History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 752: “Health Products” Kill People (Part )

When the previous article described the history of the demise of the Kingdom of Min and Southern Chu, the figure of Huainan was already interspersed. As the second-generation monarch of Southern Tang, Li Jing sent troops to divide Min and swallow Chu. He forgot the pain of biting his finger and threw his father's earnest teachings before his death to the winds. The consequences were as Xu Zhigao had expected, without exception, all of which were more harm than good.

Before his death, Xu Zhigao was afraid that Li Jing would not understand the ambitions hidden under his friendly appearance, so he specifically warned him: "If there is trouble in the north in the future, don't forget my words!"

After arranging his funeral arrangements, Xu Zhigao finally closed his eyes forever.

Xu Zhigao has been given very high positive evaluations in history. For example, the patriotic poet Lu You, who is well known to us, said ("When the royal army conquers the Central Plains in the north, do not forget to tell your father about it during the family sacrifice"), and that Xu Zhigao "was in office for seven years, and the army did not move rashly, so the country could rest", because Xu Zhigao "grew up among soldiers and knew that the people were tired of chaos". As a ruler, Xu Zhigao was well aware of the disasters that war brought to the people, so he was always "kind, respectful, frugal, and dedicated to taking care of the people". The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences owes him a Nobel Peace Prize.

Lu You's final verdict on Xu Zhigao was that he "had the style of ancient wise rulers", comparable to Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wen and Wu.

"Jiangnan Wild History" said that since Xu Zhigao had sidelined the Xu family, there had only been one military conflict with the Wuyue Kingdom in decades, and it was a last resort. It also recorded that Xu Zhigao often promoted his universal values, "Everyone has their own parents, so why should we fight for cities and land, and let their blood be stained on the grass?" He still had the image of a pacifist and benevolent monarch.

The evaluation in "Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms" is relatively objective, without exaggeration or slander. It fully affirms Xu Zhigao's great achievements, but also does not avoid his ignominious path to power:
"He was all alone, without an inch of land, but he used the name of Xu to dominate the south of the Yangtze River. He used the people of Ju to destroy the plan of Shu, and turned his family into a country... He stopped fighting and nurtured the people, and recruited wise men to expand the territory. He was truly a virtuous king."

The story of the people of Ju destroying the people of Shu is an allusion to the Spring and Autumn Period. In a nutshell, it was about a different family trying to seize power.

The historical evaluation of the rulers and ministers of Huainan often presents two aspects. In the final analysis, it comes down to the famous saying: history is written by the victors.

Huainan (Southern Tang) was eventually annexed by the Central Plains Dynasty (Song) during the reign of Xu Zhigao's grandson, Li Yu, the last ruler of Southern Tang. Moreover, the Huainan forces had always been mortal enemies with the Central Plains Dynasty since the end of the Tang Dynasty. At that time, Zhu Wen was still living in Bianzhou, and Yang Xingmi had just occupied Xuanzhou. He used Xuanzhou as a revolutionary base and competed with the great thief Sun Ru for Yangzhou. From that time (889), the feud between the two sides was formed. When the historical process officially entered the Five Dynasties (907), Huainan bravely took on the heavy responsibility of the "Pig Killing Alliance" and became the leader and vanguard of the international anti-Zhu and anti-Liang alliance.

As will be described in detail later, Huainan was also a tough nut to crack in the great cause of unification by the ambitious and talented Emperor Taizong of Later Zhou, Chai Rong.

So from the perspective of the Central Plains dynasty, Huainan was like pulling out a thatched hut to build a high-rise building - it was smelly from the beginning, and the bricks in the cesspool were smelly and hard. They were stubborn reactionaries and counter-revolutionaries who hindered the unification of the country. The historians of the Central Plains did not deliberately discredit the rulers and ministers of Huainan, and did not criticize Xu Zhigao as Jie and Zhou. They were already upholding their moral sentiments and professional bottom line. Don't expect them to praise Xu Zhigao as Yao and Shun.

Lu You, who dared to praise Xu Zhigao, lived in the period of communication between the two Song Dynasties. This period was particularly important. First of all, talking about Huainan during this period was no longer a political taboo, just like praising or criticizing the Qing Dynasty after the founding of New China, you could laugh or scold as you pleased; secondly, the imperial court moved south, the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed, and the Southern Song Dynasty was established. The center of the country shifted from the traditional Central Plains to the Jianghuai region. If you still regard Huainan people as "outsiders" or even "enemies" at this time, it would obviously be inappropriate, and you should praise them, after all, we are all one family.

When evaluating Xu Zhigao, there is a statement that is very debatable or very easy to cause ambiguity, that is, he "worshipped Taoism" and left us prematurely at the age of 56. When it comes to worshipping Buddhism and Taoism, it is inevitable that readers will associate with the appearance of the foolish emperors and treacherous ministers of past dynasties. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period alone, there were absurd and bizarre stories such as Gao Pian's obsession with Taoism and worship of Lu Yongzhi.

However, although Xu Zhigao also took the elixir, there is no record of him neglecting his political affairs, nor is there any record of him getting close to people like Lu Yongzhi, and there is no rumor that he harmed the people because of it. On the contrary, the main topic of his conversations with Taoists was how to govern the country well, such as a conversation between Xu Zhigao and Taoist Wang Qixia.

Wang Qixia, historical records only say that he was from Shandong today (born in Qilu), also known as Wang Jingzhen, with the courtesy name Yuanyin. It is not known whether he was from Qixia City, Yantai City, Shandong Province today. This man was a veritable child prodigy, who passed the imperial examination at the age of seven in 889 AD. It seems that he has an indissoluble bond with Huainan.

Later, in order to avoid the war, Wang Qixia moved from Shandong to Huainan, where he followed the Taoist priest Nie Shidao to spread Taoism. He then went to Maoshan to study the Dadong Zhenjing with the Taoist master Deng Qixia.

Nie Shidao was a famous Taoist master in the late Tang Dynasty and a famous figure in Chinese Taoism. He was from Shezhou. When Yang Xingmi was fighting for hegemony in Huainan, his capable generals Tian Yu and Tao Ya besieged Shezhou for a long time. There was no reinforcement outside Shezhou, and the food and grass in the city were cut off, so they planned to negotiate peace. However, in the previous battle, the defenders caused Tian Yu and Tao Ya to lose a lot of soldiers and horses. No one in the city dared to go out of the city to act as a negotiating representative. Pei Shu, the governor of Shezhou at that time (later the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty), was very troubled by this. At this time, Taoist Nie Shidao volunteered to act as a negotiating representative for the defenders. Tian Yu and Tao Ya did want to kill a few envoys to vent their anger, but after chatting with Nie Shidao for a few words, they couldn't help but be amazed by him, and immediately agreed to reconcile and sent Nie Shidao into the city. Then he recommended Nie Shidao to Yang Xingmi.

Yang Xingmi summoned Nie Shidao to Yangzhou, built the Ziji Palace specifically for him, and gave him the titles of "Grand Master Xiaoyao" and "Mr. Wen Zheng".

Nie Shidao thus practiced Taoism and preached in Yangzhou for more than 30 years, and Wang Qixia was one of his formal disciples, who was included in the family tree, officially recognized, and given the character "Yun".

The master leads you to the door, but the practice is up to you. Under the guidance of the famous teacher, Wang Qixia soon became famous all over the world, especially respected by Xu Zhigao.

When Xu Zhigao was in Shengzhou, he invited Wang Qixia to Shengzhou and built Yuanzhen Temple for him. After founding the country and becoming emperor, he gave him a golden seal and purple ribbon and the title of "Master Yuanbo". Wang Qixia declined the offer, but Xu Zhigao gave him the title of "Mr. Zhensu".

After taking Shi Shouchong's "magic pill", Xu Zhigao became irritable and his personality changed drastically, but whenever he chatted with Wang Qixia, he was always calm. Once, Xu Zhigao asked him for advice on governing the country, "How can we achieve peace?"

This is why we cannot list Xu Zhigao’s “worship of Taoism” as a shortcoming or bad deed. While he was taking “magic pills”, he was also exploring ways to govern the country and bring peace to the world.

Wang Qixia replied: "A king governs his mind and body, and then governs his family and country. Your Majesty has not yet been able to get rid of hunger, anger, fullness and joy, so how can you talk about peace?"

Confucius also talked about "cultivating oneself, regulating the family, governing the country and bringing peace to the world". Wang Qixia was upright and outspoken, and hit the nail on the head, saying that Your Majesty should take care of yourself first. You yourself have not gotten rid of vulgar tastes, and you get crazy and act stupid at every turn. You can't even manage yourself, so how dare you discuss "peace"?

Being attacked by Wang Qixia right in the face was not very harmful but extremely insulting. Instead of getting angry, Xu Zhigao humbly admitted it and expressed his gratitude to Wang Qixia.

Xu Zhigao's queen was eavesdropping behind the curtain and couldn't help but admire what he said.

Wang Qixia refused all of Xu Zhigao's rewards.

Xu Zhigao therefore planned to build a high platform for Wang Qixia as an altar for burning memorials, because Taoism emphasizes reporting work to heaven, and the specific process is to "burn the yellow paper", burning the memorials written to heaven.

Wang Qixia also refused and said that it was just a memorial to the emperor and there was no need to waste state finances. When the day comes that my memorial cannot be burned, I will ask Your Majesty for help.

In April 943 AD, Wang Qixia passed away at the age of 4. Comrade Xu Xuan, a famous scholar, calligrapher, and editor of imperial edicts at the time, personally wrote the epitaph for him.

In addition to Shi Shouchong, there was another person who presented the elixir to Xu Zhigao, called "Pan Xianren". However, he was a "master" like the one who "turned an empty basin into a snake", so I don't want to write about his story.

(End of this chapter)