History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 730 Don’t Hurt My Brother
When a famous humanities master was translating and annotating the "Zizhi Tongjian", he made a small misunderstanding and exclaimed that a trap that could accommodate 5,000 people was incredible. Even masters can make mistakes sometimes.

The ancient Chinese were not very sensitive to numbers, especially the historians and poets who were born as "liberal arts students". "The waterfall plummets three thousand feet" is not really three thousand feet; "three or four" is not necessarily strictly 30% to 40%; "several dozen people" and "more than a thousand people"... I have argued with the historians more than once in this book (who made me a rigorous science student?), for example, "the corpse was pillowed for five hundred miles", through calculation, it can be known that this is also a record of "the waterfall plummets three thousand feet".

Both "Zizhi Tongjian" and "Ten Kingdoms Spring and Autumn Annals" have recorded this classic battle. We looked through the original text and found that the original text did not clearly state the number of traps. The original text said "dig a large trap outside the city". If the historians had said "three thousand feet", "thirty-four", "several"... it would have been straightforward, but at this critical point, the historians simply omitted it, not saying one, nor did they say how many there were. So this confused the humanities master and he mistakenly thought it was "dig a large trap".

In fact, if we read further, the original text also records that "holes were drilled in the ditch to reach the pit and serve as the axis of the machine." This can serve as indirect evidence to prove that it is not "one" big pit, but multiple ones, so it is necessary to "drill holes to reach the pit." Just like the armored linked horses, each big pit is connected by some kind of mechanical connecting axis, so that they can be opened at the same time.

The defeated general Xu Zhixin of Southern Chu fled back in a panic and was beheaded by Ma Xiguang as a display of his head.

The Southern Han took advantage of the victory and captured Zhaozhou (now Pingle County, Guangxi).

For a long time, Southern Chu maintained a crushing advantage over Southern Han and frequently invaded Southern Han's land. Southern Han was in an awkward situation, with the sea to the south and two powerful vassals, Huainan and Southern Chu, to the north. Under the constant invasion of Huainan and Southern Chu, the territory of Southern Han became a "one", like a poor caterpillar, winding and narrow, lying obediently in the coastal areas of today's Guangdong and Guangxi, while the northern areas of Guangdong and Guangxi were divided by Huainan and Southern Chu respectively.

So when Liu Hongxi's marriage proposal was rejected, the first question he asked was "Can Southern Chu still invade the south?" They were afraid of being bullied. When the Ma brothers were caught in internal strife, Southern Han finally smelled an opportunity to turn things around, and frequently marched north, constantly encroaching on Southern Chu's land, and eventually occupied the entire Lingnan region.

When Ma Xiguang was busy with the war in the south, Ma Xi'e once again paid tribute to the court of the Later Han Dynasty, presenting 1,500 taels of silver, and still expressed his desire to create "two Chu countries, one Tan and one Lang."

The court of the Later Han Dynasty once again stated its basic political stance of "one Chu State" and once again made efforts to mediate, advising Ma Xi'e to take into account the feelings of brotherhood and the relationship between monarch and subject and not to try to split the country again. The "Lang separatists" would definitely not have a good end.

A word of advice awakened the dreamer. Yes, what's the point of dividing the country, Langdu, two Chu countries... Why don't I just annex Tanzhou? The problem is solved, perfect!
Ma Xi'e assembled all the men in the country, calling themselves the "Jingjiang Army", and built 700 warships, preparing to fight a decisive battle with Ma Xiguang of Tanzhou.

His wife, Yuan, was quite virtuous and tried to dissuade him, saying, "Brothers killing each other will be laughed at by outsiders regardless of whether they win or lose!"

"That's just a woman's opinion!" Ma Xi'e was too lazy to explain to his wife, and he insisted on leading his troops south.

Upon hearing the news that the Langzhou Corps was marching south, Ma Xiguang cried again and said his classic quote:
"Langzhou is my brother, so I should not fight with him. I should give him the kingdom."

Zhang Shaodi had long ago advised him to either give up his position as soon as possible or kill Ma Xi'e while he was at the funeral. But Ma Xiguang did not accept it, and now he said he was willing to give up his position.

Regardless of whether he was sincere or not, the core leaders of the "Yongguang faction" such as Liu Yantang and Li Honggao would not agree. So they appointed Wang Yun, the governor of Yuezhou, as the commander, and Liu Yantang personally served as the military supervisor to go out to meet the enemy. Wang Yun was the son of Wang Huan, a founding hero of Southern Chu. He was known as the "Four Founding Generals" together with Xu Dexun, Li Qiong, and Qin Yanhui. Together with Gao Yu and Tuoba Heng, they were known as the "Six Founding Generals of Chu". The historical commentator said, "Qiong's bravery, Yu's planning, Dexun and prestige, Yanhui's determination, Huan's wisdom and courage, Heng's generosity and straightforwardness, all of them were talented generals and ministers of their time."

On August 949, 8, the two sides met at Pushezhou (a small island in the Xiangshui River west of Changsha today). Like father, like son, Wang Huan's son Wang Yunru was possessed by the god of war, both wise and brave, as good as his father, and defeated the Langzhou Corps in one fell swoop, capturing 18 warships.

Ma Xi'e fled in panic, and Wang Yun pursued him relentlessly. Just as Ma Xi'e was about to be captured alive, at this most critical moment, Ma Xiguang sent someone to deliver the "Guang-style quotations" at full speed:
"Don't hurt my brother!"

Wang Yun gritted his teeth and clenched his fists in regret. He could only give a salute to Ma Xi'e, whose life was hanging by a thread, and let the tiger go back to the mountains.

Ma Xi'e escaped and returned to Langzhou in a broken boat. Seeing the miserable state of the defeated army, Yuan Shi burst into tears and said, "The disaster is about to happen. I can't bear to see it with my own eyes!" Then she jumped into a well and committed suicide.

Having achieved a temporary victory in the military, Ma Xiguang's group wanted to continue to isolate Ma Xi'e diplomatically, so they continuously paid tribute to the Later Han Dynasty with gold, silver and treasures in the hope that the Later Han Dynasty would adhere to the basic international political principle of "one Chu State".

At that time, Guo Wei, a general of the Later Han Dynasty, had just put down the "Three Rebellions in the West" and then extended his favor to the whole country, forcing Liu Chengyou to confer great titles and rewards throughout the country. Ma Xiguang of Southern Chu was also conferred the title of Grand Commandant.

Ma Xizhan, the governor of Jingjiang Army in Guizhou, saw that the conflict between his two brothers was intensifying. He sent envoys to persuade them several times, but the two brothers refused to listen. Ma Xizhan was so anxious that he cried bitterly, but it was useless. When the civil war officially broke out and the Battle of Pushezhou started, Ma Xizhan believed that the demise of Chu was imminent. He was so worried and angry that he developed a sore on his back and died.

The medical issue touched upon my blind spot in knowledge. During that period, many people were overly worried and angry, and they developed ulcers on their backs and died. I don’t know what kind of disease this was.

The death of Ma Xizhan still did not wake up Ma Xi'e and Ma Xiguang, and the civil war in Southern Chu intensified.

In June 950 AD, Ma Xi'e made a comeback. He colluded with the barbarian tribes near Chenzhou, Chuzhou and Meishan to attack Tanzhou together.

Chenzhou, Chuzhou, and Meishan are all located to the west of Tanzhou, at the border between Nanchu and Nanzhao. They belong to the "Jie Mizhou". In principle, they are Chinese territory, but in reality, they are ethnic autonomous regions and strategic buffer zones between the Central Plains and Nanzhao. When the Central Plains is strong, this region is obedient, but once the Central Plains falls into chaos, they will harass the border, and more often, they are used as mercenaries by the surrounding vassal states.

(End of this chapter)