It is also very reasonable to come to such a conclusion, especially the experience of Chai Rong and Guo Wei running away, which is very revealing, under normal circumstances, how can a child have the courage to run away from home resolutely?

His father couldn't have given his only son away! His aunt and Guo Wei are very young, and they are not infertile, and they would not have thought of taking the initiative to adopt Chai Rong, it can basically be concluded that Chai Rong took the initiative to ask to run away from home, and will definitely be resolutely opposed by the family, who can do this?

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 did not take Meng Chang seriously at all, and they were domineering and arrogant in the court.

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.

However, Meng Chang did not panic in the face of this situation, but first according to Li Renhan's request, he was sealed as a Zhongshu order, sentenced the six armies to all the guards, and then united 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 handled it very properly.

But actually. Meng Chang's style similar to Mingjun did not last long, and soon became greedy for comfort, pursuing enjoyment, and not wanting to make progress. There's even some lewdness. Meng Chang was obsessed with acupuncture, and he had not yet reached adolescence when he came to power. It is the time when the energy is the highest, so he recruits beautiful women and finds a balance for the various hormones secreted in his body. Within a few years, the harem was already full of beauties, but Meng Chang was still not satisfied, and ordered 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 caused a national uproar, and the people married their daughters one after another. It is called "surprise marriage", but there are still a large number of women who are called into the palace, so that the harem is overcrowded, and the title alone is 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, who is said to be beautiful and as delicate as a flower, so Meng Chang gave her a nickname again. It's called "Lady Blossom".

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, and he soaks with her every day. Writing poems and lyrics, enjoying flowers and entertainment, it is still very romantic. The relationship is very good, and because Mrs. Stamen likes hibiscus and peonies. Meng Chang planted these flowers all over the city of Chengdu for her to enjoy, and even sent people to Luoyang to buy good varieties to bring back to Chengdu for planting. So that now Chengdu still retains the reputation of Chengdu.

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, and Meng Chang personally pulled out a large number of rice buckets, such as his closest minister Wang Zhaoyuan is 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, and within a few years, he was promoted to a privy envoy and let him be 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, and was called "Zhuge Liang with juice", which became 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, the situation was completely different.

Chai Rong was an ambitious emperor, and as soon as he came to power, he put forward a political program of "ten years to level the world, ten years to support the people, and ten years to achieve peace", and his ambition to dominate the world has been fully revealed.

By the time period of Wang Puxian's "Pingbian Ce", under the governance of 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 had established Chai Rong's strong confidence, so the time was ripe for a unified war 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 Xiongwu Army (ruled in Qinzhou) at that time made He Rebuild because he did not want to be subordinate to the Khitan. The land of Qin (now Tianshui, Gansu), Cheng (now Chengxian, Gansu), and Dai (now Wudu, Gansu) was attached to Later Shu, and later Shu took advantage of the Central Plains Rebellion. took the opportunity to seize Fengzhou (now east of Fengxian County, Shaanxi).

The four prefectures of Qin, Cheng, Jie, and Feng are not the hometowns of Shu (the former Shu was taken by Wang Jian from the hands of Li Maozhen, the commander of Qishuai, and returned to the Central Plains after the fall of the former Shu). Therefore, the people there still have a lot of affection 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, Houshu is of course the object of his conquest sooner or later, so Chai Rong wants to take advantage of this opportunity. The first four states of Qin, Cheng, Jie, and Feng were recovered 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 sent troops, and Zhao Jizha turned around and saw that there was nothing wrong at the border. thought that this was a good time to quickly improve his political status, so he reported to Meng Chang when he went back, saying: "The next week will soon send a large army over, but Xiongwu (ruled in Qinzhou) Jiedu envoy Han Jixun and Fengzhou Assassin Wang Wandi are incompetent. It 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 has always been confused in his inspection of cadres, but after listening to it, he actually believed it. He was immediately appointed as the supervising envoy of the Xiongwu Army, and immediately went to Qinzhou to take up his post. and sent a thousand elite men of the forbidden army to serve as his guard.

Zhao Jizha was very excited after receiving the appointment. Because of the transfer from the central government to the local work, you can scrape the ground and gild yourself, which can play a very good role in promoting future promotions.

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.

The predecessor of the Southern Tang Dynasty was the State of Wu, which was built by Yang Xingmi, the envoy of the Huainan Festival of the Tang Dynasty. Yang Xingmi was also one of the influential figures of the late Tang Dynasty, and belonged to the older generation of warlord class fighters with Zhu Wen, Li Keyong and others. During the heyday of Zhu Wen, he dominated the world and beat the warlords of the Quartet to the point that he had no power to fight back, but there was no way to take Yang Xingmi, which shows his strengths.

Yang Xingmi died before Zhu Wen became emperor and passed the heir to his eldest son, Yang Wu. Yang Wu was extravagant, and during his father's funeral, he did not forget to drink and have fun all day long, sometimes riding out alone, not returning to the military palace for several days, and even the left and right relatives could not know his whereabouts. Zhang Hao and Xu Wen, the commanders of the left and right Ya armies, took the opportunity to launch a mutiny, killed Yang Wu, and set up Yang Xingmi's second son Yang Longyan as a puppet, and the power of Huainan fell into the hands of these two people. In the end, Xu Wen defeated Zhang Hao again and became the de facto head of Wu Guo.

In 919 A.D., Xu Wenzun Wu King Yang Long became the king of Wu, and he was appointed as the prime minister to supervise the Chinese and foreign military, all the provinces were unified, Zhenhai and Ningguo were envoys, and the commander of the Taiwei and Zhongshu Order, and the king of Donghai County. It can also be seen from this title alone that Wu Wang Yang Long's performance is just an ornament, and the real power is all in the hands of Xu Wen. (To be continued.) )