vassal of the Later Jin Dynasty and restore the old friendship.

So some people believe that this was the main reason why Shi Jingtang released Zheng Yuanbi.

According to other records, Wang Jipeng had contacted Khitan by sea. When Yelu Deguang heard that Shi Jingtang had detained the envoys and gifts of Min, he ordered Shi Jingtang to release them unconditionally and then send the "tribute" of Min to Khitan. Yelu Deguang told Shi Jingtang that this was a tribute from Min to honor his father, how dare you intercept it halfway!
In this way, Shi Jingtang lost both his life and his wealth.

Clue 4: Refusal to be knighted

According to authoritative historical records, when Shi Jingtang first offered Wang Jipeng a title, Wang Jipeng refused. Wang Jipeng replied that he was already the emperor of the Great Min Kingdom, and it would not be appropriate for him to accept the title from the Great Jin Kingdom.

Shi Jingtang had no choice but to announce the severance of diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Min.

In just over a year, the diplomatic relations between Shanxi and Fujian went through many twists and turns, from severance of diplomatic relations to normalization of diplomatic relations, from normalization to severance of diplomatic relations, and from severance of diplomatic relations to restoration of normality... During this period, two consecutive palace coups occurred in Min, and the two monarchs Wang Yanzheng and Wang Jipeng were assassinated.

We don't need to delve into the mysteries and doubts in these four clues. In short, the Min Kingdom was determined to become an independent empire, and the Later Jin Dynasty did not have the strength to recover it, so it could only let it go. The friendship between the two countries has always been in the common interests of the two countries, especially the Later Jin Dynasty, which not only had a friendly neighbor on paper, but also gained a lot of real money by giving "honorary titles". Therefore, after Wang Yanxi came to power, Shi Jingtang sent Zheng Yuanbi and other envoys back to China with courtesy, and the diplomatic relations between the two countries were normalized.

3. Internal Affairs of the Later Jin Dynasty
The foreign relations during Shi Jingtang's period were relatively simple and straightforward, and so were his domestic affairs, which were basically "kneeling" affairs. Like his predecessors, although Shi Jingtang was in power, his overall strength was still weak, and the local warlords, especially the former "powerful factions", still posed a strong threat to the central government.

Shi Jingtang's behavior of recognizing the enemy as his father made his situation more difficult than that of Li Siyuan, Li Conghou and Li Congke. The domestic opposition had a natural political magic weapon, that is, nationalism and patriotism, which had an absolute advantage in morality. Anyone who opposed Shi Jingtang would take advantage of the issue to incite opposition sentiment.

Shi Jingtang faced an unprecedented dilemma, but he was emperor for more than seven years, which was similar in length to Mingzong Li Siyuan and far longer than Li Congke's two and a half years.

When we evaluated the Later Liang regime and Zhu Youzhen, we once came to a conclusion that the length of the emperor's reign can serve as an important reference for his ability to govern.

Shi Jingtang's situation was even more difficult than Li Congke's, but he did not perish as quickly as Li Congke. Without exaggeration or slander, Shi Jingtang possessed certain political skills. Let's see how he became the fearless trendsetters in the turbulent Five Dynasties.

1 Repay evil with kindness

Whenever a new emperor ascends the throne, in order to cultivate his own party and consolidate his power, he must carry out a series of personnel transfers, which may be gentle or bloody. In short, the purpose is to eliminate the interference of the "old ministers who guard the new monarch's affairs". These important ministers may be civil servants and military generals who have worked hard and made great contributions, they may also be the harem forces that hinder the new monarch everywhere, or they may also be the eunuchs.

If a person of a different surname overthrows the old dynasty through force and establishes a new dynasty, then this political purge will be even more decisive and cold-blooded, basically a bloody massacre.

However, to everyone's surprise, Shi Jingtang behaved very kindly and generously when dealing with the court of Li Congke of the Later Tang Dynasty.

1.1 Core of the New Regime

Before entering Luoyang, Shi Jingtang promoted his direct lineage in Hedong, Zhao Ying, Sang Weihan, Liu Zhiyuan and others to control government agencies and military power respectively. Among them, Zhao Ying was the prime minister, and Sang Weihan was the prime minister and privy envoy.

This was carried out under the supervision of Yelu Deguang, and it was in the interests of the Khitan to allow the "pro-Liao faction" to hold important government positions.

1.2 Clearing up past grievances
After Shi Jingtang entered Luoyang, he issued an edict, clearly pointing out the "three major evil men": Zhang Yanlang, Liu Yanhao, and Liu Yanlang. He accused these people of being evil villains who brought disaster to the country and the people, and their crimes were full of evil and intolerable to heaven.

Zhang Yanlang was Li Congke's money bag and the chief finance minister (Judge of the Three Departments). He knew the importance of money to politics and military affairs, so before Shi Jingtang rebelled, he transferred all the central property scattered in Hedong. Shi Jingtang used the method of ants moving to transfer money to Taiyuan, while Zhang Yanlang used the method of elephants moving to cut off his fuel. So Shi Jingtang "deeply hated" him.

(End of this chapter)