History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 990: Second Battle of Fuzhou
[Second Battle of Fuzhou]

When Qian Hongchu succeeded to the throne, the "Three Towns Rebellion" broke out in the Central Plains, namely the rebellion of Li Shouzhen in Hezhong, Zhao Siwan in Chang'an, and Wang Jingchong in Fengxiang. The three town rebels colluded with international anti-Central Plains forces, such as Southern Tang and Later Shu, and united all the forces that could be united. Li Jing of Southern Tang was ready to take the opportunity to interfere in the Central Plains.

Faced with the stab in the back by the Southern Tang, Liu Chengyou of the Later Han Dynasty retaliated in their own way and ordered the Wuyue Kingdom to send troops to attack the Tang to contain it.

Thanks to the outstanding performance of Comrade Guo Wei, the Li Shouzhen group in Hezhong was quickly pacified. The Southern Tang did not have time to move north, and the Wuyue Kingdom did not have time to attack the Tang.

You took off your pants, and you show me this? The hormones that had just been aroused in the two countries had nowhere to go, so they found a suitable outlet half a year later and the "Second Battle of Fuzhou" broke out.

In February 950, Cha Wenhui, the governor of Yong'an Army of Jianzhou in Southern Tang, led his army to attack Fuzhou. He won at first but was later defeated, and Cha Wenhui himself was captured alive by the Wuyue Kingdom.

This battle is very interesting. Both sides seem to be hesitant and half-hearted, and are vague about the reasons for the conflict.

For example, "Wuyue Beishi" records: "(Southern Tang) used the pseudo-Yong'an military governor Cha Wenhui to capture Fuzhou..." It also says, "At first, the people of Fuzhou told Cha Wenhui: 'The Wuyue soldiers have abandoned the city and left. Please be the commander.' Wenhui believed it..."

Let’s look at the statement in “Ten Kingdoms Spring and Autumn Annals”: ​​“Wu Yue falsely sent spies to report the riot in Fuzhou, Wen Hui was delighted…” This paragraph comes from the “Southern Tang Volume”, while the statement in the “Wu Yue Volume” is the most bizarre: “Tang…attacked Fuzhou…Cha Wen Hui arrived in Fuzhou and learned that Wu Cheng of the Mighty Army and the commander Pan Shenfen had ordered the people of Fujian to pretend to surrender, so they captured Cha Wen Hui…”

According to the Southern Tang, it was the Wuyue Kingdom that initiated the war, spreading false news that the Wuyue Kingdom had withdrawn from Fuzhou in order to lure the Southern Tang (Cha Wenhui) into sending troops. This was like "Brother, come in and play... I'll sue you for three years at least!"

According to the Wuyue Kingdom, it was the Southern Tang that invaded Fuzhou without reason. During the resistance, the Wuyue Kingdom used Fuzhou people to act as spies and spread certain rumors. As a result, they captured Cha Wenhui alive and repelled the Southern Tang army.

In short, each side accused the other side of starting the war and that it was the other side that lit the fuse.

In fact, the fuse is not important. The Second Battle of Fuzhou has its own internal logic that it is bound to break out:

Southern Tang almost put all its national strength into annexing the Kingdom of Min, but did not get a rich return, and only lost money to gain publicity. In the account book of Southern Tang, Fuzhou was an account receivable, and it was the unshirkable responsibility of Southern Tang to recover Fuzhou. From the perspective of cost investment, Wuyue Kingdom can be said to have taken advantage of Fuzhou, but from a geopolitical perspective, Fuzhou was related to the core interests of Wuyue Kingdom.

Simply put, Fuzhou is the face of Southern Tang and the heart of Wuyue. On the issue of Fuzhou's ownership, the two sides have irreconcilable contradictions, and this contradiction will not end with the victory or defeat under the city of Fuzhou. It will accompany both sides until one side completely disappears.

So there is no need to dwell on the cause of this conflict. Whether the melons are ripe or not has never been the reason why the melon stall owner was stabbed.

In April 950, Zha Wenhui was taken to Hangzhou, where Qian Hongchu prepared a complete captive offering ceremony for him and presented it to the Five Temples. The historians of Wuyue proudly recorded: "Even though we had captured many people since the conquest, the ceremony of offering captives was not complete until now."

Since Qian Liu, the two heroes of Jianghuai have fought against each other many times and captured each other. Why has there been no standardized ceremony for offering captives? That's because since the two families fought, Wuyue has never captured a high-ranking official like Cha Wenhui alive. Of course, they have to show off to comfort the spirits of Qian Liu and Qian Yuanguan. In July, Li Jing of the Southern Tang sent an envoy to return the prisoners of war of Wuyue and requested to replace Cha Wenhui. The young man Qian Hongchu did not talk about martial ethics. He pretended to be generous and held a farewell dinner for Cha Wenhui, but put some mysterious chronic poison in the wine. After Cha Wenhui returned to the country, the poison broke out. After the Southern Tang imperial physician tried his best to rescue him, he saved his life, but he became dumb from then on and could only retire. He died miserably ten years later.

How could such a thing be recorded? The Wuyue History did not mention it at all, and the Shiguo Chunqiu filled it in.

After the Second Battle of Fuzhou, Liu Chengyou of the Later Han Dynasty appointed Qian Hongxuan as the governor of Fuzhou. Qian Hongxuan was the second son (adopted son) of Qian Yuanguan. He was previously the Eastern Palace Pacifier. Now he was appointed by Liu Chengyou as the governor of Fuzhou. This was a general operation of the central court to show favor to the vassal states, not to split the Wuyue Kingdom. The point is not that Qian Hongxuan was appointed as the governor of Fuzhou by imperial decree, but who would replace Qian Hongxuan after his position as the Eastern Palace Pacifier was vacant.

Qian Hongchu chose Qian Hongyi. Yes, it was Qian Hongyi who was just involved in the "Yun Tao Rebellion Case". Dongfu, namely Yuezhou, was the secondary capital and secondary capital of Wuyue State. Yuezhou's status in Wuyue State was like Luoyang and Chang'an in the Central Plains. Putting a "rebellion" suspect in this position shows Qian Hongchu's trust in Qian Hongyi, and it also shows that the "Yun Tao Rebellion Case" was indeed just a political need.

In November, Qian Hongchu paid tribute to the Later Han Dynasty with 11 ingots of silk, 951 taels of silver, taels of cotton, kilograms of tea, two sets of imperial robes, and one belt each made of rhinoceros horn and a dragon-shaped gold belt. He used such generous gifts as a token of gratitude. Qian Hongchu obviously did not know what happened in Chanzhou, otherwise he could have saved such a large sum of money. In this month, Liu Chengyou was assassinated and the empress dowager took over the throne. In the first month of the following year (), Guo Wei established the Later Zhou Dynasty, changed the era name, and issued a general amnesty.

Whenever there is change in the Central Plains, it is a good day for the Wu Yue Kingdom.

In March, Guo Wei granted Qian Hongchu the title of Marshal of the Armies of All Provinces, an additional fief of 3 households, a real fief of households, and the title of Shangshu Ling. A year later, he was granted the title of Marshal of the Armies of All Provinces, an additional fief of households, a real fief of households, and the honorary title of "loyal and upright meritorious official who promoted sincerity, protected virtue, and maintained peace in the country".

In the first month of 954, Comrade Guo Wei left us prematurely, and Emperor Shizong Chai Rong ascended the throne. As usual, in July, an envoy was sent to confer Qian Hongchu the title of Marshal of the Army of the Whole Country, and the honorary title of "Chongren Zhaode Xuanzhong Baoqing Futian Yiliang Gongchen" and a gold seal; half a year later, in March 7, the fief of 955 households was added and the actual seal of 3 households was added.

Wu and Yue are permanent, while the Central Plains are changing.

The money from the Central Plains was not taken for free. In November 954, Chai Rong, who had been on the throne for less than a year, sent Zhang Sizhong, an envoy, to the Kingdom of Wuyue to convey a very confidential matter to the Kingdom of Wuyue. However, Zhang Sizhong died before he could accomplish his mission. He encountered a storm at sea and unfortunately drowned.

What was the secret? The following year, Qian Hongchu sent envoys to pay tribute according to the rules, and finally revealed the answer: attack Southern Tang and cooperate with the king's army to conquer Huai.

Chen Yanxi, the tribute envoy of Wuyue, paid tribute to the Later Zhou in December 955. One month before that, Chai Rong had officially started the script of "Three Expeditions to Huainan". Last year's secrets could now be made public, and Chai Rong told Chen Yanxi clearly: Go back and tell your master to send troops to attack Southern Tang, and be a good boy.

In the first month of 956, Chai Rong personally led the army to fight and formally sent an imperial edict to the Wuyue Kingdom, ordering Qian Hongchu to attack from multiple directions to cooperate with the royal army to build momentum.

Thanks to old friends "Yang Kui" and "Jiang Hu Liu Bai" for their monthly ticket support!

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(End of this chapter)