The History of China - #130 - 5D10K 7: South Before North

Episode Date: October 8, 2017

With the rise of the last of the 5 Dynasties, Later Zhou, the North China Plains is able to go onto the offensive for the first time in decades; not against the endless expanses of the northern steppes, but a new strategy to reinvigorate the north by seizing the fertile and as of yet untouched reaches of the southern kingdoms, who are ripe for the plucking. Through it all, a brilliant military commander by the name of Zhao Kuangyin will prove his valor and skill, and is ultimately rewarded with a fateful governorship to the city of Song. Time Period Covered: 954-959 CE Major Historical Figures: Later Zhou: Chai/Guo Rong (Emperor Shizong) [r. 954-959] Chancellor Wang Pu [d. 957] General Zhao Kuangyin Southern Tang: Li Jing (Emperor Yuanzong) [r. 943-961] Northern Han: Liu Chong (Emperor Shizu) [r. 951-954/5] Liu Jun (Emperor Ruizong) [r. 955-968] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Episode 130, South Before North. Last time, we pushed through the ever-so-brief reign period of the later Han Dynasty over the central Yellow River Valley, and then watched as it was gobbled up from within by Guo Wei and his ascendant later Zhou Dynasty in 951, charting us all the way through the year 954 to his death. Today, we will finish up our business in the north, setting the stage for the Song to come, before swinging down south to see what has been happening over there for the last, oh, 70 odd years. Before that, though, I'm happy to say that I've now posted two of the about five promised maps that I promised to get up in the near future over at thehistoryofchina.wordpress.com, so please do go check them

out. They are a lot of work to draw and make, but they've also been extremely helpful for me to visualize just what exactly has been going on here, and I hope they'll be helpful for you too. Alright, so let's get going. Guo Wei's death had seen the uncontested ascension of his appointed heir, his maternal nephew and adopted son, Cai Rong, who, in deference to his adoption, took the surname Guo in his adulthood. Upon assuming the mantle of Son of Heaven, Guo Rong was already 30, meaning that there would be no risky, unstable regency as there would have been with, say, a child or adolescent successor. More than that, Guo Rong was, much like his adopted father, very much a military man, which suited the later Zhou power structure left to him to a T, since Guo Wei had been, very much unlike most of the other of the five dynasties we've looked at,

reliant on his state's overwhelming military supremacy above any other consideration. The efficacy of Zhou's military might, and Guo Rong's ability to effectively wield it, would be put to the test almost immediately upon him taking the throne. When the ruler of Northern Han, which you'll no doubt remember from last time was the rump state of later Han controlled by its self-proclaimed emperor Liu Zhong, when Liu heard of the late Guowei's death, he wasted no time in linking up his own forces with that of the Khitan Liao under its own new emperor, Mu Zhong, in order to march on the city of Luzhou, just north of the Zhou capital, Kaifeng. In a dramatic display of his own personal force of command, Guo Rong would himself lead the Imperial

Guard of later Zhou in the defense of Lu, overcoming not only the strong attack of the combined Han-Liao forces arrayed against him, but also the apparent ineptitude of the Imperial Guard's officer corps itself. Professor Standen writes that it was now full of ill and elderly placekeepers, and that several units of the Imperial Guard had fled during the battle. Nevertheless, and in spite of the poor showing, Guo Rong was able to snatch a victory at Luzhou, albeit a narrow one, in the third month of 954, at the so-called Battle of Gaoping. Some 4,000 later Zhou troops of the palace guard, led by their commander, one Zhao Kuangyin, and yeah, stick a pin next to that name because he is going to become sort of a big deal by the end of this episode,

managed to hold off a much larger Liao force sent against them until they were reinforced, thus sending the aged Liu Zhong to flight with later Zhou forces in hot pursuit. Liu would manage to make it back to his own capital at Taiyan, just barely ahead of his pursuers, and had very little time indeed to mount an effective defense against the siege that was to follow. This unmistakable show of force by Guo Rong, to be able to not only defeat the combined enemy force but immediately follow that defense up with a counterattack and city siege, prompted numerous districts across the southern border of Northern Han territory, as well as one of its senior command staff, to immediately submit to later Zhou authority. Nevertheless, as the siege dragged on, it became increasingly obvious that the later Zhou's armies had, by this point, overextended

themselves northward, thus prompting Guo Rong to call his forces back from the gates of Taiyuan after a mere two months. Still, such a decisive victory would do much to make both Liao and Northern Han think twice before trying anything like that again. For his outstanding display of courage and leadership under fire, Zhao Kuangyin was promoted to the Supreme Commander of the Palace Guard, setting the star of his career on a blazing path skyward. But we'll get back to Commander Zhao in a little bit. At least as important as his victory on the battlefield, though, was that Guo Rong had in so doing proved that he had inherited the mandate of heaven in the most forceful possible way, through martial prowess.

And throughout his reign, we'll see time and time again him personally leading his armies into the thick of combat to prove that once again. With the territories that had submitted to his authority, Guo Rong carried out a policy of immediately replacing the local officialdom with his own men, rather than the usual custom of keeping on those officials who had come with the territory. In so doing, by breaking this precedent, Guo was making it clear that, quote, mere allegiance was no longer an adequate basis for authority. It was now all or nothing. If he could not exert complete control in captured precedent, Gould was making it clear that, quote, mere allegiance was no longer an adequate basis for authority. It was now all or nothing. If he could not exert complete control in captured districts, he would abandon them rather than compromise his supremacy, end quote.

Next on his docket was the poor performance of the Imperial Guard and the senior command staff that was, to be frank, well into its dotage. It was time to sweep the dusty force clean, beginning with the summary executions of the dozens of officers of all ranks who had fled from the battle at Luzhou. These were replaced by Guo Rong's hand-picked officers from among the palace army, which was, after all, the emperor's own bodyguard, and then conducted an overall official fitness review of the imperial guard, trimming the fat, as it were, and significantly reducing the size and dead weight that the army had accumulated. At the same time, in order to counterbalance this new, more efficient, more lithe, and potentially more dangerous Imperial Guard Corps, Guo also substantially enlarged the

Palace Guard by recruiting the best of the best from among the soldiers and officers from the whole of Later Zhou. This move had the doubly positive effect of rendering his bodyguard one of the most elite fighting forces in the whole of northern China, while at the same time draining his provincial governors of their own best troops, thus substantially weakening their own ability to resist his will. From Standen, quote, The control meant that Guo no longer needed the allegiance of the governors to maintain his position as emperor. Combined with the Liao defeat at Gaoping, it was clearly impossible for any governor, or even alliance of governors, to stand against Guo, end quote.

In fact, one of the truly remarkable aspects of Guo Rong's time on the throne was that he would have to deal with exactly zero internal rebellions. Contrast that against the reigns of virtually all of our other five dynasties' emperors, and yeah, it's pretty amazing. Still further was the fact that Gorong was now in direct control of both military pillars that propped up his regime, and he had, uniquely amongst his peers, managed to transform his armies from imperial power brokers into agents of imperial power. That is, his imperial armies now served the emperor, rather than the other way around. It's undeniable that the military was first and foremost among Guo Rong's concerns and initiatives, and with good reason. That said, he didn't fall into the trap of

ignoring the civil side of his kingdom, and was, very much like his predecessor Guo Wei, quite concerned with the idea of good governance. Corruption was harshly clamped down on among the officialdom. It was decreed that only those who actually passed the official examinations could seek public office, rather than the long-standing norm that those with high-level family connections could skirt the line. And as for the governors, with their ability to rebel thoroughly curtailed, well, they were now to resume the responsibility of local defense and policing their own regions rather than relying on capital forces.

More than that, Guo Rong oversaw the conscription of more than 60,000 corvy laborers in the construction of a massive series of defensive fortifications along the southern bank of the Yellow River, facing northward toward Liao and northern Han. Those who had fled their land or otherwise abandoned it were enticed beginning in 955 with Guo's decree that should they return, they'd be legally entitled to recover a portion of the land that they had left behind, even if it had subsequently been appropriated by others. And he also ordered a careful step-by-step expansion of the city walls at Kaifeng to accommodate the capital city's continued growth,

as well as a rationalization of the city's streets by straightening and widening them to accommodate the much heavier traffic. In addition, Guo also ordered the widespread dredging and improvement of waterways across his realm, which not only vastly improved navigability for his in-the-works naval force, which we'll talk about more in a minute, but also made conventional crossings by the likes of, oh, I don't know, a barbarian cavalry force that much more difficult. Two birds, one stone. Quite high up on Guo Rong's priority list, as it is for most of us, was the question of finance and economy. And Guo looked around at where the money was, and where it was going, and made an admittedly controversial decision. He decided to crack down on religion. Again from Sandin, quote,

Membership of Buddhist orders in 954 was recorded at 61,200. In the fifth month of 955, he restricted entry into monastic life to those whose grandparents, parents, and uncles had all died, banned ascetic mutilation, demanded more accurate counts of clergy, and abolished over 30,000 temples, end quote. It ought to be pointed out, though, that while Buddhist temples were the chief targets, Gorong's aims were not anti-Buddhist in nature, markedly unlike our previous encounters with anti-monasticism as of the Tang Dynasty and prior. It was just that, well, you see, Buddhist monks had the problematic proclivity to take the copper coins they accumulated and melt them down into religious icons and statues. This, of course, took said copper out of the general circulation and had led in time to an overall shortfall of free ore to power the economy. Later that year, in fact, he would expand this order beyond Buddhist

temples, ordering that apart from the religious icons that had yet been allowed to remain in the remaining temples, military equipment, and official signia of office, all copper implements and statues of any sort were to be turned over forthwith to the central government for recasting into coinage, and further stipulating that whomever was caught hoarding away more than about six and a half pounds of copper in any form was to be put to death. In 956, with the death of the old military affairs commissioner, Guo Rong would appoint his longtime associate Wang Pu to the post, and it would be Wang who would become the architect of Later Zhou's grand plan of conquest and annexation, what came to be known as the South Before North strategy. From Lao Nap Yin and Huang Guangzhong, quote,

Wang suggested that the first objective should be the southern Tang, since weak points along its border with the later Zhou could easily be penetrated, and the riches of its main territories in the lower Yangtze Valley would provide further campaigns with funds for manpower and resources. Wang further proposed that the later Zhou army should avoid conflict with the strong states in favor of attacking the weak, end quote. In total, Wang Pu listed the states surrounding Later Zhou in order of difficulty, beginning with southern Tang, then the kingdoms of the far south, followed by the west, and only then to deal with northern Han. What set this proposal apart, however, was not so much that Wang was the first guy to ever have

the idea to go conquer the south while leaving the north alone for the time being, but the fact that later Zhou under Guo Rong was probably the first of the five dynasties with the means, motive, and opportunity to actually carry out such an audacious plan. Typically, the threat from the north had been far too dire to seriously think about sending the bulk of one's army south of the central plains. But with Guo Rong's successful centralization, his massive defensive infrastructure works, and the fact that the Liao was for the time being uniquely hobbled by the incompetence of its own emperor, Mu Zong, suddenly what would have been a wild flight of fancy even a few years ago was all of a sudden not only plausible, but downright enticing. And one of the key provisions

of Wang's plan that underscored everythingright enticing. And one of the key provisions of Wang's plan that underscored everything to follow was a key change in the mindset toward later Zhou's neighbors. I have mentioned this in passing before, but for the past 70-odd years, it had been customary for the various rulers of the Chinese states, the concurrently ruling kings and emperors, to at least formally acknowledge one another as effective equals, even when they might be rivals. This whole policy of mutual toleration, Wang argued, was never going to get anyone anywhere in the long run. No, the only way forward out of this fractured period would be to view neighboring monarchs not as tolerated equals, but as mortal enemies to be destroyed and annexed at all costs. It was time, in other words,

to take the gloves off. Guo Rong loved Wang Pu's suggestion, but he had a little quibble with the order in which he presented their list of targets. Thus, when in the summer of 955 the Later Zhou armies struck south, it would not be against southern Tang as Wang had urged, but instead a surprise attack against four prefectures of later Shu and Sichuan to the southwest. The surprise nature of this assault was so absolute, in fact, that the regions under attack had lost eight fortresses to the Zhou armies by the time its emperor even got around to appointing a military command staff to combat it. Though it sought out and received an assurance of alliance from both Liao and

northern Han, no actual material support was ever forthcoming from any of the northern territories. As such, by that autumn the four prefectures had fallen into Zhou's hands, and later she was forced to sue for peace, with its emperor demanding that he would cede the captured territories, but that he retained his right to his imperial prerogative and title. Guo Rong saw no need to even bother answering this missive, though, and instead struck at Fengzhou, which fell by the year's end with the surrender of the bulk of its troops. To these troops, Guo Rong paid their back salaries and then said, well, you boys are with us now, so let's get marching. It would be a tactic that he used time and time again, which was to employ the soldiers of the very states he was

in the process of conquering in order to bolster his own ranks for the next phase of the attack, which, in this instance, would be the fertile and wealthy region between the Huai River and the Yangtze River in the south, known as Huainan, a name which simply means south of the Huai River. Now, it might strike some of you as odd that we've been talking about this period for some time now, and we're always talking about how this general switches sides, or that army surrenders and then attack their own country. Like, don't these people have any sense of loyalty at all? But the question really becomes, loyalty to who? Napoleon Bonaparte rose from obscurity to become the most powerful and

significant figure in modern history. Over 200 years after his death, people are still debating his legacy. He was a man of contradictions, a tyrant and a reformer, a liberator and an oppressor, a revolutionary and a reactionary. His biography reads like a novel, and his influence is almost beyond measure. I'm Everett Rummage, host of the Age of Napoleon podcast, and every month I delve into the turbulent life and times of one of the greatest characters in history, and explore the world that shaped him in all its glory and tragedy. It's a story of great battles and campaigns, political intrigue, and massive social and economic change, but it's also a story about people,

populated with remarkable characters. I hope you'll join me as I examine this fascinating era of history. Find The Age of Napoleon wherever you get your podcasts. How deeply can one feel love and devotion to this idea of the fatherland, when what that is or who controls it keeps changing every few years? From Lau and Huang, quote, Fragmentation also undermined the foundations of the medieval tradition. The value of loyalty declined as ranking officials, high and low alike, prostrated themselves before whatever new rulers had just overthrown their old master.

Ritually sworn brotherhood often ended in fratricide. Younger generals adopted as sons by their superiors frequently assassinated their fathers. Personal loyalty was rare, loyalty to the state rarer still, since there was no lasting state. All was in flux, and betrayal motivated by self-interest was frequent." This is really one of the main takeaways from this period that I worry might accidentally slip through the cracks, or I might get so carried away examining the bark on the trees here that I forget to tell you about the forest as a whole. But the overarching picture of this period is one of near-total social breakdown. You can't trust the government, because it might not even be there tomorrow. It might be some Turk or some Catan sweeping through demanding loyalty to his own regime before carting off your caches

of food and women and children, while the men who were just fighting against this or that lord are now expected to turn around and serve and obey their former enemy? What emotion can one possibly have except apathy and blithe acceptance? I actually think that one of the better descriptions of this kind of situation is, of course, from George R.R. Martin in A Feast for Crows, in which the septon Maribold describes his time as a foot soldier in the War of the Nine Penny Kings. It reads, quote, Broken men are deserving of our pity. Almost all are common-born, simple folk who have never been more than a mile from the house where they were born in until the day some lord comes round to take them off to war. Poorly shod and poorly clad, they march away beneath his banners. Brother marches with brother,

sons with father, friends with friends. War seems a fine adventure, the greatest most of them will ever know. Then they get a taste for battle. For some, that one taste is enough to break them. Others go on for years, until they lose count of all the battles they've fought in. Brothers watch brothers die. Fathers lose their sons. Friends see their friend trying to hold in their entrails. They see the lord who led them there cut down, and some other lord shouts that they are his now. Then one day they look around and realize that all their friends and kin are gone, that they are fighting beside strangers beneath a banner they hardly recognize.

They don't know where they are, or how to get back home, and the lord they're fighting for does not know their names, yet here he comes, shouting for them to form up, to make a line with their spears and scythes and sharpened hoes, to stand their ground. End quote. Loyalty. To what?

To who? To whoever's writing the paychecks and filling your belly that night, I suppose. In any case, out of the mud and blood and back up into our usual top-level analysis, with the influx of surrendered Shu troops, this led Guo Rong to commence his plan, this time as per Wang Pu's initial instructions, to assault southern Tang in the region between the Huai and Yangtze rivers, aka Huainan. The attack would commence with the force under the allied state of Wuye, laying siege to the city of Shouzhou, just south of the Huai,

which was briefly lifted in early 956, only to be reimposed by the Zhou commander sent to take over amid Wuye dithering. As the siege ground on, further Zhou victories over the southern Tang navy and the capture of smaller towns and settlements up and down the two rivers forced the Tang emperor, Li Qing, to the negotiating table, with his offer to be annual payments to later Zhou and to be allowed to call Guo Rong his older brother. Guo didn't bite, however, since that was a position a little too close to equal for his liking. And in

the end, Li caved, surrendering his imperial titles and submitting to later Zhou as a subject. In spite of this, the fortress city of Shouzhou continued to hold out and resist the siege imposed by later Zhou, rendering it impossible for Guo Rong to consolidate his holding south of the Huai, much less feel like he could possibly leave it without risking the whole region falling back under southern Tang possession. And so, he built a navy, reportedly consisting of several hundred warships that were constructed in the canals along Kaifeng, while using these sailors captured or surrendered from southern Tang to train his own naval units. From Standen, quote, Guo now sent Shoujo still stubbornly refused to surrender, even after the Zhou navy swept further downstream and destroyed the last remaining Tang relief army

while securing the Zhou's own resupply lines. In fact, it wouldn't be until the city commander himself fell gravely ill that his subordinates were finally able to take command and surrender the city. Incidentally, this supremely stubborn garrison commander was not punished for his obstinacy by Guorong, who recognized instead that he had done a supremely excellent job of carrying out his orders, even in the face of hopeless odds, and so rewarded the commander with gifts and kind treatment while he recovered. Chouzhou itself would likewise receive a light touch by its conqueror, with the citizenry receiving general amnesty

and the prefectural granaries being opened to feed the starving populace within. Through all this, back at Kaifeng, Guoong was playing the part of a skilled civil leader, as well as warlord. For each territory he conquered, he immediately appointed from among his inner circle a capable set of administrators and then dispatched them. In terms of succession, though only 35 years old, Gorong again displayed remarkable forward thinking by refusing to name any one of his child's sons as his heir while there were adults better suited, in order to prevent the possibility of a destabilizing regency in the event of his untimely demise.

With the final success of the Huainan Campaign and the fall of Shouzhou, it was time to hand out rewards. First and foremost, to its brilliant commander, the hero of the Battle of Gaoping, who, as a reward for his great victory, was now further promoted to the military governorship of Shangqiu, with his capital at the city of Song. Yes, Zhao Kuangyin, now Jiedushi of Song. And I'll just go ahead and hang that Chekhov's gun up on the mantle. I'm quite sure it won't be fired by Act 3. The later Zhou navies were definitely the stars of the show in the war against Southern Tang, and as they pushed further southward, the Tang forces began outright abandoning

entire cities ahead of their approach, including the port of Yangzhou, which I bring up mostly so that I can tell you that it was why the Yangtze River is called the Yangtze River. The lowest segment of the body was named in a reference to this city, whereas the entire river in Chinese is just called the Long River, or Changjiang. At this point, Guelph's navy was virtually all the way down the Huai, and near its confluence with the Yangtze, which would have been great, save for the fact that southern Tang still controlled the canal that actually linked the two bodies. Oh, what's a river navy to do, then? Why, build your own canal, of course,

with blackjack and hookers. Alright, not those last two, but still, a canal. This bypass is said to have so astonished the Tang defenders that quite a few simply surrendered then and there. And by this point, the writing was pretty much on the wall. The emperor of southern Tang, Li Jing, once again offered to surrender and cede the last four of his 14 prefectures in Hainan that he still controlled, as well as offering to abdicate his throne in favor of his heir. And this time, Guo Rong graciously accepted. Though in the end, Li would not in fact have to abdicate, but instead accepted the subordinate title of Guo Wang, which can be translated either as prince or king, but is in any case

lower than emperor, and he thus surrendered his imperial garb and regalia. The conquest of Hainan would turn out to be the largest and most important of later Zhou's military efforts to unify the realm, as well as the longest fought. The benefits of this new territory were manifold. Chief among them, the economic boon to the central plains regime. Captured goods and annual tribute amounting to, quote, some million measures a year of silver, silk, coin, tea, and grain, end quote, were a wonderful shot in the arm to the later Zhou economy. But that was really just the beginning. With Huainan, so too came its abundant

salt plains, which actually served to make the region one of the wealthiest in the empire, and now fell under later Zhou dominion. Even more important for the war-ravaged and quasi-depopulated central plains, though, was the influx of both productive land and a dense population. Standen lists them as some 222,574 registered households within 14 prefectures, which may have single-handedly increased the population of Later Zhou by as much as 30%, while also providing a rich rice basket to feed the armies and populace back home. Now returning back home to Kaifeng in triumph, Guorong sought to bolster his military success with further efforts to display his qualities as a virtuous leader.

He now began referring to the populace under his control as his children, and set about promoting the study of rites and music, as well as enacting an ambitious land tax reformation aimed at equalizing the burden across the state, while simultaneously growing the state's revenue streams. Only the figures for the prefecture surrounding Kaifeng itself have come down to us, but if they're any indication, it was a resounding success. Land registered and taxed grew in the region from 168,000 acres to more than 588,000 acres by just the following year. All of this, of course, was fueled by the second phase of the by-now-deceased Wang Pu's master plan.

Later Zhou had broken the south and pilfered its riches, and now it was time to once again turn north to crush the northern Han and drive the Catan barbarians back to the wilds beyond their ill-gotten 16 prefectures. Oh, I suppose I should say that there was a campaign launched against Sichuan and later Shu, but it was annihilated owing to just the ridiculous natural and man-made fortifications of the regions, so we just don't talk about that. No, no, no. To the 16 prefectures.

To destiny. In 955, the ancient Liu Zhong of northern Han had finally kicked the bucket, leading to the accession of the impetuous Liu Jin as his replacement. Liu the Younger had launched an abortive offensive against later Zhou holdings that had gone so far as to reach the walls of Luzhou, while Guorong was preoccupied with his Huanan campaign. Northern Han forces were driven back in short order, to be followed up in 958 with a massive retaliatory strike that saw the rapid capture of Xucheng City, and then quickly thereafter,

the fall of another city and a further six fortresses across the southern reaches of Han territory. And remember when I said that Guo had been dredging, deepening, and widening the rivers across his empire for the past few years? Yep, now it's time for that fabulous river navy to come sailing back up from Huainan and the Yangtze to lay waste to the north. And the real beauty of this river system was that he could now move massive quantities of troops here, there, anywhere, without disturbing or negatively impacting the landed farmers on the shores. They would just sail right on by. Using his special forces of amphibious assault marines, Guorong led, again, as always, personally, lest we forget what a badass this guy was, the charge against Yijin passed

along the Liao borders, which quickly folded and surrendered, to be followed up with the capture of Huajiao and Yukou passes respectively, along with Ying, Mo, and Yi cities from among the 16 prefectures, and even the southern reaches of the Liao's south capital region. Once again, confusingly and ironically enough, what is modern Beijing? The onslaught was halted, in fact, only when Guorong grew ill late that year and was forced to withdraw back south in order to try to recover. Through all of this conflict and expansionism, Later Zhou itself thrived in a way that the Central Plains really hadn't since virtually the outset of the Five Dynasties. And the explanation was in the expansion itself. Prior to the Zhou, you see, the Central Plains had been the main

theater of warfare for much of the conquest. Indeed, many authors specifically point out that while the Liao could attack the region around Kaifeng virtually at will over the course of the 10th century, the Central Plains had no logistical ability to strike back in any meaningful or long term capacity. This had meant that no matter what name you gave your Chinese dynasty operating out of Kaifeng or Luoyang or whatever, you were perpetually on the defensive and on your heels, with no real ability to make it stop. But now, with the southern strategy of Wangpu, the tide had reversed itself. Warfare continued unabated, yes, but now it was in someone else's backyard. Again from Stanton, quote,

Although Guo's conquests brought widespread havoc to neighboring regions that had enjoyed significant periods of peace and prosperity, Guo's campaigns did not wreak devastation on his own people, and even brought benefits to many levels of late Zhou society, end quote. In all, these distant wars on distant river shores allowed the central plains itself to recover both materially and in terms of its population and morale. There is quite a bit to be said about the psychological effects of being on the defensive versus the offensive. The waterway improvements, though fundamentally a militarily-oriented initiative, also benefited

commerce, since traders could now better traverse the lengths and breadths of the empire. Governmentally, this also had a profound effect on the psychology of the central plains. Regional governors who had by now for generations been fundamentally oppositional to the centralizing authority of the throne, in the face of these now truly external foes, were finally ready to play ball with the imperial court, giving in to the all-too-human propensity to rally behind the flag when it's us versus them. Guo Rong reinforced this natural inclination by studiously avoiding encroaching on their rights and privileges, and even leaving the governors of his, who remained more or less autonomous, pretty much alone. You know, no need to rock the boat. Yet for all this, and at only 38 years old, Guo Wei was now swiftly coming to the

realization that he was dying. The illness that had laid him low and called his campaign against the north short was now pretty obviously killing him, and it was here in his last few weeks of life that he truly, royally screwed it all up. You see, since coming to the throne, as I mentioned before, he had studiously rejected all temptation for him to appoint one of his adolescent sons as his heir. Because he knew, he knew, like anyone who could read a history book knew, that that was the single most terrible idea a monarch could possibly ever have. You know, save maybe forcing the peasantry to build a canal, a wall, and a city at the same time while fighting a war and paying it all through taxes. But hey, enough about the Sui dynasty. And yet, in spite of the fact

that he knew it was a terrible idea, on his deathbed, he did it anyway. I guess he just couldn't help himself. He tapped his seven-year-old son, Guo Zhongxun, who would succeed his father in the sixth month of 959, upon Guo Rong's death at age 39. And you'll never guess what happened next. Okay, that's a lie. You totally already know what happens next. I mean, even if you don't know what happens next, you still know what happens next. In the six months or so that followed Guorong's death and the seven-year-old's accession, the strands all began to unravel. Southern Tang began minting its own money again and began construction on a new capital that was more defensible, and also began feeling out the possibility of a renewed

alliance between itself and the Liao, which was only disrupted at the last minute by Zhou agents bribing the lead Tang envoy to murder the Liao ambassador, which like, why would you even do that, but okay, whatever. And remember that Chekhov's gun that I oh-so-innocently put on the wall back in Act 1? The governor of Song, Mr. Zhao Kuangyin? Yeah, well, it's almost time for that gun to go off. But not quite yet. Because before we shoot the later Zhou dynasty stone dead, as promised, next time we're going to take a swing through the sweep of the southern kingdoms and their own takes on what's been going on these last seven decades, just in time for all their little schemes and alliances to come crashing down. Now, I'm still working on the specific formatting for this mini-sweep through the South,

so it's subject to some moderate amount of change, but what I'm hoping to do is to release them as kind of a mini-series of mini-episodes, packaged a few at a time by general region. I'm envisioning perhaps three of these episodes before launching back into the narrative proper, and, you know, finishing Joe off once and for all. But yeah, that's what's going to be next time, to be followed by the sudden but inevitable demise of later Joe. Cause of death? Sheer stupidity. Thanks for listening. The Civil War and Reconstruction was a pivotal era in American history. When a war was fought to save the Union and to free the slaves. And when the work to rebuild the nation after that war was over

turned into a struggle to guarantee liberty and justice for all Americans. I'm Tracy. And I'm Rich. And we want to invite you to join us as we take an in-depth look at this pivotal era in American history. Look for The Civil War and Reconstruction wherever you find your podcasts.