【Guangzhou Liu Yin】
That year, Liu Chonggui promoted Liu Yin and was angered to death by his younger brother Liu Chonglu's "dismissal from office". Hedong Li Keyong defeated the "Three Towns Offenses" of the Kansai Group. With the support of Hedong Li Keyong, Zhaozong also promoted his "Prince's Model Soldiers" line of governing the country.
Therefore, Emperor Zhaozong ordered Li Zhirou, King of Xue, to go to Guangzhou as the Qing Dynasty's military governor (formerly the military governor of Lingnan East Road) to replace Liu Chonggui who died of illness.
But when Li Zhirou arrived in Hunan, Qing naval generals Lu Ju and Tan Hongqi took advantage of the power vacuum to launch a mutiny, fortified the border, refused Li Zhirou entry, and planned to seize Lingnan while the imperial court was weak. Among them, Tan Hongqi took the initiative to win over Liu Yin and promised to marry his daughter to him. They united to fight against the imperial court and separatize Lingnan.
Liu Yin agreed on the surface, but took advantage of the opportunity to welcome the bride, ambushed Tan Hongqi, and killed Lu Ju. He then sent troops to welcome Li Zhirou and held a grand welcome ceremony to welcome the new leader.
Li Zhirou then reported Liu Yin's deeds to the imperial court and appointed Liu Yin as his Chief of Staff (Marching Sima).
This is Liu Yin's cleverness. Although the Tang Dynasty was in decline, it was the legitimate central government of Guo Zuo that lasted for more than 200 years. Tan Hongqi and Lu Ju were just junior officers. Following them to launch a rebellion would be unjust and would not lead to good results.
Furthermore, Li Zhirou went to Guangzhou. Although he was a prince or prime minister, he was still a mere commander. If he wanted to secure Guangzhou, he needed the full support of a powerful local person with military power and reputation. This person would definitely be reused, and This candidate must be Liu Yin.
Killing Tan Hongqi and Lu Ju and welcoming Li Zhirou was the most critical political speculation in Liu Yin's life. He won.
While assisting Li Zhirou, Liu Yin led his troops to repel the invasion of neighboring vassals, suppressed the bandits and bandits in the territory, gained Li Zhirou's trust and dependence, and at the same time strengthened his own strength.
In the political struggle in the central court, Prime Minister Cui Yin relied on Zhu Wen's support to win the struggle and killed Prime Minister Wang Tuan. Prime Minister Xu Yanruo knew that he was outmatched, so he took the initiative to ask for release to escape Cui Yin's clutches, so he asked to be appointed as the Qing Dynasty Military Envoy in Guangzhou to replace Li Zhirou, the king of Xue.
In September 900 AD, Zhaozong issued an edict, and Xu Yanruo left Guangzhou with the title of prime minister. Just one year later, in December 901, Xu Yanruo died of illness in Guangzhou. On his deathbed, he left the court and recommended Liu Yin to take his place.
In fact, there is a small doubt here: is the legacy of Liu Yin's performance as the Jiedushi of Guangzhou really written by Xu Yanruo? Or was Liu Yin "falsifying his edict" to usurp the throne?
At that time, the world was divided, especially in the south where Emperor Tiangao was far away. According to records, only the Qing navy in Guangzhou, under the leadership of Xue Wang Li Zhirou, obeyed the imperial court. There are many vassal towns in other areas, attacking and annexing each other, and they are actually out of central control.
Whether it is King Xue Li Zhirou or Prime Minister Xu Yanruo, they both lack the powerful tool to stabilize the place - the army. Their only advantage is their own reputation. One is an imperial prince or a royal family, and the other is a prime minister from a famous family. In other words, the basis of their existence is the piety of others. Obviously, they all rely on Liu Yin to control Lingnan.
It is no longer that important whether that relic is from Xu Yanruo, because indeed only Liu Yin can control the Qing navy in Guangzhou.
However, Zhaozong decisively rejected Xu Yanruo's resignation and appointed Cui Yuan, Minister of War, to take over. Prince Dianbing and civilian officials served as military envoys. Zhaozong's attitude towards eradicating eunuchs and leveling vassal towns was very clear.
On the way to Cui Yuan's appointment, the local separatist forces in Jiangxi, Lu Guangchou of Qianzhou, invaded the Qing navy in Guangzhou. Liu Yin won first and then lost, losing the city and territory. Cui Yuan heard about the chaos in Lingnan and did not dare to take office.
Liu Yin had a keen sense of politics. He sent envoys with generous gifts and bribed Zhu Wen with large sums of money to express his surrender. Zhu Wen then reported that Liu Yin was the military envoy of the Qing Navy in Guangzhou.
Since then, Guangzhou Liu Yin has become an emerging "pro-Zhu faction". Zhu Wen also continued to promote Liu Yin to positions and titles, and the two sides have maintained a good alliance.
After Zhu Wen usurped the Tang Dynasty, Guangzhou Liu Yin was also one of the first vassal towns to express recognition of Hou Liang. In return, Zhu Wen decreed that Liu Yin be named "Nanping County Prince".
In March of the fifth year of Kaiping (911), Liu Yin was seriously ill. He sent Zhu Wen to the throne and requested that his younger brother Liu Yan take over his official title.
Zhu Wen approved.
Liu Yin and Liu Yan are brothers from the same mother. Their mother is Webster. Although their origins were not noble, they had a cultured and well-educated mother, and Webster came from a scholarly family, a high-ranking official. Meng's mother moved three times, her mother-in-law got tattoos, and Mrs. Webster's cultivation of her children was indispensable. I believe that the reason why Liu Yin had a high political consciousness, that he could maintain a clear mind in the temptation of troubled times, and that he could make huge gains in political speculation, Inseparable from the influence of Mrs. Webster.
From Liu Yin to Liu Yan, the brothers without exception attached great importance to culture and education, actively recruited intellectuals, hired high-paying staff as staff, and vigorously opened schools within the territory to educate the people. At that time, wars continued in the Central Plains, and many scholars fled to Lingnan, where they gained important positions and contributed to local development.
At that time, Liu Yin not only controlled the Guangdong and Guangxi regions, but also controlled the Annan region, firmly occupying the southernmost point of the empire. With the unremitting efforts of the two brothers, the Guangdong and Guangxi regions are no longer the barren and barbarous land where prisoners were exiled, but a prosperous and stable paradise.
During this period, Liu Yin detained the senior officials sent by Zhu Wen, Zhao Guangyi (brother of Zhao Guangfeng, the "Six Ministers Carrying the Coffin" and "Jade Ruler"), and Li Yinheng (grandson of Li Deyu). Liu Yin detained Liu Yin gently, treated him with "deep courtesy" and treated him kindly, because the two of them had both ability and political integrity, and came from a well-known family with high moral standing and high prestige. They could not only contribute to the cause of Lingnan, but also be a political vase.
After Liu Yan took the throne, Tanzhou Ma Yin continued to expand his sphere of influence southward, and the two finally bordered, creating a conflict of interest, which then escalated into a military conflict.
Liu Yan won the victory, but he immediately showed his kindness to Ma Yin and expressed his willingness to enter into marriage and eternal alliance. Look, Liu Yan's political acumen is no worse than his brother Liu Yin.
So Ma Yin agreed to marry her daughter to Liu Yan.
In the fifth year of Qianhua (915), Liu Yan sent senior staff to Tanzhou to welcome the bride, and Ma Yin sent his younger brother Ma Cun to see him off. The two sides turned their hostility into friendship.
With the support of the regional overlord (Ma Yin of Tanzhou), Liu Yan was even more confident. Taking advantage of the decline of the Later Liang Dynasty (Luzhou and Baixiang), he directly approached Zhu Youzhen and asked for the title of "King of South Vietnam" and the title of commander-in-chief (dutong). .
Zhu Youzhen refused.
Liu Yan was furious, so he cut off tribute and announced his separation from Houliang. Of course, Liu Yan's reason for pursuing "Lingdu" cannot be that he failed to seek the title of king. He found a reason that was the most fatal to Zhu Youzhen: the emperor's origin was erroneous. He directly called the Hou Liang regime the "pseudo court".
After another year of preparation, in August 917 AD, Liu Yan ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor in Guangzhou, changed the country's name to "Dayue", established the Yuan Dynasty as "Qianheng", granted amnesty to the world, and appointed Zhao Guangyi as the Minister of the Ministry of War and Li Yinheng as the Minister of Rites. Yang Dongqian, the deputy envoy of Jiedu, was appointed Minister of the Ministry of War, and the three of them were granted the title of prime minister (Tongping Zhangshi); they built a royal ancestral temple and honored their grandfather Liu Anren, father Liu Qian, and brother Liu Yin as emperors; Guangzhou was upgraded to Prince Xing's Mansion.
The following year, Liu Yan climbed up the dragon and attached himself to the phoenix, insisting that he was a lineage of the Han Dynasty, after Liu Bang, the founder of the Han Dynasty, so he changed the country's name to "Han", and it was called "Southern Han" in history, and it was one of the "Ten Kingdoms".
Liu Yan was well aware of the vertical and horizontal manipulation. While proclaiming himself emperor, he sent envoys to Huainan to inform Lingnan of the independent founding of the country. He also persuaded Yang Wei of Huainan to ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor.
After Liu Yan proclaimed himself emperor, he appointed Ma Yin's daughter as queen.
In this way, Ma Yin in Tanzhou and Yang Wei in Huainan became natural barriers to the Southern Han Dynasty, and the Houliang regime was beyond the reach of the "Ling independence" element Liu Yan.
Regarding Liu Yan's independence as emperor, the central court of the Later Liang Dynasty could do very little. It could only issue an edict to deprive Liu Yan of all official positions and titles, and then order Qian Liu from Hangzhou to go and conquer.
Hangzhou Qian Liu readily accepted the edict, saying that he actively supported the territorial integrity of the Later Liang Empire, and even strongly condemned the national separatists...with words but no actions.
From then on, the Houliang government completely lost the Lingnan region.
