History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 993 After the Great War
【After the War】

As mentioned in the previous article "Three Expeditions to Huainan", the Battle of Changzhou was of extraordinary significance. It was the only major victory achieved by the Southern Tang. Although it was not a direct attack on the Later Zhou, this victory had forced the Wuyue Kingdom to withdraw its troops, allowing the Southern Tang to transfer the armed forces on the eastern battlefield to the main battlefield on the central line to resist the Later Zhou.

Secondly, it affected the morale of both sides. The Later Zhou Dynasty re-examined the combat effectiveness of the Southern Tang Dynasty and no longer had the illusion of "destroying the Southern Tang Dynasty in three months". Its lofty ambitions suffered a little setback; while the Southern Tang Dynasty regained its confidence amidst its defeats, and a small restlessness of "I can do it again" arose in its heart.

After all, Li Jing of Southern Tang was a political master. A small positive line was not enough to make him exclaim "the bull market is coming". Instead, he calmly took advantage of the good news to increase sales and took the initiative to negotiate with Chai Rong of Later Zhou, turning his military advantage into political cash.

On the one hand, Li Jing wrote letters to Chai Rong tirelessly, lowering his stance and seeking reconciliation to give Chai Rong a way out. On the other hand, he sent his younger brother Li Jingda to lead the troops north to put pressure on the Later Zhou and force peace through war.

The battle of wits and courage between the Later Zhou Dynasty and the Southern Tang Dynasty has been described in detail in the previous article, so we will not go into details for now and just talk about Qian Hongchu of the Wuyue Kingdom.

In fact, this great defeat on the eastern front brought a great impact to the Wuyue Kingdom. Although the New and Old Five Dynasties Histories, which take the Central Plains as the protagonist, disdained to mention it, and the "Wu Yue Beishi" which takes Wuyue as the protagonist was embarrassed to mention it, we can still piece together the embarrassment of the Wuyue Kingdom from fragments of historical materials from all sides.

The first is the military deployment.

After the main force of the Tang army was defeated and returned, Qian Hongchu appointed his cousin Qian Wenfeng (the second son of Qian Yuanliang) as the commander-in-chief of all the naval and land support troops to guard the north gate of the Wuyue Kingdom.

Qian Wenfeng was good at riding and shooting, and "could ride a horse and wield a spear", which met the selection criteria for a general. He was not only skilled in martial arts, but also had a wide range of knowledge, including classics, history, music, maps, medicine, and polo. He once visited the famous monk De Shao and asked him to tell his fortune. Master De Shao counted with his fingers and said, "Minggong will be 81 years old in Ji Si". Qian Wenfeng was very happy and thought he could live to 969 years old. As a result, he died in the second year of Kaibao (8). That year was the year of Ji Si, and he died on August 11. People then realized the prophecy of " years old in Ji Si".

In addition, the eminent monk De Shao is the eminent monk who advised Qian Hongchu to return to Hangzhou, otherwise there would be disaster. In that turbulent era, many people in the Qian clan had intersections with him, which cast a layer of mystery on the "post-Qian Yuanguan era".

Qian Wenfeng was originally the governor of the Central Wu Army in Suzhou, which bordered Changzhou in the northwest and was an important gateway to the Wuyue Kingdom. Qian Hongchu's move was to prevent the Southern Tang from taking advantage of the victory and counterattacking into the Wuyue Kingdom.

At the same time, Qian Hongchu opened up a second battlefield, and troops from Fuzhou launched a tentative attack on Southern Tang.

Chen Hui, the governor of Jianzhou of Southern Tang, repelled the Wuyue army from Fuzhou at Nantaijiang; the Southern Tang army in Changzhou had no time to engage in a fight with the Wuyue Kingdom, and after the great victory they were hastily transferred to the Huaihe battlefield to resist the Later Zhou.

The Wuyue Kingdom was defeated by the Southern Tang in both the north and south directions, which awakened the military memory of the Southern Tang. As Yuan Dezhao said, the Southern Tang was also a great country and should not be underestimated.

Afterwards, Qian Hongchu appointed his cousin Qian Renjun to be in charge of Fuzhou. He also planned to recruit troops on a large scale (including civilians in the territory to increase the number of troops and brigades). However, someone wrote a letter to strongly advise against it, so he stopped the plan. The person who made the advise was still Comrade Qian Hongyi.

In short, Qian Hongchu was in a state of confusion and somewhat embarrassed, and the military and political power had to be shared by Qian clan members such as Qian Wenfeng, Qian Renjun, and Qian Hongyi. If this situation continued for too long, it would inevitably lead to the phenomenon of becoming too powerful and threatening the royal power.

The second is political remedy.

In November of that year, Qian Hongchu presented 11 taels of platinum and ingots of silk to the Later Zhou Dynasty as an explanation for the complete defeat on the eastern front, and hoped that Comrade Chai Rong would be magnanimous. He also presented taels of gold flowers and silver as a birthday gift for Chai Rong, wishing Comrade Chai Rong a happy birthday.

Facing a powerful enemy, Chai Rong did not judge a hero by success or failure, but fully affirmed the contribution of Comrade Qian Hongchu, and the following year sent an envoy to give Qian Hongchu a birthday gift - two sets of imperial red robes. The delegation entered the sea from the eastern part of Shandong Peninsula (now Yantai, Shandong) and took the dangerous sea route to Hangzhou. Before leaving, Chai Rong announced to the delegation: I will definitely pacify Jiangbei on this trip, and you should come by land.

Under the powerful military attack of the Later Zhou Dynasty, the once mighty overlord of southern China, the Southern Tang, had already shown signs of decline and was on the verge of collapse. At this time, the governor of Quanzhou, Liu Congxiao, suddenly sent a secret letter to Qian Hongchu, expressing his willingness to submit to the Later Zhou Dynasty and hoping that the Wuyue Kingdom would help him. Qian Hongchu forwarded the letter to Chai Rong, who immediately agreed.

The Quanzhou stay will be discussed in a special topic later in this article, so I will just briefly mention it here.

The third is the economic problem.

After the war, Qian Hongchu restarted the quantitative easing policy of casting iron coins and large coins, and this time Comrade Qian Hongyi finally stopped "making strong remonstrations".

No money, no money, really no money.

Before Wuyue recovered from the crisis, Chai Rong gave Wuyue a new combat mission: dispatching naval forces to Guabu, Yingluan, Changfengshe and other places to cooperate with the royal army's crossing of the river. It was February of the fifth year of Xiande (958), and Chai Rong personally went to Yangzhou, eager to launch the crossing of the river and destroy the Southern Tang in one fell swoop.

Qian Hongchu obeyed the imperial edict and sent troops, ordering generals Shao Keqian, Lu Yanzhu and others to lead 400 warships and 20,000 naval forces to assist. At the same time, he offered tribute of imperial clothes, rhinoceros belts and 200,000 dan of rice to help with military expenses.

With the help of Wuyue, the Later Zhou Dynasty was even more powerful. Within ten days or half a month, "all the counties in the north of the Yangtze River were pacified". The next month (March), Comrade Qian Hongchu, who had been working day and night for the king's southern expedition, suddenly fell ill. Comrade Chai Rong expressed his deep concern and sent Hanlin scholar Tao Gu and Sitianjian Zhao Xiusi to visit and comfort them. He gave them a number of sheep, horses, and camels, and from then on, he issued rewards to Wuyue every year (the annual rewards started from then on).

At the same time, Li Jing of Southern Tang was forced to agree to the treaty under humiliation, accept Chai Rong's ceasefire conditions, cede land and pay compensation, and submit to the Later Zhou Dynasty.

The Wu Yue Kingdom and the Central Plains Dynasty forged a deep revolutionary friendship while fighting side by side.

Just after the battle, another serious fire broke out in Hangzhou. The fire started from the south of the city and soon spread to the imperial city. Qian Hongchu was not frightened to death like his father Qian Yuanguan, but hid in the Ducheng Posthouse outside the imperial city. The fire burned for a day and a night, and was still burning in the early morning of the next day. The fire was about to spread to the Zhenguo Granary, where a large amount of grain and grass were stored.

Qian Hongchu led his attendants to the Ruishi Mountain, offered wine and prayed, saying that I had committed a crime and if God punished me with a disaster, it would be enough to just burn my palace. The grain in the granary was for the army and the people. If you burned it, it would be a pity. Pity my innocent people. What mistakes have they made? Please God, I will see clearly!

He also ordered his personal guards to cut down trees and build firebreaks, and the fire was brought under control and gradually extinguished. According to records, the fire burned down more than 17,000 houses. When Chai Rong heard about it, he immediately sent people to express condolences and relief, and also sent people to award rewards to Shao Keqian, Lu Yanzhu and other soldiers to commend them for their cooperation in the battle.

What is interesting about this fire is Qian Hongchu's subsequent statement. According to records, Qian Hongchu convened a meeting and, as usual, first made a "self-criticism edict", saying that it was all because of his lack of virtue that God was angry and therefore sent down divine punishment, etc. After confessing his self-criticism, Qian Hongchu added: "For the past month, I have been so worried that I fell ill, and as a result of this fire, guess what happened? Hey - I recovered!" So "people at home and abroad felt relieved when they heard about it."

At first glance, it is incredible; a closer look makes it even more incredible. Was this fire a natural disaster or a man-made disaster? The fire killed Qian Yuanguan and gave Qian Hongchu a new life. The fire in Wuyue was not an ordinary fire.

To thank Chai Rong for his care and favor, Qian Hongchu presented a tribute of 4 ingots of satin, 7 ingots of silk, and 8 taels of platinum in April; in July, he presented a tribute of taels of platinum, ingots of silk, and rolls of fine clothing; in August, he presented a tribute of taels of platinum and ingots of silk as a gift to congratulate the great victory of the "Three Expeditions to Southern Tang"; he also presented a dragon boat and a Tianlu boat, "both decorated with platinum."

In response to the lavish spending of money by the Wuyue Kingdom, Chai Rong also gave gifts in return, sending cavalry armor, infantry armor, flags and other items.

Qian Hongchu was flattered by the gift, and hurriedly paid another tribute of 12 strings of cash and ingots of silk in December as a New Year's gift (He Zheng).

In February of the following year (959), Qian Hongchu sent Prime Minister Yuan Dezhao and Wu Yanfu to pay tribute to the capital, firstly to congratulate the great victory of the Huai River expedition, secondly to wish Chai Rong a happy new year, and more importantly to find out the next recovery plan of the Later Zhou Dynasty. Will you continue to manage the Jianghuai area, or will you launch a northern expedition to Youjin?
In April, Chai Rong gave the answer with practical actions, which was "Three Passes in the North". Qian Hongchu breathed a sigh of relief.

In June, Chai Rong died and Chai Zongxun ascended the throne.

As usual, in August, the emperor ordered to increase Qian Hongchu's fief by 8 households and his actual fief by households, and gave him the honorary title of "Chongren Zhaode Xuanzhong Baoqing Futian Yiliang Gongchen". Qian Hongchu's wife Sun was named the Lady of Virtue of Wuyue Kingdom, and his son Qian Weijun was named the Deputy Envoy of Zhenhai Zhendong Army and Inspector Taibao. In short, your whole family was rewarded.

Don’t say anything more, just pay tribute and congratulate.

Qian Hongchu should thank Zhao Kuangyin because the "Chenqiao Mutiny" came too quickly. He had just sent away Chai Zongxun's envoy, and another envoy came right after. However, the envoy was sent by the Song Dynasty to inform the Wuyue Kingdom of an important news: the Emperor of the Song Dynasty accepted the abdication and changed the reign title to Jianlong.

Qian Hongchu was very well-behaved. The first thing he did was to change his name, removing the character "Hong" to avoid taboo. Not only did he change his own name, but all his brothers also removed the character "Hong". Therefore, some materials also write Qian Hongchu as "Qian Chu".

Then they changed the packaging of the gifts originally prepared for Chai Zongxun and changed the recipient to Comrade Zhao Kuangyin. They also presented imperial clothes, brocades, gold and silk, etc. to congratulate him on his accession to the throne.

In April, Zhao Kuangyin granted Qian Hongchu the title of Grand Marshal of the Army, and added a fief of 4 households and a fief of households.

In June, the title of Lady of Wuyue State was added as Lady of Virtue and Obedience, with two more characters than Chai Zongxun. The crown prince Qian Weijun was also granted the title of Jin Zi Guang Lu Da Fu and Jian Xiu Tai Bao. In addition, Mingzhou was upgraded to Fengguo Army, and Qian Hongchu's younger brother Qian Hongyi was granted the title of Zi Jin Guang Lu Da Fu and Jian Xiu Tai Bao, and was appointed as the Jiedushi of Fengguo Army. In short, he was more generous than Chai Zongxun.

In July, Zhao Kuangyin sent another messenger to tell Qian Hongchu the good news: the rebellion of Li Yun in Luzhou had been suppressed. As mentioned above, Zhao Kuangyin personally led an expedition to Ze and Lu, and it took him a month to completely suppress the rebellion, shocking the whole world. In September, Li Chongjin in Yangzhou rebelled, and Zhao Kuangyin led the expedition again. This time, Qian Hongchu sent troops north to cooperate with the king's army.

In November, Yangzhou was pacified. Zhao Kuangyin sent envoys to announce the emperor's order, and Qian Hongchu also sent his younger brother Qian Hongxin to pay tribute.

In March of the following year (961), the Song Dynasty sent Qian Hongxin back to his country with courtesy and also sent Qian Hongchu 3 war horses, sheep, and camels.

According to historical records, "Since Taizu's revolution, the king has been offering tributes in increasing amounts, and Taizu treated them with unusual courtesy." After the establishment of the Song Dynasty, the interaction between the Wuyue Kingdom and the Central Plains dynasty became closer.

Respecting the Central Plains was the basic national policy of the Wuyue Kingdom. Moreover, the Song Dynasty was more powerful than the Five Dynasties, so Qian Hongchu naturally did not dare to neglect it. The Song Dynasty was determined to unify the world, and whether it was a southern expedition or a northern expedition, it needed the cooperation of the Wuyue Kingdom. Both sides got what they needed, and their relationship became closer.

In 962, a small incident happened in Quanzhou. Liu Congxiao died, and his general Zhang Hansi claimed to be the acting military commander of Qingyuan in Quanzhou. There are two versions of Liu Congxiao's death, which will be detailed in the Quanzhou special topic later.

For the Song Dynasty, it didn't matter who controlled Quanzhou, whether it was Liu Congxiao or Zhang Hansi. What really mattered was to respect the central government. However, Zhang Hansi crossed the red line and turned to submit to the Southern Tang.

The Song Dynasty was very unhappy and gave Qian Hongchu a task: to persuade Zhang Hansi to mend his ways, otherwise he would be given a small shock by the Song Dynasty.

Qian Hongchu sent an envoy to explain the pros and cons to Zhang Hansi. Zhang Hansi suddenly came to his senses and expressed his willingness to abandon darkness and join the light and return to the embrace of the Song Dynasty.

However, Zhang Hansi soon encountered a mutiny and was imprisoned by his general Chen Hongjin. Chen Hongjin then also pledged allegiance to the Southern Tang, but soon asked Qian Hongchu to act as a middleman to express his allegiance to the Song Dynasty.

In November 964, the Song Dynasty attacked Shu, and Qian Hongchu sent Sun Chengyou and others to lead the army to respond. Two months later, Shu was conquered, and Meng Chang was captured and brought to Beijing. The revolutionary friendship between the Song Dynasty and Wuyue, which was solidified with blood in the battle, was further sublimated.

In the following years, the exchanges between the two countries became increasingly frequent, with high-ranking officials visiting each other, generous gifts exchanged, etc. The two countries were like a couple in love, loving each other and inseparable.

Love that is not for the purpose of marriage is hooliganism. Finally, Da Song began to confess his love.

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

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(End of this chapter)