[Wang Zongbi’s coup]
On November 7, Wang Zongyan arrived in Chengdu, and all the civil and military officials, concubines, and maids lined up to greet him. Wang Zongyan ordered his concubines to surround him and walk back to the palace in a queue, sometimes in an "S" shape, and sometimes in a "B" shape (people from the emperor's palace formed a Uighur team to enter).
On November 8, Wang Zongyan came to the Civilization Hall and summoned all civil and military officials to discuss strategies to retreat from the enemy. All the civil and military officials looked at each other and remained silent. Wang Zongyan could only cry, and his tears soaked through his clothes.
On November 9, Kang Yanxiao arrived in Lizhou and urgently repaired the bridges and plank roads destroyed by Wang Zongyan. Lizhou Jiedushi Lin S'er had already arrived in Langzhou, and now he quickly sent an envoy to welcome the surrender.
On November 15, Li Jiji led the main force to Jianzhou, and Wang Zongshou, the Jiedushi of Suizhou and King Jia, was also forced to surrender the five prefectures of Sui, He, Yu, Lu, and Chang.
On this day, Wang Zongbi led his troops back to Chengdu without permission and boarded the Daxuan Gate armed with weapons. Wang Zongyan, the Queen Mother and Concubine Xu personally went to Daxuanmen to greet and express their condolences, but they were surprised to find that the word "respect" was no longer on Wang Zongbi's face, and his attitude towards the emperor and the queen mother was extremely arrogant and rude.
Wang Zongyan had an ominous premonition.
That night, Wang Zongbi launched a coup.
The next day (November 16), Wang Zongbi kidnapped Wang Zongyan, Concubine Xu, and all the princes and put them under house arrest in the West Palace; confiscated all the royal seals; looted all the gold and silver treasures in the palace warehouse; Wang Zongbi's son Wang Chengjuan, regarded as Money was like dirt. Instead of plundering royal property, he broke into the harem with a sword in hand and took some of Wang Zongyan's favorite concubines.
On November 17, Wang Zongbi claimed to be the queen of Xichuan, and sent people to bring gold and silver treasures, famous horses, beef, and fine wine to reward the three armies of the Tang Dynasty. He also sent a letter to Li Yan in the name of Wang Zongyan, which said: "You Come, I will surrender."
Kang Yanxiao advanced to Mianzhou and found that the granaries and houses had been destroyed, and the Mianjiang pontoon bridge had also been vandalized. The Mianjiang River was so fast that no ship had ever dared to cross it. The progress of Later Tang Dynasty will be forced to stop.
Kang Yanxiao said to Li Yan: "We are going deep alone and must fight quickly. Judging from the current situation, as long as a hundred cavalry rush through Lutou Pass, they will surrender in a hurry; and if we slow down, we will wait. If we move forward after repairing the pontoon bridge, we will lose the advantage of the blitzkrieg. If someone instructs Wang Zongyan to block all the checkpoints along the way, the war will be dragged into a stalemate. In less than ten days and a half, I am afraid the situation will be reversed."
Li Yanshen thought so, and the two of them got on their horses, took the lead, and took the lead in crossing the Mianjiang River. Only more than a thousand people successfully landed, and more than a thousand people drowned in Mianjiang.
Up to 50% non-combat attrition, this is Kang Yanxiao's courage. With just over a thousand cavalry, Kang Yanxiao successfully occupied the strategically important Lutou Pass.
On November 18, Kang Yanxiao captured Hanzhou and then stopped to rest. Three days later, the main force arrived to join forces.
Wang Zongbi named Li Yan in the letter and requested that Li Yan come to accept the surrender.
Li Yan was also very happy, thinking that this was a pie falling from the sky. The enemy took the initiative to give him the first victory in "recovering Chengdu". Someone warned him not to act rashly, saying that he was the instigator of this war. The ruling class of former Shu hated him deeply. If he went there this time, he would inevitably fall into a trap!
Li Yan took the courage to go to the meeting alone and happily went to Chengdu.
Wang Zongyan guided Li Yanjin to meet the eldest concubine Xu, and put the lives of the whole family into Li Yan's hands, asking for protection. Li Yan happily agreed, and on behalf of the later Tang court, he guaranteed that they would commit no crime in Qiu.
Li Yan read out the edict of Emperor Li Cunxu of the Later Tang Dynasty:
"The land of Shu was originally an inalienable part of our territory. However, due to wars and impassable roads in recent decades, especially the puppet Liang usurping the Tang Dynasty, the current separatist situation was created. Although you also arrogated the throne, you had no choice but to do so. The expedient measures cannot be regarded as secession;
Moreover, Comrade Wang Jian, the former lord of Shu, was also a great contributor to this dynasty. He always had a loyal heart. Since the rebellion, he has been thinking about supporting the Tang Dynasty and being loyal to Li Tang every moment;
Now that Master Wang is here, the motherland has been reunified. If you surrender sincerely, then I guarantee that you will commit no crime, and will never disturb or deceive anyone. "
Obviously, the smell of gunpowder has faded a lot. Wang Jian is no longer the "bastard of thieves" who split the motherland, but an old minister of the dynasty who has always cherished loyalty. As for splitting the country and other infamy, Huang Chao and Zhu Wen will be blamed. Zhu Wen, in particular, was the source of all evil and should bear full responsibility for establishing the Houliang Dynasty.
The total number of troops invested in the Later Tang Dynasty's expedition to Shu was only 60,000, and there was insufficient food and pay, so preparations were very hasty. Now that the army is going deep alone, there is no follow-up support at all, let alone a logistical supply line (that's why Guo Chongtao issued a desperate warning when entering Dashan Pass). Even these 60,000 people had to be scattered across the vast Shu land. By the time they entered Chengdu, Later Tang's military strength would be very empty.
Take Kang Yanxiao's vanguard force as an example. When he entered Shu, the vanguard force under his command was 13,000 people. When he forcibly crossed the Mianjiang River, there were only two or three thousand people left. After successfully landing, only 1,000 people were left. There are more than a thousand people left.
There are still more than 100,000 troops in the former Shu that have not surrendered, so even after entering Chengdu, Li Jiji and Guo Chongtao did not have enough confidence. Facing the newly surrendered former Shu, they could only comfort them with words and try not to provoke them to resist. will.
Wang Zongbi's men still maintained their fighting posture. Li Yan ordered him to disarm all troops in Chengdu.
On November 20, Li Jiqi arrived in Mianzhou. Wang Zongyan ordered Hanlin scholar Li Hao to draft a letter of surrender. He also ordered Prime Minister Wang Kai to draft a letter of surrender and delivered it to Li Cunxu and Li Jiqi respectively. He sent Ouyang Bin to greet Li Jiqi. Entered Chengdu with Guo Chongtao.
In the surrender, Wang Zongyan began by calling himself "Chen", praising Comrade Li Cunxu's great glory and correctness throughout the article, making a profound reflection on his serious sins, expressing repentance, and praying for the generosity and mercy of the later Tang Dynasty. Renguo did not write the year number at the end of the chapter, but only wrote "Yiyou year".
In the letter he wrote to Li Jiji, Wang Zongyan's wording was even more humble. He started by saying, "Brother, I knelt down and kowtowed to you. I was wrong..."
In the letter, Wang Zongyan said that he had wanted to return to the Tang Dynasty for a long time. He was currently discussing the matter of unification. I didn't expect that we would go together. If you bothered to send a large army, of course I would quickly give up resistance and welcome the army...
Anyway, it is just a statement, and everyone knows it is fake, but after all, we are all kings of a country, so we should still be more sanctimonious.
