【A strong dragon has regrets】
Xu Wen, who was more like Cao Cao than Zhu Wen, suddenly passed away at the age of 66. His life was full of controversies, with opinions ranging from good to evil.
In his early years, Xu Wen had a promising job as a private salt dealer. This work gave birth to countless heroes in Chinese history, such as Cheng Yaojin and Huang Chao.
At first, Xu Wen just wanted to be a quiet and beautiful man, "selling salt and stealing" honestly. According to records, he is a low-key, restrained and connotative person, taciturn, and expressive of his emotions and anger. He is a deep-playing gangster who is ruthless and doesn't talk much. His eyes were extremely sharp, and he was nicknamed "Xu Yan" because of his murderous glare.
Like many private salt dealers, in that turbulent era, Xu Wen resolutely changed careers and engaged in the business of "group thieves", and uniquely embraced a strong thigh - Yang Xingmi.
At that time, Yang Xingmi had just taken the lead and was in the early stages of entrepreneurship. Xu Wen became one of the earliest entrepreneurial veterans of Yang Xingmi Group, and was listed among the "Thirty-six Heroes" together with Tian Kai, Liu Wei, Tao Ya, Li Jian, Li Yu, etc.
However, Xu Wen was so low-key that in the early days of the vigorous development of the Yang Xingmi Group, Xu Wen did not make any significant contributions. When the "Thirty-six Heroes" were ranked, Xu Wen was ranked last. This was also the reason why Liu Wei and other elders were dissatisfied when he later came to power.
Waiting until Yang Xingmi captured Xuanzhou (889), other generals entered the city and were busy robbing money, grain, and women. Only Xu Wen led his troops to control the granary, cook porridge, and feed the hungry people in the city. Only then did Yang Xingmi begin to notice Xu Wen's existence.
Historians generally believe that around 902 AD, Xu Wen officially entered the periphery of the decision-making layer, "started to plan things a little bit," "began to plan ahead," and began to participate in some decisions as a military advisor and think tank.
As for its landmark event, some people say that it was because during the "Siege of Fengxiang", Yang Xingmi was ordered to attack Zhu and Wen in the north. All the generals advocated using large ships to transport grain and grass, but Xu Wen was the only one who advocated using small boats. Facts have proved that Xu Wen was right. , the incident occurred in AD 902;
Other historical data believe that Yang Xingmi adopted Xu Wen's strategy and pretended to be blind, and successfully deceived Zhu Yanshou into killing him. The incident occurred in 903. However, Yang Xingmi pretended to be blind for more than three years, that is, around 900, he adopted Xu Wen's strategy and ended in 903. It is also worth mentioning that the strategy of pretending to be blind was also proposed by Yan Keqiu for Xu Wen.
In any case, after Yang Xingmi successfully eliminated Zhu Yanshou, Xu Wen entered the periphery of the decision-making circle.
The time when Xu Wen really entered the core decision-making circle was when Yang Xingmi was seriously ill and discussing the issue of establishing a reserve.
At that time, there was a strong call within the group for Yang Xingmi to pass the throne to a meritorious veteran, such as Liu Wei, and for the entrepreneurial veterans to supervise the regency of the country. Xu Wen firmly advocated passing the throne to Yang Xingmi's son, so he gained Yang Xingmi's trust and became one of the important ministers.
With Xu Wen's strong support, Yang Xingmi's eldest son Yang Wo successfully succeeded to the throne (905).
Less than two years later (907), Xu Wen and Zhang Hao killed Yang Wo and supported Yang Xingmi's second son Yang Wei. From then on, the Yang family's power fell, and the military and political power was controlled by Xu Wen and Zhang Hao; soon (908) Years), Xu Wen sent Zhong Taizhang to assassinate Zhang Hao, and from then on he monopolized the military and political power in Huainan, further alienating the Yang family.
In the following more than ten years, Xu Wen further weakened the Yang family and consolidated his own power.
In order to enhance his own power, Xu Wen constantly instigated Yang Wei to establish a country and proclaim himself emperor. Yang Wei refused to proclaim himself emperor and only allowed the founding of the country to change the Yuan Dynasty, so he established the State of Wu in 919. In the second year (920), Yang Wei died of illness, and Xu Wen supported Yang Xingmi's fourth son, Yang Pu.
In 927, Xu Wen forced Yang Pu to proclaim himself emperor, but he suddenly died of illness before Yang Pu could proclaim himself emperor.
The predecessors planted trees, and the descendants enjoy the shade. Ten days after Xu Wen's death, his adopted son Xu Zhigao forced Yang Pu to ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor.
Xu Wen has all the characteristics of a hero in troubled times. He has two masks of gentleness, tolerance and ruthlessness at the same time.
Zhong Taizhang made great contributions in the assassination of Zhang Hao. However, Xu Wen was dazzled by the victory and only focused on robbing Zhang Hao of power, but neglected to reward Zhong Taizhang. At that time, Zhong Taizhang said nothing and silently accepted all the sadness. After a period of time, one day, Zhong Taizhang got drunk and vomited his bitterness to the left and right under the influence of alcohol, saying that he helped Xu Wen kill Zhang Hao and made a great contribution. Unexpectedly, Xu Wen was just trying to hide the bird and destroy the bridge. Disciple!
People around Xu Wen immediately advised Xu Wen to kill him quickly because he knew too much to prevent him from "talking nonsense". But Xu Wen felt very guilty, saying that it was all my fault that he had forgotten his kindness. How could he kill him again? So he was immediately given generous rewards and gradually promoted to deputy provincial cadre (Shouzhou regiment training envoy). Later, Xu Zhigao wanted to get rid of Zhong Taizhang through "anti-corruption". Xu Wen personally came forward to protect him and warned Xu Zhigao to never forget Zhong Taizhang's great kindness in helping him kill Zhang Hao.
In 913, Xu Wen sent Li Tao to attack Hangzhou. During the battle, deputy general Cao Jun defected and surrendered to Hangzhou. Huainan was defeated and Li Tao was captured. Xu Wen pardoned Cao Yun's wife, children, and children, and treated him favorably. He sent spies to secretly bring messages to Cao Yun, and apologized to Cao Yun, saying that it was my fault that I did not follow your advice and did not provide you with military supplies in time. This led to your failure. I ran away in anger, I'm sorry, I was wrong.
Cao Yun was so moved that during the "Langshan-Wuxi Battle" of the same year, Cao Yun once again defected before the battle, returned to the embrace of Huainan, and defeated the Hangzhou soldiers, thereby exonerating his merits.
Also returning with Cao Yun was Chen Shao.
When Wang Maozhang conquered the Huaihe River, Xu Wen was in a dilemma. Thanks to the wise and brave Chen Shao, Xu Wen turned defeat into victory. However, Chen Shao later defected to Hangzhou. Xu Wen once offered a reward of one million yuan to capture Chen Shao. In the "Battle of Langshan-Wuxi", the rebel general Chen Shao was captured alive by Huainan. Xu Wen not only did not kill him, but continued to let him lead the army.
This is the tolerant and kind side of Xu Wen. The experience of Li Yu, the founder of the Huainan Group and one of the top five "Thirty-Six Heroes", shows us Xu Wen's ruthless side. Li Yu was declared a successor just because he expressed dissatisfaction with Xu Wen's latecomer supremacy. The "traitors" were executed even though they surrendered.
Another example is a political refugee who lived in Huainan - Zhao Kuangning, the former military governor of Xiangzhou. Zhu Wen sent general Yang Shihou to take command to attack Jingxiang. Zhao Kuangning was defeated and fled to Huainan, where he was treated politely by Yang Xingmi. But when Yang Wo came to the throne, he was not very friendly towards this political veteran and former warlord.
One time, at a banquet, Yang Wo was eating green plums with gusto. After Zhao Kuangning saw it, he said with care in the tone of an elder: "Eat less of this stuff. Children who eat too much will easily get angry. (Don't eat too much, as it will cause infantile fever.) )" All the generals in Huainan were aggrieved, thinking that Zhao Kuangning had failed to show courtesy to the emperor and his ministers.
Therefore, Zhao Kuangning was moved to Hailing and then killed by Xu Wen's men.
Xu Wen was pragmatic. When his mother passed away, in order to please him, his subordinates dressed the paper figures in luxurious clothes made of fine silk during the burnt sacrifice, but Xu Wen stopped him. Xu Wen said that this is the wealth of the people, and it would be a waste to burn it in vain. For funerals, as long as you are sincere, you can't be extravagant, wasteful, or show off. So he ordered these clothes to be taken off and distributed to the poor people.
