History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 724: Horses Fighting for the Stable 1
The Min Kingdom was far away from the Central Plains and had almost no intersection with them. The Min people didn't even know that the Central Plains changed its reign title a year later. However, the demise of the Min Kingdom had a far-reaching impact on the Central Plains. It tied down the energy of the "Jianghuai Twins" - especially Huainan, so that the two countries could not take advantage of the Central Plains during the Jin-Liao War, when the Central Plains was at its lowest and weakest.

When Huainan pulled itself out of the quagmire of the Min Kingdom, the Central Plains had already changed dynasties and became the Later Han Dynasty. Liu Zhiyuan held high the two banners of nationalism and patriotism and restored vitality, while the Khitan almost fell into civil war and barely made a transition with the "Crossing Agreement". During this short period, the Central Plains' national fortune rose while the Khitan's national fortune declined, and Huainan's northern and southern expeditions were hopeless.

However, Huainan Li Jing's restless heart was not left without a place to rest, because another opportunity soon found him.

2. Horses fighting for the trough - Southern Chu

In 928 AD, Huainan sent a large army to attack Yuezhou, but was defeated by Xu Dexun and Wang Huan, the founding heroes of Southern Chu. The chief general of Huainan was captured alive. In order to ease the relationship between the two countries, Ma Yin specially asked Xu Dexun to hold a farewell party for the chief general of Huainan. At the banquet, Xu Dexun told the chief general of Huainan that although the State of Chu was small, we, the founding heroes, were still there and should not be underestimated. If you really want to attack the State of Chu, then wait until the foals compete for the trough.

Xu Dexun would never have known that his words would come true and the State of Chu would perish due to horses fighting over the trough. What he could not have imagined was that his son would become a traitor to the State of Chu and send the State of Chu to its grave with his own hands.

Ma Yin was born in the same year as Zhu Wen, Yang Xingmi and Qian Liu. The chaotic times at the end of the Tang Dynasty provided a stage for these four losers to display their talents. After years of hard work, Ma Yin gradually controlled the Hunan region with Tanzhou (now Shashi, Hunan) as its core. It is also the only separatist regime in history with Hunan as its center.

Comrade Ma Yin had a strong fertility. According to historical records, he had more than 30 sons, 15 of whom had concrete deeds. With the assistance of meritorious generals such as Xu Dexun and Wang Huan and great counselor and "economic genius" Gao Yu, the politics of Chu during Ma Yin's period was basically stable, commerce was developed, the economy was highly prosperous, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment. It became a paradise in southern China.

At the end of Ma Yin's reign, the struggle for the throne intensified, so Xu Dexun expressed pessimism and despair, believing that the State of Chu would perish early at the hands of the second generation.

Ma Yin's sons satisfy all our imaginations of "the second generation ruling the country". Looking through historical records, their glorious deeds constantly refresh our cognition and impact our bottom line.

First of all, the exact date of Ma Yin's death is a mystery. It is generally accepted that he died in 930 AD at the age of 79. However, according to reliable intelligence, the Central Plains dynasty at the time claimed that Ma Yin's death date should be earlier than this date. His sons kept the death a secret in order to seize power, and deliberately changed the date of death to confuse people.

In fact, it doesn't matter. He will die sooner or later. In fact, in the last years of Ma Yin, he had been sidelined by his son, such as the killing of the great counselor Gao Yu.

It can be said bluntly that the prosperity of Southern Chu was largely planned by Gao Yu, the "economic genius". Ma Yin respected and trusted Gao Yu very much. Gao Yu was therefore envied by the rulers of enemy countries. For example, Gao Jichang, the "Gao Laizi" of Jingnan, and Li Cunxu, the Zhuangzong of Later Tang, used various means to create rumors in order to arouse Ma Yin's suspicion and kill Gao Yu.

After hearing these rumors, Ma Yin not only did not doubt Gao Yu, but laughed out loud and said to Gao Yu, "You have made our enemies uneasy. The more the enemies slander you, the more I trust you!"
Later, his son Ma Xisheng was instigated by Jingnan and Later Tang to become suspicious of Gao Yu and wanted to kill Gao Yu, but was sternly stopped by Ma Yin. Ma Yin persuaded his sons earnestly, telling them not to kill Gao Yu.

But Ma Xisheng still killed Gao Yu without authorization, beheading him first and reporting to the emperor later. When Ma Yin found out, he was filled with grief and anger, and almost fainted. After waking up, he beat his chest and stamped his feet, scolding his son for being stupid and a bastard.

Later generations criticized Ma Yin for protecting his son, believing that Ma Yin only scolded him verbally and did not punish Ma Xisheng. In fact, this incident fully exposed a real problem: Ma Yin was sidelined. Let alone punishing Ma Xisheng, Ma Xisheng was already a filial son for allowing him to die naturally instead of helping him to die. Ma Yin's eldest son was Ma Xizhen, who was "old and virtuous", good at poetry and articles, liked to chat and laugh with eminent monks, and had a low desire for power.

In his later years, Ma Yin favored Yuan, and since the son was more noble than the mother, the illegitimate Ma Xisheng also received more favor and became the most popular heir. So Ma Xizhen took the initiative to resign from his official position, gave up his position as heir, and became a Taoist priest.

It is worth pondering that Ma Xisheng also died in 930 AD, the same year as his father Ma Yin. His death was strange.

Comrade Ma Xisheng, the famous "chicken-eating master", lived an absurd life of drunkenness and dreams for two years, eating fifty chickens every day to pay tribute to Zhu Wen, the founder of the Later Liang Dynasty. At his father's funeral, he was still busy drinking chicken soup.

On July 932, 7 AD, Ma Xisheng died of illness at the age of 11.

Regarding the order of Ma Xifan, the records in the history books are slightly contradictory. First, it says that he is the fourth son of Ma Yin, and then it explains that the eldest son is Ma Xizhen, followed by Ma Xisheng and Ma Xifan, and the two were born on the same day. Then... Ma Xifan should be the second or third son. In short, according to the order of seniority, it should be Ma Xifan's turn.

With the support of his ministers, Ma Xifan arrived in Tanzhou in August and announced his succession to the throne.

Later Tang recognized Ma Xifan and appointed him as the military governor of Tanzhou and Langzhou, and concurrently the minister of state. Ma Xifan expressed his gratitude and paid tribute to Later Tang. The foreign policy was consistent with that of the Ma Yin period, that is, to claim vassal status in the Central Plains and maintain a close alliance with the Central Plains dynasty.

Initially, the Later Tang conferred the title of Marquis of Fufeng County on Ma Xifan. One year later, Li Siyuan died, Li Conghou ascended the throne, and conferred the title of King of Chu on Ma Xifan. After the establishment of the Later Jin Dynasty, Ma Xifan was further promoted. In 939 AD, he was granted the title of General of Tiance, allowed to open a government, and appointed civil and military officials.

Southern Chu was located in a place surrounded by four enemies: Jingnan and the Central Plains Dynasty to the north, Huainan to the east, Southern Han to the south, various barbarian tribes to the west, and Hou Shu to the northwest. It was surrounded by powerful enemies.

This special geographical location determined that Nanchu would be a transportation hub and also a place of war. Ma Yin also took advantage of this convenient transportation to vigorously promote commercial trade, making Nanchu a trade distribution center, logistics center, commercial center, and financial center at that time.

However, its disadvantages are also obvious.

(End of this chapter)