History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 871: Three Points of Nanchu
【Southern Chu Three Divisions】

According to rumors, when Ma Yin followed Liu Jianfeng to occupy Tanzhou, he was ordered to supervise the digging of the moat. One day, a stone tablet was unearthed on the construction site, on which ancient seal characters were engraved. After identification, it was found to be the eighteen characters "dragon raises its head, pig drops its tail, sheep is the elder brother, monkey is the younger brother, sheep returns to the cave, monkey leaves the next".

More than half a century later, when the Southern Tang Dynasty conquered the Chu Dynasty, someone finally cracked the secret hidden in it:

Ma Yin ruled Hunan in the third year of Qianning in the Tang Dynasty (896), which was Bingchen, the year of the dragon, so it is called "dragon raising its head"; the Ma family's Southern Chu regime perished in 951, which was Xinhai, the year of the pig, so it is called "pig dropping its tail"; Ma Xifan was born in Jiwei (899), and died in Dingwei (947), born in the year of the sheep and died in the year of the sheep, so it is called "sheep returning to the cave"; Ma Xichong was born in Renshen, the year of the monkey, and later became a prisoner of the Southern Tang and moved to Huainan, so he was called "monkey leaving the second". As for "sheep as elder brother, monkey as younger brother", it should refer to the order of rule of Ma's sons.

In addition, it is said that there was a folk song in Hunan at that time that said "Three sheep and five horses, the horses are separated from the flock, and the sheep have no home." Pang Juzhao, who was good at observing the stars and fortune-telling, heard it and said to the people around him: "The Yang family of Huainan will have three more monarchs in the future, and the Ma family of Hunan will have five more."

After the death of Yang Xingmi of Huainan, the regime was usurped by the powerful minister Xu Zhigao after the reigns of Yang Wo, Yang Wei and Yang Pu. The Southern Chu regime also fell after the death of Ma Yin after the reigns of Ma Xisheng, Ma Xifan, Ma Xiguang, Ma Xi'e and Ma Xi Chong.

After Southern Tang conquered Southern Chu, an "expert" in Huainan told Li Jing that according to his calculations, there was still the aura of a king in Southern Chu, and before long, a person with the surname Wang would rise.

Li Jing was worried, so he asked his generals, "Is there any general named Wang in Hunan?"

After screening, one person was found to meet the selection criteria - Wang Wen, the governor of Yongzhou.

Li Jing then sent someone to confer the title of General of the Southern Expedition on Wang Wen, and gave him a seal, a ribbon, and a scarf, and smeared a deadly poison inside the scarf.

Wang Wen was still immersed in the joy of having a piece of cake. He wondered what merits and merits he had to receive the great grace of his master. The imperial envoy urged him to change into a scarf and a ribbon, put on the seal, take nine photos in front of the mirror, and post them on his Moments to show off.

Wang Wen had no suspicion and soon died of a brain hemorrhage.

The story that Li Jing believed that "the Wang family will rise" and poisoned Wang Wen is recorded in "New Records of the Three Chus". I personally have serious doubts about its authenticity.

According to the "Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms", in the last years of Southern Chu, a nursery rhyme was circulating in Hunan: "The horse is gone, no need for a whip, just grit your teeth and get through this year." This nursery rhyme came true, and at the same time, the prophecy about the "rise of the Wang family" also came true.

Let us turn our attention to the last years of the Ma family in Nanchu:
During the Later Han Dynasty, civil strife broke out in Southern Chu. Ma Xi'e of Langzhou overthrew the rule of his younger brother Ma Xiguang. Later, dissatisfied with the Central Plains dynasty's support for Ma Xiguang, he turned to Southern Tang and became a vassal of the Southern Tang. Only eight months later, his brother Ma Xichong rebelled again and placed Ma Xi'e under house arrest. This was known in history as "the horses fighting for the trough" or "the horses fighting for the trough". The strength of Southern Chu was greatly weakened by the years of civil war.

During the more than half a year that Ma Xi'e ruled Southern Chu, he was deserted by his friends and relatives. His top aide Liu Guangfu took the opportunity of paying tribute to Southern Tang to persuade Li Jing to annex Southern Chu; and his direct generals - Wang Kui, the commander of the Jingjiang Army in Langzhou, and Zhou Xingfeng, the deputy commander, were also ordered by Ma Xi'e to rebuild the Chu Palace in Tanzhou after the war. Not only was the work hard, but there was no reward.

The soldiers gathered together to complain, saying that death row prisoners would only do such labor if they were pardoned. We followed the king (Ma Xi'e) through life and death, and finally conquered Hunan, so why are we being punished as heavy criminals? After hearing the complaints, Wang Kui and Zhou Xingfeng held an emergency secret meeting, saying that the soldiers were very resentful, and if we did not take action, I am afraid that disaster will come.

Afterwards, the two led their troops to flee back to Langzhou. At that time, Ma Xi'e was still drunk, and the others did not dare to disturb him. By the time he sobered up, the best opportunity to chase him had been missed.

Wang Kui and his companions returned to Langzhou, deposed Ma Guangzan (son of Ma Xi'e), the governor of Langzhou, and then supported Ma Guanghui (son of Ma Xizhen) as the governor of Langzhou. In fact, Ma Guanghui was just a puppet, and Wang Kui and his nine sworn brothers became the regents of Langzhou. The "Ten Brothers" group headed by Wang Kui entered the historical stage from then on.

Ma Xi'e reported the mutiny to the "Heavenly Kingdom" Southern Tang, asking his elder brother to make a decision for him. Southern Tang had already planned to destroy Chu at that time, so it took the opportunity to split Southern Chu. Instead of blaming or attacking the Langzhou rebel Wang Kui, it sent a consolation edict and a large amount of rewards to Wang Kui, recognizing his legitimate rule over Langzhou.

Wang Kui's group was very wise. They accepted all the gifts from Southern Tang, drove the envoys away, and did not respond to the Southern Tang's edict because they wanted to wait and see between Southern Tang and Central Plains.

Soon, Wang Kui's group dismissed Ma Guanghui on the grounds that he was "stupid, cowardly and addicted to alcohol", and then recommended Chenzhou Governor Liu Yan as the governor of Langzhou. Liu Yan was originally a general of Jizhou Governor Peng Gan. When Huainan annexed Jizhou, he followed Peng Gan to flee to Southern Chu. Liu Yan knew the viciousness of Wang Kui's group and did not dare to disobey, so he rode alone to Langzhou and accepted the recommendation. Later, Wang Kui and others submitted a petition to Southern Tang in the name of Liu Yan, requesting to be a vassal, reheating the old story of "two Chu countries, one Tan and one Lang".

Although it was the Southern Tang's plan to split Southern Chu, how could such a thing be made public? If the suzerain state had to be forced to make a statement, it could only insist on maintaining the basic principle of one Chu and emphasize that one Chu was an international consensus.

As a result, Wang Kui's group in Langzhou unsurprisingly pledged loyalty to the Central Plains dynasty.

At this time, the Central Plains dynasty was already the Later Zhou Dynasty, and the Later Zhou Dynasty gladly accepted Langzhou's vassalage. From then on, Southern Chu was divided again, with Ma Xi'e of Tanzhou becoming a vassal of Southern Tang, and Liu Yan of Langzhou becoming a vassal of the Later Zhou Dynasty.

More than two months later, Ma Xichong launched a rebellion in Tanzhou and imprisoned Ma Xi'e in Hengshan.

When the news came, Liu Yan of Langzhou immediately raised the banner of rebellion and went south to Tanzhou to support the king and punish Ma Xichong for treason, staging a farcical drama of rebels fighting against rebels.

Ma Xi Chong was greatly frightened and hurriedly sent envoys to Langzhou to seek peace, expressing his willingness to divide Southern Chu into two parts and to establish friendly neighborliness between Tan and Lang.

Li Guanxiang, Liu Yan's chief think tank, offered Liu Yan a vicious plan. He said that many of Ma Xi'e's former generals were still in Tanzhou. Both publicly and privately, they would not agree to the division of Tan and Lang. So they had to be eliminated first no matter what. Since Ma Xichong asked for peace, it would be better to kill with a borrowed knife. In this way, not only would a great threat be eliminated, but Ma Xichong would also lose the support of the people.

Liu Yan was a surrendered general. Peng Gan had no other choice but to take him to beg for food from the Ma family. Now he is on equal footing with Ma Xi Chong. Ma's direct generals are of course indignant. Moreover, Langzhou's political demand is to split the State of Chu, which is a condition that no Chu people will agree to.

The vicious plan proposed by Li Guanxiang was to let Ma Xichong use the heads of these generals as a token of his surrender as a token of sincerity in the negotiations.

The cowardly and foolish Ma Xichong agreed immediately, and then beheaded more than a dozen old Southern Chu heroes including Yang Zhongmin, Liu Guangfu, Wei Shijin, Huang Qiong, and sent their heads to Langzhou. Limited by the fresh cold chain technology at the time, the heads were rotten and difficult to identify when they were delivered. Liu Yan insisted that they were counterfeit and inferior products, and insisted on returning them and giving bad reviews. The courier, Chenyang County Magistrate Li Yi, finally committed suicide to prove his innocence.

Thanks to the DNA testing technology at the time, Liu Yan insisted that it was a fake even though he knew it was real, so he had a reason to continue traveling south. This was not a consumer rights protection, but a professional counterfeiter deliberately trying to steal the product.

At the same time, Hengshan Commander Liao Yan (son of Liao Kuangtu, a founding hero of Southern Chu) discussed with his fourth uncle Liao Kuangning and others, saying that our Liao family has received great favors from the Ma family for a long time, and now the Ma brothers are fighting among themselves, and Ma Xichong wants to kill Ma Xi'e, how can we sit idly by?

Why do we say that Ma Xichong wanted to kill Ma Xi'e? Ma Xichong was very sinister. Of course, he wanted to kill Ma Xi'e, just like Ma Xi'e killed Ma Xiguang, but he did not want to bear the infamy of killing his brother, so he specially arranged for General Peng Shihao to escort Ma Xi'e to Hengshan.

Peng Shihao was a general under Ma Xiguang. When Ma Xi'e overthrew Ma Xiguang, Peng Shihao put up a tenacious resistance and severely injured Ma Xi'e. Ma Xi'e was moved by his unyielding spirit of resistance and did not kill him, but only beat him with a stick.

In Ma Xicong's worldview, revenge is normal and petty-mindedness is human nature. He believes that Peng Shihao must be holding a grudge against Ma Xi'e, so he specially appoints Peng Shihao to escort Ma Xi'e. He thinks that Peng Shihao will take the opportunity to take revenge and murder Ma Xi'e.

As a result, Peng Shihao saw through Ma Xicong's dirty heart at a glance. Not only did he not harm Ma Xi'e, but he "served him more carefully". After testing the attitude of Hengshan's main general Liao Yan, Peng Shihao and Liao's uncle and nephew reached a high degree of consensus on the key issue of protecting Ma Xi'e and supporting the Ma family. Afterwards, several people supported Ma Xi'e as the "King of Hengshan", used the Hengshan County Government Office Building as the palace, appointed Peng Shihao and others as generals, cut off the river as a fence, and made bamboo rafts as warships to establish the Hengshan Revolutionary Base, recruited soldiers, gathered grass and stored grain. When the surrounding counties heard about it, they responded actively. In just a few days, the scale of the Hengshan base had grown to more than 10,000 people.

Afterwards, the Hengshan base sent people to ask for help from Southern Tang.

At this point, Southern Chu was split into three major political forces: Ma Xichong of Tanzhou, Ma Xi'e of Hengshan, and Liu Yan of Langzhou. The sky over Hunan was covered with dark clouds and dark waves were surging.

(End of this chapter)