History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 290: Empire ATM

【Empire ATM】

Kong Qian, a native of Weizhou, was a temporary worker in charge of local finance and taxation. He was an accountant with skilled business skills and was agile and smooth. After Li Cunxu took over Weizhou, Kong Qian tried his best to please him, and "Zhuangzong and his entourage were all pleased with him." Later, he was made in charge of finance and taxation.

The Liang and Jin fought bloody battles along the river. The Hedong Group had to face the powerful Later Liang, resist the Khitan in the north, and suppress the rebellion in the Heshuo area. The army fought for a long time and the military expenditure was huge. In order to show his excellent accounting ability, Kong Qian spared no effort and levied heavy taxes, which actually met Li Cunxu's military expenditure needs. Therefore, he was deeply favored by Li Cunxu.

As early as when Zhu Wen conquered Heshuo and launched a northern expedition to Youzhou, Luo Shaowei, then the governor of Weizhou Army, had exhausted the country's savings in order to supply military supplies. Luo Shaowei thought he had made an unforgettable mistake and regretted it so much that he eventually died of regret at the age of 34.

Later, Weizhou became the focus of contention between Liang and Jin. The wars continued, the economy was in serious decline, and the people were impoverished. Kong Qian, for the sake of his own achievements, did not care about the lives of the people at all, and imposed heavy taxes and levies, which led to the boiling resentment of the people in Weizhou and their hostility towards the Later Tang regime.

Later, it was the rebellion in the Weizhou region that sent Li Cunxu into an abyss of no return. This is a story for another time.

When Li Cunxu proclaimed himself emperor in Weizhou, Kong Qian volunteered to be the "Zuyongshi" (in charge of taxation), but people generally opposed it, believing that Kong Qian was not qualified because he was not a successful Jinshi, not a descendant of a famous family, and had held a low position before, so it was not appropriate for him to be suddenly promoted to such a high position.

Therefore, Privy Councilor Guo Chongtao recommended Zhang Xian, the Minister of Works. Zhang Xian was very talented in writing and was highly appreciated by Li Cunxu. In addition, Zhang Xian's previous position was the Secretary of the Wei Bo Jiedushi, which can be understood as the Secretary General of the Provincial Party Committee. Although it is not very accurate, it is higher than Kong Qian's position.

Li Cunxu then appointed Zhang Xian, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Works, as concurrently the envoy of rent and labor, and Kong Qian as the deputy envoy of rent and labor.

It was this word "deputy" that made Kong Qian unhappy for a long time. From then on, his life goal was to remove this word "deputy". In order to achieve this goal, Kong Qian used all his skills, at all costs, and at all conspiracies, and presented one hilarious joke after another to the boring history.

Zhuangzong entered Bianzhou, and the Later Liang Dynasty fell. Kong Qian sensed an opportunity to turn things around, so he rushed to Bianzhou to lobby the powerful Guo Chongtao. He put on a selfless face and made an impassioned speech: "Weizhou is a major city, the northern capital of the empire, and it is of great importance. We must have a heavyweight figure who is highly respected and has both moral integrity and talent to take charge of the work. I think it must be Comrade Zhang Xian."

Guo Chongtao agreed with this and was moved by Comrade Kong Qian's noble character, so he recommended Zhang Xian as the deputy governor of Yedu (Weizhou).

To put it simply, Zhang Xian was promoted from the director of the National Tax Bureau to the mayor of a municipality directly under the central government, the top military and political leader.

Kong Qian recommended Zhang Xian for promotion in order to get him to leave the post of "Zuiyongshi". "Zuiyongshi" is an accountant, although not as high as the top military and political official, it is a coveted lucrative post, and it also requires high professional skills. After Zhang Xian left, the best candidate for the new "Zuiyongshi" was of course him, the "Deputy Ziyongshi".

In order to become a regular employee, Kong Qian went to great lengths.

Kong Qian's plan was half successful. Comrade Zhang Xian was appointed as the top leader of Yedu, and the court appointed the prime minister Comrade Dou Luge as the rent and labor commissioner and the salt and iron transport commissioner.

Kong Qian wanted to cry but had no tears. He would not give up. Since he could get rid of Zhang Xian, he could also get rid of Dou Luge, but the specific operation was slightly different.

As for Zhang Xian, Kong Qian's method was to promote him, but Dou Lu Ge was a prime minister concurrently, he had already reached the highest position among the officials and could not be promoted any further, so he could only be demoted.

So Kong Qian devoted himself to the work of the voluntary disciplinary inspection committee without hesitation, secretly collecting information about Dou Luge's work mistakes or misconduct through various means.

Hard work pays off, Kong Qian finally caught a handle on Dou Luge: embezzlement of public funds!

Kong Qian showed Guo Chongtao the evidence he had. It was an IOU written by Dou Luge himself, for a loan of hundreds of thousands. The history books did not give the specific number and unit, but it was a huge sum of money.

Kong Qian also put on a hypocritical face of understanding, saying that Comrade Dou Luge was the prime minister of the empire, and was busy with affairs every day. Although the position of the rent and labor envoy was not high, the workload was very heavy. Look, Comrade Dou Luge made many omissions in his work...

Who is Guo Chongtao? In the war to destroy Liang, he gave advice to Li Cunxu and was deeply trusted. In many things, Guo Chongtao exuded the shadow of Zhang Chengye. Kong Qian's trick of borrowing a knife to kill someone could deceive Guo Chongtao for a while, but it could not deceive Guo Chongtao forever. Guo Chongtao vaguely sensed that Kong Qian had bad intentions.

Even if Kong Qian's motives were not pure, he had ironclad evidence after all. Guo Chongtao could only invite Dou Luge to drink tea and give him a warning.

Dou Luge was not a man of outstanding talent. His knowledge was average, and his character was average. He became prime minister only because he came from a famous family, and Li Cunxu used him as a political vase. In fact, his "famous family" is questionable. His father and grandfather were both minor officials such as provincial governors, and historical records clearly pointed out that "their lineage was lost". In a word, no one knew where they came from, so how could they be called a famous family?
In fact, Douluo Ge's appointment as prime minister was a complete reflection of Li Cunxu's political wisdom.

At the beginning of the founding of the country, Li Cunxu dealt with various major factions and was adept at maneuvering among several political forces. In fact, this is the only way for all teams to grow and develop. It is a key link in studying a group, but it is also the most easily overlooked link, such as the seating arrangement of the Liangshan heroes.

When Li Cunxu proclaimed himself emperor, the Later Liang Dynasty had not yet perished, the Heshuo region had not yet been completely controlled, and the north was still facing the powerful and greedy Khitan. Therefore, when Li Cunxu proclaimed himself emperor, he was still in a relatively weak position, especially for the Heshuo mountaintops, who had to be given special care, preferential treatment and appeasement.

In simple terms, enough positions must be reserved in the senior positions of the central government for comrades from the former Zhenzhou Chengde Army and Dingzhou Yiwu Army so that they can enjoy full political voice and social status.

Let us only take the prime minister who is the "head of all officials" as an example:

The best candidate for prime minister must be a person of high moral character and prestige, preferably one who comes from a prominent family and has served as a high-ranking official in the Tang Dynasty. Talent and character are not important. He is just a political vase anyway. The real power is in the hands of Li Cunxu's direct confidant, Guo Chongtao.

At that time, Li Cunxu had two candidates in mind. One was Su Xun, one of the "Six Ministers Carrying the Coffin", the shameless slave who knew how to "worship the hall" and present the "sun-painting pen"; the other was Lu Rubi.

(End of this chapter)