History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 209 Running Zen
Zhu Wen refused all the honors the court gave him, including the title of "Prime Minister", "King of Wei", "Nine Gifts", "Three Departments Commander"...

The establishment of the "Three Departments Director-General" was also the first time in history. It was a general term for the three major financial agencies (Salt and Iron, Ministry of Revenue, and Ministry of Revenue). Before that, the "Three Departments Judge" was just a temporary working group. Starting from Zhu Wen, the court established the "Three Departments Director-General", officially concentrating the national financial power in one person.

Just like the title of "Prime Minister", Zhu Wen was the only one in the entire Tang Dynasty who received this honor.

In addition, as mentioned above, Zhu Wen was also awarded the honor of "having his portrait in Lingyan Pavilion". In order to express the highest respect to Zhu Wen and to distinguish him from other people whose portraits were in Lingyan Pavilion as a token of favor, the court specially opened a single room for Zhu Wen in Lingyan Pavilion.

At this point, as far as the honors obtained by Tang Dynasty officials are concerned, if Zhu Wen is ranked second, no one dares to claim to be ranked first.

List the official titles of Zhu Wen, and don't argue if you don't agree:
"He was a loyal and upright hero who restored the country and restored the country. He was the Marshal of the Armies of the various provinces. He was the governor of the Xuanwu, Xuanyi, Tianping and Huguo armies. He was in charge of repairing the palaces and palaces. He was in charge of the county and ponds of Jiexian and Bozhou. He was the Grand Master of the Three Departments. He was the Grand Commandant of the Imperial Secretariat. He was the Governor of Hezhong and the Governor of Bian, Hua and Yun. He was the Grand Pillar of the State. He was the King of Liang. He had a fief of 15,000 households and a real fief of 1,500 households."

This was Zhu Wen's official title, and all imperial edicts, decrees, and decrees issued to him by the court had these words added before his name. This did not include titles and positions such as "Prime Minister, King of Wei, and Three Departments Director", because Zhu Wen refused to accept them.

Although official titles seem complicated, they do have a strict writing order. According to the "Official Records", official titles in the Tang Dynasty were divided into four types: San, Zhi, Xun, and Jue, each with its own grade.

San, which means a scattered official, or a rank official or a scattered position, is only used to indicate status and position, and has no actual power. There are 29 ranks of civil officials, the highest of which is "Kaifu Yitong Sansi";
Position refers to an official with an actual position, such as Jiedushi and Inspector;
Xun, that is, the level of military merit of meritorious soldiers, is divided into twelve levels, the highest of which is "Shangzhuguo";
Noble titles are the easiest to understand. There are nine ranks of nobility. The highest is "king", with a fief of 10,000 households; the second is "county prince", with a fief of 5,000 households.

In the Tang Dynasty, when writing official titles, they followed the order of San, Zhi, Xun, and Jue, while when arranging for court appearances, they followed the order of Jue, Zhi, San, and Xun.

After understanding these basic common sense, let's look back at Zhu Wen's official titles. Among the "San" titles, the highest one was "Kaifu Yitong Sansi"; not to mention the "Zhi" title; among the "Xun" titles, it was also the highest "Shangzhuguo"; among the "Jie", he almost enjoyed the treatment of a double king. A first-class king had a fief of 10,000 households, and Zhu Wen already had a fief of 15,000 households. In the edict that conferred him the title of King of Wei and the Nine Gifts, another 5,000 households were added to his fief, reaching the standard of 20,000 households, which is the standard of one person enjoying two princes, but Zhu Wen refused. However, 15,000 households is still the standard of a double king, that is, a prince and a duke.

Zhu Wen did not like such complicated, cumbersome and fancy official titles. The life of rich people was plain and boring. Zhu Wen only liked two plain, simple and concise words - emperor.

After killing Jiang Xuanhui, Zhang Tingfan and Liu Can, Zhu Wen delayed the "abdication" for a year due to the affairs of Hebei. It was not until Luo Shaowei persuaded him to ascend the throne in Weizhou and brought up the old matter again that Zhu Wen rekindled his passion.

In the first month of the fourth year of Tianyou in the Tang Dynasty (907), Zhu Wen returned to Bianzhou from Weizhou and remotely instructed Luoyang to speed up the abdication.

After the blood sacrifice of Jiang Xuanhui, Zhang Tingfan, Liu Can and others, no one dared to delay any longer. Emperor Ai abdicated at a run.

Emperor Ai sent the Imperial Censor Xue Yiju to Bianzhou to once again express his intention to abdicate to Zhu Wen.

Xue Yiju was a descendant of a famous family, and his father and grandfather were both very famous. Xue Yiju was a talented writer and enjoyed a high reputation in the cultural circle. He passed the imperial examination during the reign of Emperor Xizong and later became a Hanlin scholar. As a top student, he met Emperor Zhaozong's employment standards and should have reached the peak of his life during his reign. However, when Emperor Zhaozong fled Chang'an and went to Shimen, Xue Yiju failed to follow him. He was not determined enough, so he was dismissed from office.

Later, when the eunuch Han Quanhui was in power, Xue Yiju actively flattered the eunuch party and used his writing skills to sing praises for Han Quanhui and other eunuch party members, thus being able to re-enter the official career.

Obviously, he was on the wrong side again.

After Han Quanhui's death, Emperor Zhaozong purged the eunuch party, and Xue Yiju's crime was exposed and he was demoted again.

Afterwards, Xue Yiju took the initiative to surrender to Zhu Wen and asked for shelter. Zhu Wen then recommended him to the court and appointed him as the Minister of Personnel, and soon after, he was changed to the Grand Censor.

Historical records say that Zhu Wen had always valued Xue Yiju (Su Zhongzhi), so he recommended him to the court to serve as an official. "Su Zhongzhi" is just a superficial appearance, but in fact there is a deeper, but not difficult to understand political logic:

Xue Yiju was famous when he was young and had his own traffic, but he was not valued because of his political stance. He was famous but not successful, and he was very eager to rise to prominence. This was the political chess piece that Zhu Wen needed most. Zhu Wen promoted him to the court, and Xue Yiju would definitely be grateful to Zhu Wen and remember Zhu Wen's kindness and support. Moreover, Zhu Wen is now much more powerful than Han Quanhui back then. In order to get promoted and make money, Xue Yiju shamelessly wagged his tail and sold his goodwill to the eunuch party. How could he remain indifferent to Zhu Wen's active goodwill? Therefore, Xue Yiju must have worked for Zhu Wen wholeheartedly and was willing to be Zhu Wen's lackey.

Let's look at the position Zhu Wen gave him - Minister of Personnel. The Ministry of Personnel is mainly responsible for the selection, assessment, appointment and removal of civil officials, which is roughly equivalent to today's Organization Department. Zhu Wen arranged Xue Yiju to the Ministry of Personnel so that Xue Yiju could play a leading role as a model and develop subordinates for Zhu Wen's group, so that Xue Yiju could become Zhu Wen's agent in the civil service group, so that the new civil service group could be closely united in the power system with Comrade Zhu Wen as the core.

After Cui Yin and Liu Can were defeated, Xue Yiju became Zhu Wen's most important agent in the civil service group. So this time, Xue Yiju went to Bianzhou with the imperial edict to convey Emperor Ai's intention to abdicate.

On the 27th day of the first lunar month, Xue Yiju met Zhu Wen. He was like a dog meeting its master, wagging its tail and sticking out its tongue, with respect and obedience evident in his words. He insisted on meeting Zhu Wen with the courtesy of a subject and flattered him in a refreshing and refined way.

Zhu Wen was still playing the role of a loyal minister of the Tang Dynasty at this time, so he "bowed to him and went up the steps", bowed to Xue Yiju in return, and respectfully invited him to go up the steps, because he was a minister of the Tang Dynasty, and he, Xue Yiju, was the one who read the sacred edict of the Tang emperor.

Xue Yiju did not dare to act rashly and said, "Your Highness, your virtue is as great as the Three Sovereigns and your achievements are greater than the Five Emperors. Heaven, earth and people all respect you. The emperors of the Tang Dynasty sincerely emulated the ancients and wanted to learn from Yao and Shun to perform the ritual of abdication. How dare I disobey you?"

Afterwards, Xue Yiju performed the great ceremony of kneeling three times and kowtow nine times to Zhu Wen in the courtyard. That means that although you have not officially taken up the leadership position of the emperor, in my heart, you have always been the reddest red sun!
Zhu Wen slightly turned his body to accept the gift, indicating that he was not yet the emperor and could not accept it calmly. But in his heart, he was very pleased with Xue Yiju's obedience.

After Xue Yiju returned to Luoyang, he finally brought back good news to Emperor Ai: Zhu Wen had given in and was willing to accept the abdication!
The whole court was rejoicing, finally there was no need to worry anymore.

Emperor Ai expressed his willingness to abdicate immediately. It was already the end of the first month, so he issued an edict to pass on the throne in early February and entrusted the prime minister to notify Zhu Wen in writing.

Zhu Wen wrote back to politely decline, "Isn't this inappropriate?"

Emperor Ai: "I think it is very suitable."

Zhu Wen: "Okay."

As soon as February began, civil and military officials could not wait to jointly submit a petition to request Emperor Ai to abdicate.

On February 5, Emperor Ai ordered the prime minister to lead civil and military officials to Bianzhou to persuade him to ascend the throne, but Zhu Wen sent envoys to stop him. This was the general procedure for abdication.

At the same time, the warlords across the country (pro-Zhu faction), central and local officials also collectively requested Zhu Wen to accept the abdication, in order to comply with the will of heaven and win the support of the people.

Zhu Wen kept declining.

In March, Emperor Ai sent Xue Yiju to Bianzhou again to patiently convey the emperor's sincerity in wanting to abdicate. He also sent the Minister of Rites Su Xun to Bianzhou with a joint memorial from civil and military officials.

Afterwards, Emperor Ai wrote an abdication edict, determined to give the throne to Zhu Wen. Comrade Zhu Wen, if you don't accept the throne, you will be disobeying the emperor's order and committing treason! I am not happy.

Emperor Ai appointed Zhang Wenwei as the envoy for the enthronement ceremony, and Su Xun as his deputy; Yang She as the special envoy for escorting the imperial seal (the envoy for escorting the national treasure), and Zhang Ce as his deputy; Xue Yiju as the special envoy for escorting the royal seal (the envoy for escorting the royal treasure), and Zhao Guangfeng as his deputy; the rest of the civil and military officials, together with the emperor's special "imperial carriage", went to Bianzhou to welcome Zhu Wen to Luoyang to ascend the throne and succeed the throne.

Zhang Wenwei, Su Xun, Yang She, Zhang Ce, Xue Yiju, and Zhao Guangfeng were the coffin bearers of the Tang Dynasty. They danced for the coffin of the Tang Dynasty with their professional skills, and their names were recorded in history.

(End of this chapter)