History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 764: Trial 2
When Cha Wenhui looked at Jianzhou City with great confidence, he heard three thunderbolts from the blue:

1. Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, and Tingzhou have all submitted to Wang Yanzheng, and Wang Yanzheng is only one city away from unifying all of Fujian;

2. Wang Yanzheng has sent General Zhang Hanqing to lead a force of 5 to stop the enemy. The enemy will arrive at the battlefield in seconds. Please be prepared.

3. The troops of Zang Xun, a close confidant of Zha Wenhui (who was also his capable deputy who helped him formulate the plan to attack Fujian), had been annihilated. Zang Xun was captured alive, taken back to Jianzhou, and beheaded.

Cha Wenhui's arrogance suddenly disappeared, and he was terrified. He hurriedly ordered a retreat and waited for reinforcements.

What was even more unexpected to Zha Wenhui and Li Jing was that the enemy was very cunning! After the general Wu Chengyi, who was besieging Fuzhou, got the news of the invasion of Southern Tang, he deliberately misidentified and sent people to tell the Fuzhou defenders that the Southern Tang army was invited by Wang Yanzheng of Jianzhou to help them attack Fuzhou. As a result, the Fuzhou defenders, who had originally resisted stubbornly, immediately launched a mutiny, killed Zhu Wenjin and Lian Chongyu, and sent their heads to Wang Yanzheng. Fuzhou declared its allegiance to Wang Yanzheng of Jianzhou.

Thanks to the invasion of Southern Tang, Wang Yanzheng officially unified the Kingdom of Min.

Afterwards, Wang Yanzheng turned his guns around, urged his elite soldiers and generals, and with the remaining strength of the unified motherland, returned north to stop Cha Wenhui.

Since the matter has been settled and Wang Yanzheng has unified all of Fujian, Zha Wenhui should withdraw his troops quickly, leave the aftermath to the diplomats of Southern Tang, apologize, and work hard to maintain friendly and neighborly relations with Wang Yanzheng's new Kingdom of Fujian.

Of course, this is a consideration from the overall situation. This will allow Southern Tang to stop losses in time, and reducing losses and increasing profits are the same. But in this way, the only one who will suffer losses is Cha Wenhui. He will bear the blame for the defeat alone and disappear from the political arena of Southern Tang from then on. If things go wrong, even he, a natural person, will be wiped out.

Therefore, Zha Wenhui would rather betray the world than let the world betray him. He wrote a memorial to Li Jing, asking for reinforcements.

Gamblers are often unwilling to accept defeat, and Li Jing was unwilling to sell out at a loss just after entering the market, so he chose to increase his position. He sent He Jingzhu, Zu Quanen, and Yao Feng to lead thousands of troops to the south to reinforce in an attempt to turn the tables.

In the second battle, the Fujian army, under the wrong command of "Yang Bo Pi" Yang Sigong, was greedy for merit and advanced rashly, resulting in a disastrous defeat. The Southern Tang army won a great victory and opened the door to Jianzhou.

Wang Yanzheng was greatly frightened and hurriedly mobilized elite troops from all over the country to prepare for the "Battle to Defend Jianzhou."

As Wang Yanzheng's direct forces were withdrawn, Wang Yanzheng's ruling power over various parts of the Min Kingdom declined sharply. The surrendered soldiers and generals of the former Min Kingdom in Fuzhou deserted one after another. As a result, General Li Renda secretly colluded with the surrendered soldiers and generals and launched the "Fuzhou Mutiny", killing Wang Yanzheng's nephew Wang Jichang and Jianzhou general Wu Chengyi who stayed in Fuzhou, taking control of Fuzhou and electing a monk as a puppet emperor.

The Min Kingdom was divided again. Wang Yanzheng had to resist the invasion of the Southern Tang army in the north while continuing to suppress the Fuzhou rebels in the south.

More than two months later, Li Renda launched another coup, killed the puppet emperor, and then claimed to be the governor of Fuzhou Weiwu Army. He submitted a memorial to the Southern Tang to show his loyalty. In order to curry favor with the Southern Tang, he deliberately used the Southern Tang's reign title (the third year of Baoda, 2) in his memorial. At the same time, he also paid tribute to the Later Jin Dynasty to show his allegiance. He also sent envoys to the Wuyue Kingdom to seek to establish friendly diplomatic relations. He was a slave of three surnames.

Li Jing was very happy when he received Li Renda's memorial of surrender. He immediately issued an imperial decree to appoint Li Renda as the governor of Fuzhou Weiwu Army and the title of prime minister (co-prime minister). To show his closeness, he also gave Li Renda the name "Li Hongyi" and included him in the royal family register. Li Jing's son was named "Hong", which meant that Li Jing recognized Li Renda as his adopted son and included him in the royal family register, helping Li Shimin find another descendant.

The Southern Tang army and Wang Yanzheng fought a stalemate in the territory of Min State, with both sides winning and losing. This stalemate lasted for two months, until July 945 AD.

Bian Hao, a new general of the Southern Tang Dynasty, lived up to expectations and conquered Fanzhou (formerly Longjin County) in the south of Jianzhou. The Min Kingdom originally had only five states (Fujian, Jian, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, and Tingzhou). When Wang Yanzheng established the "Great Yin Kingdom" in Jianzhou, he only controlled Jianzhou. He thought it sounded bad, so he first upgraded Yanping Town to Longjin County, and then upgraded it to Fanzhou. In other words, although it was called a "state", it was actually just the size of a small town.

Even so, the capture of Fanzhou was a great victory for the Southern Tang Dynasty, because Fanzhou was located on the banks of Jianyang River south of Jianzhou, strangling the only waterway between Jianzhou and Fuzhou, forming an encirclement of Jianzhou, cutting off the connection between Jianzhou and the other four states and blocking Wang Yanzheng's retreat. The strategic location was particularly important.

Under such tremendous pressure, Wang Yanzheng became increasingly angry, uneasy, and suspicious. He began to doubt the 8,000 reinforcements from Fuzhou and even slaughtered them all. Then he sent people to the Wuyue Kingdom to pay tribute to the Kingdom and ask for support.

The Southern Tang "war faction" was immersed in great joy. Zha Wenhui became the most popular figure, and the "Four Evils" who colluded with him and sang the same tune also publicly endorsed this military action. The "Five Ghosts" became the core force of the "war faction", and the boss behind the "war faction" was the low-profile emperor Li Jing.

Li Jing wanted land, Zha Wenhui wanted fame, and the "Four Evils" wanted money. War can make some people rich. The reason why the "Four Evils" who hold real power actively promote this war is that they can make money from this action. In addition to corruption and bribery, they can also openly levy heavy taxes and impose quotas on local tyrants and ordinary people, and extort money from them to line their pockets.

According to historical records, by this time, half of the Southern Tang’s treasury had been depleted, and the losses among the people were simply impossible to count.

After another month of hard fighting, the Southern Tang army finally conquered Jianzhou. Jianzhou fell, Wang Yanzheng surrendered, and was taken back to Southern Tang.

Li Jing's heart was filled with joy of victory and full of confidence. We have emphasized countless times that the statement "winners are tolerant" is inaccurate, it should be "confident people are tolerant."

Li Jing did not make things too difficult for the king of the fallen country, Wang Yanzheng. When they met, they laughed away all their grudges. Li Jing appointed Wang Yanzheng as the General of the Yulin Army, and later appointed him as the Jiedushi of Anhua Army in Raozhou. He demoted his title to King of Poyang, and later moved it to King of Guangshan. After his death, he was posthumously awarded the title of King of Fu and the posthumous name "Gongyi".

Many victors would confer insulting titles on the kings of the fallen states, such as Duke of Anle (Liu Chan), Marquis of Chonghun (Song Qinzong), Duke of Hunde (Song Huizong), and Li Jing's son Li Yu was also conferred the title of "Marquis of Violating Order" by Emperor Taizong of Song after the fall of his state. However, when we look at the title and posthumous title that Li Jing bestowed on Wang Yanzheng, it is clear that he had no intention of humiliating him at all.

Furthermore, Wang Yanzheng lived in Southern Tang for nearly seven years and died of old age without being poisoned by Li Jing.

As for where Wang Yanzheng lived in his last few years, there is no clear answer in official history. The Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms gives a vague statement that Wang Yanzheng "governed Raozhou". There are two opinions in the historical community. One is that Wang Yanzheng had always lived in Shengzhou, the capital of Southern Tang, and was just "remotely in charge" of Anhua Army in Raozhou. The other is that Wang Yanzheng lived in Raozhou. Moreover, the specific time and place of Wang Yanzheng's death is a major mystery in history, and it is impossible to verify it now.

In short, in treating the fallen king of the Kingdom of Min, Li Jing did show the demeanor that a great country should have.

After Wang Yanzheng surrendered, Xu Wenzhen of Tingzhou, Wang Jixun of Quanzhou, and Wang Jicheng of Zhangzhou all surrendered their cities to the Southern Tang, while Li Renda of Fuzhou had already pledged his allegiance to the Southern Tang before that. So at this moment, the Southern Tang could proudly announce that it had completely annexed the Kingdom of Min.

However, the problem that Southern Tang was going to face next was the same as Wang Yanzheng's original situation, or even worse.

First, there is the most difficult one, Li Renda of Fuzhou. Although Li Renda nominally paid tribute to the Southern Tang, he was more hateful than the slaves of three surnames. He simultaneously sought help from the Southern Tang, the Later Jin, and the Wuyue Kingdom. Lü Bu's godfathers at least paid tribute to one at a time, but Li Renda paid tribute to three godfathers at the same time.

Secondly, there is the issue of the three "swing states". In the late period of the civil strife in Fujian, the three states of Ting, Quan and Zhang were fickle, jumping back and forth between the two major camps of Fuzhou and Jianzhou. When the Southern Tang intervened strongly, they jumped into the arms of the Southern Tang without knowing the current situation. The Southern Tang needed to invest a lot of money in these three states.

In order to facilitate the digestion of Fujian, the Southern Tang first made a small change in the administrative divisions. It took Jianzhou as its seat of government, set up the "Yong'an Army", and transferred Wang Chongwen, the governor of Qianzhou Baisheng Army, as the first governor of Jianzhou Yong'an Army.

Wang Chongwen was born into a second-generation red family. His father, Wang Wan, followed Yang Xingmi and started from scratch. He was promoted to deputy general of Haizhou due to his merits. When Wang Shifan of Qingzhou betrayed Zhu Wen, he made merits in Yizhou. Later, he was promoted to Jiedushi of Baisheng Army of Qianzhou and died in office.

Wang Chongwen, a descendant of a general, was loyal, upright, elegant, and well-read. He was proficient in classics, history, and literature, and was a model of a Confucian general. When Xu Wen was seeking power, he married his daughter to Wang Chongwen, which means that Wang Chongwen was Xu Wen's son-in-law, Xu Zhigao's brother-in-law, and Li Jing's uncle.

With his outstanding abilities and the blessing of nepotism, Wang Chongwen soon got an enviable job and served as the governor of Shezhou and Jizhou.

It is said that the locals are rather rude and unreasonable, especially like to quarrel, and want to sue at any time. In the past, the custom was that whoever made the loudest noise and the most violent noise was right, and it was difficult to mediate (they valued the temper and liked to sue, and stopped first as cowardly, and it was difficult to cure). After Wang Chongwen took office, he emphasized that the rule of law was more important than the rule of man, and resolutely implemented the concept of ruling the country according to law. The right was not the loudest voice. Soon, the unruly people and the shrews gradually calmed down, and a harmonious society was successfully built. Wang Chongwen was promoted for his achievements and eventually took over his father's position - the governor of Qianzhou Baisheng Army.

Wang Chongwen had outstanding political achievements and was well-known among the people. He was also a "second-generation red" with a good family background and Li Jing's uncle. Who else but him could be in charge of Jianzhou?
Wang Chongwen did not disappoint Li Jing's trust and quickly healed the war wounds of Jianzhou. The people of Jianzhou soon settled down and lived a happy life, so much so that they forgot the pain of losing their country and their families, and forgot about the war.

(End of this chapter)