History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 809: "Gambling Saint" Huangfu Hui
[“Gambling Saint” Huangfu Hui]

Huangfu Hui, Yao Feng and other Chuzhou captives were brought before Chai Rong. What Huangfu Hui did next is recorded in history.

Because Zhao Kuangyin had severely injured his head, Huangfu Hui spoke before Chai Rong could speak: "I am exhausted and seriously injured. Please allow me to sit for a while."

Chai Rong immediately had someone bring out a chair and graciously allowed Huangfu Hui to sit down.

Huangfu Hui had just sat down when he said, "I want to lie down for a while." This time, without waiting for Chai Rong to give any order, Huangfu Hui just lay down like Ge You.

Because he was indeed seriously injured, the magnanimous Chai Rong showed him the utmost respect and preferential treatment.

However, before Chai Rong could speak, Huangfu Hui spoke again, "When I was young, I was an ordinary soldier in Beizhou, Hebei. I went through life and death, and was promoted with my merits. Later, I assisted Emperor Mingzong Li Siyuan, and then led the people to Huainan. Now I am a general in Southern Tang. I have served in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and have fought dozens of battles, big and small, without losing a single battle. But today I was defeated miserably, not because I was not loyal and brave enough, but because the soldiers of the Celestial Empire were brave and skilled, while the soldiers of Southern Tang were cowardly and afraid of fighting. In addition, God helped the Great Zhou!"

Huangfu Hui has been described in detail before, so I will just briefly mention him here. He did not lack embellishment in his own autobiography, and was full of praise for Chai Rong of the Later Zhou Dynasty.

Huangfu Hui was originally a soldier in Beizhou. He was promoted to a junior officer due to his meritorious service. One time, he lost a large sum of money in gambling. In desperation, he launched a mutiny and created the "Beizhou Mutiny", which triggered a butterfly effect. He killed his way from Beizhou to Weizhou. Li Cunxu sent Li Siyuan to appease and attack, which resulted in the "Emperor Mingzong's Invasion of Wei".

"Mingzong enters Wei" was a gamble by Huangfu Hui, and he placed the bet on Li Siyuan. The result was that Qin Shihuang touched the electric switch and won.

Later, he fled to Huainan to avoid the pursuit of the Khitans. This was Huangfu Hui's second gamble.

Because Huainan has always treated deserters and rebels from the Central Plains with kindness, especially this time, when the Central Plains was in chaos, Huangfu Hui took the opportunity to help Li Jing recruit confused northern soldiers and generals. A large number of soldiers, civil servants and displaced people were deceived by Huangfu Hui to Huainan, which brought a lot of human resources to Huainan. In the subsequent work of recruiting deserters and rebels, Huangfu Hui also played a key role, for example, he deceived Xian Shilang, the garrison commander of Mengcheng Town, Bozhou.

Therefore, Li Jing valued Huangfu Hui very much. Huangfu Hui was at the peak of his career in Southern Tang. He was a general and a prime minister. His second gamble was still that Qin Shihuang took out the key, and he won the game.

This defeat and capture was Huangfu Hui’s third big gamble.

Although he was captured, Huangfu Hui acted neither humble nor arrogant at first. After lying down, he looked calm. His next words were ostensibly to help himself absolve himself of the blame for the defeat, but in reality they were flattering Chai Rong. He said it was not that he was too stupid, but that you were too invincible, and that you had the blessing of God.

At that time, Huangfu Hui was in Qingliu Pass, and Zhao Kuangyin cut off his retreat. He had to retreat in a hurry. As a result, Wang Shaoyan, the governor of Chuzhou, abandoned the city and fled first, causing Huangfu Hui to be at a loss as to where to go. His morale collapsed, and he was defeated by Zhao Kuangyin in the chaos. Objectively speaking, Huangfu Hui was indeed helpless.

Then, Huangfu Hui said that he had fought against Khitan for many years and found that today's Zhou army was far more brave than the Khitan cavalry, flattery +1; in addition, this comrade Zhao Kuangyin was simply a god-given general, sent by heaven to help His Majesty unify the world, so no one could stop him, flattery +2.
It is said that Huangfu Hui praised Zhao Kuangyin's bravery.

So did Huangfu Hui give in? No. Chai Rong comforted Huangfu Hui with kind words, gave him a golden horse, and assigned famous doctors to treat him. However, unexpectedly, Huangfu Hui said that he was deeply indebted to the Southern Tang and could not bear to betray it. He refused to surrender to Chai Rong and refused to accept medical treatment. He died of his injuries a few days later, and died for the Southern Tang.

Did Huangfu Hui, who “refused to eat Zhou’s grain,” really live up to the country’s kindness and have a heart of steel?

Before he fled to Huainan, Huangfu Hui had a long history of bad deeds:
The direct cause of the "Beizhou Mutiny" was that he lost money in gambling;

He coerced and bribed his general Yang Rensheng to take the lead, but was rejected by him and killed Yang Rensheng. He then killed another subordinate who was unwilling to join the rebellion, and then brought the two heads to Zhao Zaili, who finally agreed to go along with him.

After the mutiny, Huangfu Hui led his troops to slaughter the streets. He broke into a house and asked, "What's your surname?" The family replied, "Guo." Huangfu Hui said, "I will destroy Guo." He then killed the entire family. He broke into another house and asked, "What's your surname?" The family replied, "Wan." Huangfu Hui said, "It's enough for me to kill the entire Wan family." He also killed the entire family.
After Li Siyuan became emperor, Huangfu Hui repeatedly blackmailed his former accomplice Zhao Zaili...

Huangfu Hui had always been portrayed as a negative person who forgot his principles for the sake of profit and killed innocent people. But why did he become a patriotic general who was awe-inspiring and ready to die after being captured?

Because this is Huangfu Hui’s third big gamble.

First of all, Huangfu Hui served as a general and a minister in Southern Tang (Du Yuhou of the Divine Guard Army, Jiedushi of Fenghua Army, and Tong Zhongshumenxia Pingzhangshi), and was extremely favored, which was something that the Later Zhou Dynasty could not give him. Yao Feng, who was captured together, surrendered to the Later Zhou Dynasty and was awarded the title of General of the Left Tunwei, a sinecure for the retirement of the imperial army.

In addition, Huangfu Hui’s wife, children and elder relatives are all in Southern Tang. Should they be regarded as the remnants of traitors or the families of martyrs?
Huangfu Hui's bet was on the strategic goal of the Later Zhou Dynasty. Was Chai Rong's personal expedition to Huainan intended to annex the Southern Tang in one fell swoop, or to force peace through war? Huangfu Hui placed his bet on the latter.

If Chai Rong could annex Southern Tang in one fell swoop, then he would certainly not die for Li Jing; but if both sides chose to negotiate and retain Southern Tang at some point in the future, then he would become a hero of Southern Tang and a martyr.

Sure enough, Huangfu Hui’s third gamble was that Qin Shihuang wore Little Red Riding Hood, and he won everything.

The people of Chuzhou were grateful for Huangfu Hui's indomitable spirit, rang the bell to pay tribute to him, and strongly recommended his son Huangfu Jixun; Li Jing was deeply moved, and promoted his son Huangfu Jixun to be an officer, who successively served as the governor of Chizhou and Raozhou, and later entered the Imperial Guard as the commander-in-chief of the Shenwei Army; the history books also affirmed his "refusal to live" and wiped out his previous misdeeds such as "serving as a governor due to rebellion".

According to records, Huangfu Jixun also accompanied his father on the expedition and appeared on the battlefield in Chuzhou. When the army was defeated, Huangfu Jixun also chose to flee. Huangfu Hui was so angry that he "took up his sword and attacked him", but he missed. It is not known whether he really missed or missed on purpose. In short, Huangfu Jixun successfully escaped from the battlefield.

It was precisely because Huangfu Hui "refused to live" that the people of Chuzhou were moved and submitted a petition, begging Li Jing to pardon Huangfu Jixun in consideration of Huangfu Hui's sacrifice for the country.

Ironically, Huangfu Jixun completely inherited Huangfu Hui's gene of opportunism and profiteering, and made an immortal contribution to the final demise of the Southern Tang Dynasty. However, his luck was not as good as his father's, and he ended up being executed by slow slicing. This is a later story.

(End of this chapter)