【Blessing in disguise】
Moving towns is one of the means to test the authority of the central government. After Zhu Youzhen came to power, there were several successful town moves.
For example, Liu Shouqi was appointed as the Military Envoy of Hue Army in Cangzhou to replace Zhang Wanjin; Zhang Wanjin was appointed as the Military Envoy of Pinglu Army in Qingzhou. But this time the move to the town was performed by Yang Shihou, which reflected Yang Shihou's authority.
Subsequently, Zhu Youzhen went from simple to difficult and started a series of paving the way: he transferred Zhu Youzhang, the military envoy of Yunzhou, to be the military envoy to Xuzhou; he transferred Zhang Wanjin, the military envoy to Qingzhou, to be the military envoy to Yanzhou; he transferred Kang Huaizhen, the military envoy to Huazhou, to Yongping Army Jiedushi.
Among them, only Kang Huaizhen's transfer had practical significance: he was transferred from Huazhou to Chang'an in the west to resist the threat of Fengxiang Li Maozhen. In addition, corresponding comfort work was also carried out for Liu Wei, the former Yongping Army Military Envoy, and he was assigned the position of mayor of the capital (Kaifeng Prefecture Yin), and he also served as the Zhennan Army Military Envoy.
Zhu Youzhang is Zhu Wen's fifth son and Zhu Youzhen's younger brother. Zhang Wanjin is "extremely poor". It can be said that there is no resistance to the transfer of these two people.
All this is foreshadowing. Next, is Zhu Youzhen's real intention: to appoint Zhu Youzhang as the military governor of Xuzhou to replace Wang Yin.
Wang Yin, the adopted son of Wang Chongying. When Zhu Wen annexed Wang Ke in Hezhong, in order to fulfill his previous promise of "treating Wang's descendants favorably", he promoted him to a prominent position and quickly made him a confidant. Later, Wang Yin and Kong Xun jointly framed Jiang Xuanhui, fabricated the scandal of "Jiang Xuanhui's affair with the Queen Mother He", falsely accused Jiang Xuanhui, Liu Can and others of conspiring to restore the Tang Dynasty, and through conspiracy to bring down the "Three Envoys Gang", they won Zhu Wen's further trust. And seized the rights of the "Three Envoys Gang".
Wang Yin had a close relationship with Zhu Yougui. After Zhu Yougui usurped power, he appointed Wang Yin as the military governor of Xuzhou Wuning Army.
Xuzhou, an important town in the east, must be in charge of trustworthy comrades. It was impossible for Zhu Youzhen to allow Xuzhou to be in the hands of the "remnants of the Yougui Party".
Wang Yin also knew the dangers involved, so he openly disobeyed the order, refused to accept the throne, surrendered to the Huainan Group, and called for reinforcements from Huainan. The Huainan side immediately sent "pig-killing vanguard" Zhu Jin to lead troops north to support.
Zhu Youzhen issued an edict to deprive Wang Yin of all his official positions and titles, and transferred generals Niu Cunjie and Liu Wei to join forces with Zhu Youzhang to quell the Xuzhou rebellion.
At this time, Wang Zan, Wang Chongying's biological son and Wang Ke's younger brother, was afraid of being implicated, so he hurriedly went to court, saying that Wang Yin's real surname was Jiang, and he "remarried with his mother" in his early years. My father, Wang Chongying, saw that the child was pitiful, so he adopted him as his adopted son. So he pretended to be surnamed Wang. He had nothing to do with our family and was not from our Wang family.
Therefore, Zhu Youzhen ordered Wang Yin to restore his original surname of Jiang. Therefore, some historical books record it as "Jiang Yin".
Niu Cunjie was very wise and knew that Wang Yin was a coward who could only flatter himself, so there was nothing to worry about, and the Huainan reinforcements were the focus of countering the rebellion. Therefore, Niu Cunjie assembled in Suzhou, south of Xuzhou, to deal with the Huainan reinforcements first.
Zhu Jin crossed the Huaibei River and entered the hinterland of Houliang. He went deep alone, which was a taboo for military strategists. After being hit hard by Niu Cunjie, he retreated and returned to Huainan in despair.
Later, Niu Cunjie and Liu Wei returned to attack and easily captured Xuzhou. Wang Yin and his entire family set themselves on fire and died. The Houliang army searched for Wang Yin's seven-year-old body from the ashes, cut off his head, and sent it to the capital to report his merits.
Zhu Youzhang went to Xuzhou smoothly. Zhu Youzhen finally eliminated a hidden danger, and the imperial power was consolidated to a certain extent.
Taking back Xuzhou can be regarded as a small gift for the New Year (the fifth year of Qianhua, 915). The big gift was delivered a month later: Yang Shihou died of illness.
After receiving the sad news that Yang Shihou died of illness, Zhu Youzhen stayed away from the court for three days to express his condolences and posthumously presented him as "Grand Master". In private, he secretly accepted congratulations and held a secret party to celebrate. The greatest hidden danger in this empire is finally gone!
The reason why Yang Shihou makes Zhu Youzhen extremely fearful is not only his qualifications and meritorious service, nor is it simply the fact that he has a large number of troops. The main reason is that Yang Shihou holds Wei Bo.
There is no need to elaborate too much on the importance of Wei Bo to the Later Liang Empire. It is the most important town in Heshuo, with strong strength and an extremely important strategic position.
Yang Shihou intercepted the court tribute in Weibo, selected elite soldiers and brave generals from the army, and formed a private armed force, the Silver Gun Hsiaojie Independent Regiment (Yinqiang Hsiaojie Capital), ignoring the central orders, and then Liang's central court basically Unable to control. In fact, Yang Shihou has essentially separated himself and ruled the roost.
Therefore, we have emphasized many times that Yang Shihou is the biggest enemy of the empire in Zhu Youzhen's heart.
Now, he is dead.
Zhao Yan made an important suggestion to Zhu Youzhen: divide Wei Bo.
Zhao Yan pointed out that for two hundred years, Wei Bojun had been a serious concern of the Tang Dynasty because it had a large territory and sufficient troops and food. In recent years, everyone from Luo Hongxin to Luo Shaowei to Yang Shihou have also been entrenched here. They are so far away from the central government that even the late emperor Zhu Wen was unable to do anything. Now that Yang Shihou has passed away, this is an eternal opportunity given to His Majesty by God! It is best to take this opportunity to disintegrate and divide it, weaken its strength, and eliminate future troubles. Otherwise, I don’t know who will become the second Yang Shihou.
Existing historical records indicate that Zhu Youzhen favored Zhao Yan and Yuan Xiangxian. According to my personal guess, Zhu Youzhen should have been ostracized by these two people and was their puppet.
No matter what the truth is, Zhu Youzhen followed the advice of Zhao Yan and Yuan Xiangxian on many key issues, including this time.
So Zhu Youzhen made a decision: split Xiang and Wei. The six states of Weibo were divided into two, Xiangzhou, Chanzhou, and Weizhou were separated from them, and the "Zhaode Army" was newly established with Xiangzhou as its headquarters. The army and property of the original Weibo Army were also divided into two.
As Zhao Yan said, Wei Bojun's army can't be destroyed, and it has a history of more than 200 years. How can it be divided and dismantled with just a piece of imperial edict? To divide Weibo, we will inevitably face difficulties and obstacles and pay a heavy price.
Zhu Youzhen is ready to meet the challenge.
First, Zhu Youzhen recruited generals with high moral integrity and good military skills to guard the prime minister and Wei Erzhen. He Delun, the military envoy of the Pinglu Army in Qingzhou, was appointed as the military envoy of the New Wei Bo Army, stationed in Weizhou; General Zhang Jun was transferred as the military envoy of the Zhaode Army, stationed in Xiangzhou.
Secondly, external military forces were sent to strongly intervene to protect the second commander-in-chief. He sent General Liu Wei to lead 60,000 elite troops across the Yellow River to the north and entered the jurisdiction of Weibo. He claimed to be attacking Zhenzhou and Dingzhou, but in fact he put pressure on Weizhou.
With an edict, all parties began to take action. The sky above Weibo is covered with clouds.
Weibo's army has been professionalized and socialized for nearly two hundred years, and has become a privileged class within the territory. Fathers and sons and brothers in the army have successively intermarried with each other. They are intertwined and inseparable. They are a special group with extremely strong centripetal force. Xiang, Chan, and Wei have been an integral part of Wei Bojun since ancient times.
Now, they have to be simply and roughly divided, uprooted from their homes, and separated from their flesh and blood. After receiving the news, the officers and soldiers of Wei Bo complained a lot.
This kind of resistance was expected by Zhu Youzhen.
With the central government's political support and military support, He Delun repeatedly urged Wei Bo's officers and soldiers to go on the road as planned. The whole Wei Bojun cried and was extremely reluctant.
In order to support He Delun's work, Liu Wei sent his powerful general "Wang Tiejian" Wang Yanzhang to lead 500 cavalry to Weizhou and entered the city to assist in the defense, further putting pressure on Wei Bo's army.
This move greatly stimulated Wei Bo's officers and soldiers.
That night, Wei Bo's officers and soldiers suddenly mutinied, set fire to the houses in the city, looted wantonly, and surrounded Wang Yanzhang's station. Seeing that the situation was not good, Wang Yanzhang forced open the city gate and broke out.
After dawn, the rebel army invaded the inner city, slaughtered all Hedron's personal guards, and hijacked Hedron and placed him under house arrest.
At the critical moment, Zhang Yan, the commander of the Silver Spear Independent Regiment, stepped forward to stop Wei Bojun's looting and maintain order in the city.
Sure enough, something went wrong.
Zhu Youzhen just wanted to weaken Wei Bojun, not eliminate it, let alone force it to rebel. Therefore, Zhu Youzhen immediately sent his personal eunuch to communicate and comfort him, and agreed to promote Zhang Yan to the position of governor and give him a heavy reward.
However, Zhang Yan was not satisfied with this offer. He directly threw the emperor's edict to the ground, insulted the envoys, and then put forward his own conditions: stop the action of splitting Wei Bo and continue to maintain the integrity of Wei Bo's army; Liu Wei must withdraw.
The eunuch who came to deliver the edict was named Hu Yi. He was insulted and scolded by Zhang Yan, and he held a grudge in his heart. After returning to Beijing, he described Zhang Yan as a fool with well-developed limbs and a simple mind. He tried his best to instigate the central government to use force against him and wanted to kill someone with a borrowed knife.
Zhu Youzhen still maintained a clear mind. The Silver Spear Effect Festival Independent Regiment is an elite force selected by the famous general Yang Shihou to select the best from the best. How can its generals be so unbearable?
Therefore, Zhu Youzhen rejected the solution of military conquest and continued to use sugar-coated bullets to recruit people. He said that this was the central government's established policy and basic national policy and could not be easily modified.
The two parties exchanged letters many times and bargained several times, but still could not reach a compromise.
Zhang Yan understood that Zhu Youzhen was determined to separate Wei Bo. In a rage, Zhang Yan akimbo, halberd pointed, facing south, shouted insults at Zhu Youzhen. Then he forced Hedron to write a memorial, blackmailed the central government, and made a final effort.
He Delun was forced to write a memorial to the court, to the effect that he advised Zhu Youzhen to return to his lost ways and stop dividing Wei Bo. Of course, this memorial is most likely just to sign Hedron's name.
Zhang Yan also coerced and induced a folk master to write a memorial for him. The requirement was that the words must be fierce and the more vulgar the better. And the asking price was increased from the previous price: not only to maintain the integrity and unity of Wei Bo, but also to inherit Yang Shihou's title of generalissimo (recruiting envoy).
It was obvious that Zhang Yan no longer had the sincerity to negotiate. He had only one purpose: to anger Zhu Youzhen and force the central government to use force. As long as the central government turns its back, he will have a reason to break away from the back beam.
Zhu Youzhen's edict was delivered, and he tirelessly explained to Zhang Yan the ins and outs of Yang Shihou's title of "recruiting envoy" and explained in detail the reasons why he could not be awarded the title of "recruiting envoy". His words were sincere and his attitude was almost humble. Zhu Youzhen still hopes to resolve differences peacefully through dialogue.
Zhang Yan tore the edict into pieces, threw it to the ground, turned around and said to He Delun: "The young master is ignorant and was led astray by a treacherous villain! Now the soldiers and civilians on the ground in Weibo are frightened and in urgent need of comfort. The King of Jin in Hedong has commanded 100,000 troops. I take it as my duty to restore the Tang Dynasty, and I have a feud with Daliang. I decided to surrender to Hedong and seek happiness for the army and people of Weibo." He then used coercion and inducement to force He Delun to submit.
He Delun had no choice but to follow suit and sent an envoy to Taiyuan Mansion to surrender to Li Cunxu in Hedong.
