History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 698 Chai Rong succeeded to the throne 3
In the "Supplement to the History of the Five Dynasties", there is also a short story:

When Guo Wei entered Bian, the rebels were looting everywhere. A general of the imperial guards named Zhao Feng shouted, "General Guo is determined to clear the emperor's side and stabilize the country. We are raising an army of justice. These rats are looting the people. Is this what General Guo intended?" Then he moved a small stool, sat at the entrance of the alley, and shot the rebels with a strong bow, thus saving thousands of families. People spontaneously gave him gold and silver, and Zhao Feng said that he did good things without asking for anything in return, so he returned the gold and silver treasures to their original owners.

Later, Guo Wei said to Chai Rong, "I've heard a prophecy among the people that a man with the surname Zhao will become the emperor. I think this man has an extraordinary temperament, so he must be the one. Keeping him will be a disaster for both of us!" So he secretly ordered his confidants to falsely accuse Zhao Feng and then execute him.

"Supplement to the History of the Five Dynasties" was written in the Northern Song Dynasty. This story should be a flattery of the authorities. The point is not that Guo Wei killed people, but that "the Zhao family became the emperor."

Guo Wei left two major legacies to Chai Rong. One was a group of honest and virtuous civil servants who could assist him in creating a prosperous and glorious era; the other was a relatively stable internal and external environment, which gave him the opportunity to display his talents.

Since Li Cunxu of Later Tang, Chai Rong’s accession to the throne no longer started in hell mode.

Of course, this was due to Guo Wei's painstaking efforts and also to opportunities from heaven. For example, the civil strife in Southern Chu caused Huainan to interfere in the civil strife in Southern Chu and had no time to look north; the "Huoshendian Incident" in Khitan caused the assassination of Emperor Shizong of Liao, Yelü Ruan, and the ascension of Emperor Muzong of Liao, Yelü Jing, and they had no time to look south. These stories will be presented one by one in the following text.

Here, we will focus only on Guo Wei's management.

1. Liu Chong from Hedong was taught to be a new man
If there was any regret Guo Wei had, it was the Northern Han regime entrenched in Hedong. Although the Northern Han regime was not pacified, the two Jinzhou campaigns had taught Liu Chong to be a new man and temporarily gave up the unrealistic idea of ​​"restoring the country". During the two campaigns, Guo Wei showed tolerance and friendliness as much as possible, giving clothes, money and food to the captured Hedong soldiers, entertaining them with good food and drink, and then sending them back home with courtesy.

Then, during the second Jinzhou campaign, they won a great victory but did not pursue the enemy, allowing them to return. There are disputes about this approach. For example, Wang Jun presumptuously guessed the emperor's intention and allowed the enemy to return, which was also a reason why Guo Wei was suspicious of Wang Jun; another theory is that Wang Jun was indeed rebellious and did not want to fight Hedong to a mutual loss, so he saved his strength to fight Guo Wei, which also supported the hypothesis that Guo Wei was suspicious of Wang Jun; another theory is that Guo Wei and Wang Jun had a secret agreement in advance, that is, to teach Hedong a sufficient lesson, stop at that point, and leave a way out for each other.

2. Shameful Huainan
Guo Wei also showed his utmost sincerity in dealing with the Huainan issue. At the beginning of his accession to the throne, he issued an edict strictly prohibiting the states in Huaibei from harassing Huainan without authorization, because at that time, it was common for border troops to occasionally sneak into enemy territory to plunder.

However, in the face of goodwill from the Later Zhou, Huainan sent troops to respond to Murong Yanchao of Yanzhou, but was defeated by the Later Zhou and hundreds of soldiers were captured. Guo Wei also treated the captives well, gave them clothes, money and food, persuaded them with kind words, and wrote a letter to Li Jing of Huainan, with sincere words, reasoning and moving emotions, reducing friction and conflict to a minimum.

When the Later Zhou Dynasty was first established (951), natural disasters also occurred in Huainan, resulting in a large number of starving people and refugees. Previously, because the Central Plains and Huainan were in a state of hostility, the two sides closed the trade route and did not trade with each other. After learning that the people in Huainan were suffering from famine and were in urgent need of food, Guo Wei issued an edict to open the trade port to Huainan, allowing Huainan merchants to purchase food in the Huaibei area. Guo Wei said in the edict, "How are the people there different from us?" It means that the people on the other side are no different from the people here. People from Huainan and Central Plains are all Chinese.

In the third year of Guangshun (953), a larger-scale drought broke out in Huainan again, and the water level of the Huaihe River dropped sharply, making it possible to wade across the river. Refugees from Huainan flocked to Huaibei, but Li Jing of Huainan sent troops to stop them. The refugees fought and advanced, like hell on earth.

Guo Wei was very distressed when he heard about it, and reiterated his attitude, saying that everyone is Chinese, and in the face of disaster, blood is thicker than water, and political factors should not be brought into humanitarian relief work. He ordered the opening of granaries to sell food to the starving people in Huainan. The Later Zhou Dynasty and Huainan reached a tacit understanding that the Later Zhou Dynasty would not send troops to interfere in Huainan's internal affairs, but only provide pure humanitarian assistance; Huainan would no longer obstruct the flow of refugees.

Soon after, the Huainan regime even built a large granary and bought a large amount of grain from the Later Zhou Dynasty for military reserves. Guo Wei was very angry and ordered that grain along the Huai River could only be sold in retail, and wholesale was prohibited. If the hungry people carried rice in their own bags or used animals to carry rice, they could sell it; if it was an organized and large-scale caravan or fleet, it would be refused.

3. The Khitans who tried to scam people
The feud between the Central Plains and the Khitan is complicated and difficult to sort out. Like Huainan, it will be analyzed in more detail later, so I will just briefly mention it here.

During the reign of Guo Wei of the Later Zhou Dynasty, the Khitan, at the instigation of Liu Chong of Hedong, launched a relatively large-scale military operation, sending 5,000 people to help Hedong fight the Jinzhou Campaign, but the campaign was a failure and they soon withdrew to the north. For a period of time thereafter, there were no major battles, but small battles continued. This kind of sporadic friction and conflict in the border area has been the norm for decades.

Guo Wei also ordered the military and civilians along the border to refrain from entering the Khitan territory to plunder. Whether it was Huainan in the south or the Khitan in the north, the Later Zhou's diplomatic attitude was the same: I would not offend others if they did not offend me; if they did offend me, we could negotiate.

Once, the Khitan general Gao Mohan led his army southward to plunder and came to the vicinity of Jizhou. He Fujin, the governor of Zhenzhou, sent troops to Beizhou. When the Khitan heard that the Later Zhou army was coming to help, they immediately turned back north, carrying the spoils and captured civilians. When they crossed the Hulu River (a tributary of the Haihe River), the Later Zhou army had already met the Khitan army.

The distance at that time was very close, so close that they could hear each other's voices.

At this time, hundreds of Jizhou youths who were abducted saw the army of their motherland and were very excited. They shouted loudly and began to resist the Khitan army, hoping to cooperate with the imperial army from inside and outside.

However, a tragic scene occurred: the Later Zhou army remained indifferent and watched the Khitan army slaughter hundreds of Jizhou young people.

In fact, this was a dirty tacit understanding between the Later Zhou and the Khitan. The Later Zhou exercised maximum restraint, while the Khitan only robbed money, food, and women, but not territory.

In terms of natural disasters, also at the beginning of the founding of the Later Zhou Dynasty (951), nature was unforgiving and did not spare the Khitan. A severe famine occurred in Youzhou, and refugees fled south to Cangzhou and other areas of Hebei.

(End of this chapter)