History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 746 You may not believe it, but Yang Meng was the first to do it
[You may not believe it, but it was Yang Meng who started it first]

Either explode in silence or perish in silence. The Yang regime reached its most critical moment, and Yang Meng was forced to make a final roar: Get up, get up, get up!
Yang Meng was risking everything. He wanted to single-handedly resist Wang Hong's 200 guards, and even more so, he wanted to single-handedly resist Xu Zhigao's dictatorial power.

On the Mid-Autumn Festival, Yang Meng suddenly attacked and killed Wang Hong. Wang Hong's son gathered the guards to suppress him, but Yang Meng shot Wang Hong's son dead with one arrow. It can be seen that Yang Meng is both civil and military, and he is quite capable.

To capture the thief, you must first capture the leader. Yang Meng killed Wang Hong and his son, and actually managed to break out of the siege of 200 soldiers. After escaping successfully, Yang Meng fled to Luzhou, which was the old revolutionary base of the Yang regime. The current Jiedushi of Luzhou Desheng Army was Zhou Ben, one of the founders of the Yang regime and a meritorious veteran. Yang Meng placed his hope for the revival of the Yang family on Zhou Ben.

When Zhou Ben heard that Yang Meng was coming to surrender, he was ready to warmly welcome him and pay his respects to the young lord, but his son Zhou Hongzuo hurriedly stopped him.

Zhou Ben was furious and yelled at his son, "My young master came to see me, why can't I meet him?"

Zhou Hongzuo stamped his feet and beat his chest, "Dad, you are so confused! You are not welcoming the young master, you are clearly bringing disaster to our family!"

The father and son were arguing. Zhou Ben was old after all, so Zhou Hongzuo ordered people to close the door of his house and put the old man under house arrest. Then he sent his personal guards to capture Yang Meng alive, tied him up with ropes, sent him to Yangzhou, and presented him to Xu Zhigao.

This scene is very similar to Shi Jingtang offering Li Conghou to Li Congke.

Xu Zhigao could not wait to kill Yang Meng in Yangzhou, so he sent people to meet him at full speed. He intercepted Yang Meng in Caishi Town (now Ma'anshan City, Anhui Province), and then claimed that he was following the order of Emperor Yang Pu to kill Yang Meng on the spot, demote him to a commoner, and remove him from the royal family tree.

Guo Cong, the commander of the Hezhou guards who was in charge of Yang Meng, killed all of Yang Meng's wife, children and elders who were left in Hezhou. Xu Zhigao was very angry and severely reprimanded him, "Why are you so cruel? Don't do that again in the future."

Wang Lingmou, the prime minister who actively brokered the abdication, was seriously ill and was about to die. People advised him to retire and recuperate, but he insisted on persuading the emperor to ascend the throne despite his illness, saying to those around him that the great cause of the Prince of Qi (Xu Zhigao) had not yet been completed, so how could he dare to seek comfort? At this time, he was old and weak, and all his teeth had fallen out, but he still urged Yang Pu to abdicate.

Unfortunately, he did not live to see the day when Xu Zhigao ascended the throne.

In August, Yang Pu, the puppet emperor of Southern Wu, formally issued an edict of abdication, ordering Prince of Qi Xu Zhigao to ascend the throne and become emperor in the form of a red-headed document (edict).

Veteran general Li Decheng took the lead and led hundreds of civil and military officials to Shengzhou to persuade the emperor to ascend the throne. Everyone signed the petition in order of their official rank and title. Only one person in the court refused to sign, and that person was Song Qiuqiu.

On September 9, Wang Lingmou finally closed his eyes forever with endless regrets. On September 4, Yang Pu ordered the prince Yang Lin to carry the imperial seal and other imperial tokens to Shengzhou and personally hand them over to Xu Zhigao. From this moment on, "Southern Wu", one of the Ten Kingdoms, was officially declared extinct.

On October 10, Xu Zhigao officially ascended the throne in Shengzhou and proclaimed himself emperor. He changed the era name and issued a general amnesty, changing "the third year of Tianzuo" to "the first year of Shengyuan", and changed the country's name to "Da Qi".

Xu Zhigao gave Yang Pu the title of "Gao Shang Si Xuan Hong Gu Rang Huang" and moved him to Runzhou, where he named the inner city of Runzhou "Danyang Palace" for him to live in.

Runzhou Danyang Palace became the most mysterious and highest-level prison in Huainan, where Yang Pu, the highest-level political prisoner in Huainan, was imprisoned. Yang Pu wore Taoist robes every day and practiced magic for immortality.

Xu Zhigao appointed Wang Yu as the governor of Runzhou, Gongsun Gui as the military supervisor of Runzhou, and Ma Siqian as the envoy of Danyang Palace. The three of them became the direct persons in charge of the prison. Later, Yang Pu's family, men, women and children, were moved to Danyang Palace.

In December (some say October) of the following year (938), Xu Zhigao sent someone to secretly execute Yang Pu. It is said that Yang Pu was reciting Buddhist scriptures in his study when the assassin rushed towards him. Yang Pu, who had been a coward all his life, finally showed his courage and picked up the incense burner on the table and threw it at the assassin. Later, Comrade Yang Pu was assassinated at the age of 12 (some say 10).

When the bad news came, Xu Zhigao was heartbroken. He announced a 27-day suspension of court as a sign of mourning and posthumously bestowed the title of "Rui Emperor".

Afterwards, the entire Yang clan was moved from Runzhou to Taizhou, and the place where they lived was renamed "Yongning Palace". Taizhou governor Chu Rengui was appointed as the direct person in charge of the Yongning Palace prison, and it was strictly guarded and no one was allowed to approach.

Xu Zhigao's treatment of the Yang clan has always been criticized by people. Under his orders, Yongning Palace became a forbidden place isolated from the outside world, and they were not allowed to marry with outsiders, only allowed to marry freely within the family. As a result, scandals such as incest and close relatives marrying in Yongning Palace became the talk of the streets in Huainan area. The people of Huainan sighed.

Xu Zhigao remained highly alert to the direct descendants of the Yang clan, and most of them died mysteriously or disappeared:
Yang Pu's brother Yang Che is missing. Actually, the so-called "missing" can be translated as "secretly executed by Xu Zhigao, the time and place are unknown";
Yang Xingmi had another son who was sickly and dumb since childhood, nicknamed "Silent Yang". His name is not recorded in historical records, and it is unknown whether he lived or died.
Yang Pu's eldest son Yang Lian was Xu Zhigao's son-in-law. On his way back from visiting Yang Pu's grave, he was secretly assassinated by Xu Zhigao, who lied to the public that he had drunk too much and died.

Yang Pu's youngest son was only five years old. Xu Zhigao appointed him to an official position and then sent his trusted eunuch to deliver official uniforms. On the day the eunuch arrived, the five-year-old child died mysteriously.

The remaining members of the Yang clan were imprisoned for nearly twenty years until Chai Rong, the Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou, went south to conquer the Huai River. The rulers of Southern Tang were worried that Later Zhou would play the "Yang clan card", so they urgently killed all the members of the Yang clan.

(End of this chapter)