The Song Dynasty's three-dimensional war against the Southern Tang Dynasty was not limited to public opinion propaganda wars and financial and trade wars. Among the endless strategies to weaken the enemy, the Song Dynasty even achieved precise guidance, which can be described as a "strategic beheading" of Li Yu.
Li Yu, a young literary and artistic man, loved Buddhism so much that he built a temple in Zhongshan and wrote "Bao Ci Taoist Temple" in his own handwriting. He served nearly a thousand monks every day, and all the expenses were reimbursed by the Southern Tang Dynasty court.
One day, Li Yu was resting when he suddenly heard the sound of bell-ringing coming from the palace dojo. The sound was rigorous and detailed, so he was overjoyed and sent someone to summon the bell-ringing person. The person who struck the bell was a clever little boy. Li Yu was even more happy and wanted to ordain him personally. The kid was very clever and said on the spot that he did not want to receive the emperor's favor alone, but hoped that His Majesty would extend his kindness to all the monks in the world. Li Yu then issued an edict to save all the monks, which was another huge financial expense.
Li Yu renovated Baogongyuan into a "kaishan monastery", and he and Empress Zhou changed into monk's robes and knelt down to chant sutras and worship. They were so pious that they even cut calluses out of their foreheads.
Under Li Yu's initiative, there were thousands of monks in Shengzhou City alone, and all their expenses were paid by the Southern Tang court.
Think about Chai Rong's economic reforms. One of them was to restrict Buddhism, but Li Yu did the opposite and vigorously promoted Buddhism, which made the Southern Tang even more lacking in labor and at the same time increased the economic burden on the court.
What needs to be emphasized is that almost at the same time, Zhao Kuangyin issued an order prohibiting the use of copper and iron to cast Buddha statues, which basically continued Chai Rong's reform ideas. However, the Southern Tang Dynasty used copper, which was already in short supply, to cast Buddha statues, which exacerbated the "money shortage" in the Southern Tang Dynasty.
After learning that Li Yu was on the road of no return obsessed with Buddhism, the Song Dynasty certainly wanted to help him. According to records, Zhao Kuangyin carefully selected an eloquent person, disguised himself as a monk, and lurked into the Southern Tang Dynasty, waiting for an opportunity to get close to Li Yu, break into the enemy, and help Li Yu get into trouble.
This man was quick-witted, eloquent, and highly accomplished in Buddhism. He immediately won the respect and favor of Li Yu. He believed that this man was simply the reincarnation of the Buddha. He affectionately called him "Little Elder" and often talked with him all night long. The content is mostly about the six roots, the four truths, karma and retribution, reincarnation and so on.
The "little elder" constantly instilled in Li Yu the awareness of pious worship of Buddha, and persuaded him to build temples, cast Buddha statues, give alms to monks, and hold Dharma meetings attended by thousands of monks. The pomp and ceremony was extremely luxurious... In short, it was all in the name of worshiping Buddha. Help Li Yu spend a lot of money and waste government affairs.
Later, when the Song army attacked the Southern Tang Dynasty, the "little elder" deceived Li Yu into lameness, which will be described in detail later.
The Song Dynasty used high-level spies "little elders" to exploit the weaknesses of the enemy's leaders, do what they wanted, accelerate their decadence, and weaken the enemy's national power. Is this the so-called three-dimensional war?
The Southern Tang Dynasty reached its peak during the period of Li Jing, and then took a sharp turn, falling off the altar. During this accelerated decline, Li Yu took over. At the same time, the Song Dynasty was in the ascendant. Since Li Yu took office, he has felt unprecedented pressure from the Central Plains.
In March 963, the Song Dynasty regained the two lakes area. Li Yu hurriedly sent envoys to pay tribute and congratulate the great country of China.
Subsequently, the Song Dynasty pacified Sichuan and Shu, and Li Yu was even more frightened after the death of the rabbit. The forces of Sichuan and Shu and the forces of Huainan have always been at odds with the Central Plains. In the early Five Dynasties, the three forces formed a tripod. Compared with the Lianghu region, the Song Dynasty's move to regain Sichuan and Shu caused great shock in the Southern Tang Dynasty.
Li Yu could only keep paying tribute and wagging his tail to the Central Plains dynasty.
In 970, Zhao Kuangyin gave Li Yu a task to write a letter to persuade Liu Yuan of the Southern Han Dynasty to surrender.
Li Yu held a meeting to discuss, and everyone actively discussed it. They believed that if the boss asked him to write a letter, the Southern Tang Dynasty must do it, otherwise it would be disobedience. Who knows whether the boss's true intention is the Southern Han Dynasty or the Southern Tang Dynasty? It is not difficult to write a letter full of sincerity. Besides, as long as the letter is delivered to the Southern Han Dynasty, regardless of whether Liu Yun refuses or accepts it, it will be beneficial to the Southern Tang Dynasty.
If Liu Yuan accepts and declares his vassalship to the Song Dynasty, then the Song Dynasty will learn from Wuming. From then on, the Southern Han, Southern Tang, and Wuyue Kingdom will avoid the fate of national destruction. As for the future, it depends on the performance of the Northern Han Dynasty and the Khitan; if Liu Yuan refuses to surrender, it will lead to war. , then the variables would be even greater. In the event of a protracted war, the national power of the Song Dynasty would be severely damaged, and the Southern Tang Dynasty would enjoy the gains.
Li Yu thought it was reasonable, so he asked Pan You to draft it, and then entrusted Gong Shenyi to carry the letter to Guangzhou and persuade Liu Yuan to turn around and make peace. For details of the correspondence, see the special topic on Southern Han Dynasty in the previous article.
As a result, Liu Yu chose the latter and refused to surrender. Take life and death lightly and do it if you don't accept it. In the same year, Pan Mei took command and the Song Dynasty launched a war to eliminate the Southern Han Dynasty.
After the war broke out, Lin Renzhao, a meritorious veteran of the Southern Tang Dynasty, one of the "Four Generals to Support Longevity", was left behind in Nandu at the time. He sent Li Yu a secret memorial, which shocked Li Yu into a cold sweat.
Lin Renzhao pointed out that the current military strength of the Song Dynasty in the states north of the Yangtze River is very weak, with only a few hundred troops stationed in each state. The Song Dynasty destroyed Shu the year before last, and now it has invaded Lingnan. The battle line is too long, with thousands of miles to go back and forth. The divisions and veterans are tired, and the ministers His plan is this: Give me tens of thousands of elite soldiers, I will capture Shouzhou first, seize the Zhengyang Floating Bridge, and then raise my arms and unite the old and young in Jiangbei, then we can regain the land in Jiangbei and restore the territory of our homeland! If Master Song comes, I will rely on the danger of the Huaihe River to resist. In this way, the Song division's front will extend from the Huaihe River to Lingnan, and directly to Sichuan and Shu. They are tired of dealing with it, and we are done!
At the end of the memorial, Lin Renzhao also specifically emphasized: In order to relieve Your Majesty of worries, I declared rebellion on the day I raised the army, and you also took advantage of the opportunity to declare me a rebel. In this way, if I succeed, then Southern Tang will enjoy the benefits, and if I If you fail, please kill my whole family to prove that this is my personal behavior and has nothing to do with Your Majesty or Southern Tang. I will never implicate Your Majesty!
Lin Renzhao was an old general of the Fujian Kingdom. After the Southern Tang Dynasty destroyed Fujian, he returned to the Southern Tang Dynasty. He performed outstandingly in the "Three Expeditions to Huainan" and was reused. He was a famous hawk in the Southern Tang Dynasty. He has momentum, courage and courage...but no political acumen.
History books say that Li Yu was "fearful and did not dare to follow". Li Yu's fear lies in two main aspects.
The first is military, which is the most intuitive. Taking Shouzhou directly and occupying Zhengyang may be achieved through sneak attacks, but with a call and the world gathering to respond, and then controlling the entire Jiangbei area and regaining control of the Huaihe River in an instant, this would be fantastic. If the soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty really had this strength, how could they have fallen to this point?
The second is politics. Lin Renzhao has made it clear that in order not to involve Li Yu, he will "pretend to be a rebel" and promote this military operation in the name of the rebels. In addition, there is a prerequisite for this operation, that is, Li Yu will allocate tens of thousands of elite soldiers to Lin Renzhao, and this is almost the entire family wealth of Southern Tang.
So here comes the question... Are you "faking rebellion" or "faking rebellion"?
Although Lin Renzhao was a meritorious veteran during the Li Jing period, he was a subordinated general after all. Not to mention his status as a subordinated general, even if he was an old revolutionary comrade with a red-blooded background, he wanted to recruit the country's elite and then "rebel" openly and openly. , will the master agree?
Many people mistakenly believe that Li Yu's "fear" is that he is afraid of the Song Dynasty and is worried that he will not be able to defeat the Song Dynasty. In fact, what Li Yu is really afraid of is Lin Renzhao.
Lin Renzhao was not alone, there was another person who wanted to "fake rebellion".
This person's name was Lu Jiang. He had previously submitted an article to Privy Councilor Chen Qiao, and was appreciated by Chen Qiao, who promoted him to the position of patrol along the Yangtze River, that is, the captain of the Yangtze River Patrol, responsible for the Yangtze River border patrol and other work. Lu Jiang was a hard-core ruthless person. After taking office, he recruited desperadoes and formed an independent naval regiment. He then ambushed the Wuyue Navy many times and captured hundreds of Wuyue warships, which increased the water power of the Southern Tang Dynasty. The division's equipment level has been improved, and a surface armed force with rich practical combat experience has been developed.
Before, Lu Jiang had told Li Yu many times, saying that the Wuyue Kingdom and us had been feuding for decades. If the Central Plains invaded the south in the future, the Wuyue Kingdom would definitely serve as the lead party and form an angle with the Central Plains to attack me. So... I It was often said before that the first thing after the Southern Tang Dynasty became prosperous and powerful was to destroy the Wuyue Kingdom. Now I want to correct it: if the Southern Tang Dynasty wanted to become prosperous and powerful, it must first destroy the Wuyue Kingdom.
Now, Lu Jiang came to the table again, requesting that when the Song Dynasty had no time to visit eastward, Wu Yue Kingdom should be destroyed quickly to avoid being attacked in the future. Facts have proved that Lu Jiang's prediction was very accurate. Later, when the Song Dynasty destroyed the Southern Tang Dynasty, Wu Yue Kingdom indeed sent troops to attack from both sides.
Li Yu objected, saying that Wu Yueguo had always been a bastard of the Central Plains and we couldn't afford to offend him.
"In fact, it's not difficult." Lu Jiang immediately offered a plan, which was similar to Lin Renzhao's "fake rebellion":
The minister first occupied Xuanzhou and Shezhou and "rebelled", so his majesty raised troops to put down the rebellion with great fanfare, and begged for support from the Wuyue Kingdom. After Wuyue's reinforcements arrived, his majesty gave them a "Hongmen Banquet" and killed them if they refused. I then led the troops to attack the territory of Wuyue Kingdom. If the king and his ministers sing such a double act, Wu Yue will be doomed.
For the same reason, it is difficult to achieve at the military level. What if Wu Yueguo refuses to support? Or just a few words of support? Or just send one or two thousand people who won’t feel any pain or itch?
Secondly, again, do you want a "fake rebellion" or a "fake rebellion"?
Finally, whether it is Lin Renzhao or Lu Jiang, even a "fake rebellion" can easily be self-defeating, because the Southern Tang Dynasty is now vassal to the Song Dynasty. If a rebellion occurs in the territory, the Song Dynasty has the obligation to send troops to quell the rebellion. Isn't this inviting a wolf into the house? Think about how Zhou Baoquan from Hunan immigrated to Bianzhou... It is easy to ask gods but difficult to send them away. Even if there is a rebellion, you have to find ways to hide it from the Song Dynasty. You also actively promoted the rebellion because you thought the Song Dynasty did not send troops. The reason?
Li Yu decisively rejected Lin Renzhao and Lu Jiang's proposals.
Soon, the Southern Han Dynasty was destroyed. Li Yu quickly sent his younger brother Li Congshan to the Song Dynasty to pay tribute and congratulate the Song Dynasty on regaining Lingnan. This tribute is more interesting, because in addition to the original tribute, the Southern Tang Dynasty also attached additional tribute gifts from Champa, Chapo, and Dashi to the Southern Tang Dynasty, indicating that it was just a vassal of the Celestial Kingdom and did not dare to specialize. Diplomacy, these are the filial piety of small foreign countries to "China", I just collect them on your behalf...
After destroying the Southern Han Dynasty, the Song Dynasty gathered heavy troops in Hanyang, which frightened Li Yu. Hanyang, now Hanyang District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, is an important town in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. It has a developed water system and convenient transportation, and is especially suitable for strategic delivery. Gathering heavy troops here is like hanging a sharp sword over the head of the Southern Tang Dynasty.
A businessman reported to Li Yu that the Song Dynasty had built thousands of warships of various types in Jingnan, and its intention to annex the Southern Tang Dynasty was obvious. Li Yu was asked to send special troops to Jingnan quickly to burn them.
As expected, this proposal was rejected again by Li Yu.
The history books only say that he is a "businessman", not to mention whether he is a businessman from the Song Dynasty or a patriotic businessman from the Southern Tang Dynasty. Is the information about this person accurate? What if Da Song deliberately set up a trap to fish? Even if it were true, could a military center where thousands of warships were stationed be stolen so easily? To put it bluntly, even if Li Yu's sneak attack group destroyed the Song Dynasty's "Pearl Harbor", wouldn't they still lose the entire Pacific and the entire war?
When historical records record Li Yu's rejection of the "fake rebellion" and the surprise attack on the Jingnan Navy, the same word is used - "fear not dare to follow". People who read history must fully understand the meaning of "fear". Unfortunately, Many so-called experts and scholars took the word literally and only explained it as Li Yu's cowardice, while ignoring Li Yu's real concerns.
Li Yu sent his younger brother Li Congshan to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty and begged to have his country's title removed. In the later period, Li Jing cut off his imperial title, but retained the country's title - Tang. He called himself the Lord of the Tang Dynasty, and the coins he minted also had the inscription "Tang Guotong Bao" on them. Now that Li Yu has taken the title of country again, he will no longer be called the "lord of the country". The Song Dynasty was very satisfied and happily changed it to the "Jiangnan Kingdom Seal" as a gift.
Li Yu also asked Zhao Kuangyin to call him by his first name, and did not dare to retain the privilege of "imperial worship without name".
Li Yu had repeatedly requested to take back the privilege of "imperial edict" before. This time, Zhao Kuangyin finally agreed.
Li Congshan's envoy secretly sent 50,000 taels of silver to Prime Minister Zhao Pu. It is an unwritten rule of diplomacy to give gifts to prime ministers and other important officials, but Nan Tang gave too much this time, which went beyond normal human sophistication. Zhao Pu did not dare to hide it and reported it to Zhao Kuangyin truthfully.
After hearing this, Zhao Kuangyin said: "I can't help but write them a reply letter, just say a few polite words and give them some gifts in return."
Zhao Pu knelt down and declined, saying that he still did not dare to accept it.
Zhao Kuangyin said with a "haha" smile: "This matter is quite simple. As a big country, we cannot lose our national integrity, let alone be manipulated by small countries. We must always let them look at us in a fog and watch the moon in the water. In this way, you will accept everything, I have my own way."
The next day, Xuan, Li Congshan and others went to the pilgrimage, with Prime Minister Zhao Pu as the host. The two parties followed the procedures and exchanged polite greetings, tribute gifts, return gifts, etc. When returning the gifts, in addition to the regular rewards, the Song Dynasty returned an additional 50,000 taels of platinum. Li Congshan and others were petrified on the spot. When the news spread back to the Southern Tang Dynasty, the monarchs and ministers of the Southern Tang Dynasty were also shocked.
Li Yu exclaimed that the water in the Song Dynasty was too deep and he could not control it, so he did not dare to make mistakes from now on.
There is also one difference between this tribute and the past, that is, Zhao Kuangyin detained Li Congshan. Because Zhao Kuangyin really had the idea of regaining Jiangnan.
I don’t want the privilege of “imperial edict”, and I also give up my national title. What else do you want me to do?
Li Yu ordered "derogatory rituals". From now on, Li Yu's orders cannot be called "orders" but "teachings". The Zhongshu Province and Menxia Province of the Southern Tang Dynasty were renamed Zuo and You Nei Shifu, and Shangshu Province was renamed Sihuifu, Yushitai was renamed Si Xianfu, Hanlin Academy was renamed Wenguan, Privy Council was renamed Guangzhengyuan, Dali Temple was changed to Xingxingyuan, Hakka Province was renamed Yanbinyuan...Avoid taboo;
Completely remove the owl kiss symbolizing imperial power from the palace;
All brothers and sons will be demoted and demoted, and those who were previously crowned kings will be demoted to dukes;
Taking the opportunity to congratulate Zhao Kuangyin on his birthday, I will pay tribute of another 300,000 yuan...
It cannot but be said to be groveling. Dignity comes from strength, and those who kneel only deserve to look up. Li Yu asked the Song Dynasty to let his younger brother Li Congshan return to the country, "Do you know how much I miss him!"
Zhao Kuangyin replied: "Then come to Bianzhou, do you know how much he misses you!"
Zhao Kuangyin will not let Li Congshan go, because his value is too great. First of all, it is the old routine of the political card we are most familiar with, using his status as the "emperor's younger brother" to disintegrate Li Yu's rule and become the Song Dynasty in the Jiangnan region. The candidate for the new agent; secondly, use him to create a divorce plan.
In Zhao Kuangyin's view, all the soldiers in the Southern Tang Dynasty were like chickens and dogs. There was only one person who could be called a strong general and worthy of vigilance. This person was Lin Renzhao. Just as Zhou Yu was afraid of Cai Mao and Zhang Yun, the only one among Cao's troops who knew how to fight with water, how could he be eliminated?
Answer: A divorce plan!
