History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 236 Liu Shouguang Becomes Emperor 2
Liu Shouguang was determined to become emperor despite all dissuasion. He placed a large chopping board in the middle of the courtyard, with a sharp axe thrown next to it. He then summoned his civil and military officials, pointed at the knife and announced: "I want to become emperor, and those who oppose me will die!"

The counselor Sun He was the first to express his opposition.

Sun He and Lü Yan were originally subordinates of Liu Shouwen. They supported Liu Shouwen's son Liu Yanzuo in defending the city in Cangzhou. After the city was captured, they were captured together. Liu Shouguang ordered Lü Yan's family to be killed, and Sun He was released. From then on, Sun He became an important counselor around Liu Shouguang, offering his loyalty and wisdom to Liu Shouguang and providing him with advice. When Zhenzhou asked for help, Sun He insisted that Liu Shouguang send troops, but was rejected by Liu Shouguang.

One more thing to mention here is that when Lü Yan was exterminated, his son Lü Qi was only 15 years old. Before he was executed, Lü Yan's friend Zhao Yu lied to the executioner, saying that the child was not a member of the Lü family, but his own brother, and that he should not kill the wrong person. The executioner believed it, so Lü Qi saved his life. After Zhao Yu rescued him, he changed his name and fled with Zhao Yu. On the way, Lü Qi's feet hurt so much that Zhao Yu carried him on his back for dozens of miles in one breath, begging for a living along the way, and finally escaped to the land of Hedong.

Lu Qi studied hard and achieved excellent results. He was soon recognized by Li Cunxu and entered the official career. He later entered the central government and became an important minister of the Later Tang Dynasty. After the establishment of the Later Jin Dynasty, he was also appointed as prime minister. Unfortunately, Lu Qi died of illness before he was officially appointed as prime minister.

Lu Qi was grateful and treated Zhao Yu as a father. He also treated Zhao Yu's son Zhao Wendu like his own son. Under his guidance, Zhao Wendu also passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi.

Lu Qi had two sons, Lu Yin and Lu Duan, both of whom became prime ministers of the Song Dynasty.

Liu Shouguang thought that Sun He was a frightened bird. Since he had saved his life, he would definitely support his plan to become emperor without hesitation. Sun He's leading opposition made Liu Shouguang very angry.

"Have you forgotten my kindness to you?"

Sun He answered with great righteousness, saying that it was precisely because he was grateful for the emperor's kindness that he was willing to give him honest advice at the risk of his life. He said, "Don't be confused and don't presumptuously declare yourself emperor!"
Liu Shouguang was furious, "You are such an ungrateful and heartless wolf!" He ordered the soldiers to press Sun He on the chopping board, then cut his flesh piece by piece and eat him as a living being.

Sun He endured the severe pain and shouted: "Within a hundred days, the army will arrive!"

Liu Shouguang ordered his mouth to be stuffed with mud, and then Sun He was cut into pieces and executed by slow slicing.

"Who else?"

"Long live my emperor! Long live!"

Liu Shouguang insisted on his own way and finally ascended the throne in Youzhou on August 911, the first year of Qianhua (8), and changed the country's name to "Da Yan" (known in history as "Jie Yan", calling it Jie shows its cruelty and brutality), and changed the year name to "Yingtian". Liu Shouguang's "Da Yan Kingdom" is not recognized by history, just like Dong Chang's "Da Yue Luo Ping Kingdom", both are illegal pseudo-regimes and are not among the "Ten Kingdoms".

On the day Liu Shouguang proclaimed himself emperor, his northern neighbor sent him a great gift: the Khitans captured Pingzhou. The pseudo-regime of Jieyan was born amid the people's panic.

When Li Cunxu heard the news that Liu Shouguang had ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, he laughed like a pig.

The military supervisor, eunuch Zhang Chengye, suggested that in order to make Liu Shouguang even more crazy, Hedong should take the lead in sending envoys to congratulate him.

Therefore, Li Cunxu sent Li Chengxun, deputy mayor of Taiyuan (Shao Yin of Taiyuan), to visit Jie Yan. After Li Chengxun arrived in Youzhou, Jie Yan's protocol officer asked Li Chengxun to meet Liu Shouguang as a vassal and kowtow to him. Li Chengxun firmly opposed it, saying that he was an official appointed by the Tang Dynasty, not by Liu Shouguang, so how could he kowtow to Liu Shouguang?
Liu Shouguang was furious and put him in prison, and then forced him to surrender. Li Chengxun took the opportunity to tie up the couple and said, "If you can make my lord surrender to you, I will surrender to you."

Liu Shouguang used both soft and hard tactics, but Li Chengxun refused to yield. Finally, when the Hedong army conquered Youzhou, Li Chengxun was brutally killed by Liu Shouguang. Many people praised Li Chengxun for his integrity, which was comparable to Su Wu's sheep-herding. But there is also controversy, because the purpose of this visit was not to argue with Jie Yan, but to deliberately elevate Liu Shouguang, so that he would lose his mind further, prompting Liu Shouguang to make a serious misjudgment of the current situation, thus leading to his demise. From this perspective, Li Chengxun went in the wrong direction and failed in his mission.

In particular, he took the initiative to bring up Li Cunxu, making Liu Shouguang clearly realize that Li Cunxu would not be willing to submit to him from the bottom of his heart, which was equivalent to telling Liu Shouguang: Hedong and Hebei are not afraid of you at all. For the sake of temporary face and for the sake of temporary seriousness, Li Cunxu's strategy of fanning the flames almost failed!

Fortunately, Liu Shouguang did not need anyone to add fuel to his fire. His enthusiasm was like a fire that burned the entire desert. To deceive oneself is the most impeccable deception.

Even though he knew that neither Hebei nor Hedong was really afraid of him, Liu Shouguang still arrogantly believed that he could sweep the world, which was very similar to his father. So ordinary yet so arrogant, saying the cruelest words and taking the most vicious beatings.

Liu Shouguang convened a military meeting to discuss the southward invasion of Dingzhou Yiwu Army.

At the meeting, counselor Feng Dao raised objections, Liu Shouguang was furious and put him in prison, but fortunately someone tried hard to plead for him, thus saving Feng Dao's life. Feng Dao then fled to Hedong, and the military supervisor eunuch Zhang Chengye recommended him to Li Cunxu.

Feng Dao was a remarkable man in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period and even in the entire five thousand years of Chinese history. He was absolutely unprecedented and unparalleled. His legendary story will be presented one by one in the following text.

Liu Shouguang led an army of 20,000 to invade Yiwu and besiege Rongcheng. Wang Chuzhi appealed to Li Cunxu in Hedong for help.

Li Cunxu sent Zhou Dewei to lead an army of 30,000 to meet with Zhang Wenli, general of Zhenzhou, and Cheng Yan, general of Dingzhou, at Yishui, and then launched a counterattack against Jie Yan.

The coalition army surrounded Zhuozhou, and the governor Liu Zhiwen locked himself in. Liu Qufei, a guest of Liu Shouqi (who had previously fled to Hedong for refuge), came to the city and shouted to Liu Zhiwen, "Our young master (Liu Shouqi) has come to fight against the rebellious son and the traitors on behalf of our father. Why do you refuse him?"

Liu Shouqi also took off his helmet and personally came to the city to comfort Liu Zhiwen, "Comrade Liu Zhiwen, you have worked hard!"

After meeting the young master Liu Shouqi, Liu Zhiwen immediately knelt on the city gate tower, kowtowed and apologized while looking at the city below, then opened the city gate and surrendered the city.

The gates of Youzhou were suddenly opened, and Zhou Dewei led his army to the city of Youzhou.

Afterwards, according to historical records, Zhou Dewei, jealous of Liu Shouqi's achievements, slandered him to Li Cunxu, and Liu Shouqi defected to the Later Liang out of fear.

In fact, Zhou Dewei did say something unfavorable to Liu Shouqi to Li Cunxu, but it was not out of jealousy. In the previous article, when talking about Liu Rengong's rebellion in Youzhou, it was analyzed that the Hedong Group had a very weak mass base in Youzhou. Now, Liu Shouqi only needs to show up and say hello, and the defenders will immediately open the city and surrender. This appeal makes the Hedong Group very worried. If Liu Shouqi raises his arms in Youzhou, he will repeat the story of Liu Rengong's rebellion in Youzhou.

Liu Shouqi persuaded Zhuozhou to surrender, which sounded the alarm for the Hedong Group. So Zhou Dewei quickly reminded Li Cunxu to take precautions. Therefore, Li Cunxu urgently summoned Liu Shouqi back to Taiyuan. Liu Shouqi was worried about unexpected events, so he fled to Houliang with Liu Qufei and others to seek asylum, and was appointed as the governor of Bozhou by Houliang.

As soon as the war broke out, the enemy troops were at the gates of the "capital". Liu Shouguang had no choice but to shamelessly ask Zhu Wen of the Later Liang for help.

(End of this chapter)