History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 738: The Fall of Southern Chu 2
Bian Hao threw off the stirrup and relayed Li Jing's advice. Then he and Ma Xi Chong entered Tanzhou City from the east gate. All the officials of Southern Chu gathered to congratulate and wait for Bian Hao's decision. Bian Hao prepared rewards for everyone and advised them not to be alarmed or disturbed.

At that time, Southern Chu also suffered from natural disasters, and there were starving people everywhere. Bian Hao ordered the granaries to be opened and grain to be released. The people of Tanzhou were delighted, and the entire Southern Chu country, from top to bottom, did not feel the pain of losing the country.

Historical records recorded the scene of the fall of Southern Chu: "Hunan general Bi congratulated...the people of Chu were very happy."

After Tanzhou surrendered, Huainan sent Liu Renzhan, the military governor of Wuchang, Ezhou, to lead 200 warships to capture Yuezhou. As a result, the people of Yuezhou also "forgot their death".

Bian Hao urged Ma Xichong and his family to move to Huainan to pay homage to Li Jing. Ma Xichong's family burst into tears, and then bribed Bian Hao with a large sum of money, asking him to say a few good words and allow Ma to stay in Nanchu.

Bian Hao sneered and said in a sarcastic tone: "Huainan and Hunan are enemies for generations, and the feud has existed for sixty years! For sixty years, we in Huainan have never dared to attack Hunan. Today, you brothers are fighting with each other and have nowhere to go, so you actively ask Huainan for protection. If you are indecisive and want to play tricks at this time, you may suffer unexpected worries!"

Ma Xichong was so frightened that he forgot how to cry.

On November 11, the entire Ma family and civil and military officials, totaling more than a thousand people, boarded the ship and entered the Huai River while crying bitterly. Those who came to see them off also cried loudly, "the sound of the river and valley shook." The Chu people finally woke up from their ecstasy and realized that they were not liberated people, but slaves of a conquered country.

Ma Xi'e of Hengshan had a crazy idea. He wrote a memorial to Li Jing of Huainan, requesting Li Jing to still appoint him as the governor of Wu'an Army of Tanzhou and continue to rule the Hunan area.

According to historical records, the people of Tanzhou hated Ma Xi'e's rule so much that they jointly requested that Comrade Bian Hao be in charge of Tanzhou. So Li Jing followed the will of the people and appointed Bian Hao as the governor of Tanzhou Wu'an Army.

Here is a question worth pondering: were the people of Tanzhou really asking for Bian Hao to stay? Or was it really the will of the people of Tanzhou?

Li Jing certainly didn't want the Ma family to revive, so it was impossible for Ma Xi'e to return to Tanzhou. Bian Hao led a large army and annexed Tanzhou without a single soldier. He had soldiers, money, and territory, and Li Jing didn't dare to offend him. If Bian Hao had some small ideas and instigated the people of Tanzhou, or hired a group of extras (this kind of thing is very common), it is not impossible.

Bian Hao sent a vanguard officer to Hengshan and ordered Ma Xi'e to go to Huai to meet the emperor.

Ma Xi'e was very obedient. He arrived in Huainan in December with more than 12 of his troops to meet Li Jing.

Li Jing was still very caring towards the two Ma brothers. He still conferred the title of King of Chu on Ma Xi'e, granted him the title of Surveillance Commissioner of Jiangnan West Road and Minister of the Central Secretariat, and appointed Ma Xichong as the Jiedushi of Yongtai Army and the Shizhong.

Although both of them held the titles of Observation Envoy and Jiedushi, they were not allowed to go to the town, but were placed under house arrest in the capital (now Nanjing, Jiangsu Province). A few years later, Ma Xi'e died of illness, while Ma Xichong survived until the fall of Huainan, and moved to the Later Zhou with 17 brothers, and was not recorded in the history books afterwards.

Li Jing highly appreciated Peng Shihao and Liao Yan's loyalty to their old master and gave them very generous treatment; all the governors of the states in Southern Chu had to come to Huainan to report on their duties and show their loyalty to the new master. Only Wang Yun was very reluctant and was the last to report, and was poisoned to death by Li Jing.

Generally speaking, in 951 AD, Huainan annexed Southern Chu. But just like it annexed the Min Kingdom, there were still remnant forces that had not completely surrendered. For example, Liu Yan of Langzhou, in addition to this, there was also the Jingjiang Army of Guizhou that had not surrendered. The deputy governor of the Jingjiang Army of Guizhou was Ma Xiyin, the youngest son of Ma Yin. When Ma Xi'e and Ma Xiguang were fighting internally, Liu Hongxi of the Southern Han Dynasty had stationed troops in the border area, waiting for an opportunity to invade. Ma Xiguang sent General Peng Yanhui to station in the southwest of Guizhou to strengthen vigilance. Later, Ma Xi'e made a comeback in the east of Hengshan, and Peng Yanhui was promoted to the military supervisor of Guizhou, in charge of Guizhou affairs, which actually led to a power struggle with Ma Xiyin, the deputy governor of Guizhou.

In order to consolidate his power, Ma Xiyin called on Xu Keqiong who was also exiled to Mengzhou. As mentioned earlier, Xu Keqiong betrayed Ma Xiguang but did not receive any mercy from Ma Xie. Not only was she not rewarded, but she was exiled to Mengzhou instead.

Xu Keqiong was full of resentment towards the authorities and was also afraid of the invasion of Liu Hongxi of the Southern Han Dynasty. After receiving the call from Ma Xiyin, he immediately abandoned Mengzhou and led his people to Guizhou, and then attacked Peng Yanhui together with Ma Xiyin. Peng Yanhui was defeated and fled to Hengshan to seek refuge with Ma Xie.

Ma Xiyin and Xu Keqiong then established their own territory in Guizhou, while Southern Han took over Mengzhou for free, and then continued to advance and encroach on the land of Southern Chu. Ma Xiyin and Xu Keqiong were helpless in this matter, and they could only drink to relieve their sorrow every day, and when they were drunk, they would cry together to vent their emotions.

Liu Hongxi of the Southern Han wrote to Ma Xiyin to persuade him to surrender, saying that your father Ma Yin was so awesome, that Southern Chu had enjoyed fifty years of peace and prosperity, but in recent years, due to the fratricide between Ma Xiguang and Ma Xie, the foundation that the previous king had worked so hard for was handed over to the archenemy Huainan. Now, Huainan has occupied Tanzhou, and the next target must be your Guizhou. Southern Chu and Southern Han have been friendly for generations and have a marriage relationship. The two countries are uncle and nephew countries, how can I stand by and watch you die? I have sent a large army to support you in regaining your father and brother's foundation!

The words sound nice, but the real meaning is to let Ma Xiyin and the Jingjiang Army of Guizhou surrender to Southern Han.

After weighing the pros and cons, Ma Xiyin decided to surrender to Southern Han, but his aide Pan Xuangui urged against it.

While the officials were discussing the matter, Wu Huai'en, the commander of the Northern Expedition Army of the Southern Han Dynasty, had already led a large army to the city of Guizhou. Ma Xiyin and Xu Keqiong led their troops to flee urgently to Quanzhou (now Quanzhou County, Guangxi). Guizhou was leaderless and fell into chaos, so Wu Huai'en led his army to take over.

Afterwards, Wu Huai'en occupied large tracts of territory including Yizhou, Lianzhou, Wuzhou, Yanzhou, Fuzhou, Zhaozhou, Liuzhou, Gongzhou, and Xiangzhou in one breath. Since then, Southern Han has owned the entire Lingnan territory.

After Huainan conquered Chu, the biggest beneficiary was Southern Han.

After conquering Lingnan almost without bloodshed, Liu Hongxi was still not satisfied. He sent a large army deep into the hinterland of Hunan to attack Chenzhou (now Chenzhou City, Hunan Province), hoping to take the opportunity to extend the tentacles of Southern Han into the interior.

Huainan ordered Bian Hao to rescue, and the two sides fought fiercely. The Huainan army was defeated, and the Southern Han army took advantage of the victory to occupy Chenzhou.

Huainan's Min State project is losing money to gain publicity, and the Nanchu project is also a waste of time - as usual. Let's take a quick look at the situation of Huainan after swallowing Nanchu:
1. Langzhou Liu Yan, undecided;
2. All Lingnan areas including Guizhou fell into the hands of Southern Han;
3. The Tanzhou army mutinied, and then the Tanzhou and Lang armies joined forces.

Three years ago (949), three towns in the Later Han Dynasty rebelled one after another, and many areas on the north bank of the Huai River saw a "migration of the elite to the south". A large number of people fled to Huainan. Li Jing sent troops to garrison and support them at the border. At that time, Xian Shilang, the defender of Mengcheng of the Later Han Dynasty, led his troops to Huainan, and Li Jing reorganized his troops into "Fengjiedu".

(End of this chapter)