History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 566 Yang Guangyuan's Rebellion

Just as Qiao Rong was racking his brains over how to pass the buck, the cute little Jing Yanguang volunteered to offer this great gift.

Qiao Rong suppressed his inner ecstasy and cooperated by showing shock and fear. Then he said sincerely and humbly, "Listening to your words is better than reading ten years of books. Prime Minister, I just said a lot of information. Please forgive my stupidity. First, I am worried that I will not be able to fully and accurately convey your teachings and instructions after returning to the country. Second, I am worried that the Liao Lord will not believe me and think that I am talking nonsense... How about this, you write down what you just said, and I will pass it directly to the Liao Lord to avoid mistakes."

Jing Yanguang was very happy, "This young man is teachable! Someone, bring me some writing brush and ink!"

Afterwards, Jing Yanguang dictated, the clerk quickly took notes, then copied it, and Jing Yanguang signed and sealed it to indicate his approval.

Qiao Rong carefully took the letter and hid it against his chest with his underwear. This was his lifeline.

After returning to Khitan, Qiao Rong recounted the entire incident and presented this ironclad evidence, "Your Majesty, please look, this is the attitude of the Later Jin rulers and their subjects towards our Great Liao!"

Yelu Deguang was furious again and ordered the arrest of all Later Jin envoys in Khitan. They were all detained in Youzhou, and they were neither allowed to come to the capital Linhuangfu for an audience, nor allowed to return to the Later Jin. The detention of diplomats was a response to the Later Jin's killing of Khitan merchants.

According to historical records, after this incident, "the Khitan became even more angry" and "(Yelü Deguang) began to make up his mind to invade", and afterwards, the two countries "were looking for war every day."

The "Qiao Rong Incident" is therefore regarded by mainstream opinion as the fuse of the Shanxi-Liaoning War.

In addition, another stupid behavior of Jing Yanguang also became the trigger of the Jin-Liao War, which was his action against the "Big Three".

In order to monopolize the government, Jing Yanguang tried his best to promote the radical "Anti-Liao Movement" at the central level; at the local level, he also slowly promoted the work of reducing the power of the powerful "Three Giants".

As a rising star in the political arena, Jing Yanguang's overall strength was still relatively weak, and his movement to reduce the power of the vassal states was relatively cautious. Liu Zhiyuan was a direct descendant of the previous emperor in Hedong, Du Chongwei was a royal relative, and only Yang Guangyuan, a surrendered general, was the soft persimmon among the "Big Three". Therefore, Jing Yanguang decided to start with Yang Guangyuan.

Shi Jingtang had lent him 300 war horses in order to appease Yang Guangyuan. Now, the imperial court ordered the "collection of horses" to collect public and private horses from all over the country for military use in preparation for the war against the Khitan. So Jing Yanguang claimed that he was following Shi Chonggui's order and asked him for these war horses.

This is the horse I borrowed based on my own strength, why should I return it?

At that moment, Fan Yanguang's voice, appearance and smile appeared in front of Yang Guangyuan. Yang Guangyuan said to the people around him with grief and anger: "They are finally going to attack me!" Then he secretly summoned his son, Yang Chengzuo, the governor of Shanzhou (now Shan County, Heze City, Shandong Province), to Qingzhou to discuss important matters.

After receiving the call from his father, Yang Chengzuo announced that his mother was ill and he wanted to go home to visit her. He tricked the city gate into opening that night and rushed to Qingzhou overnight.

Jing Yanguan's approach was extremely unwise. Since the main contradiction (Khitan) had to be resolved, he should have focused on the major issues and let go of the minor ones, and put the minor issues (reducing the power of the feudal lords) on hold for the time being.

After Shi Chonggui ascended the throne, he appointed Yang Guangyuan as Grand Tutor and conferred the title of Shou Wang on him as a gesture of appeasement. Only by appeasing the domestic vassal forces headed by the "Big Three" could he concentrate his forces to deal with the Khitan. However, Jing Yanguang once again arbitrarily destroyed Shi Chonggui's grand strategy.

Since the incident had already happened, Shi Chonggui had no choice but to do some remedial work. First, he sent people from the central government to give Yang Guangyuan a jade belt, a royal horse, gold, silver, silk and other generous gifts to explain and comfort him and eliminate the misunderstanding;

Secondly, the central government sent people to take over Shanzhou, and sent Guo Jin, the commander-in-chief of the imperial infantry (the commander-in-chief of the imperial guards infantry), to lead his troops to station in Yunzhou.

Qingzhou is located in the central part of Shandong Peninsula, surrounded by the sea on three sides. Only the west can enter and exit the peninsula by land. Yunzhou and Yanzhou are the gateways to and from Shandong Peninsula. Shi Chonggui immediately increased the military strength of Yunzhou, forming a "closing the door to beat the dog" trend.

Yang Guangyuan sent cavalry to raid Zizhou (now Zibo City, Shandong Province) and captured Zizhou Governor Zhai Jinzong.

Shi Chonggui appointed Yang Chengzuo, the former governor of Shanzhou, as the governor of Zizhou. Zizhou was located between Qingzhou and Shanzhou, so the court reasoned that it would be convenient for Yang Chengzuo to go home to visit his sick mother and let his work place be closer to home as a sign of appeasement. At the same time, the court dispatched the imperial army general Cai Xingyu to lead troops to reinforce Yunzhou.

The situation on the Shandong Peninsula suddenly became tense.

Now, Yang Guangyuan was stationed in Qingzhou, controlling the central part of the peninsula, his son Yang Chengxun was the defense envoy of Laizhou (now Yantai City, Shandong Province), controlling the eastern part of the peninsula, and his eldest son Yang Chengzuo was the new governor of Zizhou, guarding the western gate for Yang Guangyuan. The father and son of the Yang family had almost completed the substantial control of the Shandong Peninsula.

At this moment, the imperial court's large army began to gather in Yunzhou again. Under the sweet words of the imperial court, the sky over Shandong Peninsula was shrouded in the dark clouds of war, and the war of reducing the vassal states was about to break out.

Yang Guangyuan would not sit still and wait for death. He made efforts in two aspects:

One was to secretly contact the provincial governors of various states in the Shandong Peninsula to carry out rebellion work.

Under normal circumstances, the Jiedushi's power to appoint and dismiss personnel was strictly limited. In theory, the governors of the states within their jurisdiction should be appointed and dispatched by the central government. This formally prevented the Jiedushi from becoming too powerful in the local areas. It was only during special periods, such as large-scale wars, that the court had to relax this control due to practical needs, which allowed the Jiedushi to proliferate and form a separatist monopoly over the local areas.

For example, during the "War of Two Sichuans" mentioned above, Meng Zhixiang of Xichuan proposed to the court that he could appoint and dismiss the governors in his territory on his own. Like Meng Zhixiang, appointing and dismissing the governors in his territory on his own was a prelude to the armed separatism of the Jiedushi.

When Shi Jingtang was in power, he was already wary of Yang Guangyuan. He first clipped his wings and sent his confidants to other places as governors, and then threw him to Qingzhou. Although Yang Guangyuan was the governor of Qingzhou Pinglu Army, the governor of the Pinglu Army was appointed by the court.

Now, if Yang Guangyuan wanted to stir up trouble, he had to unite internally first and send envoys to secretly contact the governors of various states under his jurisdiction, asking them to obey his leadership.

Among them, Li Qiong, the governor of Dizhou, refused to comply.

Dizhou, located in today's Binzhou City, Shandong Province, has a very important geographical location. It is the "first island chain" of the Qingzhou Pinglu Army. When we unfold the map, we will find the importance of this low-profile Dizhou:
Radiating outward with Qingzhou as the center, from north to south, Dizhou and Zizhou constitute the first line of defense of Qingzhou; the next layer outward are Cangzhou, Dezhou, Qizhou, Yunzhou, Yanzhou, and Yizhou; further out are Puzhou, Caozhou, Xuzhou, and Suzhou.

(End of this chapter)