[If you don’t do one, you won’t stop]
Meng Zhixiang's rebellion was long-planned, planned and premeditated. From the moment he stepped into Chengdu, he started his plan to separatism and rule the roost. If there is a booster, it is Guo Chongtao's death.
For example, after entering Chengdu, he began to frantically expand his army, and deliberately withheld tribute from Xichuan to accumulate money and grain.
Of course, it can also be explained that he was forced by Nishikawa's stability maintenance work, such as the request to suppress rebellions in various places. But the next operation confirmed his attempt to separatist power.
Before Li Yan arrived in Xichuan, Li Shaowen, the military governor of Suizhou Wuxin Army, died of illness. Meng Zhixiang immediately sent General Li Jingzhou to lead his troops to take over, and claimed that he had received a secret edict from Li Cunxu, allowing him to act expediently.
Li Shaowen, whose original name was Zhang Congchu, was a general under Zhu Xuan of Yunzhou. Zhu Wen "looked east" and annexed the two Zhus of Yanyun, Zhang returned from Chu and surrendered to Zhu Wen; when "Zhuangzong entered Wei", he surrendered to Li Cunxu and was given the name "Li Shaowen". He conquered Youzhou Liu Shouguang from Zhou Dewei, was promoted through meritorious service, and was later subordinate to Li Siyuan. Under his account, he defeated "Wang Tiejian" Wang Yanzhang and was promoted to Deputy Envoy and Acting Envoy of Jiedu due to his merits; he followed Guo Chongtao to attack Shu and was awarded the title of Yangzhou Jieduliuhou and Kuizhou Jiedushi for his merits. After the old leader Li Siyuan became emperor, he believed that Li Shaowen was half of his direct lineage and a trustworthy comrade, so he moved to Suizhou to support Wu Xin's army.
The Wu Xin Army straddles the Yangtze River from north to south. Its jurisdiction is located in the southeast of Xichuan and Dongchuan. Its western border borders the southeastern border of the two Sichuan. It forms a tripartite confrontation with the two Sichuan and forms an angle with each other. It is a strategic town that restricts the two Sichuan. And it firmly controls the Yangtze River waterway, which is the waterway pass in and out of the two rivers.
The strategic position of Wu Xinjun is self-evident. That's why Li Siyuan placed Li Shaowen here.
Suizhou is the headquarters of the Wuxin Army. It is located at the northernmost point under the jurisdiction of the Wuxin Army, almost close to the border of Dongchuan. Puzhou under the jurisdiction of Dongchuan extends southward, separating Suizhou from Xichuan.
In other words, with the sudden death of Li Shaowen, the ownerless Wu Xinjun became the easy target for Dong Zhang of Dongchuan. If Meng Zhixiang of Xichuan wanted to get involved, there were only two ways: either go south first , after bypassing Puzhou, then turn north and make a "V" shaped long road to enter Suizhou; otherwise, they can only cross the jurisdiction of Dongchuan and "infringe" Dongchuan's sovereignty.
God bless Meng Zhixiang, but Li Yan came to Xichuan at this time.
Therefore, Meng Zhixiang used a trick of "hiding the truth from the sky" and sent a grand welcome team to enter the jurisdiction of Dongchuan in a very high-profile manner and went to Mianzhou and Jianzhou to welcome Li Yan.
Mian and Jianzhou are located to the north of Zizhou, the headquarters of Dongchuan, while Suizhou is to the south of Zizhou.
Dong Zhang of Dongchuan attracted all his attention to the north. On the one hand, he also wanted to send people to welcome Zhu Hongzhao, the deputy military envoy sent by the imperial court. On the other hand, he was wary of Meng Zhixiang's "false expedition to Guo" and wanted to welcome Li Yan. Take the opportunity to annex Dongchuan.
Just as Dong Zhang's attention in Dongchuan was drawn to the north, another small detachment led by General Li Jingzhou of Xichuan quickly and secretly separated from the large army and rushed south with lightning speed. Zhang sneaked into Suizhou under his nose and completed his takeover of Suizhou.
Suizhou is to Meng Zhixiang and Dong Zhang, just like Huazhou is to Zhu Wen and Zhu Xuan, they are all first come, first served, and there is no need to be slow.
Meng Zhixiang's decisiveness really stunned Dong Zhang. While Dong Zhang was still hesitating and considering whether to take action, Meng Zhixiang had already cooked the raw rice into cooked rice.
After taking Suizhou, Meng Zhixiang immediately petitioned Li Jingzhou to stay behind for Wu Xin's army in Suizhou.
Meng Zhixiang brazenly annexed Wu Xin's army and killed the supervisor Li Yan without permission. The two major crimes of rebellion started with the "Yi Tribe", and his defense testimony was so weak. The reason for annexing neighboring vassals was Zhuangzong's secret edict; the reason for killing the supervisors without permission was because the supervisors "conspired to rebel." However, the two parties and important witnesses, Li Cunxu and Li Yan, are both dead and have no evidence to prove.
This is not an explanation, but a prevarication; this is not a defense, but a quibble. Meng Zhixiang's contempt for the imperial court was already obvious.
Can Li Siyuan endure it?
You have to endure it even if you can’t. Because at this moment he was facing a more difficult matter. Gao Jichang, the famous "problem child" in Jingnan, made a bigger mistake. Li Siyuan issued an edict to conquer Jingnan and "three-pronged army encircled and suppressed Jingnan".
At this time, all forces that can be united must be united, especially the two Sichuan areas. If the two Sichuan areas respond to Gao Jichang, then the entire Later Tang Empire will be cut into two, and the entire Yangtze River Basin will fall into the hands of the enemy.
Therefore, no matter what, neither Sichuan nor Sichuan can collude with Jingnan Gao Jichang and the Huainan forces behind him.
As a result, Li Siyuan showed amazing generosity to Meng Zhixiang. Not only did he approve Meng Zhixiang's request, and officially appointed Li Jingzhou as the military commander of Suizhou Wuxin Army, he also sent envoy Li Renju to Chengdu to appease Meng Zhixiang and express his approval of his method of killing Li Yan. Li Yan deserves to die, well done!
Meng Zhixiang was a veteran in politics. He knew that the war in Jingnan was a golden opportunity for him, so he quickly sent people to Taiyuan to welcome his family.
Welcoming family members privately is also a taboo.
When Meng Zhixiang's family arrived in Fengxiang, they were detained by Fengxiang Jiedushi Li Jizuo. Li Jizuo heard about Meng Zhixiang's killing of the supervisor Li Yan, so he detained Meng Zhixiang's family and quickly reported to Luoyang.
Meng Zhixiang's guess was correct. Li Siyuan did not dare to offend him, and the court adopted appeasement and compromise without any bottom line. Li Siyuan ordered the release.
When Meng Zhixiang's wife, children, and children all arrived safely in Chengdu, Meng Zhixiang could not hide his joy and pride. He regarded his political blackmail as a masterpiece. From then on, he no longer had any worries.
A slap in the face will reward you with a sweet date. Meng Zhixiang tested Li Siyuan's bottom line again and again and challenged the majesty of the imperial court. Li Siyuan compromised again and again, and it was not polite to go back and forth. Meng Zhixiang then sent five Shu monks to donate an inch and six minutes long Buddha's tooth, which is said to be When Emperor Xizong entered Shu, he brought it from Chang'an to Chengdu. Meng Zhixiang gave it to Li Siyuan as a birthday gift.
I killed your ministers and took away your territory, but I wish you a happy birthday.
Li Siyuan forced a smile and showed the Buddha's tooth to the ministers, proving to everyone Xichuan's loyalty. Knocking out teeth and swallowing them is the dilemma of a weak monarch.
A Buddha tooth was not interesting enough, so Li Siyuan ordered Meng Zhixiang to annex Kuizhou and support the war in Jingnan. Meng Zhixiang sent General Mao Chongwei to lead three thousand Xichuan troops to garrison Kuizhou.
Soon after, General Ye of the Later Tang Dynasty regained the three prefectures of Kui, Zhong and Wan. Meng Zhixiang reported to the court, saying that since the three states were at peace, please withdraw the Xichuan troops so as to reduce the pressure on logistical supplies.
Li Siyuan disagreed.
"I'm giving you face, right?" Meng Zhixiang secretly sent someone to teach Mao Chongwei the "break it into pieces" strategy, so the Xichuan soldiers in Kuizhou organized "dispersed" and broke into pieces where they were. batch and sneak back to Chengdu separately.
The mutiny and unauthorized return once again touched the red line of the court. Li Siyuan issued an edict to capture Mao Chongwei and other rebel generals and soldiers.
Meng Zhixiang came forward to plead for mercy, "They just want to go home more often. They blame me for not being strict in management. They will be disciplined strictly in the future."
"Well, for your sake - I won't do it again."
