History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 589 Feng Huiping Northwest

It was in this year that Shi Chonggui excluded Sang Weihan and others and promoted the "old and close gang". He certainly knew the damage that selling official positions and titles caused to the country, but, what does it matter? Who else can threaten my Great Jin? Long live me!

The change in Shi Chonggui's mentality extended from domestic affairs to foreign affairs. Previously, Shi Chonggui and the civil service group had basically agreed that they must do their best in war, use military advantages to realize political initiative, force peace through war, try to bring Khitan back to the negotiation table, resolve conflicts through peaceful dialogue, and finally restore the old friendship.

Because of the successive natural disasters in the country, the national strength of the Later Jin Dynasty had been seriously overdrawn. As an agricultural civilization, the Later Jin Dynasty urgently hoped to stop fighting and resume production.

So although the Later Jin Dynasty won both battles, it always sent envoys to seek peace negotiations as soon as possible.

However, things are different now. On the one hand, Shi Chonggui hopes to normalize diplomatic relations, but on the other hand, he still has some illusions about the war. He thinks that since the Khitan is so strong on the outside but weak on the inside, why not make a concerted effort to take back the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun?

Now, Shi Chonggui no longer has Sang Weihan, a strategic master and top think tank, by his side. Instead, he is replaced by treacherous villains such as Feng Yu and Li Yantao. Shi Chonggui is wavering between war and peace, and the collision and entanglement of ideas are as colorful as a disco.

Although the Later Jin Dynasty eliminated the internal threat of Yang Guangyuan in Qingzhou, the Later Shu was ready to make moves on its southwestern border and sent troops to invade Jizhou and Chengzhou; there was also unrest on the northwestern border.

During the reign of Shi Jingtang, Zhang Xichong, a national hero and governor of Lingzhou Shuofang Army, died in office. Under Zhang Xichong's rule, the Northwest region was relatively stable. With Zhang Xichong's death, the Northwest region returned to chaos, and various ethnic minority tribes invaded without restraint. Shi Jingtang transferred Feng Hui to Lingzhou.

After Feng Hui took office, he held a banquet and invited the local tyrants to the banquet, and then gave them generous rewards. Among these tyrants, Tuoba Yanchao, a chief of the Dangxiang tribe, had the strongest tribe, and the other tribes followed his lead. When Tuoba Yanchao came to the banquet, Feng Hui warmly kept him, built a luxurious villa for him in the city, and provided him with the most luxurious daily supplies, but did not allow them to leave, which was equivalent to putting him under house arrest in Lingzhou with a sugar-coated bullet.

Tuoba Yanchao was thus content with his current situation and no longer missed his homeland. The other tribes no longer dared to cause trouble and peace returned to the northwest region.

Feng Hui implemented good policies in Lingzhou. He properly handled the thorny ethnic conflicts, vigorously developed the economy, and ensured regional stability and the well-being of the people. Shi Jingtang issued a special edict to praise him.

In Lingzhou, border trade was also developing rapidly. Ethnic minorities rushed here to sell sheep and horses, allowing Feng Hui to obtain a large amount of valuable strategic resources - Western Region BMWs.

Under Feng Hui's governance, the Northwest region had a stable government, a developed economy, and a strong military, which won the hearts of the barbarians and aroused the suspicion of the imperial court.

Feng Hui's name was not included in the "Fifteen Generals to Defend against Liao" drawn up by Sang Weihan. Feng Hui volunteered to fight, and as mentioned above, the court appeased him and proposed to move him to a more prosperous military town in the interior to let him enjoy a peaceful life.

Feng Hui readily agreed, thinking that this was a reward from the court. After leaving Lingzhou, he realized that he had been deceived. So he actively bribed Feng Yu and Li Yantao, asking them to let him go back to Lingzhou.

Feng Hui was certainly not a naive person. When he left Lingzhou, he deliberately laid a mine for the court and released Tuoba Yanchao.

The person who succeeded Feng Hui in guarding Lingzhou was Wang Lingwen, the governor of Yanzhou Zhangwu Army.

Wang Lingwen's governing philosophy was completely different from Feng Hui's, and ran counter to the court's ethnic policy of appeasing and appeasing. He discriminated against local ethnic minorities and disdained to understand their customs and practices. Instead, he used a rough one-size-fits-all approach to govern Lingzhou with the same methods used to govern Han people, which aroused serious dissatisfaction among Qiang, Hu, and Dangxiang people. As a result, they returned to their old ways, and the northwest region became a hell for merchants and travelers again.

Tuoba Yanchao united with other tribes and led his troops to attack Lingzhou, killing Wang Lingwen's brother Wang Lingzhou.

In April of the third year of Kaiyun (946), Wang Lingwen urgently asked the court for help.

With the operation of Feng Yu and Li Yantao, the imperial court naturally allowed Feng Hui to continue to serve as the governor of Lingzhou Shuofang Army, led his troops back to Lingzhou, suppressed the rebellion on the ground, and ordered Yao Yuanfu to lead the troops to assist.

Before leaving, Feng Hui very cleverly asked for an imperial decree: allowing him to recruit soldiers on his own. The reason was that the country was in turmoil and there would not be enough troops to support Lingzhou, so I had to recruit soldiers on my own to suppress the Qiang and Hu.

After this decree is approved, Feng Hui can expand his military forces without restriction and enhance his own strength.

When they were about to reach Lingzhou, the rebel tribes came to greet them. Feng Hui glanced around and suddenly pointed at the sword on the waist of their leader and said with a smile: "Isn't this the sword of Wang family of Banqiao? This is a rare treasure. Come on, let me take a look." Then he stretched out his hand to pull out the sword from the waist of the leader and pretended to look at it and play with it.

In a flash, Feng Hui suddenly turned his wrist and the leader's head fell to the ground. Feng Hui's guards also killed dozens of the leader's personal cavalrymen in a lightning-fast manner.

Deputy General Yao Yuanfu was so frightened that he said to Feng Hui, "We are still five or six hundred miles away from Lingzhou. Aren't you being a little hasty?"

Feng Hui laughed and said, "This is a noble of the barbarians, whom the tribe relies on." This leader was the right-hand man of Tuoba Yanchao, the chief of the Tangut tribe, and a respected leader in the barbarian world. As the saying goes, to catch a thief, you must first catch the leader. Feng Hui killed him without any effort, so who else dared to disobey?

The army continued to march towards Lingzhou, and the ethnic minority tribes set up checkpoints and defense lines in the dangerous areas along the way. Feng Hui persuaded them with reason and emotion. The demands of these ethnic minority tribes were actually very simple. They did not really want to rebel, nor did they want to be enemies with the Central Plains. They just wanted to take advantage of the situation and make a fortune under the leadership of someone.

After Feng Hui's sincere confession, all the tribes expressed their willingness to reconcile, and after receiving Feng Hui's rewards, they led their tribes away. Only Tuoba Yanchao's tribe wanted to seek revenge.

In order for Feng Hui's troops to enter Lingzhou, they had to first pass through a desert - the Hanhai. However, Tuoba Yanchao sent troops to guard the dangerous terrain and control the water source, ready to fight Feng Hui and Yao Yuanfu.

Feng Hui sent a large number of gifts, hoping to resolve the Lingzhou issue peacefully. Tuoba Yanchao said that this was originally a beautiful misunderstanding and agreed to Feng Hui's request for reconciliation.

However, Tuoba Yanchao said he agreed to reconcile, but his body was honest. From morning to noon, the envoys went back and forth three or four times, but the army of the Dangxiang tribe never withdrew and still held the strategic position.

(End of this chapter)