【Crisis abound】
For more than ten years, Zhu Wen was always in a stronger position than Yang Xingmi, but his three expeditions to the Huaihe River ended in failure. Although this failure did not cause much material losses to Zhu Wen, the political losses were immeasurable, and this was what made Zhu Wen most annoyed.
At that time, it was not only Huainan but also Wang Jian of Xichuan and Wei Bo of Hebei that made Zhu Wen irritated.
Let’s talk about Wang Jian of Xichuan first. He has always enjoyed the advantage of being a fisherman. He has occupied Li Maozhen’s territory south of the Qinling Mountains to the north and expanded along the Yangtze River to the east. Wang Jian has basically completed the control of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. The sphere of influence has penetrated into the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.
In the geopolitical landscape of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, although Wang Jian is a rising star, he has the potential to beat the former waver Zhu Wen to death on the beach.
In the past, novices competed with each other in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the first choice of refuge for the losers was Chengdu instead of Bianzhou, which shows the political influence of Wang Jian of Xichuan on this region.
As the overlord of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Zhu Wenkong enjoys the title, while Wang Jian and Yang Xingmi share the title equally.
Now, Wang Jian has put his greedy hands directly into Zhu Wen's trouser pockets and sent troops to attack Zhu Wen's goalkeeper, Jinzhou Feng Xingxi.
Feng Xingxi was unable to resist, so he abandoned the city and fled. His entire army surrendered to Langxian City. Wang Jian adopted Quan Shilang as his adopted son, changed his name to Wang Zonglang, and appointed him as the Jinzhou observer envoy. He also designated Qu, Ba, and Kaizhou as the jurisdiction of Jinzhou Road.
If Fengxiang and Li Maozhen are the western buffer zone between Xichuan and Zhu Wen, then Jinzhou is the southern buffer zone between Xichuan and Zhu Wen. Wang Jian's brazen annexation of Jinzhou marked that he was no longer satisfied with a corner of Shu. He wanted to aspire to the Central Plains. Challenge Zhu Wen's authority head-on.
This is Xichuan Wang Jian’s “going out” strategy. It is also one of Zhu Wen’s pain points.
Zhu Wen's second pain point is Hebei Wei Bo.
Wei Bo's situation is rather embarrassing. The relationship between Jieduzhi Luo Shaowei and Zhu Wen is extraordinary, very close, so close as to be "incest":
Zhu Wen and his father Luo Hongxin are brothers. Zhu Wen calls Luo Hongxin "sixth brother", so Luo Shaowei should call Zhu Wen "uncle", and Luo Shaowei's son should call Zhu Wen's daughter "aunt";
Luo Shaowei's eldest son married Zhu Wen's two daughters successively, and they were aunt-nephew lovers;
Luo Shaowei's second and third sons married Zhu Wen's two granddaughters (daughters of Zhu Youzhen) respectively. As a result, Luo Shaowei's daughters-in-law were sisters-in-law in their husband's family, and aunts and nieces in their mother's family.
Of course, as of now, Luo Shaowei should only be related to the eldest son. In short, Luo Shaowei is loyal to Zhu Wen. So what's the problem? This is because Luo Shaowei's control over Wei Bojun has loosened.
To make a long story short, after the "An-Shi Rebellion", in order to appease the old tribes of An Lushan and Shi Siming, the imperial court appointed Tian Chengsi (the old tribe of An Lushan) as Wei Bo's envoy. Tian Chengsi was stationed in Weizhou, with 100,000 troops, which was like a separatist army. Together with Chengde Army and Lulong Army, they were called the "Three Towns of Heshuo". They were called to submit to the imperial court, but in fact they dominated one side. This had always been a worry for the Tang Dynasty.
Before his death, Tian Chengsi handed over power to his nephew Tian Yue, setting a precedent for hereditary vassal towns. This is of milestone significance for the separatist situation of vassal towns in the late Tang Dynasty.
There were six people in the Tian family for four generations. Finally, Tian Hongzheng dedicated Wei Bo to the imperial court. Tian Hongzheng also became a key figure in the "Yuanhe Zhongxing". Later, the imperial court moved him to join the German army, but he was defeated by the Chengde general Wang Tingzuo (Wang Rongzhigao). Grandfather) destroyed the family. The imperial court appointed Tian Hongzheng's son Tian Bu as the military envoy to Wei Bo. Tian Bu was forced to death by his general Shi Xiancheng, who was killed in a mutiny. The three armies supported He Jintao as the military envoy. From then on, Wei Bojun was transferred from the Tian family to the He family;
The He family was passed down for two generations, but he was killed in a mutiny. The three armies elected General Han Junxiong (Han Yunzhong) as the military envoy;
The Han family was passed down for two generations and suffered another mutiny. The three armies elected General Le Yanzhen (Le Xingda) as the military envoy;
Before Le Yanzhen could pass the throne to his son Le Congxun, he encountered a mutiny. The three armies elected General Zhao Wenben as the military envoy;
Zhao Wenbian was slightly dissatisfied with the wishes of the three armies, so his head was beheaded in public. The three armies carried Zhao Wenbian's head and gathered a crowd to shout, "Who wants to be the military governor?" Someone in the crowd responded, and this person was Luo Hongxin. Luo Shi was in charge of Weibo. This story has been detailed in the previous article.
After Luo Hongxin's death, the three armies supported his son Luo Shaowei to succeed him as Jiedushi.
After a little combing, it is not difficult to see that the arrogance of the troops in Weibo has reached an outrageous level. They have the final say in the selection of the Jiedushi, and even the life and death of the Jiedushi. The imperial commission is only Go through a process. And this army is the formidable "Wei Boya Army".
The Yajun system also began with Tian Chengsi. To put it simply, it is a private armed force, with Tian Chengsi responsible for recruiting, training, and paying, so the Yajun is only loyal to the Jiedushi himself.
In order to take care of morale, improve efficiency, and save costs, the Yajun has been professionalized and socialized since its birth. Yajun not only brought their families, but also had a relatively independent and closed residential area, namely "Yacheng", which can be understood as a military compound. They enjoyed many privileges and benefits and belonged to the privileged class within the jurisdiction of the vassal town, so they often did not Those who are willing to marry ordinary people basically choose internal marriages. Over time, the Yajun is so intertwined that no one can shake it.
Because of its "socialization", behind a tooth soldier is the burden of a large family, and military pay obviously cannot support the huge expenses of tooth soldiers and tooth generals. Therefore, in addition to fixed wages, the tooth army's largest source of income It is a reward from the Jiedu Envoy. Gathering crowds to ask for rewards has become the daily routine of the tooth soldiers.
If the Jiedushi was a gentleman with a clean mind, then he would definitely not be able to satisfy the appetite of the Yajun, so the Yajun class forced the Jiedushi to exploit the people in the territory, plunder the people's fat, and support this group of privileged classes.
If they were just vampires and parasites, then the Fang Army wouldn't be so scary. What is really scary is the way the Yajun eliminated the incorruptible and incompetent Jiedushi. They killed and slaughtered the whole family at every turn, which was really bloody. In the late Tang Dynasty, the arrogance of Wei Boya Army and Wuning (Xuzhou) Ya Army were the most famous.
Wei Boya's army has a history of two hundred years since it was founded by Tian Chengsi to Luo Shaowei's generation. Luo Shaowei has always regarded this as a heartache, fearing that one day they would rebel again and cut off his head.
Sure enough, in July of the second year of Tianyou in the Tang Dynasty (905), Ya general Li Gongquan led his Ya soldiers to launch a mutiny in Weizhou. Fortunately, Luo Shaowei noticed it in time. After Li Gongquan beat, smashed, looted and burned, he fled to Cangzhou and defected to Cangzhou Liu Shouwen.
As early as when Zhu Wen besieged Fengxiang and fought for Zhaozong, Luo Shaowei sensed the approaching danger and repeatedly sent secret messages to Zhu Wen, asking him to help solve the Yajun crisis. At that time, Zhu Wen had no choice but to comfort him with kind words.
Li Gongquan's "Weizhou Mutiny" made Luo Shaowei even more uneasy, so he hurriedly informed Zhu Wen of the situation in the country and asked Zhu Wen to come forward to resolve the civil strife.
Wei Bo is the watchdog of the towns in Heshuo. If Zhu Wen cannot even protect his closest partner, then Li Keyong of Hedong and Liu Rengong of Youzhou who are ready to make moves will inevitably re-intervene in regional affairs. Moreover, Luo Hongxin and Luo Shaowei were regional agents whom Zhu Wen had put a lot of effort into cultivating. How could they give up so easily?
Wei Boping, then Heshuo Ning.
Zhu Wen no longer treats Luo Shaowei in vain, but secretly makes a plan to help Luo Shaowei completely solve the problem of the tooth army.
However, if the army is mobilized to march to Weibo, it will inevitably arouse a strong rebound from Weibo Yajun. It is inevitable that they will not take risks, and the consequences will be disastrous. It is easier said than done to hide the truth from the enemy.
At this moment, good news came from Weizhou: Zhu Wen's daughter died.
