1 In the early winter of 975, Xu Xuan stood in front of Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin again and for the last time as an envoy of the Southern Tang Dynasty. At this time, Jinling, the capital of the Southern Tang Dynasty, had been surrounded by Song Bing for ten months. Xu Xuan has always been known for his eloquence. At the beginning, Xu Xuan came to Zhao Kuangyin once when dispatch troops levied the Tang Dynasty on the grounds that Li Yu did not serve a letter to the DPRK. In the face of this hero of the Central Plains, Xu Xuan was not timid at all, and said generously: Li Yu is innocent, and your majesty has grown from nothing. Li Yu is like the ground, your majesty is like the sky; Li Yu is like a son, and your majesty is like a father. The sky can cover the ground, and the father can protect the child. Zhao Kuangyin smiled and replied, Since we are father and son, how can we eat in two places? Xu Xuan was speechless. This time, Xu Xuan kept the same rhetoric, earnestly spoke for Li Yu, excused Li Yu, and only sought to suspend military affairs and save "the life of a country." At first, Zhao Kuangyin chatted with Xu Xuan, but later he found himself bored. He got up and drew his sword, saying that he was forced to suppress it. Jiangnan is really not guilty, but after all, the world is a family! Then there is an eternal famous saying: how can others snore and sleep beside the sofa! Xu Xuan "flinched in fear". Half a month later, under the attack of Cao Bin, a famous Song Dynasty star, Li Yufeng, the empress of Southern Tang Dynasty, surrendered. As the country with the largest territory, the largest population and the strongest strength among the "Ten Countries", Nantang has 19 states and 108 counties with 650,000 households. It has soldiers, excellent generals and capable ministers. People's Republic of China (PRC) was established more than 20 years before the Song Dynasty, and it controlled more than half of the rich territory in the south of the Yangtze River, unlike the Central Plains, which was repeatedly hit by wars. With such a foundation, in the fragmented separatist situation, the Southern Tang Dynasty had the hope of winning the Central Plains. However, from the founding of the People's Republic to the subjugation of the country, it was only thirty-nine years in san huang. On the surface, it is not an exaggeration to laugh at the monarch of the Southern Tang Dynasty for handing over such a historical answer sheet. But in fact, although the Southern Tang Dynasty perished, it made great contributions to China: from the Northern Song Dynasty to the Southern Song Dynasty, * * * should thank this seemingly weak country. ▲ Southern Tang territory, the source is "Atlas of Chinese History". Things have to start with Li Bian, the first master in the Southern Tang Dynasty. Before the establishment of the Southern Tang Dynasty, the name Li Bian was mentioned, and no one in the world knew who it was. However, if we say "Xu Zhimo", the king of the Southern Kingdom of Wu, everyone knows. In those days, Wu Taizu Yang Xingmi attacked Haozhou and took Peng Nv, who was only seven years old, from Kaiyuan Temple in Haozhou. In that society where people rely on their faces to eat, Xiao Peng's daughter succeeded in getting the attention of General Yang because of her unusual appearance. General Yang was moved and accepted him as his adopted son. However, there are many good things. The concubines in the ancient harem were jealous of each other, and this matter was no exception when it came to their sons. Seeing that there is another contender in the future battle of inheritance, Yang Xingmi's sons are greatly dissatisfied and all are in high spirits. Yang Xingmi helpless, had to send anger to his confidant general Xuwen. A slave girl, surnamed Li, came from a humble background. His father disappeared and his mother died when he was a child. He lived in a temple in his early years and suffered a lot. Now he was raised by Xu Wen and changed his surname to Xu. No one can choose his parents, but for Ang, he won the favor of Yang Xingmi with his own face and became Xu Wen's adopted son. It's really a ancestral grave. He's had good luck for eight generations. Under the careful teaching of Xu Wen, Xiao Pengnu soon grew into a handsome boy who was fond of books and good at shooting. As Xu Wen's right-hand man, he assisted Yang Xingmi together. Yang Xingmi was very pleased to see that Peng Nv, a young girl he liked in the past, grew sturdily: generals are not as good as their sons. In a word, the boss accepted the future of Tucki's daughter. After Yang Xingmi's death, Nanwu, who lost the core of leadership, collapsed instantly. In the struggle of various forces, Xu Wen gradually stood out and became the monopolist of military and political power in Southern Wu. As the most effective lieutenant and son of Xu Wen, Xiao Pengnu followed suit and became the second-in-command of Nanwu after his father. In 927, Xu Wen died. Little Peng Nu successfully took over the political power of Nanwu. Under his control, Yang Pu, the Lord of the Southern State of Wu, finally became emperor. The puppet monarch is upgraded to a puppet emperor, so killing the puppet emperor will not directly become the emperor? 10 years later, Xiao Peng nu, who had everything ready, was proclaimed emperor by Zen Buddhism, established Qi State, and replaced Wu, completing the gorgeous transformation from being alone to being the king of a country. Since then, Xu's name has spread all over the world. Two years later, Xu Zhimo restored Li's surname and changed his name. The name of the country was also changed to Tang, which was called Nantang in history. ▲ Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms: Southern Tang Dynasty basically inherited the territory of Southern Wu. The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms is a very unreliable historical period in ancient China. One of the most unreliable manifestations is that there are many unscrupulous monarchs. But Li Bian is very serious. Because of his rough childhood experience, he has been Xu Fu's adopted son for decades. Li Bian knows the way of the world and the sufferings of the people. As early as when he was in charge of the local government, this docile Xu Shaoye advocated literature and art, respected Confucianism, rectified official management, and sympathized with the people. He was a good cadre who loved the people. With this foundation, from the end of the Southern Wu Dynasty to the early establishment of the Southern Tang Dynasty, when Li Bian was in power, the word "rou" was always in the forefront. The disputes in the Central Plains are dominated by military personnel, with military commanders in power and harsh criminal laws. But when I came to Libian, I ruled the country by writing. Under such a national policy, scholars came from the north to the south to defect. According to Lu You (yes, Lu You, a great poet in the Southern Song Dynasty), the Book of the Southern Tang Dynasty records that those who have devoted themselves to corporal since their fierce ancestors (that is, Li Bian) and those who have avoided chaos and dereliction of duty will return to the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, under the control of Li Bian and other scholars, the scene of "eight-year-old farming and weaving and flourishing cultural relics" in the Southern Tang Dynasty is almost a far cry from the war-torn Central Plains. Where culture is prosperous, it is always very rational to use force. At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, many civil servants and military commanders repeatedly proposed to Li Bian to expand the territory in order to make contributions and make a name for himself. Looking back on his military career as a teenager, Li Bian was filled with emotion. In his view, compared with the "unworthy of the world" established by Hanwu in the Qin Dynasty, "reassuring the people" is the first: I have few military forces and I can't bear to say that soldiers harm the people. If others are stable, then our people will be stable. What can we ask for? Many military commanders regard human life as dirt. Li Bian said: People are born by their parents, so we should use it to fight for cities and land, so that the liver and brain will be different and people will wipe the grass? Finally, Li Bian threw a sentence "Please don't go back to Guan Bai", which completely dispelled everyone's idea of participating in the war. In this way, although Nantang is the largest country in the world outside the Central Plains, "protecting the environment and benefiting the people" is good-neighborly and friendly to neighboring small countries, such as wuyue, Fujian and Chu. Even when the neighboring monarch died and the country was on the verge of chaos, Li Bian did not take advantage of people's danger to go to war. Instead, "I sent him a message of condolences, and he was exhausted." The evaluation of Li Bian and Lu You is that they are kind, thrifty, caring for the people, and have the demeanor of an ancient sage king. ▲ "Han Xizai's Night Banquet" (partial), this happened in the Southern Tang Dynasty. People should appreciate Li Bian's kindness. After the Southern Tang Dynasty was destroyed by the Song Dynasty, many adherents of the Southern Tang Dynasty were grateful for Li Bian's kindness. For a long time, this made Song Ting feel pressure: after all, the image of the role model is too high. But the historical paradox is that benefiting the country does not necessarily benefit the people, and benefiting the people does not necessarily benefit the country. We always say these two words together as if they were made for each other. But many times, "benefiting the country" and "benefiting the people" are difficult to balance. This is not difficult to understand, because sometimes "benefiting the country" needs to mobilize people's strength, consume the present and benefit the future. Mobilizing people's resources will inevitably lead to less "benefiting the people" in a certain period of time. Should Qin Changcheng be repaired? Should the Grand Canal be dug? How did the people of Qin and Sui live? This is a typical example of "benefiting the country and the people". So did Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition. Everyone knows that with the national strength of Shu at that time, it was definitely no match for Wei. However, if Zhuge Liang chooses to generalize and give up attacking and defending, I am afraid that when Zhuge Liang was alive, Shu was annexed by Wei because of internal friction. The Southern Tang Dynasty in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period was just like Shu in the Three Kingdoms period. If we can't make bold progress, we will only be satisfied with protecting the territory and land, and the Central Plains regime will give up and the country will perish sooner or later. In the conflagration of blood and fire, only the winner is safe. There can only be one winner. From the death of Xu Wen, from the last years of the Southern Wu Dynasty to the early years of the Southern Tang Dynasty, the Southern Tang Dynasty, with its good strength, made little achievements in the military under the pure literary line of Li Bian. Even in these ten years, the Jin Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty in the Central Plains changed, and there were numerous disputes. Even if the opportunity is in front of him, Li Bian doesn't want to waste resources and go to war. He was indeed a good emperor, but such an untimely policy of purely observing literature laid the groundwork for the demise of the Southern Tang Dynasty. ▲ Nantang laid the foundation for the prosperity of Jiangnan. The first person who jumped out against Li Bian's policy was his son Li Jing. In 943 AD, before he died, Li Bian earnestly taught Prince Li Jing, who was lying beside him. Dechang Palace had more than 7 million gold and silks. You should make friends with your neighbors and defend your country. In the form of a will, warn your heirs that our family is rich, so you can continue to leave a message and don't bother your neighbors. However, as soon as Li Jing, the leader of China, came to power, he soon forgot what his old father taught him. Although the new emperor is literary and artistic, he is also keen on military affairs: he not only wants to fight, but even wants to go back to his hometown and Chang 'an, "with the intention of setting the Central Plains and restoring the old capital". In Li Jing's view, it is impossible to survive in this troubled times by blindly observing the text. The boss of the Central Plains is aiming at the world, but we are aiming at defending the land, and we have lost a lot of momentum. Isn't this going to end sooner or later? Just one year after he succeeded to the throne, civil strife broke out in southern Fujian. Li Jing was moved at this and sent troops to attack Fujian. After two years of fighting, it was destroyed. In 19951year, there was another civil strife in Chu. Excavate was overjoyed and immediately sent troops to attack Chu State, destroying it in one fell swoop. In this way, Nantang used foreign troops twice and successfully destroyed the two countries. The territory of the Southern Tang Dynasty also reached the largest in history, and Li Jing's achievements were very beautiful. But when it comes to substantive benefits, Nantang did not get much: Fujian was not completely suppressed, and Zhangzhou and Quanzhou were still local separatist regimes; Not to mention Chu, he ate it in his mouth and spit it out. There is nothing to gain. It's like Zhuge Liang ignored the powerful state of Wei, but used the power of the Northern Expedition in the southern expedition, turning "five trips to Qishan" into "five trips to Lu Gu" and spent more than ten years screwing that man. More distressing things are yet to come. In the year when Chu was destroyed in the Southern Tang Dynasty, it was established in the ruined Central Plains and the Later Zhou Dynasty. Guo Wei, the first emperor of the Zhou Dynasty, and Chai Rong, the second emperor, were very powerful figures, as everyone knows. In 955 AD, in the late Zhou Dynasty, when the strength was restored, the worries of Northern Han and Liao countries were temporarily abandoned, so Zhou Shizong and Chai Rong went into battle in person, pointing to the south of the Yangtze River. For three years, the northern border has been smoggy. In the face of Zhou Junbing, Nantang collapsed thousands of miles. At this time, Li Jing no longer dreamed of the original, removed the name of the emperor, renamed it the Lord of the country, offered soil to the later Zhou Dynasty, and demarcated the Yangtze River as the boundary. The so-called guarding the river must guard the Huai River. Now that the land of Jianghuai has been lost, the Southern Tang Dynasty has suffered a great blow both strategically and economically. In 959 AD, in order to avoid the invasion of the later Zhou Dynasty, Li Jing, a tourist trap, ignored the opposition of ministers, leaving only the prince in Jinling, but went to Hongzhou (Nanchang) himself. Hongzhou was poor compared with Jinling at that time. Li Jing is not happy. Looking back on his imperial career, I can't help feeling sad: Xiang Lian sells green leaves, while the west wind worries about green waves. At that time, the language of "a small building blows through the jade" is more appropriate now for yourself. After two years in Hongzhou, Li Jing died of depression. At this time of the central plains, already surnamed Zhao. ▲ Li Wei plays chess. Since ancient times, there have been too many people who want to be emperors: some are blatant, while others are in name only. In the bloody power struggle, there are only a handful of people who can become emperors, and most competitors either run with them or become cannon fodder. It happened that some people, who didn't want to be emperors, became "lucky" and were not suitable, such as Li Yu. In 937, Li Yu was born on Qixi. In their old Li family, Li Yu is the sixth son of father Li Jing. In this way, the throne will never be in the hands of Li Yu. However, the five brothers in front of Li Yu died one after another! Li Yu suddenly changed from the old six to the boss and became the first heir to the throne. The former prince died, and China leader Li Jing intends to let Li Yu take over as the prince. Minister Zhong Mo persuaded the old six Li Yu to be frivolous and indulgent, so he asked the old seven Li to do it. Li Jing was so angry that he actually demoted Zhong Mo and made Li Yu a prince. When luck comes, you can't escape if you want to. In this way, after the death of Li Jing, Li Yu succeeded to the throne for Li Houzhu. Li Yu, who returned to Jinling, faced the mess left by his father: the land in the north of the Yangtze River was gone, and the national strength was not as good as before. Grandpa still had the strength to challenge the Central Plains regime when he was here, but now there is nothing. What shall we do? Pray for Buddha's blessing! Among the many perishing kings, Li Yu's image has always been addicted to amusement regardless of political affairs, but in fact Li Yu is very hard. However, his political ability is not as good as his literary and artistic ability. At that time, Zhao Kuangyin had just taken away the old Chai family's world and was thinking about how to unify the country. Southern Tang Dynasty was the largest separatist kingdom at that time, with a vast territory and a large population. Theoretically, it is the most capable to compete with DaSong. For Nantang, the Zhao family had a layer of fear that they would be stabbed in the back by Nantang when they were doing things. However, Zhao's family was soon relieved, because they found that the late Southern Tang master was a man without ambition. Therefore, when Li Yu timidly sent someone to Tokyo to ask Emperor Zhao to call him by his first name, he was overjoyed and waved his hand in a pretentious way: Hey, it's not worth it. But Li Yu is still not at ease. In his view, only by showing enough obedience to the Song Dynasty can we gain the understanding of the Emperor of the Song Dynasty and keep our ancestral temple. So Li Yu not only served the Song Dynasty, but also wanted to be a follower of the Song Dynasty with Nan Han. When other separatist forces were annexed by the Song Dynasty, he always stood on the side of the Song Dynasty, shouting for Dasong and waving flags. Even after the signs of attacking the Tang Dynasty appeared in the shipbuilding of the Song Dynasty, Li Yu still insisted on working condescendingly for the Song Dynasty, not only vetoed the proposal of taking the initiative to raid and burn the warships of the Song Dynasty, but also belittled the ritual system and said to the father of the Song Dynasty with practical actions: I will go with you, please leave me alone. But the scene at the beginning of this article has finally come. After all, in Zhao Kuangyin's view, "the world is a whole". ▲ Li Wei. Li Yu, who was defeated and surrendered, became a prisoner and came to Tokyo, the capital of the Song Dynasty. After thirty-nine years of laying the foundation stone, one ancient sage and two Wen Jun, the Southern Tang Dynasty perished. After the Song Dynasty won the Southern Tang Dynasty, it instantly became an upstart. With the management of the Third Li, the Southern Tang Dynasty and wuyue, who later "returned the fields to the Song Dynasty", became the purse and rice storehouse of the Great Song Dynasty. It was with the money and grain in the south of the Yangtze River that the Song Dynasty had the capital to compete with the Liao State in the later period, and the capital to cry about Xixia through trade wars, thus occupying a place in the pattern of Liao, Song and Xia. A.D. 1 127 years, there was a historical cycle. A pair of literary fathers and sons also appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty, but this time it was even worse: Emperor Qin Hui became the "guest of honor" of the State of Jin together, and the ending was bleak. When Zhao was building a swallow, he came to the once beautiful south of the Yangtze River. Relying on the wealth of Jiangnan, the Southern Song Dynasty was able to compete with Jin and Meng for a century and a half. At this time, does anyone remember the hard work of three generations of Li? However, some people are glad that it was not militarists and ambitious people who were in charge of this land in Nantang. However, Li Yu came to the end of his life two years after he entered the Song Dynasty. In 1978, on Qixi, Li Yu, who was imprisoned, celebrated his 42nd birthday. Under the buttonwood tree, he had a drink with the waiter, and when the wine touched the sore spot, he couldn't help but burst into tears. He said that he didn't know he was a guest in his dream, and he wanted to have fun in the morning. He said, "The old country can't look back on the moon." In the past, the "heaven and earth" in the south of the Yangtze River has gone with the eastward flow of the river and can no longer be found. Nowadays, living with empty wine is not only leaving sorrow, but also leaving sorrow. When the veteran Xu Xuan visited, Li Yu collapsed and burst into tears. Remembering that he was confused for a moment and killed Pan You and Li Ping, who advocated political reform and strengthening the country, Li Yu felt painful and sighed: "I regret killing Pan You and Li Ping at that time." This word reached the ears of the then emperor Zhao Guangyi. That night, Li Yu died suddenly. The cause of death, like the sound of an axe and a candle, is always a mystery. This is the only thing left: the flowers in the forest have withered in spring, too soon. Helpless, cold rain comes early and wind comes late. Cochineal tears, stay drunk, when heavy. People naturally hate each other for a long time, and water flows east.