History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 970: Starting a business is difficult and full of challenges (Part )
[Starting a business is difficult and full of challenges]

1. "Rebellion of Xu and Xu"

In August 902, Qian Liu's group faced a serious internal crisis, namely the "Rebellion of Xu Wan and Xu Zaisi", known in history as the "Rebellion of Xu and Xu" or the "Rebellion of Wuyongdu".

Qian Liu reorganized the surrendered soldiers of Huainan into the Left and Right Wuyong Divisions, whose commanders were also surrendered generals of the great thief Sun Ru: the Right Wuyong Division Commander Xu Wan and the Left Wuyong Division Commander Xu Zaisi. After surrendering to Qian Liu, the two fought bravely and made great military achievements for Qian Liu's group, but took advantage of Qian Liu's absence to lead his troops to launch a rebellion. At that time, Xu Wan led his troops outside, while Xu Zaisi led his troops in Hangzhou to respond. The two cooperated internally and externally. At the same time, the two also secretly colluded with the Huainan veteran Tian Yu to divide the Qian family's foundation.

This crisis almost caused Qian Liu to withdraw from the stage of history. Looking at the nearly 90-year history of the Wuyue Kingdom, the "Rebellion of Xu Wan and Xu Zaisi" was the most dangerous crisis, without a doubt.

At that time, there were more than 200 brocade workers from Runzhou in Hangzhou. Runzhou belonged to the Huainan Yang Xingmi Group. When the rebellion broke out, Qian Chuanying (Qian Liu's third son, some say the eldest son) immediately realized that the rebels would inevitably collude with the Huainan forces, so these more than 200 brocade workers became a major uncertainty. Qian Chuanying falsely passed on the "imperial edict", claiming to have received Qian Liu's order, temporarily giving them a holiday and placing them outside the city. Afterwards, he ordered the defenders in the city to close the inner city gates, mobilized troops to resist tenaciously, and sent people to quickly notify Qian Liu outside.

Faced with the emergency, Qian Chuanying remained calm, responded in an orderly manner and commanded properly, avoiding being taken away by the rebels in one wave. He defended the base camp and dragged the rebellion into a stalemate, leaving enough time for Qian Liu to arrange a counterattack.

After receiving the news from Qian Chuanying, Qian Liu discussed with the generals. Du Jianhui, Gu Quanwu and other generals made a calm analysis and predicted the enemy's prediction, saying that Xu Wan's rebels would definitely collude with Huainan's Yang Xingmi. If Huainan raised troops to help the rebellion, we would definitely be doomed, so the top priority was to find a way to appease Yang Xingmi. In the end, Qian Liu decided to "marry" Yang Xingmi, using the old routine of political marriage.

The sixth son, Qian Yuanliang, who was handsome and talented in both civil and military affairs, took on this important task. He gritted his teeth and stomped his feet, and happily married Yang Xingmi's daughter.

The road to marriage is extremely dangerous.

First, they had to risk their lives to cross the enemy-occupied area, so they were escorted by General Gu Quanwu himself, and Qian Yuanlong was asked to dress up as Gu Quanwu's servant to conceal their whereabouts. As expected, they were almost intercepted by General An Renyi of Huainan on the way.

The second thing is the attitude of his future father-in-law. If Yang Xingmi is short-sighted and determined to take the opportunity to kill Qian Liu, then Qian Yuanluo’s trip would be tantamount to walking into a trap.

In the end, Qian Yuanlang met Yang Xingmi without any danger. After Gu Quanwu's explanation, Yang Xingmi finally agreed to help Qian Liu suppress the rebellion. According to records, Yang Xingmi liked Qian Yuanlang very much and exclaimed: "This is a dragon seed. If I give birth to a son, I hope he will be like Qian Lang. My son is just a pig and dog!"

There are not many positive records about Qian Yuanliang in historical books, but the evaluation of "this is a dragon seed" can explain a lot of problems.

As mentioned earlier, Tian Yu of the Huainan forces also planned to expand his strength and rebel against Yang Xingmi. As the Qian group expected, after receiving Xu Wan's collusion, Tian Yu readily agreed, took advantage of his troops to assist the rebels, and launched a fierce attack on Hangzhou, racing against time in an attempt to make the annexation of eastern Zhejiang a fait accompli before Yang Xingmi intervened.

Qian Liu's tenacious resistance broke Tian Yu's dream of a blitzkrieg and dragged the war into a stalemate. At the same time, Yang Xingmi also issued the most severe warning to Tian Yu, ordering him to stop fighting and return to the town. Tian Yu was at a loss, so he proposed a marriage proposal to Qian Liu, taking one of Qian Liu's sons as a hostage to prevent the Qian family group from backstabbing him.

Tian Yu's reputation has always been bad, and his rebellious nature is clear. His fate is foreseeable. Going to him as a hostage is a matter of life and death. So when Qian Liu summoned his sons and asked them who was willing to be Tian's son-in-law, all the sons bowed their heads and stepped back, which disappointed Qian Liu greatly.

Later, Qian Liu named Qian Yuanqiu and ordered him to go. Qian Yuanqiu shook his head like a rattle, "I won't go, I won't go, even if you kill me."

"I'm going to beat you to death right now!" Qian Liu was so angry that he almost killed him, but was dissuaded by his generals. Qian Yuanqiu was dismissed from his post and sentenced to death politically.

At this time, Qian Yuanguan, who was only 16 years old, stepped forward and bravely took on the heavy responsibility. Qian Liu was overjoyed, but Qian Liu's wife Wu burst into tears and said, "You are putting my son in a tiger's mouth!" Qian Liu was embarrassed and didn't know how to explain. Qian Yuanguan rescued his father and was ready to die. He said, "I will forget myself to help the country, and I will have no regrets even if I die." This is what a 16-year-old child said. Qian Liu was very pleased and even more reluctant to leave. The father and son cried and walked to the city wall. Accompanied by several close followers, they lowered Qian Yuanguan out of the city.

Not long after (a year), Tian Yu officially rebelled against Yang Xingmi, who sent a letter to Qian Liu asking for help. Qian Liu had no choice but to repay the favor of "Xu and Xu Rebellion" and sent troops to conquer Tian Yu.

Tian Yu thought Qian Liu would be afraid to send troops, and when he learned that Qian Liu was attacking, he was very angry and wanted to kill him many times. Fortunately, Tian Yu's mother was a wise person and secretly protected him with Tian Yu's brother-in-law. Before Tian Yu launched his last breakout, he said, "If we don't win today, I will kill Qian Lang!" In the battle that day, Tian Yu was killed. His left and right henchmen wanted to carry out his last will and kill Qian Yuanguan to avenge their master, but they were rescued by Tian Yu's mother and Tian Yu's brother-in-law.

In the end, Qian Yuanguan returned to Hangzhou safely in October 903. Half a year later, in March 10, Qian Yuanlang also returned to Hangzhou from Huainan with Yang.

One rebellion, two marriages, and three sons who made great contributions.

Key figures: Qian Chuanying, Qian Yuanling and Qian Yuanguan.

2. Annexation of Luyo

In 905, Lu Yue, the leader of the Chuzhou separatist forces, annexed Wenzhou. In the first month of 907, Qian Liu sent Qian Yuanlang and Qian Yuanguan to attack Lu Ji (Lu Yue's younger brother) in Wenzhou.

At that time, Lu Ji gathered 40 huge ships at Qingao Haimen, northeast of Wenzhou. Qingao is located in the sea northeast of Wenzhou. According to local chronicles, it is "a mountain in the sea, 200 miles west of the county town". The two mountains face each other and are shaped like a gate, so it is called "Qingaomen". This is the sea gate of Wenzhou. "If you enter the ship, you will enter Wenzhou, and outside is the ocean." Therefore, Lu Ji assembled the main force here, ready to annihilate the invading enemy on the sea defense line outside Wenzhou.

If we know there is a tiger in the mountain, then we should not go to the mountain. Qian Yuanguan said to the generals: "The elite of the enemy are all here... We should attack the enemy's camp from another road..."

I am hiding from the elite. This is Qian Yuanguan's signature move.

Qian Yuanguan led his troops to bypass the Feiyun River in the south of Wenzhou, and entered Wenzhou City by land, killing Lu Ji in one fell swoop. Simple summary: Lu Ji gathered at the first tower in the middle to prepare for a team battle, while Qian Yuanguan's side was Sun Ce + Da Qiao + Miledy + Liu Chan + Cai Wenji, each with interference and resurrection armor, and directly stole the base.

Afterwards, Qian Yuanguan was ordered to take advantage of the victory to attack Chuzhou, and Lu Yue surrendered. In this battle, the Qian family group took Chuzhou and Wenzhou into their pockets.

In "Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms", it is recorded that the brothers Qian Yuanlang and Qian Yuanguan led their troops to attack Wenzhou, and it was Qian Yuanguan who proposed taking a detour, which meant to emphasize that Qian Yuanguan's contribution was greater.

Key figures: Qian Yuanliang and Qian Yuanguan.

Thanks to my old friend "Yang Kui" for the monthly ticket support!

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(End of this chapter)