History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 152 Youzhou Independence 1
[“The traitor” Liu Kutou]

The most direct reason why Han Jian dared to kill the princes of the Sixteenth House was that he was sure that Li Keyong in Hedong had no time to look west. The reason why Li Keyong had no time to look west was because he was trapped in another battlefield - Youzhou.

Previously, Li Keyong took advantage of the internal strife of the Lulong army in Youzhou to easily capture the twelve states of Lulong. He recommended Liu Rengong to be the governor of Lulong and left him some troops.

In fact, the Hedong forces lacked a mass base in Youzhou. They adopted a blitzkrieg and a heart-wrenching war to annex Youzhou, concentrating superior forces to attack the headquarters Youzhou and occupying it in less than a month, thus declaring their rule over the twelve states of Lulong. Most of the states of the Lulong army were "determined by the order of the emperor", and they changed their appearance in a muddle. This was completely different from the long tug-of-war to annex the Zhaoyi army.

In other words, the people of Youzhou did not submit to Li Keyong from the bottom of their hearts. Li Keyong ate too fast and had indigestion.

In addition, the senior leaders of the Hedong forces also discriminated against the Youzhou Lulong Army politically, treating the Youzhou people as second-class citizens. Political oppression inevitably led to economic exploitation. For example, Li Keyong stipulated that the land rent and taxes of the Youzhou Lulong Army, except for a small portion to maintain the operation of the local ruling machine, the rest would be transferred to Hedong. Naked exploitation and oppression.

In response to the rule of the Lulong Army, Hedong parachuted in a group of military supervisors, who took over the leadership of the army and local administrative power. A large number of troops were left behind to act as thugs and guard the house... The resistance sentiment of the people of Youzhou became stronger and stronger.

In order to ease the conflict, Li Keyong could only seek a respected local person to be the nominal supreme ruler of Youzhou, in order to appease the local people's rebellious sentiments and act as the agent of Hedong forces in Youzhou, that is, "governing Youzhou with Youzhou."

There are two criteria for selecting agents:
First, they must be loyal to the Hedong forces and willing to be “traitors”, puppets, and traitors;

Second, he must be highly respected and well-known in the local area, and it would be best if he had previously held a high position in Youzhou.

In the end, Li Keyong chose "Liu Kutou" - Liu Rengong, to be Hedong's agent in Youzhou.

In fact, at the beginning, Liu Rengong was not Li Keyong's first choice.

First of all, Li Keyong's first impression of Liu Rengong was not good. He thought that he was a profit-seeking, shameless, treacherous, and capricious villain.

Secondly, Liu Rengong was only a middle- and low-level officer in the Lulong Army and had only served as the county magistrate of a small, poor county, which was not enough to convince the people.

However, Li Keyong had no idea how despicable Liu Rengong was, let alone his tricks. The cunning and sinister Liu Rengong eventually succeeded in taking power through a series of conspiracies and gained Li Keyong's trust.

Liu Rengong was cunning and insidious, but he was not very scheming. Before he made his debut, he made no secret of his ambitions. He often told people around him that he would be successful in the future and become the leader of a region, because he once had a dream in which an old immortal with a white beard told him that at the age of 49, he would become the governor of a vassal state.

He also paid a certain price for his arrogance and frivolity. Li Kuangwei, the governor of Lulong at that time, was very annoyed with him. It was only because Liu Rengong had followed the old commander Li Quanzhong (Li Kuangwei's father) for many years and had made military achievements, he was considered an "old minister of the previous dynasty", and he did have certain wisdom and was a talent, so Li Kuangwei showed mercy and did not kill him directly, but sent him to the small Jingcheng County to be the county magistrate.

Later, a rebellion broke out in Yingzhou. Liu Rengong recruited brave warriors and made great contributions in suppressing the rebellion. Only then did Li Kuangwei let him lead the troops again and garrison in Weizhou.

The garrison period expired, but there was no order for rotation, because Li Kuangwei was leading his troops outside to assist Wang Rong of Zhenzhou in resisting Li Keyong of Hedong, while Li Kuangchou was planning a mutiny.

When Li Kuangchou launched a mutiny and occupied Youzhou, Liu Rengong sensed something was going on and instigated the garrison troops in Weizhou to join him in "suppressing the rebellion" and fight back against Li Kuangchou. Unfortunately, he failed and fled to Hedong and surrendered to Li Keyong.

After joining Li Keyong's camp, Liu Rengong was never idle. He first packaged himself as a tragic hero, "living in Yan without any guilt, but being expelled due to slander." Then he actively betrayed his "mother country", telling the strengths and weaknesses of Youzhou, proving that Youzhou was extremely easy to capture, and actively planned the attack on Youzhou for Li Keyong.

Even though Youzhou was possible and easy to take, it was not the strategic core of Li Keyong, so he lacked the motivation to attack Yan. This made Liu Rengong very anxious, and he jumped up and down actively, threatening that if he lent him 10,000 Hedong soldiers, he would let Li Keyong reap the fruits of his labor and own the 12 states of Lulong.

At that time, Li Keyong was busy suppressing Li Cunxiao's rebellion and could not resist Liu Rengong's temptation, so he gave Liu Rengong thousands of troops with a try-it-out mentality. As a result, Liu Rengong failed again and returned empty-handed.

There is always a way out. Li Kuangchou then took the initiative to invade Hedong and provoke Li Keyong. Liu Rengong once again seized the opportunity and volunteered to be the leader and the vanguard of the Yan campaign.

Li Keyong, angered by Li Kuangchou, finally decided to take action against Youzhou, which led to today's situation.

Since Liu Rengong joined Hedong, he has thoroughly understood the internal organizational structure of the Hedong forces. In addition to large-scale and indiscriminate carpet-style bribery of Hedong generals, he also carried out precise bombing and bribed a key figure, Gai Yu, with a large amount of money. Therefore, everyone around Li Keyong spoke well of Liu Rengong.

Gradually, Li Keyong began to doubt his initial judgment. In order to obtain the objective truth, Li Keyong decided to conduct a public opinion survey, believing that the eyes of the masses were sharp.

Li Keyong underestimated the power of money. The plan of "public opinion survey" was leaked to Liu Rengong by people around him.

Liu Rengong hired a group of extras. When the investigation team went to the people to visit, they got an almost unanimous report: Liu Rengong had a very high prestige among the people!
The civil and military officials around him unanimously recommended him, the people had high support for him, and he himself was actively willing to be a "traitor". Therefore, Li Keyong recommended Liu Rengong to be the governor of Lulong and make him a puppet.

Liu Rengong had been using Li Keyong from the beginning to the end, deliberately trying to establish his own rule over Youzhou and achieve his life goal. Now, he had half of his buttocks sitting on the throne of Youzhou. If he wanted to sit firmly, he had to pull out a few nails on the throne:
1. Competitors, old colleagues from Youzhou Lulong Army. Liu Rengong was very self-aware and knew that these people had higher reputations than himself and they were the biggest threat;

2. A thug stationed in Hedong who helps Liu Rengong to maintain order.

In name, these garrisons were there to help Liu Rengong keep watch and protect his puppet regime, but in reality they were there to supervise and restrain Liu Rengong to prevent him from being disobedient.

3. Military supervisors.

In name, they assisted Liu Rengong in handling official business, but in reality, they were an extension of Hedong's power. They divided and controlled Liu Rengong's power, supervised the daily operation of Liu Rengong's puppet organization, and reported on the ideological dynamics of Liu Rengong's puppet organization... They were the veritable "emperors" in Youzhou.

"Liu De" means to keep. Li Keyong wanted to keep Yandi in the territory of Hedong and keep it for himself. But these three words are also ambiguous. Yandi will remain in Yandi and the Yan people will get it.

"Yan retains virtue", the prophecy came true, and the Yan land indeed remained in the hands of the Yan people.

4. Public opinion and the actual support of the Youzhou military and civilians.

Liu Rengong was very clear about his situation. It would be extremely difficult for him to break away from the control of the Hedong forces, even more difficult than capturing Youzhou.

He has a shallow foundation and a weak base. He relied on the big tree Li Keyong of Hedong to sit in Youzhou. His only support is Li Keyong of Hedong. Now, he is going to turn against his backer. What can he rely on?

He relies on his brain. He relies on his cunning and slyness, otherwise he would not live up to his coquettish nickname - "Liu Kutou"!
First, he relied on bribery and eloquence to say that the people of Youzhou were very afraid of the Hedong garrison, and the large number of garrisons showed that Hedong did not trust Youzhou, which was a symbol of conquest and enslavement, a symbol of colonial oppression, and was not conducive to the united front work of the "Great Hedong Co-Prosperity Sphere". At the same time, Liu Rengong vowed that he was fully capable of suppressing the ground.

Therefore, Li Keyong withdrew most of the troops stationed in Hedong, demonstrating to the military and civilians of Youzhou that Hedong had trust in Youzhou.

Secondly, it is to eliminate former colleagues through despicable conspiracies.

The first to be affected were the three brothers Gao Siji.

The three Gao Siji brothers were highly skilled in martial arts and impartial, and were deeply loved and respected by the people of Youzhou. When Li Keyong marched into Youzhou, he was very wary of the three Gao brothers stationed at Kongling Pass and did not dare to act rashly. Instead, he sent envoys to contact them, saying that he was avenging Li Kuangwei.

Yan and Zhao have always been rich in generosity and tragedies, and even more loyal and chivalrous. Hearing that Li Keyong wanted to avenge his former master, he "followed him with pleasure." Li Kuangchou also abandoned the city and fled after hearing that the three Gao brothers had defected.

If Li Keyong's "public opinion survey" was really fair, the votes of the three Gao brothers should have been far higher than those of Liu Rengong. Therefore, the three Gao brothers became a thorn in Liu Rengong's side, and he deliberately plotted to murder them.

The troops stationed in Hedong, Youzhou, had lax military discipline and often committed crimes, harming the local people. The three Gao brothers enforced the law impartially and punished them severely.

Liu Rengong finally found a breakthrough to kill two birds with one stone. He first secretly instigated the Hedong garrison to commit crimes, and then encouraged the three Gao brothers to strictly enforce the law and kill the Hedong soldiers who broke the law.

The conquered Youzhou people dared to kill the Hedong garrison? Li Keyong was furious upon hearing the news and wrote a letter to rebuke Liu Rengong. Liu Rengong then produced evidence and put the blame on the three Gao brothers. So Li Keyong killed the three Gao brothers.

Liu Rengong killed two birds with one stone by eliminating a major threat and arousing the resentment of the people of Youzhou towards Li Keyong of Hedong.

That was not all. Liu Rengong took the children of the three Gao brothers into his life and "treated them well to comfort their hearts." He used practical actions to tell everyone: Li Keyong of Hedong bullies us Yan people, and I have done my best to protect you.

All of Gao's sons were taken in by Liu Rengong, and two of them would achieve great things in the future: Gao Xinggui and Gao Xingzhou. Now, they are only children in their teens, and they will appear in the following text when they grow up.

Through a series of conspiracies like these, the people of Yandi hated Li Keyong of Hedong, but regarded Liu Rengong, the number one "traitor in Youzhou", as a great hero. Liu Rengong's current personality is "the shield of the people of Youzhou", who is willing to give in to the occupiers of Hedong and mediate for the military and civilians of Youzhou at the cost of his dignity and reputation.

The happiness and well-being of the people of Youzhou were all fought for by Liu Rengong; the hardships and disasters of the people of Youzhou were all inflicted by the people of Hedong.

Who lured the people from Hedong here? Liu Rengong's authorities avoided talking about it.

Thanks to old friends "chunzhenglsp" and "feitain" for their recommendation support!
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(End of this chapter)