History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 975 The Lost Decade

The Lost Decade

Although Qian Yuanguan had made great contributions, he did not have an overwhelming advantage. For example, his sixth brother Qian Yuanluo was on par with him. Although the brothers unanimously recommended Qian Yuanguan in front of Qian Liu, there was also a sense of "guessing the emperor's intention" here.

Qian Yuanguan, the second ruler of Wuyue, emerged from the fog and left in the fog. The ten years of his reign were the most confusing period in the history of Wuyue.

At the beginning of his succession, Qian Yuanguan and his brothers were in the same tent to guard the body of their father Qian Liu. At this time, the commander of the inner guard, Lu Renzhang, said that it was inappropriate, saying that you have inherited your father's position, you were brothers in the past, and now you are the emperor and his subjects, so there should be a distinction between the superior and the inferior. So he helped Qian Yuanguan to a separate tent and warned the guards that from now on, if Qian Yuanguan's brothers wanted to see Qian Yuanguan, they had to come here to pay homage, and no one was allowed to bring attendants.

Who is this Lu Renzhang? Why does he dare to give orders to Qian Yuanguan and his brothers?

To give a brief introduction, Lu Renzhang was originally from a poor family. He was forced to make a living and found a job as a garden security guard (gardener) from Qian Liu. One day, when Qian Liu was strolling in the garden, he suddenly discovered that this young security guard was proficient in gardening work. A security guard who couldn't take care of bonsai was not a good general. Qian Liu began to pay attention to him from then on.

In 909, Huainan surrounded the important city of Suzhou and set up three lines of defense, turning Suzhou into an isolated city. In addition to being cut off from the land route, the Huainan people also set up layers of large nets in the canals leading to Suzhou, with copper bells hanging on the nets. Historical records say that even fish and turtles passing through would trigger the alarm.

Lu Renzhang came up with an idea for Qian Liu, who was worried. He found Sima Fu, the best diver in the Wuyue army, and asked him to hold a big bamboo pole and sneak under the water. He deliberately used the long bamboo pole to touch the big net. When the Huainan soldiers heard the bell and closed the net, he took the opportunity to pass through. In this way, Sima Fu walked and stopped in the water for three days and three nights before he successfully sneaked into the city by water, allowing the defenders to get in touch with the reinforcements and finally repelling the Huainan army.

From then on, Qian Liu looked at Lu Renzhang with even greater respect, and then treated him as his grandson (raising him as one of his grandchildren), and later promoted him to the positions of military grain supervisor of the two prefectures and commander of the inner guards. Judging from these two positions, Qian Liu really treated Lu Renzhang as his own.

Qian Liu had so many "people of his own", so how did Lu Renzhang become one of the important ministers entrusted with the care of his son? Because Lu Renzhang, in addition to being smart and flexible, also possessed a very important advantage - honesty and loyalty.

After it was clear that Qian Yuanguan was the successor, the civil and military officials began to flirt with Qian Yuanguan secretly, secretly attached to Qian Yuanguan, and reserved a "Heroic Official" gift package for the next version update. However, Lu Renzhang not only did not flatter Qian Yuanguan, but also repeatedly offended Qian Yuanguan in an iron-faced and impartial manner.

Now, as the commander of the inner guard, Lu Renzhang's primary job was to ensure Qian Yuanguan's personal safety. Lu Renzhang set up a single room for Qian Yuanguan and assigned special people to take turns to protect him 24 hours a day; anyone who needed to visit Qian Yuanguan had to be alone and was not allowed to bring any attendants or guards; "Guarding Qian Yuanguan day and night, without regular rest."

Qian Yuanguan was very grateful and consoled Lu Renzhang many times. The king and his minister talked heart to heart and cleared up all the previous "misunderstandings". Lu Renzhang explained: "When the previous king was still on the throne, I only knew how to serve the previous king, so I didn't know how to serve you. Now that you have succeeded to the throne, I will serve you like I served the previous king." Qian Yuanguan then sighed for a long time.

With the assistance of Lu Renzhang and other trusted ministers, Qian Yuanguan successfully succeeded to the throne, and the Wuyue Kingdom completed its first power transfer.

However, was the transfer of supreme power this time really so smooth?
"Qian Yuan's Rebellion Case"

After Qian Yuanguan came to power, he followed the rules, such as reducing rent and taxes, awarding rewards to civil and military officials and soldiers at all levels, etc. In December of the following year (933), Qian Yuanguan's second brother Qian Yuanji died of illness.

Qian Yuanji was Qian Liu's second son. He was kind and taciturn, lived a simple life, and advocated Confucianism and Buddhism. He was well-known for his political achievements wherever he went and was loved by the people. He had a deep relationship with his wife. After losing her at an early age, he never remarried. This is all that is recorded about him in historical records.

If Qian Chuanying was really Qian Liu's eldest son, Qian Yuanji would undoubtedly be the first heir according to the order of seniority. Now, he died in a timely manner with guaranteed quality and quantity.

In the same year that Qian Yuanji died, Qian Yuanguan summoned his younger brother Qian Yuanrong to Hangzhou.

Qian Yuanrong, the twelfth son of Qian Liu, was Qian Yuanji's half-brother. He was stationed in Mingzhou at the time. It was said that he acted arbitrarily and tyrannically in Mingzhou. Qian Yuanrong repeatedly made excessive demands to Qian Yuanguan. If they were not met, he would write letters to accuse and insult Qian Yuanguan (writing letters to be rebellious and slow). He also set up private prisons and various tortures, often paying tribute to the "pao lai zhi zhi". It was said that the stench of burning human flesh filled the whole city. Qian Yuanguan therefore sent his trusted general Yang Renquan to summon him to Hangzhou to accept the organization's investigation. Soon, Qian Yuanrong was dismissed, demoted to a commoner, and placed under house arrest in Hangzhou.

At this time, another brother, Qian Yuan, stepped onto the historical stage. Qian Yuan, according to historical records, was Qian Liu's beloved son and had made many military achievements. How much did Qian Liu love him? He was promoted to the position of Commander of Natives, Horses and Infantry, Jiedushi of Jingjiang Army, and concurrently Minister of the Central Secretariat. He was granted the title of Marquis of Funan and was given a military staff, which allowed him to raise private armed forces and have death squads.

When Qian Yuanguan succeeded to the throne, Qian Yuan was very dissatisfied and arbitrarily expanded the size of his private army, which was said to be as high as several thousand people. What's more shocking is that historical records say that many civil and military officials secretly attached themselves to him. Qian Yuanguan gradually felt the pressure, so he asked someone to privately tell him to reduce the size of his private army and suggested that he take the initiative to request to be transferred to Wenzhou to avoid suspicion. In this way, Qian Yuanguan and Qian Yuan would both have face and steps, and they would both be respectable people.

Qian Yuan flatly refused.

Therefore, the official in charge of the Tongguan Temple secretly reported to the emperor, revealing a major event: Qian Yuan sent his confidants to the Tongguan Temple to pray for himself to be crowned the King of Wuyue. Another person reported that Qian Yuan secretly colluded with the imprisoned Qian Yuanyi through the wax ball book, plotting something illegal!
This tip-off came at a perfect time.

It is said that Qian Yuanguan firmly refused to believe it. My brother is such a lovely and honest child. Although he is naughty and arrogant, he would never stage a coup. You are overthinking it...

After constant persuasion from the generals, Qian Yuanguan decided to call Qian Yuan to the palace for a banquet, so that everyone could sit down and have a good chat to clear up the misunderstanding. However, as soon as Qian Yuan sat down, he was immediately reported by his attendants, saying that he had a dagger hidden in his sleeve! Before he could explain, he was killed on the spot. Qian Yuanguan then ordered the execution of Qian Yuanrong, who was under house arrest.

The above is one version of the story recorded in historical books.

For example, in "Wu Yue Bei Shi", the Qian Yuan mentioned above is recorded as Qian Yuan Qiu.

There may be a typo here. Qian Liu really loved Qian Yuanqiu at the beginning. During the "Xu and Xu Rebellion", Qian Liu planned to make Qian Yuanqiu a hostage of Tian Yu, but Qian Yuanqiu refused to do so, which made Qian Liu so angry that he almost killed him. From then on, he no longer used Qian Yuanqiu and took away his military power. However, it was later recorded that Qian Yuanqiu was given an official title and a higher rank for his merits, and like Qian Yuanyu, he was given military weapons...

I prefer to believe that this is a typo in Wuyue Beishi. One typo is understandable, but many typos are incredible. We have emphasized before that Wuyue Beishi was written by the descendants of Qian family, and it has a certain beautification of Qian family group and some historical facts are over-modified (let's not say distorted). For example, the record of Shiguo Chunqiu gives a different answer to this matter.

Let's take a look at the description of the "Qian Yuan Rebellion" in "Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms". According to the records, when Qian Yuanguan heard that Qian Yuan intended to rebel:

"King Wenmu (Qian Yuanguan) then rode to summon Yuan to the palace for a banquet. When he arrived, his attendants said that Yuan had a knife in his bosom and was plotting something unpredictable, so he killed him and Yuan Yu at the same time."

However, "Wu Yue Bei Shi" says: "The generals reported again, and the king summoned..." Qian Yuanguan was a real naive person, or he valued feelings and brotherhood, which was in line with the political correctness of the Song Dynasty.

"Riding fast", there was no time to lose, and Qian Yuan was invited to have tea as quickly as possible. As soon as Qian Yuan came in, the people around him immediately claimed that he was holding a sharp knife, and then executed Qian Yuan on the spot.

After killing the two, Qian Yuanguan was still planning to catch all the officials who had been secretly dealing with Qian Yuanguan. His nephew Qian Renjun dissuaded him and used the metaphor of Cao Cao burning books after the Battle of Guandu as an example. Only then did Qian Yuanguan give up his attempt to get to the bottom of the matter.

This conspiracy that was nipped in the bud was extremely strange. The most strange thing was why Qian Yuan colluded with Qian Yuanrong?

Although Qian Yuanyi has the motive to commit the crime - he was demoted to a commoner and placed under house arrest, does he have the ability to be a teammate? Without power, soldiers, territory, or even the most basic personal freedom, will Qian Yuanyi, who wants to rebel, collude with him? What help can he bring to you? He will only give you everything except help.

What's more, because Qian Yuanrong was under house arrest, he was surrounded by spies planted by Qian Yuanguan, and his every move and every word was monitored. You colluded with him because you were afraid that the plan would be leaked?
What if Qian Yuanguan uses you as a token of surrender? Forward your wax pill letter to Qian Yuanguan, "Seventh Brother, although I am cruel and brutal, I am absolutely loyal to you. Look at this guy with a beastly heart in human form, he is the real tiger! He wants to drag me down, I will report him and make a contribution!"

Even if you succeed, Qian Yuanyi, who only supports you spiritually, will become a veteran hero and share the fruits of victory with you...

Qian Yuan colluded with Qian Yuanrong? This is totally out of the question, absolutely stupid.

There must be something wrong when things are abnormal. If we change our standpoint, it will be terrifying to think about it: Qian Yuanguan was afraid of his brothers, especially Qian Yuanrong and Qian Yuan, who held military power and were in charge of local areas. They were domineering and were the ones who stood out among the brothers, so they were "convinced of rebellion".

The question is, if the person who poses the greatest threat to Qian Yuanguan is Qian Yuanluo, shouldn't he be Qian Yuanluo? How will Qian Yuanguan deal with Qian Yuanluo?

Historical records say that Qian Yuanliang had "a magnificent appearance and a handsome demeanor". He bravely married the daughter of Yang Xingmi when the group was in danger, conquered Muzhou, recovered Huzhou, attacked Dongzhou... "all of which were meritorious in battle". He was awarded the titles of Jiedushi of Zhongwu Army (Suzhou), Lianlianshi of Su Changrun and other states, Taifu and Tongzhongshumenxia Pingzhangshi, and was stationed in Suzhou.

After Qian Yuanguan succeeded to the throne, Qian Yuanlang came from Suzhou to "see the emperor". Qian Yuanguan treated him as a family member and personally toasted his sixth brother, "Brother, this position originally belonged to you, but now I have taken over your place."

Qian Yuanlong was so frightened that he immediately knelt on the ground, "Your Majesty, you have done great deeds and great virtues. Our father chose the wise to be the emperor. Now that the status of the monarch and his subjects has been clearly defined, you should respectfully uphold the hegemony and take care of yourself!"

Then the two brothers burst into tears. What a touching scene, a model of brotherly love and respect. Such a touching record, such a Song Dynasty style, of course, comes from "Wu Yue Bei Shi". Then let's refer to "Ten Kingdoms Spring and Autumn Annals". It turns out that fairy tales are all lies:

(Qian Yuanling) "…The positions of ruler and minister are determined, and all they need to do is to be respectful and obedient."

Take a closer look at these two sentences:
"Wu Yue Bei Shi": "Respectfully guard the hegemony and cherish yourself";
"Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms": "All you need to know is to be respectful and obedient."

The records before the two sentences are basically the same, and there is no objection. But the meanings of the two sentences are very different.

In "Wu Yue Bei Shi", Qian Yuanlang preached and admonished Qian Yuanguan as a brother, "Now that you are in power, do your best! Don't let our father down, do you hear me!" In "Shiguo Chunqiu", Qian Yuanlang admitted his cowardice and surrendered, "I only know how to pretend to be a grandson now, can you please not kill me?"

I am more inclined to the record in "Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms". Similar scenes have appeared repeatedly in the long river of history, and they all have the same name, called "Hongmen Banquet".

Qian Yuanlang's statement satisfied Qian Yuanguan very much. After the banquet, Qian Yuanlang was, as expected, promoted in name only and demoted in reality, deprived of his real power - he was promoted to the position of Inspector of the Grand Tutor, Minister of the Central Secretariat, and Minister of the Imperial Court. He was asked to build a Jingu Garden in Hangzhou "to entertain the elderly" and a Yanyu Tower by the Fu Lake. In short, two high-level prisons.

Qian Yuanliang withdrew from the stage of history forever.

The first heir in terms of seniority, Qian Yuanji, died of illness at an early age; the one with the highest reputation and the most fans, Qian Yuanlang, quit the game, deleted his account, and was placed under house arrest; the ones who were relatively strong and disobedient, Qian Yuanrong and Qian Yuan, were killed for "rebellion".

If these troublemakers are removed, Qian Yuanguan will be able to secure his position in Liangzhe...right?

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

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(End of this chapter)