History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 737: The Fall of Southern Chu
When the head was delivered, Liu Yan and others insisted that what Ma Xichong had sent was a high-end imitation, citing the hot weather and the rotten head that made it impossible to identify it. They also cursed the courier, Chenyang County Magistrate Li Yi.

Li Yi was forced to prove his innocence by committing suicide. However, this was useless because the person who wronged you knew your injustice better than you did.

Ma Xichong's situation was the most difficult since Ma Yin's death:
In international diplomacy, he was in a hostile state with the great country of the Central Plains (Later Zhou), and the suzerain state Huainan was not only unwilling to help him, but also prepared to invade him.

At home, Liu Yan of Langzhou launched a separatist rebellion, and his strength was comparable to that of Tanzhou.

Within the imperial court, Ma Xichong inherited his brothers' licentious and immoral family tradition and was very unpopular. In particular, his act of "following orders" to kill Ma Xi'e's former subordinates aroused unanimous disgust from all civil and military officials.

Ma Xichong's position is precarious.

As for Ma Xi'e's fate, Ma Xichong's sinister and cunning side was highlighted. He ordered Peng Shihao to be in charge of guarding Ma Xi'e.

When Ma Xi'e and Ma Xiguang were fighting each other, Peng Shihao was a member of the "pro-Guang faction" who was loyal to Ma Xiguang. When Tanzhou was conquered, Peng Shihao threw himself down and asked for death. Ma Xi'e was moved by his loyalty and did not kill him. Instead, he gave him a beating as a punishment and then demoted him to a commoner.

Peng Shihao buried Ma Xiguang in the east of Tanzhou City, fulfilling his final loyalty as a subject to Ma Xiguang.

Ma Xi Chong judged others by his own mean character and thought that Peng Shihao, who had been whipped by Ma Xi'e and demoted to a commoner, must be harboring resentment towards Ma Xi'e. Therefore, he specifically let Peng Shihao be in charge of looking after Ma Xi'e, intending to kill someone with a borrowed knife (Xi Chong thought that Shihao and Wang had an old grudge, and wanted to avoid killing his brother).

What he didn't know was that Peng Shihao not only didn't hold a grudge against Ma Xi'e for whipping him, but was very grateful for his mercy in not killing him. Peng Shihao didn't throw stones at Ma Xi'e, who had become a prisoner, but still treated him with courtesy as a subject.

Ma Xicong sent his men to "instruct" Peng Shihao, asking him to take revenge quickly and kill Ma Xi'e.

Peng Shihao smiled coldly and said, "Humph, you want to kill someone with a borrowed knife and let me bear the infamy of regicide for thousands of years? Dream on." Peng Shihao flatly refused, and then served Ma Xi'e with doubly respect.

Ma Xichong was very unhappy. Since you are unwilling to do it, I will have to do it myself. He ordered Ma Xi'e to come to Tanzhou.

When the news came, Peng Shihao was extremely anxious and hurried to discuss with the local commander (Hengshan commander) Liao Yan.

Liao Yan was a "third generation red" of Southern Chu. His father was Liao Kuangtu and his grandfather was Liao Shuang. Liao Shuang was originally a general under Lu Guangchou of Qianzhou. Later, in order to avoid Liu Yan of Southern Han, he led his entire clan and thousands of his followers to Tanzhou and took refuge with Ma Yin. Ma Yin initially refused because Liao Shuang was highly respected and had many supporters. He was worried that he would bring a wolf into the house. His subordinates advised him, "Liao means food, and horses will be fat if they get food." Only then did Ma Yin accept Liao Shuang and recommended Liao Shuang as the governor of Yongzhou.

Liao Kuangtu, the son of Liao Shuang, was talented and good at poetry and calligraphy. He was appointed by Ma Yin as the magistrate of Jiangnan. Ma Xifan set up "Eighteen Scholars of Tiance Palace", and Liao Kuangtu was among them, ranking eighth. Two volumes of his poetry collections have been circulated in the world, and "Complete Tang Poems" includes four of his poems.

Liao Kuangtu had a younger brother, Liao Kuangqi. Unlike his elegant elder brother, Liao Kuangqi was a talented general and served as the commander of the decisive army. Later, the Xizhou barbarians (Peng Shiran, the father of Peng Shihao) invaded the border and Liao Kuangqi died in battle. Ma Xifan sent people to his home to express condolences and comfort his mother. Liao's mother did not shed a tear, but turned around to comfort Ma Xifan and said to the envoy: "The three hundred members of the Liao family have all received the grace of the king. Even if all the family members died for the country, it would not be enough to repay the grace of the king, let alone sacrificing only one person. I hope the king will not worry about it." Ma Xifan was very moved and gave the Liao family a generous reward. The historian commented on the Liao family as "well-mannered and martial".

Liao Yan was born into this family. He received education from the Party and the country since childhood. He was born with the gene of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism.

After receiving the news that Ma Xicong had summoned Ma Xi'e, Liao Yan discussed with his uncle Liao Kuangning and said that our family has benefited from the Ma family for generations, and now, Ma Xi'e is the oldest, but he is about to be killed, so why don't we support his restoration?

The uncle and nephew hit it off immediately, and they joined forces with Peng Shihao to recruit soldiers and send a hundred brave warriors to protect Ma Xi'e 24 hours a day. They supported him as the "King of Hengshan", transformed the county government into a royal command center, set up fences and iron locks in the Xiangjiang River to cut off the waterway, and used large bamboo to make light speedboats, preparing to resist Ma Xichong with force.

Ma Xi'e then upgraded the county to a prefecture, and established the "Wuqing Army" with Hengshan County as its headquarters, and appointed Peng Shihao as the military governor of Wuqing Army. After a few days, he actually recruited more than 10,000 troops, and many nearby prefectures and counties responded, and Ma Xi'e "restored".

Ma Xi'e sent his staff Liu Xu to Huainan to ask for help. "Brother, I'm not dead yet. Brother, I can still be saved."

Xu Wei and others who helped Ma Xichong to seize power discovered that Ma Xichong and Ma Xi'e were birds of a feather. To put it more eloquently, he had made no achievements or improvements, or to put it more simply, he had not been given the corresponding rewards. So they became resentful.

Now, the civil war in Southern Chu has reached an unprecedented height: a three-way confrontation. Liu Yan of Langzhou and Ma Xi'e of Hengshan are both threatening Ma Xichong of Tanzhou. Moreover, among these three forces, Ma Xichong is the weakest, but he is the public enemy of the other two forces. The situation is not optimistic. So Xu Wei was afraid again.

Fear and anxiety became catalysts, magnifying resentment. Xu Wei was unwilling to sink with Ma Xichong, so he planned to kill Ma Xichong to redeem himself.

Ma Xi Chong also realized that the crisis was approaching, so he secretly sent people to Huainan for help.

Huainan received requests for help from Ma Xi'e and Ma Xichong at the same time. The horses of Southern Chu were fighting for the stables, and two of them asked Huainan for help. This made Huainan, who had been planning to annex Southern Chu, smell an opportunity.

Li Jing gave an order to Bian Hao stationed in Yuanzhou: lead an army of 10,000 and attack Tanzhou directly!

This is interesting. Ma Xi'e and Ma Xichong both believed that Huainan was coming to help them. After Bian Hao led his army into the country, Ma Xichong immediately sent envoys to reward the army, and then sent Tiance Mansion scholar and founding hero Tuoba Heng to bring a letter of surrender and submit it to Bian Hao.

Tuoba Heng sighed to the sky, "Why did you let me live so long? I actually delivered the surrender letter for this brat. What a shame!"

On October 951, 10, Ma Xichong led his entire family to meet Gao Ying from afar, kneeling outside the city of Tanzhou to greet him. When they saw dust rising in the sky, Ma Xichong and his companions began to kowtow until Bian Hao rode up to them. They were extremely humble and submissive.

(End of this chapter)