In the past few days, many readers have left messages asking me to talk about the TV series "Peaceful Years," which has unexpectedly become very popular recently. The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period has always been a neglected area in Chinese history. It was short-lived, chaotic, and lacked heroes, being full of ambitious individuals. It was usually only covered in one lesson in middle school textbooks, and students only needed to memorize the Liang, Tang, Jin, Han, and Zhou dynasties.
Tonight, during our weekend chat, I'll play the role of a history teacher and give you a brief overview of that chaotic period of history. I won't try to cover everything; I'll just tell you the interesting and easy-to-understand parts.
Later Liang (907-923 AD) : Zhu Wen's starting point was only slightly better than Zhu Yuanzhang's. Both were from the very bottom of society, uneducated and without any background, rising to power solely through sheer grit and determination. He initially joined Huang Chao's rebellion, but when Huang Chao's forces failed, he led his followers to surrender to the Tang Dynasty. The emperor encouraged him and bestowed upon him the name "Zhu Quanzhong" (meaning "Complete Loyalty"). However, "Quanzhong" ended up slaughtering the entire Li Tang imperial family and usurping the throne.
Although the Liang Dynasty established by Zhu Wen was nominally the central dynasty, it controlled the Central Plains, roughly encompassing Shaanxi, Henan, Shandong, and Jiangsu. Because of his strong military, the local lords nominally submitted to him, except for Li Keyong of Shanxi.
Li Keyong was a Shatuo Turk, a descendant of the Western Turks. The surname Li was bestowed upon him by the Tang Dynasty. Li Keyong and Zhu Wen had a deep-seated feud, fighting for many years. Zhu Wen had the upper hand, but after both men died, Li's second generation proved more capable. The "Thirteen Protectors," whom we often heard about in our childhood, were Li Keyong's biological sons and adopted sons, completely overwhelming Zhu's second generation. In 923, the Later Liang Dynasty was destroyed, lasting only 16 years.
To add a point, Li Keyong died of illness and had a peaceful death, while Zhu Wen did not. In his later years, Zhu Wen enjoyed sleeping with his daughters-in-law. As a result, one of his daughters-in-law found out that Zhu Wen's intended heir was not her husband, so she went home to inform him. That very night, rebel troops stormed the palace and stabbed Zhu Wen to death, his death being extremely gruesome.
Later Tang Dynasty (923-937 AD) : Its founding emperor, Li Cunxu, was the son of Li Keyong and a military genius. He originally had the opportunity to unify the country after destroying the Liang Dynasty, but he chose to lie low and enjoy himself, indulging in operas and music. This change was so rapid that I was a bit confused when I read this part of history. Dude, weren't you supposed to be a fierce barbarian? Why do you like this?
Of the four emperors of the Later Tang Dynasty, Li Cunxu , Li Siyuan, Li Conghou, and Li Congke, only Li Conghou (3) succeeded his father after his death. The other three came to power through military coups. You can imagine what kind of regime this was. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, it was common to adopt sons. Real sons and adopted sons were nominally brothers, but they could turn against each other at any time.
For example, Li Siyuan (2) was the sworn brother of Li Cunxu (1), and Li Congke (4) was the sworn brother of Li Conghou (3). What brotherhood? In the face of power, it's all about life and death.
After Li Congke came to power, he had a major threat: Shi Jingtang, the military governor of Shanxi. In those days, the emperor usually tested local military governors in two ways: either by transferring them to another prefecture or by making them return to the capital to report on their duties. If the military governor was obedient, it was tantamount to handing over his life to the emperor. Of course, Shi Jingtang would not die in vain, so he rebelled.
Initially, Shi Jingtang was outmatched and urgently sought help from the Khitan in the north. Besides agreeing to cede the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun, he also recognized the Khitan emperor (Yelü Deguang) as his father. This is the most well-known episode from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, leading many to ridicule and condemn Shi Jingtang. However, he was already at his wit's end; the fall of his city meant the death of his entire family. If I were in his shoes, I would have done the same. As for the later criticism of his supposed national righteousness, I doubt whether the concept of ethnicity even existed during the Five Dynasties period. Even if it did, Shi Jingtang was a Shatuo Turk, whose ancestors were nomadic herders who migrated from the grasslands.
Ultimately, Yelü Deguang led his army south to help Shi Jingtang conquer the Later Tang dynasty, a campaign that lasted 14 years.
By the way, I'll give you a quiz: Do you know which two cities are the most important of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun?
Later Jin (936-947 AD ): Shi Jingtang was actually 10 years older than Yelü Deguang, but he had made a prior agreement and had received great favors from Yelü Deguang, so after the establishment of Later Jin, he addressed Yelü Deguang as his son and a subject with great respect, and the two sides enjoyed a honeymoon period.
Six years later, Shi Jingtang died, and his nephew Shi Chonggui succeeded him. The TV series begins from this point. Why not let his son succeed him? Because the local military governors wanted to keep their sons in the capital as hostages, and they were all killed by Li Congke when they rebelled.
Shi Chonggui was quite arrogant. He sent someone to tell Yelü Deguang that he could call him "Grandpa" from now on, but he would not acknowledge him as a subject. This was actually a breach of contract, and Yelü Deguang was very angry. He sent troops south to attack three times. Shi Chonggui blocked the first two attacks, but the third time, General Du Chongwei led 200,000 troops to surrender. Shi Chonggui was captured by his fake grandfather and sent to the northeast to grow cabbages. The Jin Dynasty ended, lasting 11 years.
Later Han Dynasty (947-950 AD) : Du Chongwei surrendered because he wanted to become the next Shi Jingtang, but Yelü Deguang wanted to become the emperor of the Central Plains. However, he could only rule for three months before he couldn't continue because the nomadic tribes couldn't understand the civil service and tax system of the Central Plains. They only knew how to plunder, leading to rebellions everywhere. Yelü Deguang had no choice but to lead his army back to his hometown in the northeast, where he died of illness due to the change in climate and environment.
This created a power vacuum in the Central Plains regime. At this time, Liu Zhiyuan, formerly under Shi Jingtang and now the military governor of Shanxi, decisively led his army south, seized the opportunity, and established the Han Dynasty regime. Because his surname was Liu, he wanted to capitalize on the Liu Han Dynasty's name, but like the Li and Shi families, he was a Shatuo Turk and had no Liu Han blood.
Liu Zhiyuan was quite old when he became emperor, and he died the following year. His 17-year-old son succeeded him. The young man disliked the group of old ministers who were interfering with him, so he wanted to emulate Emperor Kangxi in eliminating Ao Bai and the others. However, the news was overheard by General Guo Wei, who was leading an army in the field. Guo Wei led his troops in a counterattack and killed the young emperor. The Han Dynasty lasted only four years.
Later Zhou Dynasty (951-960 AD) : Although Guo Wei became emperor, all his sons who had stayed in the capital died, except for his adopted son Guo Rong, who escaped while he was away. Now that Guo Wei was old, he had no choice but to make Guo Rong his successor. In the TV series, Guo Rong was played by Yu Haoming.
Guo Rong is widely recognized as the most enlightened ruler of the Five Dynasties period. He was skilled in both civil administration and military affairs, and he governed the central government to an increasingly better level. It seemed that he was about to unify the country, but fate was cruel and he died at the age of 38. He left behind a six or seven-year-old child who was certainly unable to control the situation. He was overthrown by Zhao Kuangyin in the Chenqiao Mutiny and established the Song Dynasty.
After that, the Song Dynasty waged wars in the south and north, eliminating all the regional separatist regimes. Among them, the Qian family of Wuyue voluntarily surrendered their territory to the Song Dynasty and thus received courteous treatment from the central dynasty, dying peacefully. The protagonist of the novel *Peaceful Years*, Qian Hongchu, was the last ruler of the Qian family. Because Zhao Kuangyin's father was named Zhao Hongyin, he changed his name to Qian Chu to avoid the character "Hong." This Qian Chu served as the prefect of my hometown, Taizhou.
The main plot of the Five Dynasties is what I wrote above. The Ten Kingdoms surrounding it were also full of bizarre things. For example, the Southern Han required all officials to castrate themselves, resulting in the entire court being eunuchs except for the emperor. After the Southern Tang usurped the Southern Wu, it imprisoned dozens of members of the Yang family in one courtyard for decades, forbidding them from contacting the outside world and allowing them to marry close relatives. This was extremely cruel and inhumane. In the end, they were all killed.
Having lived this long, I no longer believe that human nature is inherently good. Humans are far more cruel than we imagine. Only through social rules can we maintain a moral bottom line. Once social order collapses, chaos can unleash the worst aspects of human nature, and ordinary people at the bottom will be abused beyond recognition. Therefore, we must cherish peace.
That's all. If you can see this, it means my historical story for tonight went pretty well. Thanks! 
Original Article: View Chinese Version
