History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 699 Chai Rong succeeded to the throne 4
Guo Wei issued an edict that all refugees from the north would be provided with food and humanitarian assistance by local officials. Those who were willing to stay would be given unowned land and exempted from rent and taxes.

Under the temptation of this policy, Han refugees in Khitan territory (especially the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun) moved south with their families and settled in Hebei, bringing a large population and valuable productivity to the Later Zhou Dynasty.

A year later (952), Youzhou, Mozhou, and Yingzhou suffered another severe flood. The number of refugees migrating southward reached hundreds of thousands. The Khitan did not send troops to stop them, but allowed them to migrate southward. Guo Wei took advantage of this opportunity and issued an imperial decree to the various states in Hebei to properly resettle them. According to statistics, more than half of the Han people who had been abducted by the Khitan in previous wars took this opportunity to escape back.

Without spending a single soldier, Guo Wei achieved brilliant results that the Later Jin and Later Han dynasties failed to achieve even with hundreds of thousands of troops.

4. The Later Shu Dynasty Wearing Shoes
Hou Shu was a rare wealthy and handsome dynasty of that period. Unlike the above-mentioned forces that were financially strapped, Hou Shu was extremely wealthy, with a highly developed economy, and to match it, its culture was also highly prosperous.

According to historical records, "Shu has been peaceful for a long time, a bucket of rice costs three coins, the young people in the capital do not know the seedlings of beans and wheat, gold coins are abundant, string music and singing fill the streets and alleys, and banquets and social gatherings are held day and night."

One dou of rice costs three cents, which is one of the standards for a prosperous era. In the Tang and Song dynasties, if there were no natural disasters or wars, and the emperors were more enlightened, the price of one dou of rice should be around four or five cents, which is already a very ideal state. If it could be reduced to three cents, it would definitely be the standard of a peaceful and prosperous era.

In the "New Book of Tang", before the "Anshi Rebellion", the national rice price was 13 coins per dou, which was considered a normal range, while in Shandong it was 3 coins per dou, reflecting the bumper harvest in Shandong at that time and the well-off life of the whole people.

Young people living in cities have never seen farmland, nor have they seen food and vegetables other than on plates. With material abundance, people begin to pursue the enjoyment of the spiritual world, dancing and singing karaoke in the streets and alleys, and having a few drinks whenever they want.

According to "Wild Man's Chat" (Northern Song Dynasty), in the territory of Hou Shu at that time, some city dwellers at the age of 30 did not know the difference between rice and wheat seedlings, and yet people could even travel in spring and summer every year. People dressed magnificently, and both princes and common people wore silk and satin, with jingling jewelry. The rich already had yachts (Huaxuan Caifang), and they raced on their yachts in Baihuatan. The kings and meritorious officials all had their own private gardens filled with exotic flowers and plants, and every household was a botanical garden.

Chengdu, the capital, was planted with hibiscus flowers. When they bloomed in autumn, they looked like brocade. Meng Chang, the ruler of Shu, said to his people with great satisfaction: "Chengdu has always been known as the 'brocade city'. Today, it is really a brocade city!"

The economic base determines the superstructure. Meng Chang issued an edict to carve the Nine Classics on stone to facilitate its recitation. Later, Prime Minister Wu Zhaoyi paid out of his own pocket to set up a school and requested that the Nine Classics be printed to be distributed in prefectures and counties, which greatly promoted the dissemination and development of culture.

Meng Chang also personally wrote "Official Precepts", admonishing local officials to "not encroach on and destroy the people" and "your salary and benefits are the blood and sweat of the people, as parents, you must be kind". Later, Emperor Taizu of Song, Zhao Kuangyin, picked out these two sentences as his motto and ordered local officials to carve them on stones and place them on their desks to remind them at all times.

Hou Shu finally gave us a feeling of spring breeze. When the Central Plains, especially Hebei, was suffering from war, Hou Shu created a paradise for us.

The powerful Later Shu Dynasty of course expanded outward, took advantage of the situation, annexed part of the territory under the rule of the Central Plains Dynasty, pushed the border to Dasan Pass, and tried to continue to annex Fengxiang, Chang'an, and even Tongguan. It was once ambitious and wanted to dominate the Central Plains. However, it encountered a series of blows outside Dasan Pass. Dasan Pass then became the agreed dividing line between the two sides.

In June of the second year of Guo Wei's reign (952), Hou Shu suffered a rare flood. The gates of Chengdu were destroyed, thousands of people were displaced, more than 6 people drowned, and the royal temple and the Sitianjian were also destroyed by the flood. Meng Chang issued an edict to provide disaster relief, and sent the prime minister to the Taoist temple to pray and to the disaster area to issue an edict of self-blame.

Since July, Hou Shu was busy with disaster relief and post-disaster reconstruction. In September, urgent military information came from the border: Hou Zhou had assembled a large number of troops in Guanzhong and requested reinforcements from the court. Meng Chang was shocked and hurriedly sent troops to Lizhou. Halfway through the journey, he received accurate news that Hou Zhou was going to attack Northern Han, not Hou Shu, and it was a false alarm.

At the end of this year and the beginning of the next year, earthquakes struck Hou Shu again.

The peace and stability of Later Shu promoted economic prosperity. The painful lessons of Dasan Pass and disasters such as floods and earthquakes made Meng Chang not keen on external expansion, which temporarily relieved Later Zhou of its worries about the west.

Meng Chang enjoyed this peaceful and prosperous era very much. Not surprisingly, he "continued to play music and dance", and eventually lost his country. This is a story for later.

5. Northwest Loyalty

Guo Yanqin, the governor of Qingzhou (now Qingyang City, Gansu Province), was greedy and cruel. He increased taxes privately, causing public resentment.

Fifteen miles north of Gyeongju, there is a Widow Mountain. At the foot of the mountain lives an ethnic minority tribe called the Pheasant Tribe, which has abundant sheep and horses. Guo Yanqin coveted them very much, so he deliberately created some frictions and conflicts, and then extorted money from them as a mediator.

The pheasant tribe was a tough and sturdy tribe, and they would not accept Guo Yanqin's tricks. Guo Yanqin then reported to Guo Wei that the pheasant tribe robbed merchants and intercepted tributes, and requested the court to send troops to attack them.

Guo Wei sent Bingzhou Jiedushi Zhe Congruan and Ningzhou Governor Zhang Jianwu to lead troops and convey the central government's highest instructions to them: if the Pheasant Tribe repented, they would still be rewarded with official positions, gold, silver and silk, and appeased with kind words; if they insisted on their own way, they would be suppressed by force.

However, Zhang Jianwu of Ningzhou was greedy for military merit. Without finding out the truth and without issuing an imperial edict to appease the people, he brazenly used force to massacre hundreds of members of the Pheasant Tribe and claimed credit for killing innocent people.

There was another tribe nearby called the Bull-Slaying Tribe, which had a long-standing grudge against the Pheasant Tribe. When they heard that the imperial court was coming to attack the Pheasant Tribe, they were very happy and took the initiative to offer good wine and meat to the royal army.

As a result, Zhang Jianwu coveted the property of the Sha Niu tribe and plundered the tribe as well. The Sha Niu tribe was very angry, so they designed to lure Zhang Jianwu into an ambush, and the ambush troops were sent out from all sides, defeating Zhang Jianwu and killing hundreds of people.

Only Zhe Congru, who had strict military discipline, escaped unscathed and reported the truth to the court.

Guo Wei was furious and dismissed Guo Yanqin and Zhang Jianwu from their official posts.

(End of this chapter)