History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 530: Three Towns Rebellion 4
Yin Hui and Lou Jiying of Bianzhou accepted Fan Yanguang's instigation; Wen Tao's three sons Wen Yanjun, Wen Yanzhao and Wen Yangun were all in Xuzhou and also secretly responded to Fan Yanguang.

Yin Hui was the first imperial guard general to defect to Li Congke during the "Fengxiang Battle". Yang Siquan was the first and Yin Hui was the second. After Li Congke became emperor, he wanted to fulfill his promise under the city of Fengxiang and promoted both Yang Siquan and Yin Hui to Jiedushi. Yang Siquan had previously made it clear that he wanted to return to his hometown (Binzhou) to serve as Jiedushi and return home in glory; while Yin Hui had no special requirements, as long as he could be a Jiedushi.

Li Congke originally intended to appoint Yin Hui as the military governor of Weizhou Wei Bo Army. But before the appointment letter was issued, a small incident occurred:

Yin Hui was arrogant because of his "first victory". When he heard that he would be in charge of Wei Bo, an important town in Hebei, he became even more arrogant and looked down on everyone. At that time, Shi Jingtang was detained in Luoyang by Li Congke. One day, Shi Jingtang ran into Yin Hui on the street. Yin Hui was arrogant and rude. He did not dismount, but just threw the whip on the saddle, freed his hands to salute, and greeted him perfunctorily.

Shi Jingtang was very angry, so he went to Li Congke to report that people outside were talking about Yin Hui's sitting in Wei Bo, and it would be better to move him to another place. Li Congke then transferred Yin Hui to Yingzhou as a military governor.

After Shi Jingtang proclaimed himself emperor, he demoted Yin Hui, recalled him from the local government, and threw him into the imperial guards. Yin Hui had gone through a lot of twists and turns and was back to square one. Therefore, Yin Hui was dissatisfied with Shi Jingtang's Later Jin regime. Fan Yanguang thought he was a potential ally.

Lou Jiying served in the Later Liang and Later Tang dynasties and held the position of Yaozhou Tuanlianshi. To talk about his motive for rebellion, we have to mention the three Wen brothers.

Wen Tao, the most famous tomb robber in Chinese history, searched all the imperial tombs of the Tang Dynasty, but did not dare to go to the Qianling Mausoleum of Wu Zetian due to unusual weather. He had many names. His original name was Wen Tao. After being recruited by Fengxiang Li Maozhen, he changed his name to Li Yantao. After surrendering to Zhu Wen, he was changed to Wen Zhaotu. After surrendering to Li Cunxu, he was given the name Li Shaochong. After Mingzong Li Siyuan became emperor, he was sentenced to death.

The intersection of Wen Tao and Lou Jiying is Yaozhou. In those days, the tomb robber Wen Tao surrendered to Fengxiang Li Maozhen, who upgraded Huayuan County to "Yaozhou" and appointed Wen Tao as governor. Later, he upgraded the nearby Meiyuan County to Dingzhou, and set up Yaozhou and Dingzhou as Yisheng Army. Wen Tao was promoted to Jiedushi of Yisheng Army. Zhu Youzhen, the last emperor of the Later Liang Dynasty, renamed Yisheng Army as Jingsheng Army, and still appointed Wen Tao as Jiedushi.

Although he was a provincial-level official, he was actually the head of two counties, amusing himself and talking nonsense like a tomb robber. The important thing is "Yaozhou". Lou Jiying was once the commander of the Yaozhou Tuanlianshi, and had a physical intersection with Wen Tao, the original boss of Yaozhou. Later, the two families became in-laws: Lou Jiying's son married Wen Tao's granddaughter (daughter of Wen Yanzhao).

Since Emperor Mingzong Li Siyuan killed Wen Tao, Wen Yanzhao and his three brothers were dismissed from their posts and left to fend for themselves in Xuzhou. Therefore, the three Wen brothers were full of deep hatred for the court and had a strong antisocial mentality. Although the Later Tang Dynasty had been replaced by the Later Jin Dynasty, the antisocial personality had been deeply imprinted in the hearts of the three Wen brothers.

One of Lou Jiying's younger brothers was a patrol officer in the inner city of Weizhou, and Fan Yanguang sent him to lure Lou Jiying. Lou Jiying immediately sent his relative Weng Wenyanzhao to Weizhou to discuss important matters with Fan Yanguang in person.

Fan Yanguang was very moved and gave Wen Yanzhao a message arrow, asking him to wait for an opportunity in Bianzhou and Xuzhou to cooperate internally and externally to kill Shi Jingtang.

Therefore, the three Wen brothers secretly recruited soldiers and soon gathered a mercenary force of more than a thousand people, preparing to launch a surprise attack on Xuzhou.

At that time, the governor of Xuzhou Zhongwu Army was General Chang Congjian. Ever since Fan Yanguang's rebellion, Chang Congjian had concluded that Fan Yanguang would definitely contact people everywhere to look for help, so he raised Xuzhou's combat readiness level to prevent spy infiltration.

Man proposes, God disposes. Although Yin Hui was dissatisfied with Shi Jingtang, he was timid and unwilling to get involved in political struggles. After receiving Fan Yanguang's secret letter, he was terrified and planned to flee to Huainan, away from the chaos in the Central Plains. However, the plan was exposed and he was caught by patrol soldiers. After hearing about it, Shi Jingtang issued an imperial edict to summon him and interrogate him personally, but Yin Hui was killed in an instant.

So Shi Jingtang issued an edict, saying that from now on anyone who captured Fan Yanguang's envoys or spies delivering wax pills would be killed without mercy, and the wax pills would not be opened, and no one would be allowed to read the letters inside. They would all be burned on the spot, and no one would be held accountable.

This is a tribute to Cao Cao's practice of burning private letters between his subordinates and Yuan Shao after the Battle of Guandu.

At that time, Fan Yanguang rebelled in Weizhou, Zhang Congbin led his troops from Luoyang to the imperial court, and even Shi Jingtang himself wanted to flee to Taiyuan. Naturally, the civil and military officials under him were uneasy, and they were only flirting with Fan Yanguang to save their lives. If they conducted a thorough investigation at this time, it would inevitably exacerbate the unrest among the people.

But Lou Jiying was afraid. He was worried that he would be exposed, so he secretly ran to Xuzhou and took refuge with the three Wen brothers.

The three Wen brothers were instantly furious, because Xuzhou Chang Congjian had taken strict precautions and they had never found a chance to take action. They were also in danger of being exposed at any time. However, Bianzhou had already uncovered the Weizhou spy and knew the secret of the wax ball secret letter. Lou Jiying might have been exposed, but now he ran to their side. Isn't this courting trouble?
The eldest brother Wen Yanjun and the third brother Wen Yangun came up with a plan to kill Lou Jiying, show their loyalty to the court, and put the blame for secretly communicating with Fan Yanguang on Lou Jiying in order to save themselves.

However, the second brother Wen Yanzhao and Lou Jiying were in-laws and could not bear to do so. So after a more detailed discussion, everyone thought that instead of living in fear every day, it would be better to go to Zhang Congbin in Luoyang and "expose" themselves. Once Zhang Congbin and Fan Yanguang succeeded in their joint attack, they would not only be able to save their lives, but also have wealth and honor.

They hit it off immediately, so the three Wen brothers and Lou Jiying, with more than a thousand men, fled to Sishui Pass.

Lou Jiying somehow learned that the Wen brothers had tried to betray him, so he slandered the three Wen brothers to Zhang Congbin, accusing them of being informants for the court and undercover agents of Shi Jingtang.

So Zhang Congbin killed the three Wen brothers.

The time bombs in Bianzhou and Xuzhou were basically eliminated, and the rebel general Lou Jiying fled to Sishui Pass and became a collusion with Zhang Congbin.

There were also rebel generals in other places who responded to Fan Yanguang. For example, Wang Hui, the general of Anzhou, launched a mutiny, killed Zhou Gui, the governor of Anyuan Army of Anzhou, and took over Anzhou. He was not in a hurry to express his position. He planned to wait and see. If Fan Yanguang succeeded, he would certainly appease the vassal states and win their support. At that time, he would naturally appoint Wang Hui as the governor of Anzhou; if Fan Yanguang failed, he would flee to Huainan.

(End of this chapter)