History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 732 Tanzhou Battle 1
Meng Pian was not afraid at all and said, "Since ancient times, when two countries are at war, they do not kill envoys. Moreover, if I were a coward, how could I be here? Please consider my words carefully. It is not only for the good of Tanzhou, but also for your own good. Young man, learn from your mistakes."

Ma Xi'e admired his courage, so he released him and asked him to tell Ma Xiguang: "Don't bother with that useless thing. Things have come to this point. The great cause has been abandoned. We will meet in the underworld."

The competition between Tanzhou and Langzhou was all-round, three-dimensional, and without blind spots. In addition to military affairs, diplomacy, culture and other fields were also battlefields without smoke of gunpowder. For example, Meng Pian's lobbying this time revealed a contest at the cultural level. Tanzhou blamed Langzhou with "Three Kingdoms"; Langzhou replied with "Zuo Zhuan" (Zheng Zhuanggong "can't reach the underworld, so we can't meet").

The Yiyang Campaign enabled the Langzhou army to complete the military encirclement of Tanzhou, and the Meizhou Campaign undermined Tanzhou's fighting spirit. Langzhou's chief general Zhu Jinzhong advised Ma Xi'e to make a final push and personally attack Tanzhou to complete the final blow.

Ma Xi'e then proclaimed himself "King Shuntian" and asked his son Ma Guangzan to stay in Langzhou, while he mobilized all the armed forces to personally attack Tanzhou.

Ma Xiguang was terrified and hurriedly asked for help from the Later Zhou. Liu Chengyou of the Later Han Dynasty planned to send Wang Lingwen, the governor of Anyuan Army in Anzhou, to the south to reinforce Tanzhou, but it was early November 950. A few days later, on November 11, the "Xiao Qiang Incident" killed Shi Hongzhao, Yang Bin and others, and then Guo Wei entered Bianzhou. The Later Han Dynasty's troops to support Tanzhou did not have time to go out.

Ma Xi'e had a clear idea. After joining forces with Zhu Jinzhong of Yutan, he did not rush to attack Tanzhou, but detoured to the northeast and attacked Yuezhou first.

Yuezhou is located at the confluence of Dongting Lake and the Yangtze River, and is also the border junction of the four kingdoms (Southern Chu, Jingnan, Hou Han, and Huainan). Controlling Yuezhou can help you welcome reinforcements from Huainan, or block reinforcements from Tanzhou.

However, Ma Xi'e attacked fiercely for five days but made no progress because the governor of Yuezhou was Wang Yun, the son of Wang Huan.

Ma Xi'e changed his mindset and tried to persuade him to surrender politically. He personally went to the city to speak to him, and rebuked him in a stern tone: "Aren't you a minister of the Ma family? If you don't serve me, do you want to serve the enemy country? If you are a minister but have two hearts, don't you disgrace your ancestors?"

This is called stealing and replacing the pillars, maliciously replacing the concept. This is a brotherly dispute between Ma Xi'e and Ma Xiguang. No matter which side Wang Yun is loyal to, he is loyal to the Ma family. Moreover, the legal heir of the Ma family is Ma Xiguang, not Ma Xi'e. Moreover, it is precisely Ma Xi'e who betrayed the country and surrendered to the enemy. Ma Xi'e was a vassal in Huainan. However, Ma Xi'e said that Wang Yun's loyalty to Ma Xiguang was treason and betrayal.

Wang Yun clasped his fists and saluted, saying, "My father, Wang Huan, was a loyal subordinate of the previous king (Ma Yin), and he had won six victories over the Huainan army. Now, the king's brothers are fighting each other and are incompatible with each other. I have always been worried that Huainan will reap the benefits. If we, the 'second generation of reds', are forced to submit to the enemy Huainan, it would be a disgrace to our ancestors!"

Wang Yun's situation was very embarrassing, just like the "Battle of Jingnan" in the early Ming Dynasty. If you were a general guarding a city or a pass, and Prince of Yan Zhu Di was at the gate of the city, accusing you of disloyalty and ordering you to open the gate and let them pass, how would you respond?
Therefore, Wang Yun "avoided the important and focused on the trivial", circumvented the question of who was right and who was wrong, and raised the realm from "family" to "country". Considering his situation, this should be the standard answer.

The following words are recorded in different historical materials in a seemingly similar but very different way:

"If the king can put aside his grievances and withdraw his troops, and the brothers can be as harmonious as before, I will dare not serve the king and his brothers with my whole life. How could I have two hearts?" - "Zizhi Tongjian"

"I hope that the king will enter Changsha without hurting our fellow countrymen. How dare I, a minister, not be loyal and have two hearts?" - "Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms"

At first glance, the meanings seem similar, but upon closer inspection, the two sentences have completely different meanings. According to the "Zizhi Tongjian", Wang Yun advised Ma Xi'e to withdraw his troops and coexist peacefully with Ma Xiguang, which means that Wang Yun recognized Ma Xiguang as the only legitimate ruler of Southern Chu;
According to the "Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms", Wang Yun had already recognized Ma Xi'e's rule and had indirectly pledged his loyalty to him.

In other words, these two sentences involve a sensitive principled issue in the civil war in Southern Chu - are you a "pro-Guang faction" or a "pro-E faction".

Regarding this most critical question, history has given us seemingly consistent yet completely opposite answers.

In short, after hearing Wang Yun's statement, Ma Xi'e felt very ashamed, so he lifted the siege of Yuezhou and marched south. From this action, I am more inclined to the record in "Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms".

Ma Xi'e arrived at Xiangyin (now Xiangyin County, Hunan Province), north of Tanzhou, where he smashed, looted and burned, and then advanced to the city of Tanzhou.

The last of the "three major battles" of the Southern Chu Civil War - the Battle of Tanzhou, is about to begin.

The Xiangshui River, which runs from north to south, and the Liuyang River, which runs from east to west, meet in the north of Tanzhou. The two rivers form a natural moat on the north and west sides of Tanzhou.

Ma Xi'e stationed on the west bank of the Xiang River, facing Tanzhou across the water; he sent infantry to join forces with the barbarian tribes and stationed on Yuelu Mountain on the west bank of the Xiang River; Zhu Jinzhong also rushed from Yutan to the west side of Tanzhou to join forces with the army.

Ma Xiguang sent Xu Dexun's son Xu Keqiong to lead 500 warships to anchor at Beijin. The warships were connected from the north wharf to the south wharf, crowded under his eyes, and felt very safe. The military supervisor of this army turned out to be Ma Xichong, which was a foreshadowing for the later text.
Li Yanwen, commander-in-chief of cavalry, was sent to lead cavalry to station at Tuokou (the confluence of the Xiang River and the Liuyang River); Han Li, commander-in-chief of infantry, was sent to lead 2,000 infantry to station at Yangliu Bridge to block the crossing of the river by the Langzhou army on the west bank.

The two armies confronted each other along the Xiang River. This was the calm before the storm.

On the west bank, Langzhou general Zhu Jinzhong and the barbarian coalition, totaling 7,000 people, were gearing up to launch an attack on Tanzhou; on the east bank, the morale of the Tanzhou defenders was low and the people were in a panic, but there was one general who remained calm. He climbed to a high place and looked into the distance, then showed a triumphant joy and hurriedly reported to Ma Xiguang that he had a plan to defeat the enemy.

This man was named Peng Shihao, the second son of Peng Shiran. His family had been the chieftains of the barbarians in Xizhou for generations. During the reign of Ma Xifan, they invaded Southern Chu, but after being defeated, they surrendered to Southern Chu. Peng Shihao was detained in Tanzhou as a hostage.

Southern Chu continued the Central Plains' consistent policy towards ethnic minorities, that is, to control and appease them. Peng Shiran was still appointed as the governor of Xizhou to manage Xizhou, while his second son Peng Shihao "entered the court as an official" and remotely served as the governor of Chenzhou.

However, Peng Shihao suffered discrimination due to his "barbarian" identity, and his rough and straightforward character was incompatible with bureaucracy, so he was marginalized. Only Ma Xiguang took good care of him and warmed his heart. Peng Shihao was very grateful to Ma Xiguang and secretly vowed to dedicate his whole life to him.

(End of this chapter)