When it comes to Meng Chang, the last monarch of Hou Shu during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, we can easily think of the love story between him and Mrs. Hua Rui, the famous poem of Mrs. Hua Rui's "140,000 people are all disarmed, and none of them are men", as well as the sentence that Zhao Kuangyin shouted after seeing Meng Chang's "Seven Treasure Drowning Vessels", "Dedicate yourself to this, what if you don't die!" ”
Pile by pile, it seems to show that there are no dead ends: Meng Chang is a mediocre king.
But what is very incredible is that in 965 AD, when the Song army destroyed Houshu and sent Meng Chang to Beijing, tens of thousands of Houshu people were sent hundreds of miles along the river, and the cry shook the sky.
Who is this Meng Chang? If it is benevolent, how can it destroy the country? If so, how can there be so many supporters?
1.
Meng Chang, formerly known as Meng Renzan, was the third son of Meng Zhixiang, the emperor of Gaozu of Later Shu.
Meng Zhixiang is also a generation of heroes, in that year, he was appointed by the Later Tang Emperor to serve as the envoy of the Jiannan Xichuan Festival, governing the Sichuan for many years. Later, when he saw that the political situation in the Central Plains was really chaotic, he moved the idea of establishing himself as the king.
At the beginning of 934 AD, after years of conquest, Meng Zhixiang finally swept away the opposition forces in Shu and officially proclaimed himself emperor and established Hou Shu.
Houshu is today's Sichuan Basin, surrounded by mountains, easy to defend and difficult to attack, far away from war, and the most suitable for living your own small life behind closed doors.
It's a pity that Meng Zhixiang is really a blessed person, he has just been the emperor for half a year, and he has already come to the end of his life.
Before dying, Meng Zhixiang made his third son Meng Renzan, who was 16 years old at the time, the crown prince, and ordered Zhao Jiliang, Li Renhan, Zhao Tingyin, Wang Chuhui and other ministers to assist the government, and then closed his eyes with full unwillingness.
Fearing that the night would be long and dreamy, that night, Zhao Jiliang, the head of the auxiliary ministers, summoned his ministers to announce Meng Zhixiang's edict, arranged for Meng Renzan to succeed to the throne in front of the spirit, and renamed it "Chang" (chǎng) at the same time.
Chang, with the meaning of long daytime and comfortable and unobstructed, used this name, of course, for an auspicious picture.
2.
Although he became the emperor, Meng Chang at this time was the age of a junior high school graduate today. Despite the help of the Auxiliary Minister, it is also a problem to have too many Auxiliary Ministers.
For example, Li Renhan and Zhao Tingyin both held military power, and Wang Chuhui served as a privy envoy in charge of confidential information. Only Prime Minister Zhao Jiliang is loyal and virtuous, loyal to Meng Chang, and earnestly assists.
Four auxiliary ministers, three are unreliable, and I don't know how Meng Zhixiang was chosen. For Meng Chang, who was in it, even if he was angry to the sky, he didn't dare to resist openly, so he could only follow Li Renhan's wishes and promote him to Zhongshu Order, manage the six armies, and stabilize him temporarily.
Then he arranged Zhao Tingyin, who had a deep grudge with Li Renhan, to be the deputy envoy of the Sixth Army, Zhao Tingyin was very angry, everyone is an auxiliary minister, why should you be the deputy of the right and I should be the deputy?
Soon, Zhao Tingyin sent someone to denounce Li Renhan for rebellion, Meng Chang saw that the time was ripe, and immediately with the assistance of Zhao Jiliang and Zhao Tingyin, he took advantage of the opportunity of the previous dynasty to kill Li Renhan on the spot, and then killed all Li Renhan's henchmen.
Meng Chang's move greatly shocked the old ministers who were dissatisfied with him. The old minister, who used to claim that his legs and feet were inconvenient and enjoyed the treatment of being free to kneel in front of the palace, also threw away his crutches from afar and began to make a big salute honestly.
A 16-year-old boy, with both resourcefulness and bravery, quickly grasped the real power of Houshu, I have to say that Meng Chang has two brushes.
3.
After the pro-government, Meng Chang took Tang Taizong Li Shimin as an example and put a box on the court to encourage the ministers to actively admonish. He will also improve the administration of officials and impose severe penalties on officials who accumulate corruption.
With regard to agriculture, which is related to the fundamentals of the state, he promulgated an edict urging agriculture and mulberry to be regarded as the main government affairs in all localities and county decrees, which greatly promoted the development of agriculture.
In terms of culture, Meng Changguang set up a school hall and used engraving to print the Nine Classics, which were distributed to various counties and counties, which greatly promoted the development of culture and education.
Generally speaking, during the reign of Meng Chang, the society was stable, the economy took off, and Shuzhong soon prospered to the extent that it became rich in the world.
If Meng Chang can work hard and stabilize the country, he may be able to achieve great things. But after that, Meng Chang had the idea of being in a safe corner and enjoying himself.
Under the influence of this thinking, Meng Chang began to build a large number of exquisite pavilions and pavilions.
He began to recruit beauties and included them in the palace, and the total number of palace people reached thousands.
He drank with his concubines day and night, sang and danced, lived a life of drinking, drunk and dreaming, and even the drowning utensils used to go to the toilet had to be inlaid with pearls and seven treasures...
At the same time that Meng Chang "did not reign early from now on", the Northern Song Dynasty led by Zhao Kuangyin was rising rapidly.
In 963 AD, the Northern Song Dynasty waved its army south, pacified Jingnan in one fell swoop, and began to actively prepare for the destruction of Shu.
Some people with lofty ideals in Later Shu were deeply worried about this, and Prime Minister Wang Zhaoyuan and others played Meng Chang, who could join forces with the Northern Han Dynasty to resist the Song Dynasty, or have a glimmer of life.
However, Zhao Yantao, the messenger sent by Hou Shu to deliver a letter to the Northern Han Dynasty, disobeyed the yin and turned around and handed over the wax book to Zhao Kuangyin. Zhao Kuangyin laughed after reading the letter: "I was worried that the Shu division was unknown, but now the division is famous!" ”
Subsequently, Zhao Kuangyin sent Wang Quanbin, Liu Guangyi and other generals to advance by land and water to attack Shu on a large scale.
Meng Chang was very anxious when he heard the news, and sent his very important Wang Zhaoyuan to lead the army to meet him. As a result, this Wang Zhaoyuan was a brave and unscrupulous person, and after being defeated on the battlefield, he was trembling and bedridden. Later, he hid in a warehouse to avoid trouble, not to mention more cowardice.
In the first month of 965 AD, the Song army surrounded Chengdu after destroying the 200,000 troops of Houshu.
4.
Although the country was lost, when Meng Chang was escorted to Beijing, tens of thousands of Houshu people were sent hundreds of miles along the river. Along the way, the people cried and wailed, and many of them even fainted from crying because of their excessive sadness.
(Chang's trip, all the people hugged the road, the cry moved, Chang covered his face and cried.) From Erjiang to Meizhou, hundreds of people mourned along the road. - "Shu Han School Notes")
Meng Chang was infected by this scene, and he also cried all the way, probably due to excessive crying due to sadness, Meng Chang died of a sudden violent illness a few days after arriving in Bianliang.
After Meng Chang's death, his mother Empress Dowager Li died of hunger strike, and his beloved concubine, Mrs. Hua Rui, was canonized as a concubine by Zhao Kuangyin in the palace. It is really embarrassing that a generation of monarchs has ended up like this.
Who is Meng Chang? Some people say that he is a proper faint monarch, who ruined the country of Houshu, and his sin is heavy.
In fact, in my opinion, Meng Chang is not a faint monarch in the strict sense, he is not cruel to the people, and he has done quite a lot in the early stage, but later he is content with pleasure, loses his enterprising spirit, and finally plays a good hand of cards to a sparse extent.
Born in sorrow and dying in peace, this is an eternal truth. If Meng Chang could see this earlier, Hou Shu might not collapse so easily.
Of course, the rise of the Northern Song Dynasty is unstoppable, the unification of the world is the ultimate trend, and Meng Chang's defeat is also a historical inevitability.
What do you think of Meng Chang? Feel free to leave a message.