History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 717: Huainan's Battle to Conquer Fujian 1
Wang Yanzheng also sent Wu Chengyi to lead a thousand warships downstream and attack Fuzhou directly.

Zhu Wenjin had no way to go up to heaven or down to earth, and he only had one last straw to save his life. He sent his son to the Wu Yue Kingdom as a hostage to beg for rescue.

However, before the Wuyue Kingdom could take action, Huainan came uninvited and launched an attack on Jianzhou.

Previously, when Wang Yanzheng and Wang Yanxi were fighting each other, Huainan had a conflict with the Later Jin Dynasty over the issue of Anzhou and was too busy to go south to intervene. So it wanted to act as an arbitrator through a letter, but was ruthlessly slapped in the face, especially by Wang Yanzheng's ridicule, and the two sides immediately "broke off diplomatic relations."

Now, Huainan has reached a tacit reconciliation with the Later Jin Dynasty, solving its worries in the north. However, the civil war in Min Kingdom has not stopped after the death of Wang Yanxi, but has reached another climax. Huainan, which has freed up its hands, smells an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

Zang Xun, a Hanlin attendant in Huainan, and Cha Wenhui, the deputy privy envoy, were from the same county and had a good relationship. Zang Xun used to be a businessman and often traveled between Min State. He was familiar with the mountains and rivers of Min State, so he became a staunch advocate of war. He lobbied Cha Wenhui to take advantage of the civil unrest in Min State to seize Jianzhou and expand the territory for Huainan.

With the help of Zang Xun, Zha Wenhui proposed to take advantage of the situation to send troops to Jianzhou. However, most officials in the Huainan court were against sending troops. Huainan Li Jing was very interested in taking advantage of the situation, but the opposition in the court was too strong, so he adopted a "compromise" method and sent people to the border to investigate the situation before making a decision.

The person sent to lead the research was Cha Wenhui himself. So it seems to be a "compromise" approach, but in fact it is Li Jing's partiality, strategic buffer, and offsetting the pressure from the court.

Cha Wenhui was a core figure of the "war faction" and an advocate of going south to Fujian. Needless to say, after arriving in Xinzhou, he immediately submitted a work report and guaranteed that the war would be successful.

Therefore, Li Jing sent Hongzhou general Bian Hao to lead troops to follow Cha Wenhui to fight southward and invade Min. Cha Wenhui led his army southward along Jianyang River and stationed in Gaizhu, north of Jianzhou, ready to take Jianzhou in one fell swoop while it was empty.

But before they had time to deploy their forces, they received news that Quanzhou, Zhangzhou and Tingzhou had surrendered to Wang Yanzheng, and they were shocked. At the same time, they received news that Yongzhou general Zhang Hanqing was leading 8,000 reinforcements to the north to support them.

Cha Wenhui's mentality exploded, and his arrogance instantly turned into a wisp of green smoke and rolled away. The Huainan army immediately broke camp and retreated along the Jianyang River, retreating back to Jianyang County to defend.

At the same time, Zang Xun, the instigator of the invasion of Fujian, was leading another army to station in Shaowu. The local people of Shaowu County actively led the Fujian army and, taking advantage of their familiarity with the terrain, launched a surprise attack on Zang Xun. The Huainan army was defeated, and Zang Xun was captured alive, taken to Jianzhou, and beheaded in public.

Wu Chengyi, who was approaching the city of Fuzhou, heard the news of Huainan's massive invasion. He suddenly had an idea and came up with a brilliant plan. He sent people to tell the Fuzhou defenders that Huainan came to help Jianzhou fight against the rebellion, and you are finished!

The defenders believed it to be true and became even more worried.

Zhu Wenjin was trapped in Fuzhou, looking forward to the reinforcements from Wu Yue Kingdom but seeing none of them. There were only the Jianzhou soldiers showing off their might outside the city and the Huainan army who were said to be helping Jianzhou defeat Fuzhou.

In desperation, Zhu Wenjin decided to surrender himself to the police and seek leniency from the organization. He sent Prime Minister Li Guangzhun and others to present the imperial seal and other royal tokens to Jianzhou Wang Yanzheng, surrendering to him.

When the news came out, the soldiers in Fuzhou became uneasy. Lin Renhan, the imperial edict of the South Corridor, gathered his men and said, "We have served the Wang family for generations, but now we are helping the tyrants and letting the traitors manipulate us. If Wang Yanzheng takes over Fuzhou, how can we face him?"

Later, Lin Renhan led 30 of his trusted followers to launch a surprise attack on Lian Chongyu's house. Lian Chongyu was gathering troops, which were numerous and fully armed.

The thirty warriors were like bank robbers who, after breaking into the bank, found that the lobby was full of police officers waiting to be paid. The thirty men panicked and some turned and ran away.

Lian Chongyu and his troops were also in a state of confusion. At the critical moment, Lin Renhan stepped forward quickly, raised his gun and stabbed. In a flash, Lian Chongyu was shot dead. Before the surrounding soldiers could react, Lian Chongyu's head had already been cut off by Lin Renhan.

Lin Renhan held up Lian Chongyu's head and said to everyone, "King Wang Yanzheng of Fusha will soon enter Fuzhou. You will all be killed! Now that Lian Chongyu has been killed, if you want to live, you must take Zhu Wenjin's head to atone for your sins!"

After a brief moment of surprise, everyone cheered and followed Lin Renhan to the palace, scrambling to capture Zhu Wenjin. Zhu Wenjin was then killed by the chaotic soldiers.

Afterwards, under the leadership of Lin Renhan, the Fuzhou defenders opened the city gates and welcomed Wu Chengyi into the city to take over. They packed the heads of Zhu Wenjin and Lian Chongyu and sent them to Jianzhou to report their achievements.

In theory, Wang Yanzheng had unified all of Fujian and ended the civil war. The people of Fuzhou petitioned and invited Wang Yanzheng to rule Fuzhou and change the country's name from "Yin" back to "Min".

In fact, Zhu Wenjin's rapid downfall also provided a lesson for Wang Yanzheng. Wang Yanzheng's actual control area was limited to Jianzhou, and the four states of Quan, Zhang, Ting, and Fu could change their course at any time, especially Xu Wenzhen of Tingzhou, who changed sides twice with just one letter.

Moreover, the Huainan army was still stationed in the northern part of Jianzhou, and the Wuyue Kingdom might interfere from the south at any time. Wang Yanzheng's "unification" was only a superficial glory, but in fact he was facing serious internal and external troubles.

Wang Yanzheng restored the country's name to "Min", sent his nephew Wang Jichang to guard Fuzhou, and sent the imperial guard general Huang Renfeng to lead troops to Fuzhou to help Wang Jichang look after the situation. He then recruited a total of 15,000 guards from Fuzhou and the Gongchendu and Konghedu to reinforce Jianzhou and resist the Huainan invasion army.

Lin Renhan, who led the Fuzhou Uprising, was treated coldly after arriving in Jianzhou. Wang Yanzheng gave him very little in the form of rewards and a cold attitude. Lin Renhan was very self-aware and said that he was lucky not to be held accountable for the crime of treason. From then on, he behaved himself and kept his tail between his legs. He was very low-key and cautious until his death, and never boasted about his contribution to the Fuzhou Uprising in killing Zhu Wenjin and Lian Chongyu. He finally had a good end.

【Fuzhou Mutiny】

With the end of the Fuzhou war, more and more Min troops were transferred to the Jianzhou battlefield.

Huainan commander Cha Wenhui was in a dilemma. He had to fight to the end even if he had to kneel down. Cha Wenhui wrote to the rear for help and requested reinforcements.

Li Jing of Huainan sent the imperial guards generals He Jingzhu, Zu Quanen and Yao Feng to lead thousands of reinforcements to reinforce the front line; Wang Yanzheng sent "Yang Peeling" Yang Sigong and Chen Wang to lead an army of 10,000 to reinforce.

The war is about to start.

(End of this chapter)