【Or leap into the abyss】
The mysterious murder of Xu Zhixun is inextricably linked to Xu Zhigao. When he learned of Xu Zhixun's death, Xu Wen's first suspect was Xu Zhigao.
Reluctantly, Xu Zhigao took the first step to control Yangzhou under the guidance of counselor Song Qiqiu. Xu Wen did not forcibly take away Xu Zhigao's control. He could only go along with the flow and recognized Xu Zhigao's control of Yangzhou.
This is also a very strange political pattern. In Huainan, there are two "centers", one is Yangzhou, where Xu Zhigao worships Yang Pu and holds the emperor in power to order the princes; the other is Shengzhou, where Xu Wen's power and Huainan's navy are.
After Xu Zhixun's death, Xu Wen's aides Yan Keqiu, Xu Jie, Chen Yanqian and others continued to persuade Xu Wen to hand over military and political power to his son Xu Zhixun. Xu Zhixun also proposed to replace Xu Zhigao many times. Xu Wen refused and said to Xu Zhixun, "He is much more capable than you. Don't you have any ideas in mind?"
In the third year of Tongguang (925), Chen Yanqian became seriously ill. Xu Gao knew his attitude towards the Chu issue, so he seized the last opportunity and tried his best to win over Chen Yanqian.
Xu Zhigao hired the most famous doctor for Chen Yanqian, and there was an endless stream of envoys delivering medicine and gold, silver, silk and satin every day. They were on the same road, hoping to influence Chen Yanqian and let him say a few kind words for him.
However, Chen Yanqian still secretly left a suicide note. Even when a person is about to die, his words are good. At the last moment of his life, Chen Yanqian still persuaded Xu Wen to make his own son Xu Zhixun his heir.
Faced with the constant advice from his staff, Xu Wen also wavered and asked his wife what she meant. Xu Wen's wife, Li, had the same surname as Xu Zhigao, so she took great care of him. She had kept him by her side since he was five or six years old, and treated him as her own. She had a deep emotional foundation, and because Xu Zhigao was particularly filial and obedient, she became even more fond of him. Love it.
Li said to Xu Wen: "This child was adopted when our family was poor. He has been suffering with us all the time. Now that you are rich, you are going to abandon him?"
Xu Wen felt ashamed. After a man becomes successful, he cannot abandon his wretched wife, let alone his poor and lowly son.
Yan Keqiu also persuaded Xu Wen several times to make his own son his heir. Xu Zhigao treated Yan Keqiu with "war first and courtesy later", and conspired to let Yan Keqiu out. Unexpectedly, Yan Keqiu was also a master of power play, and he could easily resolve the issue with persuasion. After realizing Yan Keqiu's power, Xu Zhigao immediately changed his mind and formed a political alliance with Yan Keqiu.
Finally, Xu Jie finally persuaded Xu Wen and Xu Wen decided to replace Xu Zhigao with Xu Zhixun in Yangzhou.
Therefore, Xu Wen planned to summon all the generals to go to Yangzhou to meet Yang Pu. The name was to persuade Yang Pu to ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor, but in reality, he was depriving Xu Zhigao of his power and replacing him with Xu Zhixun.
This plan is perfect. If Xu Wen rashly mobilizes an army to march into Yangzhou, it will be unjust and unsatisfactory. Firstly, it will easily bear the reputation of "forcing the palace to rebel", and secondly, it will leave Xu Zhigao with the reputation of being "forced to rebel"; but if he does not mobilize A large army cannot deter Xu Zhigao. If Xu Zhigao refuses to accept his request and takes the initiative to rebel, Xu Wen will lose everything.
In the name of persuading people to advance, Xu Wen could openly mobilize the army within the territory, assembling all the veterans and field army commanders. These people were all Xu Wen's subordinates. Once he entered Yangzhou, Xu Zhigao had no more curses and could only accept his fate.
However, just when Xu Wen was about to leave, he suddenly fell ill and could not go in person, so he asked Xu Zhixun to carry the memorial and go to Yangzhou to submit it. According to the latest plan, Xu Zhixun will be plenipotentiary on behalf of Xu Wen. After submitting the memorial, he will replace Xu Zhigao and stay in Yangzhou to control the government.
When the news came, Xu Zhigao was frightened. The opera singers should not hide from the gong players. When it comes to power, the Xu family and his son are equals. Of course Xu Zhigao knew the sharpness and viciousness of Xu Wen's move. "What should we do?" Then we have no choice but to retreat in order to advance.
Xu Zhigao drafted a memorial overnight, to the effect that he voluntarily gave up the power of the regent of the prison country, requested to be released to other places, and requested to retire in Hongzhou. After drafting the memorial, he polished it repeatedly with his staff Song Qiqiu and others, carefully considering every word and carefully considering every sentence. Then he breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to submit it to the court the next day, so that he could escape before Xu Zhixun arrived and escape. , waiting for the opportunity to make a comeback.
However, a dramatic scene happened that night. The latest news comes from Tanma in Shengzhou: Xu Wen died of illness!
Xu Zhigao almost jumped up with joy, "That's great! God help me!"
The death of Xu Wen completely took off Xu Zhigao's mask of "filial piety". The filial son Xu Zhigao and his aide Song Qiqiu celebrated each other, which was not too happy.
Xu Zhixun, who was halfway through the journey, also hurriedly returned to Shengzhou to stabilize the Shengzhou revolutionary base camp and deal with the issue of power transfer.
The "fight for Yangzhou's direct descendants" was stillborn. With Xu Wen's death, Huainan no longer had the power to stop Xu Zhigao's pace of "building a family and a country."
When the opponent in this power game was changed from Xu Wen to Xu Zhixun, Xu Zhigao was already sure of victory.
The next day, Xu Zhigao came to the court early, and Yang Pu mourned the unfortunate death of Comrade Xu Wen, an important minister of the country. Xu Wen was posthumously named King of Qi and given the posthumous title Zhongwu.
Immediately afterwards, Xu Zhigao forced Yang Pu to proclaim himself emperor, and Southern Wu was officially called an empire from a kingdom. Xu Zhixun and others don't want to come to Yangzhou in the name of "persuading people to enter". Stop trying to persuade them, they have already entered.
The Southern Wu Dynasty changed the Yuan Dynasty amnesty, changing the "seventh year of Shunyi" to the "first year of Qianzhen", which recognized Xu Zhixun's succession to Xu Wen's power, but the central government was still controlled by Xu Zhigao.
An Zhongjie, a powerful official in the later Tang Dynasty, was furious at Yang Pu's brazen proclaiming of emperor and asked Li Siyuan to conquer the Huaihe River, but Li Siyuan rejected it.
At that time, the war of "three armies conquering Jingnan" had just ended. Li Siyuan's elite forces in the Later Tang Dynasty were strong on the outside and strong on the inside. They couldn't even conquer the tiny Jingnan. How could they shake the huge Huainan?
And just a month ago, Li Siyuan had just put down Zhu Shouyin's rebellion in Bianzhou. Although the result was a victory for the central army, Zhu Shouyin's rebellion showed a problem, that is, the vassals and towns within the Later Tang Dynasty were not sincerely loyal to Li Siyuan. Li Siyuan just wanted to go to Bianzhou to have a meal, but the Jiedu envoy of Bianzhou rebelled. If he starts a war with the powerful Huainan, who knows what changes will happen?
Li Siyuan really didn't have any confidence that he could take advantage of the Huaihe War. Let's take a look at what happened to Li Cunxu who conquered Shu.
What's more, Huainan has been an enemy of the Central Plains for a long time. Whether it is called Huainan Jiedu, the Kingdom of Wu, or the Empire of Wu, the balance of power and the subtle relationship between the two countries have never changed.
Therefore, there is no need for Li Siyuan to take such huge risks in order to gain quick words.
However, An Chongjie did not give up. Three months later, in February of the third year of Tiancheng (928), the Southern Wu envoy went to the Later Tang Dynasty to wish the Later Tang Dynasty a happy New Year and congratulate him for killing the traitor general Zhu Shouyin.
An Chongjiao refused to accept the envoys and sent them back to his country because of his association with Jingnan in the front and his arrogance of proclaiming himself emperor in the rear.
To acquiesce in the political status of Huainan's powerful factions and to benefit from it was a tacit understanding between Li Siyuan and Huainan's senior officials. However, An Chongjie, the "vanguard of reducing the vassal state", was a little paranoid. He extremely hated the "Huaiyi" and wanted to break off diplomatic relations with them even if he could not go to war with them.
Ironically, An Chongjie, who had always hated Huainan, eventually died because of his desire to be on good terms with Huainan.
