Chapter 267 Chapter 266 Wenzhao King Ma Xifan

Ma Xifan is the fourth son of Ma Yin, born on the same day as Ma Xisheng.At the beginning, he was the Jiedu envoy of Zhennan, stationed in Langzhou (zhi Wuling, now Changde City, Hunan).In July of the third year of Changxing (932 A.D.), Xisheng died of illness. Yuan Quan and Pan Yue, envoys of the Sixth Army, welcomed Xifan.After Xifan returned to Changsha and ascended the throne, the first thing he did was to send envoys to the northern court to pay tribute to the Later Tang Dynasty in order to be granted a title.In the first month of spring in the first year of Yingshun (934 A.D.), Xifan was granted the title of King of Chu in the Later Tang Dynasty.After the Jin Dynasty destroyed the Tang Dynasty, Xi Fan hurriedly paid tribute to the Jin Lord, and every year thereafter, he would donate a large amount of gold and silver treasures from Chu State and local local products, trying his best to please the later Jin Dynasty, in order to seek peace.In April of the fourth year of Tianfu (939 A.D.), Xi Fan was granted the title of Tiance General by Jin Jia, and allowed him to open the Tiance Mansion. Officials, and set up the Tiance Mansion Literature Museum, and established academicians, the power of Chu State greatly increased.Afterwards, 10 barbaric states came to surrender, and for a while, the territory of Chu extended greatly to the west and southwest.

However, Ma Xifan did not continue to develop the Chu State, but indulged in debauchery and wine all day long.He is extravagant and extravagant, and his taxes are heavy, ranking first among all the kings of Chu.In the seventh year of Tianfu (942 A.D.), Xifan made a large-scale construction project and built Tiance Mansion in the northwest of Changsha City.In the following year, he built Nine Dragon Hall, Huichun Garden, Jiayan Hall, and Jinhua Hall, which were luxuriously decorated and cost tens of thousands.Xifan took beauties, children and staff members to enjoy feasts, dances and dances, day and night.Due to his profligacy, the state's financial resources became increasingly insufficient, so Ma Xifan added money to the state to squeeze the people.He often sent envoys to work in the fields, and determined the merits by the amount of taxes he collected. As a result, the farmers were unable to bear the taxes and rent, and fled their homeland one after another.In order to increase his income, he also wantonly sold officials and nobles, paid homage to officials, and determined the high and low positions of officials by the amount of money, and those who moved foreign officials were determined by the amount of contribution.If the people are guilty, they will be exempted from release if they lose money, the strong will be recruited as soldiers, and the poor and weak will be punished.In addition to the heavy regular tax, Xifan also ordered the localities to pay tribute rice, stipulating that large counties pay 3,000 hu of rice, middle counties 1,000 hu, and small counties 700 hu.The people are living in dire straits, and there are many complaints.Tuobaheng, a scholar of Tiance, wrote a letter to remonstrate, saying: "The foot cold is sad, and the people's grievances hurt the country." Asking him to reduce taxes, Xifan was furious and dismissed Tuobaheng.

Xi Fan is also a womanizer.In the beginning, when his first wife, Mrs. Shunxian, was alive, she managed the family well. Xifan was very afraid of her and did not dare to be too promiscuous.After the death of Mrs. Shunxian in the third year of Tianfu, Xifan began to indulge in sensuality, not only took his father's concubine as his own, but also tried his best to search for beauties in the country, and robbed hundreds of wives and houses, but he was not satisfied.In May of the fourth year of Kaiyun (947 A.D.), Xifan died amidst curses at the age of 49.His posthumous posthumous title is "Wen Zhao".