History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 684: Later Zhou Dynasty Version: Three Towns Rebellion

3. Open up channels for communication

Guo Wei respected objective facts very much and was relatively modest. He said that he came from a military background, had little education, and did not know how to govern a country. Civil and military officials at all levels in the world, if they had suggestions that would benefit the country and the people, could submit them directly to the emperor. When writing, please be straightforward and do not use flowery words - because I cannot understand it.

Behind the openness of speech is a powerful spy intelligence operation, which is a clue that is often overlooked.

The reason why the emperor was sidelined by powerful ministers was because of institutional permission or loopholes.

First, not just anyone could submit a memorial to the emperor, there were restrictions on official rank;

Secondly, memorials presented to the emperor for review had to go through layers of filtering, such as the Secretariat and the Privy Council.

Therefore, some powerful ministers often intercepted memorials that were unfavorable to them, and even killed people to control the emperor's information channels. For example, when Emperor Xizong of Tang went hunting in Sichuan, Zuo Shiyi Meng Zhaotu submitted a memorial to advise him, but the powerful eunuch Tian Lingzi killed him. The most sad thing is that Emperor Xizong of Tang never saw the memorial until his death.

Under the pretext of opening up channels for communication, anyone was theoretically allowed to write letters directly to the emperor, and the letters would be delivered directly to the emperor without going through any intermediary institutions or individuals. Except for the emperor himself, no one knew what was written in the letters.

Of course, it could be suggestions for managing the country, or other content, such as reporting and exposing. In short, the emperor controlled the information channels, and there were no middlemen to make a profit.

2. The Three Towns Rebellion in the Later Zhou Dynasty

Strictly speaking, this part of the content still belongs to domestic affairs, and another part belongs to the category of "diplomacy", but I still picked it out separately.

Guo Wei rehabilitated Shi Hongzhao and others, conferred titles and honors on them, and gave generous rewards to Wang Jun, Wang Yin and other close relatives. He also took into account all the princes in the country to win their recognition of the new dynasty. For example, Gao Xingzhou was promoted to Shangshu Ling, while An Shenqi and Fu Yanqing were promoted from dukes to kings.

Most of the warlords expressed their recognition and submission to the emerging Later Zhou Dynasty, but the three towns of Xuzhou, Hedong and Yanzhou would not submit, which was also within Guo Wei's expectations. Therefore, the Later Zhou version of the rebellion of the three towns became the first major problem to test the Later Zhou regime.

1. Xuzhou

When Liu Yun of Xuzhou went west to Bianzhou, he left behind his trusted generals, Gong Tingmei, the chief judge, and Yang Wen, the coach, to guard Xuzhou. When the news that Liu Yun was deposed as the Duke of Xiangyin came, the two generals stamped their feet and beat their chests, "I have long said that Feng Dao cannot be trusted. I don't believe you. This old man is very bad!"

The two men were sincere to Liu Yun, and immediately respected Liu Yun's wife Dong who stayed in Xuzhou as their leader. They closed the city and refused to recognize Guo Wei's legitimacy. They also sent envoys to contact Liu Chong in Hedong.

Guo Wei issued a special edict to Xuzhou, stating that as long as they were willing to obey the court's arrangements, their past misdeeds would be forgiven and they would be guaranteed promotions, with each of them becoming a governor.

Gong Tingmei and Yang Wen flatly refused, saying that they would rather not be a governor than be the emperor!
Guo Wei made two preparations. On the one hand, he offered Gong Tingmei and Yang Wen political inducement to surrender by promising them high positions and generous salaries. On the other hand, he appointed Wang Yanchao, the former defense envoy of Fuzhou, as the governor of Xuzhou, preparing to take over Xuzhou by force. Wang Yanchao came to Xuzhou with Guo Wei's letter of pardon and persuasion, but failed to persuade them to surrender. So he launched a military operation against Xuzhou on Guo Wei's orders.

At that time, Liu Yun had died, and Liu Chong of Hedong had established his own regime. Gong Tingmei and Yang Wen closed the city and held on, waiting for reinforcements from Hedong. Although they had a firm belief, the disparity in numbers was too great. Two months later, Wang Yanchao used surface ships to capture the Xuzhou Water Fortress and captured Xuzhou by water in a unique way. Gong Tingmei, Yang Wen and others were killed.

2. Hedong

On the day when Guo Wei killed Liu Yun (January 951, ), Liu Yun's biological father, Liu Chong, the governor of Hedong, officially ascended the throne in Hedong and proclaimed himself emperor. He continued to use the name of the Han Dynasty, which was Liu Chengyou's "Qianyou" reign title, and upheld the orthodoxy of the Later Han Dynasty to extend the life of the Later Han Empire. However, in history, it is usually regarded as an independent local separatist regime, called "Northern Han", and ranked among the "Ten Kingdoms", which is fundamentally different from the Later Han regime of Liu Zhiyuan and Liu Chengyou. One of the reasons is that Liu Chong's sphere of influence was too small.

According to the records in "Zizhi Tongjian", the Northern Han established by Liu Chong had only 12 states including Taiyuan; "New History of the Five Dynasties" said there were only 10 states; and "Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms" made a detailed investigation of the above dispute and finally concluded: 11 states.

This is certainly not a simple and crude "compromise". The dispute lies in Longzhou and Weizhou, because Weizhou had long been ceded to the Khitans by Shi Jingtang, while Longzhou was newly established by the Northern Han regime. So when Liu Chong established the Northern Han regime, strictly speaking, there were 10 states, and after the founding of the country, there were 11 states.

In addition to its small land area, another reason why the Northern Han regime was not accepted by mainstream history was that it forgot its ancestors and deviated from its original intention.

Liu Zhiyuan, the founding emperor of the Later Han Dynasty, took advantage of the war between Jin and Liao to gain the upper hand and raised the banner of nationalism and patriotism. Fighting against Liao was the political foundation of the Later Han Empire.

However, after Liu Chong established the Northern Han, the first thing he did was to collude with the Khitan, actively selling out the interests of the Central Plains, and vying to become a traitor and a big traitor.

Liu Zhiyuan's coffin lid could no longer be held down. It is estimated that not only are future generations unwilling to acknowledge that the Northern Han Dynasty was the continuation of the Later Han Dynasty, but if Liu Zhiyuan were aware of this after his death, he would never have acknowledged that Liu Chong inherited the mantle of the Later Han Dynasty.

Liu Chong's affection for the Khitans was not unrequited. The Khitans took the initiative to extend an olive branch to him. The two sides hit it off and soon reached a strategic alliance and partnership.

The person in charge of this matchmaking was Pan Yuran, the uncle of the emperor on the Khitan side. Pan Yuran was written as "Pan Yu-nian" in "Khitan State Records", "Pan Yao-ni" in "Ten Kingdoms Spring and Autumn Annals", and "Pan Yu" in some historical books. It is just a transliteration, so don't worry about it. He was the brother-in-law of Liao Shizong Yelü Ruan. When Liao Taizong Yelü Deguang destroyed the Later Jin Dynasty, he appointed him as the governor of the Henghai Army in Cangzhou. When the Central Plains people counterattacked, Pan Yuran resolutely abandoned the city and fled.

Originally, the Khitan army had two main routes for retreat, and Cangzhou belonged to the eastern route. If Pan Yuran's escape was dealt with according to military law, he would definitely be sentenced to death. However, in the "Crossing Agreement", he was not only exempted from punishment because he supported Yelu Ruan, but was also appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Southwest Front Army (Southwest Road Recruiting Envoy), responsible for contact with the Central Plains.

At this time, the Central Plains was in turmoil, and Zhou had replaced Han. Pan Yuran was very smart to contact Liu Chong of Hedong to seek strategic cooperation. The person responsible for contacting him was Liu Chong's second son Liu Chengjun.

Khitan and Liu Chong of Hedong were like a turtle and a mung bean - they hit it off.

(End of this chapter)