The year of Li Jing's accession to the throne was 943 A.D., in the north of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Shi Jingjiao, the founding emperor of the Later Jin Dynasty, had just ended his sinful life at the end of the previous year, and the Emperor Shi Chonggui of the Later Jin Dynasty had just ascended the throne, and immediately under the instigation of the general Jing Yanguang, there was a fierce conflict with the powerful Khitan, and the war between the two sides was about to break out, and the situation was very favorable to Li Jing.

As early as when Li Yu was alive, he predicted that sooner or later there would be chaos in the north, so he began to actively raise military funds for the needs of the Northern Expedition. By the time of his death, there were 7 million yuan of money and silk stored in Dechang Palace alone, and the total military expenditure available in the whole country reached 10 million, which was enough for Li Jing to fight a big battle. If Li Jing can keenly seize the opportunity, keep his head in the dark, and patiently wait for the opportunity that is most beneficial to him to appear, the future is still promising.

However, Li Jing's strategic vision is still very lacking, because soon after he ascended the throne, the Later Jin Dynasty had already started a war with the Khitan (see the Five Dynasties for details), and the situation of the great chaos in the north was very obvious, but Li Jing forgot that only the Central Plains Dynasty was the biggest threat to the Southern Tang Dynasty, and he did not wait and see the success or failure of the Later Jin and Khitan, but during this time, he successively waged war against Fujian and Chu in the south, which caused the consequences to the Southern Tang Dynasty was still very serious.

The state of Fujian was a secessionist regime established in the area of Fujian by Wang Shenzhi, the envoy of Fuzhou Jiedu of the Tang Dynasty, and its territory was roughly equal to the entire territory of today's Fujian. The establishment of the Min State was directly related to the great peasant uprising at the end of the Tang Dynasty.

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the world was in turmoil, and heroes from all walks of life rose up one after another, among which there was a butcher named Wang Xu in Henan, who also responded to the call of Huangchao and grasped the pulse of the times. pulled up a team and embarked on the broad road of rebellion. Wang Xianzhi and his elder brother Wang Chao are both military academies in this team.

The scale of Wang Xu's team was not large, and it was during the period when Qin Zongquan was dominant in the Central Plains. Wang Xu was afraid of being annexed by him, so he pulled up his troops and advanced south, all the way to Fujian. Later, Wang Xu and Wang Chao were killed in battle, and Wang Shenzhi was elected as the leader by everyone, and successfully occupied the entire territory of Fujian, and was later awarded an official position by the Tang Dynasty government, and since then he has rightly become a prince in the Tang Dynasty.

Wang Xianzhi was born in poverty, was very concerned about the welfare of the people, and was very strict with himself. The clothes are torn and patched before wearing, and they don't try to be famous, they once said: "I would rather be the festival envoy who opens the door than the emperor who closes the door." "He is a very knowledgeable person. Therefore, during the more than 20 years that Wang Shenzhi ruled the Fujian Kingdom, the life of the common people was quite good. But after Wang Zhenzhi died, all this changed.

Wang Zhenzhi has always served the Central Plains as Zhengshuo during his lifetime, and did not establish the name of the country, but after his eldest son Wang Yanhan ascended the throne, he immediately established the country as Damin. Set up a palace, place hundreds of officials, majestic cultural relics like the Son of Heaven, and recruit beautiful women to enrich the harem, but also build palaces around the West Lake outside Fuzhou City for more than ten miles. As a result, only two months after ascending the throne, he was attacked by his younger brother Wang Yanjun and beheaded him outside the Zichen Gate in public.

After Wang Yanjun came to power. That bad style was even worse than that of his brother, and he severed ties with the Central Plains Dynasty (at this time the Later Tang Dynasty). He called himself the "Emperor of Fujian", but internally he was tyrannical and expropriating. Cruelty is excessive, and a large number of construction, extensive palaces, feasting in the palace day and night, after getting drunk, and the concubines and palace maids chase naked for fun, without mentioning spiritual civilization at all.

The most ridiculous thing is that he was superstitious about the monks, and divided the land in the territory into three classes, and all the upper ones were distributed to monasteries and Taoist temples. These monks and old Taoists have benefited, so they naturally want to coax him with good words, saying that he can first be the son of peace for sixty years, and then go to heaven to be the immortal lord of Daluo.

Wang Yanjun was overjoyed after hearing this, and only waited until he was the Son of Heaven to become God again, and acted even more freely, without scruples. But in the end, he only dominated the Fujian Kingdom for ten years, and was killed by his son Wang Chang, and went to the sky to become the Great Luo Immortal Lord in advance.

After Wang Chang killed his father and usurped the throne, he inherited his father's will, and engaged in feudal superstitious activities in the palace.

He only cares about two things, one is to play with the concubines in the harem, and the other is to collect taxes. Wang Chang levied taxes very vigorously, and what cigarettes, alcohol, sugar, tea, chickens, ducks, fish, and dogs, to paraphrase the current words, are "only unthinkable, and there is nothing that cannot be collected."

In order to ensure tax revenue, Wang Chang began to strictly control the population, and the people had those who concealed their age on the back of their canes, those who concealed the population were beheaded, and those who fled were exterminated. Under the brutal rule of Wang Chang, the people of Fujian were boiling with resentment, the government and the opposition were uneasy, and the common people had no way to live.

Fortunately, Wang Chang only served as emperor for four years, and was eliminated by his two uncles Wang Yanxi and Wang Yanzheng, which can be regarded as a righteous annihilation.

It's a pity that something seems to have gone wrong with the genes of the Wang family, Wang Zhenzhi is a good person, but his offspring are all mutated. Wang Zhenzhi knew that after the two sons came to power, they also changed the soup but not the medicine.

After the two brothers killed Wang Chang, Wang Yanxi became the emperor, and then began to divide the spoils unevenly, and fought again, after several battles without winning or losing, Wang Yanzheng simply openly proclaimed himself emperor in Jianzhou (now Jian'ou, Fujian), and built another Yin State, which split from Fujian.

However, in the second year (944), Zhu Wenjin, the commander of the Crane Control Army of Fujian, staged a coup d'état, killed Wang Yanxi, the emperor of Fuzhou Min, and established himself as emperor, and then killed all the descendants of the Wang family. His approach made Wang Yanzheng, the emperor of Jianzhou Yin, unacceptable, so he led his troops to attack Fuzhou again to crusade against Zhu Wenjin.

It was at this time that Li Jing sent troops to attack Fujian. In fact, at this time, the situation is really favorable to Nantang. Because although it can't beat the Fujian Kingdom, it doesn't mean much to the Southern Tang Dynasty. But after all, it's also a pretty big territory, as the saying goes, don't worry about rabbits first. The key is also that since the death of Wang Shenzhi in Fujian, in the past ten years, after the chaos of monarchs and ministers, father and son, and brothers, Wang Shenzhi has already been completely defeated, and it should not be difficult to get it into his hands.

In December of the second year of Baoda (944), Li Jing sent the privy deputy envoy Cha Wenhui and Hongzhou Yingtun Du Yu Hou Bian Hao to lead troops to attack Fujian. At this time, Wang Yanzheng had already controlled the domestic situation and began to recruit soldiers and horses. Resist the Southern Tang army. However, the people of Fujian already hated the Wang family, so they heard that the Southern Tang army invaded Fujian. They all rushed to clear the way for them to cut down trees, and sent food and wages. The scene was still very enthusiastic.

The Tang army also successfully conquered Jianzhou in August of the following year, and destroyed the Fujian State. However, after the victory of the Tang army, they began to burn and loot in Jianzhou, burning all the palaces and burning the city, plus the heavy rain in those days, the temperature was very low, and the plague began to spread. A lot of people died.

This time, the people of Jianzhou were greatly disappointed, and Li Jing did not blame the generals because of their merits, which made the people of Fujian even more unattached.

At that time, there were still remnants of the Fujian State in the city of Fuzhou, and Li Jing did not know how to use troops, so he did not allow the generals to take advantage of the victory to pursue and take Fuzhou in one go. It was not until June of the fourth year of Baoda (946) that Chen Jue, the privy envoy, was sent to Fuzhou to persuade Li Hongyi, the defender in the city, to surrender.

Li Hongyi knew his intention, and deliberately saw him with a straight face, but scared Chen Jue so much that he didn't dare to speak. Wait for Chen Jue to go back. He sent troops to attack Fuzhou without authorization, but was defeated by Li Hongyi.

As a result, the Southern Tang Dynasty had to send troops again, and Li Hongyi could not support it alone. asked Wu Yue for help. Originally, Nantang was still very well prepared this time, and the troops sent by Wu Yue were not strong. Therefore, there is still a great hope of winning this battle, but the result is due to the generals' struggle for merit. The commander was incompetent, but in March of the fifth year of Baoda (947), he was defeated by Wu Yue's army, killing more than 20,000 people in the first battle, losing hundreds of thousands of heavy weapons, and emptying the treasury.

The defeat in Fuzhou had an impact not only on the battlefield. Because at the same time as the Battle of Fuzhou, the Later Jin Dynasty was destroyed by the Khitan, and then Yelu Deguang was unable to rule the Central Plains, so he had to retreat in disgrace, but as soon as he walked to Hebei, he suddenly fell ill and died.

This time, there is no owner in the Central Plains (see the Five Dynasties Wind and Cloud Scroll for details). This created a great opportunity for Li Jing to enter the Central Plains, when the Southern Tang Dynasty had a minister named Han Xizai, who turned out to be a Jinshi of the Later Tang Dynasty, because his father was killed by Li Siyuan, he defected to the Southern Tang Dynasty, when he ran away from the Central Plains, he once said to his friends: "If Wu uses me as the prime minister, he should be driven to the Central Plains." ”

He waited for this opportunity in the 21st year of his arrival in Jiangnan, so he wrote to Li Jing to send troops to the Northern Expedition, and pointed out: "Now that the Central Plains is in turmoil, and all the people have no owner, it is a great time to dominate the world. ”

Of course, Li Jing also knew this, but he had been stumped by the affairs of Fujian at this time, and he couldn't draw troops at all. At the same time that Yelude returned to the north, the Southern Tang Dynasty was defeated in Fuzhou, and his vitality was greatly damaged, and he was unable to settle the Central Plains in the north.

The loss of this opportunity, of course, is a pity for the Southern Tang Dynasty, but it is not that there is no chance, because the Central Plains is also in a mess under the rule of the Later Han Dynasty, and civil strife may break out again at any time, and the Southern Tang Dynasty still has the opportunity to take advantage of the opportunity, but Li Jing did not wait with peace of mind, but soon after, he chose to send troops to the Chu State.

The state of Chu was founded by Ma Yin, a native of Yanling, Xuzhou (now Yanling, Henan), and the specific situation was similar to that of the Min state. Ma Yin was originally a carpenter, at the end of the Tang Dynasty when the Huangchao Uprising, Ma Yin was recruited into the army, under the command of Sun Ru, the commander of the loyal military victory, and conquered Caizhou (now Shangcai, Henan). Later, he followed Sun Ru into Huainan and fought with Yang Xingmi for control of Huainan, but in the end Sun Ru was defeated and killed, and the remnants elected his general Liu Jianfeng as the leader, and fled to Hunan, and finally occupied Tanzhou (now Changsha, Hunan), Liu Jianfeng was also named the envoy of the Wu'an Army by the Tang Dynasty, and Ma Yin was the vanguard commander under him.

However, Liu Jianfeng was brutal and could not sympathize with the soldiers, and soon after occupying Tanzhou, he was killed by the soldiers, and his generals supported Ma Yin as the commander. In the first year of Guanghua (898), Ma Yin was officially announced by the Tang Dynasty as the envoy of the Wu'an Army, and since then he has become a prince in Hunan.

After Zhu Wen established the Liang, Ma Yin was the first prince in the south to request to be attached. This behavior moved Zhu Wen very much, so he immediately named him the king of Chu and allowed him to open the Tiance Mansion and set up the left and right ministers. After the establishment of the Later Tang Dynasty, Ma Yin was officially crowned as the king of Chu and allowed him to build palaces and set up hundreds of officials, which is the origin of the Chu State.

Ma Yin originally only had two states, Tan and Shao (now Shaoyang, Hunan), and later after a series of mergers and expansions, he occupied the whole territory of Hunan and Lingnan's Gui (now Guilin), Yi (now Yishan), Yan (now Laibin), Liu (now Liuzhou), Xiang (now Yangshou), a total of more than a dozen states of jurisdiction, in the southern countries, not big or small, ordinary, and because Chu was born from the Sun Confucian army that competed with Yang Xingmi for Huainan, so it has always had a hostile relationship with the first big country in the south - Wu State, and the situation is still relatively passive. However, Ma Yin's mind is still very flexible, and he has always respected the Central Plains Imperial Court, and relied on it as a backer to fight against the Wu State. Moreover, after the state of Chu was roughly formed, he tried to avoid foreign wars, and vigorously promoted the basic national policy of suspending troops and supporting the people and developing production.

Ma Yin still has a very good way of governing the country, encouraging the people in the country to grow tea, planting mulberry, and raising silkworms, and allowing them to pay taxes in kind instead of money, so that the people's enthusiasm for production has been greatly improved, and their lives have also improved. Moreover, Ma Yin also paid great attention to the development of commerce, encouraging businessmen from other countries to enter the country to do business. At the same time, Ma Yin used lead and iron to make money, so that after the merchants of other countries sold the goods in Chu, they could not take the money out (other countries are all made of copper, and it is useless to ask for it), so they had to exchange it for goods and take it away, so that the goods produced by the people of Chu will not worry about no market, and people at the time said that his practice is "to exchange the surplus of the local goods for the world's department stores, and the country will be rich." ”

Although the terrain of Chu is partial, under the governance of Ma Yin, it is still very rich, and the people can live and work in peace and contentment. But Ma Yin also has a bad point, that is, his ability in a certain aspect is really super strong, and he gave birth to dozens of sons in his life, so many that even he can't count them, which laid a solid foundation for the civil strife in Chu after his death.

In the third year of Tiancheng of the Later Tang Dynasty (928), a fierce battle broke out between the state of Chu and the old enemy of the state of Wu, and the result was that the state of Wu was defeated and was forced to sue for peace with the state of Chu. At this time, Xu Dexun, the prime minister of Chu State, said this to the captured Wu generals: "Although my Chu State is small, the old ministers and generals are still there. Since Ma Yin's surname is Ma, of course his sons are also foals, and Xu Dexun obviously expected that after Ma Yin's death, his sons would definitely cause civil strife.

In the first year of Changxing in the Later Tang Dynasty (930), Ma Yin died of illness at the age of 79, and ordered his second son Ma Xisheng to succeed to the throne, and at the same time stipulated that after Ma Xisheng's death, the brothers succeeded to the throne in turn, and those who violated the order were beheaded. This regulation actually undermines China's ancient tradition of succession, which is tantamount to opening the door for the future "many horses competing for the trough".

Ma Xisheng died of illness after two years in power, and there is nothing worth saying. After his death, Ma Yin's fourth son Ma Xifan ascended the throne, after this person came to power, he built a large number of palaces and pavilions, began to squander, day and night with beautiful women, children, and subordinates to feast, sing and dance, and make every effort to entertain people. A few years later, the family wealth left by Ma Yin was ruined by him, so he began to extort and extort money, and sold his official beard, and the state of Chu went downhill completely. (To be continued.) )