History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 190 I gave you a chance but you didn’t use it.

[I gave you a chance but you didn't use it]

When Zhu Wen came to Shanzhou to meet Emperor Zhaozong, the emperor and his ministers, as usual, burst into tears and expressed their feelings to each other, doing a lot of superficial work. By now, Zhu Wen's intentions were already known to everyone. When the emperor and his ministers were talking hypocritically, the companions around Emperor Zhaozong could not hide their disgust and hatred for Zhu Wen, and their anger was obvious.

Zhaozong was secretly delighted, thinking that they were loyal and useful, so he came up with a plan, secretly untied his shoelaces, and then asked Zhu Wen to help him tie them. The shoes at that time were very different from those today, the biggest difference being that shoelaces at that time were more troublesome and time-consuming.

Since Zhu Wen was still playing the role of a loyal minister, it was of course a great honor to tidy up the emperor's shoes and socks. So Zhu Wen had to act flattered, kneeling in front of Zhaozong and tying his shoelaces.

At that time, Zhu Wen was alone in the audience with the emperor. He had no guards around him, no armor on his body, and could not carry any weapons. He was kneeling on the ground, tying his shoelaces with his head down, and he was surrounded by a group of young and strong, hostile guys.

When Zhu Wen knelt down, Zhaozong immediately raised his eyebrows, pouted his lips and twitched his chin at the playmates around him, which meant "Go ahead! What are you waiting for? Hurry up!"

It was the middle of winter and Zhu Wen was sweating through his clothes.

The playmates disappointed Emperor Zhaozong. They were used to letting Zhu Wen win on weekdays, but at the critical moment, they were possessed by keyboard warriors. Although they were all gritting their teeth and gritting their teeth, no one dared to capture the thief. They just wanted to kill Zhu Wen with their eyes.

Hundreds of years later, Emperor Kangxi learned from Tang Zhaozong's lesson. He carefully selected a group of warriors to play with him, practiced wrestling day and night, conducted countless drills in secret, and then seized the opportunity to capture Oboi in one fell swoop.

Zhu Wen escaped safely and made up his mind to completely clean up the people around Zhaozong!

Soon, Zhu Wen found an opportunity to invite these 200 emperors to a banquet to play with him. During the banquet, he made them drunk, strangled them with ropes, took off their clothes, shoes and socks, dug a deep pit on the spot, and buried the bodies. He then selected more than 200 people of similar height and appearance from the elite Bian army, changed into their clothes, and played with Zhaozong.

According to historical records, Emperor Zhaozong did not immediately discover that his teammates had been replaced, but gradually discovered it after playing around as usual for a while. This also indirectly reflects that Emperor Zhaozong did not have in-depth communication with them, but only wishfully believed that they were loyal and brave enough to be used.

Zhaozong was indeed careless, and he would pay the heaviest price for it.

The most direct price was that all previous efforts to show weakness and obedience were wasted, which meant that Zhaozong had revealed his true colors to Zhu Wen. The sharp contradiction between the monarch and his minister had risen to an unprecedented level, which could be described as a life-and-death fight.

After arriving in Luoyang, Zhaozong first issued an edict to change the reign title, changing the "fourth year of Tianfu" to the "first year of Tianyou", and upgraded Shanzhou to "Xingtang Prefecture". At the same time, he issued an edict to attack Li Maozhen and Li Jihui. Obviously, this was Zhu Wen's "edict" to provide a legal basis for continuing to send troops to Guanzhong.

The imperial edict issued a few days later was even more obviously Zhu Wen's "edict": a large number of palace offices were cut back, and the palace maids were stopped from delivering imperial edicts and oral instructions; Jiang Xuanhui, Wang Yin, Zhang Tingfan and others were appointed as Privy Counsellors, Imperial City Envoys, and Street Envoys. The new "three envoys" also firmly controlled the inside and outside of the palace and the entire Luoyang city; the commanders of the imperial guards were Zhu Yougong and Shi Shucong; the deputy commander of the imperial guards and the mayor of Luoyang was also Zhu Wen's confidant - Wei Zhen.

At this time, Zhaozong was almost alone, and his attendants, palace staff, and other officials, from senior cadres to grassroots clerks, were all Zhu Wen's minions. It was becoming increasingly difficult to assassinate Zhu Wen, but Zhaozong still wanted to give it a try.

At a banquet for all the ministers, Emperor Zhaozong praised Zhu Wen's achievements and criticized other ministers. Halfway through the banquet, Emperor Zhaozong went out to relieve himself. Then he sent someone to tell Zhu Wen to come to the Banquet Pavilion alone, saying that the emperor wanted to have a private meal with him because of his great achievements. Should he tie his shoelaces? Should he give him poisoned wine? Or something else? Zhu Wen shook his head and said, "Sorry, I'm drunk. I'm afraid I won't go because I'm afraid of losing my composure."

Zhaozong sent someone to convey the message that since Zhu Wen was not coming, Jing Xiang should be invited to come.

Zhu Wen ordered Jing Xiang to resign on the grounds of being drunk as well.

A few days later, Zhu Wen reported to the emperor that he was busy with military affairs and resigned and returned to Bianzhou.

The military affairs that Zhu Wen mentioned refer to the coalition forces of Wang Jian of Xichuan, Li Maozhen of Fengxiang, and Li Jihui of Bingzhou. They issued a proclamation to the world, claiming that they were following the imperial edict to fight against the rebels.

Their threats were not enough to make Zhu Wen panic. The main reason he left Luoyang was to escape from Zhaozong's "clutches". Emperor Xian of Han struggled to save himself more than once and joined forces with Liu Bei and others to murder Cao Cao, but Zhaozong would not give up resistance either.

Zhu Wen retreated to advance and left the place of trouble. He secretly ordered his trusted henchman Jiang Xuanhui to keep a close eye on Zhaozong and report his every word and action in a timely manner.

Jiang Xuanhui did not disappoint Zhu Wen's trust and soon reported an extremely important piece of news: One day, Zhaozong complained to Jiang Xuanhui: "Prince De is my most beloved son, why does Zhu Wen insist on killing him!" He cried while speaking, and was so sad that he bit his finger and blood flowed.

Prince De Li Yu was the eldest son of Emperor Zhaozong. When the eunuch Liu Jishu launched the "Shaoyangyuan Coup", he was supported to be the emperor. More than two months later, Emperor Zhaozong restored order and Li Yu was demoted to Prince De. At that time, Prince De Li Yu was only 8 years old and was coerced by the eunuch Liu Jishu, so he did not suffer a counterattack afterwards and was still the "Prince De" and still loved by Emperor Zhaozong.

As he grew older, Prince De Li Yu became handsome, dignified, well-educated, and gradually showed the demeanor of an emperor. Emperor Zhaozong had high hopes for him, but he also became a thorn in Zhu Wen's side.

At the beginning, Cui Yin designed to let Zhu Wen be the deputy marshal of the army, and let De Wang Li Yu be the grand marshal of the army. Zhu Wen was very unhappy and said that De Wang Li Yu had once defiled the throne of the emperor (referring to the Shaoyangyuan coup), and was a person who had committed a serious crime and should be killed!

Unexpectedly, Cui Yin betrayed Zhu Wen to Emperor Zhaozong and told him what had happened. In the end, he appointed Emperor Zhaozong's seventh son, Prince Hui Li Zuo, as the Grand Marshal.

Emperor Zhaozong then talked to Zhu Wen and asked him why he could not tolerate Prince De. Zhu Wen denied it flatly and insisted that it was Cui Yin who was making trouble and alienating the emperor and his ministers. He was unwilling to take the blame for his boss and even sell out his master for glory, which was one of the reasons why Zhu Wen hated Cui Yin.

Zhu Wen was seeking to usurp the throne of the Tang Dynasty, and of course he did not want to see the Tang Dynasty produce a qualified heir who was popular among the people. Zhaozong's performance made Zhu Wen decide to speed up the pace of usurping the throne of the Tang Dynasty.

Zhu Wen sent Li Zhen to Luoyang to plan "big things" with Jiang Xuanhui, Zhu Yougong, Shi Shucong and others.

(End of this chapter)