History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 930 The aftermath
If thousands of miles of carriages and letters are confused, how can there be separate borders in the south of the Yangtze River?

After destroying Southern Han, Zhao Kuangyin planned to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth and comfort his ancestors. On July 971, 7, he issued an edict that "something will be held in the southern suburbs" on the winter solstice of that year.

The news of the Song Dynasty's unification of Lingnan caused a huge shock in southern China. Li Yu of Southern Tang immediately sent envoys to pay tribute and congratulate, and sent his younger brother Li Congshan to Beijing on November 11 to beg for the removal of the country's name "Tang" and to be called "Lord of Jiangnan" from then on, and also pleaded to take back the privilege of not being able to be worshipped by the emperor.

Li Yu had asked for his name more than once, but was rejected by Zhao Kuangyin every time. This time, Zhao Kuangyin agreed, re-carved the "Jiangnan State Seal" for him, and affectionately called him "Li Yu". Why did he agree this time? Because Zhao Kuangyin had already made Southern Tang his next target. We finally have the opportunity to closely examine the past and present life of this familiar yet unfamiliar king of the fallen country - Li Yu, the last ruler of Southern Tang.

【Survivor】

958 AD was an extremely important year for Southern Tang. In this year, the ambitious Later Zhou Emperor Chai Rong completed the feat of "three expeditions to Huainan"; in this year, Li Jing of Southern Tang was completely defeated, and his dream of becoming a great power was completely shattered. His dignity was trampled underfoot and what lay before him was no longer the stars and the sea, but survival.

In the first month of that year, the Later Zhou army captured Yangzhou and occupied Taizhou, which was across the river from Shengzhou, the capital of Southern Tang. Li Jing announced the change of the reign title to "Zhongxing", hoping that a miracle would happen to save the precarious Southern Tang and make it great again.

In his mind, the places where miracles might happen were Chuzhou, Shuzhou and other stubborn places in Jiangbei. Although the Later Zhou army was unstoppable on the eastern front, conquering Yangzhou and Taizhou, it faltered in local battlefields. Among them, Chuzhou, an important stronghold on the Huai River, stood firm under the command of Defense Envoy Zhang Yanqing and Military Supervisor Zheng Zhaoye, and withstood the fierce attacks of the Later Zhou army for forty consecutive days.

The stubborn resistance of Chuzhou and Shuzhou formed a certain restraint on the Later Zhou army that penetrated deep into Huainan, which made the battle situation in Jiangbei uncertain and retained the last glimmer of hope for the Southern Tang.

In addition, although Yangzhou and other places were taken over by the Later Zhou, the Later Zhou's control was still limited. For example, Tianshui County under Yangzhou was still under the control of the Southern Tang. Li Jing ordered Tianshui County to be upgraded to Xiongzhou and promoted Tianshui County garrison commander Yi Wenyun to Xiongzhou governor, hoping that he could regain his strength, resist the main force of the Later Zhou to the south, and then recapture Yangzhou and turn defeat into victory.

This is Li Jing’s foolish dream of “rejuvenating the country”.

In the same month when Li Jing changed the reign title, Chai Rong personally went to the city of Chuzhou and commanded a strong attack, "burning the city with caves and houses", and finally took down the tough bone of Chuzhou. The main general Zhang Yanqing and the military supervisor Zheng Zhaoye insisted on fighting to the last moment until they died heroically. As described in detail in the previous article, the battle of Chuzhou was quite tragic. Zhang Yanqing ran out of arrows and his sword was blunt, so he used bricks and chairs as weapons. He led his 1,000 soldiers to continue fighting in the streets after the city was broken, and finally all died, preferring death rather than surrender, and shedding the last drop of blood for the Southern Tang.

After conquering Chuzhou, Chai Rong chose to vent his anger by massacring the city and setting it on fire, completely razing this tough nut to the ground.

In February, Chai Rong led the main force south from Chuzhou, and Xiongzhou Governor Yi Wenyun surrendered without a fight; Shuzhou on the western front was also conquered by General Wang Shenqi.

Li Jing's fantasy was shattered.

On March 3, Li Jing changed the reign title to "Jiaotai" again, perhaps hoping that things would get better. He then sent a high-level delegation across the river to seek peace, and soon reached a ceasefire agreement with Chai Rong, ending the "Three Expeditions to Huainan".

The general content of the ceasefire agreement was that Southern Tang would declare itself a vassal of Later Zhou, Li Jing would be stripped of his imperial title and renamed "Lord of Tang", and the entire territory north of the Yangtze River would be ceded.

After some bargaining, the formal agreement came into effect in May. According to the agreement, Li Jing followed the Zhou dynasty and used the later year name "Xian De". In 5 AD, the Southern Tang used four different year-counting methods: the 958th year of Bao Da, the first year of Zhong Xing, the first year of Jiao Tai, and the fifth year of Xian De.

This battle dealt a fatal blow to the Southern Tang Dynasty from all aspects.

For example, the economy. Three years of war had left Southern Tang unable to make ends meet, and one of the prices for the ceasefire was the cession of the entire Jiangbei area, with almost all grain-producing areas and important handicraft towns lost. In addition, the high war reparations and endless tribute made the situation even worse for Southern Tang.

According to records, in the second year after the war, in the first month of 960 AD, Zhao Kuangyin established the Song Dynasty. In March, the Southern Tang paid tribute of 3 pieces of silk and 7 taels of silver to congratulate him on his accession to the throne. In July, it paid tribute of taels of gold, taels of silver, pieces of silk, pieces of silk, and imperial garments. When Zhao Kuangyin quelled the rebellions in Luzhou and Yangzhou, the Southern Tang also paid tribute to congratulate him.

During the war, the economy of Southern Tang had already encountered a serious crisis. In order to cope with this crisis, Zhong Mo suggested casting large coins, and Han Xizai suggested casting iron coins. When there was a shortage of money, the government would cut corners on the coins, use inferior materials as good ones, and assign larger face values ​​to lighter and cheaper coins. At the same time, a large number of counterfeit coins appeared among the people, which brought serious adverse effects to the national economy.

Just like the quantitative easing policy of the United States today, in simple terms, it is the printing press running at full capacity to throw money around. However, the reasons for the economic downturn are industrial hollowing out, insufficient production capacity, imbalance between supply and demand, unfair distribution of social wealth, etc. The issuance of additional currency can only solve the problem temporarily, but cannot save the world. Simply relying on the issuance of additional currency is like drinking poison to quench thirst. Not only can it not save the economy, but it will cause hyperinflation and further aggravate the crisis.

Li Jing was also opposed to casting big coins and iron coins at the beginning, but after the war, facing the almost collapsed national economy, Li Jing had no choice but to compromise. In 959, the Southern Tang Dynasty began to cast big coins "Yongtong Quanbao", with one coin equal to ten, which is called "Zheshi Coin" and "Dangshi Coin" by coin collectors. Five denominations of "Tangguo Tongbao" coins were also cast, and iron coins were also cast. It was desperate to try any possible means.

After only half a year, the drawbacks of the quantitative easing policy began to emerge. Li Jing decisively pulled back the curtain and stopped the monetary policy of minting big coins and iron coins.

The devastation that war causes to the economy is unquestionable, and its impact on politics is even more unquestionable.

As described in detail in the previous article "The Downfall of the "Four Evils and Five Demons", the "Three Expeditions to Huainan" enabled Li Jing to end the rule of the "Four Evils and Five Demons" group in Southern Tang. In fact, this was only one link of the war's political impact on Southern Tang, and the most insignificant one. The real highlight was a deeply hidden but far-reaching event - the struggle for the throne.

This was the dispute between the "Crown Prince" and the "Crown Prince" of Southern Tang, known in history as the "Uncle and Nephew Fighting for the Succession."

However, this political change is also only mentioned in a few sentences in history books. As the old saying goes, the fewer words, the more information it contains. As usual, first repeat the positive description of the history books, and then analyze and infer.

According to records, Li Jing had repeatedly expressed his intention to give up the throne to his younger brother Li Jingsui at the beginning of his reign, but was sternly rejected by Li Jingsui. So Li Jing appointed Li Jingqian as the Grand Marshal of the Army and Li Jingda as the Deputy Marshal, and designated Li Jingsui as the "Crown Prince". He announced to the world that Li Jingsui was the heir to the throne. He also took his brothers to swear an oath in front of the spirit of the late emperor, and solemnly announced that in the future the throne would be passed to the younger brother instead of the son after the death of the father. At the same time, he first exiled the eldest son Li Hongji to Yangzhou, and then to Runzhou, to keep him away from the political center.

In the later period of the "Three Expeditions to Huainan", Li Jingsui, who had been the "Crown Prince" for thirteen years, suddenly asked to be exiled to his fiefdom and sent to govern Hongzhou; at the same time, the eldest son Li Hongji won a great victory in Changzhou and was appointed "Crown Prince" by Li Jing, thus establishing his status as the heir to the throne.

Soon after, some of Li Hongji's actions caused Li Jing's dissatisfaction, so Li Jing spread the word that he would abolish the "Crown Prince" and establish the "Crown Prince Brother", and threatened to welcome Li Jingsui back to Hongzhou. Li Hongji took the lead and sent someone to poison Li Jingsui to death.

At first, Li Jing's death was packaged as an accident. Li Jing felt that something was wrong, so he sent people to investigate. It turned out that it was the work of the crown prince Li Hongji. Li Jing was furious and announced that Li Hongji's position as crown prince would be abolished.

Not long after, in September 959, Li Hongji died suddenly. Subsequently, Li Jing appointed his sixth son Li Congjia (Li Yu) as the crown prince.

History seemed to have given Li Yu a chance to pick up the spoils. Li Jing and Li Jingsui were models of brotherly love and respect. However, the truth was far from being as glamorous as it seemed.

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

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(End of this chapter)