History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 525: Moving the Capital to Bianzhou
During this period, Shi Jingtang obtained a large amount of intelligence through various channels, and all the intelligence pointed to the same conclusion: Fan Yanguang was plotting a rebellion.

Fan Yanguang killed Mi Qiong, on the one hand because he coveted his wealth, but more importantly, he wanted to silence him.

After killing Mi Qiong, Fan Yanguang summoned the provincial governors of various states in the territory to a meeting at the Weizhou headquarters, conveyed the spirit of the meeting to break away from the central government, and stepped up the recruitment of troops and the repair of the city.

Shi Jingtang was very worried about this and asked Sang Weihan to discuss countermeasures.

Sang Weihan pointed out that the decades of tug-of-war between Li Keyong of Hedong and Zhu Wen of Bianzhou further confirmed the saying that "whoever controls Weizhou controls the world". Zhuangzong and Mingzong both "entered Weizhou" first, then "entered Bianzhou", and finally "entered Luoyang". If Weizhou has any intention to change its mind, it must be suppressed decisively and severely. No matter how tight the finances are or how difficult the situation is, there must be no hesitation.

Shi Jingtang agreed with this, so how should we deal with it?

In the spring of the second year of Tianfu (937), an old man drew a circle in the center of China.

"Bianzhou!"

Sang Weihan pointed out: Bianzhou controls Yanzhao in the north and connects to Jianghuai in the south. It is a national material transfer station with convenient connections and abundant materials. It is only 300 miles away from Weizhou. If Weizhou makes trouble, the army departing from Bianzhou can arrive at the city in an instant, catching Weizhou off guard.

Move the capital to Bianzhou. This was the idea that Sang Weihan gave to Shi Jingtang.

So, Shi Jingtang issued an edict in March, saying that the boats and carriages used for transportation were severely damaged in the war, which brought even greater pressure to the already tight transportation capacity. It was really a waste of money and labor to transport food and fodder to the capital Luoyang. I sympathize with the people and "support the people and take care of them according to their convenience." So where is "convenient"? Bianzhou, which is a distribution center for materials. Originally, materials were concentrated here and then transported to Luoyang. So, I simply moved the capital to Bianzhou.

"I am going on a tour to Bianzhou in the east, claiming that there is a shortage of grain transport in Luoyang." The emperor, with his family, came to Bianzhou again to eat for free.

In order to make the performance realistic and avoid irritating Fan Yanguang, Shi Jingtang immediately issued a second edict in a very serious manner: All prefectures and cities along the way listen up, wherever there are famous mountains and rivers, imperial tombs and temples, or shrines to famous ministers in their territory, the local top leaders must bring all members of the leadership team and kneel ten miles away to welcome me, wait for my arrival, and offer sacrifices and prayers with a grand sacrificial ceremony.

Perhaps this will be interpreted by some people as Shi Jingtang's emphasis on pomp and pursuit of luxury.

Generally speaking, in the chronicles of emperors, even when encountering such a large-scale outing of the emperor, it would often be recorded that the emperor repeatedly warned and warned local officials not to be extravagant, not to disturb the people, and not to disturb the ground... Only this time, Shi Jingtang made it clear in the form of an imperial edict that he wanted to parade through the city, to be surrounded by people, to be welcomed from afar, and to stop and go.

The real reason was to put on a show for Fan Yanguang, trying to make Fan Yanguang believe that this was just a free meal and a trip, and that it had absolutely no political purpose and was not directed at any third party.

The previous article also foreshadowed that some information accused Shi Jingtang of moving the capital to Bianzhou because he disliked the dilapidated palace in Luoyang and pursued luxury and indulgence. The real purpose of Shi Jingtang moving the capital to Bianzhou was actually to target Fan Yanguang and prepare for the subsequent pacification of Wei Bo.

In order to further appease Fan Yanguang, Shi Jingtang appointed Fan Yanguang as the Prince of Linqing and added an additional fief of 3,000 households.

The envoy who was in charge of reading the imperial edict to Weizhou came back and reported the news in Weizhou: Fan Yanguang was about to rebel! At the same time, Fu Yanrao, the governor of Yicheng Army in Huazhou, wrote a letter: According to reliable information, Fan Yanguang has sent a large army to Liyang and is about to take action, and requested the central government to send troops for support!
The source of the news was a soldier named Wei Bo who defected from Wei Bo.

Shi Jingtang first sent a special envoy to Weizhou to investigate the situation and question the crime; he took control of the hostage left by Fan Yanguang in the central government - his son Fan Shoutu; he sent an envoy to deliver a pair of letter arrows to Fu Yanrao in Huazhou; and he sent generals Yang Guangyuan and Zhang Congbin to lead an army of 10,000 to station in Huazhou to assist in defense.

The advantages of moving the capital to Bianzhou were obvious, and the central court responded quickly and appropriately. After all, it had already made adequate emergency plans.

On the other hand, Fan Yanguang was somewhat passive and hasty. It is also contradictory that Fan Yanguang had long harbored the intention of rebellion, but it was not "premeditated for a long time".

Fan Yanguang wanted to rebel and wear the dragon robe; this was his ultimate goal. In order to achieve this grand goal, he roughly formulated a vague plan, which was to first unite the neighbors around him, especially those in the Heshuo area, and seek as many helpers as possible. And then, there was nothing else.

Obviously, he would not find any allies. Not only Mi Qiong, but any vassal with normal IQ would not support him. As both vassal states, why should we risk the extermination of our entire clan to support Fan Yanguang and oppose Shi Jingtang? Anyway, we are all ministers, so it doesn't matter who we serve.

Both Zhao Yanshou and other rebellious generals knew one thing very well, that is, they had to rely on the power of the Khitan. Even if they could not get the strong support of the Khitan, at least they could not face the resolute opposition of the Khitan.

Fan Yanguang sent people to Khitan to seek support, but was rejected.

First of all, this is due to the planning of "pro-Liao" ministers such as Sang Weihan. When Shi Jingtang first ascended the throne, he asked Sang Weihan for advice on current affairs. Sang Weihan pointed out two core ideas for domestic and foreign affairs: internally, he should be generous and kind, forget past hatreds, repay grievances with virtue, and appease the local areas; externally, he should be respectful and "treat the Khitan as a father", with a humble attitude and generous gifts. At the same time, he should encourage farming and sericulture, cherish the people's strength, and enable the people to resume production and management. After a few years, the Central Plains will inevitably become strong.

Shi Jingtang did take this as his guiding principle. As mentioned above, he was generous and kind to his people and acted like a grandson to the outside world. This achieved great results.

It was precisely because Shi Jingtang respected his Khitan father with great respect that the Khitan was very satisfied with this agent and had no intention of changing the agent, and would not support any opposition, including Fan Yanguang.

Secondly, the Khitan also needed to digest the fruits of victory, such as the "Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun".

The "Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun" were not under the control of Shi Jingtang at the time, but were actually under the control of the Later Tang court (including Zhao Dejun and his son). The garrisons of the prefectures, cities, and counties were quite resistant to the change of their nationality. "We are all willing to fight to the death, why did Your Majesty surrender first?"

These soldiers who were unwilling to submit to the Khitan refused to hand over the city to the Khitan and climbed the city to defend themselves.

It is like the Khitans purchased the "Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun" real estate project through a judicial auction, but the original owners refused to fulfill their obligation to vacate the houses and chose to resist the law violently.

Therefore, the Khitans had no choice but to apply to the court for compulsory execution.

(End of this chapter)