History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 87: Emperor Zhaozong's Reign
The Late Tang and Five Dynasties is recognized as one of the chaotic periods, and the first few years when Emperor Zhaozong ascended the throne were the most chaotic period in this chaotic period.

The lack of historical materials is one of the reasons for this "confusion", which has caused considerable trouble to later scholars. Various historical events are like a tangled mess, making it difficult to start.

Of course, chaos is just an illusion on the surface. There must be an internal logic that becomes the golden key to untie the mess. Once you master it, all chaos will be solved.

Let this book provide the golden key: Emperor Zhaozong’s governance.

Zhaozong wanted to revive the Tang Dynasty. He saw the two main problems that caused the decline of the Tang Dynasty: eunuchs and feudal lords. So Zhaozong took the right remedy and urgently started from eradicating eunuchs and attacking feudal lords.

This is the main thread and storyline of this historical period. All events are based on the idea of ​​"eliminating eunuchs at home and reducing the feudal lords abroad" and extend and derive outward, intersecting with each other, becoming tangled and creating a messy appearance.

This book will closely focus on this golden key and interpret that turbulent period from the simplest to the most profound. This is where the book is valuable.

The action of eradicating eunuchs had already begun, but the road to reducing the power of the vassal states was full of thorns and bumps, especially after Emperor Xuanzong, the court no longer had the ability to use force to reduce the power of the vassal states. Since Emperor Xuanzong, the basic idea of ​​the court to reduce the power of the vassal states was to drive away the wolves while riding the tigers, and then reap the benefits.

At first glance, it sounds like a good business with no investment and huge profits, but in reality it is just a pipe dream. Few of these feudal lords are easy to deal with, and they have risen to high positions through various political schemes, frauds, and armed mutinies. The obedient children and the cowards have been eliminated in the process, so how could there be any naive people who escape?

If you want to snatch meat from a wolf in the dangerous jungle of a vassal state, you must wait for a perfect opportunity and kill it with one blow.

After Zhaozong ascended the throne, he immediately set about cracking down on the eunuchs, and by cracking down on Tian Lingzi, he increased his power and consolidated the imperial power. During this period, he was also spying on the vassal states, waiting for that opportunity.

【Hedong Li Keyong】

In the struggle to eliminate the false emperor Li Yan, Li Keyong's attitude was crucial, so Li Keyong naturally became the focus of contention between the two sides.

Li Keyong seized the opportunity, carried out political blackmail, raised the price, and made a huge profit.

In the letters he exchanged with the court, Li Keyong was possessed by Xianglin Sao, complaining about the "Shangyuanyi Incident" and threatening to send troops to retaliate against Zhu Wen. The fixed sentence structure almost became Li Keyong's signature, appearing at the end of every letter.

The imperial court understood Li Keyong's true intentions, so they kept promoting him and giving him titles, and wrote him blank political checks in the hope that he would endorse the Xizong court.

The "Shangyuanyi Incident" must be talked about every day, every month, and every year. Never forget the "Shangyuanyi Incident". Once the "Shangyuanyi Incident" is grasped, it will work.

The biggest gain Li Keyong got from this blackmail was that he successfully split the Zhaoyi Army into two, and then annexed them one by one, expanding his sphere of influence to the east of Taihang Mountain. At the same time, taking advantage of the death of Zhuge Shuang in Heyang, he extended his sphere of influence into the Heyang area. The story of Li Keyong's control of the Heyang area will be presented in the following text.

At this time, although the emperor was still in power, the warlords had already entered the "Warring States Period" in reality, and the reasons for annexation and attack became increasingly far-fetched. It would be best if they could justify their actions, but if not, it didn't matter. They didn't care about life and death, and would just fight if they didn't accept it.

"Li Yan's enthronement" seems to be a dividing line of an era. From now on, warlords appear like a revolving lantern, and all kinds of clowns appear on the stage.

The following text will only give different degrees of recollection to the more important (to the historical process) vassal states to narrate their origins and development, while more vassal states will be mentioned briefly or directly omitted. If the Jiedushi appears in the following text, please do not be surprised, it is not a typo.

Li Keyong's territory did not border Zhu Wen's, and sending troops to attack Zhu Wen would do Li Keyong more harm than good.

First, the army was on a long expedition and fighting across borders, while Zhu Wen was waiting for the enemy to tire out and fighting on his home turf. If Zhu Wen chose to avoid the enemy's attack, clear the fields, close the city and defend, dragging the war into a stalemate of attrition, it would be very disadvantageous to Li Keyong, who was on a long expedition.

Secondly, when the army went out to fight, the rear would be empty. Surrounded by powerful enemies, they were eyeing them covetously. Even if Zhu Wen was killed, there was no guarantee that there would not be a mantis catching a cicada while the oriole was waiting behind.

Finally, even if Zhu Wen was destroyed and his home base was safe, Li Keyong would not be able to enjoy the benefits of war. Food, money, and people can be taken away, but land cannot be taken away. Zhu Wen's territory will be encroached upon and divided up by neighboring vassals. Li Keyong is like taking chestnuts from the fire and making wedding clothes for others.

Li Keyong was not a fool, and his wife Liu was even smarter and wiser, so bringing up the "Shangyuanyi Incident" and threatening to send troops was just Li Keyong's exclusive means of protecting his rights.

The reason why the imperial court was willing to take the bait was because of three reasons:
First, the mastermind of the "Shangyuanyi Incident" was the court of Emperor Xizong, and Zhu Wen was the scapegoat, and the three parties knew it tacitly;
Second, the court really needed Li Keyong’s support;
Third, the imperial court did not want to see Zhu Wen destroyed.

Although Huang Chao died, his remnant forces, under the leadership of Qin Zongquan, continued to wreak havoc in the Central Plains, and their momentum was so great that they were even more powerful than Huang Chao. Zhu Wen's jurisdiction just contained Qin Zongquan's extension to Chang'an. Thanks to geopolitics, Zhu Wen became the periphery of Chang'an, or to put it bluntly, a watchdog, but now is not the time to eat dog meat. So Li Keyong used the "Shangyuanyi Incident" as Jiang Taigong fishing, and the court was willing to take the bait.

Li Keyong became the biggest winner of "Li Yan's usurpation of power".

While Li Keyong was encroaching on the Zhaoyi Army, Zhu Wen was also actively expanding his sphere of influence.

[Zhu Wen's Expansion]

Zhu Wen was unfortunate but also lucky.

Bianzhou, located in an area surrounded by enemies, is a battleground for military strategists, but it lacks dangerous passes. It is an exposed piece of fat meat, surrounded by drooling hungry wolves.

To the south was the ambitious Cai thief Qin Zongquan. Qin Zongquan was originally a junior general of the Zhongwu Army. He took advantage of the "Xuzhou Mutiny" to occupy Caizhou. He was fickle in the "anti-yellow and grass-cutting" war, sometimes surrendering to Qi and sometimes surrendering to Tang. He played political speculation to perfection and got the upper hand from both sides.

After Huang Chao's death, Qin Zongquan supported him with all his strength, and did not hesitate to make enemies with the whole world. He took up the banner of "Huang Qi regime" and sent troops to invade everywhere:
He sent Chen Yan to cause chaos in Jianghuai, Qin Xian to cause chaos in Jiangnan, Qin Gao to capture Xiangyang, Tangzhou, and Dengzhou, Sun Ru to capture Meng, Luo, Shaanxi, and Guo, Zhang Xun to capture Ru and Zheng, Lu Tang to attack Bian and Song, and his younger brother Qin Zongyan to invade Jingnan.

At the same time, Qin Zongquan was facing the same problem as Huang Chao, food shortage. His solution was also the same as Huang Chao's, cannibalism. He salted people into bacon to provide military rations (eating people for storage, salting corpses and following).

The vast Central Plains was poisoned from Guanfu (now central Shaanxi Province) in the west to Qing and Qi (now Shandong Province) in the east, the Yangtze River in the south, and Wei and Hua (now northern Henan Province) in the north. Wherever Cai the thief went, looking around, the land for thousands of miles was barren and uninhabited (fish rotted, birds scattered, and people were cut off).

East of Tongguan, most counties and towns were captured, and only two places were barely preserved: Chenzhou of Zhao Dun and Bianzhou of Zhu Wen.

Chenzhou is located only a hundred miles north of Caizhou, as small as a bullet and as vulnerable as an egg. Chenzhou is almost a piece of meat on the lips of Cai thieves. In addition to the bravery and loyalty of Zhao Dun and his brothers, Chenzhou was able to be preserved because of the generous help of Zhu Wen of Bianzhou.

Chenzhou and Bianzhou are closely related, and both are the meat on the lips of Cai the traitor to the north. If the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold, and if the teeth are gone, the lips will be sunken. Therefore, Zhu Wen unreservedly and without asking for anything in return, he gave all his money to help Zhao Dun of Chenzhou.

In fact, ever since Zhu Wen settled in Bianzhou, he had a thorough understanding of the interdependent relationship between Bianzhou and Chenzhou. During the famous "Three Hundred Days in Chenzhou", although Zhu Wen had few soldiers and generals, he was the most loyal of all the vassal states that came to aid Chenzhou.

Now, the military strength of the traitor Qin Zongquan was more than ten times that of Zhu Wen, but Zhu Wen had no fear or intention of retreating. He repeatedly won unexpected victories, defeated the larger force with a smaller one, and became more courageous as the battle went on.

Zhao Dun's family was of good family descent and had been generals of the Zhongwu Army for generations. Zhu Wen was born into a poor peasant family and was a "bandit" by nature. However, among all the warlords in the world, only Zhu Wen was willing to lend a helping hand to Zhao Dun without regard for return or cost.

Adversity sees the truth.

Zhao Dun was moved and repeatedly submitted memorials to the court, reporting Zhu Wen's touching deeds and applying to build a shrine for Zhu Wen in Chenzhou City so that the people of Chenzhou would remember Zhu Wen's kindness from generation to generation. If the memorial had a title, it should be called "In Memory of Zhu Wen".

The imperial court highly approved of Zhu Wen's approach and issued a call to "learn from Comrade Zhu Wen". If all the vassal states could do the same, wouldn't the world be peaceful?
Of course Zhu Wen had to be more dignified and upright, "serving the people."

Zhao Dun still felt that building a shrine was not enough to show the gratitude of the people of Chenzhou. In order to further thank Zhu Wen and to bring Chen and Bian closer, Zhao Dun married his sons to Zhu Wen's daughters, thus forming a lasting friendship. Zhao Dun's second son, Zhao Lin, married Zhu Wen's daughter.

The successful marriage between the second son of Zhao and the daughter of Zhu became a famous political marriage in the late Tang Dynasty, marking the establishment of an unbreakable military and political alliance between Chen and Bian.

In addition, it is necessary to mention that this second son of Zhao, who later changed his name to Zhao Yan, was active on the political stage of the Later Liang Dynasty as a son-in-law, and made indelible contributions to the destruction of the Later Liang Dynasty. This will be described in detail later.

After a brief period of expansion and bloating, the traitor Qin Zongquan usurped the title of emperor as the "successor of Huang Chao" and called himself the "Emperor of the Great Qi" in order to continue Huang Chao's Huang Qi regime.

The "post-Huang Chao era" has officially arrived.

(End of this chapter)