History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 995 I love you in my heart, it's easy to say
[I love you in my heart, it’s easy to say it]

Tao Gu's funny behavior is purely a personal brand and a world-famous trademark. It will not affect the relationship between the two countries, nor will it cause a diplomatic incident. He is just a joke in the upper class, but "the wise emperor wants Qiantang" is the truth.

In the following time, the two countries continued to maintain close interaction. In September 972, Qian Hongchu sent his chief aide, Huang Yijian, the secretary of the Marshal's Office, to pay tribute. Zhao Kuangyin asked Huang Yijian to help convey a message to Qian Hongchu, saying that the royal army was preparing to recover Jiangnan (Southern Tang), and asked the Wuyue army to cooperate, and not to listen to the nonsense such as lips and teeth are cold, and the hair will not be attached if the skin is gone. If you are not loyal, you are not loyal at all. You Wuyue people must not make a mistake at this time.

At the same time, he took Huang Yijian to visit a newly built luxurious villa outside Xunfeng Gate in the capital, and said that the name of the property was "Lixian House" and that Li Yu and Qian Hongchu would be given the chance on a first-come, first-served basis. If you were slow, you would miss out.

Qian Hongchu expressed his gratitude secretly, asked about the date of departure, and said that the Wu Yue Kingdom would fully cooperate with the royal army.

In August of the following year (973), Zhao Kuangyin sent Qian Hongchu a birthday present. Qian Hongchu also sent generous gifts to Zhao Kuangyin and important officials in the court. For example, he sent Comrade Zhao Pu ten baskets of express parcels labeled "seafood". As mentioned above, Zhao Kuangyin saw these seafood on the spot and ordered people to open them on the spot to satisfy his appetite. However, when they opened them, he found ten baskets full of gold.

In 974, the Song army officially marched south. In July, Zhao Kuangyin ordered Qian Hongchu to attack Changzhou under the rule of Southern Tang and open up the eastern battlefield.

After receiving the imperial edict, Qian Hongchu immediately sent his trusted general Sun Chengyou to Beijing to "report the secrets" and inquire about the specific date of the uprising. In October, Zhao Kuangyin appointed Qian Hongchu as the commander-in-chief of the eastern battlefield (Southeast Recruiting and Suppressing Envoy), and sent his trusted general Ding Deyu as the military supervisor to help Qian Hongchu implement the spirit of the central government; he also thoughtfully sent a thousand imperial guards to assist the Wuyue army in attacking Changzhou.

In fact, Ding Deyu was Qian Hongchu's military supervisor, and the 1,000 imperial guards were the military supervisors of the Wuyue army. Zhao Kuangyin openly wanted to control the Wuyue army.

Under the supervision of Ding Deyu, Qian Hongchu personally led an army of 50,000 to attack Changzhou. The progress was very smooth. According to records, the Southern Tang army was defeated, and the Wuyue army quickly conquered the outer city. The Southern Tang defenders retreated to the inner city and fought stubbornly. Qian Hongchu divided his troops into four groups to besiege the four city gates, and sent the navy to attack the outer targets to cut off Changzhou's connection with the outside world. During this period, the Wuyue army won many battles and gained a lot.

After 100 days of siege, the Changzhou defenders requested to surrender, Qian Hongchu gladly accepted and reported the victory to the emperor. Zhao Kuangyin was very happy and appointed Qian Hongchu as the Grand Tutor, with an additional fief of 6,000 households and 900 households, as well as other gifts.

Changzhou has been captured, but who will it belong to?

Is there any need to ask? Of course his surname is Zhao. Ding Deyu, the envoy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was appointed as the acting governor of Changzhou.

You fight the war, you pay the money, you die... You are so busy, so you don't have to worry about taking over the territory. As for Comrade Qian Hongchu, who worked hard and made great contributions, in addition to the above rewards, Zhao Kuangyin also gave him a jade belt, a jade saddle, two thousand taels of gold, ten thousand taels of silver, and ten thousand pieces of brocade.

At the same time, Zhao Kuangyin also issued an edict, saying that the soldiers of Wuyue had worked hard, and that they would not be bothered with the next battle, so they should go home. Of course, not all the troops had to return home. The main force went back, and a small number of troops (Shen Chengli's troops) still had to join the royal army. Why did they want the main force of Wuyue to return home? Wouldn't it be good to have more helpers?

No, because half a year later, "in November of the winter, our division conquered Nanjing, and the false ruler Li Yu surrendered", and the Southern Tang Dynasty was destroyed. When fighting desperately, Wuyue Kingdom will come to help, but when it comes to harvesting the remaining blood, grabbing heads, and sharing the fruits of victory, I won't bother you, just go home and take a shower and go to bed.

The records of Li Yu's surrender are also very interesting. As we have introduced in the previous article, in the mainstream historical materials with the Song Dynasty as the protagonist, it is recorded that the Song Dynasty's royal army had strict military discipline and did not kill anyone in vain after entering the city, while the Wuyue army set fire to a high tower, which was full of the elderly, weak, women and children from the upper class. It was simply cruel...

In the "Wuyue Beishi", this incident was not mentioned at all. Instead, the commander of Wuyue State, Shen Chengli, was mentioned. It said that on the winter solstice, all the troops were feasting and celebrating the festival. Shen Chengli told the soldiers that the defenders must think that we are lax and unprepared and will launch a surprise attack. Let's catch them by surprise. So they recruited a ten-man death squad to burn the east gate. Then "the king's army saw it and also attacked the south". Then "Yu was in danger and surrendered." In one sentence: Wuyue State destroyed Southern Tang...

We can boldly speculate that perhaps the two versions of history books are talking about the same thing:

Wu Yueguo: We fired the first shot to liberate Shengzhou and set fire to the East Gate. My enthusiasm was like a fire that burned the entire desert.

Da Song (covering his face): You burned the civilian shelter...

After recovering Southern Tang, Qian Hongchu sent Sun Chengyou to present a letter of congratulations and request an audience with the emperor.

Zhao Kuangyin rewarded Qian Hongchu for his contribution in pacifying the Southern Tang. He also appointed Sun Chengyou as the military governor of Pingjiang Army, Shen Chengli as the military governor of Ninghai Army, and three generals as defense envoys and six as provincial governors.

"Prelude!"

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

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(End of this chapter)