History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 532: Three Towns Rebellion 6 (Monthly Tickets Plus)
At the same time, good news came from Sishui Pass:
Hou Yi fulfilled his promise and led 5,000 elite troops to fight against 10,000 rebels. He almost wiped out all 10,000 at a very small cost, and the rest were all captured. After Sishui Pass was captured, Zhang Congbin fled in a panic, but was squeezed into the river and drowned. Hou Yi captured the rest of his gang, including Zhang Yanbo, Zhang Jizuo, Lou Jiying, and ten others, and sent them back to Bianzhou to await their fate.

Shi Jingtang ordered that the entire family of these ten people who colluded with the rebels be executed!
Li Tao, the editor of the History Museum, hurriedly submitted a memorial to plead for Zhang Jizuo, because Zhang Jizuo was the son of the "healing master" Zhang Quanyi. As mentioned earlier, Zhang Quanyi was in charge of Luoyang at that time. At that time, Luoyang was systematically destroyed by the giant bandit Sun Ru and was almost razed to the ground. It was Zhang Quanyi who worked hard for many years to restore Luoyang's vitality and restore it to the appearance of the imperial capital.

Shi Jingtang then pardoned Zhang Jizuo and his wife and pardoned the rest of his family.

Afterwards, Shi Jingtang issued an edict that the main culprit Zhang Congbin and his accomplice Zhang Yanbo had all received the punishment they deserved, and the rest of those who were coerced by them, including the followers of Fu Yanrao of Huazhou and the cronies of Wang Hui of Anzhou, would no longer be pursued and were all acquitted!

The central flowering strategy of Bianzhou and Xuzhou failed; the pincer attack strategy of Luoyang failed; the main force on the front line of Huazhou was completely wiped out... Fan Yanguang of Weizhou was depressed.

Fan Yanguang knew that the situation was hopeless, so he executed Sun Rui. As mentioned earlier, Fan Yanguang put all the blame on this man, saying that the villain Sun Rui took advantage of his serious illness to launch a rebellion and that he was innocent. He sent the head to Yang Guangyuan's army and asked Yang Guangyuan to help convey the message that he was willing to accept negotiations and surrender under certain conditions.

Yang Guangyuan presented Fan Yanguang's letter of peace, but Shi Jingtang flatly refused, "You are a ruthless man with a broken arm, famous in Wei Bo, come and kill me, and reap the rewards for me!"

Under Yang Guangyuan's heroic command, the battle in Weizhou finally reached a stalemate. Facing the low-health Fan Yanguang, Yang Guangyuan could not come up with any effective plan. The only way was to waste time. This waste lasted for more than a year.

Shi Jingtang had no leisure in this year. When Yang Guangyuan surrounded Weizhou and Shi Jingtang thought the war would end quickly, bad news came from the south again.

Prior to this, a mutiny broke out in Anzhou. General Wang Hui killed the governor Zhou Gui and took control of Anzhou, preparing to play both sides and sit on the fence to watch the war. Shi Jingtang sent Li Jinquan with a thousand cavalry to take over and transferred Wang Hui to Tangzhou to serve as the governor. Wang Hui refused the imperial edict and refused to be replaced, indicating that he would not accept such an appointment and stayed in Anzhou as a deadbeat.

Anzhou's neighbor, An Congjin, the governor of Xiangzhou Shannan East Road, sent troops to control the main transportation routes to the south to prevent Wang Hui from colluding with Huainan forces.

When Wang Hui heard that Li Jinquan was leading his army to take over, he packed his bags and prepared to flee to Huainan. Before leaving, he ordered to loot Anzhou City for three days. At this time, the road to the south had been blocked by An Congjin, and Wang Hui, who was at the end of his rope, was killed by An Congjin.

An Congjin reported the progress of Anzhou to the court and welcomed Li Jinquan to take over.

Prior to this, the imperial court had issued an imperial edict and granted a letter arrow, pardoning Wang Hui's party for the crime of mutiny and promoting Wang Hui to the position of governor of Tangzhou. Li Jinquan showed the letter arrow imperial edict to appease the remaining party members of Wang Hui.

Wang Hui's remaining followers cheered and were about to have a happy ending. However, Li Jinquan soon learned about their three-day looting. The commander Wu Yanhe and a dozen other officers had looted a large amount of gold and silver treasures. So Li Jinquan ordered the arrest and beheading of Wu Yanhe and a dozen others.

Wu Yanhe cried out before his death: "Wang Hui was the instigator, and the emperor still appointed him as the governor. We were coerced by Wang Hui, so what crime have we committed? The emperor has a consolation edict and a letter arrow. If the court asked you to kill us, then the court is in default! If you violated the edict and killed the surrendered, then you will not have a good death in the future!"

Afterwards, Li Jinquan reported to the court that the group was killed by robbers on the way. Shi Jingtang knew the truth of the matter, but he did not pursue it. Later, he appointed Li Jinquan as the governor of Anzhou Anyuan Army.

Li Jinquan was originally a household slave of Li Siyuan and a Tuyuhun. He attracted Li Siyuan's attention because of his bravery and fighting skills. He won military merits on the battlefield and was promoted to governor. After Li Siyuan became emperor, he promoted him to the governor of Jingzhou Zhangyi Army.

After turning over a new leaf, Li Jinquan fully exposed his greedy nature, and was corrupt and violent in the town, which earned him a very bad reputation. Later, he was summoned to the central government by Li Siyuan and thrown into the imperial army to live out his retirement.

Li Jinquan presented war horses to Li Siyuan several times, hoping that the emperor would show mercy and let him go back to his hometown to wield power. However, he hit the horse's hoof instead, and Li Siyuan was very unhappy. He asked him: "You didn't do anything else in Jingzhou, just horses?"

Later, he was appointed as the Jiedushi of Henghai Army in Cangzhou.

After Li Congke proclaimed himself emperor, he was recalled to the central government and thrown into the ranks of the imperial guards.

After Shi Jingtang proclaimed himself emperor, Wang Hui of Anzhou rebelled and Li Jinquan was sent to appease him. Wang Hui was shot dead while fleeing, so Li Jinquan entered the city to appease him and was immediately appointed Jiedushi of Anzhou Anyuan Army.

When he was about to leave, Shi Jingtang was worried that he would kill innocent people to gain credit, so he specifically told him that although Wang Hui was guilty of the death penalty, if we liquidate Wang Hui's followers, it will inevitably intensify regional conflicts, make the people uneasy, and be detrimental to regional stability. That's why I pardoned them all. You must not kill anyone!
"He broke an arrow and sent an imperial edict, agreeing that no one would be killed and that Yihui would still be appointed governor of Tangzhou." - "Old History of the Five Dynasties"

However, Li Jinquan was still greedy for money and killed the surrendered generals. Shi Jingtang chose to tolerate and endure this greed and violence.

Li Jinquan's confidant, Hu Hanjun (also known as "Hu Hanrong"), was even more greedy and cruel than Li Jinquan, and was extremely cunning and treacherous. He had a lot of bad ideas and often encouraged Li Jinquan to do some illegal things.

Li Jinquan was not a gentleman, but he still needed to whitewash himself on the surface. After all, he was a provincial-level official, so he had to be more righteous. And Hu Hanyun was the window for him to release his inner evil, the reason for his corruption, and the last fig leaf of his humanity.

Therefore, Hu Hanyun was very favored by Li Jinquan. This is also the reason why leaders often favor the villains around them.

To the east and southeast of Anzhou Anyuan Army, it borders the Huainan forces, to the south it borders a small part of Southern Chu, to the southwest it borders Jingnan, to the west is Xiangzhou Shannan East Road, and to the north are Dengzhou Weisheng Army and Xuzhou Zhongwu Army.

From the map, Anzhou Anyuan Army is a balcony of the Later Jin Dynasty, extending into the "no man's land" of Huainan, Jingnan, and Southern Chu. Generally speaking, such a place must be a battleground for military strategists and a strategic springboard for the surrounding bigwigs.

(End of this chapter)