History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 723: Destroying Fujian Ripples 2
Of the five prefectures of Min, Fuzhou was not incorporated into Huainan, and Quanzhou and Zhangzhou were left as independent states. Huainan emptied the treasury and was left alone.

By March 947, the Wuyue Kingdom also sent reinforcements to Fuzhou, led by General Yu An, who arrived at the south of Fuzhou by sea.

A rare landing battle in history is about to be presented:
The coast of Fuzhou was so muddy that bamboo mats had to be laid before people could walk on it. The Huainan army fired arrows at them, and the Wuyue reinforcements could not get close at all.

We can refer to the famous "Normandy Landing". Without air fire support, forcible beach landing is tantamount to suicide. Shore-based artillery and crossbows are the death harvesters of the landing party.

At this time, Feng Yanlu, one of the "Four Evils" of Huainan, came up with a bold idea: the reason why the Fuzhou defenders refused to surrender was because they were waiting for this batch of reinforcements. Why not let them land and then annihilate them in one fell swoop, so that the defenders in the city would give up and surrender.

His subordinate Meng Jian quickly objected, saying that the Wu Yue reinforcements were now in a dilemma and would soon retreat hastily due to logistical supply problems; if we let them come ashore, how could we be 100% sure to kill them all?
Feng Yanlu was very unhappy. With me here, how could they not kill them all?

A higher-ranking official can crush a lower-ranking official. Feng Yanlu insisted on his own way and ordered to stop shooting and wait for the Wu Yue reinforcements to land.

The Wu Yue reinforcements successfully landed and then launched a fierce attack on the Huainan army. Feng Yanlu could not resist and was the first to flee. Meng Jian was killed in the battle and the Huainan army collapsed and was defeated.

The defenders in the city also went out of the city to fight and cooperated with the Wuyue reinforcements to defeat all the Huainan troops south of Fuzhou in one fell swoop. At the critical moment, Commander-in-Chief Wang Chongwen personally led 300 personal guards to resist, and the rest of the troops gathered behind him. Only then did the Wuyue reinforcements stop pursuing and retreat to Fuzhou.

Li Renda of Fuzhou handed over all command of the army to Yu An, the commander of the Wu Yue reinforcements.

At this time, a rumor was circulating in the Huainan army: the Wuyue Kingdom was preparing to abandon Fuzhou and move Li Renda and his troops back to the Wuyue Kingdom.

It is said that this was the news brought by the surrendered soldiers from Fuzhou. Huainan general Liu Hongjin and others reported this intelligence to the deputy commander Wang Jianfeng, and suggested that Wang Jianfeng set up an ambush and rush into the city as soon as the Wuyue army withdrew.

This unreliable information triggered the Huainan siege troops, and each general had his own plans.

Liu Congxiao had already had the intention of separatism and was well versed in the cat-and-mouse game. Fuzhou was isolated from Huainan. Whether it was occupied by Li Renda or belonged to Wuyue, it was the basis for Liu Congxiao to separate Quanzhou and Zhangzhou. Therefore, Liu Congxiao did not want to see Huainan occupy Fuzhou.

Wang Jianfeng became a rising star in the Huainan military because of his "merit of being the first to reach the city". He was suppressed and excluded everywhere by the "Four Evils" and the "Five Ghosts". The battle of Fuzhou was led by the "Four Evils", so he did not want to see Fuzhou being occupied by Huainan.

Liu Congxiao and Wang Jianfeng hit it off and spoke in unison, saying, "We have been defeated (referring to the landing battle) and are busy with our own affairs. How can we have the energy to fight for the city?"

That night, Liu Congxiao and Wang Jianfeng set fire to the camp and retreated. The rest of the troops were unaware of the truth and, seeing their allies burning down their camp and retreating, they also collapsed. For a time, the defeat was overwhelming, and the Huainan siege troops were like a flood, running endlessly.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Feng Yanlu collapsed and drew his sword to commit suicide, but was stopped by his trusted men. He then fled in embarrassment. Thus, the battle of Fuzhou ended with the defeat of Huainan. In this battle, more than 20,000 Huainan troops were killed, more than 100,000 weapons and supplies were lost, and the national treasury was completely depleted.

After Liu Congxiao returned to Quanzhou, he said to the generals stationed in Huainan, "To the south of Quanzhou is the Lingnan region, which is wild and barren, the people are poor and have limited financial resources, and has been caught up in years of war. Production has almost come to a standstill, and there is really no extra money and food to supply the army. Everyone, go back." He issued an order to expel the aliens, and the garrison generals had no choice but to return to Huainan to report.

Without the garrison, Quanzhou was completely ruled by Liu Congxiao. Li Jing was no longer able to suppress Quanzhou, so he gave Liu Congxiao the title of inspector of the imperial tutor in order to win over the people.

After the war, Huainan's purge of war criminals led to a series of internal struggles. These topics will be described in the Huainan special topic.

Let's talk about Li Renda of Fuzhou. Li Renda ordered his younger brother Li Hongtong to take charge of Fuzhou affairs temporarily, while he went to Hangzhou to meet Qian Hongzong of Wuyue. Qian Hongzong gave him the title of concurrent minister, changed his name to "Li Ruyun", and changed his brother Li Hongtong's name to "Li Rubin". After living in Hangzhou for a while, Li Renda regretted that he had fallen into the tiger's mouth, so he bribed Hu Jinsi, an important official of Wuyue, with a large sum of money and asked to return to Fuzhou. Qian Hongzong approved.

After the Wuyue Kingdom won the Battle of Fuzhou, generals such as Yu An returned to the court and sent General Bao Xiurang as the Southeast Pacification Envoy to stay in Fuzhou.

It is said that according to Bao Xiurang, Li Renda wanted to kill Bao Xiurang and then submit to Huainan, but Bao Xiurang discovered it and eventually executed Li Renda's entire family and sent Li Renda's head to Hangzhou.

At this point, Fuzhou was completely controlled by the Wuyue Kingdom.

However, the ripples of the destruction of the Min Kingdom were not over yet. Hu Jinsi, an important official who pleaded for Li Renda, had a tense relationship with Qian Hongzong. He had just accepted a bribe and persuaded Qian Hongzong to release Li Renda back to Fuzhou, but Li Renda plotted a rebellion. Qian Hongzong blamed him for this, and Hu Jinsi was very frightened.

Qian Hongzong was planning to get rid of Hu Jinsi, but Hu Jinsi was already well-established and powerful, and at the end of the year (December 947, 12), Qian Hongzong hosted a banquet for civil and military officials. Hu Jinsi suspected that this was a Hongmen Banquet against him, so he and his followers launched a coup.

Qian Hongzong hid in the backyard. Hu Jinsi ordered people to close the backyard gate and falsely passed on an "imperial edict" saying that Comrade Qian Hongzong had suddenly suffered a stroke and was unable to perform his duties, and that his younger brother Comrade Qian Hongchu would take over the leadership position.

Under the pressure of the powerful official Hu Jinsi, Qian Hongchu made a final resistance and put forward a condition that Hu Jinsi must promise not to kill his brother Qian Hongzong before he could ascend the throne, otherwise he would rather die than obey.

Hu Jinsi was forced to agree, and Qian Hongchu, who was only 19 years old, took the leadership of Wuyue State. Hu Jinsi also killed those who opposed him, including Shuiqiu Zhaoquan.

The Min Kingdom was destroyed. Even the Min people themselves could not have imagined that the small Min Kingdom could bring down two powerful neighbors. Huainan was seriously injured, the national treasury was emptied, and the internal political struggle centered on the "Four Evils and Five Demons" was triggered. During the civil war in Min, the Wuyue Kingdom changed its king three times, Qian Yuanguan, Qian Hongzuo, Qian Hongzong, and Qian Hongchu. Although the previous changes had no direct relationship with the civil war in Min, Qian Hongzong's imprisonment in a coup and Qian Hongchu's rise to power were directly related to the anti-Huai and aid Min campaign.

(End of this chapter)