【Li Yan sent to Shu】
In April of the second year of Tongguang (924), Li Cunxu of the Later Tang Dynasty sent Li Yan as envoy to the former Shu.
Li Yan, formerly known as Liu Shouguang, is a man of many talents. He is well versed in poetry and can speak eloquently. He is also good at riding and shooting. He is a rare all-rounder in both civil and military affairs. This time he was sent to Shu, and the task was quite special, because he was not They came to seek friendship between the two countries, but to show off the national power of the Later Tang Dynasty and threaten and intimidate the former Shu.
According to Li Cunxu's words, the only people in the world who have not returned to the Tang Dynasty are Shu and Huainan. If the former Shu and Huainan can claim vassalage from the Later Tang Dynasty, then the Later Tang Dynasty will restore the former territory of the Tang Dynasty and achieve superficial unification.
Li Yan fulfilled his mission and made insinuations to severely criticize the former Shu authorities, accusing them of relying on their own troops since Emperor Zhaozong moved to Luo, sitting back and watching the emperor be humiliated, disrespecting his courtesy, and letting the Zhu thieves issue orders without doing anything. Only my lord Li Cunxu Comrade, we are incompatible with the usurper and traitor, and we have led our heroic troops to fight against him for more than ten years.
After the criticism and accusation, there was a subtle military threat:
"Just after crossing the Fen River, I tied Wang Yanzhang in front of his horse; when I reached Yimen, I beheaded Zhu Youzhen upstairs... Duan Ningtong's 80,000-strong army turned against him and fell to his death; Zhao Yan knew that one man was in luck, and he waited for his execution... He took the world with his hands and only worked hard On the 8th... Today, the Qin court presented a memorial, Zhejiang and Zhejiang became ministers, Huainan presented the ceremony of worship, and Huihe prepared the ceremony for heaven... Could it be said that the emperor of Shu was gentle and caring about far and near, and he was worried about danger... He specially sent Su Zhangzhi Scholars, come to pursue the joy of Tang and Shu..."
Then there was a naked threat, saying that Li Cunxu had the ambition to unify the world.
I don't know whether Wang Zongyan is broad-minded or heartless, but he is unmoved. General Wang Zongchou was furious and reported to Wang Zongyan, saying that Li Yan's remarks were insulting to the late emperor, His Majesty, and the country. They were too much and he was asked to be killed! Wang Zongyan refused.
Wang Zongyan arranged for the eunuch Song Guangsi to entertain Li Yan with wine. During the dinner, he used wine to talk to Li Yan and find out the reality of the Later Tang Dynasty.
As a result, a war of words broke out between Song Guangsi and Li Yan.
Song Guangsi first calmly asked him about the basic overview of the Later Tang Dynasty.
Li Yan answered truthfully, saying that my lord Li Cunxu established a title in Weizhou on a certain day of a certain month and a certain year, and he raided Bianzhou from Yunzhou on a certain day of a certain month. He took over Bianzhou in only eight days and accepted it. Later Liang surrendered 300,000 troops and generals; the territory of the Later Tang extended to the sea in the east, Ganzhou and Liangzhou in the west, Youzhou in the north, and Lingnan in the south. The Fengxiang Li family of Fengxiang sent their children to the court one after another to serve as ministers; as for Gao Jichang of Jingnan, Ma Yin of Tanzhou, Qian Liu of Wuyue, etc., of course, not to mention, they paid endless tributes... Therefore, my Lord cherishes them with virtue and shocks them. With this power, the unification of the world is the general trend. This important task must of course be completed by our Lord.
Song Guangsi smiled coldly, "I don't know much about the situation in Jingnan, Tanzhou, and Wuyue. But this Fengxiang is as good as our Shu land of Qin and Jin. We know him too well, and they are capricious. , they don't keep their word, how can their statements be taken seriously? And I heard that the Khitan is getting stronger and stronger, didn't Later Tang feel worried?"
Tit-for-tat, don't pretend to be a big-tailed wolf for me, what about "submission of the world"? Just a few pieces of material such as Jingnan, Tanzhou, and Wuyue, didn't they proclaim themselves vassal to the Liang Dynasty not long ago? Their oaths are all temporary expediency. The dragon wins against the dragon, and the tiger wins against the tiger. You, Hou Tang, are just trying to imagine the vast territory on the map. Although the actual control area is wider than that of Hou Liang, you have one more territory than Hou Liang. Powerful enemy - Khitan.
Faced with the difficult problem posed by Song Guangsi, Li Yan chose to avoid the important and take the easy and defend and counterattack:
"Compared with the Khitan and the Houliang, who is stronger and who is weaker?"
"Then... of course the back beam is stronger."
"Is this serious? When the Later Tang Dynasty attacked the Later Liang Dynasty, it was like destroying the dead, let alone dealing with the Khitan, which was inferior to the Later Liang Dynasty. We in the Later Tang Dynasty did not need to mobilize the entire army. We only needed to send a Jiedu envoy to lead a town of troops to destroy it."
There seems to be nothing wrong, but... "Then you sent troops to destroy the Khitan, why are you being harassed by them all the time?"
"God has the virtue of good life..." Li Yan shook off his tongue and said, "The four barbarians were born, not within the Nine Provinces." The general idea is that existence is the truth, and the existence of the barbarians, Rongdi, and Di is also the will of God. We cannot do it because of it. If one is strong enough to exterminate these foreign countries, "it is impossible to resort to force without resorting to force."
Song Guangsi was defeated and marveled at Li Yan's sharp tongue.
Song Guangsi's cousin, the eunuch Song Guangbao, also argued with Li Yan all day long, "talking to him all day long and obeying his changes." Later, Song Guangbao gave Wang Zongyan a memorial, requesting that Li Yan must be killed.
This list is included in the "Complete Tang Dynasty". It begins by tearing off the political fig leaf of the Later Tang Dynasty and pointing out that they are "descendants of the Li family". The joy of annihilating the Later Liang Dynasty made them arrogant and arrogant. This time they sent envoys without saying anything. Without concealing our contempt and hostility towards our Shu region, I am afraid that the two countries are about to turn against each other, and we had better be prepared for a fight.
Next, Song Guangbao gave a detailed military deployment. According to this deployment, the former Shu could advance and the later Tang Dynasty aspire to dominate the Central Plains, and retreat could separate the Shu territory into a tripartite force.
Therefore, Wang Zongyan appointed Song Guangbao as the observation envoy of Zizhou to stay behind with the German army.
There is also some controversy about the eunuch Song Guangbao. Because he was a eunuch and Song Guangsi's cousin, some people preconceptionally believed that Song Guangbao was also a bad eunuch who brought disaster to the country and the people. From this, they inferred that his purpose of going to the palace was to gain military power for himself by leaving the town and gaining military power, and he succeeded. .
Is the eunuch Song Guangbao of the "main war faction" doing it for his own selfish interests or for the people of Shu? We can't draw a conclusion now. We will know when the army of the Later Tang Dynasty comes to the city.
Li Yan stayed in Qianshu for about a month. During this period, Li Yan witnessed with his own eyes the decadence, debauchery and immorality of Wang Zongyan's court. Instead of restraining himself, Wang Zongyan took the initiative to show Li Yan the prosperity of Shu. . Wang Zongyan enthusiastically invited Li Yan to visit the Shangqing Palace. Along the way, Chengdu people, all dressed in silk, satin, gold and silver, were coming and going in a bustling manner. Of course, it was very likely that these were extras deliberately arranged by Wang Zongyan in order to pay tribute to Li Yan. Yan showed off the wealth of Shu in response to Li Yan's arrogance and rudeness.
During this visit, Li Yan also shouldered a personal mission of Li Cunxu - to purchase rare brocades. Just because the land of Shu is rich in Shu embroidery, and is prosperous and rich with jewelry and treasures, it can satisfy Li Cunxu's fantasy of arrogance and luxury. However, unexpectedly, Li Yan returned empty-handed.
Facing Li Cunxu’s questioning, Li Yan revealed a reason that made Li Cunxu furious:
Qianshu implemented extremely strict cargo control, and all kinds of splendid treasures were prohibited from leaving the country, and only low-quality and inferior goods could flow into the Central Plains. These low-end goods that were allowed to be exported to the Central Plains were also equipped with an exclusive term-"herbaceous objects" ".
In ancient times, the main meaning of the word "grass" was mountains, folk, etc., so there was a saying that "the fallen grass is a bandit". Wang Zongyan called the goods flowing into the Central Plains "into the grass", which was a response to the Central Plains people's discrimination against Shu, and was Ah Q's spiritual victory method.
After Li Cunxu heard this, he couldn't help being furious and shouted on the spot: "How can Wang Zongyan avoid being a 'random man'?"
Li Yan took the opportunity to report to Li Cunxu the truth and falsehoods of the former Shu, saying that Wang Zongyan was actually a mentally retarded child (actually a childish boy) who was playful and lustful and surrounded by treacherous villains. The auxiliary ministers Wang Zongbi and Song Guangsi were all flattering and bullying. They are corrupt... Former Shu is already a crumbling house. As long as a big country sends troops and kicks on the door, it will immediately fall apart. It is said that the people in Shu are prosperous and the monarchs and ministers are arrogant.
Li Cunxu was very confident in his own virtue and did not think that Li Yan was really criticizing Sang and Huai.
The only people in the world who claimed vassalage from the Later Tang Dynasty were Huainan and Former Shu. Li Cunxu had the ambition of King Qin to conquer Liuhe, and had the ambition to dominate the world. Li Cunxu had a brief hesitation on the issue of conquering Huaihe first or conquering Shu first.
At that time, many people advocated conquering the Huaihe River first. Because the Shu region had so many mountains and mountains that one man could guard the gates and ten thousand men could not open it, it had always been the royal refuge of the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Moreover, the Shu region had been managed painstakingly by Wang Jian for nearly thirty years, and he had many soldiers. The general is vast, the food and grass are sufficient, and it relies on natural dangers, so it is not suitable to pursue it.
However, with the support of Li Yan's intelligence work, Li Cunxu finally made up his mind and listed Qianshu as his primary target for conquest. When Gao Jichang came to court, Li Cunxu deliberately said that he planned to attack Huainan first to test Gao Jichang. Gao Jichang advised Li Cunxu to attack Shu first, and listed the advantages of conquering Shu and the disadvantages of conquering Huaihe.
Gao Jichang's words touched Li Cunxu's heart, so Li Cunxu believed that Gao Jichang was loyal to him and he was very happy.
In fact, Gao Jichang later admitted to his close associates that the reason why he advised Li Cunxu to attack Shu first was because conquering Shu was not conducive to the later Tang Dynasty. He sincerely led Li Cunxu into the ditch in order to consume his strength and preserve Jingnan. .
This is interesting: Li Cunxu was thinking about conquering Shu, but he talked about conquering Huai; Gao Jichang was thinking about conquering Huai, but he was talking about conquering Shu. The two chatted happily and everyone was very happy. This is the game of power, this is the unpredictable fun of people.
This post-Tang Dynasty war against Shu can be called a miracle in the history of human warfare. The process is incredible, and the results are even more thought-provoking.
