Han Shizu

Chapter 975
As for the south, as the strategic direction of the Han Dynasty, the focus is on the direction, and naturally there are ups and downs.Since the war in the north ended with the victory of the Han Dynasty, when the Han court turned its attention to the south, the few remaining forces felt great pressure, mainly guiding Tang and Nanyue, especially Nantang.

The imperial court is becoming more and more aggressive, while the Southern Tang Dynasty is retreating step by step. Although it knows the unification ambition of the Han Dynasty, the imperial court dare not disobey the will, dare not confront it before mobilizing troops, and dare not be short of annual tribute.The entire Southern Tang Dynasty fell into a state of waiting to die. From top to bottom, they were all in a desperate mood. Because of despair, they knew it was inevitable, so they gradually degenerated and sank.

After the end of the Huainan War between the Han and Tang Dynasties, the Jiangbei scholar group headed by Han Xizai was in power for a period of time, carrying out reforms, cracking down on the powerful, big landlords, officials and businessmen, and achieved certain results, and the country's finances were also improved.

During those few years, although the national strength of the Southern Tang Dynasty was weakened due to the loss of Jiangbei, overall, it was still stable, with the foundation of Jiangnan, and the connection with Jiangbei was not severed, and the economy also had a period of prosperity.

During that time, in addition to paying the annual tribute, Southern Tang also accumulated a lot of money and food to develop the military and expand its military equipment. The Runzhou Army, the leader in the Southern Tang army's combat strength, was trained by Lin Renzhao during that time.The people of the Li people have benefited from this, land annexation has been suppressed, and social conflicts have been alleviated, but the price is that the conflicts at the top have become increasingly acute, and the powerful, bureaucrats, and landlords who have lost their interests have completely united.

Therefore, the good times did not last long. As the Tang lord Li Jing gradually indulged in pleasure, the problem of succession was full of hidden dangers. The Feng brothers and the southern gentry came back to use, coupled with Zhong Mo and other bureaucrats who were interested in the north. The situation cast a heavy shadow on the national power of the Southern Tang Dynasty.

Until the incident of Li Hongji's killing of his uncle broke out, Han Xizai, as a political close person, was implicated and completely lost power. The Feng brothers once again took power, officially declaring that the fragile stability and prosperity of the Southern Tang Dynasty had been shattered.All policies unfavorable to nobles, bureaucrats, landlords, and merchants were abolished, and the achievements of Han Xizai's reforms eventually disappeared.

From top to bottom, everything has returned to the previous state, and because of the general trend, it has become crazier and more extreme.After losing Jiangbei, the complementary balance between Jiangbei and Jiangnan was broken economically, and the country's increasingly heavy burden was completely passed on to ordinary people.In the past few years, the originally prosperous and rich Jiangnan, the fertile land, is still producing high grain and cloth, but the people at the bottom are becoming more and more miserable, and the people feel great grievances.

As far as Li Jing is concerned, it is not that he has not seen the results of the reform, so why did he change course, abandon Han Xizai, and let Jiangnan scholars take power instead.Such a choice cannot be judged simply by ignorance.

The more profound reason is that Li Jing also saw the risk from it. The establishment of the Southern Tang benefited from the support of scholars and landlords in Jiangnan and Jiangbei, and the rich and powerful were their flesh and blood. All along, the strength of southern scholars was stronger than that of In the north, in the case of the lost Jiangbei states, the situation of strength and weakness is even more obvious.When the bureaucrats, nobles, landlords, and businessmen in the south of the Yangtze River unite, even Li Jing is daunted.

If it was a monarch with a firm will and a strong wrist, he might be able to withstand these pressures and defend the achievements of the reform. However, Li Jing is not. His weakness is his label, and he has no courage to do big things at all.

Therefore, when that powerful conservative force launched a counterattack, Li Jing flinched and chose to abandon Han Xizai, which also started the decline and sinking of the years before the end of the Southern Tang Dynasty.

That is to say, under this kind of situation, Han Xizai traveled southward for more than [-] years, his official career was bumpy, with several ups and downs, and his ambition was full of ambition. After all, he indulged in sensuality and stopped meddling in political affairs.And the volume "Han Xizai's Evening Banquet Picture", which has left a great reputation in history, was also painted in the hands of Gu Hongzhong during this period and came out ahead of schedule.

Perhaps because of guilt in his heart, when he learned of Han Xizai's situation, Li Jing specially rewarded him with a lot of property, and selected several beautiful ladies from the Tang Palace to give to Han Xizai's waiter Han Xizai.Moreover, it stopped the Jiangnan scholars from liquidating Han Xizai.In this way, Li Jing might feel better.

However, Li Jing could not see the final decline of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and died of illness in the Tang Palace in November of the winter of Qianyou 13 years.For Li Jing, this may also be a relief, at least, the title of king of subjugation will not fall on him.

The prince Li Congjia, supported by the Jinling officials, succeeded in succeeding to the throne that year and changed his name to Li Yu. The eternal emperor of poetry officially entered the stage of history.However, for Li Yu, this is obviously not a blessing. Facing the torrent of history, as an unqualified helmsman, he controls a leaky ship and moves forward in turmoil.

Compared with Li Jing, Li Yu's situation after taking office is more difficult, and his control over the court is also weaker.The chaos of the government and the suffering of the people's livelihood made the situation even worse.However, he also did a few things, such as adhering to the policy of respecting the Central Plains court, and at the beginning of his succession, he sent envoys to the table.In order to meet the import of yearly tribute, the people in the south of the Yangtze River continued to be taxed heavily, which made the people in the south of the Yangtze River increasingly resentful.

At the same time, he also abandoned those behaviors of deceiving his ears and stealing his bell, and completely regarded himself as a vassal of the Central Plains and the lord of the Jiangnan Kingdom, and obeyed the etiquette system at the lower level.Li Yu tried in vain to win the favor of the court through such an attitude and behavior, so as to avoid the conquest of the great power.

Of course, anyone who understands knows that this will not work.On the occasion of Qianyou's 14 years and Liu Chengyou's 30 years old birthday, Zeng lowered the order and invited Li Yu, the lord of the south of the Yangtze River, to Beijing, but was rejected again.

Li Yu's reason was that he had just succeeded to the throne, and the country was not yet peaceful, so it was inconvenient to leave without authorization, so he only sent envoys to celebrate Liu Chengyou's birthday with heavy gifts.The main reason was that he didn't dare, for fear of being detained. Li Yiyin was a lesson learned from the past, so he refused at the risk of offending Emperor Han.

As far as Li Yu and Jinling are concerned, they know that the country is about to perish, but there is nothing they can do about it.However, if he was allowed to voluntarily surrender and offer the land, he would not make that choice until the last moment.

The young Jiangnan lord, faced with the country's perilous situation, did not cheer up, embarrassing the corruption of the state affairs, and finally handed over the military administration to the ministers, and lived in the deep palace by himself.During the more than one year of his reign, except for the affairs of the big man, he rarely intervened. Instead, he was immersed in art and lingering in love, and left a lot of courtly pornography.Perhaps, only when the Han army went south could it wake him up suddenly.
The throne was easier, the reformers were completely depressed, and the military suffered another blow.The biggest blow came from the death of Liu Renshan, the governor of Ezhou. For a long time, Liu Renshan existed as a defensive pillar in the upper reaches of Jinling. His death made Jiangnan lose a commander and a dry city .

The generals in the south of the Yangtze River were already out of favor, and after 15 years of Qianyou, there was only one Lin Renzhao who could be used as a general.Fortunately, Li Yu followed the advice and transferred Lin Renzhao from Nanchang Mansion to the north, and handed over the Yangtze River defense line to him.However, how can a mere Lin Renzhao be able to use Han Shi to go south?

Compared with the precariousness in the south of the Yangtze River, the Nanyue Kingdom is not peaceful.Liu Wei was desolate and brutal, witches and eunuchs exercised power, the politics was dark and chaotic, the people were in dire straits, and voices of resentment spread all over the country.When a country is about to perish, there must be evildoers, which is the truest portrayal of Nanyue Kingdom.

Here, I have to mention the dispute between Han and Guangdong.At first, Liu Yan had the heart of proclaiming himself emperor, and received severe warnings and warnings from the Han court.

Facing the threat of the Han emperor's decree, since he was young, he was also ignorant and fearless. Liu Yan was furious. He not only disregarded dissuasion, but expelled the court envoys. , At the same time cut off contact with the Central Plains.

Such a slap in the face of the central government naturally aroused Liu Chengyou's fury, and he directly ordered that the Hunan Han army go south in two ways to crusade against Nanyue.Along the way, Pan Mei led [-] troops and went south from Quanzhou to attack Guizhou; along the way, Cao Bin led [-] troops and marched south from Chenzhou to attack Shaozhou.

Judging from the mobilization of troops, the big man did not make any contribution. The scope of mobilization was only in Jinghu, and he only planned to teach Nanyue a lesson and prepare for the collection of Lingnan in the future.Although annoyed by Liu Yan's behavior, the Han court still maintained its rationality, and Liu Chengyou also restrained his anger.

Even so, Pan Mei and Cao Bin made Nan Yue suffer a lot.The Kingdom of Guangdong can also arm an army of [-]. Although the combat effectiveness is poor, but the strength of the troops is there, this may be Liu Wei's fearless confidence.

Facing the crusade by the Han masters, the Guangdong side naturally responded strongly.His countermeasures mainly have three characteristics: first, the Han army came in two ways, and he also dealt with it in two ways; second, eunuchs led the army;

In order to deal with the invasion of the Han army, Liu Yu mobilized a total of [-] troops from various places.Guizhou lost four games in a row, and Shaozhou lost three games in a row.As a result, Guizhou was lost in the west, and Shaozhou in the east was defended, but Lianzhou was captured by Cao Bin, with nearly [-] casualties.

If it wasn't for the shortage of soldiers and horses and the lack of successors, both Pan and Cao would have taken the opportunity to destroy Guangdong.And Pan Mei also took the opportunity to play to the court, saying that the Cantonese army is weak and the people do not support it, so please send more troops to destroy it.At that time, Liu Chengyou was really tempted, but after comprehensive consideration, he still gave up. Instead, he wrote back to let him rest on the spot and plan for his year.Being outnumbered is not without cost.

As for Liu Wei, because of the successive defeats, he was awakened. In a panic, he finally accepted the persuasion, repaired the watch and sent envoys to seek peace, and at the same time quickly resigned from the emperor's title.

Seeing its interest, the Han court also agreed, but increased the amount of its annual tribute. Compared with Jinling, the annual tribute of Guangdong has always been under less pressure, and this time it can be regarded as a lesson.As for the lost city land, there is no reason to return it.

Liu Yu, the emperor of Southern Guangdong, had been the emperor for less than four months, and he had passed the emperor's addiction, but the price was the loss of teachers, land and tribute, and he was ridiculed for a while.

When it comes to the south, there is another force that has to be mentioned, and that is the Dali Kingdom that lives in the southwest.When the imperial court turned its attention to the south, it took the initiative to send envoys to Tokyo to communicate with each other, hoping to become friendly neighbors.

The Duan family of Dali has been established for 25 years, and it has been passed down to the fourth generation. The incumbent is Duan Sicong.All along, I have played by myself. However, when the situation in the world is changing drastically, how can I be alone.

Especially after the big man destroyed Meng Shu, he had to be vigilant. In addition, Wang Quanbin was sharpening his sword in the southwest, so how could he not panic.If a weak country faces a strong country, if it cannot be humbled, it will not be far from subjugation.

(End of this chapter)