History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 141: The Case of the Dispute over the Inheritance in the River

【Hezhong inheritance dispute case】

Zhu Wen suffered a setback in the battlefield of Yanyun and faced a dangerous situation surrounded by enemies. At the critical moment, Zhu Wen's character exploded and good luck came one after another.

Dong Chang, the governor of the Yisheng Army in Yuezhou, proclaimed himself emperor, which held back Yang Xingmi in Huainan and eliminated the threat from the south for Zhu Wen.

At the same time, the political situation in Hezhong was also experiencing a major turmoil. Zhu Wen, who had rich experience in "doing the periphery", immediately seized the opportunity to fan the flames, muddy the waters, successfully tying the Guanxi Group, Hedong Li Keyong and the central court together, provoking an external war, and thus preventing the formation of the "Pig Killing Alliance".

The story begins one month before Dong Chang proclaimed himself emperor.

Wang Chongying, the governor of Hezhong National Defense Army, died of illness.

The last governor of Hezhong was Zhu Wen's "uncle", Wang Chongrong. Wang Chongrong was upright and strict, and later gradually became cruel. One of his subordinates, Chang Xingru, was often beaten and scolded by him. Finally, he could not bear the humiliation and launched a mutiny in June of the third year of Guangqi (887) and killed Wang Chongrong.

With the support of Li Keyong of Hedong, the court transferred Wang Chongying, the governor of Baoyi Army, to be the governor of Hezhong, and promoted Wang Chongying's son Wang Gong to temporarily act as the governor of Baoyi Army.

When Wang Chongying went to govern Hezhong, Chang Xingru did not dare to challenge him. He did not claim to be the governor or the governor, but instead told Wang Chongying about his grievances and expressed his willingness to support Wang Chongying to govern Hezhong. Wang Chongying had only one request, which was to use his head to sacrifice to his brother Wang Chongrong.

Thus, the elder brother succeeded his younger brother and Wang Chongying led the Hezhong Protectorate Army. From the third year of Guangqi (887) to the second year of Qianning (895), Wang Chongying died of illness while in office.

After Wang Chongying's death, the three armies nominated Wang Ke, the son of their old commander Wang Chongrong, as acting governor.

The crisis started brewing here.

Wang Chongrong had no children. Wang Ke was actually the son of his elder brother Wang Zhongjian, who was adopted by Wang Chongrong.

However, Wang Ke's two cousins, Wang Gong and Wang Yao (both sons of Wang Chongying), were unwilling to do so. You, Wang Ke, did not inherit Wang Chongrong's class, but my father, Wang Chongying's class. My father had been in Hezhong for eight years. Now that he has passed away, it is right for us two brothers to take over.

So the two brothers wrote to the court, saying that Wang Ke was not the son of Wang Zhongrong or Wang Zhongjian, but a servant of our Wang family, nicknamed "Zhong'er". How could he inherit the inheritance of our Wang family? They also wrote to Zhu Wen, seeking his support (Wang Ke's backer was Li Keyong of Hedong). At the same time, the two sent troops to attack Wang Ke.

Wang Ke wrote a petition to protest, reiterating his father's contribution to Zhongrong's career, and asked for help and support from Li Keyong of Hedong.

The imperial court tried to smooth things over and sent eunuchs to mediate.

Wang Gong and Wang Yao were more clever and expressed their willingness to accept mediation. They submitted a petition to the court, saying, how about this: none of the three of them could take Hezhong, and asked the court to send another senior official to suppress the Hezhong National Defense Army.

Emperor Zhaozong was overjoyed. He had not expected that the imperial court would be able to reap the benefits while the three bastards were fighting for the family property. So he gladly sent Prime Minister Cui Yin to serve as the governor of the National Protection Army.

In this way, Wang Gong, Wang Yao and Zhaozong teamed up to divide Wang Ke's cake.

This was not the situation Zhu Wen wanted. He did not want to let this "inheritance dispute case" settle down. He had to stir up the small ripples into strong winds and huge waves in order to trip up Li Keyong and then defeat the "Pig Killing Alliance."

To be honest, Zhu Wen is Wang Chongrong's nephew and Wang Ke's cousin, so he should stand on Wang Ke's side. However, for the sake of political interests, Zhu Wen stood on the opposite side of Wang Ke without hesitation.

Zhu Wen gave advice to Wang Gong and Wang Yao, asking them to contact Li Maozhen of Fengxiang, obtain the support of the Guanxi Group, and let the Guanxi Group put pressure on the court to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the two brothers.

Under Zhu Wen's instructions, Wang Gong and Wang Yao immediately sent generous gifts to Fengxiang Li Maozhen, Jingnan Wang Xingyu, and Zhenguo Han Jian, hoping that they would come forward to uphold justice.

Therefore, the three towns jointly submitted a petition, emphasizing that Wang Ke's origin was not legitimate, and advocated that Wang Gong's son should inherit his father's career and become the governor of the Huguo Army, and let Wang Ke take over Wang Gong's post as the governor of Baoyi Army, and let the cousins ​​move their towns to each other. Obviously, Wang Ke could not come to Baoyi Army to take up the post.

Wang Ke was facing a catastrophe and could only ask for help from Li Keyong in Hedong. Li Keyong was the only one in the world who could help him.

Great minds think alike. Li Keyong knew that in order to protect Hedong from being encircled and suppressed, he had to launch an external war and prevent the formation of an alliance between Guanxi, Guanzhong and Bianzhou. So he actively submitted a memorial to defend Wang Ke.

Zhaozong hoped that Hezhong would return to the court and be led by the prime minister, rather than Wang Ke or Wang Gong. So he replied that he had already issued an edict to let Prime Minister Cui Yin go to Hezhong, so the matter should be stopped here, and the Wang brothers should stop fighting. The request of the Guanxi Group was rejected by the court, which made the three generals feel very embarrassed.

The central government "offended" the Kansai Group in more than one way:
The Central Imperial Army had eight military bases in the capital region, one of which was close to Huazhou and the other close to Bingzhou. Han Jian of Huazhou's Zhenguo Army and Wang Xingyu of Bingzhou's Jingnan Army wanted to take advantage of their proximity to the water and seize the bases for themselves, so they submitted a petition to the court requesting allocation.

The eunuchs in charge of the imperial guards strongly objected, saying that these were the emperor's imperial guards and how could they be taken by local vassal states! So the court flatly rejected Han Jian and Wang Xingyu's request.

This is the second thing that makes the Kansai Group unhappy.

When the Guanxi Group took control of the court through the "Anti-Yang Movement", Jingnan Wang Xingyu asked the court to become the Shangshu Ling, but was rejected. Because Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, ascended the throne as the Shangshu Ling, the position of Shangshu Ling was no longer granted from then on. Only later, Guo Ziyi, who had made great contributions, was granted the title of Shangshu Ling for the first time, but Guo Ziyi never dared to accept it.

Wang Xingyu was very unhappy because he failed to be appointed as the Minister of the Chancellery. This was the third incident.

In addition, there was another thing that made the Kansai Group very unhappy, and that was Zhaozong’s final resistance.

【The Last Stand】

Zhaozong's struggle never stopped. Especially after he was oppressed by the Guanxi Group, he was more eager to find a breakthrough.

The solutions are still the same two: cultivate a group of civil servants loyal to the emperor; and have an armed force loyal to the emperor.

After dismissing Prime Minister Du Rangneng with hatred, Zhaozong promoted Wei Zhaodu to be prime minister.

Wei Zhaodu also met Zhaozong's personnel recruitment standards.

First of all, loyalty.

When Huang Chao invaded Chang'an, Wei Zhaodu followed Emperor Xizong to Sichuan; when Emperor Xizong was attacked by Li Changfu in Fengxiang, Wei Zhaodu sent his wife and children to the imperial guards as hostages in exchange for the trust of the imperial guards to attack Li Changfu's rebels. Wei Zhaodu's loyalty to the royal family is unquestionable. He is a comrade who has been tested and is trustworthy.

Secondly, Wei Zhaodu had experience in leading troops.

He served as the commander-in-chief of the expedition and fought in Sichuan, and attacked Chen Jingxuan of Xichuan together with Wang Jian. Later, he was forced to return to the court by Wang Jian's treacherous scheme, and Wang Jian was able to establish his own regime in Xichuan.

Third, Wei Zhaodu was also dismissed from his post and investigated for his ineffectiveness in the conquest of Shu. He was exiled to the eastern capital Luoyang and deprived of all real power, which was actually a death sentence in his political career.

This is the key reason why Emperor Zhaozong promoted him, allowing Wei Zhaodu to turn his life around and be transferred from a nursing home to the State Council. Wei Zhaodu will be grateful to Emperor Zhaozong and will be even more devoted to repay Emperor Zhaozong for his grace of restarting the country.

In addition to Wei Zhaodu, Zhaozong also promoted another person, Cui Yin.

Cui Yin's father was Cui Shenyou (prime minister during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong), and his uncle was Cui Anqian (no need to introduce him). The Cui family was very famous in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, and several generations of them served as high-ranking officials in the court.

But this Cui Yin was not the same type as his ancestors. According to historical records, Cui Yin was "good at scheming, good at attaching himself to others, and appeared solemn on the outside but was sinister and treacherous in his heart", "liked scheming, attached himself to the powerful, and appeared simple and serious on the outside, but was sinister and treacherous in his heart". In short, Cui Yin was a hypocritical gentleman with a sanctimonious appearance, a snobbish eye, good at attaching himself to powerful people, forming cliques for personal gain, and was sinister and vicious in his heart.

His uncle Cui Anqian knew him very well and once said to those around him, "The family my father and brothers have worked so hard to build will sooner or later be ruined by Cui Yin!"

During the "anti-Yang movement", Prime Minister Cui Zhaowei secretly communicated with the Guanxi Group, colluded with both inside and outside, and forced Prime Minister Du Rangneng to death. Cui Yin decisively hugged Cui Zhaowei's thigh and wagged his tail to flatter him.

Therefore, Cui Zhaowei repeatedly recommended Cui Yin.

Zhaozong promoted Cui Yin under pressure from the Guanxi Group, because Cui Zhaowei was the agent of the Guanxi Group in the court. Zhaozong was somewhat reluctant to let Cui Yin be the prime minister.

Afterwards, Zhaozong promoted Zheng Heng to be prime minister.

(End of this chapter)