History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 187 Breakup
【break】

The news of Zhu Youlun's accidental death was like a bolt from the blue. Zhu Wen did not speak for a long time. The expression on his face was first surprise, then sadness and self-blame, and finally anger.

Zhu Wen cried.

The tragic scene of his second brother Zhu Cun before his death appeared before his eyes again. It was a lingering haze for many years. It was Zhu Wen's eternal nightmare and his lifelong knot.

At that time, Zhu Cun fell into Zhu Wen's arms, holding Zhu Wen's collar tightly with both hands, staring at Zhu Wen with eyes as big as copper bells, with expectation, anxiety and despair in his eyes, his lips moved, wanting to speak, but he couldn't say anything, and sticky and thick blood foam gushed out from the arrow wound in his throat. Zhu Cun didn't leave a word until he died, and he didn't close his eyes until his death, and his frozen eyes still carried infinite regret.

Zhu Wen and Zhu Cun had the deepest relationship, and Zhu Cun's miserable condition greatly stimulated Zhu Wen. Zhu Wen did not know his second brother's last wish, but he secretly vowed to take good care of his brother's offspring.

Zhu Cun had only two children, Zhu Youning and Zhu Youlun.

To be honest, Zhu Wen took good care of his two nephews. When he captured Qin Zongquan of Caizhou alive, he sent Zhu Youning to escort Qin Zongquan to Chang'an to ask for reward. When he welcomed Zhaozong back to the palace, he also sent Zhu Youlun to lead Zhaozong's horse and whip him.

The two nephews were also very capable. According to historical records, Zhu Youning was a man of both literary and martial arts, suave, broad-minded, and not easily emotional, and was especially good at archery and swordsmanship; Zhu Youlun was even more famous as a "little prodigy", not only was he a man of both literary and martial arts, but he was also good at music. Among all his nephews, Zhu Wen loved Zhu Youlun the most, and once said that Zhu Youlun was "the best horse in our family".

By checking historical materials, it is not difficult to find that among Zhu Wen's sons and nephews, the only one who can be compared with Zhu Youning and Zhu Youlun is probably Zhu Wen's eldest son Zhu Youyu. The other sons and nephews are more despicable and more bastards than each other.

History is a joke. Good people don't live long, but evil deeds last for thousands of years. Zhu Youyu died young, Zhu Youning died in battle in Qingzhou, and Zhu Youlun died in an accidental fall. All the qualified successors in Zhu Wen's mind died before him.

In particular, the death of Zhu Youning and Zhu Youlun meant the end of the lineage of his second brother Zhu Cun. Zhu Wen had vowed to take good care of his second brother's descendants, but now he had made his second brother childless...

If Zhu Youlun died of political murder, it is understandable, but Zhu Youning's death was forced by Zhu Wen. If it were not for his "supervision of the battle", Zhu Youning would not have attacked like crazy and recklessly. It is better to say that Zhu Youning died under the high pressure from Zhu Wen than to say that he died at the hands of Qingzhou Wang Shifan.

"Brother, I'm sorry..." Zhu Wen was grief-stricken, tears streaming down his face, gritting his teeth, "Cui Yin!"

Zhu Wen sent his nephew Zhu Youliang (son of his eldest brother Zhu Quanyu) to Chang'an to replace Zhu Youlun and prevent power from falling into the hands of Cui Yin's party.

After Zhu Youliang arrived in Chang'an, he immediately started investigating the "Zhu Youlun horse-falling case" with the three confidants of Zhu Wen who stayed in the capital - Zhang Tingfan, Wang Yin and Jiang Xuanhui. However, what they wanted to investigate was not the truth of the horse-falling death, but to retrieve the names of all the parties involved and arrest and execute all those who played ball with Zhu Youlun that day.

The "Zhu Youlun's fall from a horse" case has become a historical unsolved case that will never be solved.

Because Zhu Wen didn't need the truth, he already had the "truth".

Soon, Zhu Wen personally led 70,000 troops to station in Hezhong, and during the Spring Festival, he impeached Cui Yin, saying that he "absorbed power and disrupted the country, alienated the emperor and his ministers", and demanded the complete eradication of the "Cui Yin Rebellion Party", whose core members were Zheng Yuangui, Chen Ban, etc. Zheng Yuangui's official position in the central government was the Minister of Justice, and he also served as the mayor of the capital (Jingzhao Yin), and was also the deputy commander of the central imperial guards. He was the undisputed number two figure in the "Cui Yin Rebellion Party"; Chen Ban was a general of the imperial guards and one of the important confidants promoted by Cui Yin.

On the ninth day of the first lunar month in the fourth year of the Tianfu reign of the Tang Dynasty (904), Emperor Zhaozong issued an edict: Cui Yin was demoted to the position of the Crown Prince's Junior Tutor, and was assigned to the Eastern Capital; Zheng Yuangui was demoted to the position of Si Hu of Xunzhou (now Huizhou City, Guangdong Province); and Chen Ban was demoted to the position of Si Hu of Qinzhou (now Qijiang County, Chongqing City).

Immediately afterwards, he issued an imperial decree to disband Cui Yin's newly recruited troops.

According to the convention, the three should be demoted again and again, exiled to Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan, or be granted the right to commit suicide. However, Zhu Wen was unwilling to wait until the end of the world and only wanted to be beaten now.

Zhu Wen instructed his nephew Zhu Youliang to take action immediately.

Zhu Youliang led his troops to surround Kaihuafang in Chang'an City. When Cui Yin was desperate, he was delighted to find that the new army he recruited had arrived in time. Before he had time to be happy, his "direct" troops killed his entire family. Subsequently, Zheng Yuangui, Chen Ban and other accomplices were also killed.

Cui Yin, who once held great power and had the final say over everything, was easily killed by Zhu Wen. Zhu Wen used his actions to show the world who was the real boss.

After Cui Yin's death, Zhu Wen carried out a series of personnel transfers and took over the fruits of Cui Yin's political purge. The Tang central court became a puppet that obeyed orders. On the tenth day after Cui Yin's death, Zhu Wen officially started the capital relocation mode.

The Bian army violently demolished the entire city of Chang'an and forced the people to move to Luoyang, the eastern capital. The whole city of Chang'an was filled with wailing and crying. The people were forced to move and cursed Cui Yin for bringing disaster to the country and the people. The people, carrying the elderly and children, went to Luoyang shoulder to shoulder. The painful migration process lasted for a month.

Zhaozong was also among those who were forcibly demolished and was forced to move out of Chang'an again. Zhu Wen sent his trusted confidant Zhang Tingfan to oversee the demolition work, responsible for destroying all the palaces and houses in Chang'an City, and throwing the dismantled wood into the Wei River and the Yellow River, causing it to flow eastward. Chang'an City was razed to the ground.

When Zhaozong arrived in Huazhou, the people of Huazhou lined the streets to welcome him. They knelt on both sides of the road to look at the emperor's face and shouted "Long live the emperor". Zhaozong was moved and sad. He couldn't help crying and said to his people sadly: "Don't shout "Long live the emperor" anymore. I will soon not be long live the emperor anymore."

The attendants on both sides were also overwhelmed with grief and sobbed with their heads down.

As the palace in Luoyang had not yet been completed, Zhaozong temporarily stayed in Shanzhou (now Sanmenxia City, Henan Province) waiting.

When Zhu Wen came to Shanzhou to pay homage, Emperor Zhaozong invited him into the bedroom to meet Empress He. Empress He cried to Zhu Wen and said, "From today on, our lives will be in your hands!"

Cui Yin was the mediator between Zhaozong and Zhu Wen. After Cui Yin's death, the contradiction between Zhaozong and Zhu Wen became increasingly prominent. As the work of moving the capital progressed, Zhu Wen finally showed his true colors.

Zhaozong has struggled in the turbulent political arena for most of his life. He will not sit still and wait for death. For the sake of the Tang Dynasty and his own life, he will make a final struggle.

(End of this chapter)