It was too difficult for Xu and Wen. It was necessary to maintain Huainan's sovereignty and independence while also creating a relatively peaceful and stable external environment. This was a self-contradictory proposition.
Huainan's "external environment" mainly consists of two parts: Qian Liu and the Central Plains Dynasty. Among them, the relationship positioning with the Central Plains dynasty directly determines its sovereignty and independence.
Let’s first talk about the relationship management between Huainan Group and Qianyi Group:
The love and murder between the Jianghuai heroes was also inseparable from the malicious instigation of the Central Plains Dynasty. The Central Plains Dynasty often laid mines and tied up the Jianghuai heroes, allowing the two sides to continue fighting and consuming each other, laying the groundwork for the Central Plains Dynasty to encroach on the Jianghuai region. The basics of geopolitics:
When Zhu Wen first proclaimed himself emperor, he named Qian Liu the King of Wuyue and the Military Envoy of Huainan. Later, Zhu Youzhen, Li Cunxu, and Li Siyuan respectively canonized Qian Liu as the King of Wuyue.
In fact, the area controlled by Qian Liu was the ancient Yue Kingdom, today's Zhejiang area, while the ancient Wu Kingdom was firmly controlled by the Huainan Group. Therefore, Zhu Wen committed a crime and deliberately named Qian Liu the "King of Wu and Yue" instead of the "King of Yue". He also specifically emphasized that he was the "Jiedu Envoy of Huainan". The meaning was very clear, "Let him take it for himself" and sincerely provoked Qian The relationship between Li and the Yang family in Huainan.
Before his defeat in the third year of Tongguang (925), Li Cunxu canonized Qian Liu as the "King of Wuyue" with unprecedented etiquette such as gold seals, jade books, and red robes. Qian Liu was so proud that he sent an envoy to Huainan to show off.
Qian Liu's "Versailles" led to a very serious consequence: the two countries broke off diplomatic relations.
The Huainan side refused to accept the credentials, deported the envoys, announced the severance of diplomatic relations with them, and ordered the border defense, customs and other departments to sever the country's name. , strictly guard against death, no longer accept money and letters, and prohibit business travel.
Four months later, Qian Liu suddenly fell seriously ill and was unable to handle daily work, so he ordered his son Qian Yuanguan to oversee the regency. Xu Wen took the initiative to send an envoy to visit Qian Liu to express his deep concern and condolences. If anything unexpected happened, he would also like to express condolences to his family.
All the ministers on the left and right believed that this was just Xu Wen's "bed diplomacy", taking condolences on his illness as an opportunity to break the deadlock between the two countries and restore the old relationship. So he advised Qian Liu to rest in peace and recuperate, and let high-level officials be responsible for receiving the Southern Wu envoys.
Qian Liu shook his head and smiled bitterly, saying that you don't understand this Xu Wen. His name is caring, but in fact he is just testing the reality of our country in order to take advantage of the funeral to send troops.
Therefore, Qian Liu forced himself to keep up his spirits, and at the age of 75, dragging his sick body, he chatted and laughed with the Wu envoy, not looking like a sick person at all.
The envoy from the State of Wu reported back to Xu Wen: Qian Liu is physically strong, energetic, energetic, healthy, and eats delicious...
Qian Liu's guess was correct. Xu Wen had secretly assembled a large army at the border between the two countries, and wanted to take advantage of Qian Liu's "death of illness" to take advantage of the funeral to send troops. After hearing the envoy's report, the operation was immediately cancelled. Relations between the two countries have also gradually eased.
In short, the relationship between the Huainan Group and the Qianliu Group is still the same, like a loving couple, occasionally quarreling, occasionally making out, and occasionally the mistress getting involved.
The following is the political game between the Huainan Group and the Central Plains Dynasty:
The sovereignty and independence of Huainan means that it will be incompatible with the orthodox dynasty of the Central Plains, bear the infamy of splitting China, and oppose all the forces that surrender to the Central Plains dynasty. This also means that Huainan will be attacked by enemies everywhere; and if the Central Plains dynasty is recognized Orthodoxy and uniqueness, then Huainan's political status will be downgraded to an ordinary vassal town, and theoretically it will have to obey the orders of the Central Plains Dynasty, thus losing its sovereignty.
Xu Wen crossed the river by feeling the stones, and finally found a path of independence with Huainan characteristics, that is, while adhering to the bottom line of independence, he had unlimited ambiguity with the Central Plains dynasty. Just like a man who has an affair, he can spend time with you, talk to you about his feelings, and have a romantic relationship with you... but he will never register to get a certificate.
Therefore, in the early Late Tang Dynasty, the Huainan regime carefully walked a tightrope on major political issues of right and wrong.
When Li Cunxu took over the Central Plains, the Huainan side argued hard and straightened their backs, forcing the Later Tang Dynasty to recognize the political equality of the Huainan regime and treat each other with "enemy courtesy". As mentioned before, "enemy" here means "to rival", not "enemy".
Later, he paid tribute to the later Tang Dynasty like crazy and told Li Cunxu what it means to say no with your mouth but be honest with your body.
Li Cunxu, who is crazy about poverty, is also happy with what he gets. As long as you obediently give money and are convinced, you can still take advantage of him.
This was Yan Keqiu's idea for Xu Wen. He bribed Li Cunxu's authorities with heavy sums of money and used sugar-coated bullets to defuse their impulse to conquer Huaihe. Soon, Li Cunxu encountered the "Change of Promoting the Jiaomen". Xu Wen looked at Yan Keqiu with admiration and said excitedly: "You were right!"
After Li Siyuan ascended the throne, the Huainan Group under the control of Xu Wen did not change this diplomatic strategy and frequently paid tribute to the Central Plains. Although they were irreconcilable political enemies, the frequency and amount of Huainan's tribute to the Central Plains far exceeded those loyal to the Central Plains of the Later Tang Dynasty. Local vassal towns (such as Mayin in Tanzhou, Gao Jichang in Jingnan, etc.).
The most typical example is that in March of the second year of Tiancheng (927), because Jingnan Gao Jichang went too far, he extorted the land of the five states of the Later Tang Dynasty, expelled the court officials by force, and robbed the emperor...Li Siyuan could not bear it anymore and ordered Liu Xun and Dongfang Ye united with Ma Yin in Tanzhou and divided his troops into three groups to attack Gao Jichang in southern Jingnan. Gao Jichang asked Huainan for help, and Huainan sent naval troops to support him.
In other words, Huainan helped Gao Jichang fight against the central court of the Later Tang Dynasty, and the two camps and the four forces launched a fierce melee in the Jingnan area.
In April, the fighting entered a fierce stage, with many casualties. However, Huainan sent envoys to Later Tang Dynasty carrying heavy gifts (platinum Luoqi) to deliver Dragon Boat Festival gifts.
In fact, this war can be seen as Huainan's blatant interference in other countries' internal affairs. Because Gao Jichang of Jingnan and Ma Yin of Tanzhou both declared themselves vassals to the Later Tang Dynasty, the Central Committee of the Later Tang Dynasty and Tanzhou jointly attacked Jingnan. This was entirely an internal affair of the Later Tang Dynasty, and it was an internal conflict among the people to clean up the family. However, Huainan, as a "foreign force", blatantly sent troops to intervene. , helping a local feudal town resist the central government with force.
The nature is very bad, the circumstances are particularly serious, and the impact is extremely bad!
"But this still does not affect our Huainan tribute to the Later Tang Dynasty. I love you, okay." - Xu Wen
In May, Li Siyuan announced the withdrawal of his troops and the war ended. Gao Jichang sent an envoy to visit Huainan with gifts and expressed his willingness to surrender to Huainan and break away from the Later Tang Dynasty. Rejected by Xu Wen.
Xu Wen's public reason was that Jingnan was close to Luoyang and far from Huainan, and this "gao laizi" was a problem child who made trouble everywhere, and Huainan did not want to be dragged into the water by him.
In fact, the real logic is to maintain this subtle relationship with the Later Tang Dynasty. Once he accepted Jingnan's surrender, it was equivalent to breaking the bottom line of Later Tang Dynasty and forcing Later Tang Dynasty to use force against Huainan. Therefore, Xu Wen’s public statement regarding the Jingnan region can only be:
"Maintain the status quo, put aside disputes and develop together."
This was the tacit understanding between Huainan and the Central Committee of the Later Tang Dynasty.
In September, Huainan sent another generous birthday gift to Li Siyuan: one hundred taels of gold vessels, one thousand taels of gold flowers and silver vessels, and one thousand pieces of variegated silk and brocade.
Corrected a small mistake again. An entry for "Li Siyuan" in a certain website stated that Li Siyuan's birthday was October 10th. In fact, he was born on September 9th, the Double Ninth Festival.
The "Old History of the Five Dynasties: The Benji of Mingzong" clearly states at the beginning: "On the 9th day of the ninth month of the year Xiantong Dinghai of the Tang Dynasty, Empress Yi gave birth to the emperor in Jincheng County, Yingzhou."
Therefore, Li Siyuan's birthday is the Double Ninth Festival in the eighth year of Xiantong (Dinghai, 867), and he is born in the Year of the Pig.
In October, just after delivering his birthday gifts, Li Siyuan suddenly left Luoyang for Bianzhou. There were widespread rumors that the Later Tang Dynasty was about to conquer Huaihe. The sky over Huainan was covered with dark clouds. They mobilized urgently and were ready for the battle.
As a result, Zhu Shouyin of Bianzhou believed that Li Siyuan came against him, so at the instigation of his aide Sun Sheng, he launched an army to resist, but was promptly suppressed by the Later Tang Dynasty King's Division. Zhu Shouyin's entire family was killed, and Sun Sheng fled to Huainan, where he was taken in by Xu Zhigao as his aide.
Sun Sheng fled to Huainan alone, and his wife, children, and children were all executed. Like Zhu Jin, he had the highlight of his life only after arriving in Huainan, which will be introduced later.
This "Zheng Huai" Oolong hit Xu Wen so hard that he was so frightened that he died of illness this month.
