History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 294: The Emperor of Gaming
【Hunting Emperor】

Emperors who valued martial arts all liked hunting. Hunting was an activity similar to military exercises, which not only trained horse riding and archery, but also trained the ability to command and coordinate operations. Therefore, it was quite popular among northern nomadic peoples and martial leaders.

Li Keyong loved hunting, but hunting did not affect his governance. Li Cunxu also loved hunting, especially after overthrowing the Later Liang Dynasty, he became unrestrained.

Before overthrowing the Later Liang Dynasty, Li Cunxu was often recorded as leading the troops in battle, even risking his life and being surrounded by the enemy many times. Although he was often accused of being rash and reckless, he was indeed passionate.

After Li Cunxu took control of Bianzhou, the word "hunting" appeared frequently in his records. In February of the third year of Tongguang (925), there were four records of hunting and one record of playing ball in one month:

"On Dingmao, I hunted in the suburbs... On Jisi, I summoned my followers to play ball in the football field... On Gengchen, I went to the suburbs to shoot geese... On Yiyou, I shot ducks in Guobo... On Wuzi, I went to the suburbs to shoot geese."

It is worth noting that the events that can be recorded in the history books should be large-scale. Small-scale hunting, ball-playing and other trivial matters will not appear in the Chronicles of Emperors. For example, Li Jitao went to the capital to pay homage to the emperor and followed Li Cunxu on hunting trips many times, but there is no detailed record in the Chronicles of Zhuangzong. In other words, the many hunting trips that Li Jitao participated in were all small-scale entertainment.

The fact that it was recorded five times in this month alone is enough to illustrate the problem.

Every time hunting took place in the suburbs, it would cause serious damage to local agriculture, because the government would temporarily occupy farmland as a hunting ground, and the followers would gallop on horseback and trample on the crops.

On September 924, 9, Li Cunxu went hunting near Luoyang. He Ze, the county magistrate of Luoyang, hid in the bushes. When Li Cunxu arrived, He Ze suddenly jumped out, stopped the horse and said, "The crops are about to mature, but they are destroyed. Your Majesty is collecting taxes very tightly. How can the people survive? Please let me die first!"

Li Cunxu approved of his frank advice, comforted him, sent him back, and then... the hunting continued.

From the county magistrate to the prime minister, the privy councilor, and even the actors, all of them had advised Li Cunxu. Li Cunxu knew that every word they said was reasonable, but he just refused to correct himself. Power means willfulness.

Two months later, on November 11, Li Cunxu led more than 9 personal guards to Yique County to hunt.

Yique County is the location of Zhu Wen's mausoleum. When Li Cunxu passed by Zhu Wen's mausoleum, he did something that was widely criticized: he paid homage to Zhu Wen's mausoleum (paying homage to the ancestor of Liang, which was criticized by people).

Maybe Li Cunxu wanted to disgust Zhu Wen on purpose. I took away your kingdom and killed your entire family. I think your spirit in heaven saw it. Ha, you’re welcome.

Because Li Cunxu also had a frivolous side and liked to play little pranks. Not only did he deliberately disgust Zhu Wen, but later in the text there would also be a story about him deliberately disgusting little Liu.

However, no matter what his motives were, he was "paying respect" to the number one political prisoner after all. Paying respect is different from visiting. This is a very serious political event.

It doesn't matter. Having power means you can do what you want.

During the formal hunting, Li Cunxu successfully took the first blood, "hitting a big deer with one shot". Li Cunxu was very happy, so he ordered to hunt all night. In the dark night, many of his cavalrymen fell off the cliff, and many were killed or injured, but this did not affect Li Cunxu's interest in hunting at all, "killing tens of thousands of deer".

Li Cunxu returned to the capital with a full load, and it was already late at night. Under Li Cunxu's order, torches were lit in the streets and alleys of Luoyang, making it as bright as day. Then he summoned all the officials and distributed venison.

Historical records do not record Li Cunxu's hunting expenses. This "deer hunting in Yique County" provides us with a certain reference value, "more than ten thousand cavalrymen" and "torches on six streets as bright as day."

In addition to martial arts (hunting), Li Cunxu also had another "nickname" - watching plays.

【The Emperor】

Watching plays was a common hobby of feudal emperors and an important daily pastime. Liking to watch plays cannot be regarded as a waste of time, but some emperors failed to grasp the measure and transferred their obsession to actors and actresses. They not only gave them a lot of rewards, but also let them participate in government affairs, and even let them influence the formulation of national policies.

When the emperor is an avid fanatic and a die-hard fan, politics cannot be anything but dark.

Yang Po'er was one of Li Cunxu's favorite actors. To express his love for him, Li Cunxu rewarded her with an important state, made him the governor of Weizhou, and gave him the name Li Cunru.

After Yang Po'er took office, she was obsessed with corruption and money-making. As long as the city defense sentries paid a certain amount of money, they could leave their posts and go home to rest. So in the second year of Longde (922), the Later Liang army launched a surprise attack on Weizhou. At that time, there was no one on duty on the city wall. The Later Liang army directly climbed up the city wall and captured this important stronghold north of the Yellow River without a single fight, controlling the southern part of Weizhou.

Another actor named Zhou Za was also loved by Li Cunxu. During the Battle of Huliupi, Zhou Za was captured by the Later Liang Dynasty. Li Cunxu thought about him day and night and never forgot him. When they conquered Bianzhou, Zhou Za suddenly appeared in front of Li Cunxu's horse, knelt down, and cried about his longing for His Majesty. Li Cunxu was surprised and happy, "My dear, how are you still alive?"

Zhou Zha shed two lines of tears, "I almost never saw you again! The reason I was able to survive was thanks to the protection of Chen Jun, the head of the Royal Song and Dance Troupe (Jiaofangshi) of the Later Liang Dynasty, and Chu Deyuan, the head of the Royal Garden Bureau (Neiyuan Planting and Grafting Shi). I would like to ask Your Majesty for the positions of two provincial governors as a reward for the two benefactors!"

Li Cunxu immediately made the decision, "They are just two provincial governors, why are you being so polite?"

Guo Chongtao reminded: "There are still many soldiers who have followed your majesty through life and death who have not received rewards. Now that your majesty has just entered Bianzhou, you are eager to reward two actors as governors. I am afraid that this will make the soldiers feel disappointed."

Li Cunxu then retracted his order and said, "Wait a moment and stay out of the spotlight."

However, Zhou Za and the actors kept urging Li Cunxu to fulfill his promise. Finally, half a year later, in May of the second year of Tongguang (924), Chen Jun was appointed as the governor of Jingzhou and Chu Deyuan as the governor of Xianzhou.

Li Cunxu said to Guo Chongtao, "I am the emperor, my words are golden and my words are as good as gold. How can I go back on my word? In the past six months, I have been too embarrassed to see Zhou Za and the others. Your opinions are also very pertinent, but... special matters should be handled in a special way. Don't get stuck in a dead end. Learn to adapt."

After the letter of commission was issued, all the soldiers sighed with resentment.

In comparison, Yang Poer and Zhou Za were only second-rate actors. In the era of Li Cunxu, the real top star was an actor named Jing Jin.

Jing Jin appeared many times in the previous article, although he was only mentioned briefly, they were all related to one key word: bribery.

When it comes to taking money from people and helping them get rid of disasters, there are two big guys who bravely shoulder the heavy responsibility and occupy an absolute market share. One is Xiao Liu and the other is Jing Jin.

The reason why Jing Jin gained Li Cunxu's trust was that he was not only an old artist with both moral integrity and artistic excellence, but he also had another secret identity - the chief of spies.

As the ruler of a country, Li Cunxu also hoped that the country would be peaceful and the people would live and work in peace. He also hoped to get to know the people and understand their difficulties. However, "secret visits" usually only appear in novels. In real history, the main way for the emperor to understand the people's sentiments was through gossip from various channels.

Jing Jin was responsible for spying on the people's sentiments. He often went in and out of the people and reported everything he saw and heard to Li Cunxu in detail, acting as Li Cunxu's eyes and ears.

However, Jing Jin had his own filter and only said things that the emperor liked to hear, and the visit became gossip.

Due to the special nature of intelligence work, Jing Jin had to dismiss others whenever he reported on his work, so he had many opportunities to meet Li Cunxu alone, and the time they spent alone together was much longer than that of the prime minister of the empire. Jing Jin also often used this time to sow discord, offer slander, and interfere in the government by directly lobbying Li Cunxu.

In addition, Jing Jin was particularly good at guessing Li Cunxu's inner thoughts, helping Li Cunxu say some things that were inconvenient to say and do some things that were inconvenient to do, so he was the most favored.

Li Cunxu was particularly fond of food and sex, but it was not convenient to speak publicly about such dirty thoughts. So Jing Jin and the eunuchs staged a good show.

The eunuchs told Li Cunxu that the palace was often haunted at night, which was very scary. Li Cunxu planned to ask a master to perform a ritual. The eunuchs waved their hands and said, "In the past, when we served Emperor Yizong and Emperor Xizong, there were more than 10,000 concubines and maids in the palace. Look, now most of the houses in the palace are empty, so the demons and evil spirits dare to roam around."

"Oh——" Li Cunxu understood, it was a good intention! Well, then he could only select beauties from the people to enrich his harem.

Eunuch Wang Yunping and actor Jing Jin were appointed as supervisors and went to Taiyuan, Youzhou, Zhenzhou and other places for the audition. The emperor selected palace maids with financial allocations, after all, it was "selection", not "robbery". However, Jing Jin and others pocketed the money, and used the emperor's orders to blackmail the locals, and really "robbed" 3,000 women. Ox carts carrying women to Beijing were endless.

Zhang Xian, the governor of Tokyo (Weizhou), later reported to the court that more than a thousand wives and daughters of soldiers were missing. Were they mistakenly sent to the palace?
Zhang Xian gave Li Cunxu enough face and a way out, saying that it might be a mistake made by the talent show working group and that they brought in the wrong person. But who in the world didn't know that he was abducted by the actor Jing Jin and others?

Please pay attention to this matter, key words: Weizhou, soldiers.

Before, he robbed someone's money, and now he robbed someone's wife and daughter. Li Cunxu, you wait.

(End of this chapter)