【Tiger Enters Sichuan 2】
Meng Zhixiang was so shocked that he quickly appealed to Guo Chongtao and proposed a compromise: I would go to Xichuan to investigate on the spot. If he really rebelled, I would kill him; if it was a misunderstanding, I would capture him and send him to Luoyang, His Majesty will interrogate him personally.
Li Cunxu agreed.
Meng Zhixiang set out, but not long after he left, he was caught up by another group of imperial envoys, led by the eunuch Ma Yangui. Their mission was to go to Xichuan to kill Guo Chongtao.
Meng Zhixiang shouted that something was wrong, and hurriedly ordered to gallop down the road, and he must get to Xichuan ahead of Ma Yangui.
He was still a step too slow. After he arrived in Chengdu, Guo Chongtao had been killed.
That day, Meng Zhixiang came to the Chengdu government office, and there was no trace of joy on his face as a new official took office. On the contrary, he always had a gloomy face, said nothing, and could not hide the sadness and hesitation in his eyes.
He is sad and sad. Not just for his old friend Guo Chongtao, he was confused and scared for his own future. He doesn't want to be the second Guo Chongtao.
Xichuan's current situation does not allow him to be sad, let alone hesitant. After Meng Zhixiang took office, he immediately devoted himself to intense work to appease the people and quickly restore post-war order.
What followed was Kang Yanxiao's rebellion. Meng Zhixiang sent general Li Renhan to join forces with Ren Wan and Dong Zhang to put down the rebellion and capture Kang Yanxiao alive.
The biggest beneficiary of quelling Kang Yanxiao's rebellion was Meng Zhixiang. For example, he recruited thousands of Kang Yanxiao's tribesmen, including generals Li Zhao and Hou Hongshi, who made great contributions to his future founding of the country.
In addition to directly taking over Kang Yanxiao's troops, Kang Yanxiao's rebellion also ignited a prairie fire in the Liangchuan area. In this epic battle to destroy the country, the "semi-non-resistance policy" of Generalissimo Wang Zongbi and the light-speed surrender of Shu lord Wang Zongyan made the hostility between the two Sichuan areas more serious, and the mass base of the Later Tang Dynasty was quite weak.
Even if the entire Later Tang Expeditionary Force stayed in Shu, they would still have to spend a lot of time and energy to gradually stabilize the local order. Often, it is more difficult to digest an area than to capture it, such as today's Afghanistan. However, due to the pressure of the domestic situation (Li Siyuan's Weizhou Mutiny), the garrison, which was already beyond its capabilities, had to hurriedly reorganize its troops, which provided an opportunity for the local "anti-Tang" armed forces.
The Crown Prince Li Jiji was in a dilemma. If he obeyed the imperial edict, his efforts in conquering Shu would most likely be in vain. Without the military deterrence of the king's army, Shu would have the possibility of restoration; if he refused the imperial edict, he would be separatist. Evidence of rebellion in Shu. So he repeatedly went to Shu to explain the current situation of Shu to his father Li Cunxu, and asked for an extension of the date of his return to the army. It would be best to complete the digestion and absorption of Shu before returning to the court.
And Li Cunxu has long become an ant in the hot pot. Li Siyuan's Weizhou mutiny is in full swing, and Luoyang is in danger. How can he care about Shu? Come back to me quickly!
Under Li Cunxu's urgent urging, Li Jiji had no choice but to follow the imperial edict to teach the army.
In order to stabilize the situation in both Sichuan and Sichuan, Li Cunxu acquiesced to Meng Zhixiang's army expansion, and at the same time exterminated the Shu lord Wang Zongyan to eliminate the hope of the Shu people.
Soon, Li Cunxu encountered the "Xingjiaomen Mutiny" and his country was destroyed. Li Jiji was also forced to commit suicide by the Weishui River.
This is great news for Meng Zhixiang! There is no need to be secretive about military expansion and other actions. The gap between the old and new emperors is the best time to expand their strength, not to mention that they have legitimate reasons: to suppress bandits and maintain order in Xichuan.
When the former Shu surrendered, Guo Chongtao received nearly 30,000 Shu soldiers in Chengdu, and organized 3,000 cavalry into six cavalry battalions including "Left and Right Xiaowei"; 24,000 infantry were organized into "Left and Right Ningyuan" Wait for twenty infantry battalions. These adapted Shu surrender troops were fully taken over by Meng Zhixiang.
These troops of about 30,000 people were regarded as the tacit consent of Li Cunxu's government to Meng Zhixiang and were used to maintain order. However, the next series of operations were Meng Zhixiang's personal ambitions.
Li Jiji came and went in a hurry. He didn't even have time to carefully count the gains from the war, and he hurriedly started to teach. He didn't even have time to inspect the armory in Chengdu.
When Meng Zhixiang opened the armory, he was pleasantly surprised to find that there were 200,000 pieces of armor stored in it! He was very smart and did not choose to report it. Instead, he immediately recruited soldiers and horses privately, expanded his troops to 16,000 people, and organized them into 16 special battalions including the Yisheng Army and the Dingyuan Army, which served as his own guard troops and were stationed inside. city.
In August of the first year of Tiancheng (926), six additional battalions, including Zuo Chongshan and You Chongshan, with a total of 6,000 people, were stationed in the outer city; 20 additional battalions, including Yining Army, with a total of 16,000 people, were stationed in the territory. In prefectures and counties, logistical supplies are provided by the garrison nearby; four additional battalions, including the Left and Right Laocheng Army, with a total of 4,000 people, are stationed within the jurisdiction of Chengdu Prefecture.
In September, Meng Zhixiang added six more naval battalions, including Zuo Fei and You Fei Chu, with a total of 6,000 people, in order to guard against the threat of Gao Jichang in Jingnan. They were stationed at important ferries on both sides of the Yangtze River to practice water warfare day and night.
In fact, at that time, the easternmost border of Xichuan's jurisdiction was more than a thousand miles away from the westernmost border of Gao Jichang's jurisdiction in Jingnan. If Jingnan went up the river to attack Xichuan, it would have to cross the Suizhou Wuxin Army and the Qianzhou Wutai Army. Two feudal towns. In other words, Meng Zhixiang's reasons are simply untenable. Obviously, this is Meng Zhixiang's excuse for armed separatism.
When Li Jiji left, he left Meng Zhixiang with about 30,000 Shu soldiers. After Li Siyuan proclaimed himself emperor, Meng Zhixiang more than doubled the number of troops to more than 70,000.
Private military expansion, especially private military expansion by frontier officials, was the biggest taboo. Meng Zhixiang, who had always acted cautiously, suddenly made such a move. It was definitely not an impulsive move, but rather the political wisdom gained from years of coldly watching.
Your loyalty and treachery are not important. If the emperor thinks you are loyal, then you are loyal. If the emperor suspects you of treachery, you will definitely die. Therefore, to be a minister is not to be a loyal minister, but to work hard to make the emperor think that you are a loyal minister.
The death of his old friend Guo Chongtao made Meng Zhixiang firmly believe that the emperor may think you are a traitor at any time. How can this be avoided? There is only the territory under your feet and the army in your hands.
According to historical records, when Meng Zhixiang entered Chengdu, he had already developed the ambition to separatist power. Li Cunxu's death gave him an opportunity.
In fact, the difficulty in expanding the army does not lie in the source of troops. There is a saying that "put up the recruiting flag and you will have the people to feed you." The biggest constraint on expanding the army is money and food. It’s easy to find tens of thousands of soldiers, but how to feed tens of thousands of mouths? How can tens of thousands of hands be satisfied with military pay?
If you have money and food, they will be your soldiers; if not, they will kill you.
Fortunately, Shu was rich, and Meng Zhixiang could feed tens of thousands of troops relatively easily.
However, the main purpose of Li Cunxu's attack on Shu was to plunder the wealth of Shu. After Li Siyuan was established, he also urgently needed to use the profits from Shu to fill the deficit of the old government and support the operation of the new government.
The change of the core power of the Central Committee of the Later Tang Dynasty turned Luoyang's demand into a bottomless pit, while Shu became the cash machine of the Central Committee of the Later Tang Dynasty, and the wealth of Shu was continuously shipped to Luoyang.
What flowed away from Xichuan was not money and food, but Meng Zhixiang’s life! Meng Zhixiang became anxious and went to the Shu court one after another, claiming that Shu was short of financial resources and asked for reductions or exemptions and to slow down the delivery of money and grain.
The landlord’s family has no surplus food!
