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[The Song dynasty never truly managed to govern Sichuan securely.
The clearest example is the Wang Xiaobo rebellion, which broke out only thirty-three years after the founding of the Northern Song. That alone says plenty.
But if we trace the roots further back, responsibility ultimately leads to Zhao Kuangyin himself. After all, when Wang Quanbin conquered Shu, the massacre of its people became widely known. Some later historians called it deliberate self-defilement. Others blamed it on lingering Five Dynasties military habits. Whatever the interpretation, the fact remains that vast numbers of Sichuan civilians died as a consequence of his actions.
As for why Zhao Kuangyin later punished Wang Quanbin, no one can say with certainty. Was it because the massacre stirred unrest? Because Wang Quanbin killed surrendered troops to falsify reports? Or because the slaughter itself became impossible to ignore?
In the end, however, Zhao Kuangyin pardoned him and even appointed him Military Commissioner of Wuning, allowing him to die in comfort.
Emperor Taizu earned a reputation for treating old subordinates generously. For the people of Shu, though, generosity was not the word that came to mind.
And Zhao Kuangyin's reputation for leniency was hardly limited to this case. His famous brother-in-law Wang Jixun once led troops who abducted civilian women. Zhao Kuangyin executed the soldiers involved. As for the principal culprit… he was declared innocent.
Wang Jixun even had the nerve to plead for those executed troops, pestering Zhao Kuangyin until the emperor lost patience and stripped him of command. Reduced to idleness, the man supposedly fell into melancholy and began killing household servants for amusement.
Eventually those servants' relatives blocked the palace gates to petition for justice, forcing Zhao Kuangyin to act. He ordered Wang Jixun exiled to Dengzhou. Yet before he even left the capital, a censor intercepted him and reassigned him to Luoyang as a general.
In Luoyang, matters only grew worse. He seized women at will. If displeased, he would kill and eat them. At times he even brought victims to Changshou Monastery to share the flesh with a monk named Guanghui. For eleven years he roamed free like a living King of Hell.
Whether Zhao Kuangyin knew the details is unclear. Contemporary records only say that the people suffered in silence, afraid to report him. It was not until Zhao Guangyi came to the throne that Wang Jixun was finally arrested and executed, which at least counted as one good deed for the people of Luoyang.
But that is drifting off topic.
In short, Zhao Kuangyin's reign showed repeated indulgence toward arrogant and violent generals. Wang Jixun and Wang Quanbin were simply the most notorious examples.
The deeper cause lay in the policy of strengthening the trunk while weakening the branches. Under that system, tensions between the central government and regional powers constantly flared. Remote yet wealthy, rich in grain, easy to defend and hard to attack, Sichuan became the most typical example of the problem.
After Wu Xi's rebellion in Shu, the Southern Song did not abandon the region, but suspicion toward it only deepened. At the time, many knowledgeable officials proposed strengthening the Shu passes to shield Sichuan. The central court ignored them.
Around the time of the Duanping campaign into Luoyang, the commanders of the Jinghu and Jingxiang theaters were either Emperor Lizong's confidants or protégés of the dominant ministers. Military funds flowed largely to those fronts. The Sichuan-Shaanxi theater, by contrast, remained crippled from beginning to end. After generals like Cao Youwen, brave men treated like stepchildren, died in battle, nothing remained to block the Mongol advance into Shu.
Only in 1241, when the first phase of the Song-Mongol war temporarily ended, did the Southern Song court finally recognize how rotten Sichuan's defenses had become.
At that time, the famous general Meng Gong, who had spent six years acting as a fire brigade commander around Jinghu and Xiangyang, intended to reorganize Sichuan himself.
Meng Gong had participated throughout the first phase of the war and distinguished himself greatly. He first fought fiercely against the Mongols and recovered Xiangyang, restoring the Jinghu defensive line. He then devoted enormous effort to rebuilding the Jinghu and Huai River defenses, adopting a strategy of rushing wherever danger erupted while establishing layered depth defenses in each local sector. In this way he created a remarkably strong triple defensive system for the Southern Song.
Because of this, Meng Gong could not leave his post. Emperor Lizong instead appointed Yu Jie, who had proven himself in the Jiang-Huai campaigns, as commander of Shu.
Yu Jie's methods resembled Meng Gong's. He built numerous forts controlling rivers, passes, and key routes, forming a mountain-fortress defense system characterized by depth and layered resistance. With it, he firmly secured the upper Yangtze.
After completing the triple defensive system, Meng Gong died in 1246 with regrets still unfulfilled. That defensive framework would extend the Southern Song's life for nearly thirty years.
Yu Jie governed Sichuan successfully and won the people's support. Precisely because of that, he fell under suspicion. He died suddenly in 1253, was posthumously stripped of rank, and his family properties were confiscated. The mountain fortress network he spent ten years constructing would later become known as the place where the Mongols' whips finally broke.]
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Inside the hall at Bianliang, one could hear a pin drop.
In that silence, the faint sound of someone stifling a laugh was painfully obvious.
Zhao Pu turned his head. All he saw was Master Kongjiong lying on the floor, searching diligently as if for scattered prayer beads.
Turning back toward the throne, he saw nothing at all.
The emperor's dark face lay entirely in shadow, unreadable. Yet the cold aura around him made it clear that his mood was far from pleasant.
"So I pardoned Wang Quanbin again?"
His voice was icy, laced with genuine confusion.
Before Zhao Pu could answer, Zhao Guangyi had already risen impatiently.
"Though the matter has yet to occur, how could it be hard to guess?
Before your death, elder brother…"
The air in the hall seemed to freeze.
Master Kongjiong twisted his neck, then pressed his palms together.
"Before the emperor's passing, he was still planning the destruction of Northern Han. If one intends a northern campaign, one must gather men's hearts. Granting Wang Quanbin a nominal post would let everyone see the emperor's magnanimity and generosity. Such a move benefits the war effort.
What would be wrong with that?"
Zhao Pu was not sure if he imagined it, but those final words sounded almost eager.
As for Wang Jixun, Zhao Pu knew rather more about him.
In the fifth year of Xiande, the emperor's first wife Lady He died. That same year, after he became Palace Commander, he took Lady Wang as his new consort.
Lady Wang served Empress Dowager Du with filial devotion, cared kindly for the imperial children, recited Buddhist sutras daily, disliked luxury, and could play the zither and drum to accompany meals. The emperor held her in great affection. Yet three years after becoming empress, she died of illness at only twenty-two. The emperor long felt he had wronged her.
Because of that, he tolerated her brother repeatedly. By law, abducting women with troops deserved execution. Yet in the end, only Wang Jixun himself was spared.
As for the later atrocities, Zhao Pu did not know whether the emperor had ever learned the full truth. Cannibalism was too horrifying to be easily believed.
But now that matters had reached this point, a decision would surely follow.
Sure enough, Zhao Pu saw the emperor in the shadows turn toward him.
"Send men at once to Luoyang with the Imperial Guard. Investigate Wang Jixun's conduct. If the accusations prove true, write out his crimes, post them in the streets of Luoyang, and execute him. There is no need to report repeatedly to me."
"And Wang Quanbin… considering his illness, summon him back to the capital for the time being."
Zhao Pu bowed and accepted the order.
After a moment's thought, the Song emperor turned to study his troublesome younger brother. Master Kongjiong instantly stepped back in alarm.
He did not truly think escape was possible. Once the hall doors opened, the outside would surely be full of Imperial Guards. Still, he could not concede verbally.
"As for matters of weapons and war, this poor monk should not interfere. I only hope Your Majesty keeps benevolence in mind…"
Zhao Kuangyin cut him off with a wave of the hand, already impatient.
"I have no time to beat you today. Tomorrow you will go receive one hundred military strokes for your offense of speaking out of turn."
"If you fail to appear on time, I will personally bring the rods to your door."
"Oh, and this punishment cannot be commuted."
The smug look vanished instantly.
Master Kongjiong's face went pale.