History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 559 "Big Eyes Cute" Succession 6
The prosperous Luoyang has been the secondary capital of the empire since the heyday of the Tang Dynasty. It has also been the capital and is now the western capital of the Later Jin Dynasty. A place of splendid literature, a land of gentleness and wealth... 5387 families fled with their families, and tens of thousands starved to death.

——In February, "2 households fled from Hezhong. At that time, there was famine all over the country, grain prices soared, and many people starved to death."

Another 7759 families in the Hezhong region fled with their families, food prices soared, and the number of people who starved to death was too numerous to count.

——April 4, solar eclipse.

"Henan, Hebei, and Guanxi are all drought-prone and locust-prone areas."

"Locusts were everywhere in the country, destroying the fields and eating all the leaves and grass. The emperor ordered the county officials to catch locusts. Yang Yanxun, the governor of Huazhou, and Zhao Ying, the governor of Yongzhou, ordered the people to pay one bushel of grain for every bushel of locusts they caught. At that time, drought and locusts followed one another, and people were forced to flee. The roads were filled with starving people, and the number of starving people in Guanxi was particularly high, with 17 or 18 people dying."

It was shocking! In the worst-hit region of Kansai, nearly 80% of the people starved to death! Former Prime Minister Zhao Ying offered a reward of one bushel of locusts for one bushel of grain to encourage people to kill locusts, but the effect was minimal. Humans seem so insignificant when facing the power of nature.

Later questions will also mention that even though a rare disaster that was almost catastrophic broke out in the Guanxi region, the imperial court still ordered the forced collection of grain from the people. As a result, "the Jin Dynasty declined from then on," and the Later Jin court dug its own grave.

——In May, “the locusts covered the sky from the north to the south.”

The locusts covered the sky and blocked out the sun, eating up all the grass in the north, and then moved to the south.

July

Beizhou reported, "There are 3,700 households that have fled."

Bianzhou reported, "Locusts are falling heavily, covering the mountains and fields, eating up all the grass, seedlings and leaves, and many people are starving to death."

Shanzhou reported, "Locusts have flown into the territory, destroying crops and eating bamboo and tree leaves. A total of 8,100 households have escaped."

"This month, there were great locusts in all the states and counties, destroying all the vegetation wherever they went."

Faced with the continuous drought and the terrible locust plague that followed, Shi Chonggui issued a series of edicts, requiring officials at all levels of the central and local governments to go to various temples and Taoist temples to pray for rain. Shi Chonggui himself also went to Xiangguo Temple to pray for rain. So... God suddenly realized that he had forgotten to water the trees, so he hurriedly made up for it, and then...

——In July, "the rain in the capital was three feet deep."

——In August, Jing, Qing, Ci, and Wei reported a total of 8 households that had fled. The county magistrates assisted in this, saying that the people were starving due to natural disasters, and five of them brought their names and printed their names.

Not only did the common people flee, even the county magistrate ran away.

——In September, “9 states and counties were hit by locusts, and hundreds of thousands of people died of starvation.”

Previously, tens of thousands died of starvation, but now it is hundreds of thousands.

-- In December, Huazhou reported that "a total of 12 households had fled... There was a great famine that winter, and more than people starved to death in various prefectures in Henan."

Disasters had hit the country since the spring, severely affecting agricultural production. By the end of the year, where would there be food stored for the winter? For the first time, the number of households that fled exceeded 10,000. The "Henan" here should refer to the "Henan Prefecture", which is Luoyang, and the "states" should refer to the Heyang area where Luoyang is located, which is the jurisdiction of the "Heyang Jiedushi". In other words, within the jurisdiction of a Jiedushi, nearly 30,000 people starved to death.

The first year of Kaiyun (944)

——In the first month of the year, "hundreds of thousands of people died of starvation throughout the country..."

The "this year" here should be a summary of the previous year, that is, hundreds of thousands of people starved to death across the country last year. If we must be literal and say that "this year" means "this year", the first year of good fortune, then it is too horrible, hundreds of thousands of people died before the end of the first month... I think it should be the former, last year.

July

Tongzhou and Huazhou reported that "people were cannibalizing each other." Longzhou reported that "56,000 people died of starvation."

At this point, the tragedy of cannibalism finally took place. Longzhou is located at the junction of Guanxi and Bashu. It is a remote place with a relatively sparse population. In this remote place, 5 people starved to death.

——In May, Luzhou reported that “more than 5 people died of starvation.”

--In June, the Yellow River broke its banks in Huazhou, and the raging flood roared eastward, wreaking havoc on Cao, Shan, Pu, Yun and other states along the way. It rushed from today's Henan Province all the way to Shandong Province, "surrounding Liangshan and merging into Wen and Ji rivers." It surrounded Liangshan and turned it into a small island in the water, and finally flowed into the Wen River and Ji River.

I personally speculate that the "Eight Hundred Miles of Water Margin Liangshan" in the Northern Song Dynasty might be related to this flood.

July

This time was rather special. We will come back to it later. It was the end of the first of the "three major battles" between Jin and Liao, and ended with the victory of the Later Jin. Shi Chonggui was very happy, and specially issued an edict to change the reign title and grant amnesty, changing "the ninth year of Tianfu" to "the first year of Kaiyun". He wanted his luck to change, but "the first year of Zhuanyun" sounded a bit vulgar and too rustic, so he changed it to the more literary "Kaiyun".

The era name was changed and a general amnesty was declared. Rewards were given to soldiers, taxes were exempted for the people, and official positions were granted to those who donated money to the court during the war... In short, everyone was celebrating.

That day, Shi Chonggui personally went up to Mingde Gate to announce the edict of changing the reign and granting amnesty. Before the edict was finished, a strong wind suddenly blew, lightning and thunder roared, and heavy rain poured down...

"On that day, before the amnesty was announced, a heavy thunderstorm occurred and the announcement was hastily stopped. Hundreds of people died in the earthquake in the capital..."

Hundreds of people were killed by lightning!

At that time, there was a pavilion inside Mingde Gate, with a stone basin inside, a water tank next to the stone basin, and a stone dragon statue inside the water tank, which was both practical and ornamental. On that day, the stone dragon was blown by the strong wind and "floated dozens of steps", which was simply amazing. Then, with a "crack" sound of thunder, the dragon head was broken by lightning (and the dragon head was broken).

At that time, some people said that Shi was the surname of the country, and the dragon represented the emperor. The movement of the stone dragon indicated that the Shi family would move, and the cutting off of the dragon head indicated that the Shi family would perish. "It was a very ominous sign."

Later, Shi Chonggui was indeed captured by the Northern Kingdom and eventually died in a foreign country.

——April 9, solar eclipse.

As mentioned above, solar eclipses were not originally considered natural disasters, but were just a normal natural phenomenon. However, in the feudal period, solar eclipses were given more factors and were considered a natural disaster by people at that time. If it occurred at the beginning of the month, it was even more unlucky, and if it occurred at the beginning of the year, it was the most unlucky.

The second year of Kaiyun (945)

——In May, Dingzhou reported, "Strong winds and hailstorms destroyed all the trees and halls in the Beiyue Temple."

——In June, “the two capitals and fifteen prefectures and counties reported drought.”

——April 8, solar eclipse.

Three years of good fortune (946)

——April 2, solar eclipse.

——In March, Mizhou reported that “3 people died of starvation.”

——In April, Caozhou reported, "4 people died of starvation. Henan and Hebei were suffering from severe famine, and many people were killed. Bandits rose up in Yi, Mi, Yan, and Yun, gathering everywhere and looting counties and towns. Officials were unable to stop them. Yanzhou Jiedushi An Shenqi sent troops to capture and chase them, but was defeated by the bandits."

The hungry people revolted, and even the general An Shenqi was defeated.

(End of this chapter)