Southern Tang conquest of Min

In 940 Wang Yanzheng revolted against his brother Wang Yanxi. Li Bian mediated between the feuding Wang Brothers. He was motivated to end the conflict quickly lest Wuyue take advantage of the civil war and seize territories near the Southern Tang border.[1][2] This peace didn't last long and Min was torn apart from further feuding between the siblings.[3] In 943 Yanzheng seized the northwest regions of Min and formed the Kingdom of Yin.

Li Jing initially pressed for the brothers to stop feuding as his father had done previously. Yet both of them refused this attempt at mediation. Yanzheng sent a particularly provocative response. Consequently, Li Jing ordered for Yin and Min territories to be forcibly incorporated into his realm.[4]

In April 944 Zhu Wenjin and Lian Chongyu dethroned Wang Yanxi. Zhu sent emissaries to try to establish friendly relations with the Southern Tang. Li Jing put his emissaries under arrest and intended to attack him, but could not do so immediately due to the heat and spread of disease at the time.[5]

Min officials executed Zhu Wenjin in February 945. The throne was offered to Wang Yanzheng, reuniting the split kingdoms. At this point the Southern Tang invasion was imminent. Wang Yangzheng continued to rule from Jianzhou rather than the Min capital of Changle and prepared his forces for the coming attack.[4] He put his nephew Wang Jichang in command of Fuzhou.

The Wuyi Mountains of modern Fujian. The Southern Tang campaign against Wang Yanzheng took place nearby.

Zha Wenhui (查文徽) was appointed to lead the Southern Tang invasion. A merchant gave valuable intelligence on traversing the mountainous terrain of Min. In early 945 the Southern Tang armies began to cross into Min territory. Wang Yanzheng enlisted Yang Sigong to lead the counterattack the Southern Tang.

For over a week the rival forces encamped on either side of a river without combat. Yang Sigong became impatient and ordered an army under Chen Wang (陳望) to cross the river and attack the Southern Tang. In the ensuing battle Chen Wang died and Min forces suffered a disastrous rout. Afterwards Zha Wenhui captured Jianyang.[6][7] The Southern Tang advanced onto Jianzhou and encircled the city. A Min relief force dispatched from Quanzhou failed to break the siege. Wang Yanzheng was desperate for help and offered to become a vassal of Wuyue.[4]

Rebellion by Min military officers broke out in two major port cities. Li Renda murdered Wang Jichang and seized Fuzhou. The Min official in control of Quanzhou was killed by Liu Congxiao. Both men contacted Zha Wenhui with pledges of loyalty to the Southern Tang.[8] The Southern Tang continued their attack on Jianzhou, which finally fell on 2 October 945. Wang Yanzheng was captured and deported to Jinling. The majority of Min territory was now under Southern Tang rule.[4] Yang Sigong was executed to placate the discontented populous of Jianzhou.[9]

The affluent port of Fuzhou was controlled by Li Renda, who initially submitted to the Southern Tang. After a cold reception from Li Renda, Chen Jue fabricated orders for Southern Tang armies to attack Fuzhou. The neighboring Wuyue sent relief forces on naval transports after Qian Hongzuo received an appeal from the embattled Li Renda. In 947 the opposing forces clashed in a pitched battle where the Southern Tang lost over 20,000 troops and were forced to withdraw.[10][7]

While the Southern Tang were successful in deposing Wang Yanzheng they did not accomplish all of their strategic goals. They gained control of the Jianzhou and Tingzhou prefectures but were forced out of Fuzhou by the neighboring Wuyue.[7] The Quanzhou and Zhangzhou prefectures were controlled by a former Min officer, Liu Congxiao. Li Jing appointed him the Jiedushi of Qingyuan Circuit, which largely operated autonomously from the Southern Tang.[11]

In subsequent months the Southern Tang court debated the proper punishment for those involved with the Battle of Fuzhou. Subordinate officers were declared innocent but the fate of Chen Jue and his cohorts remained to be determined. Both he and Feng Yanlu were forced to wear shackles for their trip to Jinling on the orders of an irate Li Jing. Song Qiqiu had originally promoted Chen and took the blame for the latter's actions. Along with Feng Yanji, Song convinced the emperor to merely exile Chen and Feng Yanlu. Han Xizai and Xu Xuan (徐鉉) wrote a memorial demanding that Chen Jue and Feng Yanlu be executed. They stated that if military officials weren't punished for deploying troops without prior court approval "then there will be unrest in the border regions." This notion was undoubtedly informed by the disintegration of the Tang dynasty, where autonomous Jiedushi officials acted without imperial oversight.[12][13]

Many expenses were incurred during the conflict that depleted the Southern Tang treasuries.[14][15] Granaries were burdened with supplying the Southern Tang armies which left people in the Fuzhou (in modern Jiangxi), Hongzhou, Raozhou, and Xinzhou prefectures particularly destitute.[5][16] Despite difficulties experienced during the campaign officials such as Feng Yanji encouraged Li Jing to aspire for further territorial aggrandizement.[17][7] In 951 the Southern Tang campaign against Chu began, a venture that ended largely in failure.