History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 244: Mystery in the Eastern Capital
【Mystery in the Eastern Capital】

From the time Zhu Wen was assassinated to the time Zhu Youzhen ascended the throne, it took more than half a year for the Later Liang Empire to complete the transfer of supreme power in the bloody turmoil. The historical records are very clear, as mentioned above, in short: Zhu Yougui killed his father to seize power, and Zhu Youzhen avenged his father and seized power for the second time.

I have already warned you to pay attention to the loopholes and questions in this story. I personally have a lot of black question marks in my head, and many key clues seem to have been deliberately modified.

History is written by the victors. Yes, this story was left to future generations by Zhu Youzhen.

Zhu Youzhen was also overthrown by Li Cunxu ten years later, and the Later Liang Dynasty was destroyed. Li Cunxu had a deep hatred for the Zhu family. After overthrowing the Later Liang Dynasty, it was a political necessity for the Later Tang Dynasty to discredit, vilify, demonize, and completely deny Zhu Wen and his Later Liang regime. We will elaborate on this in detail later.

In other words, as early as the time of Li Cunxu, this period of history had been systematically revised by the authorities from top to bottom, which artificially caused serious inaccuracies in historical materials.

Even the historians of the Song Dynasty, more than 50 years later, were troubled by this, let alone us, more than a thousand years later. It is almost a pipe dream to completely restore this period of history, and it is no longer possible.

I can only raise some of my personal questions and assumptions that seem more logically reasonable.

The core of these questions is Zhu Youwen's death. Around this core question, many unknown key clues are hidden, which I call "Dongdu Mysteries":
1. Did Zhu Wen really intend to pass the throne to Zhu Youwen? Why was Zhu Yougui's assassination attempt so surprisingly successful?

2. Why did Zhu Youzhen strictly implement and actively carry out Zhu Yougui’s “false edict” to kill Zhu Youwen?

3. Zhu Yougui’s accession edict was full of loopholes, so why did no one raise any objections?

4. Why did Jing Xiang, the biggest insider, disappear during this period?

5. What roles did Zhao Yan and Yuan Xiangxian play, and what role did they play in the two regicide attacks?

6. Zhu Youzhen’s accession edict was also full of loopholes.

Roughly expanded:

1. According to historical records, after Mrs. Zhang Hui passed away, Zhu Wen became dissolute and lustful, and did many outrageous beastly things, including favoring his daughter-in-law. In order to win his favor, his sons offered their wives to Zhu Wen. Among them, Zhu Youwen's wife Wang and Zhu Yougui's wife Zhang were particularly favored by Zhu Wen, so they stayed by his sickbed for a long time.

Zhu Wen was dying and said to Wang, "Go to the Eastern Capital and summon your husband Youwen to Luoyang!" He meant to pass the throne to Zhu Youwen. When Zhang found out, she hurriedly told Zhu Yougui that Wang had taken the imperial seal to the Eastern Capital and that Zhu Youwen would definitely kill her after he ascended the throne. So Zhu Yougui entered the palace to assassinate her.

The above two paragraphs are full of loopholes. Let's put aside Zhu Wen's lifestyle issues for the time being. If Zhu Wen intended to pass the throne to Zhu Youwen, he should not have let Zhu Youwen's wife go to summon him with the imperial seal. There is a complete set of procedures for summoning the crown prince to the capital. At the very least, a formal document should be issued and the ministers should go to summon him. Moreover, the imperial seal should be left in the capital Luoyang.

Besides, Zhu Yougui's patricide was too simple. He only bribed Han Qing, the commander of the Left Dragon and Tiger Army, to make the assassination of the king a complete success. Not only was the assassination successful, but the news was also strictly blocked. The key is that all this work was completed in just one day.

This is killing the emperor, not killing a chicken. It is simply unbelievable.

2. After Zhu Yougui usurped power, he forged an imperial edict to kill Zhu Youwen. Zhu Youzhen killed Zhu Youwen without saying a word. Of course, we can understand it this way: Zhu Youzhen was very stupid and naive, thinking that this was indeed his father's true intention, because Zhu Youwen was an adopted son, so his father helped his own son get rid of this "outsider" who posed the greatest threat to the throne when he was dying, so he gladly obeyed the imperial edict. Did Zhu Youzhen really kill Zhu Youwen on the orders of Zhu Yougui?

3. The edict of Zhu Yougui's accession to the throne gave an official explanation for the execution of Zhu Youwen, saying that Zhu Youwen sent people into the palace to assassinate him but failed, and fortunately Zhu Yougui rescued him in time, so the throne was passed to Zhu Yougui.

According to the "edict", Zhu Youwen failed in his attempt to assassinate Zhu Wen, and Zhu Yougui bravely took action. Where is the evidence? Where is Zhu Youwen's assassin? If he is alive, he must be found dead. How could such important evidence disappear out of thin air? How many assassins were sent? How did they sneak into the inner palace? Why didn't they punish the palace security personnel who seriously neglected their duties? The most important question is, how could Zhu Yougui appear in the palace at that time? Did he kill the assassin by himself, or did he bring his troops with him? If he brought his troops with him, how could you appear in the palace in the middle of the night with your army?

This "edict" is full of loopholes and doubts, and can be regarded as Zhu Yougui's confession!

4. Jing Xiang was the person who knew most about Zhu Wen's entrusting his son to the care of others. According to records, Zhu Wen asked Jing Xiang to send Zhu Yougui away, implying that Zhu Yougui was a time bomb and must be expelled from the central government, the farther away from the capital the better, so he was appointed as the governor of Laizhou.

In other words, Jing Xiang knew that Zhu Wen definitely did not want to pass the throne to Zhu Yougui. Facing this most important insider, Zhu Yougui neither bribed him with a large sum of money nor framed him to death with false charges. Instead, he isolated and marginalized him. Wasn't he afraid that Jing Xiang would tell the truth to the world?

Jing Xiang did not need to tell the world, he only needed to tell Zhu Wen's sons, nephews, and old friends. He could overthrow Zhu Yougui with just one sentence.

Jing Xiang was to Zhu Wen what Zhuge Liang was to Liu Bei. Since Zhu Wen settled in Bian, until the fall of the Later Liang Dynasty, Jing Xiang had always participated in the whole process as Zhu Wen's chief strategist. However, during the most critical and turbulent six months, Jing Xiang seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth and was not recorded in the history books. This was really puzzling.

5. Yuan Xiangxian was also an important commander of the imperial army and the main force in the killing of Zhu Yougui. However, according to historical records, the killing of Zhu Yougui did not use the Longxiang Army that was instigated by Zhu Youzhen, nor did it rely on Yang Shihou's field army. It seems that he just confirmed the attitudes of Zhu Youzhen and Yang Shihou. As long as they nodded, killing the emperor would not be a problem.

So... I have a bold idea: Did Zhu Wen die in this way too?
I hereby declare that the following opinions are purely personal speculation: Yuan Xiangxian, a relative of the emperor, was the real mastermind of the two regicides! The second regicide (by Zhu Yougui) was caused by disagreements over the uneven distribution of spoils.

After Yuan Xiangxian and Zhao Yan supported Zhu Youzhen, they immediately gained power and dominated the country, causing chaos in the Later Liang Dynasty, which ended ten years later. Was this just Zhu Youzhen's way of repaying a favor? Or, what kind of "favor" did Zhu Youzhen repay?
6. After Zhu Youzhen ascended the throne, he also had to give a reasonable explanation for the execution of Zhu Yougui.

According to Zhu Youzhen's official explanation, the late Emperor Zhu Wen intended to pass the throne to Zhu Youwen, and Zhu Yougui's rebellious intentions had already been revealed, so when Zhu Wen was critically ill, Zhu Youwen secretly reported to his father, asking him to do a good job of security to avoid the murder of lawless elements. Zhu Wen agreed with him and quickly ordered Zhu Yougui to go to Laizhou, the coast of the East China Sea. Seeing that the matter was exposed, Zhu Yougui was desperate and killed Zhu Wen, and then forged an imperial edict to kill innocent people (kill Zhu Youwen). So I was supported by all the ministers and finally avenged the late emperor...

Since it was Zhu Wenyou's secret report, how did you know about it? As for Zhu Yougui's completion of planning, deployment, entering the palace to assassinate, and blocking the news in a very short period of time (one day), it goes back to the first question.

After the coup succeeded, Zhu Youzhen did not dare to enter Luoyang to ascend the throne in the face of the invitation of Yuan Xiangxian and Zhao Yan. Instead, he ascended the throne in his own territory, Kaifeng Prefecture in the Eastern Capital, which seemed to be a response to the fifth question.

To sum up, my personal guess is that Yuan Xiang first sought to "support the first merit" and first killed Zhu Wen and established Zhu Yougui. However, the spoils were not divided evenly and Zhu Yougui betrayed him. So Yuan Xiang first contacted the next party and re-enthroned Zhu Youzhen.

When Li Cunxu destroyed the Later Liang, Yuan Xiangxian was the first to surrender, and took out a large amount of gold and silver treasures to bribe all the senior officials of the Hedong Group indiscriminately. As a result, Yuan Xiangxian was deeply favored by Li Cunxu, and was given the name "Li Shaoan", and was granted a high position and generous salary. His Songzhou Xuanwu Army was renamed "Guide Army", and he was told that the name was changed specifically for him.

After Yuan Xiangxian died, Li Cunxu posthumously awarded him the title of "Grand Master". After the establishment of Later Zhou, he posthumously awarded him the title of Zhongshu Ling and the title of Duke of Chu.

In other words, as a "former elder", Yuan Xiangxian was one of the few political figures of the Later Liang Dynasty who was not denied, smeared, or vilified by the Later Tang regime. On the contrary, he was the object of the Later Tang regime's efforts to protect and beautify him. Then all the stains of Yuan Xiangxian (such as my speculation) would also be artificially modified and tampered with.

No matter what the truth is, the last emperor Zhu Youzhen ascended the throne and inherited the throne. Under his leadership, where will the Later Liang Dynasty go?
(End of this chapter)