Later Liang Kaiping four years (910), Zhu Wen sent troops to attack Zhenzhou, Zhao Wang Rong to Li Cunqiao for help, at this time, Wang Chuzhi also sent people to the Jin State, expressing his willingness to make an alliance with Jin. Li Cunqiao sent troops to rescue Wang Rong, and Wang Chuzhi also led 5,000 elite soldiers to the expedition and defeated the Liang army in Baixiang.

In the following ten years, Li Cunqiao went north to attack and destroy Jiyan, went south to advance Wei Bo, and fought with Houliang on the Yellow River.

Although Wang Chuzhi was attached to Li Cunxuan, he actually maintained a semi-independent state, and was an important separatist in the north, tyrannical in Yiwu Town.

The Yiwu army has Yi, Ding, Qi three states, governed in Dingzhou, the northeast of Beiping is adjacent to Jiyan, the south is connected with Zhao and Houliang, and the west is the Jin State that is gradually stronger, the geographical environment is extremely important, Wang Chuzhi is therefore the dominant Beiping for 22 years.

Wang Zhizhi is good at witchcraft, there is a Taoist priest named Li Yingzhi under his hand, Wang Zhizhi got sick, Li Yingzhi jumped on the side of the god practice, to treat him, it is also a coincidence, Wang Zhizhi's illness happened to be cured at this time, so he thought that Li Yingzhi was a god, and since then he has been very favored by him, and let him wear Taoist clothes to be a camp Sima, and let him decide on military and political matters.

Li Yingzhi originally adopted a child in Shanyi, whose real name was Liu Yunlang, because Wang Chuzhi had never had a son, Li Yingzhi passed Liu Yunlang to Wang Chuzhi, saying that this child was born different, and he would be a master of great things in the future.

The wife can ask for second-hand, let alone a son, since the gods and men have said so, Wang Chuzhi accepted him as an adopted son without doubt and renamed it Wang Du.

As a result, Li Yingzhi became even more arrogant. He recruited strong men and set up a new army. Governed in Bolingfang, the square is open on all sides. It's all sideways.

This is very similar to Lijiang City, legend has it that the previous owner of Lijiang was called Mu Wangye, because once the city wall was built, the wood became sleepy, so Lijiang has not built the city wall.

Later, the old town of Lijiang began to charge the notorious maintenance fee of the ancient city, but because there was no city wall, this policy was useless, and countless tourists could still swagger into the city to sweep. I seem to be pulling a little far.

The generals under Wang Chuzhi all knew that this was a disaster, but because he was a big celebrity around Wang Chuzhi, he only dared to be angry but did not dare to speak.

When the Youzhou army borrowed Dingzhou to Beijing, Wang Zhizhi sent a soldier to ambush outside the city, in case of accidents, after the Youzhou army left, the soldiers entered the city to surround Li Yingzhi's mansion, captured and killed Li Yingzhi, and then met Wang Chuzhi. asked to kill Wang Du, but Wang Chuzhi did not agree.

The next day, when discussing the reward for meritorious deeds, Wang Chuzhi secretly wrote down the name of the armorer. Then he used practical actions to interpret the true connotation of the saying that it is not too late for a gentleman to take revenge for ten years, and in the next twenty years, he was a general above the captain. They were all killed by him on various charges, and none of them were spared.

Year 921. Wang Rong, the king of Zhao, was killed by his adopted son Zhang Wenli, and Li Cunqiao sent troops to crusade against Zhang Wenli. Wang Chuzhi consulted with the generals and said: "Calm down, the shelter of the fixed is also, although Wenli is guilty, but the calm will not exist alone." So he sent someone to ask Li Cunmiao not to send troops.

Li Cunmiao showed the wax book written by Zhang Wenli to Hou Liang to Wang Zhi, and said: "Wenli bears me, and the teacher cannot stop." ”

Wang Chuzhi had a son, Wang Yu, who also fled to the Jin Kingdom when Wang Gao fled to the Jin Kingdom, and Li Cunqiao once married his daughter to him and named him the defense envoy of Xinzhou.

When Wang Chuzhi heard that Li Cunqiao was determined to crusade against Zhang Wenli, he was very frightened, so he conspired with Wang Yu to let Wang Yu lead the Khitan army into the fortress to contain the Jin army, and promised to make Wang Yu his heir.

Wang Yu listened, changed his depression over the years, and responded happily, but after Wang Du heard about it, he began to become depressed.

After Wang Yu led the Khitan army into Dingzhou, the people of Dingzhou were very complaining, and Wang Du's subordinates and Zhao Xun persuaded Wang Du to raise trouble, so Wang Du launched a mutiny, put Wang Chuzhi under house arrest, claimed to be the queen of the Yiwu Army, and wantonly killed Wang's descendants and Wang Chuzhi's generals.

On the New Year's Day of the first month of the second year (922), Wang Du went to the West Mansion to pay homage to Wang Chuzhi, who had not yet recognized the situation, and angrily beat his chest and shouted: "Traitor, why should I be responsible?" ”

At that time, Wang Du did not bring anyone with him, Wang Chuzhi pounced on it, wanting to bite Wang Du's nose, but let Wang Du dodge, Wang Du shook his sleeves, and left without taking away a cloud, but soon after, he took away Wang Chuzhi's head, and Wang Chuzhi died like this.

Besides, after the king imprisoned Wang Chuzhi, Li Cunqiao defeated the Khitan in Shahe and marched to Dingzhou, and the royal capital was attached to Li Cunqiao again, and Li Cunqiao made the king the capital of the Yiwu Army, and let his son Li Jiqi marry the daughter of the royal capital.

Since then, Wang Du has been enjoying Li Cunqing's favor because of his son-in-law Li Jiqi's relationship.

When Li Siyuan ascended the throne, the royal capital had been guarding Yiding for more than ten years, and the officials below the assassin level were directly appointed by him, and the rent paid was also used to support the local army. At that time, the Khitans had invaded the border many times, so the imperial court stationed a large number of troops between Yu and Yi.

The king was afraid that they would annex him, and he also secretly took precautions, and after a long time, the two sides became suspicious.

Wang Du was afraid that the imperial court would transfer him to other places, so he asked Zhao Dejun, the envoy of Lu Longjiedu, to marry him. He also heard that Chengde Jiedu made Wang Jianjian have a conflict with An Chongzhu, so he sent an envoy to become a brother with Wang Jianjian, and at the same time conspired with Wang Jianjian to restore the old order in Hebei.

An Chongzhu hated Wang Jianli very much, so Shangzhu said that Wang Jianli and Wang Du colluded with each other and had the intention of rebellion.

Wang Jianli also said that An Chongzhi monopolized power and asked to enter the court to explain the situation to the emperor in person, and Li Siyuan summoned him.

Wang established the imperial court, saying that An Chongzhi and Zhang Yanlang, the third secretary of Xuanhui, were married relatives, colluding with internal and external parties, and acting as a prestige.

Li Siyuan saw An Chongzhi again, and said to him angrily: "Now give you a town to rest by yourself, replace you with Wang Jianli, and Zhang Yanlang will also be released as a foreign officer." ”

An Chongzhu said: "The ministers have served Your Majesty for decades, just as Your Majesty is rising, there is a lack of suitable candidates, and the ministers are secretive, and the world has been safe and sound for several years. Now that I am abandoned, I wish to hear what sins there are. ”

Li Siyuan left very unhappy and told Xuanhui envoy Zhu Hongzhao about it. Zhu Hongzhao said: "Your Majesty treats An and remembers him like a right hand on weekdays, how can you abandon him because of a small wrath?

I hope Your Majesty will think twice. "Soon. Li Siyuan summoned An Chongzhi to comfort and condole. The next day, Wang Jianli said goodbye and returned to the town. Li Siyuan said: "You recently said that you want to share my sorrows in the imperial court, where are you going today!" ”

At this time, Zheng Jue, the servant of the door and the secretary of the criminal department, and the secretary of the Tongping Zhangshi, asked for retirement, and Li Siyuan appointed Wang Jianli as the right servant and the servant of the Zhongshu, the secretary of the Tongping Zhangshi, and the third division of the sentence. As a result, the plan established by the royal capital and the king went bankrupt.

At this time, Wang Du sent the secret letter sealed with wax to the five commanders Qing, Xu, Lu, Yi, and Zi to sow discord among them.

He also sent people to persuade Wang Yanqiu, the deputy envoy of the northern deputy to guide the envoy of the Virtue Festival, but Wang Yanqiu did not listen to him, but instead played the situation of Wang Du's rebellion to Li Siyuan, and Li Siyuan was furious after hearing this. issued an edict to dismiss the official lord of the royal capital, and appointed Wang Yanqiu as the envoy to the north, temporarily presiding over the affairs of Dingzhou.

He also appointed Henghai Jiedu envoy An Xiantong as the deputy envoy to the north, and Zhang Qianzhao, the defense envoy of Zhengzhou, as the capital eunuch, and transferred various armies to attack Dingzhou.

Wang Yanqiu launched an attack on Dingzhou and soon captured the Beiguan City of Dingzhou. Wang Du used generous gifts to ask the leader of the Xi people to come to the rescue.

In May, 10,000 cavalry led by Vulture suddenly entered Dingzhou, and Wang Yanqiu retreated and held on to Quyang. The king fought with the vultures on the offensive.

The two sides fought at the foot of Jiashan, and the king was defeated, and Vultures fled back to Dingzhou with 2,000 cavalry. Wang Yanqiu pursued to the foot of Dingzhou City and launched a further attack. He also captured Xiguan City. However, Dingzhou City was very strong and difficult to capture, so Wang Yanqiu expanded Xiguan City. And set up a government to enable the people of Dingzhou, Qizhou, and Yizhou to pay taxes and supply the army. Let them hold their ground here.

At this time, Wang Yanqiu heard that the Khitans had sent troops to rescue Dingzhou. So he led the army straight to Wangdu, and sent Zhang Yanlang to divide his troops to retreat to Xinle. Zhang Yanlang arrived in Zhending, leaving Zhu Jianfeng, the assassin of Zhaozhou, to lead the army to build Xinlecheng.

At this time, the Khitans had entered Dingzhou from other roads, and they attacked Xinle at night with Wangdu, and killed Zhu Jianfeng after conquering it.

Soon, Wang Yanqiu and Zhang Yanlang joined forces in the Tang Dynasty, and Wang Du took advantage of the victory to combine all his troops with the Khitan 5,000 cavalry to more than 10,000 people to intercept Wang Yanqiu in Quyang.

On the 23rd, the two armies fought in the south of the city, and Wang Yanqiu summoned the generals and said: "The king is light and proud, and he can be captured in one battle."

Today is the time for you to serve your country. They all threw away their bows and arrows, attacked with short weapons, and looked back to behold. ”

So the cavalry took the lead in advancing, waving their whips and swords, and rushed straight to the position of the royal capital, and the royal army was defeated, and the corpses were all over the mountains.

Half of the Khitans were also killed, and the rest fled in all directions. Wang Du and Vulture were protected by a few cavalrymen to avoid death.

Lu Longjiedu made Zhao Dejun stop the Khitans, and those who fled were almost slaughtered.

Wang Yanqiu knew that Dingzhou was on guard and could not take it lightly, but Zhu Hongzhao and Zhang Qianzhao threatened that Wang Yanqiu was timid and afraid. Li Siyuan issued an edict to urge the attack, and Wang Yanqiu had no choice but to launch another attack on Dingzhou City, resulting in 3,000 soldiers being killed. Soon, the Khitan sent its chief Tiyin to lead 7,000 cavalry to aid Dingzhou, and Wang Yanqiu met the battle north of the Tang River, and the Khitan people were defeated. Wang Yanqiu took advantage of the victory and pursued until Yizhou.

At that time, due to the long-term rain, the river rose, and countless Khitans were captured and killed by the Later Tang army and fell into the river and drowned. The Khitans were defeated, the roads were muddy, the men and horses were hungry and lacking, and soon entered the territory of Youzhou.

On the second day of the first month of August, Zhao Dejun sent the tooth general Wu Congjian to lead the elite cavalry to block the attack, and sent troops to guard the dangerous place, capturing hundreds of people including Tiyin alive.

The rest of the soldiers scattered and fled to the village, where the people beat them with sticks, and only a few dozen escaped and returned home.

Zhao Dejun offered the Khitan captives Tiyin and others, and all the generals asked to kill them, Li Siyuan said: "These people are brave generals among the Khitans, and the Khitans will be desperate if they kill them, so it is better to leave them to alleviate the worries of the border fortress." ”

So he pardoned 50 of the chiefs including Tiyin, and placed them in the personal guards, and the remaining 600 people were all killed.

From then on, the Khitans were discouraged and did not dare to easily invade the border fortress. At the beginning, when Zhuang Zong captured Hebei, he got a child, raised him in the palace, and when he grew up, he was given the name Li Jitao. After Li Siyuan ascended the throne, he put him back.

After the king got him, he put on a yellow robe, sat in the middle of the low wall of the city, and said to Wang Yanqiu: "This is the son of Emperor Zhuangzong, and he has become the emperor." You have received the great favor of the previous dynasty, don't you miss the first dynasty? ”

Wang Yanqiu said leisurely: "What's the benefit of you doing these small actions?"

I'm going to teach you two ways now, if you don't lead the whole army out to a decisive battle, then you will surrender with your hands tied, and there is no other way to survive. ”

The royal capital occupies Dingzhou, the garrison is strong, the patrol around is very strict, and some of the generals under him have tried to go out of the city many times to respond to the official army, but they have not succeeded.

Li Siyuan sent an envoy to urge Wang Yanqiu to attack, and Wang Yanqiu rode along the Dingzhou City with the envoy, pointed to the city and said to the envoy: "The city wall is so tall and precipitous, even if the city lord allows the soldiers outside to enter the city, it is not possible to do it by rushing to the car with a ladder."

It's just that the elite soldiers are killed and wounded in vain, and they won't damage the enemy at all, so why are they attacking the city like this?

It is better to let the three states supply the tax to the army, love the people and raise the army patiently, they will definitely collapse from the inside. ”

Li Siyuan listened to him. At this time, Wang Du and Bald Yu planned to break through the encirclement and escape, but they were unsuccessful.

On February 13, the commander of Dingzhou Commander Ma Rangneng opened the city gate to let the officials and troops enter the city, and the king saw that the general situation had gone, and died with his people, and 2,000 people from the Vulture and Khitan were arrested, and the Beiping regime created by Wang Chuzhi perished.

On the 11th, Li Siyuan appointed Wang Yanqiu as the envoy of the Tianping Festival, and Zhao Dejun was crowned as a servant. The vultures were sent to Daliang and beheaded in public in the market.

Shu Dao chaos

Your Majesty, do you remember the Meng Zhixiang mentioned earlier? Meng Zhixiang, whose name is Baoyin, was a native of Longgang, Xingzhou (now southwest of Xingtai, Hebei), Li Keyong's nephew, and after Li Cunqiao succeeded to the throne, he appointed Meng Zhixiang as the envoy of the Central Gate.

The reason why it is not called a privy envoy is because at that time Li Keyong has always regarded himself as a clan of the Tang Dynasty, and has always regarded the Tang Dynasty as the right one, setting up an official position similar to the privy envoy, as the confidential secretary of Jiezhen, entrusted with his confidants, but there is no suspicion of trespassing, why not?

But a high position means high risk, a companion is like a tiger, at that time, the people who served as the envoy of the middle gate often offended Li Cunmiao for trivial things and were killed, Meng Zhixiang's careful liver could not bear this many sorrows, so he asked for a change of position, Li Cunmiao appointed him as the capital of Ma Bujun, but asked him to recommend him to serve as the successor of the envoy of the middle gate.

Meng Zhixiang recommended Guo Chongtao, Guo Chongtao was not dissatisfied because Meng Zhixiang gave him this hot yam, but was very grateful for his recommendation.

In 923 (the first year of Tongguang), Li Cunqiao proclaimed himself emperor, established the Later Tang Dynasty, upgraded Taiyuan Mansion to Beijing, and appointed Meng Zhixiang as Taiyuan Yin and Beijing to stay.

In 925 (the third year of Tongguang), Li Cuntao ordered his son Li Jiqi, the king of Wei, to crusade against Qianshu, Guo Chongtao in order to repay Meng Zhixiang's great kindness, before leaving, he recommended Meng Zhixiang to Li Cunqing, calling him the best candidate to guard Xichuan after Pingshu.

Soon after, the former Shu was destroyed, and Li Cunqiao appointed Meng Zhixiang as the deputy envoy of Chengdu Yin and Jiannan Xichuan Jiedu, and the envoy of the Jiedu was in power.

Meng Zhixiang went to Luoyang to resign, Li Cunqiao set up a feast to entertain, and said to Meng Zhixiang: "I heard that Guo Chongtao has different ambitions, after you arrive in Chengdu, kill him for me." Meng Zhixiang said: "Guo Chongtao is a meritorious minister of the country, and he should not be killed." I'll wait until I go to Chengdu to observe the situation, and if he doesn't have any dissenting intentions, I'll send him back. In 926 (the fourth year of Tongguang), Meng Zhixiang arrived in Chengdu, at which time Guo Chongtao had been unjustly killed.

Soon after, on his way back to Luoyang, the pioneer Kang Yanxiao rebelled and conquered Hanzhou (now Guanghan, Sichuan). Meng Zhixiang immediately sent the generals Li Renhan to join Ren Yuan and Dong Zhang to suppress it, capture and kill Kang Yanxiao, and surrender his generals Li Zhao, Hou Hongshi and others.

In April of the same year, Li Cunqiao was killed in a mutiny, Li Jiqi was killed in Weinan, and Li Siyuan succeeded him. is also a member of the imperial court, who doesn't know who has a few hairs on his body, Li Siyuan can be the emperor, why can't I, Meng Zhixiang also had the idea of being called the king according to Shu at this time.

He trained soldiers, expanded the troops, increased the number of Yisheng, Dingyuan, Xiaorui, Yining, Feiyi and other armies, and ordered Li Renhan, Zhao Tingyin, Zhang Ye and other cronies to take command respectively, and wait for the opportunity. (To be continued......)