Li Siyuan was also helpless about this, and because during the crusade against Liangchuan, he took the opportunity to eradicate the powerful minister An Chongzhi in the court, so he pushed the rebellion of Liangchuan to An Chongxue, saying that he separated the relationship between the court and Dong Zhang and Meng Zhixiang, and then pardoned the sins of Liangchuan in a vague way. As a result, the situation in Liangchuan was completely out of control.

However, after the Tang army withdrew, Dong Zhang and Meng Zhixiang began to fight again in order to fight for control of Shu, and finally Meng Zhixiang defeated Dong Zhang in the third year of Changxing (932) and captured the land of Liangchuan in one fell swoop. Of course, Li Siyuan had no choice about this, but in the following year, he was officially crowned as the king of Shu, and issued an edict saying: "Dong Zhang's tiger and wolf, self-inflicted annihilation, Qing should become a family with a good reputation, and keep the great festival of monarchs and ministers." In fact, he begged Meng Zhixiang not to be the emperor and to maintain this nominal relationship between monarchs and ministers. And Meng Zhixiang was old because the Central Plains still had his relatives, and at the same time, he didn't want to force Li Siyuan to send troops to fight against Liangchuan again, so he was also happy to maintain this ambiguous relationship with the Later Tang Dynasty, so he was not in a hurry to become emperor.

However, at the end of the fourth year of Changxing (933), Li Siyuan, the emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty, died of illness, and Li Conghou, the nineteen-year-old king of Song, succeeded to the throne. Li Conghou was too young to have prestige, and after he came to power, he had a very unpleasant quarrel with Li Congke's adopted son Feng Xiang, and the domestic chaos was about to break out. In this case, Meng Zhixiang had no scruples, and two months after Li Siyuan's death, he officially proclaimed himself emperor in Chengdu, with the founding name of Shu and the founding of the country called Mingde, which is the origin of Hou Shu.

Meng Zhixiang said that the emperor died only half a year, and passed the throne to his son Meng Chang (formerly known as Meng Renzan) before his death. Meng Chang is also a very characteristic emperor in the history of the Five Dynasties, and in many ways he is comparable to Li Yu, the queen of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Meng Chang is also a literary young man, and he can write poems and lyrics when he has nothing to do. However, there is still a distance between the achievements in this regard and the Li Yu, who is known as the "generation of heroes", and there are not many masterpieces left, but it is worth mentioning that the first Spring Festival couplets in China's history are from his pen, and the text is "Harvest year and Yuqing, festival number Changchun". In addition, during his reign, Wu Zhao, the prime minister of Shu, also carved ten books such as the "Nine Classics" with private wealth. It can also be regarded as playing a powerful role in promoting the development of China's cultural undertakings.

Meng Chang was only sixteen years old when he ascended the throne, but he still showed a certain talent at the beginning of his accession. At that time, because he was too young, Meng Zhixiang also left him four auxiliary ministers before his death, including Zhao Jiliang, Li Renhan, Zhao Tingyin, and Wang Chuhui. Among these four people, Zhao Jiliang is the prime minister, Wang Chuhui is the privy envoy, and Li Renhan and Zhao Tingyin are both former generals with heavy troops, which are very difficult to manage. And in addition to Zhao Jiliang's dedication to his duties, the other three didn't take Meng Chang seriously at all. In the DPRK, he is domineering and arrogant. In particular, Li Renhan, who was the commander of the Ma Bujun of the Weisheng Army at that time, was so proud of his high merit and power that when Meng Chang first ascended the throne, he asked to be crowned as the judge of the six armies, and sent someone to the Privy Council to supervise the drafting of the edict of appointment. This move has broken the limit of what an emperor can bear. But Meng Chang did not panic in the face of this situation, but just followed Li Renhan's request first. It was sealed as a Zhongshu order and sentenced the six armies to all guards. Later, he joined forces with Zhao Jiliang, the prime minister who was dissatisfied with Li Renhan, and Zhao Tingyin, the envoy of the Baoning army, to eradicate it in one fell swoop, and it was still handled very properly.

But in fact, Meng Chang's style similar to Mingjun did not last long, and soon became greedy for comfort, pursuing enjoyment, not enterprising, and even a little absurd. Meng Chang was obsessed with atrial surgery. And when he came to power, his puberty had not yet passed, and it was the time when his energy was at his peak, so he recruited beautiful women and found a balance for various hormones secreted in his body. Within a few years, the harem was already full of beauties. It was flooded, but Meng Chang was still not satisfied, and issued an order in the sixth year of Guangzheng (943). All unmarried women between the ages of thirteen and twenty must be elected to the palace. This time, the whole country was in an uproar, and the people married their daughters one after another, calling it a "surprise marriage", but there were still a large number of women who were called into the palace, so that the harem was overcrowded, and the title alone was divided into fourteen levels, ranging from Zhaoyi, Zhaorong to Xiujuan. Among these women, the most favored by Meng Chang is a woman surnamed Fei who came to Qingcheng, it is said that she is beautiful and as delicate as a flower, so Meng Chang gave her a nickname, called "Mrs. Flower".

Mrs. Hua Rui is also a famous talented woman in the fifth generation, and she can be said to be proficient in poetry and songs, stir-frying and cooking. Meng Chang is also extremely fond of her, soaking with her every day, reciting poems and lyrics, enjoying flowers and entertainment, living a very romantic life, and having a good relationship, and because Mrs. Hua Rui likes hibiscus and peonies, Meng Chang planted these flowers all over the city of Chengdu for her to watch, and even did not hesitate to send people to Luoyang to buy good varieties and bring them back to Chengdu for planting, so that now Chengdu still has the reputation of Rongcheng. But Mrs. Hua Rui is not only talented, but also very knowledgeable, and regularly advises Meng Chang to pay attention to state affairs, but unfortunately Meng Chang always thinks that the mountains and rivers of Shu are dangerous, and he is not afraid of foreign enemies attacking, so he never adopts the correct opinion of Mrs. Hua Rui, and finally ends up a tragic end for himself.

However, in the first ten years of Meng Chang's ascension, whether it was him or the people of Shu, life was still very good. On the one hand, during this period, the Central Plains was in turmoil for many years, the Tang, Jin, and Han dynasties perished one after another, and the Khitan invaded repeatedly, which naturally made the Central Plains Dynasty have no time to look westward, and the Shu State was relatively peaceful. On the other hand, Zhao Liangji, the prime minister left by Meng Zhixiang, is loyal to the country and has a very strong style, which can be called a generation of virtuous ministers. Under his governance, the Shu Kingdom flourished in various undertakings and was very prosperous. In the thirteenth year of Guangzheng (950), the rice of Shu was only sold for three yuan, and the taxes of the people were very light, but the grain and gold silk in the treasury were extremely rich. At that time, the city of Chengdu was full of hibiscus, when the flowers bloomed in September, the flowers in the city were splendid, the fragrance was overflowing, the riverside outside the city, it was the pavilion everywhere, and the tourists gathered. At this time, it was the end of the Later Han Dynasty, and the people of Shuzhong were really different from those people in the Central Plains who lived in dire straits.

The real decline of Hou Shu was after Meng Chang's pro-government. In the eleventh year of Guangzheng (948), Meng Chang killed Li Renhan's nephew Zhang Ye, and forced the ruling ministers Zhao Tingyin and Wang Chu to retreat to the second line, and before that, Zhao Liangji had also died of illness, so that the old ministers left by Meng Zhixiang completely withdrew from the political center of Houshu. Meng Chang personally pulled out a large number of rice buckets, such as his closest minister Wang Zhaoyuan, who was one of the representatives.

Wang Zhaoyuan has been Meng Chang's attendant since he was thirteen years old, but he is just a personal servant, and after Meng Chang became in power, in order to deal with those veterans, he began to fully support "his own people" like Wang Zhaoyuan. Within a few years, he was promoted to privy councillor and put him in charge of military affairs. But Wang Zhaoyuan was originally an incompetent person, but he belonged to the kind of person who felt good about himself, often compared himself to Zhuge Liang, and often boasted to others that it was easy for him to take the Central Plains, but later he was defeated by the Song army, and he couldn't help but be ashamed and anxious, and he actually cried out, and was called "Zhuge Liang with juice". Become a laughing stock.

When Meng Chang was in power, the Later Han Dynasty had just been founded, and this short-lived dynasty focused its main energy on internal strife, so it had no spare strength to launch an offensive against the outside world. During Guo Wei's reign, the general idea of governing was still on how to consolidate the regime, and there was no external expansion, so it did not put pressure on Meng Chang until Chai Rong came to power. It's a different story.

Chai Rong was an ambitious emperor, and as soon as he came to power, he proposed to use "ten years to level the world." Ten years to support the people, ten years to achieve peace", the ambition to dominate the world has been fully demonstrated. By the time period of Wang Puxian's "Pingbian Ce", under the governance of the two emperors Guo Wei and Chai Rong, the national strength of the Later Zhou Dynasty had gradually become stronger, and the victory in the Battle of Gaoping and the reorganization of the forbidden army gave Chai Rong a strong confidence. Therefore, the time is ripe for a war of unification with foreign countries.

Chai Rong also had a good reason to target Hou Shu for the first strike. This is because after the destruction of the Later Jin Dynasty, the then Xiongwu Army (ruled in Qinzhou) Jiedu made He Jianjian because he did not want to be subordinate to the Khitan, so he raised Qin (now Tianshui, Gansu), Cheng (now Chengxian County, Gansu), and Jie (now Wudu, Gansu) The land of the three states was attached to Houshu, and later Shu took advantage of the chaos in the Central Plains and took the opportunity to seize Fengzhou (now Fengxian East, Shaanxi).

Qin, Cheng, Jie, and Feng are not the birthplaces of Shu (the former Shu was taken by Wang Jian from the hands of Li Maozhen, who was handsome in Qishuai. After the fall of Qianshu, it returned to the Central Plains), so the people there still have a lot of feelings for the Central Plains. Moreover, at this time, Meng Chang, the lord of Shu, had been in power for many years, and the country was becoming more and more corrupt, and the four outer states had also increased their plunder, which caused strong dissatisfaction among the local people, so some Qinzhou people presented a map of the four states to Chai Rong, asking Hou Zhou to send troops to recover the old land of the Central Plains.

Chai Rong was also very excited when he saw that the people's hearts were available. At the same time, since he has the intention to dominate the world, Hou Shu is of course the object of his conquest sooner or later, so Chai Rong wants to take advantage of this opportunity to recover Qin, Cheng, Jie, Feng and other four states first, as a bridgehead for the future large-scale attack on Shu.

In the second year of Zhou Xiande (955), Chai Rong appointed the envoy of Fengxiang Jiedu as the envoy of the southwest camp, and the envoy of the southern court of Xuanhui as the capital of soldiers and horses, and officially launched the battle of the western expedition with the purpose of recovering Qin, Cheng, Jie, and Feng. And this battle also showed the signs of the demise of Hou Shu.

Long before the Later Zhou sent troops, Meng Chang, the lord of Shu, had already learned that the people of Qin, Jie, Cheng, Feng and other prefectures were unstable, and the Later Zhou had the intention of recovering his camera, so he sent his cronies Zhao Jizha to the border to inspect the border.

At that time, Hou Zhou had not yet sent troops, Zhao Jizha turned around and saw that there was nothing wrong at the border, thinking that this was a good time to quickly improve his political status, so he reported to Meng Chang when he went back, saying: "Hou Zhou is about to send a large army over, but Xiongwu (ruled in Qinzhou) Jiedu makes Han Jixun and Fengzhou Assassin Wang Wandi are incompetent, and they will definitely not be able to resist the attack of the Zhou army." ”

Meng Chang hurriedly asked, "Then who can be the commander of the retreating enemy?" Zhao Jiza immediately replied: "Of course, I am an all-round talent in civil and military affairs." ”

Meng Chang had always been confused in his inspection of cadres, but after hearing it, he believed it to be true, and immediately officially appointed him as the supervising envoy of the Xiongwu Army, immediately went to Qinzhou to take up his post, and sent 1,000 elite people of the forbidden army to serve as his guard.

Zhao Jizha was very excited after receiving the appointment, because he was transferred from the central government to the local government, and he could scrape the ground and gild himself, which could play a good role in promoting his future promotion.

Therefore, he also attached great importance to this opportunity and was very well prepared, which is not to say that he was prepared to fight the enemy, but that he was very well prepared to scrape the ground after he took office.

While he went to the front line to take up his post, he also brought a group of wives and concubines and a large number of domestic slaves, and went to Qinzhou with great momentum.

But as soon as Zhao Jizha arrived in Deyang, he heard that Hou Zhou had really sent troops over, and he was immediately frightened and panicked, and did not dare to go to the front line to take up his post again. didn't wait for Meng Chang's edict, so he sent his wife and the private property he brought back first.

On May 20, Zhao Jizha fled back to Beijing alone. Because before this, the momentum of his expedition was still relatively large, and the government and the opposition of Shu already knew that Hou Zhou had already sent troops.

Therefore, when Zhao Jiza returned to Beijing this time, he was suddenly shocked, and they all thought that the Zhou army had already entered the city. Meng Chang was also shocked, and hurriedly summoned him to inquire about the military situation ahead, but Zhao Jizha didn't go anywhere at all, and he couldn't answer a word. This completely angered Meng Chang, and he immediately ordered him to be beheaded for public display.

Since Meng Chang became pro-government, most of the cadres he has promoted have been this kind of cadre, and the national situation is no longer good. However, fortunately, the terrain of Shu is still very dangerous, although Qin, Jie, Cheng, and Feng are on the periphery of Shu, they all have Qinling Mountains as their backing, and the initial progress of the Zhou army is not very smooth.

At this time, the ministers of the Later Zhou were also shaken, thinking that the Shu land was dangerous, and the food and salary were not well fed, and they heard that the Shu lord Meng Chang had asked for help from the Southern Tang and Northern Han respectively, if the attack continued, and the war was still not smooth, I am afraid that these two countries would also take the opportunity to send troops to the Later Zhou, so they asked Chai Rong to withdraw his troops and stop the war.

However, Chai Rong was not moved, but instead sent Zhao Kuangyin, the former army of the new noble palace in the DPRK, to the front line to inspect the progress of the war. Zhao Kuangyin came to the front line after receiving the order, and after some careful investigation, careful investigation and careful thinking, he came to the conclusion that these four states would definitely be conquered by the Zhou army.

Chai Rong's confidence became even stronger after hearing this, and he strictly ordered Wang Jing, Xiang Xun and others to continue to lead their troops to attack, and sure enough, after a short time, these four states were conquered by the Zhou army one after another.

The loss of the four states of Qin, Jie, Cheng, and Feng made Meng Chang feel very passive. Because in this way, all the peripheral positions of Shu to resist Hou Zhou were lost, and Meng Chang had no choice but to recruit troops and buy horses, and make every effort to defend the defense line of Jianmen (now Beijianmen Pass, Jiange County, Sichuan) and Baidi (east of Fengjie County, Chongqing), and wrote to Chai Rong to ask for reconciliation and Dapan hometown relations (Meng Chang and Chai Rong's hometown is Longgang, Xingzhou).

And Chai Rong didn't give an answer at all because he saw Meng Chang calling himself "Emperor of Dashu" in the letter and hated him for raising his own value. This made Meng Chang more and more frightened, and he had to raise military rations, build weapons, and prepare for war. However, this money has to be taken out of the common people, and as soon as the war is prepared, the quality of life of the common people will decline sharply, which will further intensify the domestic contradictions in Houshu.

However, fortunately, after Chai Rong recaptured the four states of Qin, Jie, Cheng, and Feng, he did not take advantage of the victory to start another war against Shu, because at this time, he had already locked the next target of sending troops to the Southern Tang Dynasty, which was known as the first power in the south. (To be continued.) )