Daming Super Dimension Company, President Zhu Yuanzhang!

After sighing, Zhu Yuanzhang said in a deep voice, "When Zhou Shizong ascended the throne, the biggest problem was the attack from the Northern Han."

Xiao Ran continued, "The Northern Han was the only regime that appeared in the north during this period. The Later Zhou was established, and Liu Chong, the younger brother of Liu Zhiyuan, the founder of the Later Han Dynasty, also proclaimed himself emperor in the Twelve Prefectures of Hedong."

"After Liu Chong proclaimed himself emperor, he sent troops to attack Jinzhou and Xizhou, but was repelled. In April of the same year, Liu Chong called himself the nephew emperor and wrote to his uncle, Emperor Tianshou, requesting the Khitan to enthrone him. At this time, the Khitan had changed to the Liao Dynasty, and the Liao Dynasty enthroned Liu Chong as the Great Han Shenwu Emperor. Liu Chong changed his name to Liu Min. Not long after, the Northern Han and Liao joined forces to attack Jinzhou again but to no avail. Later Zhou reinforcements arrived, and the coalition forces retreated in a hurry."

"We remember that during this period, Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou had just ascended the throne, and the Emperor of Northern Han believed that Later Zhou did not have the courage to fight."

Zhu Yuanzhang showed some disdain in his eyes, "The Emperor of Northern Han is also a fool. Not only is he trying to get the skin of a tiger, but he also attacked rashly without finding out the situation clearly. This is nothing more than seeking death."

Seeing that he took the initiative to speak, Xiao Ran did not say anything else.

Li Shimin's eyes fell on Zhu Yuanzhang. "The records of the Ming Dynasty should be more detailed, right?"

"That's natural."

Nodding, Zhu Yuanzhang spoke in a deep voice, "In the first year of Xiande of the Later Zhou Dynasty, the Northern Han and Liao allied southward. The Liao Dynasty sent Yang Gun, the military governor of Wuding and the political affairs officer, to lead more than 10,000 cavalry to Jinyang to join the army. Liu Min personally led 30,000 troops. Then Li Yun, the military governor of Zhaoning of the Later Zhou Dynasty, sent his general Mu Lingjun to lead 2,000 troops to meet the Northern Han army. Zhang Yuanhui, the vanguard of the Northern Han Dynasty, set up an ambush and pretended to be defeated to lure Mu Lingjun into the ambush and be killed. The Later Zhou Dynasty was defeated miserably."

"The news reached the court, and Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou was determined to lead the expedition himself. Liu Min of Northern Han did not know about this. He saw that Luzhou City was difficult to capture, so he skipped Luzhou and attacked Zezhou in the south. Later, the vanguard of the Northern Han army met the Later Zhou army, and the Later Zhou won the battle. Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou was afraid that the Northern Han army would retreat, so he accelerated the reinforcements. At the same time, Liu Min arranged his troops to prepare for the attack."

After a brief pause, Zhu Yuanzhang added: "The figure of Emperor Taizu of Song, Zhao Kuangyin, is also here."

"Zhao Kuangyin was also a general of the Later Zhou imperial army. He and Zhang Yongde each led 2,000 troops to attack with Emperor Shizong. Zhao Kuangyin and his men fought bloody battles, and the Northern Han soldiers could not resist. Zhang Yuanhui, a brave general of the Northern Han, was killed in battle. The Later Zhou army took advantage of the south wind to launch a fierce attack and defeated the Northern Han army. The Later Zhou army pursued them all the way, and thousands of Northern Han soldiers surrendered. As for the Northern Han emperor Liu Min and more than a hundred cavalrymen, they fled in a panic. Emperor Shizong took the opportunity to besiege Taiyuan for more than a month."

"When the Later Zhou army retreated, the Northern Han emperor died and his son Liu Chengjun succeeded him. From then on, the Northern Han did not dare to attack the Later Zhou easily."

Xiao Ran said, "This battle not only shocked the Northern Han and the Liao, but also exposed the situation where arrogant soldiers and brave generals are difficult to control."

"In order to solve this problem, Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou publicly announced the crimes of more than 70 officers including Fan Aineng and beheaded them. After returning to Bianliang, Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou appointed young generals, dismissed the old, weak and disabled in the imperial guards, and recruited heroes from all over the world to join the imperial guards."

"Afterwards, Emperor Shizong of the Later Zhou carried out a more thorough reform and ordered his ministers to sort out the Tang laws and compile them into the Great Zhou Criminal Code."

These reforms laid the foundation for the later unification of the country.

Li Cunxu's eyes revealed praise, "This Later Zhou Shizong is a capable man."

"Mr. Xiao, what happened next?"

Listening to Xiao Ran and Zhu Yuanzhang's narration, Li Cunxu became more and more curious about the subsequent developments.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't want to say anything more, so he just lowered his eyes and drank tea.

Xiao Ran continued, "When we talked about Hou Shu before, we mentioned that Hou Zhou had seized four states. This war was not aimed at destroying Hou Shu, so we quickly agreed to Hou Shu's request for peace. Hou Shu was destroyed only after Southern Tang."

"Southern Tang?" Li Jiancheng was very confused. Xiao Ran suddenly remembered something, "The founding emperor of Southern Tang was Xu Wen's adopted son Xu Zhigao, who is very likely a descendant of the Li family."

"How is this possible?!" Li Cunxu was shocked.

"How come Xu Wen's adopted son is a royal family!"

Xiao Ran spread his hands, "Xu Zhigao's original surname was indeed Li, but who knows if he was really from the Tang Dynasty royal family?"

"Xu Zhigao deposed King Wu Yang Pu and ascended the throne in 937 AD. He named the country Da Qi and the reign title Bian Yuan, and Southern Wu officially perished. Two years later, in the third year of Bian Yuan, Xu Zhigao restored his surname Li and changed his name to Bian. He claimed to be the fourth-generation grandson of Li Ke, the King Jian, the son of Emperor Xianzong of Tang, and changed the country's name to Tang, which was known in history as Southern Tang."

"Later, he built a temple for the Tang imperial family, worshipped Xu Wen as his adoptive father, and bestowed many honors on Xu's descendants. The Southern Tang Dynasty made Nanjing its capital and was the largest regime in terms of area among the Ten Kingdoms."

"After the founding of the country, Li Bian, the founder of the Southern Tang Dynasty, made protecting the territory and the people the basic national policy. Even when a fire broke out in Wuyue, the generals suggested taking the opportunity to attack it. He sent envoys to express his condolences. At the same time, the Southern Tang Dynasty made friends with the Khitan to contain the Central Plains regime, so that the Jiangnan region could recuperate."

"Until the seventh year of the Yuan Dynasty, Li Bian, the founder of the Southern Tang Dynasty, passed away. His son Li Jing succeeded him and changed his name to Li Jing, the Yuanzong of the Southern Tang Dynasty. At that time, wars broke out frequently between the Southern Tang Dynasty and Wuyue, and the neighboring country of Min, the Southern Tang Dynasty, was also in a civil war. In 944 AD, the Min general Zhu Wenjin proclaimed himself emperor. Li Jing took advantage of the chaos to attack Jianzhou in Min. Wang Yanzheng, who proclaimed himself emperor in Jianzhou, heard about this and deceived the Fuzhou garrison commander that the Southern Tang army was coming to help him fight against the rebels. Therefore, the generals of Fuzhou killed Zhu Wenjin and others and surrendered to Wang Yanzheng, restored the country's name to Min, and sent his nephew Wang Jichang to guard Fuzhou. The Southern Tang stationed troops in Jianyang and quickly conquered four states. Wang Yanzheng was defeated and surrendered, and the Min Kingdom was destroyed."

Li Shimin frowned, feeling a bit of a headache, "Why is there another Min Kingdom?"

"Wu Yue, Southern Han, Southern Chu, and Nanping were not mentioned." Xiao Ran was also helpless.

The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms is even more complicated than the Three Kingdoms.

"What political regimes are there in the world today?" Li Jiancheng asked.

"It is now 908 AD, and that is Houliang, Qi, Qianshu, Southern Chu, and Wuyue."

"Then let's finish talking about Southern Tang and Later Zhou first, and then talk about Southern Chu and Wuyue."

With Li Shimin speaking, Xiao Ran had no objection, "Then I will continue to talk about Southern Tang."

"Although the Southern Tang conquered Fujian, it did not completely rule the area, and many forces remained. Therefore, when the Khitan captured the capital of the Later Jin Dynasty, there was no ruler in the Central Plains, and Li Jing had no time to look north."

"In the ninth year of Baoda, there was civil unrest in Chu. The Central Plains was in chaos as the Later Han and Later Zhou dynasties alternated. Li Jing saw an opportunity and sent troops to destroy Southern Chu. Except for several states in the south that were occupied by Southern Han, all Chu territory belonged to Southern Tang. At that time, Southern Tang's territory reached its peak, but the Southern Tang army was soon defeated by the Chu general Liu Yan the following year, and Chu territory was subsequently recovered."

"The Southern Tang had just suffered a defeat when the Later Zhou invaded the Southern Tang."

The wealth of Southern Tang was a huge piece of fat meat at that time, so it was normal for Emperor Taizong of Later Zhou to be tempted.

If the Southern Tang had not rested and recuperated for many years and its military strength was not very weak, it would have probably been seized by other regimes long ago.

Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou led the army in person three times, which was enough to show his determination to conquer Southern Tang. (End of this chapter)