History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 718: Huainan's Battle to Conquer Fujian 2
The two sides continued to deploy troops and confronted each other along Jianyang Creek, and the situation became increasingly tense. The two sides confronted each other for more than ten days, and neither dared to make any rash moves.

In fact, this stalemate was very beneficial to the Min army, because the Huainan army penetrated deep into enemy territory and fought away from home, while the Min army was well-rested and enjoyed sufficient logistical supplies.

However, "Yang Peeling" Yang Sigong was eager to make a contribution and urged Chen Wang to take the initiative.

Chen Wang told him that although the Huainan army was slightly smaller in number, they were all elite troops with actual combat experience, and their generals were veterans of many battles and should not be underestimated. Moreover, this battle was of extraordinary significance and was directly related to the life and death of the Min Kingdom. We must not be careless and should not give up the favorable situation of a war of attrition unless we are sure of victory.

Yang Sigong was furious and roared at Chen Wang, "The Huainan Army has penetrated deep into our territory. Our emperor is worried and can't sleep at night. He has put the fate of the empire in your hands. We have an absolute advantage in military strength, but we are afraid to move. If we don't strike the enemy head-on while they are still unstable, and the Huainan Army takes the opportunity to escape, how can you and I face the emperor again?"

He then falsely passed on an imperial decree, ordering Chen Wang to take the initiative in the attack.

Chen Wang had no choice but to launch an attack.

The Huainan Army was overjoyed, so they "attacked the enemy halfway across the river". Zu Quanen led the main force to block the enemy on the shore, while the other generals led the light cavalry to attack from behind the Fujian Army. The Fujian Army was defeated, Chen Wang was killed, and Yang Sigong fled the battlefield in a panic.

Yang Sigong played a good hand badly. Wang Yanzheng hurriedly recruited Wang Zhongshun, Dong Si'an and others from Quanzhou to lead 5,000 Quanzhou soldiers to reinforce Jianzhou.

This was Wang Yanzheng's founding battle, and its political significance far outweighed its military significance. I dare not say that the eyes of the whole world were watching, but Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Tingzhou, Huainan and Wuyue were all watching.

Fuzhou was the first to take action.

There was a general of the imperial army in Fuzhou named Li Renda. He had been in the position of commander of the Yuan army for fifteen years and had never been promoted. He was full of resentment. When the civil strife in Fujian happened, Li Renda seized the opportunity. When Wang Yanxi and Wang Yanzheng were fighting each other, he betrayed Wang Yanxi and defected to Wang Yanzheng of Jianzhou. When Zhu Wenjin killed Wang Yanxi, he betrayed Wang Yanzheng and defected to Zhu Wenjin. He also presented Zhu Wenjin with a strategy to capture Jianzhou, hoping to be reused by Zhu Wenjin in the court.

Traitors hate traitors. Zhu Wenjin was so disgusted with this erratic political opportunist that he deposed him and exiled him to Fuqing County (now Fuqing City, Fujian Province).

Li Renda was greatly disappointed and felt frustrated. Zhu Wenjin was soon executed, and Wang Yanzheng "unified" all of Fujian. Li Renda was restless, fearing that Wang Yanzheng would take revenge on him later.

Chen Jixun, a writer, was also trembling with fear. Chen Jixun was originally a subordinate of Wang Yanzheng. When the brothers were killing each other, Chen Jixun thought that Wang Yanzheng only had one state and was no match for Wang Yanxi. So he betrayed Wang Yanzheng and defected to Wang Yanxi. He presented Wang Yanxi with a strategy to seize Jianzhou, which was appreciated by Wang Yanxi and he was appointed as a writer.

Now, Fuzhou has surrendered to Wang Yanzheng, and the two are worried.

The soldiers in Fuzhou were already uneasy because they were helping the tyrants and needed to be comforted. Wang Yanzheng devoted all his energy to the Jianzhou battlefield and neglected the work of comforting Fuzhou. Wang Jichang, who was guarding Fuzhou, was incompetent and had a strong "second-generation" temperament. He only knew how to drink and have fun, and had no sympathy for the people below. He caused the soldiers in Fuzhou to complain and be afraid and suspicious. Li Renda sneaked into Fuzhou secretly and lobbied the garrison commander Huang Renfeng, saying: "Jianzhou is just an isolated city. The Huainan army won the first battle. If they take advantage of the victory, I am afraid that Wang Yanzheng will not be able to keep his old nest Jianzhou, let alone Fuzhou? The 'Three Kings of Fujian' were just ordinary people in Guangzhou. They were able to seize the opportunity and take over Fujian. Shouldn't we learn from them and take advantage of the troubled times to pursue wealth and glory for ourselves?"

Li Renda is also from Gwangju, and the glorious deeds of revolutionary predecessors always inspire him to move forward.

After some encouragement and persuasion, Li Renda successfully persuaded Huang Renfeng to rebel.

That night, Li Renda led his trusted subordinates to raid the headquarters and captured and killed Wang Jichang and Wu Chengyi.

Li Renda planned to proclaim himself emperor, but Zhu Wenjin's previous experience was still fresh in his mind. So Li Renda came up with a clever plan and supported a monk from Shenguang Temple, Zhuo Yanming, as a puppet emperor. Wang Yanjun, Wang Jipeng, and Wang Yanxi all worshipped Buddhism and Taoism, and ordained thousands of monks. If they knew about this after death, I wonder how the three former kings would feel at this time.

Zhuo Yanming is a local internet-famous monk. It is said that he has double pupils in his eyes and hands that reach below his knees. He is a cross between Xiang Yu and Liu Bei. He has many fans and followers, and has a certain influence. He is also highly respected, so he was chosen by Li Renda.

On March 945, 3 AD, monk Zhuo Yanming, supported by Li Renda and others, officially ascended the throne and became emperor. Li Renda personally took off his cassock, put on a dragon robe and a crown for him, and then led the civil and military officials to kneel three times and kowtow nine times to him, shouting "Long live the emperor".

Li Renda's act of crowning Zhuo Yanming contained a clear and strong political signal, just like the classic oil painting - "The Coronation of Napoleon I".

According to the traditional customs of Europe at that time, the emperor and king should be crowned by the Pope. The emperor should kneel before the Pope, and the Pope should put the crown on his head to show that "the king's power is granted by God". The Pope canonized him as emperor on behalf of God. Napoleon refused to kneel before the Pope, snatched the crown from the Pope, put it on his head, and then put the crown on the Queen himself. This means that Napoleon's imperial power was conferred by himself, and it had nothing to do with God. You are a fool.

The painter took great pains to select the second half of the ceremony, when Napoleon crowned his queen. This allowed Napoleon to remain in the center of the painting without embarrassing the Pope and the church he represented. So although it is called "The Coronation of Napoleon," the content is indeed the coronation of Napoleon's queen.

Similarly, Li Renda crowned Zhuo Yanming to tell people: his imperial power was granted by me and he is just my puppet.

Afterwards, Li Renda sent someone to Bianzhou with a memorial to pay tribute to the Later Jin, and used the reign title of "Tianfu Ten Years" in a very flattering way. The funny thing is that the Later Jin had already changed its reign title to "Kaiyun Two Years", which shows how closed the news was at that time.

After Wang Yanzheng received the news of the mutiny in Fuzhou, he immediately massacred Huang Renfeng's entire family who stayed in Jianzhou. He then sent the imperial army general Zhang Hanzhen to join forces with the armed forces of Zhangzhou and Quanzhou to attack Fuzhou.

(End of this chapter)