History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 939: Southern Tang 2
Take a look at the above Nan Tang national team lineup:
Huangfu Jixun is the son of the "gambler" Huangfu Hui. Huangfu Hui was the initiator of "Emperor Mingzong's entry into Wei". When the Khitan destroyed the Jin Dynasty, he fled to the Southern Tang Dynasty. Later, he was captured by Zhao Kuangyin during the "Three Expeditions to Huainan". After being captured, he "refused to eat Zhou grain" and died heroically for his country. The above article has detailed descriptions. As the son of a martyr, Huangfu Jixun was highly regarded. Although he did not achieve any merit, he rose all the way to become the top military figure in the Southern Tang Dynasty.

Chen Qiao, a veteran of three dynasties, was initially appreciated by Xu Zhigao and promoted to the position of Zhongshu Sheren. When the "Four Evils and Five Ghosts" group forced the emperor to abdicate, Li Jing ordered Chen Qiao to draft the abdication edict. Chen Qiao broke into the palace to meet with the emperor, wept and refused to stop, and gained Li Jing's trust. After eradicating the "Four Evils and Five Ghosts" group, Li Jing led Chen Qiao to the harem, summoned his sons and the queen, and then told them that Chen Qiao was a loyal minister. If the country is in trouble, you and your son can rely on him, so that I will die without regrets! To this day, Li Yu thinks of his father's words.

Zhang Li was a young talent who passed the imperial examination and was initially a county government cadre (county lieutenant). When Li Hongji died (959), officials initially discussed posthumous titles such as "Xuanwu". Zhang Li submitted a memorial to the emperor, saying that this was inappropriate because the highest code of conduct for a crown prince was to "see the meals and ask about the emperor's health". His military achievements should not be flaunted, otherwise future generations would compete to learn from him and thus shake the imperial power. He suggested changing his posthumous title to "Wenxian". Li Jing adopted his suggestion, and Zhang Li was therefore taken seriously and promoted to Supervisory Censor. The main job of a Supervisory Censor was to find faults and faults with officials, similar to the Commission for Discipline Inspection. It was an offensive job, and Zhang Li was a rising star in the political arena, so he became the target of public criticism as soon as he entered the court and was unanimously excluded by all the old cadres. Li Jing moved the capital to Hongzhou, leaving Li Yu as the governor of Shengzhou. The ministers worked together to recommend Zhang Li to be Li Yu's staff and stay in Shengzhou. In this way, Zhang Li was deprived of real power and excluded from the core power circle. But everyone was happy for only a few days, Li Jing passed away. Then Li Yu ascended the throne and moved the capital back to Shengzhou. A blessing in disguise, Zhang Li's career rebounded from the bottom and reached a historical high. He became Li Yu's most trusted confidant, and historical records said he was "the first in favor."

Zhang Li was eager for quick success and had a narrow mind. He was close to Pan You at first, and they were good friends. Later, Pan You despised him as a person, so he gradually alienated him. Zhang Li held a grudge against him, and he contributed a lot to Pan You's death. Zhang Li was once an envoy to the Song Dynasty. The emperor and ministers of the Song Dynasty admired his literary talent and treated him well. He was also greedy for wealth and glory, so he happily became a "Song-oriented" member, often explaining the pros and cons to Li Yu in the name of a public figure, and persuading Li Yu to surrender.

Xu Yuanyu, together with his brothers Xu Yuanji, Xu Yuanyu and Xu Yuanshu, occupied the power center of Southern Tang. In order to whitewash the situation, they only reported good news and not bad news, hid all emergency documents, and created a false impression that everything was peaceful for Li Yu.

Why did the Xu Yuanyu brothers have such power? Because they had a very close relationship with Li Yu. They were half-brothers, which will be explained in detail later.

In terms of cutting off the outside world and deceiving Li Yu, Xu Yuanyu and Huangfu Jixun worked together to make things difficult for Li Yu. According to historical records, the Song army advanced all the way and set up camp ten miles away from Shengzhou City, while Li Yu and the defenders in the city were still unaware.

Let’s look at the armed forces of Southern Tang:
Volunteer Army: Several households with an annual income of 2,000 guan each will contribute one soldier. Not just one household, but several households combined, as long as their annual income reaches 2,000 guan each, will contribute one soldier to join the "volunteer army";
New army: "One more soldier will be sent out from the different nationalities";
The new draft of the military guest: "A newly-purchased property also provides one soldier"; the above two samples should be consistent with the first one, that is, the object of conscription is not a single household, but a collection of several households;

Tuanjun: Every household with three male adults provides one soldier;
Lingbo Army: Every year, the prefectures, counties, and villages would hold a rowing competition (river race). The prize for the champion was a large silver bowl, and the champion’s name would be recorded by the government. When recruiting soldiers, the government would follow the map and forcibly conscript them into the army to form the “Lingbo Army”.
Volunteer Army: composed of hired servants, slaves, and live-in sons-in-law (civil servants and live-in sons-in-law);
The Free Army: funded by Mr. Huang and the two major families, recruiting ruffians and street scoundrels;
White Armor Army: A spontaneous armed force formed by civilians, using farm tools as weapons and paper as armor;

……

The above are the militia-like armed forces of the Southern Tang Dynasty in addition to the regular army. They were all mobilized to resist the Song Dynasty.

During the "Three Expeditions to Huainan", a "righteous army" had made great contributions, and its leader Zhang Xiong was promoted to the commander of the imperial army and stationed in Yuanzhou and Tingzhou. Later, Zhang Xiong led his troops to defend the king, but the whole army was annihilated, and all eight of them, father and son, died for the country. Today, how much role can these civilian armed forces play?

Li Yu attached great importance to this war and devoted all his national strength to it. However, the effect was not good enough, at least it was useless. According to historical records, these miscellaneous troops "collapsed one after another" and were vulnerable to attack, becoming a tool for the Song army to improve its record.

Li Yu wrote a letter to Qian Hongchu of Wuyue Kingdom in a hurry. He did not have time to beat around the bush and almost used plain words - "Without me today, how can you be there tomorrow? Once the emperor changes his place to reward meritorious service tomorrow, you will be just a commoner in Daliang!" The voice of "lips and teeth are interdependent" always lingered in the court of Wuyue Kingdom, but the rulers of the Qian family were always able to overcome all objections, obey the edicts of the Central Plains country, unswervingly implement the basic national policy of maintaining the Central Plains country, and resolutely sent troops to attack Tang.

At the end of this year (974) (December), Li Yu ordered the abandonment of the "Kaibao" era name of the Song Dynasty and only used the sexagenary cycle to record years, calling this year "Jiaxu Year".

In February 975, the Song army completed the siege of Shengzhou; the Wuyue Kingdom followed the imperial edict to attack Changzhou, opening up the eastern battlefield, and Changzhou opened the city and surrendered.

As the commander-in-chief of the Southern Tang army, Huangfu Jixun was not thinking about how to repel the enemy, but was working hard to study how to force Li Yu to surrender and then preserve his own wealth and glory. Huangfu Jixun spared no effort to act as an actor, paving the way for the Song army to siege Shengzhou. His ideas and practices were exactly the same as Du Chongwei's, but he forgot Du Chongwei's end. In fact, his end was far more tragic than Du Chongwei's.

Whenever he heard that the Southern Tang army had suffered a defeat, Huangfu Jixun would be overjoyed, happier than Cao Bin and Pan Mei, and he really wanted to lead the Song army himself. When the Song army approached Shengzhou, some generals planned to recruit death squads to raid the camp at night. When Huangfu Jixun heard about it, he was furious and arrested those generals who had the will to resist, whipped them, and then put them in solitary confinement. The Southern Tang soldiers were furious, and the people were also gnashing their teeth in hatred.

Huangfu Jixun was worried that his actions would be exposed, so he strictly blocked the news from the front line, which coincided with Xu Yuanyu and others in Shengzhou City. When Li Yu summoned him to the city for a meeting, he also declined on the grounds that he was busy with military affairs.

Li Yu intuitively believed that the Song army's attack would be fierce, but he had never received any emergency news from the front, so he asked Zhang Li. Zhang Li said that Shengzhou was impregnable, and the Song army had been on a long expedition, and as the saying goes, they were at the end of their strength and could not pierce the silk of Lu. Even if there was real danger, I would die for my loyalty. What else do you have to worry about, Your Majesty?

Li Yu felt very relieved, so he completely believed in the illusion before him and immersed himself in the peaceful and prosperous era of singing and dancing.

One day, Li Yu was in a mood to compose a poem, so he decided to climb a height to look far away for inspiration. But when he looked up, he was almost scared out of his wits. Outside the city, he saw endless Song army camps, with Song army flags all over the mountains...

It was not until then that Li Yu learned the truth, so he tricked Huangfu Jixun into the city, announced his crimes of betraying the country and the emperor, and pushed him out of the city gate, handing him over to the angry soldiers and civilians for punishment. The soldiers and civilians of the Southern Tang did not disappoint Li Yu, and soon tore Huangfu Jixun to pieces, leaving no hair behind (the soldiers gathered to eat him, and they were all gone in a short time).

(End of this chapter)