History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 874: Fighting with Wang Kui (Part )
【Fire and Wang Kui】

In the game of politics, there are several rules for advancing as a master, one of which is "the more disadvantageous it is to oneself, the more one should publicize it", that is, to take the place of the host. For example, in Wang Kui's "Hongmen Banquet", under Zhou Xingfeng's public opinion operation, the "truth" of the matter became that Generals He and Zhu were ordered to go south to resist the enemy, but they disobeyed the order and did not move forward, were ambivalent and had ulterior motives. Therefore, Wang Kui was enforcing the law impartially in public and clearing up the house in private, which was reasonable and legal.

Wang Kui reported to Liu Yan the "truth" about the execution of He and Zhu, and strongly hinted that He and Zhu were instructed by Liu Yan, and asked Liu Yan to give a reasonable explanation.

Liu Yan not only lost important allies He Jingzhen and Zhu Quanxiu, but also fell into a very passive situation. He knew that Wang Kui was blackmailing him, but he was really dumb and could not say anything. In the end, in order to prove his innocence to Wang Kui, Liu Yan could only behead Fu Hui and others who led the group to return to Langzhou without permission to prove his innocence.

After killing Fu Hui and others, Liu Yan lost the support of the Langzhou soldiers, and Liu Yan, who lacked a foundation, became even more isolated. So, Wang Kui could take the third step.

Wang Kui appointed Zhou Xingfeng as the acting governor of Tanzhou Military Office to guard the house and the courtyard, while he personally led the army to punish Langzhou. Liu Yan was unable to resist, and soon Langzhou was conquered and Liu Yan was captured alive.

Wang Kui imprisoned Liu Yan, and later submitted a memorial to the Later Zhou court, claiming that Liu Yan intended to rebel against Zhou and join Tang, but had now been deposed by the generals. In order to prevent the "remnants of Liu Yan" from continuing to stir up trouble, we request to move the capital back to Tanzhou.

When a big country is preparing to annex a small country, it will hope that the small country will be in chaos, preferably divided into pieces, so that the big country can get the biggest return with the smallest cost, such as Southern Tang's conquest of Southern Chu. If the big country is busy with other affairs and has no intention of annexing the small country, it will hope that the small country will be unified and stable so that it can achieve indirect rule over the small country through agents.

The Later Zhou Dynasty currently belongs to the latter. At that time, it was the third year of Guangshun (953), and Guo Wei was busy with the "punishment of the two kings". In order to clear the obstacles for his successor Chai Rong, he killed the founding heroes Wang Jun and Wang Yin.

Unlike the Southern Tang, the Later Zhou did not have any substantial investment in Hunan. Liu Yan, Wang Kui, or Zhou Xingfeng were all just symbols to the Later Zhou. No matter what disputes they had, as long as they could gain actual control of Hunan and were willing to side with the Later Zhou, they would be recognized as regional agents by the Later Zhou. Therefore, Guo Wei of the Later Zhou readily agreed to all of Wang Kui's requests, restored Tanzhou's status as the "capital", and appointed Wang Kui as the military governor of Tanzhou Wu'an Army and concurrently the Minister of the Central Secretariat.

After gaining recognition from the Later Zhou Dynasty, Wang Kui finally felt relieved and executed Liu Yan, who had lost all his usefulness.

Liu Yan had a nickname, "Liu Yaoya". When Southern Chu was destroyed, a nursery rhyme went like this, "The horse is gone, no need for a whip, just grit your teeth to get through this year." "Whip" refers to Bian Hao, and "gnawing teeth" corresponds to Liu Yan.

Wang Kui returned to Tanzhou and appointed Zhou Xingfeng as acting governor of Langzhou. Soon after, Wang Kui moved the seat of government to Langzhou and appointed Zhou Xingfeng as governor of Tanzhou.

The repeated "capital relocation" between Tan and Lang exposed the huge internal hidden dangers of Wang Kui's group. Wang Kui's trust in his direct line of "Ten Brothers" was gone. To be precise, he only trusted his military advisor Zhou Xingfeng.

With the help of Zhou Xingfeng, he successfully killed He Jingzhen and Zhu Quanxiu. Then Zhou Xingfeng secretly told him that Zhang Xie and He Jingzhen were relatives, and before He Jingzhen was executed, he told Zhang Xie about his affairs after his death. So you have to be careful of Zhang Xie!

Zhang Bo, one of the "Ten Brothers of Brotherhood", was the deputy governor of Wuping Army in Langzhou at the time. Wang Kui himself had doubts about his position, so under Zhou Xingfeng's insinuations, he wanted to kill Zhang Bo, and then invited Zhang Bo to a Hongmen Banquet on the pretext of something (Kui invited Bo to drink, and killed him when he was drunk). So far, three of the "Ten Brothers of Brotherhood" had died. When Chai Rong of the Later Zhou Dynasty ascended the throne, Wang Kui was in charge of Langzhou, Zhou Xingfeng was the acting governor of Tanzhou, and Pan Shusi was in charge of Yuezhou (Yuezhou Tuanlian Envoy). The separatist forces of the "Ten Brothers of Brotherhood" with Wang Kui as the core completed the control of the former Southern Chu and surrendered to the Later Zhou Dynasty.

In the southwest of Southern Chu, there lived the Man and Liao ethnic minority tribes, whose relations with the Han people in the Central Plains were complicated and complicated. In the late Tang Dynasty, since Ma Yin occupied Tanzhou, he also adopted the old routine of combining kindness and force against them, using a big stick in one hand and sweet dates in the other. During the Ma Yin period, the Man and Liao tribes were both afraid of Ma's power and grateful for Ma's kindness, and maintained peace and stability for decades until "the horses fought for the trough".

When Ma Xi'e started his rebellion in Langzhou, he took the initiative to collude with Fu Yantong, the barbarian chieftain of Xuzhou. Langzhou and the barbarians attacked Tanzhou from the north and south. According to the previous agreement on the division of spoils, Ma Xi'e got the land and Fu Yantong got the treasure. As a result, the gold and silver treasures in the Tanzhou treasury were looted by the barbarian chieftain Fu Yantong.

The sound of the cannon brought in a fortune. Fu Yantong suddenly became rich. With the support of this wealth, Fu Yantong's power increased greatly and he became the king of the creeks and caves. The creeks and caves, also known as "Xidong", in ancient times generally referred to the Miao, Dong, Zhuang and other ethnic minorities and their settlements.

When Wang Kui's group launched the "Restoration Movement" from Langzhou and went south to Tanzhou to expel the Southern Tang occupying forces, they considered colluding with the Barbarian King Fu Yantong, but were stopped by Zhou Xingfeng.

Generally speaking, barbarian tribes often play the role of mercenaries, such as Shatuo, Tatar, Dangxiang, etc., and the barbarians in the "Xidong" area. They are usually qualified and dedicated mercenaries, with all the professional qualities of mercenaries, such as forgetting their principles when they see profit. It is not uncommon for mercenaries to raise prices and bite back at the client.

Therefore, Zhou Xingfeng tried his best to stop Wang Kui from colluding with Fu Yantong, and used Ma Xi'e's previous experience as a negative example, saying that we are an army of justice, we will use justice to defeat injustice and recover our homeland. We must not learn from Ma Xi'e and bring great suffering to the people of Tanzhou and put the people in dire straits.

In the end, Wang Kui listened to Zhou Xingfeng's advice and drove away the Southern Tang occupying forces with only the direct power of the "Ten Brothers".

After recovering Tanzhou, Wang Kui's group wanted to carry out the "Recovery Movement" 2.0, that is, to recover the entire territory of Southern Chu, take over the land abandoned by Southern Tang, and drive out the invading army of Southern Han. In this process, the "Ten Brothers" as nouveau riche were obviously unable to do it, so Wang Kui colluded with Fu Yantong, borrowed some barbarian soldiers, and attacked Chenzhou, but was defeated by Southern Han and suffered heavy losses.

Now Wang Kui's group's "restoration movement" has basically come to an end, and most of the original Southern Chu territory has been restored and controlled. The barbarian king Fu Yantong, who entrenched in the creeks and caves, has changed from a business partner to a serious threat. Wang Kui needs to re-establish the "suzerain-vassal" relationship with him, so that the barbarians will obey Wang Kui's rule like they did to the Ma family in the past, and clarify the new political structure in Hunan.

This was a visit of great importance. Any slight mistake would lead to friction and conflict between Wang Kui's group and the barbarian forces, hindering Wang Kui's foothold in Hunan.

Wang Kui's subordinate Wang Qianlang volunteered to use his eloquent words to appease Fu Yantong.

(End of this chapter)