In 907, the Tang Dynasty, which had ruled for more than 200 years, collapsed. Subsequently, there was a situation of chaotic warfare between the divided regimes in the Central Plains, commonly known as the "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms" period. In the South and the North, there are a total of 10 different separatist regimes. Among them, the separatist regime that occupied the Central Plains was the most powerful, and it was divided into five dynasties of Liang, Tang, Jin, Han and Zhou. In fact, the southern regime is not without the strength to oppose the northern regime. For example, the Southern Tang Dynasty, in its heyday, the Southern Tang even controlled Hunan, Fujian and other places. But in the end, it was the bamboo basket that was empty, why did this happen? Today, we're going to talk about this story.
The predecessor of the Southern Tang dynasty was the Wu regime, which controlled the areas of central and southern Jiangsu Province, south-central Anhui Province, parts of Hubei Province, and most of Jiangxi Province. In addition to the five generations of regimes that controlled the Central Plains, the Wu state-style southern regime was the most powerful. After the Southern Tang Dynasty replaced the State of Wu, it experienced a total of 3 generations of emperors, namely the first lord Li Fu, the middle lord Li Jing, and the later lord Li Yu. Li Fu's level of governance was very high, and during his reign, the Southern Tang did not easily launch wars, and constantly recuperated.
By the time of Li Fu's death, the Southern Tang Dynasty had reached the level of "people and national wealth". In contrast, the life of the people in the Central Plains is much more bitter. After Li Jing came to power, with the enrichment of national strength, the Southern Tang Began a plan to "open up territory and expand the territory", which violated Li Fu's last words. Li Fu believed that the Central Plains regime was his greatest threat, and that by mediating relations with neighboring countries, once a change occurred in the Central Plains, he would be able to carry out a large-scale Northern Expedition and invade Henan, Shandong and other regions. As for the southern countries, basically none of them took the initiative to attack the national strength of the Southern Tang.
After Li Jing came to power, he launched two wars before and after, but the target was not the northern regime, but also the Chu and Min states around him. The control area of the Min state is today's Fujian Province, and after the death of The King of Min, the princes of the Min State began to fight among themselves, and the goal was naturally the throne. At that time, the territory of Fujian was in chaos. For Li Jing, the Emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty, this was a godsend. As a literary emperor, Li Jing sent his beloved general Bian Ho to lead an army south, preparing to take advantage of the opportunity to annex the Fujian region.
Bian Ho was a general of the Southern Tang Dynasty and a close friend of Li Jing, who was deeply favored by the emperor because of his literary and artistic talent. However, in terms of military command level, The Border Pickaxe was far inferior to Liu Renzhan, Lin Renzhao and other famous Southern Tang generals. At the same time that the Southern Tang Dynasty sent troops, Wu Yueguo, who occupied the Zhejiang region, also sent troops to invade the Fujian region. Southern Tang and Wuyue had always been in a semi-confrontational situation, and once Southern Tang annexed the State of Min, it would form a strategic posture of encircling Wuyue on three sides. In order to break the Southern Tang plan, Wu Yueguo sent most of his army into the Fujian region.
The southern Tang army did not move smoothly, the border pickaxe was defeated again and again, and in the end, the Southern Tang sent a lot of aid. Under the absolute superiority of troops, coupled with the cooperation of the envoys from all over Fujian, the Southern Tang controlled the areas of Ting, Quan, and Zhang, while Wu Yueguo controlled Fuzhou and other places, and the two families basically divided the Fujian region equally. Because of its own weak rule, the Southern Tang had to rely on the old min state to manage its newly conquered control areas. Over time, the generals retained control of most of the real power.
In 946, Liu Congxiao drove the Southern Tang army out of Zhangzhou and Quanzhou and re-established the separatist regime. By the time the Northern Song Annexation of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, the Southern Tang had no longer been able to control the Fujian region. In this war, the Southern Tang sent a large number of troops, lost a huge amount of grain and grass, and could have controlled the entire Fujian region. In the end, only the Tingzhou area was obtained, although it was considered to be a territorial expansion, but compared with the original goal, the gap was very large. History once gave the Southern Tang two chances, and the Southern Tang Emperor missed the first opportunity, so can the second opportunity be grasped?
The western neighbor of the Southern Tang was the State of Chu, which controlled Hunan Province and the southern part of Hubei Province, and although the national strength was not as good as that of the Southern Tang, it was also a powerful country in the central region. The founder of the State of Chu was Ma Yin, but after Ma Yin's death, the princes of the State of Chu staged the same routine as the State of Min, and the princes began to attack and kill each other. The State of Chu was in turmoil for a long time, especially after entering 950 AD, and the situation in the State of Chu became even more chaotic. After "stealing chickens and not corrupting rice" on the battlefield of Fujian, Li Jing, the emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty, was still unwilling and prepared to join the civil war of the Chu state.
In 951, the Southern Tang sent an army into the territory of the Chu state, and the general of the unified army was still the border pickaxe. Since the Chu state has been in chaos for 20 years, the people everywhere are eager to stabilize the situation. Under such circumstances, the arrival of the Southern Tang army was likely to be a relief for the people of the Chu state. As a result, the border pickaxe army encountered almost no resistance and successfully occupied most of Hunan. For the Southern Tang dynasty, this was a huge military victory, and the Southern Tang side had begun various celebrations.
But the Southern Tang emperors were happy too soon, and after the Southern Tang controlled most of Hunan, the tax collection standards were very high, which could be called a cruel and inhuman oppression. At the same time, The border pickaxes misjudged the situation, believing that the situation had stabilized, and planned to dismantle most of the Chu army, resulting in a situation in which the people of the Chu army were floating. Due to the wavering of the people's hearts and the hearts of the army, in 952 AD, the old generals of the Chu state launched a rebellion, and the Southern Tang army was caught off guard. In the end, it was a complete defeat, and before the reinforcements arrived, the border pickaxes had withdrawn from the Hunan region with the remnants of the defeated generals.
If it was the year of attacking the State of Min, it was also obtained from Tingzhou. Then, this attack on the Chu state is the real "bamboo basket to hit the water empty." The defeat of the two wars retained many problems within the Southern Tang, such as improper employment of personnel, the fainting of the monarch, and so on. The two wars greatly depleted the national strength of the Southern Tang, but basically gained nothing. Nan Tang had two chances, and as a result, he didn't even grasp one of them. Immediately after, the Southern Tang did not have any more chances, because Chai Rong in the north was ready to move.
The Southern Tang Dynasty launched two wars before and after, but basically got nothing. At this time, the Central Plains regime was changing. The Later Zhou regime replaced the Later Han regime, and chai Rong, the second emperor of the Later Zhou Dynasty, launched a large-scale attack on the Southern Tang after exerting great efforts to govern. The Southern Tang Dynasty, which could punch and kick the Southern Regime, was defeated in the face of the attack of the Later Zhou Regime. The main army of the Southern Tang dynasty was almost exhausted after several large-scale battles in the battle for the Huaibei region.
In the process of attacking the Southern Tang, the Later Zhou general Zhao Kuangyin stood out and quickly rose to become one of the core generals of the Later Zhou regime. In the face of The Later Zhou's attack, the Southern Tang was simply unable to resist, ceded all the prefectures and counties in northern Jiangsu, and chose to take the initiative to seek peace. The Southern Tang emperor Li Jing was so frightened that he moved his capital from Nanjing to Nanchang to escape the Attack of the Later Zhou army. He even crossed the sea to request the Liao state in the north to exert pressure on the border and force the Later Zhou army to retreat. For various reasons, the attack on southern Tang was stopped in later weeks. However, at this time, the Southern Tang Dynasty's national strength was greatly damaged, and it had lost its strength and courage to compete with Hou Zhou for the world.