Tanzhou City, before this year, was built by Ma Yin, Ma Xisheng, and Ma Xifan, father and son, and could be called the Pearl of Hunan.
Especially during the Ma Xifan period, this king built a lot of construction projects in the northwest of Tanzhou City.
First, the main halls such as Jiulong Hall, Jinhua Hall and Jiayan Hall were built, and then the 16th floor such as Tiance, Guangzheng and Qinzheng were built.
Among them, Tiance Building was later expanded into Tiance Mansion. It is an extremely prosperous building. The railings and sills are decorated with gold and jade, and the walls are mostly painted with cinnabar.
Especially for cinnabar, there were not many cinnabar mines in Ma Chu at that time. When Ma Xifan was worried about this, a mountain suddenly collapsed east of Tanzhou, and the cinnabar mines gushed out and piled up like hills. For a time, it was considered to be the origin of Ma Chu. There is a symbol of the scroll.
However, all of this was reduced to ashes after Ma Xi'e entered Tanzhou.
After Wuping's army and Langzhou barbarians looted Tanzhou City, they also set a fire and burned down almost all of Ma Chu's palace buildings.
Even Ma Xi'e can only live in a side hall of Jiulong Palace that has not been completely destroyed.
As for Tanzhou City, it is already full of ruins. Whenever it rains lightly, the mud can cover the legs of pedestrians. From time to time, there are still corpses that have not been completely cleaned up, causing birds and animals to eat them, or emitting an unusually unpleasant odor.
Throughout Tanzhou City, the tens of thousands of remaining residents and tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians had little access to clean drinking water and insufficient firewood to survive the winter.
The poor living conditions also caused the small-scale spread of infectious diseases such as dysentery, making the whole city feel like a ghost.
But faced with such harsh conditions, Ma Xi'e did not take any countermeasures. He just locked himself in the Nine Dragons Palace and drank and had fun all day long.
There was a man who favored Xie Yanyu, who was a confidant of Ma Xi'e. When he went out, he accompanied Ma Xi'e and was ranked above the generals. When he came in, he sat with Ma Xi'e's wives and concubines to engage in fornication.
Ma Xichong, his brother-in-law who had informed him, was appointed for all political affairs in Chu State.
After Ma Xichong took power, before he started shouting, news of the imperial army's conquest, and the subsequent defeat of Xiancheng in Yuezhou and Xiaodukou Town in Lishui came.
Ma Xichong immediately isolated himself from the inside and outside, and even the messenger sent by Ma Guangzan, the son of Ma Xi'e, from Langzhou was not allowed to enter. His inner plan was to sell Ma Xi'e immediately after Zhang Xian arrived in Tanzhou. In exchange for glory and wealth.
Uh, no! Not all political affairs, big and small, were handed over to Ma Xichong. At least the Jingbian Army composed of civilians from various states was detained in Tanzhou, and the commander Wang Jinkui and the deputy commander Zhou Xingfeng took them to clean up the rubble of Tanzhou City and rebuild the government office. Waiting for heavy physical labor was an order given by Ma Xi'e himself.
At this point, Ma Xi'e has done everything a subjugated king can do to the extreme.
Historically, he was quickly overthrown by his younger brother Ma Xichong, and then the Southern Tang Dynasty took the opportunity to launch a massive attack to destroy Ma Chu.
Now, Southern Tang is unable to come, but the imperial army that is a hundred times more powerful than Southern Tang has arrived.
In early November, white snow fell in Tanzhou, and the people and Jingbian soldiers were even more miserable. At this time, the news came from unknown sources.
It is said that the emperor of the Central Plains rode in a carriage, pulled by nine dragons, and supported by auspicious clouds, and traveled three thousand miles in one night to Hubi Mountain.
After the emperor arrived, King Wumu appeared in the form of King Huaguang and paid homage to the emperor with court rites.
It turns out that the Emperor of the Central Plains is not only the supreme heaven of Buddhism, but also, like Emperor Taizong Wen of the Great Dynasty, the Erlang Xiansheng Emperor of the Ziwei Emperor's Palace descended to earth.
Emperor Erlang Xiansheng is the eldest son of the Emperor of Heaven. King Huaguang is one of the four pioneer generals under Emperor Erlang Xiansheng. He previously implemented benevolent policies to stabilize Hunan and was sent here by the emperor. Now that the emperor is here in person, he will naturally return the power of Hunan. .
At this point in the world line, another change has taken place. The Erlang Shen in the original history has evolved from a true king to an emperor. He has also become the eldest son of the Emperor of Heaven, and is worthy of the name of the emperor.
This kind of rumor with religion and mysticism is very lethal. In addition, Ma Yin has a very good reputation in Chu State. You must know that in the Ming Dynasty, the people in Hunan and northern Guangxi also gave Ma Yin the king of Chu. temple actions.
From officials and soldiers to ordinary people in Ma Chu, everyone was willing to believe that Ma Yin became a god, and they were even more willing to believe that the imperial army was here to peacefully take over the Chu Kingdom.
Therefore, the little bit of legitimacy Ma Xi'e had immediately disappeared without a trace. A large number of Ma Chu officials abandoned their official posts and went to Hubi Mountain to pay homage to Zhang Xuan.
On the third day of November, that is, the third day after the interview between Zhang Yan and Ma Xizhen, Ma Xichong sent an envoy to Hubi Mountain to ask for Zhang Yan's surrender.
However, Ma Xichong was probably frightened and rushed to seek medical treatment. The envoy he sent turned out to be He Zhongju, one of the eighteen bachelors of Ma Chutiance Mansion.
This is a joke! You, Ma Xichong, lured Ma Xike into Tanzhou and burned down the entire Tiance Mansion. You still expect He Zhongju, one of the eighteen bachelors of the Tiance Mansion, to put in a good word for you?
Not to mention Yuan Yougong, the left-horse infantry and horse envoy of the Wuping Army who led Guo Rong to attack Zhu Jinzhong, was He Zhongju's brother-in-law.
So, He Zhongju, who was supposed to be Ma Xichong's envoy and lobbyist, immediately threw himself in the dust when he saw Zhang Xian. He burst into tears and kowtowed three times before shouting loudly.
"Sage, Ma Xie and Ma Xichong were as cruel as jackals. Anyone in the Chu vassal can forgive them, but these two are the only ones whose sins are unforgivable. Please send out troops immediately to kill these two thieves!"
He Zhongju was a native of Daozhou (today's Daoxian County, Hunan Province). This person was considered an outlier in the Five Dynasties.
He was a great talent like Sun Guangxian. He was born in a farming family. His parents died young and he was forced to shoulder the burden of the family at the age of twelve. However, he was not discouraged and studied while farming.
When he was thirteen years old, because he was too poor to pay taxes, he was arrested and paraded in front of the county government office.
It happened that Li Honggao, who was the county magistrate at the time, passed by the county government office. He Zhongju shouted loudly to attract Li Honggao's attention, and he immediately wrote a five-character poem.
Said: "Like jade, you will go to jail, but you will abandon your home and go to the yoke." It's a pity that two pieces of wood are holding a flower between them. '
Li Honggao was immediately shocked as a prodigy. Not only did he exempt him from taxes, but he also tried his best to help him.
Later, after He Zhongju studied hard, he went north to the Later Tang Dynasty, and successfully passed the examination of the Later Tang Dynasty. He also served as an aide to Li Congrong, the king of Qin in the Later Tang Dynasty.
After Li Congrong died, He Zhongju returned to Hunan and was recommended by Li Honggao as one of the eighteen bachelors of Tiance Mansion.
He Zhongju came from a poor background, knew the sufferings of the people, was magnanimous and elegant, diligent in administration and loved the people. He served successively as governor of Ma Chuquan, Heng and other prefectures, and he had a good reputation.
A sentence from the year before last said: "The trees welcome the tall birds back to the deep wilderness, and the clouds pass by the setting sun over the distant mountains." 'It has been passed down to future generations and he is a rare great poet of the Five Dynasties.
Zhang Hao certainly knows how to deal with such people, and this is what he is best at.
At this moment, when the Duke of Zhou spits out food, Cao Mengde steps out to greet him, Liu Xuande angrily throws Adou, etc., all blessings are given to me, the Great Sage Zhang, the Khan, the Supreme Heaven, and the Emperor.
He laughed and opened his hands, and rushed out of the Nanyue Temple like a gust of wind. In the process, he 'accidentally' tripped over the threshold and almost fell, showing a bit of urgency.
Zhang Gao grabbed He Zhongju's arm and lifted him up, "I am in China and have heard of your great talent. I am not happy that you have obtained the land of Chu. It is really a blessing for me and the people of the land of Chu to have Zhongju!"
He Zhongju did not expect that Zhang Yan would treat him in this manner. What do Confucian scholars like most? Of course, this scene of a saintly king, a wise master, and a virtuous corporal is the most annoying!
When He Zhongju heard this, he was so moved that he trembled all over. He held Zhang Gao's arms and bowed again.
"A certain petty official from the Chu region failed to help the emperor and could not prevent the chaos in Tanzhou. He is not worthy of the saint's respect!"
Of course, Zhang Yan would not let He Zhongju bow down again, and immediately helped him up again when he was about to kneel on the ground.
"Zhong Ju, don't belittle yourself. The evil done by Ma Xi'e and Ma Xichong is not your fault.
Now that the people of Tanzhou are in danger of being overthrown, they also ask Zhongju to teach him how to enter Tanzhou quickly without ruining the lives of the people. "
He Zhongju heard this and stopped being pretentious with Zhang Gao, "When I left Tanzhou, I had already contacted Wang Jinkui, the commander of the Jingbian Army, and Zhou Xingfeng, the deputy commander.
The sergeants at Jingbian had been suffering for a long time. As soon as the heavenly soldiers from the imperial court arrived, they immediately opened the west and south gates of Tanzhou with their big axes and welcomed the king's division into the city. "
Zhang Hao nodded. He was familiar with the name Zhou Xingfeng, but he didn't expect that this person was the military governor of Wuping who drove away the Southern Tang Dynasty and finally separated the land of Ma Chu.
But since I have a little bit of familiarity with it in my mind, it must be able to leave a shadow in history to a greater or lesser extent. I think it is not an ordinary person. If there is such a person who is willing to dedicate the west and south gates of Tanzhou, it must be appropriate.
In fact, it is not impossible for Zhang Yi to directly attack with his army, but the Chu region has experienced many turmoils, and the people have fled to the swamps and hills. In addition, it is winter and it is difficult to collect food. Therefore, in order to reduce the logistical pressure, Zhang Yi only brought Eight thousand cavalry.
If these people attack the city directly, the soldiers will be easily injured if they are not strong enough, and the remaining smoke and fire in Tanzhou will probably be destroyed. Now that someone can offer the city, it is a dream.
"Then Ma Xi'e's son is guarding Langzhou. Does Zhongju have any good plans?"
Apart from Tanzhou, Langzhou was the only one left with the best of Ma Chu. Zhang Hao asked immediately.
Xu Zhongju cupped his hands and replied: "When Ma Xihe entered Tanzhou, he had already taken away most of the Wuping Army he belonged to.
After Zhu Jinzhong's defeat, Ma Guangzan did not dare to let the Xidong barbarians and the defeated Wuping army enter the city. Therefore, most of the defenders in Langzhou City were not Ma Xihe's confidants.
Duke Zhang and Zhangye have also cut off the connection between Langzhou and the barbarians in Wuling Mountain. They lost rescue, and the only hesitation was in the direction of Tanzhou.
If the saint could issue an edict to enumerate Ma Xi'e's crimes, order a crusade, and submit a letter to the city, the Langzhou soldiers would definitely tie up Ma Xi'e and come to dedicate it to the city. "
Zhang Yan understood, "Zhongju is saying that the reason why the defenders of Langzhou did not open the door to dedicate the city was because they were afraid that I would forgive Ma Xihe, so they did not dare to capture Ma Guangzan?"
"That's true, so as long as His Majesty issues a crusade, Langzhou can be pacified." Xu Zhongju replied affirmatively.
Only then did Zhang Yan feel relieved. He immediately asked Li Fang to draft an edict for the crusade, and ordered Zhang Cheng to go and inform Zhang Zhaojun that he was ready to contact the people in Langzhou City at any time to seize Langzhou.
As for Zhang Gao himself, he was preparing to lead his army to Tanzhou at starry night to capture Ma Xi'e and Ma Xichong.
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In the second year of Shaoming Dynasty in the Zhou Dynasty, on November 15th of 947 AD, Zhang Xian issued a crusade edict in Hubi Mountain, reprimanding Ma Xi'e for rebelling against the emperor, disrespecting the imperial orders, plundering Tanzhou and other major treasonous crimes. He ordered Ma Xi'e to Calyx immediately left the city and surrendered.
On the same day, Zhang Gao ordered Li Cunhui to lead 6,000 infantry and cavalry troops outside Tanzhou City. Only then did Ma Xihe know that the imperial army had already defeated Zhu Jinzhong and had arrived in Tanzhou.
In panic, he immediately ordered people to summon Ma Xichong, who was in charge of military and political affairs.
But Ma Xichong waited for a long time and Xu Zhongju didn't reply, so he immediately knew that something was wrong.
He took his personal entourage out of the north gate of Tanzhou and wanted to run to Yuanzhou (Yichun, Jiangxi) in the Southern Tang Dynasty to escape. However, as soon as he left the city, he was discovered by fishermen on Yuanshui (Yuanjiang).
The fishermen deeply hated Ma Xichong for bringing trouble to Tanzhou, so they gathered a crowd to kill more than ten of Ma Xichong's followers and captured them and sent them to Tanzhou.
Almost at the same time, Wang Jinkui, Zhou Xingfeng and others opened the west and south gates of Tanzhou City as promised and welcomed Li Cunhui's army into the city.
Li Cunhui marched straight in. Ma Xihe's confidant, the commander of the Hunan Army, Tang Shizhu, led more than a thousand soldiers to resist.
But how could they defeat Zhang Zhou's troops? The battle lasted only half an hour. Zhang Cheng shot and killed Tang Shizhu, more than a thousand Hunan Army soldiers were killed, and more than 300 soldiers were killed. The rest were all captured.
Later, Li Cunhui captured dozens of people including Ma Xi'e's concubines and male favorites in the ruins of Jiulong Palace.
On November 16, after the Langzhou garrison received Zhang's crusade, as expected, the soldiers captured and killed Ma Guangzan, the son of Ma Xi'e, and dozens of members of Ma Xi'e's family.
In accordance with Zhang Zhao's edict, Zhang Zhaojun executed more than 20 generals such as Ma Guangzan and other evildoers outside Langzhou City, and Langzhou was pacified.
On November 17, as soon as Zhang Zhi entered Tanzhou, veteran Taoist Ma Xizhen brought Ma Guangquan, the eldest son of Ma Xizhan, the governor of Guizhou Jingjiang Army, and thirteen of his wives to visit him as promised.
On November 18, Zhang Zhaojun sent Guo Rong, Zhao Kuangyin and other generals to attack separately on the north and south banks of the Yuanjiang River. They once again defeated more than 20,000 Xiangzhou Xidong barbarians such as Xiang and Tian and captured dozens of large and small barbarians. The corpse floated for dozens of miles and he retreated hastily to Wuling Mountain.
Peng Shisong also took Zhang Gao's edict and returned to Xi, Chen and other states to persuade his father Peng Shichou to go to Tanzhou to meet Zhang Gao.
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In Tanzhou City, Zhang Yan was walking on a piece of rubble. The only person following him was a strong man with a looming green bird tattoo on his neck, who was Guo Wei.
"Is the Taiwei still in good health?" Zhang Gao asked indifferently. Guo Wei had the fictitious position of inspecting the Taiwei, so Zhang Gao called him Taiwei.
Although Guo Wei didn't know why Zhang Yan asked him this, he still bowed his hands and replied politely: "Although I am nearly fifty years old, I can't fight ten pounds of rice and meat like Lian Po did in the past, but I can still serve as the saint's minions for ten years." .”
Zhang Hao laughed and didn't mention it. Historically, Guo Wei died in 954, which was still seven years ago. Moreover, historically, the reason why Guo Wei died within a few years of being emperor was because he was killed by Liu Chengyou.
No matter who is in his fifties and suddenly dozens of his family members are killed, he cannot stand it.
Not to mention that after the establishment of the Later Zhou Dynasty, Guo Wei worked day and night to deal with government affairs in order to suppress the pain. It was normal for his body to be unable to bear it.
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Nowadays, Guo Wei does not have those worries. It is estimated that if he lives for more than ten years, the problem will not be big. Matters in Hunan can be left to him with confidence.
So Zhang Gao pointed to the ruins of Tiance Mansion, which was once glorious but is now a piece of rubble, and said to Guo Wei.
"Lieutenant, look here. In the past, Ma Wumu followed Emperor Taizong Wen in opening the Tiance Mansion, and recruited scholars from Hunan as the eighteen bachelors of the Tiance Mansion. He quickly stabilized the land of Hunan, which had been in dire straits since the Leiman Rebellion.
I have looked around the world and found that the only people who could develop culture and education in the past hundred years were Li Ming of the Southern Tang Dynasty and King Wu Mu of Chu. However, Li Ming could not use virtuous ministers to promote culture and education, and he fell short of Ma Yin.
Zhu Wen of the former Liang Dynasty and Li Yazi of the later dynasty were not really the masters of the world.
Because they only know how to destroy and not build. If Ma Yin could be in the position of Zhu and Li, the world would have been stable long ago. "
Guo Wei was noncommittal because what Zhang Yan said was a bit absolute. Guo Wei felt in his heart that it was actually okay for Zhu Wen to engage in construction.
Of course, it was impossible for him to refute Zhang Yan's words now, so he nodded and asked, "Does the saint want me to establish culture and religion in Hunan and settle the four directions?"
A smile appeared on Zhang Yan's face, "The Taiwei really knows me. Now the world is gradually changing from chaos to rule, and you are guarding Hunan for me. If you can follow the strategy of King Wu Mu of Chu and reuse local scribes, you will be able to quickly rule the place." "
Guo Wei shook his head repeatedly, "I am a martial artist and have never studied. If I am not a talented person who promotes civilized governance, I may betray the entrustment of the saint."
Zhang Hao laughed loudly. He looked at Guo Wei with deep meaning. Are you kidding me? Taizu of the Later Zhou Dynasty, who governed the country more comprehensively than Guo Rong in history, could not promote culture and education and could not govern Hunan. How could it be possible?
"For example, Gao Xingzhou, An Shenqi, He Fujin, etc. really can't, but you, Guo Wei, can definitely do it!"
Guo Wei's face changed twice, and finally he mustered up the courage to look at Zhang Yan: "I am a surrendered minister from Hedong. I have only surrendered for a few months. Hunan is a newly separatist land. The saint suddenly gives me full power, so I am not afraid that I will do something wrong." Are you interested?"
These words were actually words that Guo Wei had hidden in his heart for a long time. He even felt that Zhang Gao deliberately put him in Hunan just to make him have thoughts that he shouldn't have, and then have an excuse to kill him.
Zhang Yan did not look at Guo Wei, but looked at the rubble in front of him and said: "Don't think too much, Taiwei. I use you because I know you have the ability to protect Hunan for me.
Of course, if you dare to have second thoughts, I don't even need to personally mention the tiger and wolf masters. I only need to send one or two swordsmen and pens, and you can only be captured without mercy. "
Saying that, Zhang Hao finally looked at Guo Wei, "Don't trust the people you employ, and don't trust the people you doubt! I dare to use you, but I never thought you would have second thoughts, let alone be afraid of you having second thoughts."
Guo Wei finally prostrated himself on the ground among the rubble and said loudly: "Thanks to the saint's trust, I dare not not do my best!"
