During the few days when Meng Zhixiang was recuperating, a small incident happened. Meng Zhixiang obviously did not know about it, otherwise he would not be so hasty and naive.
Li Renhan was ordered to come to Zizhou from Suizhou. Zhao Tingyin met Gao from afar and rushed from Zizhou to Banqiao (now southeast of Santai County, Sichuan Province) to greet him. Unexpectedly, the two had an unpleasant encounter.
As the saying goes, if people's hearts are evil, dogs won't eat them. Don't be afraid of not doing good things, just be afraid of not having good people.
Zhao Tingyin came to meet Gao Ying from a distance, originally wanting to show respect to Li Renhan, because Li Renhan's position had always been above Zhao Tingyin's. However, his move was misunderstood by Li Renhan, and the two started fighting as soon as they met.
In the war between Sichuan and Sichuan that just ended not long ago, Zhao Tingyin fought against Shi Jingtang, the main force of the imperial court, on the northern battlefield, and pinned Shi Jingtang at Jianmen Pass, and then captured Lizhou; Li Renhan fought on the southern battlefield and defeated them all in one go Kuizhou.
If we just talk about merit and rewards in the Sichuan War, Li Renhan ranks first.
In the civil war between Sichuan and Sichuan that followed, Li Renhan, who was guarding Suizhou, had no time to participate and became a bystander. At the same time, Zhao Tingyin showed his talents, chasing Dong Zhang all the way from Jizong Bridge until he captured Zizhou and offered the heads of Dong Zhang and his son.
If the civil war between Sichuan and Sichuan is just a matter of merit and reward, Zhao Tingyin ranks first in merit.
Li Renhan refused to accept it.
Because Zhao Tingyin's "first place in merit" was too great. The "Battle of Jizong Bridge" was not his alone. The lord Meng Zhixiang was the commander-in-chief of the battle who was personally present at the scene, and Dong Zhang was killed by an internal traitor. Zizhou was also surrendered by traitors on their own initiative. Let alone Zhao Tingyin, a different dog would still be able to capture the city.
Zhao Tingyin, what's so great about you? It's just good luck. Li Renhan was seriously dissatisfied.
Zhao Tingyin's welcome from afar, in Li Renhan's view, was that Zhao Tingyin deliberately acted like a master, and the master of Zizhou came to welcome guests from afar. This was done deliberately to give him a show of strength.
I, Li Renhan, should be the governor of Dongchuan. I came to Zizhou not as a guest, but as a homecoming. Do you need to meet Gao Ying from afar? Is it your turn to be polite to me?
According to convention and etiquette, Li Renhan should congratulate the newly victorious Zhao Tingyin and praise his great achievements in person, "Old Zhao is mighty and domineering!" while Zhao Tingyin should express his modesty, "It is all thanks to the lord's bravery and the dedication of the soldiers. What merit?"
As a result, instead of praising Zhao Tingyin for his achievements, Li Renhan acted like an "old leader" and scolded Zhao Tingyin from head to toe.
Zhao Tingyin was furious. The two formed a feud.
Meng Zhixiang had no knowledge of this matter.
Meng Zhixiang called his two favorite generals to his side, but did not notice the unnaturalness and hostility on their faces.
"Two generals, who is willing to help me guard this place?"
Li Renhan's face was indignant, and his tone was full of dissatisfaction, "Even if my lord lets me go back and be the governor of Shuzhou, it's not a bad idea." There was something in his words, a gun and a stick.
Meng Zhixiang was quite surprised and thought to himself, "Okay, why are you trying to pick a fight with me? I provoked you?"
He turned his face and looked at Zhao Tingyin again, only to see that Zhao Tingyin's face was full of anger and resentment, and he didn't say a word.
When he captured the Lizhou Zhaowu Army not long ago, Zhao Tingyin took the initiative to give up his position as the military envoy of the Lizhou Zhaowu Army to his deputy general Li Zhao. Meng Zhixiang praised Zhao Tingyin by name for his high integrity. Unexpectedly, Zhao Tingyin would not give in this time.
The two generals competed for merit on the spot and competed for Dongchuan Jiedu, which was completely contrary to Meng Zhixiang's plan.
The huge gap made Meng Zhixiang very embarrassed, and he did not make corresponding plans and did not know how to deal with it. He had to send all the generals out first, and then asked Li Hao to prepare a blank letter of appointment, planning to let all the generals vote between the two.
Li Hao disapproved of this method and believed that under the current circumstances, engaging in so-called democratic voting would only deepen the conflict, and could easily extend the conflict between the two generals into hostility between the two factions. Then he cited the examples of Zhu Wen and Li Cunxu. These two founding monarchs held four towns before ascending the throne and proclaimed themselves emperors. They suggested that Meng Zhixiang himself also serve as the governor of Dongchuan.
Meng Zhixiang was undecided, so Li Hao suggested that he put aside the issue of Dongchuan's ownership for the time being and return to Chengdu to discuss with the great counselor Zhao Jiliang.
Meng Zhixiang immediately ordered Li Renhan to return to Suizhou, ordered Zhao Tingyin to stay in Zizhou as an inspection, and then ordered Li Hao to temporarily handle Dongchuan affairs.
Li Hao refused to accept the offer, saying that there were two tigers fighting for Zizhou, and I didn't dare to get involved. Please allow me to return to Chengdu. Meng Zhixiang had no choice but to take Li Hao back to Chengdu.
Meng Zhixiang said to Li Hao disappointed and lonely: "I didn't expect that after getting Dongchuan, I would be in even greater trouble! In just a few days, Li Renhan wrote me seven letters, repeatedly emphasizing one issue, 'Lord You'd better take charge of Dongchuan yourself, otherwise the generals won't accept it', it's obvious, what they mean is 'Zhao Tingyin controls Dongchuan, the generals won't accept it', what's the matter, are you threatening me with a mutiny?"
"Where is Zhao Tingyin?"
"It's not easy! Zhao Tingyin said that he didn't dare to hope for Dongchuan at first, but because Li Renhan insisted on fighting for it and showed no mercy, he fought with him in anger."
"Then what are you going to do?"
Meng Zhixiang made a compromise: he established a new Baoning Army in Langzhou, allocated Guo, Peng, Qu, and Kaizhou as subordinate states, and made Zhao Tingyin the military envoy, while he also controlled Dongchuan.
Since then, Dongchuan has no fight, and the Baoning Army, like Dongchuan, has five states under its jurisdiction, Zhao Tingyin can also save face.
Li Hao told Zhao Tingyin about this decision. Zhao Tingyin was still aggrieved. Although the number of prefectures under jurisdiction is equal and the land area is almost the same, can a house in a small county on the 18th line be compared with a house in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen? Zhao Tingyin asked for a duel with Li Renhan, one on one, and the surviving one would be the governor of Dongchuan.
With his sharp tongue and repeated persuasion, Li Hao finally made Zhao Tingyin accept the appointment of the Baoning Army in Langzhou. The battle for Dongchuan has come to an end for the time being.
Zhao Jiliang led the civil and military officials to persuade Meng Zhixiang to proclaim himself king and issue edicts in the name of the emperor. Rejected by Meng Zhixiang.
Meng Zhixiang did not proclaim himself king publicly, but he had already implemented a separatist regime. After annexing Dongchuan, he did not ask the central court to send officials, but appointed officials on his own and made administrative divisions without authorization (Langzhou Baoning Army). This caused an uproar in the Central Government of the Later Tang Dynasty.
As early as the beginning of the civil war between the two Sichuan provinces, Wang Sitong, the governor of Shannan West Road, secretly reported to the central government, intending to wait for an opportunity to reap profits. Li Siyuan also really sent a large army to the border between Sichuan and Sichuan, in the name of helping Meng Zhixiang, but in fact he wanted to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, looking for opportunities to take action. Unexpectedly, Meng Zhixiang occupied Dongchuan in four days, and Li Siyuan's Central Army had no time to react.
That's why in the above article, Meng Zhixiang proudly "announced the good news" to the central government, flexed his muscles, and deliberately disgusted Li Siyuan.
Meng Zhixiang separated the two Sichuan provinces, and it was already a matter of cooked rice. Li Siyuan also adjusted his attitude in time, compromised, recognized Meng Zhixiang's absolute authority over the two Sichuan provinces, and showed favor to him.
Li Siyuan sent Li Cunhuan (son of Li Kening and nephew of Meng Zhixiang) to visit Chengdu, hoping that Meng Zhixiang could adhere to the morality of his ministers and maintain his family's reputation as a loyal minister for generations.
With tears in his eyes, Meng Zhixiang knelt down to accept the edict, expressed his repentance to the court, and declared that he would remain a loyal minister of the Tang Dynasty for generations to come.
