History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 766 Peak Moment (Part )

The Southern Tang court was celebrating and immersed in the festive atmosphere of annexing the Kingdom of Min. This festive and peaceful atmosphere lasted only half a year, as two hidden dangers in Fujian exploded - Fuzhou and the three "swing states".

The cause and specific course of the incident have been detailed in the previous special topic on the Kingdom of Min, so I will briefly mention it here: In April 946 AD, Li Renda of Fuzhou used the excuse that Wang Jixun of Quanzhou did not respect him enough, and brazenly sent troops to attack him with the intention of annexing Quanzhou, which gave rise to the Quanzhou mutiny. The Quanzhou general Liu Congxiao deposed Wang Jixun, took over Quanzhou, and submitted a memorial to the Southern Tang, reporting the whole story and reasons of the mutiny.

Li Jing took advantage of the situation and formally appointed Liu Congxiao as the governor of Quanzhou and sent troops to reinforce Quanzhou.

This central army of the Southern Tang Dynasty legitimately infiltrated the local areas in the name of assisting Quanzhou, thus enhancing the vertical control of the central government over the local areas. Therefore, if the problem of Li Renda in Fuzhou can be fully and properly resolved, it will be of positive significance for the Southern Tang Dynasty to rule the entire Fujian area.

Before the central reinforcements arrived, the Fuzhou soldiers had been repelled by Liu Congxiao of Quanzhou, who thus gained actual control over Quanzhou. In order to prevent further changes in the other two states, Li Jing transferred Wang Jicheng, the governor of Zhangzhou, to Hezhou as governor, and Xu Wenzhen, the governor of Tingzhou, to Qizhou as governor. Wei Cen was sent as the pacification envoy of Zhangzhou and Quanzhou to inspect and pacify the "swing states".

As for the most troublesome Li Renda of Fuzhou, Chen Jue, who is at the peak of his career and is listed as the leader of the "Five Ghosts and Four Evils", volunteered to share the worries of his master.

In fact, when Jianzhou was conquered and the three "swing states" surrendered voluntarily, the "war faction" headed by Cha Wenhui, Feng Yansi, Feng Yanlu and others planned to make a concerted effort to go downstream from Jianzhou and take Fuzhou in one go.

Li Jing, who was overwhelmed by victory, also strongly agreed with this mighty and domineering proposal. At that time, the main forces of the central army were resting in Jianzhou. Li Jing appointed Feng Yanlu as the military supervisor of Jianzhou, preparing to go downstream with the power to destroy the country.

However, at this critical moment, one person stood up and shouted that it was not possible. This person was Chen Jue, the leader of the "Five Demons and Four Evils". The reason why Chen Jue suddenly opposed to continuing to use troops was very simple. He was jealous of Zha Wenhui, the last of the "Five Demons", and did not want him to enjoy the credit of annexing Fujian alone.

Chen Jue volunteered, saying that he could use his eloquent tongue to persuade Li Renda of Fuzhou to come to the court for an audience, and recapture Fuzhou without resorting to violence. Wouldn't that be wonderful?
All the civil and military officials were unanimous in opposing Chen Jue's proposal. Seeing that the recovery of Fuzhou was just a matter of time, why bother with more trouble? Li Jing also expressed doubts about Chen Jue's ability.

At this critical moment, an important person made an important speech, which led to a turning point in the development of things. This person was the veteran politician - Song Qiuqiu.

Song Qiuqiu was very grateful to Chen Jue for bringing him back to the central government from Jiuhua Mountain, so he decided to return the favor.

Song Qiuqiu explained the pros and cons to Li Jing. First, the war had already consumed more than half of the national treasury by this time, and it was not appropriate to start another war. Secondly, he used his personal reputation as a guarantee, saying that Chen Jue was very talented and could definitely trick Li Renda to Shengzhou without bloodshed.

Therefore, Li Jing urgently stopped the central army's preparation to march south, and sent the Privy Councilor Chen Jue as the envoy to Fuzhou to lobby with heavy gifts.

The "Five Ghosts" started fighting among themselves from this time on in order to compete for the credit for destroying Fujian. Chen Jue arrived in Fuzhou with confidence, paying tribute to an allusion - Jiang Gan went to Soochow.

Li Renda of Fuzhou knew his intentions long ago and deliberately treated him coldly and neglected him, and even invited him to watch a military parade with a strong sense of intimidation and threat. After all these actions, Chen Jue was frightened to the point that his legs were cold and tears flowed from his waist.

From the time he entered Fuzhou to the time he left in disgrace, Chen Jue did not even dare to mention the word "going to the court to pay homage".

It was a huge disgrace. Moreover, the ranking of the "Five Ghosts" had to be reshuffled, and his seat with Zha Wenhui had to be swapped.

If you endure for a while, you will have peace; if you take a step back, you will suffer more and more. The more Chen Jue thought about it, the angrier he became, and the more unwilling he became. When he arrived at Fanzhou (which had been renamed "Jianzhou" by the Southern Tang Dynasty, and "Fanzhou" is used for the convenience of narration) south of Jianzhou, Chen Jue finally became angry and did something earth-shattering - he forged an imperial edict to send troops!
In August 946 AD, Chen Jue falsely conveyed the imperial edict, ordering Li Renda of Fuzhou to go to Shengzhou to pay homage immediately. At the same time, he claimed to be "temporarily in charge of Fuzhou affairs (acting governor of Fuzhou affairs)" and mobilized local troops from Jianzhou, Tingzhou, Fuzhou, and Xinzhou as well as the central garrison. He appointed Feng Yanlu, the military supervisor of Jianzhou, as the commander-in-chief, and rushed towards Fuzhou fully armed and aggressively.

Feng Yanlu was skeptical about this "imperial edict". If it was true, why would Chen Jue be given the title of "temporary governor of Fuzhou"? According to convention, if force was to be used, it should be someone from the "war faction" who would take the position, and Chen Jue advocated peaceful negotiations. If it was false, it didn't matter. After all, Chen Jue was the one who falsely conveyed the imperial edict, and he would bear all the consequences.

Therefore, Feng Yanlu was cautious from the moment he set out. He first wrote a letter to Li Renda in Fuzhou, explaining the reasons and appealing to his emotions to persuade him to surrender to the DPRK, otherwise he would be hit militarily.

In this way, if Li Renda surrendered to the DPRK, Feng Yanlu would get most of the credit.

Li Renda replied with a provocative letter and sent troops to fight.

Chen Jue initially did not intend to actually use force against Fuzhou, but wanted to use military threats to force Li Renda to give in. Unexpectedly, Li Renda was unmoved by soft or hard tactics and actually took the initiative to send troops to fight back. Now that the arrow has been released, there is no way to stop the fight.

Unlike computer games, wars in reality require supplies, such as weapons, food, and military pay. Chen Jue can mobilize a large army on impulse, but he cannot mobilize supplies continuously. He can no longer hold on, and in desperation, he can only submit a memorial to Li Jing: No matter what, the war has already broken out, and - Li Renda in Fuzhou is isolated and helpless, and the capture of Fuzhou City is just around the corner. Just give me a little support, and I guarantee that Fuzhou will be captured!
After receiving the memorial, Li Jing learned that Chen Jue had falsely conveyed the imperial edict and arbitrarily mobilized the army. He was furious. However, it was not the time to pursue responsibility. Once the arrow was shot, there was no turning back. Li Jing was forced to get involved in this war. He could only add margin or force a liquidation.

Li Jing weighed the pros and cons and decided to fight to the end even if it meant tears. So he sent Wang Chongwen, the governor of Jianzhou Yong'an Army, as the commander-in-chief of the Southeast Front Army and Wei Cen as the supervisor of the Eastern Front Army to lead troops to support Fuzhou.

(End of this chapter)