History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 816: Four Fujian Generals Aid Shou

【Four Fujian Generals Aid Shou】

For the Southern Tang, Hunan on the western front was a useless supporting role with all kinds of illnesses, and the Wu Yue army on the eastern front - especially Luo Sheng, was simply a bunch of funny soldiers hired by the monkeys. They were not worth worrying about. Only the Later Zhou was the real tiger.

Performance on the battlefield determines attitude at the negotiation table. After Chai Kehong and Yuanzhou Governor Lu Mengjun recaptured Changzhou, Li Jing immediately sent another memorial to Chai Rong. On the surface, he said that we have been frightened by the Celestial Empire and dare not confront you again. In fact, he used the Changzhou victory to put pressure on the Later Zhou:

"…six dragons marched at lightning speed, and ten thousand cavalrymen gathered like clouds. The whole country was shocked, and all the ministers were terrified. They then sent messengers to the imperial palace at high speed."

——The Celestial Empire is so brave and invincible that it scares the hell out of us.

"Please stop the attack and register as a foreign minister..."

——I beg you to stop military actions and accept the conditions I proposed before to become your vassal (compare Liangzhe and Hunan).

This sentence is like a needle hidden in cotton. The previous and following sentences are all flattering to the Later Zhou Dynasty and also to give Chai Rong a way out. They are all empty talk. Only this sentence is practical, that is, refusing to cede an inch of territory to the Later Zhou Dynasty and only agreeing to "become a vassal". Nothing else can be discussed.

With the most humble and courteous attitude and the most powerful words, Li Jing finally acted like a man for once.

"It describes the envy of the rivers and seas, and refers to the sunflowers turning towards the sun."

——It was just empty courtesy to give Chai Rong a way out.

The victory in Changzhou only persuaded the Wuyue Kingdom, the eastern ally of the Later Zhou Dynasty, to retreat, but did not have a substantial impact on the Later Zhou Dynasty. In order to force Chai Rong to make concessions at the negotiation table, Li Jing had to take a more powerful counterattack and put enough pressure on Chai Rong on the battlefield. Therefore, after the victory in Changzhou, Chai Kehong was transferred to Shouzhou, but he died before he could achieve his goal. So Li Jing asked his younger brother Li Jingda to take charge, Chen Jue as the military supervisor, and Bian Hao as the commander of the reinforcements, and transferred the eastern line troops to the north to resist the Zhou army.

Han Xizai, the secretary of the Central Secretariat, submitted a memorial, saying that Li Jingda was not qualified to be a military supervisor!
The main task of the military supervisor is to supervise and monitor the commander-in-chief to ensure that the emperor's will is 100% implemented. If the commander-in-chief is found to have violated the will of the emperor, the military supervisor has the right to dismiss or execute the commander-in-chief and replace him. Therefore, the position of "military supervisor" is usually held by the emperor's confidants. For example, the local military supervisors in the late Tang Dynasty were all eunuchs.

Li Jingda is Li Jing's biological brother, so why does he use a "military supervisor"? Between Li Jingda and Chen Jue, one of the "Four Evils and Five Ghosts", does Your Majesty trust Chen Jue more?

Yes, Li Jing trusted the "Four Evils and Five Ghosts" more than anyone else, even Li Jingda.

In addition to his younger brother leading the army to the north, Li Jing also sent Pan Chengyou to mobilize military forces in Quanzhou, Jianzhou and other Fujian areas.

Pan Chengyou was originally a judicial officer in Guangzhou, Huainan. Due to conflicts in his work, he resigned and returned to Fujian, and came to Jianzhou. When Wang Yanzheng was in charge of Jianzhou, he appointed him as the judge of Jiedu Duzhi. At that time, Wang Yanzheng and Wang Yanxi had many conflicts and frictions. Pan Chengyou repeatedly advised and admonished, but Wang Yanzheng did not listen.

At that time, Wang Yanxi sent an envoy to visit Jianzhou. Pan Chengyou thought this was a good opportunity to ease the conflict, but Wang Yanzheng took the opportunity to hold a provocative military parade to show off his strength to Fuzhou. Pan Chengyou was so anxious that he knelt in front of Wang Yanzheng and begged him not to intensify the conflict. Wang Yanzheng was furious and ordered the guards to eat Pan Chengyou alive (you can eat the judge's flesh for me). Pan Chengyou replied that he would rather die with righteousness than live with righteousness, come on, do it.

After Wang Yanzheng proclaimed himself emperor in Jianzhou, he promoted Pan Chengyou to the position of Minister of Personnel and Prime Minister. During the civil war in Fujian, Pan Chengyou always strongly opposed the civil war, and wrote a memorial to persuade Wang Yanzheng to do so, listing the "Ten Sins of Civil War", which angered Wang Yanzheng again. He was stripped of all his official titles and ordered to go home to reflect on his mistakes.

When Cha Wenhui of the Southern Tang conquered Jianzhou, he had heard of Pan Chengyou for a long time and treated him with courtesy. He welcomed him back to the Southern Tang and appointed him as the Junior Minister of the Imperial Guards. He was later promoted to the Minister of Rites. After the Southern Tang annexed the Min Kingdom, it urgently needed an old comrade who was highly respected in the local area to endorse it. Of course, Pan Chengyou became the best choice, so Pan Chengyou was "entrusted with the affairs of the south". In the affairs of Min, Pan Chengyou's words were quite important, "promotions, personnel, arrangements, and counties were all based on his words". Although on the surface he was only the Minister of Rites, in charge of etiquette during court meetings, in fact, Pan Chengyou was the uncrowned king of Min and the undisputed colonial governor.

Now, the war in Jianghuai is tense, Li Jing needs blood transfusion from the "colony", and Pan Chengyou certainly has no choice but to do so.

Pan Chengyou recommended several powerful generals from Fujian to Li Jing: Xu Wenzhen (former military governor of Yong'an Army in Jianzhou), Chen Decheng (former military governor of Jingjiang Army in Guizhou), Zheng Yanhua, Lin Renzhao and other former generals of the Fujian Kingdom.

Li Jing then appointed Xu Wenzhen as the commander-in-chief of the reinforcements, and the rest were all generals.

1. Xu Wenzhen was one of the three "swing states" (Tingzhou) when the Southern Tang Dynasty annexed Fujian, so he was not trusted by Li Jing before that;

2. Chen Decheng, son of Chen Hui.

Chen Hui, a general under the former King Yanzheng of Min, was nicknamed "Chen Tie". When the Southern Tang attacked Jianzhou, Chen Hui led his troops out of the city many times to fight back, which brought great pressure to the siege troops of the Southern Tang. After the Southern Tang general Wang Jianfeng conquered the outer city, he captured Chen Hui and was about to behead him to vent his anger. Unexpectedly, the cooked duck flew away from the pot. Historical records record that "when he was about to behead him, he had already taken off his clothes and lay on the ground, but suddenly he escaped and ran away, and dozens of people could not catch up with him."

After escaping from the sword of Guitou, Chen Hui took the initiative to surrender to the Southern Tang commander Cha Wenhui. Cha Wenhui was quite shocked, "What a talent!" So he kept him by his side, promoted him to the commander of the navy, and allowed him to command his former subordinates in the Min Kingdom. Later, Chen Hui was ordered to lead the navy to follow Feng Yanlu to attack Fuzhou. As a result, Feng Yanlu suffered a great defeat in the "Baixiapu Landing Battle" and all his troops were defeated. Only Chen Hui fought and retreated. Not only did he retreat with his entire army, but he also saved 200,000 bags and gold and silk. He was then promoted by Cha Wenhui to the governor of Jianzhou (formerly Fanzhou).

Afterwards, Cha Wenhui was deceived by Fuzhou spies and taken to Fuzhou. Chen Hui's persuasion was fruitless. Cha Wenhui was captured alive and sent to Wuyue. Chen Hui first defeated the Wuyue reinforcements and captured Ma Xianjin, Ye Ren'an, and Zheng Yanhua alive. Then he gathered the remaining troops and retreated to Jianzhou.

In the tug-of-war between Southern Tang and Wuyue Kingdom for Fuzhou, Southern Tang suffered repeated defeats. Only Chen Hui made remarkable achievements and was hailed as a "famous general". He was promoted to the governor of Jianzhou Yong'an Army and stayed in the town for more than ten years.

Chen Hui's son Chen Decheng was a talented scholar and a poet. Pan Chengyou was ordered to recommend talents from Fujian and the first person he thought of was Chen Hui. However, Chen Hui recommended his son Chen Decheng to Pan Chengyou.

Therefore, some historical records say that Pan Chengyou recommended Chen Hui, while others record that he recommended Chen Decheng.

In fact, the person who actually led the troops north to support Shouzhou was Chen Hui's son Chen Decheng.

3. Lin Renzhao is Lin Renhan’s younger brother.

At the end of the civil war in Fujian, Zhu Wenjin and Lian Chongyu killed Wang Yanxi and established themselves as kings. Later, Lin Renhan led his men to kill Zhu and Lian and welcomed Wang Yanzheng. Lin Renzhao was strong and had a tiger tattoo on his body. He was nicknamed "Lin Huzi". He was originally a general in Jianzhou and was as famous as "Chen Tie" Chen Hui.

4. Zheng Yanhua was originally a subordinate of Li Renda in Fuzhou. He once shot a tiger and became famous. When the Southern Tang attacked Fuzhou, the Southern Tang commander Wang Chongwen sent his subordinate Li Xing to the tower to curse. Li Xing not only had a loud voice, but also had a mouth full of ash and slag. His curses were unbearable to hear and too vulgar.

Li Renda was so angry that he offered a reward to anyone who could capture Li Xing alive. Zheng Yanhua sneaked out of the city at night and ambushed in the trench. When Li Xing climbed up the tower carriage again the next day, Zheng Yanhua captured him alive. When Chen Hui and Zha Wenhui, the "Chen Tie", attacked Fuzhou, Zheng Yanhua was captured by Chen Hui and surrendered to the Southern Tang.

It can be seen that these four people are all talented and brave, but because of historical reasons, they failed the political review and were never trusted or reused. Now, the country is in need of people, so we can't be picky, at least we can't be picky, so the former Fujian surrendered generals finally got their day and were allowed to go north to help Shou.

(End of this chapter)