History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 913: The Founding of Southern Han
【Enjoy the silky smoothness】

Lingnan was a popular check-in destination for frustrated politicians in the Tang Dynasty. Many famous cultural figures were exiled here. Some were able to restart and return to the Central Plains, while more remained as Lingnan people forever, and their descendants settled here. Therefore, at the end of the Tang Dynasty, a magical phenomenon appeared in Lingnan, that is, the construction of spiritual civilization far exceeded the construction of material civilization. This remote, barren, smoke-stained and barren land actually became the cultural center of southern China.

From Liu Qian to Liu Yin, and then to Liu Yan, the three brothers maintained the utmost respect for these scholars, treated them with courtesy and respect, and recruited talents. It was also with the assistance of these talents that Liu Yan finally founded a country and became emperor during the reign of Zhu Youzhen of the Later Liang Dynasty, becoming one of the friends of the "Ten Kingdoms".

Unlike the hardships faced by other usurpers in the "Ten Kingdoms", Liu Yan's path to becoming emperor was very smooth, with almost no opposition in the country. However, Liu Yan still had two concerns, one was Zhao Guangyi and the other was Wang Dingbao.

Zhao Guangyi, the second son of Zhao Yin, a famous prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, was originally appointed as the imperial envoy of the Later Liang Dynasty to appoint Liu Yin as the governor of the two armies, but was warmly retained by the Liu brothers. Liu Yan proposed Zhao Guangyi as the Minister of War and Prime Minister. Zhao Guangyi agreed on the surface, but he was struggling in his heart, because he was a legitimate official family with a prominent reputation in the Tang Dynasty. Of course, he was unwilling to serve a fake regime and be a fake prime minister.

Liu Yan sent someone to imitate Zhao Guangyi's handwriting and wrote a letter home, tricking all his family members in Luoyang to come to Guangzhou.

According to historical records, Zhao Guangyi was quite "pleased" by this, and from then on he wholeheartedly assisted Liu Yan. He served as prime minister of Southern Han for 20 years and was hailed as a wise prime minister.

Wang Dingbao passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi during the reign of Emperor Zhaozong of Tang Dynasty. He came to Hunan to find a job, but was not taken seriously by Ma Yin. So he headed south to Lingnan, a popular check-in spot for scholars. As expected, he was highly valued by Liu Yin. From then on, he gave advice to Liu Yin and became one of his important advisers.

Liu Yan was worried that Wang Dingbao would not support his usurpation of the throne, so he sent him to visit Jingnan in advance. When he came back, the matter was already settled. Liu Yan sent senior officials to greet him and "inadvertently" revealed to him the news that Liu Yan had proclaimed himself emperor and founded a country, testing Wang Dingbao's attitude. Unexpectedly, Wang Dingbao only said one sentence: "I have already proclaimed myself emperor, why is there still a plaque of the governor of Jinghai Army hanging on the city gate? Isn't this a joke for the neighbors? It's too open."

After hearing this, Liu Yan smiled bitterly and said, "I was always on guard against him. It turns out he's so cute."

In 915, Liu Yan challenged the Later Liang court, saying that Qian Liu of Liangzhe had been crowned the King of Wuyue, so how come I was only a Prince of Nanhai? We are all from the same background, you are making me lose face, come on, just crown me the "King of Nanyue".

Later Liang flatly rejected this unreasonable request. Therefore, Liu Yan used this as an excuse to declare his independence from Later Liang, and officially proclaimed himself emperor in 917, changing the country's name to "Dai Viet" and establishing the reign title "Qianheng", and notified the four neighbors.

The following year, the country's name was changed to "Han", known in history as "Southern Han".

【a lovely family】

The Habsburg dynasty had a famous family motto, "Let others fight, and you, happy Austria, get married."

The Southern Han Dynasty can be regarded as a truncated version of the Habsburg Dynasty on the mainland.

Southern Han had three neighbors: Hunan's Ma Yin in the north, Huainan's Yang in the northeast, and Min's Wang in the east. Among them, Lingnan and Hunan had serious territorial disputes, and the two sides had fierce conflicts many times. Southern Han was defeated repeatedly and was beaten by Ma Yin to the point of doubting life. Southern Chu's territory expanded all the way south.

Liu Yan played to his strengths and avoided his weaknesses. His strength was not fighting, but getting married. So Liu Yan proposed a marriage proposal to Ma Yin, asking to marry Ma Yin's daughter.

At that time, the strategic focus of Southern Chu was in the north, managing relations with Sichuan, Southern Jing, Central Plains, and Huainan. Therefore, two of the three major cities of Southern Chu, Tanzhou and Langzhou, were located in the northern part of Southern Chu, and only Guizhou was in the south, serving as a bridgehead for the development of Southern Chu to the south. Guizhou, which is today's Guilin in Guangxi, belongs to the "Guangdong-Guangxi region" and was the territory of Southern Chu at that time. This shows the threat posed by Ma Yin of Southern Chu to Southern Han.

After discussion, Ma Yin's group agreed to Liu Yan's marriage proposal, and the two sides put aside their hostility and made peace. After Liu Yan became emperor, he canonized Ma Yin's daughter as queen to consolidate the alliance between the two countries.

After Liu Yan became emperor, he married his daughter Princess Qingyuan to Wang Yanjun of the Min Kingdom, further warming up the relationship with the Min Kingdom.

The marriage alliance between the Southern Han Dynasty and the Central Plains people had already gone beyond the borders, and they also had a relationship with Nanzhao, an old friend of the Central Plains people. In 925, Zheng Renmin, the ruler of Nanzhao (Changhe State), proposed a marriage alliance with the Southern Han Dynasty with a red-maned white horse as a betrothal gift, and Liu Yan married his sister, Princess Zengcheng, to him.

However, this transnational marriage did not bring any substantial benefits to Southern Han, because just three years later, Zheng Renmin died at the age of 3 due to taking an elixir of immortality. His son Zheng Longdan (38 years old) ascended the throne. Two years later, Zheng Longdan was assassinated and the Changhe regime was destroyed.

As soon as I bought the bottom, the stock was delisted. Princess Zengcheng married a lonely woman.

To the north of Southern Han was Southern Chu, to the northeast was Huainan, and to the east was the Kingdom of Min. Liu Yan had marriage alliances with two of them. Huainan and the Central Plains had always been irreconcilable, and it was a natural ally of Southern Han. Liu Yan actively showed goodwill to Huainan and kept persuading him to ascend the throne, thus maintaining a good neighborly relationship. This was the reason why Liu Yan dared to offend the central court (Later Liang).

The Later Liang court said that it could not tolerate Liu Yan's usurpation of the throne and must severely crack down on him, so it ordered Qian Liu of Wuyue to send troops to attack him. Wuyue said that it firmly supported the central court's proposal and strongly condemned and solemnly protested to Southern Han, saying, "Don't do this again next time!"

Then there is no more.

Liu Yan achieved great success in diplomacy, making the Central Plains dynasty beyond his reach.

Soon after, the Later Tang Dynasty destroyed the Liang Dynasty. Liu Yan quickly sent an envoy to visit, in the name of congratulations, to test the Later Tang Dynasty's strength. In the letter, Liu Yan's heading was "The King of the Great Han Dynasty writes to the Emperor of the Great Tang Dynasty".

After the envoy came back, he said that the Tang ruler (Li Cunxu) was "arrogant and licentious" and would eventually cause chaos, so there was no need to worry. Liu Yan was very happy, thinking that the new Later Tang regime could not do anything to him, so he stopped paying tribute to the Later Tang.

Liu Yan also sent envoys to visit Qian Shu. Qian Shu, like Huainan, was incompatible with the Central Plains and was a natural ally of Southern Han. The two countries soon established friendly diplomatic relations and trade exchanges.

【Cultural Holy Land】

As mentioned above, the Southern Han Dynasty brought together a large number of frustrated politicians and unemployed scholars, and most of them were given important positions:
Zhao Guangyi was the founding prime minister. He was the son of Tang Prime Minister Zhao Yin, and his brother Zhao Guangfeng was the prime minister in the Later Liang Dynasty.
Li Yinheng, the founding prime minister. His grandfather was Li Deyu, the famous prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, the leader of the "Li Party" in the "Niu-Li Party Dispute";
Ni Shu, Minister of Works, became prime minister 4 years later. He passed the imperial examination twice in the Tang Dynasty, and once ranked fifth in the country. He was a top student and a famous poet; Liu Jun, the Minister of Imperial Clan Affairs and Minister of Works, succeeded Prime Minister Yang Dongqian after his death. His father was Liu Chongwang, Prime Minister of the Tang Dynasty;
Chen Yongzhuo was a Langzhong of the Ministry of Personnel and an imperial edict editor. He passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi in the reign of Emperor Zhaozong of the Tang Dynasty. He left behind eight volumes of poetry and was also proficient in music, with several volumes of musical scores.

Wang Dingbao, Prime Minister. He passed the imperial examination during the reign of Emperor Zhaozong of the Tang Dynasty. He wrote "Nan Gong Qi Qi Fu", which was a masterpiece of the time. He also wrote "Ji Yan" in 15 volumes, which recorded the imperial examination system and social anecdotes of the Tang Dynasty. Unfortunately, it has been lost.

Xiao Yi, Chongwenshi, Jiujiu Sheren. Grandson of Xiao Fang, prime minister during the reign of Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty...

It is shocking enough that it is hard to imagine that this is a group of civil servants from a separatist regime in a remote area.

Only three years after Liu Yan founded the country, Prime Minister Yang Dongqian proposed to set up schools and restore the imperial examination system, just like the Tang Dynasty. Liu Yan readily agreed and named Comrade Yang Dongqian to take the lead. That year, the Southern Han Dynasty held an imperial examination and selected more than ten scholars of the Mingjing category.

The restoration of the imperial examination made Southern Han even more of a holy place in the hearts of scholars. Scholars from all over the world flocked to Lingnan in large numbers to contribute to the construction of Southern Han.

Yang Dongqian was also very forward-looking and proposed to use civil officials to govern the local areas instead of using military generals as in the Tang Dynasty. This was exactly the same as the reforms of Zhao Kuangyin later, but he was decades ahead of Zhao Kuangyin.

After Liu Yan, Southern Han had three consecutive incompetent rulers, but the country did not fall into chaos and the people could barely survive. This was closely related to Liu Yan's reform of "literati governing prefectures and counties."

【Surface Glory】

Liu Yan attached great importance to economic development, focused on trade cooperation, and used geographical advantages to build Nanhan into a well-known luxury goods distribution center.

When he founded the country and proclaimed himself emperor, he set up a supervisor to mint coins and issued his own currency, Qianheng Chongbao. Many separatist regimes have issued their own currencies, but at the beginning of the founding of the country, most of them continued to use the currency of the previous dynasty, and only minted their own currency after a period of time. Setting up a supervisor to mint coins is not only a political need, but also a financial need. In the usurpation circle, Liu Yan's civil and military skills are not outstanding, but his business acumen is unrivaled. Just one year later, Liu Yan minted lead coins and stipulated that the exchange rate with copper coins was ten to one.

In terms of trade, the Southern Han Dynasty had the largest commercial port in southern China, Guangzhou, so foreign trade made the Southern Han Dynasty prosperous, and it "gained the benefits of pearls and shellfish". There were dozens of overseas imported goods such as pearls, ivory, rhino horns, spices, etc., all of which were high-value-added top-level luxury goods.

Liu Yan set up a special trade transit agency in Jingnan and maintained long-term trade relations with Sichuan and Shu. Previously, we said that under Gao Yu's reform, Southern Chu became the commercial center of China. Southern Chu was limited to domestic trade, while Southern Han almost dominated foreign trade.

In other regimes, the emperors used silk, cloth, money and grain, at best gold and silver, or jade belts, saddle horses and other things whose symbolic meaning was higher than their actual value to reward ministers, but in the Southern Han Dynasty, they used more rare things such as pearls. For example, in 920, when the Wende Hall was completed, Chen Guangyi, the author of the imperial court, wrote a poem to congratulate him, and Liu Yan "rewarded several kilograms of pearls". The pearls were given by kilogram, not by individual pieces.

Another reason why Liu Yan developed trade was to satisfy his personal enjoyment. Many scholars believe that this was not "another reason" but "the main reason".

Liu Yan decorated the palace with a large amount of pearls, jade and other items, making it extremely luxurious.

Generally speaking, people who admire luxury must also be keen on showing off and comparing with others, in order to cover up their inferiority complex. Liu Yan often summoned merchants from afar, especially those from the Central Plains, to the palace to let them visit his Jade Hall and Pearl Palace, showing off the wealth of the Southern Han Dynasty, and then saying that he was actually an ancient and lonely noble (from the Xianqin Dynasty), and that he was ashamed of separatist rule in Lingnan, and that his ambition was to return to his homeland one day and unify the Central Plains... He also kept calling the emperor of the Central Plains "the governor of Luozhou".

Some people take it for granted that this record happened in Liu Yan's later years, saying that he was arrogant. In fact, Liu Yan was in this state from the beginning. The history books clearly recorded this sentence when Liu Yan first proclaimed himself emperor (924), and also specifically emphasized that the "Tang emperor" was called the governor of Luozhou, that is, Li Cunxu and Li Siyuan. Some people translate the first half of the sentence "耻王莽土" as "being unwilling to submit to the Shatuo people, so I came to Lingnan", which is inappropriate. Liu Yan meant that he felt ashamed of being emperor in the barbarian land (Lingnan).

Liu Yan was well aware of a truth: the most painful thing for a person is to die without spending all his money. So he became even more extravagant in his later years, and built a Zhaoyang Palace in the inner palace, with a ceiling made of gold, a floor made of silver, and the eaves and rafters decorated with platinum. A canal was dug under the palace, and pearls were laid at the bottom of the canal. The sun and the moon were carved out of crystal and amber and placed on the jade pillars at the east and west ends. Liu Yan also wrote the plaque himself.

Poems as proof:

"The Jade Hall and Pearl Palace tower over the sky, and the new inscriptions on the plaques are written in a blend of ink and color.

It is the outer court that praises the beautiful words, and the seven wonders present poems to praise the Southern Palace. "

Another Nanxun Hall was built, with 24 pillars that were all transparent and hollow, and also served as incense burners, with air but no form. Liu Yan said with great pride: "Emperor Yang of Sui burned cartloads of agarwood, which was so low and vulgar! Look how elegant I am, even gods are no more than that. Even if I can't be Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wen, or Wu, I can still be a romantic emperor!"

Poems as proof:

“Looking north to the small Luozhou in the Central Plains, I boast that the emperor loves romance.

The sun is high and the incense is lingering around the Nanxun Hall. The twenty-four immortals are hiding on the pillars.

again:
"The incense in the carved pillars hides the twenty-four immortals, and the smoke from the stove in the Nanxun Hall is warm.

Yao Qian and Tang Shi were in the muddy world, and their achievements won them a great reputation that will be passed down from generation to generation."

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

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(End of this chapter)