Wang Shenzhi is seven feet six inches tall, with a purple face and a square mouth. In short, he has the appearance of an emperor. He likes to ride white horses, so he is nicknamed "White Horse Saburo". He was very respectful to his brother Wang Chao. Whenever he made a mistake, Wang Chao would often hit him with a stick, but Wang Shenzhi never hid or blocked him, and he showed no resentment.
Since moving south from Guangzhou to pacify Fujian, Wang Shenzhi has made the most meritorious service and is also the most prestigious in the army. So Wang Chao gave up his father's death and his son's succession, and chose to have his elder brother and younger brother succeed him.
After Wang Chao died of illness, Wang Shenzhi gave up his position to his second brother Wang Shenzhi, but Wang Shenzhi refused. So Wang Shenzhi reported to the central government after claiming to be a powerful military force.
The Tang court immediately appointed Wang Shenzhi as the military governor of the mighty army. Fujian entered the era of Wang Shenzhi.
Wang Shenzhi made a series of efforts to stabilize the regime.
First of all, they carefully selected a cemetery for Wang Chao. Under Wang Shenzhi's operation, Wang Chao was buried in Panlong Mountain in the northern suburbs of Jinjiang County. In name, he borrowed the beautiful meaning of "Panlong Mountain", but in reality, he tried to weaken Wang Chao as much as possible. The influence of Chaozhou in Fuzhou.
In addition, Wang Shenzhi inherited Wang Chao's preferential treatment of Chen Yan's family, treated Chen Yan's heirs well, and emphasized the legitimacy of Wang's replacement of Chen's.
There is also the creation of public opinion. As mentioned in the previous article, the three Wang brothers and the Pioneer Officer worshiped the boss Jian Ding. This matter was obviously fabricated by later generations. The "sword leaping to the ground" is obviously against scientific common sense, and in this legend, it was Wang Shenzhi who worshiped the sword. However, Wang Shenzhi gave it to his eldest brother Wang Chao, which is even more contrary to common sense. Obviously, this was fabricated by Wang Shenzhi’s group, emphasizing that God’s original intention was for Wang Shenzhi to be a leader;
Another time, Wang Shenzhi bribed a monk in advance and invited him to meditate on the altar during the temple fair. The temple was crowded with people, and when there were the most tourists, the monk suddenly pointed at Wang Shenzhi in the crowd and said: "The third son of King Jinlun came to this world and took charge of the power of life and death in Fujian!" People believed it to be true.
Wang Shenzhi also made up a nursery rhyme, "When the tide comes, the rocks disappear; when the tide goes, the rocks come out." People interpret that "Chao" refers to Wang Chao, "Yan" refers to Chen Yan, and "Yaguchi" together means "knowledge", so the meaning of the nursery rhyme indicates that Wang Chao is coming, Chen Yan is leaving, and Wang Chao is Now that he's gone, it's Wang Shenzhi's turn. How far-fetched!
Wang Shenzhi arranged high official positions for the son of his eldest brother Wang Chao and the son of his second brother Wang Shenzhi, with high status and high salary, but neither of them had real power. In particular, Wang Chao's eldest son Wang Yanxing was appointed by Wang Shenzhi As his deputy envoy, he gave people the illusion that Wang Yanxing was Wang Shenzhi's successor, in order to appease Wang Chao's disciples.
Among them, Wang Shenwen's son Wang Yanbin was appointed as the governor of Quanzhou to govern the most revolutionary area. Wang Yanbin governed Quanzhou for seventeen years. He had good governance and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment. It was a happy and peaceful state. However, one day, Wang Yanbin got a white deer and a purple Ganoderma lucidum. A monk from Haoyuan told him that these were signs of the emperor. From then on, Wang Yanbin thought that he could be the emperor and began to become corrupt. Not only did he neglect political affairs, he also did something that broke the bottom line: he sent people to secretly pay tribute to the Later Liang court and asked him to be appointed to manage Fujian.
Unexpectedly, the matter was revealed, and Wang Shenzhi killed the demon monk Haoyuan and dismissed Wang Yanbin from his post and placed him under house arrest.
The Wang Yanbin case is worth pondering. It can not only prove that the descendants of the Wang family, especially the sons of Wang Chao and Wang Shenzhi, do not necessarily fully recognize the rule of their third uncle Wang Shenzhi from the bottom of their hearts and have the urge to seize power; moreover, Wang Yanbin really wants to rebel ? Or did Wang Shenzhi direct and act on his own? After all, Wang Yanbin is the most talented person in the generation of "Yan".
While stabilizing the inside, Wang Shenzhi also sought a stable external environment, leaning against a big tree to enjoy the shade.
Wang Shenzhi assessed the situation and selected the strongest tree at that time - Zhu Wen of Bianzhou. So he actively moved closer to Zhu Wen. Under Zhu Wen's advice, Lei moved to Tong Zhongshu's family and was granted the title of King Langya.
After some operations, Wang Shenzhi basically controlled the situation in Fujian.
After Zhu Wen usurped the Tang Dynasty and established the Liang Dynasty, Wang Shenzhi was also one of the first vassal towns to express his recognition and actively paid tribute to Zhu Wen's Later Liang vassal.
At that time, due to the obstruction of Yang Xingmi in Huainan, land transportation between Fujian and the Central Plains was cut off. Wang Shenzhi took a detour to the Shandong Peninsula by sea, landed in Yantai City, Shandong Province today, and then went to Bianzhou to pay tribute. At that time, the sea route was extremely dangerous, and accidents involving ships capsizing and killing people occurred frequently. The mortality rate of tribute envoys was as high as about 40%! However, Wang Shenzhi still insisted on paying tribute every year to express his sincere loyalty.
Zhu Wen was very moved. He first made Wang Shenzhi a concurrent minister, and then added Zhongshu Ling, the governor of Fuzhou, Shi, and the title of King of Fujian.
In the third year of Kaiping in the Later Liang Dynasty (909), Huainan annexed the entire territory of Jiangxi, and its sphere of influence bordered Fujian. Therefore, Zhang Zhiyuan was sent as envoy to Fujian to seek good neighborliness and friendship.
However, Zhang Zhiyuan took advantage of the remaining power of Huainan's annexation of Jiangxi, and his attitude was arrogant, and his words were full of disdain and intimidation towards Wang Shenzhi. Wang Shenzhi was furious and immediately killed Zhang Zhiyuan and forwarded Huainan's letter to Zhu Wen. He killed the Huainan envoy and severed ties with Huainan and gave Zhu Wen a large letter of surrender.
Subsequently, Wang Shenzhi actively enhanced his relationship with Hangzhou Qian Liu. In the second year of Zhengming (916), he married his daughter to Qian Yuanjue, Qian Liu's son. The following year, he asked his second son Wang Yanjun to marry the daughter of Liu Yan of the Southern Han Dynasty.
In this way, Wang Shenzhi won a relatively stable external environment for Fujian. Although he was at odds with Huainan, there was no large-scale conflict between the two sides throughout his rule.
On the contrary, by clearly drawing a clear line with Huainan, it gained the support and support of all the surrounding forces that were enemies of Huainan.
After Li Cunxu overthrew the Later Liang Dynasty, Wang Shenzhi immediately declared himself a vassal of the Later Tang Dynasty and paid tribute, and took the initiative to rename Yongchang County within the territory of the Later Liang Dynasty to Futang County to avoid the abbreviation of the Later Tang Dynasty (Chang).
In the later Tang Dynasty, Wang Shenzhi was appointed as the imperial magistrate of the Imperial Academy and was appointed as the Shou Zhongshu Ling.
In the third year of Tongguang (925), Wang Shenzhi was seriously ill and handed over the military and political power to his eldest son Wang Yanhan. In December, Wang Shenzhi died of illness, and his eldest son Wang Yanhan claimed that he was staying in the Weiwu Army.
Wang Shenzhi's historical presence is very low, so low that from the Huangchao Uprising to the establishment of Li Siyuan, which lasted more than thirty years, there were only a few thousand words mentioned in series. The most detailed record of his life is none other than "The Spring and Autumn Period of the Ten Kingdoms·Fujian·Taizu Family". The record of 64 years of Wang Shenzhi's life is less than half of the length of Li Cunxu's last three years, and there are also a large number of inscriptions mixed in. If you simplify these watering posts, you will be embarrassed to find that the length of "Taizu Family" is comparable to that of some prime ministers and generals. It can be described as short and concise.
However, we must not ignore Wang Shenzhi's contribution to history. It is precisely because he pursued a policy of recuperation, devoted himself to development, and hardly fought with the outside world that he had no sense of existence. This was the misfortune of later generations of historians, but it was the greatest happiness of the Fujian people at that time!
