PFC Chapter 228: Former Shu and Later Shu
Chapter 228: Former Shu and Later Shu
The Prince of Chengdu was handsome but illiterate, and wanted to become the Emperor Taizong. However, the Prince of Changsha, Sima Yi, who was older than the Prince of Chengdu, stood in front of Sima Ying, under the instigation of the Prince of Hejian, Sima Yun.
The two jointly sent troops to besiege the King of Changsha, the King of Hejian sent 7 troops, and the King of Chengdu sent 20 troops. When attacking Luoyang, the King of Changsha had only tens of thousands of troops, but he defeated the King of Chengdu's army many times, beheaded and captured 7 people, but due to the huge gap in strength between the enemy and us, the royal aristocracy in Luoyang was divided.
In 304 AD, Sima Yue, the King of Donghai, colluded with the imperial guards to launch a coup, arrested the King of Changsha and asked for peace with the King of Hejie. Sima Yi, the King of Changsha, was burned to death. Like the King of Hejian, the King of Donghai was not a direct descendant of Sima Yi, but he was the last one to laugh in the Eight Kings Rebellion.
In a sense, he was also the founder of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. After the death of Sima Yi, King of Changsha, Sima Ying, King of Chengdu, became the Emperor Taizong as he wished. However, the King of Chengdu had no talent in governing the country and quickly lost the support of the people.
Sima Yue, King of Donghai, kidnapped Emperor Hui of Jin and led an army to attack King of Chengdu. However, he was defeated in Dangyin and fled back to his fiefdom. Emperor Hui of Jin fell into the hands of King of Chengdu, but King of Chengdu was not happy at all because Zhang Fang, a general under Sima Yun, King of Hejian, had taken the opportunity to occupy Luoyang.
Soon, Donghai King Sima Yue's Dongying Palace joined forces with Xianbei and Jie to attack Chengdu King's base camp Yecheng. Chengdu King fled back to Luoyang with Emperor Hui, and his general Liu Yuan took the opportunity to establish himself as Chanyu.
The death knell of the Western Jin Dynasty was ringing slowly. After returning to Luoyang, King Chengdu was placed under house arrest. Zhang Fang saw that he was unpopular, so he forcibly packed up the Luoyang court and moved it to Chang'an, the base camp of King Hejian. The people of Luoyang fled everywhere, the treasury was looted by the rebels, and the ancestral temples and palaces were burned down.
The tragic scene of Dong Zhuo's forced relocation of the capital 100 years ago was repeated, and the King of Hejian abolished Sima Ying's title of Emperor Taizong.
The 25th son of Emperor Wu of Jin, Prince of Yuzhang Sima Chi, was enthroned as Emperor Taizong. Prince of Donghai Sima Yue led an army to attack Hejian. At once, many people responded to the attack. Prince of Hejian was defeated and fled. Prince of Donghai occupied Chang'an and welcomed Emperor Hui.
The two losers in Luoyang, Sima Ying, King of Chengdu, and Sima Yun, King of Hejie, were killed by Sima Yue, King of Donghai. So far, the Eight Kings Rebellion has basically ended. It lasted for 16 years and caused serious damage to the society of the Western Jin Dynasty.
It also sounded the death knell for the Sima royal family. In 306 AD, Emperor Hui of Jin, Sima Zhong, died mysteriously.
Sima Chi, Emperor Huai of Jin, ascended the throne as Sima Rui, the King of Langya, who had originally surrendered to the King of Donghai. He requested to cross the river to the south to Eastern Wu and made Jianye his capital. Soon, Liu Yuan established a country and proclaimed himself emperor.
The country was named the Great Han, and history records that Shi Le, a general of Han, Zhao, and Qi, marched into the Central Plains, but was unable to resist. Sima Yue, the King of Donghai, was forced to go to war under pressure, and Shi Le eventually died of worry and fear.
Shi Le crushed Sima Yue's body to dust and scattered ashes, and banned the killing of the 36 kings of the Sima family.
In 311 AD, Liu Cong captured Luoyang, captured Emperor Huai of Jin, and killed more than 10 princes and citizens. Sima Yi succeeded Emperor Huai of Jin. He ascended the throne in Chang'an and became Emperor Ming of Jin. In 316 AD, Liu Yao entered Chang'an and served Emperor Min of Jin, and the Western Jin Dynasty fell.
[Understand the separatist regimes in one breath, the history of the former Shu and the later Shu regimes, and some basic knowledge about the Shu Kingdom]
Four hundred thousand people took off their armor, and not one of them was a man. This was another regime that had ruled Sichuan and Shu since the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.
During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Wang Jian and Meng Zhixiang successively established their own regimes in Shu and established the Former Shu and Later Shu regimes respectively. So what is the relationship between the Former Shu and Later Shu regimes?
How did they establish and perish? This video takes us into the history of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.
Jianli: Wang Jian was born in Gushi, Guangzhou. He was born into a street rogue family. He was nicknamed "Thief Wangba" because he was the eighth child in his family. Wang Jian was imprisoned for committing a crime, but was secretly released by the jailer. He accidentally met a monk from Wudang Mountain.
Seeing that Wang Jian had an extraordinary talent, this man advised him to join the army. So Wang Jian joined the Zhongwu Army and quickly stood out in the army.
In 878 AD, the Huang Chao Uprising broke out and quickly swept across the Central Plains. Emperor Xizong of Tang fled in a hurry and sought refuge in Bashu. Wang Jian followed the officer Yang Fuguang to fight against Huang Chao and became one of the eight commanders of the Zhongwu Army.
After Yang Fuguang's death, Wang Jian recognized the great eunuch Tian Lingzi as his adoptive father, and his status rose rapidly, and he was appointed General of the Guards. Soon, Huang Chao's army was defeated and fled from Chang'an, and Tang Xizong, who had been in exile in Sichuan for five years, returned to Chang'an.
However, the eunuch Tian Lingzi and Wang Chongrong competed for power, which led to the Hedong Army attacking Chang'an. Tian Lingzi took Tang Xizong hostage and fled, and Wang Jian escorted Tang Xizong all the way with all his heart.
Once, Emperor Xizong of Tang fell asleep with his head resting on Wang Jian's legs, and when he woke up, he gave his own imperial physician to Wang Jian. The eunuch Tian Lingzi was worried that he would be liquidated by Emperor Xizong of Tang, so he asked to be exiled to Chengdu to join his brother Chen Jingxuan.
Wang Jian was also excluded because he was Tian Lingzi's adopted son and was sent to a subordinate area to serve as a governor. Wang Jian recruited 8000 soldiers to capture Langzhong and began to develop his own power.
Chen Jingxuan was the governor of Xichuan. Ever since Wang Jian entered Sichuan, he had been worried that Wang Jian would covet Xichuan. So he summoned Wang Jian in the name of his brother Tian Lingzi. However, when Wang Jian was halfway there, Chen Jingxuan suddenly regretted his decision and asked him to return the same way.
Wang Jian was furious and turned against Tian Lingzi and Chen Jingxuan, and began to attack Xichuan. In 890 AD, Wang Jian conquered Chengdu, obtained 12 states in Xichuan, and imprisoned Tian Lingzi and Chen Jingxuan.
Emperor Zhaozong of Tang Dynasty appointed Wang Jian as the governor of Xichuan, and Wang Jian successively annexed Dongchuan, Shannan West Road, Qiannan Sizhou and other places, and his power reached its peak. In 903 AD, Emperor Zhaozong of Tang Dynasty appointed Wang Jian as the King of Shu.
The following year, Zhu Wen killed Emperor Zhaozong of Tang, established Emperor Ai of Tang, and changed the reign title to Tianyou. Wang Jian set up an administrative office in Chengdu, refused to use the reign title of Tianyou, and continued to follow the reign title of Tianfu of Emperor Zhaozong of Tang, openly competing with Zhu Wen.
In 907 AD, Zhu Wen abdicated and established the Later Liang Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty fell. Wang Jian refused to recognize the Later Liang Dynasty and led officials and people to cry for the Tang emperor for three days. He then proclaimed himself emperor, named the country Dashu, and made Chengdu the capital, known in history as the Former Shu. This was the first regime to secede from Sichuan since the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.
In the late Tang Dynasty, there was a lot of war and a large number of people fled to Sichuan. Although Wang Jian had not read much, he liked to talk with scholars and valued poets who came to Sichuan. The signing of laws and cultural relics had the legacy of the Tang Dynasty.
Wang Jian was already 60 years old when he ascended the throne, and inevitably had to worry about the issue of succession. Wang Jian, who was once the adopted son of a eunuch, adopted 120 adopted sons and gave birth to 11 biological sons.
Most of the new sons lacked experience and political experience, while most of the adopted sons were from humble backgrounds, cruel and greedy. They occupied high positions and generous salaries in Former Shu, leading to increasingly fierce internal conflicts in Former Shu.
In 913 AD, the crown prince of Former Shu, Wang Yuanying, was killed, and Wang Jian appointed his youngest son, Wang Zongyan, as the crown prince. Five years later, Wang Jian died of illness, and Wang Zongyan ascended the throne and changed his name to Wang Yan.
Before his death, Wang Jian ordered the eunuch Song Guangsi and his adopted son Wang Zongbi to assist in the administration, with Wang Zongbi in charge of external affairs and Song Guangsi in charge of internal affairs. However, Wang Zongbi and Song Guangsi only thought about forming cliques for personal gain, abusing their power and amassing wealth, making Shu a chaotic place with disunity between the upper and lower classes.
As an emperor, Wang Yan was even more extravagant and licentious. In 925 AD, Li Cunxu, the Emperor Zhuangzong of the Later Tang Dynasty, led his troops to attack the Former Shu. All the prefectures and counties along the way surrendered, and within 70 days, the troops arrived at the gates of Chengdu.
Wang Yan surrendered the city, and Former Shu was destroyed. All members of the Former Shu royal family were killed on the way to Luoyang.
Soon after the fall of Former Shu, Li Cunxu, the Emperor Zhuangzong of Later Tang, was killed in a mutiny. Meng Zhixiang took the opportunity to establish a separate Shu territory and founded Later Shu on the basis of Former Shu. Meng Zhixiang was from Xingtai, Xingzhou. Compared with Wang Jian, a street rogue from Former Shu, Meng Zhixiang's family background was more prominent.
Both his father and grandfather were handsome. His uncle Meng Zhixiang's sister married Li Kening, the younger brother of Li Keyong, the Prince of Jin, and Meng Zhixiang himself married Li Keyong's niece.
After the establishment of the Later Tang, Li Cunxu, the Emperor Zhuangzong of the Later Tang, appointed Meng Zhixiang as the governor of BJ to guard Taiyuan. After the Later Tang destroyed the Former Shu, the 52-year-old Meng Zhixiang was recommended by the French commander Guo Chongtao to guard Xichuan.
However, a mutiny broke out in Chengdu at this time. Li Jiji, the King of Wei, hated Guo Chongtao for taking all the credit for conquering Shu. Instigated by the eunuchs, he falsely accused Guo Chongtao of attempting to establish himself as the emperor to his father, Li Cunxu.
The eunuch Ma Yangui returned to Xiangyan Temple and slandered Guo Chongtao to Empress Liu, and killed Guo Chongtao with the edict written by the empress. During this period, Meng Zhixiang advised Emperor Zhuangzong of Later Tang not to kill Guo Chongtao.
However, when he arrived in Chengdu, it was too late. The people in the area were uneasy and rebellion broke out. Meng Zhixiang stabilized the situation after taking office, but soon the Xingjiao Gate Incident broke out.
Li Cunxu, the Zhuangzong of Later Tang, was killed, and Li Keyong's adopted son Li Siyuan became the emperor, and was known as Mingzong of Later Tang. Meng Zhixiang recruited soldiers and prepared to establish his own regime, refusing to obey the orders of Later Tang.
In 930 AD, Dong Zhang, the governor of Dongchuan, started a rebellion, and Meng Zhixiang responded with an army. The Later Tang Dynasty failed to suppress the rebellion, so it had to acquiesce to the fact that Meng Zhixiang established a separatist regime in Xichuan.
Soon Meng Zhixiang annexed Dongchuan, and Dong Zhang, the governor of Dongchuan, was defeated and killed. Meng Zhixiang gained control of the two Sichuan provinces. In 933 AD, Li Siyuan, the Emperor Mingzong of the Later Tang Dynasty, canonized Meng Zhixiang as the King of Shu. Soon after Li Siyuan died, Meng Zhixiang proclaimed himself emperor in Chengdu, and named his country Shu, which is known in history as the Later Shu.
However, Meng Zhixiang died of illness after only 7 months in office, and was posthumously named Gaozu.
His son Meng Chang succeeded him. At this time, the Central Plains was in chaos. Later Shu took advantage of the geographical advantages of Sichuan and Shu to establish a separatist regime and restored its territory to that of the Former Shu period. Meng Chang was quite wise in the early period of his reign, working hard to govern the country and restoring the state.
Meng Chang also warned officials that "the people are overpaid and the people are easy to abuse, but the gods are hard to deceive." However, in the later period of Meng Chang's reign, he indulged in wine and sex and ignored government affairs, which led to corruption and increasingly acute social contradictions.
Meng Chang once wrote a poem about a lake covered with gemstones one night, which was criticized by later generations. Like Li Yu, the last emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Meng Chang was also an artist emperor who often sang with poets and made great contributions to the development of the Huajian School.
The earliest collection of poems in Chinese history, Huajian Ji, was written during the reign of Meng Chang. Meng Chang had a concubine who was given the title of Lady Huarui. Facing the demise of the Later Shu, he lamented that "400,000 people took off their armor, and not one of them was a man."
In 955 AD, Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou, Chai Rong, seized Qincheng, Jiefeng and four states. In 4 AD, Emperor Taizu of Song, Zhao Kuangyin, sent troops, Meng Chang opened the city and surrendered, and Later Shu was destroyed. Meng Chang died suddenly 964 days after being escorted to Kaifeng, at the age of 7.
[The most bizarre and brutal Southern Han Dynasty in history - little historical knowledge - Southern Han]
In the long history of China, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period was an era of turmoil and division. Many political regimes emerged in the south, which together with the five dynasties and a small country in the Central Plains were collectively called the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.
Among them, the Southern Han regime was one of the most peculiar regimes during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and was famous for the fact that "only those who castrated themselves could become officials." This video will take us into the Southern Han during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.
The Southern Han regime was established by Liu Yin in 917, and its rule covered the three provinces of Dongguan, Xiguan and Nanhai today, bringing unique political, cultural and economic influence to the Lingnan region.
The establishment of the Southern Han regime was not achieved overnight, but a process that went through many political events. In 904 AD, the Tang Dynasty appointed Liu Yin as the governor of Qinghai, which marked the embryonic form of the Southern Han regime.
At that time, the Tang Dynasty was in decline, with frequent wars both at home and abroad, and the prestige of the central government gradually disintegrated. During this period, local Jiedushi became an important role that actually controlled military and political power.
Liu Yin quickly emerged as an ambitious and talented military general, and he played an important role in the Guangzhou area, handling military and political affairs and maintaining peace on the border.
The Tang government highly praised Liu Yin's military achievements and appointed him as the Jiedushi of Qinghai, a newly created Jiedushi position specifically responsible for southern coastal defense.
Liu Yin used his military prestige and political skills to gradually consolidate his position. He adopted a series of clever strategies to establish connections with local nobles and win their support.
At the same time, he focused on the training of the army and the treatment of soldiers, improving military discipline and enhancing the combat effectiveness of the army. These measures made Liu Yin deeply loved and supported by soldiers, officials and civilians.
However, the road to the establishment of the Southern Han regime was not smooth. In the early days of Liu Yin's reign, Southern Han faced pressure from many directions.
The Central Plains regimes in the north, such as the Later Liang, Later Tang, and Later Jin, coveted the prosperity and resources of Lingnan and launched attacks on the Southern Han Dynasty many times. At the same time, the local nobles were also dissatisfied with Liu Yin's rule and tried to weaken the influence of the Southern Han Dynasty.
Liu Yin had to face the dilemma of being attacked from both inside and outside, and at the same time, he used clever diplomatic means to win the support and cooperation of neighboring countries, stabilize the situation in Lingnan, and respond flexibly to various challenges and problems.
Liu Yin gradually established the Southern Han regime on a solid foundation in the Lingnan region. He made Guangzhou the capital of the Southern Han regime and vigorously developed maritime trade, laying the foundation for the prosperity and development of the Southern Han.
At the same time, Liu Yin also focused on governing the country and promoting Confucianism, which attracted many cultural figures to Lingnan and endowed the Southern Han regime with a rich cultural heritage.
After Liu Yin's death, his brother Liu Yan succeeded him. In 917 AD, Liu Yan ascended the throne and officially established the Southern Han Dynasty, becoming the second emperor of the Southern Han Dynasty.
During his reign, Liu Yan took a series of measures to consolidate the Southern Han regime, strengthen centralization, and devote himself to the development of economy and culture.
In terms of diplomacy, Liu Yan also showed a certain wisdom. He adopted a joint strategy and established friendly relations with Wu, Vietnam, Tang and other countries to resist the invasion from the north.
These diplomatic measures maintained the independence of Southern Han to a certain extent. In terms of economy, Liu Yan was committed to developing trade and agriculture and strengthening the country's financial foundation.
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