History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 99 Luzhou Yang Xingmi

【Luzhou Yang Xingmi】

Before escaping, Lü Yongzhi forged Gao Pian's order, ordering Luzhou Governor Yang Xingmi to lead an army to quell the rebellion and defend Yangzhou.

After receiving the order, Yang Xingmi was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

Because the foolish Gao Pian, the treacherous Lu Yongzhi, and the rebellious Bi Shiduo all appealed to Yang Xingmi for help, Yang Xingmi seemed to have become the highest arbitrator in Huainan.

All three parties asked him for help. Which one should Yang Xingmi help?

Yang Xingmi's chief adviser Yuan Xi gave the correct answer: Don't help anyone else, just help yourself.

Therefore, Yang Xingmi mobilized all the troops in Luzhou and borrowed troops from Sun Duan, the governor of Hezhou, gathering a total of several thousand people and attacking Yangzhou directly.

Yang Xingmi was a ruthless character. He was a native of Luzhou. His family had been farmers for generations. He lost his father at an early age and his family was very poor, so he happily became a bandit.

There is a very interesting coincidence here. Yang Xingmi and Zhu Wen were born in the same year (852) and had similar family backgrounds. Both lost their fathers at an early age and came from poor families. They also both chose the same profession: banditry.

In fact, this reflects the general situation of that era. The Zhu and Yang families were not the only ones who were poor and willing to become thieves.

Later, Yang Xingmi was caught by the government, but the governor secretly released him because he had a good appearance. Good looks have been a life-saving magic weapon since ancient times.

Afterwards, Yang Xingmi abandoned his evil ways and joined the government army, guarding the border in Shuofang. He was promoted to captain due to his merits.

Yang Xingmi had two special skills. One was that he could lift a tripod and his hands could hold a hundred kilograms of force, which was extraordinary. The other was that he was a long-distance running champion and could run 300 miles a day. There is a saying that the governor pardoned him because he was good at long-distance running, and the governor used him as a walking official to make up for his mistakes.

In short, Yang Xingmi was an excellent martial artist and had great popularity, which made him the envy of his superiors in the army. As a result, his superiors abused their power and violated regulations to allow Yang Xingmi to continue guarding the border, actually intending to exile him for a long time.

Yang Xingmi was packing his luggage and passed by his superior's camp. The superior pretended to be reluctant to leave and asked him if there was anything he needed for the journey.

Yang Xingmi was furious and shouted, "Your head is all I need!" He raised his sword and the officer's head and body were cut off. Yang Xingmi took his head and went back to his old ways, starting a rebellion. Later, he captured Luzhou and proclaimed himself the governor of Luzhou.

Although Luzhou belonged to Gao Pian of Huainan, Luzhou under the control of Yang Xingmi was a highly autonomous prefecture that even Gao Pian was unable to control.

When Bi Shiduo started his rebellion, he was very afraid of Yang Xingmi, saying that Yang Xingmi was unwilling to submit to Gao Pian, so how could he obey my leadership? That's why he colluded with Qin Yan and asked Qin Yan to endorse him.

When Gao Pian, Bi Shiduo and Lu Yongzhi were fighting each other, they all thought of seeking support from Yang Xingmi.

When Lu Yongzhi, who was on the run, heard the news that Yang Xingmi had raised an army, he was overjoyed. He immediately rushed to Yang Xingmi's army and vowed to Yang Xingmi that he had buried 50,000 silver ingots in his house in the city, and he was willing to donate them all when the city was conquered.

It was not only Lu Yongzhi who was attached to Yang Xingmi.

Zhang Shenjian, who stayed in Gaoyou, heard that Bi Shiduo had taken over Yangzhou, so he asked Bi Shiduo for due compensation as one of the "three founding fathers". Didn't you say that after entering the city, we would rob money, food, and women together? Now that the company is listed, it's time to distribute dividends.

Hiding behind when building a kingdom, and coming forward when dividing the spoils? Bi Shiduo was very unhappy, and rejected Zhang Shenjian's request on the grounds that he needed Qin Yan's approval.

Zhang Shenjian was furious and scolded Bi Shiduo for breaking his promise. He was so angry that he joined Yang Xingmi together with Gao Ba, the garrison commander of Hailing. Yang Xingmi's army suddenly increased to 17,000 people. Zhang Shenjian also donated food and grass from Gaoyou to supply Yang Xingmi's army.

Yang Xingmi led his troops to besiege Yangzhou, and Qin Yan closed the city and held on.

After more than half a year of siege, Yangzhou was in a food shortage, and the price of a bushel of rice soared to 50,000 coins. All the grass roots and tree barks in the city were eaten up, and the people had to eat dirt, really dirt, and made cakes out of clay to fill their stomachs, starving half of the city to death. Finally, it developed to cannibalism, and Qin Yan's troops began to prey on the people in the city. The streets were full of bones, and blood flowed like a river.

Bi Shiduo and Qin Yan "kidnapped people and sold them", killing more than half of the people in Yangzhou City (sixteen or seventeen people died), and those who survived were "ghost-like and bird-faced, and were dying."

Qin Yan and Bi Shiduo wanted to get help from Zhang Xiong who was stationed in Dongtang.

Zhang Xiong took the opportunity to make a fortune from the national crisis, sold grain to Yangzhou at a high price, drove up prices and made huge profits (exchanging two catties of silver for a bushel of rice); Qin Yan spent a huge amount of money (a lot of gold) to beg Zhang Xiong to send troops, and Zhang Xiong did send troops, but... played a little word game and acted a little rogue, "I only said I would send troops, but I didn't say I would join the war" (Xiong led his troops to Dongtang, got gold, and left without fighting).

Zhang Xiong has really screwed Qin Yan over.

Gao Pian's former subordinates in the city often deserted, climbed over the wall and surrendered to Yang Xingmi. Among them, General Wu Miao alone led 8,000 of his troops to surrender.

Qin Yan sent out all his forces, 12,000 men, to break the encirclement, and ordered Bi Shiduo and Zheng Hanzhang to lead them. Yang Xingmi laid out a bait, concentrated the food, gold, silver and other supplies in a camp, and left the old, weak and sick to guard it. Bi Shiduo and Zheng Hanzhang happily took the bait, fell into an ambush, and were almost wiped out.

After this battle, Qin Yan never dared to go out of the city to fight easily again.

The tragedy of cannibalism also happened to Gao Pian. Gao Pian's family was imprisoned in the place where he practiced Taoism and ascended to heaven. The daily supply was sometimes available and sometimes not. When there was really no food, they used wooden statues of gods as firewood, cooked belts and leather boots, and later developed cannibalism.

Faced with the dilemma, Qin Yan and Bi Shiduo had the same opinion: Gao Pian must have cast some magic!
So the two of them found a "master", a nun named Wang Fengxian, and asked her to do some calculations. The evil nun counted with her fingers and said, "A great disaster is about to happen in Yangzhou. It can only be resolved if a great person dies."

Qin Yan thought that this "big shot" must be Gao Dashuai, otherwise it could be me, so he sent his men to massacre Gao Pian's family.

A large group of people rushed to the place where Gao Pian was imprisoned. A waiter saw that the situation was not right and rolled into the back house, reporting that there were thieves carrying weapons and armor.

Gao Pian was knowledgeable and calm, and he comforted his men by saying, "The person coming must be Qin Yan." He then straightened his clothes, sat upright, and waited to have a lively conversation with Qin Yan.

Obviously, Gao Pian overestimated Qin Yan's life pattern and moral bottom line. He naively thought that Qin Yan would sit down with him, apologize sanctimoniously, clear up the misunderstanding, and create a happy ending where they could laugh and forget their grudges.

This is the generation gap between the aristocrats and the losers.

The chaotic soldiers rushed in one after another, holding sharp blades and shouting, and Gao Pian's attendants were scared out of their wits.

Gao Pian showed no fear and shouted, "This is a strategic location for the military. All military affairs are handled by the military supervisors and generals. How dare you trespass?"

What Gao Pian said is well-reasoned and thought-provoking.

However, hooligans are unreasonable.

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(End of this chapter)