History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 703: Changes in the Nine Dragons Tent 3
The officers and soldiers cheered and rushed to cut his flesh with knives, and then sashimi him on the spot. In a short while, Xue Wenjie was skinned to a skeleton amid screams.

Just as he expected, on the third day, Wang Yanjun sent someone to deliver the amnesty decree at full speed.

It took only about half a year from Xue Wenjie's coming to power to his skinning. During this half year, he basically did nothing. In addition to levying heavy taxes and framing loyal officials, he also turned into an inventor and improved torture instruments, such as the prisoner car.

Xue Wenjie believed that traditional prison vans were too spacious and that prisoners would not receive the punishment they deserved, so he personally designed the drawings and supervised the construction, and had the prison vans transformed into very narrow ones, like a small wooden cabinet. The prisoners could neither stand up nor squat inside, which was very uncomfortable. The vans were also covered with iron nails, and as long as the van was slightly bumpy, the prisoners would be pierced by the nails and bleed profusely.

The first user of this improved prisoner van was Xue Wenjie himself.

After eating Xue Wenjie alive, the officers and soldiers killed the "expert" Sheng Tao, as a revenge for their old superior Wu Xu.

Jiang Yanhui of Huainan attacked Jianzhou fiercely, but was about to capture it when he was suddenly recalled by Xu Zhigao. The reason for this retreat will be detailed in the series about Huainan later.

After Huainan withdrew its troops, it sent envoys to negotiate peace.

This year, a wild deer (pronounced the same as "ji", a kind of deer) broke into the east gate of Fuzhou City. Wang Yanjun was very displeased and said, "Although my land is small, it cannot belong to the East Deer."

In Fujian at that time, people called Liangzhe "Dongji". Later, Fuzhou was indeed annexed by the Wuyue Kingdom of Liangzhe, and people said that this was a sign that the wild muntjac entered the East Gate.

Wang Yanjun, like many feudal lords, was a devout believer in Buddhism, Taoism, and even other evil ways. On the other hand, he pursued a decadent life of luxury and debauchery. They did not really believe in a certain sect, and it was impossible for them to be pure-hearted and free from desires. Instead, they wanted to live forever so that they could enjoy corruption and depravity forever. Favoring "experts" and "masters" because of advocating unorthodox ways was also a common step towards destruction for such people. In the past, there was Gao Pian who favored Lu Yongzhi, and now there is Wang Yanjun who favors Chen Shouyuan.
Like all the "second generation" who came to power through improper means, Wang Yanjun was suspicious of and suppressed his meritorious old ministers.

The fuse that led to Wang Yanjun's downfall was not his favoritism towards evil people or his suspicion of his meritorious service, but the word "lust".

Wang Yanjun's original wife was Princess Qingyuan, the second daughter of Liu Yin of the Southern Han Dynasty. The couple got married in 917. Although it was a political marriage between the two major vassal states of Guangdong and Fujian, the couple had a very harmonious relationship because Princess Qingyuan was very beautiful. Unfortunately, in 930, Princess Qingyuan died of illness at the age of 35. Three years later (933), Wang Yanjun became emperor and posthumously named Liu as empress.

Later, Wang Yanjun married another woman named Jin. Jin was very talented, but Wang Yanjun did not like her very much because he was madly infatuated with another woman, Chen Jinfeng.

Here, let me first mention a small misunderstanding in history books. According to the "Zizhi Tongjian", "The King of Fujian married two Lius, both of whom were from the aristocracy, beautiful but not favored", so a certain authoritative humanities master made a slight mistake in the translation. The key is "married two Lius", and the old man's translation is "Wang Yanjun married two wives, both surnamed Liu."

First of all, I have to state that I respect this scholar very much and I have referred extensively to his works when writing this book. However, authority does not mean correctness, and I have reasonable doubts about what the old man said.

According to the New History of the Five Dynasties, "Yan's wife died early, and his successor, Jin, was virtuous but not accepted. Shen Zhi knew that his maid, Jin Feng, was surnamed Chen, and Yan was fond of her, so he made her his queen." Yan refers to Wang Yanjun. Let's look at the record of the Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms:

"The emperor married Liu twice, both were beautiful but not favored"

"The Empress Liu was originally Princess Qingyuan of the Southern Han Dynasty... The Empress Jin succeeded her, who was virtuous but not recognized... The Empress Chen..."

Obviously, Wang Yanjun married three wives. First, he married Princess Qingyuan Liu, the second daughter of Liu Yin of the Southern Han Dynasty. After Liu's death, he married Jin as his successor, and then married Chen Jinfeng. The old gentleman said that Wang Yanjun married two wives, both of whom were surnamed Liu. This is obviously not accurate. It is probably a misunderstanding of "marrying two Lius".

My personal guess is that there are no punctuation marks in ancient books, just as the record in the "Ten Kingdoms Spring and Autumn Annals" I selected, "The emperor married two Lius, both of whom were beautiful but not favored." Therefore, the "Zizhi Tongjian" also retained the statement "married two Lius." There should be a comma between "married two" and "Liu".

Therefore, after comprehensive analysis, it should be "Wang Yanjun married two women. Liu was beautiful but not favored, and Jin was virtuous but not recognized." As for the ambiguous word "皆", it could be a typo during copying or a misinterpretation of an interjection, because these two situations are relatively common in ancient books.

The truth is that although Princess Liu of Qingyuan was very beautiful, Wang Yanjun did not like her; and although Princess Jin was very talented, Wang Yanjun still did not like her. So who did Wang Yanjun like? The "ugly and lewd" Chen Jinfeng.

Some historical books say that Princess Qingyuan and Wang Yanjun were very affectionate, while others say not so; and regarding Chen Jinfeng, "Zizhi Tongjian" says that she was "ugly and lewd." Although she was ugly, she was very... open-minded, so Wang Yanjun liked her very much. However, "Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms" records that Chen Jinfeng was very beautiful, "with a graceful temperament and good at singing and dancing."

"Wang Yanjun did not love the beautiful Princess Qingyuan, but was madly infatuated with Chen Jinfeng, an ugly, dissolute woman who was born a maid." This should be a malicious smear against Wang Yanjun to highlight his absurdity, dissoluteness and bastardness.

Who is Chen Jinfeng? How could she turn the Min Kingdom upside down?
It is said that before the "Three Kings of Fujian" entered Fujian, Chen Yan, the governor of Fujian Province, had a small habit, that is, he liked men, which was elegantly called "the habit of gay men" and "the love of longyang". His boyfriend was Hou Lun, a handsome boy.

Hou Lun was very favored and could freely enter and leave Comrade Chen Yan's bedroom. Comrade Chen Yan also had a concubine named Lu, who was young and beautiful. Hou Lun took advantage of his position to have an affair with Lu, and soon after, Lu became pregnant with Hou Lun's child.

As luck would have it, Comrade Chen Yan fell ill, and his brother-in-law Fan Hui seized the opportunity to seize power and called himself "the successor". Pregnant Lu was entrusted to Fan Hui for care. Not long after, one day, Lu dreamed of a golden phoenix flying into her arms, and gave birth to a daughter that day. So she nicknamed the baby girl "Jinfeng" and lied to Fan Hui that this was Comrade Chen Yan's flesh and blood, hence the name Chen Jinfeng.

In less than a year, the "Three Kings of Fujian" announced that Chen Yan had willed the throne to Wang Chao (Wang Shenzhi's elder brother), accused Fan Hui of usurping power, and then conquered Fuzhou and killed Fan Hui. From then on, the "Three Kings of Fujian" occupied Fuzhou.

(End of this chapter)