History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 725: Horses Fighting for the Stable 2
1. The Southern Han took the lead and sent troops to attack Mengzhou (now Mengshan County, Guangxi) and Guizhou (now Guilin, Guangxi) under the rule of Southern Chu in April 936. Ma Xifan led the army in person, and the Southern Han army retreated. Ma Xifan had another purpose for his personal expedition, which will be explained later.

In August 2, Peng Shiran, the governor of Xizhou in the Later Shu Dynasty, colluded with more than 939 barbarians in Hunan and attacked Chenzhou and Lizhou under the rule of Southern Chu. He also wrote a letter to Meng Chang of the Later Shu Dynasty, requesting military support.

This military action was a personal act of a frontier official and was not officially approved, so Meng Chang refused it. The reason was not to maintain the relationship between Shu and Chu, but because the journey was long and the road was rugged. Even if they captured it, it would be difficult to effectively control it, and the gains would not outweigh the losses.

Ma Xifan sent generals Liu Qing and Liao Kuangqi to support him. In the end, Liao Kuangqi was killed in the battle, and Peng Shiran sent his son Peng Shihao to surrender to Southern Chu.

Please note that Peng Shihao is in sharp contrast to Xu Dexun's son. Although Peng Shihao was held as a hostage in Tanzhou, he later became one of the few loyal ministers of Southern Chu, and his loyalty and integrity moved the enemy.

After this battle, Ma Xifan submitted a memorial to the Later Jin Dynasty, recommending Peng Shiran as the governor of Xizhou and Liu Qing as the governor of Jinzhou. At this point, the barbarian tribes in the west all submitted to the Southern Chu.

Ma Xifan "was stubborn and liked to exaggerate."

It is said that he had offended Sang Weihan. According to the "New Records of Three Chus", when Sang Weihan was not successful, he visited Ma Xifan and asked him for money. Ma Xifan saw that Sang Weihan looked like a freak and spoke nonsense, so he burst out laughing on the spot (laughing at him), and then threw hundreds of huge sums of money to him like a beggar. Sang Weihan was very hurt in his self-esteem, and did not pick up the money, but left with his sleeves swung.

Later, Sang Weihan became the prime minister of the Later Jin Dynasty, and Ma Xifan also became the ruler of Southern Chu. When the Later Jin Dynasty rewarded Ma Xifan, Sang Weihan tried his best to dissuade him and "requested to reduce half of the war".

This matter has been widely questioned, and historians of the Song Dynasty believed that it was a deliberate smear campaign against Sang Weihan.

Although Ma Xifan had half of his ceremonial guards cut off, he was still the emperor behind closed doors in the territory of Southern Chu, and the ceremonial system was in accordance with the emperor's standards.

After defeating the barbarians in Xizhou, Ma Xifan claimed that he was a descendant of Ma Yuan, the general of the Han Dynasty. For this purpose, he spent 1961 kilograms of copper to cast a copper pillar 3 feet high in imitation of the famous "Ma Yuan Copper Pillar" in history and erected it in Xizhou. The copper pillar is called "Xizhou Copper Pillar". On March 4, , it was listed as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units in my country. It is now preserved in the "Wangcun Xiangxi Folk Customs and Scenery Museum" in Furong Town, Yongshun County, Hunan Province.

Ma Xifan built the Tiance Mansion on a large scale and constructed a "Nine Dragon Hall" inside the mansion. He carved eight hundred-foot-long dragons out of precious agarwood. The eight dragons coiled around eight pillars, with their heads all pointing toward the center. In the middle was Ma Xifan's throne. This was the true meaning of the "Nine Dragon Hall", and the ninth dragon was Ma Xifan himself.

Before going up to the temple every day, people would first burn incense in the dragon's belly. Smoke would slowly emerge from the dragon's mouth, like smoke coming out of its mouth, and the Nine Dragon Temple would look like a fairyland.

The historical records commented that "the extravagance and arrogance of the princes had never been so great."

Ma Xifan also ordered the casting of oversized spears, which were wrapped in gold sheets and held by burly warriors. They were extremely ornamental, but completely unusable.

Under Ma Xifan's unbridled extravagance, Nanchu was not surprisingly faced with a fiscal deficit problem. Ma Xifan's solution was the same old thing: increase taxes and sell official positions. Ma Xifan stipulated that in addition to the original taxes, large counties should pay an additional tribute of 2,000 hu of rice, medium counties 1,000 hu, and small counties 700 hu each year, and they could pay tribute in the form of cotton cloth, silk, etc. at a discount.

Heavy taxes gave rise to refugees, and farmers left their homes with their elderly and children. The once prosperous South Chu was suddenly filled with refugees and desolate.

Ma Xifan's solution to the problem of migrants in the country was jaw-dropping. Ma Xifan said: "People have left, but the land is still there; as long as the land is there, why worry about not having a harvest?" So Ma Xifan ordered relevant departments to investigate the ownerless fields and then rent them to farmers who are willing to immigrate here to cultivate them.

The land is permanent, but the farmers are ever-changing. Whoever plants is still planting, and there is always someone buried in the loess.

The refugees of Southern Chu moved from one place to another to settle down, and the land was not left barren. However, the large-scale and frequent migration of people still had an adverse effect on production and labor, causing the economy of Southern Chu to begin to decline.

Ma Xifan encouraged people to buy officials with money. The king personally acted as an anchor to promote the sale of goods, and the official position buying and selling economy quickly emerged in Southern Chu. Rich businessmen surrounded the government offices and competed to buy officials.

"I think it works!"

Seeing that the business of selling official positions and titles was booming, Ma Xifan suddenly had an idea and started an upgraded version of selling official positions and titles: if local officials wanted to be transferred back to the central government, they had to bribe; criminals could also avoid punishment by spending money. Therefore, in Nanchu, the law became an exclusive treatment for the poor. Only the poor who could not afford to pay would be subject to legal sanctions, while the rich could legally and reasonably get away with it.

At the same time, in order to expand the extortion business, Ma Xifan set up a "snitch box" to encourage people to report each other, even if it was a false accusation or false accusation, as long as someone was complained, the government could conduct business openly. Some people suffered the disaster of extermination of their entire family because of this.

When you are well fed and well clothed, you will think about sex. Ma Xifan advocates a luxurious and decadent life, which is of course accompanied by unspeakable depravity.

Ma Xifan's wife was Peng, the daughter of Peng Gan. Peng Gan was a general under Zhong Chuan of Hongzhou. After Zhong Chuan's death, his son Zhong Kuangshi fought with Zhong Kuangfan and was eventually annexed by Huainan. Peng Gan, then governor of Jizhou, was unwilling to submit to Huainan, so he fled to Ma Yin of Tanzhou and was highly valued. Ma Yin married Peng Gan's daughter for his son Ma Xifan, consolidating his regime through political marriage.

Although Peng was not very pretty, she had a way of managing the household, and Ma Xifan was very afraid of her. In 938 AD, Peng died. Ma Xifan finally let go of himself and liberated his nature. From then on, he indulged in sensual pleasures and often drank and had fun all night long.

According to historical records, Ma Xifan was "lewd and rude". He first extended his evil hands to his father's concubines and maids, which was a violation of human ethics. He then used nuns as "sex spies" and used their special identities to approach the women and girls of wealthy families and the inner courtyards. He "rape" all the pretty and attractive women. He used this method to rape hundreds of women, but he still felt unsatisfied and even said to those around him: "I heard that Emperor Xuanyuan had sex with 500 women to ascend to heaven. I still need to work harder!"

A merchant's wife was very beautiful, so Ma Xifan killed the merchant and wanted to take possession of his wife. However, the merchant's wife was very strong-willed and vowed not to be humiliated, so she hanged herself.

(End of this chapter)