History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 923: The Nation is About to Fall
[The country is about to fall]

In 963, the Song Dynasty invaded Guo and took over the two lakes. Wang Renzhan was appointed as the acting governor of Jingnan, Xue Juzheng as the governor of Langzhou, and Pan Mei as the defense envoy of Tanzhou. As mentioned above, after unifying the two lakes, Zhao Kuangyin carefully considered his next target and finally decided on Sichuan and Shu.

The Song Dynasty destroyed two countries in one go, and the southern part of Jingzhou was almost bloodless. The Song Dynasty's achievements greatly shocked the southern vassal states. For example, Li Hao, the prime minister of the Later Shu Dynasty, persuaded Meng Chang, the ruler of Shu, to quickly submit to the Central Plains. Li Yu, the last ruler of the Southern Tang Dynasty, first sent envoys to congratulate him, and then submitted a petition to "beg for his name" to pretend to be obedient. Chen Hongjin, the governor of the Qingyuan Army in Quanzhou, begged for vassal status. After years of entanglement, the Song Dynasty finally accepted and notified the Southern Tang Dynasty...

In short, almost all the separatist forces felt unprecedented pressure and adjusted their diplomatic strategies towards the Song Dynasty, with the main themes of "Let's be friends, local tyrant" and "Seeking support". However, the always weird Southern Han finally reached a new height. His performance was simply incredible. He actually took the initiative to provoke the Song Dynasty.

Nanchu was like a dying lion. The moment it fell, countless hyenas and vultures rushed forward to scramble for the feast. For example, Southern Tang, Southern Han, Wang Kui, and Song. After several rounds of fighting and division, Southern Tang and Wang Kui withdrew, leaving only Southern Han and Song. The two sides responded from north to south, scrambling for the last scraps. When the two spheres of influence came into contact, friction and collision were inevitable.

Now, Southern Chu was divided into three parts, with Song occupying two and Southern Han occupying one. Southern Han continued to carry out guerrilla attacks and probe northwards, constantly smashing, looting and burning near Guiyang County (Chenzhou) and Jianghua County (now the southernmost part of Hunan Province), waiting for an opportunity to push the border further north.

Pan Mei, the defense commander of Tanzhou, fought back strongly against the constant probing of the Southern Han and drove them back. After driving away the Southern Han, Pan Mei also suppressed the barbarians in the streams and caves. He first led his troops to attack their lair, beheaded the leader who led the riot, and then appeased the scattered barbarians. With a big stick in one hand and a sweet date in the other, he finally restored order in the region.

In September 964, Pan Mei launched a retaliatory attack on the Southern Han, leading his troops to attack Chenzhou, which was occupied by the Southern Han. Lu Guangtu, the governor of Chenzhou, and Ji Yanyun, the chief general of the Southern Han, were killed, and Chenzhou was recaptured by the Song Dynasty. The remnants of the Southern Han retreated to Shaozhou, and Pan Mei besieged Lianzhou.

As early as when Zhao Kuangyin proclaimed himself emperor, Shao Tingqian, an eunuch of the Southern Han Dynasty, predicted that the Song Dynasty would soon unify the country. He said that the reason why the Southern Han Dynasty had survived for more than 50 years was because of the chaos at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Central Plains was constantly at war, and there was no time to look south. Now that the Central Plains is gradually being unified, the Southern Han Dynasty will never be isolated overseas. Therefore, you should either take the initiative to submit to the Song Dynasty and retain your wealth and glory, or strengthen your war preparations and prepare for a bloody battle. At that time, Liu Yan "hated his straightforward words and hated him deeply." Now, Liu Yan suddenly remembered Shao Tingqian, so he let him take charge and go north to resist the enemy.

Shao Tingqian stationed his troops in Guangkou (now in Yingde County, Qingyuan City, Guangdong Province), trained his troops and horses, and prepared for a decisive battle with the Song army.

After learning that the Southern Han was prepared, Pan Mei led his army back and did not advance further. Because the Song army was preparing to attack Shu at that time, the Song army first fought with the Northern Han, and after ensuring that the north was safe, they concentrated their elite forces to attack the Later Shu. The Song army could not defend against the Northern Han and Khitan in the north, and attack the Later Shu in the west, while also starting a war in Lingnan, so Pan Mei only acted as a strategic deterrent for the time being.

Shao Tingqian firmly believed that the Song Dynasty would definitely make a comeback and that there would be a war between the Han and Song dynasties sooner or later. Therefore, after Pan Mei withdrew his troops, Shao Tingqian continued to recruit troops, build fortifications, prepare weapons and armor, and actively expand the army in preparation for war. Shao Tingqian's short-term goal was to recapture Chenzhou and Lianzhou, and his long-term goal was to prepare for a large-scale military invasion by the Song army.

As Shao Tingqin's official position continued to rise and the armed forces in his hands grew explosively, other eunuchs finally became jealous. They began to slander Shao Tingqin to Liu Cong, saying that Shao Tingqin was playing the trick of nurturing the enemy to gain strength, deliberately exaggerating the enemy's threat to expand his own power, and that he was planning a rebellion!

Liu Xiong suddenly realized that Guo Wei in the Central Plains had the "Chanzhou Mutiny" and Zhao Kuangyin had the "Chenqiao Mutiny". It turned out that he was going to have a "Guangkou Mutiny" against me! He issued an edict to sentence him to death.

After receiving the death order, Shao Tingqian committed suicide in tears. When the soldiers of the Southern Han heard that Shao Tingqian had been sentenced to death, they felt sorry for him, were heartbroken, and their morale was low.

During the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a military candidate named Li Guang who saved people from danger and was upright and incorruptible. However, he was framed by treacherous people and eventually demoted to death. When Li Guang passed by Guangkou, he was moved by the scene and left a poem - "Passing by Guangkou to Mourn Shao Tingqian":
"When the palace eunuchs were slandered, the army was filled with sadness. Wu Yuan preferred to betray his country, while Qu Yuan drowned in the Xiang River.

Although he died a heroic death, his spirit remains and his name will be passed down in history.

The temple is now abandoned, and there is no place to offer the pepper paste. "

The Southern Han finally had such a good eunuch with conscience, foresight and ideals, but he was killed just like that. Good people don't live long, but evil people live for a thousand years.

With the start of the Song Dynasty's war against Shu, Pan Mei temporarily delayed his deployment of troops to the south, and Liu Xiong, deceived by reactionary forces such as eunuchs, returned to peace and prosperity. The war seemed so far away from them.

The life of dissipation and decadence was so boring that Liu Xiong was madly testing the edge of death. Not only did he not hide away and indulge in lust and abuse, but he continued to provoke the Song Dynasty, repeatedly sending troops to the north to test and harass the southern border of Hunan under the control of the Song Dynasty.

In 970, the Song Dynasty had unified Sichuan and launched two northern expeditions against the Northern Han Dynasty, both of which ended in failure. At this time, Zhao Kuangyin received two memorials. After reading the memorials, Zhao Kuangyin was furious and decided to march south.

What memorial made Emperor Zhao Kuangyin so angry?

The first one was a memorial from Wang Jixun, the governor of Daozhou.

After Pan Mei withdrew his troops, the Southern Han Dynasty continued to harass the southern Hunan region under the control of the Song Dynasty. Now they even gathered a large army to besiege Daozhou. Daozhou was in danger and requested support from the court. At the same time, Wang Jixun also listed Liu Xiong's actions one by one, saying that Liu Xiong was perverse, favored eunuchs, slaughtered meritorious officials and royal family members, was greedy for enjoyment, and neglected military preparations. In short, "corruption is incurable"...

Since Zhao Kuangyin wanted to take advantage of the fact that Northern Han had lost two rulers in a row to wipe out Northern Han, he was quite hesitant about whether to march south. So he asked Li Yu of Southern Tang to act as a middleman to send a message to Liu Yan of Southern Han, advising him to recognize the current situation, return the occupied former Southern Chu territory, and not create trouble.

Li Yu of Southern Tang was ordered to write a long letter to Liu Xiong of Southern Han, in which he earnestly advised him to stop and proceed. This was also an ultimatum that Li Yu conveyed on behalf of the Song Dynasty. Then he reported the results of the communication to the Song Dynasty and attached Liu Xiong's reply. This was the second memorial received by Zhao Kuangyin and the direct fuse for Zhao Kuangyin's southern expedition.

Thanks to my old friend "Yang Kui" for his reward and support!

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(End of this chapter)