History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 896: Cao Bin
It took only 66 days for Wang Quanbin, the commander-in-chief of the expedition against Shu, to recapture Shu. Excited, Wang Quanbin submitted a memorial to the court, saying that the soldiers had just stretched their muscles and had abundant hormones that had nowhere to go. So, how about taking advantage of the victory and destroying Nanzhao at the same time?
At this time, Nanzhao was renamed "Dali Kingdom", and its ruler was the Duan family. For the sake of ease of understanding, this book will use the name at the beginning.

Changing strategy without authorization is a big taboo in military strategy. Zhao Kuangyin hurriedly sent a letter to stop the war, saying that the disaster of the Tang Dynasty was caused by the war with Nanzhao, and it was necessary to learn from it. Then he pointed to the west of the Dadu River with his jade axe and said, "I don't own anything beyond this."

The Song Dynasty and Nanzhao used the Dadu River as the boundary and did not invade each other, which laid a relatively stable external environment for the future unification of the Central Plains.

A few days after Wang Quanbin entered Chengdu, Liu Guangyi from the east also arrived outside Chengdu. Meng Chang surrendered to Liu Guangyi again with the same ceremony of surrender. A few days later, Zhao Kuangyin's edict of appeasement was issued, and the rewards for the two Song armies were also of the same standard. As a result, Wang Quanbin was quite unhappy, thinking that he was the first to pacify Shu, and Liu Guangyi was just trying to gain experience by clinging to his thighs. From then on, the two generals fought for merit and slandered each other.

Since ancient times, few Central Plains generals who destroyed Shu had a good ending. In the distant past, we can see Deng Ai and Zhong Hui in the Three Kingdoms period, and in the recent past, there was Guo Chongtao of the Later Tang Dynasty who destroyed the Former Shu.

The geographical conditions of Shu were too easy for separatism, so the generals who entered Shu would definitely arouse the suspicion of the emperor of the Central Plains. For example, this time Zhao Kuangyin conquered Hou Shu.

In terms of dispatch, Zhao Kuangyin dispatched two armies to enter Shu together. In terms of rewards, he deliberately ignored the issue of time sequence and gave equal rewards, intentionally provoking conflicts between Wang Quanbin and Liu Guangyi, fighting and restraining each other. At the same time, on the issue of power distribution, he also hindered Wang Quanbin everywhere. Historical records show that before the army set out, Zhao Kuangyin issued an edict stipulating that Wang Quanbin must discuss all matters, big or small, with the generals. In fact, this was to disperse Wang Quanbin's power. As a result, after Wang Quanbin captured Chengdu, he could hardly do things according to his wishes, and there were always people in the army who opposed him. After Chengdu surrendered, the court immediately drew the surrendered soldiers from Shu and ordered the army to return.

Wang Quanbin then drank with Cui Yanjin, Wang Renzhan and other subordinates day and night to relieve his sorrow, even though his soldiers robbed money, food and women in Chengdu. "The people of Shu suffered from this."

Cao Bin repeatedly advised him to return, but Wang Quanbin turned a deaf ear to it.

Soon, the imperial court sent a letter of appointment to Chengdu, appointing Vice Minister Lu Yuqing as the governor of Chengdu Prefecture and Privy Councilor Feng Zan as the governor of Zizhou, with the two civil officials stationed in Xichuan and Dongchuan respectively. Using civil officials as vassal states was also a bold attempt by Zhao Kuangyin to strengthen the centralization of power, or to reduce the power of vassal states, which will be detailed later.

Since the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, there has been an unwritten convention that the newly conquered territory is guarded by the general who conquered the territory. According to past conventions, Wang Quanbin should become the new Jiedushi of Xichuan.

Wang Quanbin's accumulated resentment began to explode, and he used an old trick - keeping the enemy at bay to protect himself.

Previously, he deliberately allowed his troops to plunder and disrupt public order. Under his intentional or unintentional manipulation, bandits rose up in Shu, Song soldiers became arrogant and tyrannical, and the situation was turbulent. This also became a legitimate reason for Wang Quanbin to refuse to return to the army, in order to maintain local order.

After Lu Yuqing took office, Wang Quanbin welcomed the leader's visit and guidance on the surface, but secretly sneered and thought, let's see how you, a corrupt scholar, govern!

One day, a clerk patrolling the streets reported that some soldiers were causing trouble after drinking and robbing people with knives in broad daylight on the commercial street. Lu Yuqing immediately sent people to arrest them and then beheaded them in public.

Things seem simple on the surface, but the story behind it is quite complicated, because the suspect is not an ordinary citizen, but a "military academy" and Wang Quanbin's man.

Generally speaking, if a soldier breaks the law, he should be tried by a military court, not by local authorities. In other words, the suspect of the downtown robbery should be handed over to the military, Wang Quanbin. As we all know, Wang Quanbin allowed his soldiers to rob and the soldiers dared to rob openly because they were instructed by Wang Quanbin.

This was Wang Quanbin's trick. He created a difficult work problem for Lü Yuqing that he could not handle but suffered greatly from, so as to give Lü Yuqing a warning. At the same time, it was also part of his strategy of keeping the enemy at bay, so that the court would know one thing: Shu could not do without Wang Quanbin.

Wang Quanbin underestimated Lü Yuqing, or rather, underestimated the person behind Lü Yuqing.

Instead of handing the suspect over to the military, Lü Yuqing beheaded him in public. This was a show of force from the Song court in response to Wang Quanbin.

The imperial court issued an edict to recruit the surrendered soldiers from Shu to come to Bianzhou for reorganization, and gave them generous travel expenses. However, Wang Quanbin arbitrarily reduced the number of soldiers and exploited them, which caused strong dissatisfaction among the soldiers. When the soldiers arrived in Mianzhou, they suddenly mutinied, elected the Shu general Quan Shixiong as their leader, and plundered the prefectures and counties.

Wang Quanbin sent the cavalry commander Zhu Guangxu to persuade them to surrender.

Originally, Quan Shixiong and others intended to negotiate with the Song army, but Zhu Guangxu responded to Quan Shixiong with an extremely tough attitude - he executed all of Quan Shixiong's family members who stayed in Chengdu, took possession of his daughter, and confiscated all his property.

There was no possibility of peace talks. "Shixiong was furious and had no intention of returning home." He had to rebel. So, Quan Shixiong led his troops to attack large cities. He first attacked Mianzhou, but failed. Then he turned to attack Pengzhou. After occupying Pengzhou, Quan Shixiong called himself "King of Xingshu", set up a shogunate, and awarded more than 20 "Jiedushi". His armed forces called themselves "Xingguo Army", with a number of more than 100,000 people, stationed in various dangerous places, and had a huge momentum. All ten counties under the jurisdiction of Chengdu Prefecture responded.

Wang Quanbin sent Cui Yanjin, Gao Yanhui and others to suppress the rebellion, but they were defeated by Quan Shixiong and Gao Yanhui was killed.

Quan Shixiong took advantage of the victory to cut off the communication line between Jianmen Pass and Chengdu, causing Wang Quanbin and other garrisons to lose contact with the Song Dynasty court. By then, a total of 17 states in Shu responded to Quan Shixiong. Quan Shixiong set up camps along the river and spread the word that he would attack Chengdu and restore Shu.

It's a mess!

Wang Quanbin had deliberately caused the chaos in Shu before, because he could control it and it would benefit him. He was calm and composed, the designer of the chess game, but the game got out of control in a flash. Those who play with fire will eventually get burned. Wang Quanbin was scared.

Fear can make people lose their rationality and break their bottom line. Previously, Wang Quanbin had detained the surrendered soldiers from Chengdu in the city wall to prevent them from mutiny. Now Wang Quanbin was afraid that they would join forces with the outside world, so he ordered them all to be massacred.

General Kang Yanze tried his best to dissuade them, but to no avail. Seeing that Chengdu was about to be engulfed in blood, Kang Yanze made a huge concession and said that about 7,000 of the old, weak, sick and disabled soldiers should be released, and the rest of the unarmed surrendered soldiers should be escorted to Bianzhou by fully armed soldiers. If they really wanted to cause trouble along the way, it would not be too late to kill them!

It is very appropriate to insert a clip from the movie "The Warlords" here.

"They are soldiers."

“But they surrendered.”

"Still a soldier."

Finally, amid Kang Yanze's desperate cries, Wang Quanbin massacred all the more than 27,000 surrendered soldiers in the city wall.

In addition to killing the surrendered, Wang Quanbin also had great accomplishments in harming the people. One of his generals "cut off the breasts of the people's wives and killed them", which was as cruel and inhumane as the Japanese devils. When Zhao Kuangyin heard about it, he immediately ordered the general to return to the court and then beheaded him in public. Many officials in the court pleaded for this general, and Zhao Kuangyin said with tears in his eyes: "The king's army entered Shu to save the people. What crime did she commit that she was so cruelly killed? The people of Shu must be given an explanation!"

In fact, this incident should be linked to Lü Yuqing's killing of the military academy that caused trouble. If the "military academy robbery case" was Wang Quanbin's attempt to test the waters and take the initiative to provoke the court, then the "murder of the Shu woman case" was the court's attempt to scare Wang Quanbin. Both incidents ended with the court's victory. Those senior officials who pleaded for mercy were not pleading for the suspect, but standing on Wang Quanbin's side. The more people pleaded for mercy, the more Zhao Kuangyin wanted to kill him. The court was Zhao Kuangyin's court, not Wang Quanbin's court.

Later, Zhao Kuangyin transferred Kang Yanze to be the governor of Puzhou and led troops to suppress the rebellion. Kang Yanze asked Wang Quanbin for soldiers, but Wang Quanbin only gave him a mere 100 men.

Kang Yanze recruited and trained his troops as he went along, and by the time he entered the rebel-controlled area, he already had a thousand men. And these one thousand men who were put together temporarily had to face the 50,000 rebels led by Liu Ze, a general under Quan Shixiong.

Kang Yanze explained the court's policies, appealed to their emotions and reason, and soon recruited 2,000 bandits, which grew to more than 3,000. Liu Ze led 30,000 bandits to fight, and Kang Yanze defeated the larger force with a smaller force, 3,000 defeated 30,000. Afterwards, Kang Yanze entered Puzhou. Under Kang Yanze's kindness and force, Liu Ze finally led his people to surrender, and the main force of the Quan Shixiong rebels in Dongchuan was disintegrated. Zhao Kuangyin immediately appointed Kang Yanze as the inspector of the seven states of Dongchuan, responsible for the suppression of bandits in the Dongchuan area.

Wang Quanbin's attempt to draw a tiger ended up with a dog. He originally wanted to keep the enemy at bay, but in the end, he ended up raising a tiger that would cause trouble. In order to quell the rebellion, Wang Quanbin had to ask the court to send troops to rescue him. The court sent Ding Deyu, Zhang Yu, Wang Jue and others to help; and appointed Xingyuan An Shouzhong as the governor of Hanzhou.

An Shouzhong, a native of Shatuo, was the son of An Jinquan and An Shouqi. Comrade An Shouzhong was of good family background, outstanding ability, and considered the overall situation. He was deeply trusted by Zhao Kuangyin. When the two lakes were first taken back, he was appointed as the governor of Yongzhou to pacify the ground. Later, he was transferred back to Bianzhou to guard the Heyin garrison troops. Heyin was an important node in the huge waterway network centered on Bianzhou. It was the engine of the war machine of the Song Dynasty and was related to the lifeblood of the empire. Those who could serve here must be trustworthy and capable comrades. After eliminating Hou Shu, Zhao Kuangyin made An Shouzhong the acting governor of Xingyuan Prefecture, sitting in this connection point and hub town between the Central Plains and Shu.

During his tenure in Xingyuan Prefecture, An Shouzhong performed his duties faithfully and even paid out of his own pocket to subsidize the envoys, becoming an important bridge between the Central Plains and Shu. Whenever the court wanted to send envoys to Shu, Zhao Kuangyin would personally tell the envoys to learn a lot from Comrade An Shouzhong after meeting him!

Now, Zhao Kuangyin sent An Shouzhong to Hanzhou and went deep into Shu. In other words, the power of the court had penetrated into Shu, and Wang Quanbin's wishful thinking was completely ruined.

In December of the fourth year of the Qiande reign (966), Quan Shixiong was wounded in battle and soon died of his wounds. His remaining troops were quickly suppressed. The Quan Shixiong rebellion, which had lasted for more than a year, was finally put down.

In the first month of the fifth year of Qiande (967), the people of Shu filed a complaint with the emperor, accusing Wang Quanbin, Wang Renzhan, Cui Yanjin and others of various illegal acts in Shu. Zhao Kuangyin then recalled all the generals who had entered Shu to fight. Due to the infiltration of the central forces into Shu before, Wang Quanbin and others were unable to resist the order and had to return to the court obediently.

Wang Renzhan was the first to come back. He wanted to be the first to accuse the bad guys, shirk responsibility, and pass the buck to his comrades. After meeting Zhao Kuangyin, Wang Renzhan pretended to confess everything and told almost all the bad things about his comrades, "listing all the faults of the generals" in an attempt to cover up and alleviate his own problems.

No one is smarter than the emperor. In fact, Wang Quanbin, Wang Renzhan and others were already surrounded by court spies. Their every move and every word were under the control of Zhao Kuangyin.

After Wang Renzhan finished his spitting performance, Zhao Kuangyin asked with a fake smile: "They also took Li Yangui's concubines and embezzled public funds by opening the Chengdu treasury without authorization?"

Wang Renzhan was horrified and sweating profusely. He knelt down and kowtowed in fear, unable to utter a word.

Zhao Kuangyin's leadership qualities were also reflected in the way he handled and dealt with people.

First of all, we need to point out the seriousness of the problem. We have exaggerated the issue and charged them with a crime they cannot afford - embezzling military pay and killing surrendered soldiers. In a word, the rebellion in Shu for more than a year was all caused by you arbitrarily reducing the military pay of Shu soldiers, the work of Class A war criminals! In addition, you dared to kill surrendered soldiers, violating our army's policy of preferential treatment for prisoners. This is extremely bad in nature and has a very bad social impact.

Secondly, Zhao Kuangyin gave them a break. He said that no matter what, Wang Quanbin and others had made contributions to the pacification of Shu, so their merits should be used to atone for their crimes and they would not be investigated further, lest others would accuse him of being a traitor.

"What do you think?"

Wang Quanbin, Wang Renzhan, Cui Yanjin and others "all surrendered" and were convinced. They thanked the court for giving us the opportunity to reform ourselves. We will definitely turn over a new leaf and become new people.

The final result can be summed up in four words: internal digestion. Instead of handing the case over to the court, the Secretariat and the Ministry of Personnel handled it. In today's terms, the court, the procuratorate, and the Commission for Discipline Inspection were bypassed, and the leaders of the State Council had tea and talked with them, gave them warnings, and fully took care of Wang Quanbin and others' face.

The guiding ideology of "internal digestion" was to only investigate the embezzlement of public funds and the withholding of military pay. A total of more than 646,800 strings of cash were recovered. Moreover, only the money illegally plundered in violation of military regulations was investigated, and the property in Meng Chang's palace and the public funds of the prefectures and counties in Shu were not included.

In other words, it was enough to return the illegally looted property of those who came to file a complaint. Because Zhao Kuangyin had stipulated that it was forbidden to harass the people, burn, kill, and plunder, and the spoils of war and the property of the Later Shu treasury were all considered spoils of war, and the soldiers could take them at will.

As for other sins, we will not ask about them at all and will not hold them accountable. Just be careful next time.

Is Zhao Kuangyin really so magnanimous? Haha.

【Cao Bin, who is good at everything】

A few days later, Zhao Kuangyin convened a meeting to discuss the outcome of the treatment of Wang Quanbin and others with the civil and military officials. The officials were indignant and said that Wang Quanbin and others had no regard for the law, openly violated the emperor's will, harassed the people, killed surrendered soldiers without authorization, and provoked rebellion, and must be sentenced to death!
"Since everyone unanimously demands the death penalty, I will pardon them."

Afterwards, Zhao Kuangyin established Chongyi Army in Suizhou and Zhaohua Army in Jinzhou, and appointed Wang Quanbin as the governor of Suizhou Chongyi Army and Cui Yanjin as the governor of Jinzhou Zhaohua Army. Wang Renzhan, the deputy envoy of Wang Shumi, was dismissed as the general of the right guard. Although the death penalty was pardoned, all three were deprived of their real power, two were sent to remote mountainous areas, and one was given an idle position for retirement.

After the three were severely punished, Zhao Kuangyin promoted Liu Guangyi, Cao Bin, Zhang Tinghan and Li Jinqing.

Almost all of Wang Quanbin's troops in the north were punished, while Liu Guangyi's troops in the east were commended.

It is said that when Wang Renzhan was slandering all the generals, he once said something fair based on his conscience, saying that the only one who had not let down His Majesty was Cao Bin.

Cao Bin was known for his fairness, integrity, and prudence. This time, he entered Shu as the general commander of the Eastern Route. After conquering Shu, the other generals were busy robbing money, food, and women, but Cao Bin only took books.

Thanks to my old friend “江湖刘白” for the monthly ticket support!

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(End of this chapter)