History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 189: The picture shows the dagger
【The dagger is revealed】

Zhu Wen forcibly moved the capital on the pretext of avoiding the threat of the Guanxi Group. Even Cui Yin guessed his next plan, and Zhaozong naturally knew it. When he was staying in Shanzhou, facing the people kneeling on the ground and shouting "Long live the emperor", Zhaozong couldn't help but speak out his true feelings, saying that I will soon no longer be your long live the emperor.

However, Zhaozong believed that the Tang Dynasty could still be saved.

His idea was also very simple. Generally speaking, it was divided into two aspects. On the one hand, he had to try his best to stabilize Zhu Wen, paralyze him, use it as a delaying tactic, delay as much as possible, and buy time for space; on the other hand, he waited for an opportunity to assassinate Zhu Wen secretly.

It can be further refined, that is, to delay as much time as possible in Shanzhou, the later you arrive in Luoyang, the better, and it is best not to enter Luoyang. As for assassinating Zhu Wen, it can be divided into two fronts, the inner front is the palace assassination, and the outer front is to seek help from other vassal states.

Zhaozong sent a personal letter to Wang Jian of Xichuan, ordering him to rush north to rescue the emperor. Wang Jian and Li Maozhen formed an alliance and threatened to take back the emperor. After a small failure in Xingping, they declared a halt. Afterwards, Wang Jian issued an edict in the name of the emperor to make personnel appointments, claiming that he only needed to wait for the emperor to return to Beijing and report to the emperor. Wang Jian cleverly obtained the privileges of "acting at his own convenience" and "acting first and reporting later".

Wang Jian gained a lot of benefits from the chaos in Guanzhong. Every time, he used the name of "serving the king and saving the emperor" to defraud the central court of bribes, and then cut the flesh from Li Maozhen.

Not long after, Zhaozong wrote "Secret Edict" to Wang Jian of Xichuan, Yang Xingmi of Huainan, Li Keyong of Hedong and other vassal states. The general idea was that once I enter Luoyang, I will encounter an unexpected event, and the "edict" at that time will be from Zhu Wen's hand and will no longer be my true intention. You should hurry up and save me!

While secretly seeking help from Zhu Wen's hostile forces, Zhaozong continued to confer official titles on Zhu Wen and gave him command of the entire central imperial guards.

The establishment of the imperial guards was already in name only, with only a few soldiers, so Cui Yin was eager to recruit new troops. After Cui Yin's death, this new army was also disbanded, and half of it was originally from the Bian army. The only imperial guards were also controlled by Zhu Wen early on.

Zhaozong gave Zhu Wen the command of the Left and Right Shence Armies and the Six Armies and Twelve Guards at this time, which was a bit far-fetched. In short, he did his best to show goodwill and good behavior to Zhu Wen.

As mentioned before, Zhaozong invited Zhu Wen into the bedroom and, together with Empress He, he told Zhu Wen that the lives of both of us were in his hands. This was also one of Zhaozong's expressions of weakness and submission to Zhu Wen.

In addition, when feasting with civil and military officials, Emperor Zhaozong would not forget to sing praises for Zhu Wen. If he could not find any glorious deeds, he would "catch a joke" on the spot. Once, Emperor Zhaozong was feasting with his officials and said seriously: "Yesterday, an extremely important document was lost in front of the imperial tower. Fortunately, Comrade Zhu Wen had a backup. Otherwise, it would have delayed a great national event! This is the dereliction of duty of you senior officials. You should be criticized! Learn from Comrade Zhu Wen!" The officials were horrified.

After entering Luoyang, Zhaozong ascended the Guangzheng Gate, issued a general amnesty, and issued an edict to bring peace to the country.

The edict was of course written by the Hanlin Academy under the control of Zhu Wen. It used the stories of King Ping of Zhou and Emperor Guangwu of Han to consecrate Luoyang, and at the same time emphasized that the move was mainly due to the threat of bandit gangs in Guanxi. The astrological signs also suggested that only by moving the capital to Luoyang could the danger be averted. It also praised Zhu Wen at great length, praising his contribution to the revival and reconstruction of the Tang Dynasty.

In the Tang Dynasty, there was a special honor of "Lingyan Pavilion with a Portrait". After Emperor Zhaozong moved the capital to Luoyang, he followed the advice of the Secretariat and built a Lingyan Pavilion in Luoyang. He also built a separate pavilion on the side of the Lingyan Pavilion, so that Zhu Wen could enjoy the treatment of an independent single room in the "Lingyan Pavilion with a Portrait" to commend his unprecedented contribution. This is a lofty honor that has never been seen before and will never be repeated.

The Emperor of Tang really spared no effort in pretending to be the grandson.

As for delaying time, Zhaozong racked his brains.

At first, Emperor Zhaozong and his men stayed in Shanzhou because the palace in Luoyang had not yet been completed. A few days later (April 4), good news came from Luoyang: thanks to Comrade Zhu Wen's great attention and Comrade Zhang Quanyi's hard work and overtime, the palace in Luoyang was completed ahead of schedule and was waiting for the emperor to move in!
This is the call of death.

Zhaozong sent palace maids to tell them that Empress He had just given birth and could not stand the bumpy journey, and asked them to wait until the Empress' maternity leave was over before setting off. Empress He's maternity leave was similar to today's labor protection law, six months. Zhaozong asked to wait until October before setting off.

The longer the night, the more trouble there is. Zhu Wen was unwilling to wait even a day, let alone more than half a year! Zhu Wen could not hide Zhaozong's delaying tactics. Zhu Wen sent his confidant Kou Yanqing to Shanzhou to urge him, and secretly instructed him: "You must go to Shanzhou as soon as possible and let the emperor set off on the same day. I don't care what method you use!"

Your wife has given birth and is in confinement, but you don’t have to do that. There’s no need for you to take care of her, so go away!

Zhaozong again used astronomical phenomena as an excuse to resist. According to the report from the Imperial Astronomical Observatory, there were changes in the stars in the sky and there would be a great disaster, and going east was the most unlucky.

The weather bureau said it was unlucky, right? Okay, kill him!
Zhaozong instructed the Imperial Observatory to use astrology as an excuse, and Zhu Wen instructed the imperial physician Xu Zhaoyuan to report the conspiracy of the Imperial Observatory, the chief imperial physician, the chief eunuch, the lady of Jin and others to assassinate Zhu Wen, and thus all of them were arrested and executed.

Lady Jin was one of Emperor Zhaozong's concubines. How did she get involved? She was the victim of Emperor Zhaozong's insider plan to save himself.

Before the palace in Luoyang was completed, Emperor Zhaozong went to Shanzhou, and Zhu Wen came to pay homage to him. Emperor Zhaozong hosted a banquet for the civil and military officials. After the banquet, Emperor Zhaozong asked Zhu Wen and Han Jian to stay alone and continue drinking, which was a gesture of intimacy. He said that after the capital was moved, the country would be entrusted to the two meritorious officials.

In order to further show his closeness, Zhaozong asked Empress He to come out of the bedroom, holding a jade cup in her hand, and personally toast to Zhu Wen.

The Queen personally toasted Zhu Wen, who was flattered and quickly stood up, "No, no, it's too embarrassing for me!" As he said that, he took the wine glass from Queen He. Just as he was about to drink it all, Han Jian beside him stepped hard on Zhu Wen's toes.

Zhu Wen felt pain and instinctively looked down at Han Jian, but saw Han Jian winking at him. He suddenly realized what had happened and dared not drink another drop of wine. He then said that he was drunk and said goodbye and left the palace.

After leaving the palace, Zhu Wen asked Han Jian what had happened just now.

Han Jian said that when he went out to relieve himself, he saw Lady Jin whispering with her attendants in a secretive manner, and vaguely heard the sound of several people walking quickly and iron objects colliding, which he found extremely suspicious. He also saw that the wine in Empress He's hand was taken from the bedroom and was not the wine we had been drinking... so he felt that something was fishy.

Zhu Wen's forehead was covered with cold sweat and he held Han Jian's hand gratefully. From then on, he trusted Han Jian very much and doted on him.

Therefore, taking advantage of the alarmist remarks made by the Imperial Observatory, Zhu Wen eliminated potential threats one by one, including Lady Jin and people who had access to Emperor Zhaozong, such as the imperial doctors.

Apart from Empress He and the imperial concubines, only a dozen princes and personal eunuchs, as well as more than two hundred "companions", were forced to move east with Emperor Zhaozong.

These "playmates" were all young men, who were mainly responsible for accompanying Zhaozong in leisure and entertainment activities such as playing ball. They also became Zhaozong's last chance to turn the tables, but Zhaozong was careless.

(End of this chapter)