History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 979 A hunk descends from the sky...?

[A hunk descended from the sky...huh?]

Qian Yuanguan in history books is very strange, because almost all the records about him are about his deeds before he succeeded to the throne, and the ten-year period of his reign can be said to be unremarkable.

He attacked Wenzhou and killed Lu Ji, forced Xu Zhigao to flee on a white mule, killed 200 people in a battle of Guangde, and forced Huainan to seek peace in exchange for 20 years of peace in the "Battle of Langshan"... When Qian Liu deposed the eldest son and appointed a wise man as his successor, we were full of expectations, expecting this brave and knowledgeable man to bring great achievements to the Wuyue Kingdom and take it to a higher level. However, after he took the throne, the style suddenly changed. There was no expansion of territory outside, and there was little reform inside. His death was even more like a joke. He was labeled as a "coward" and a "coward", and was laughed at by history for more than a thousand years...

We can't help but ask, is this still the Qian Yuanguan we are familiar with? Is he a stand-in? If the screenwriter dared to write this, he would definitely be scolded to death, but this is indeed how history played out.

What happened to Qian Yuanguan?
At the beginning of the new year in 940, civil strife broke out in the neighboring Min Kingdom. King Yanzheng of Jianzhou finally went to war with King Yanxi of Fuzhou, and the civil war in Min started.

This war has been described in detail in the previous article on the Min Kingdom, so I will just briefly mention it here. Wang Yanxi sent 40,000 troops to attack the separatist forces of Wang Yanzheng in Jianzhou, and Wang Yanzheng asked for help from the Wuyue Kingdom.

After receiving the request for help from Wuyue, Qian Yuanguan convened an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures. To Qian Yuanguan's surprise, all officials were unanimously opposed to sending troops to intervene. Even Qian Yuanguan's old ministers, his confidant, and Prime Minister Lin Ding strongly advised against it and submitted several memorials in a row.

Lin Ding's father was the great poet Lin Wuyin. At that time, Wang Sheng, the governor of Mingzhou (now Ningbo, Zhejiang), respected Confucian scholars and was known for his courtesy and respect for scholars. Lin Wuyin then went to live with him. Influenced by his father, Lin Ding was a top student since childhood. When he grew up, he joined Qian Liu's camp and was later assigned by Qian Liu to Qian Yuanguan, making him Qian Yuanguan's staff member.

Qian Yuanguan found that Lin Ding was a rare talent, so he repeatedly recommended him to his father Qian Liu, saying that this person had great talent and it was a waste of talent here, and he should stay with you to shine. However, Qian Liu ignored this. Qian Yuanguan thought that there might be a jealous villain around Qian Liu who intercepted the recommendation letter, so he found an opportunity to secretly report to Qian Liu, saying that you must make use of Lin Ding.

Qian Liu was very pleased and told the purpose of his doing so: "You are right, Lin Ding has the potential to be a prime minister. The reason why I have not promoted him for a long time is that I deliberately left him to you so that you can promote him. Only then can he be yours."

Qian Yuanguan suddenly realized the truth and thanked his father for his good intentions. After he succeeded to the throne, Qian Yuanguan promoted Lin Ding to be the secretary of Zhenhai Army and the judge of Jiedu as his chief aide, and appointed him as prime minister after the founding of the country.

Unexpectedly, such a "family member" would take the lead in opposing him. Qian Yuanguan was very disappointed.

Through this meeting, it is not difficult to see that even though Qian Yuanguan had been in power for more than seven years, he still had not established absolute prestige. Of course, this is only true, after all, Chai Rong and Zhao Kuangyin had also encountered unanimous opposition before their many personal expeditions.

Being opposed does not necessarily mean being deserted by friends and relatives. This is a challenge that leaders need to face. Chai Rong and Zhao Kuangyin gradually established their absolute prestige and laid a solid foundation for their rule by repeatedly overcoming all odds. Qian Yuanguan also chose to go against all odds and resolutely chose to send troops to intervene, but he got a completely opposite result from Chai Rong and Zhao Kuangyin. Qian Yuanguan asked his direct descendant Xin Renquan to lead 40,000 troops to support Jianzhou Wang Yanzheng.

Before the arrival of the Wuyue reinforcements, Wang Yanzheng had already severely defeated Wang Yanxi of Fuzhou by himself, and then sent envoys to the Southern Tang to seek help. At this time, Wang Yanzheng no longer needed the military assistance of Wuyue, and it was easier to invite the gods than to send them away. Wang Yanzheng was also afraid of inviting wolves into the house, so he hurriedly sent people with good wine and food to reward the Wuyue reinforcements, express gratitude for their coming from afar, and respectfully invite them to return the same way.

Yang Renquan must have received secret instructions from Qian Yuanguan. Just as Wang Yanzheng worried, Qian Yuanguan wanted to take advantage of the civil unrest in Fujian to get a piece of the pie and gain some benefits by taking advantage of the dispute between the Fu and Jian brothers.

Faced with Wang Yanzheng's obstruction, Yang Renquan said, "I'm here anyway."

Seeing that the Wuyue Kingdom was showing its true colors, Wang Yanzheng acted decisively and quickly sent people to contact Fuzhou, saying that no matter how much the two brothers fought, the Min Kingdom was still the Min Kingdom of our Wang family, and facing the ambitious Wuyue Kingdom, the two brothers should put aside their past grudges, unite against external forces, and protect the foundation for my father.

Wang Yanxi had no reason to refuse. If he refused, Jianzhou would be annexed by Wuyue or Southern Tang, and the interests of Min would be lost in the end; if Wang Yanzheng defeated the Wuyue army, Jianzhou would be completely separated from Min. In other words, once Wang Yanxi refused to reconcile, it meant that Min would inevitably lose Jianzhou.

Wang Yanxi was a politician. Considering the overall situation, he immediately made the option that was most in line with the interests of the Min Kingdom. "Of course, I chose to forgive him." On the one hand, he sent his nephew Wang Jiye to lead 20,000 reinforcements to support Jianzhou, and another surprise attack force to cut off the grain route of the Wuyue Kingdom. On the other hand, he wrote a letter to Qian Yuanguan, strongly condemning and solemnly protesting against the Wuyue Kingdom's blatant interference in the internal affairs of the Min Kingdom, providing military aid to the rebels, and deliberately creating geopolitical conflicts.

Qian Yuanguan is like Zhu Bajie looking in the mirror - he is neither human nor human. He deserves it. If the two sons of the neighbor - Da Mao and Er Mao, or Xiong Da and Xiong Er - started fighting, would you try to stop the fight or add fuel to the fire and pass the knife?
Heaven did not bless Qian Yuanguan. Wuyue's master was unknown, and he lost the moral and people's support. He went deep into the enemy's hinterland and his food supply was cut off, which meant he lost the geographical advantage. There were continuous heavy rains and the weather was bad. Wuyue was doomed to lose.

When the Wuyue army was trapped both internally and externally, Wang Yanzheng launched a surprise attack, captured and killed tens of thousands of people, and Yang Renquan and others escaped overnight. Qian Yuanguan failed to steal the chicken and lost the rice, and successfully took his own wave away.

Yang Renquan was a close confidant of Qian Yuanlang, who died of depression only one year after the defeat. Not long after, Qian Yuanguan also left us prematurely.

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

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(End of this chapter)