History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 612 Liu Zhiyuan Becomes Emperor 3
Zhang Cong'en refused to listen. It was a different matter. Before leaving, Zhang Cong'en appointed Zhao Xingqian, the deputy envoy of the Jiedushi, as acting governor, and asked his relative, the general Wang Shou'en, and Gao Fang to assist Zhao Xingqian.

Now, Gao Fang and Wang Shouen, acting as an internal accomplice, joined forces with General Li Wanchao, led the crowd into the commander's mansion, killed Zhao Xingqian, and nominated Wang Shouen as the governor of Luzhou. Wang Shouen killed the Khitan envoys, and then led all the soldiers and civilians of the Luzhou Xizhaoyi Army to surrender to Liu Zhiyuan.

Luzhou has been a star city since Zhu Wen and Li Keyong were fighting for the throne, because its geographical location is so important. It controls the throat area in and out of Taihang Mountain, and is a must-fight place between Bianzhou and Hedong. Whoever gets Luzhou will have the initiative. Therefore, Luzhou also became the top priority of Yelu Deguang's "first island chain" to encircle Liu Zhiyuan.

However, this "first island chain" collapsed within ten days, which put Yelu Deguang in a very passive position and also cast a layer of dark clouds over the sky of Yelu Deguang's Liao Kingdom.

The enthusiasm for resisting the Khitan reached an unprecedented high and spread rapidly along the "first island chain". The "Great Liao" on the map was shrinking rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The people of Chanzhou could no longer bear the Khitan tyranny and rose up in resistance. The leader of the rebel army, Wang Qiong, led more than a thousand troops to launch an attack at night, occupying the South City (i.e. the south city of Deshengzhai), then crossed the Yellow River and attacked the North City, surrounding the Khitan general Yelu Langwu in the city.

Yelu Deguang was horrified and hurriedly ordered Du Chongwei and Li Shouzhen to return to their jobs. At the same time, he dispatched troops to rescue Yelu Langwu.

Wang Qiong temporarily lifted the siege, retreated to a safe area, and sent his brother Wang Chao to ask Liu Zhiyuan for help.

Liu Zhiyuan gave Wang Chao generous rewards, but before he could rescue Chanzhou, Wang Qiong was defeated and killed.

In the west of the empire, a mutiny broke out in the Zhangwu Army of Yanzhou. The three armies supported Gao Wanjin's son Gao Yunquan as the governor of Yanzhou and attacked the Jiedushi Zhou Mi.

The brothers Gao Wanxing and Gao Wanjin were originally subordinates of Li Maozhen. After Zhu Wen murdered Emperor Zhaozong, the two brothers launched a mutiny and defected from the Guanxi Group to Zhu Wen. Zhu Wen appointed Gao Wanxing as the "Fuyan Recruiting and Appeasing Envoy" and later divided the four states of Fu, Yan, Fang and Dan into two military towns, allowing the two brothers to lead one town each.

After Gao Wanjin's death, Zhu Wen appointed Gao Wanxing to take charge of the two towns. Throughout the Later Liang Dynasty, Gao Wanxing was successively promoted to the titles of Grand Tutor, Minister of the Central Secretariat, and was granted the title of King of Beiping.

During the Later Tang Dynasty, Gao Wanxing died of illness and his son Gao Yuntao succeeded him. He later moved to Huazhou, weakening the Gao family's power in Yanzhou. During the reign of Li Congke, Gao Yuntao died of illness.

When Shi Chonggui was in power, Zhou Mi was appointed as the governor of Yanzhou. After Zhou Mi took office, he only knew how to oppress the people and was very unpopular, so he induced a mutiny. Gao Wanjin's son Gao Yunquan happened to be doing a civil service job in Yanzhou (recruiting and joining the army). The generals thought that Gao's family had been governors in Yanzhou for generations, so they recommended him to be the governor.

Gao Yunquan submitted a memorial to Liu Zhiyuan, expressing his surrender. Liu Zhiyuan ordered him to release Zhou Mi and that everyone should unite to fight against the Khitan. Zhou Mi then gave up resistance and also fled to Hedong, joining Liu Zhiyuan.

Influenced by Yanzhou, Danzhou commander Gao Yanxun also killed the governor sent by the Khitans, took over the affairs of Danzhou, and expressed his allegiance to Liu Zhiyuan.

Soldiers and civilians from all over the country surrendered to Liu Zhiyuan, and Liu Zhiyuan's wallet was stretched. Of course, he still had to talk about national justice and give everyone some spiritual chicken soup when he held a meeting, but people always have to eat, soldiers need military pay, and they came thousands of miles to surrender, so how could they not be rewarded?
Liu Zhiyuan discussed with his staff and planned to collect money from the people of Hedong. Liu Zhiyuan's wife Li dissuaded him, saying that the reason why people opposed the Khitan and supported you was because the Khitans were greedy and brutal, and demanded too much. If you had just started a business, had not made any achievements, and had not done the slightest favor to the people, but were eager to extort money, then what was the difference between you and the Khitans?
"That being said, chicken soup for the soul cannot be eaten. Where does the army's reward come from?"

Behind every successful man, there must be a great and virtuous wife. Li immediately said that the family should be destroyed to help the court overcome the difficulties, and the gold, silver and jewelry in the harem should be sold. The Queen Mother took the lead in selling everything to help the court overcome the difficulties.

Li's actions won the praise of the people, and all the soldiers and civilians were jubilant. The soldiers and civilians all over the world were more determined to stand on Liu Zhiyuan's side. The war situation continued to reverse.

In Bianzhou, Yelu Deguang was worried. Losing the Central Plains would mean that all his previous achievements would be wasted, his political career would be sentenced to death, and Empress Dowager Shulü would regain the supreme power of Khitan. Based on Yelu Deguang's understanding of his mother, Empress Dowager Shulü would definitely hold her accountable for the defeat in the Jin-Liao War, and then take advantage of the situation to make a point, "Look, I said my sons are still young and can't rule the country." Whether she would rule from behind the curtain or rule the country from the front, it all depended on the old lady's mood.

Yelu Deguang sighed and was depressed. At this time, the envoys sent by Empress Dowager Shulü arrived and brought the best wine, fruits and other items from Khitan to Yelu Deguang, congratulating him on destroying the Later Jin and unifying the Central Plains.

What a bitter irony!
Yelu Deguang smiled bitterly, knowing that this was his mother's deliberate warning to him, reminding him not to get carried away and not to think that he could get rid of her on the northern grasslands by ruling the Central Plains. He could not escape her Five Finger Mountain no matter what.

Empress Dowager Shulü sent this batch of food express when Yelü Deguang had just entered Bianzhou. Her intention was indeed just to make her presence felt and make her authority known.

She probably couldn't have imagined that in less than a month, the Central Plains would be in turmoil and Yelu Deguang would be about to lose all his previous efforts.

At this time, Yelu Deguang was less arrogant and more humble. He hosted a banquet for his ministers in Yongfu Hall. Every time he drank, he would respectfully hold up the wine glass, stand up, turn around and bow to the north, saying, "This is a reward from the Queen Mother. I dare not drink it while sitting down."

He only hoped that when he returned to the grassland, this ruthless and murderous queen mother would be a little more lenient towards him.

The "first island chain" north of the Yellow River had been completely shattered, and the area south of the Yellow River was also affected. The three states of Song, Bo, and Mi were successively captured by the rebels, who killed the "secretaries" sent by the Khitans and surrendered to Liu Zhiyuan.

Yelu Deguang had a splitting headache and said to those around him: "I only knew that the Central Plains was difficult to govern, but I didn't know it would be this difficult!"

He carefully summed up the lessons and believed that the reason why the local governments changed so quickly was because he placed all the military and political leaders of various places, such as the Jiedushi, under house arrest in Bianzhou. Previously, Yelu Deguang did not trust the Han local officials and summoned the Jiedushi from various places to Beijing for pilgrimage and placed them under house arrest to prevent them from changing their allegiance. Now it seems that it is precisely because of the power vacuum in the local areas and the loss of effective control that the local army launched a mutiny, and even ordinary people and bandits were able to capture cities.

Therefore, Yelu Deguang released An Shenqi (Yanzhou), Fu Yanqing (Xuzhou) and others back to their towns and asked them to suppress the rebellion.

(End of this chapter)