History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 296: Rabbit Half Dead, Dog Half Cooked

[The rabbit is half dead, the dog is half cooked]

During the process of starting his business, Li Cunxu went deep into the masses, worked side by side with ordinary soldiers, ate and lived with them, braved arrows and stones, and won the morale of the soldiers.

Li Cunxu often entertained his generals and invited friends to eat with him. They fought in the same trench and ate from the same pot.

One day in July of the fifth year of Zhenming (919), Guo Chongtao advised Li Cunxu to reduce the number of banquet attendees in order to reduce expenses.

Li Cunxu was furious and said, "These people are all brave warriors who have risked their lives for me. Don't I even have the right to set up a banquet? Well, I quit. You can choose another person from the three armies to be the commander-in-chief."

Then he ordered his chief secretary to draft a notice to inform the entire army: The president has resigned, you can do whatever you want.

This secretary was the famous "untouchable prime minister" in Chinese history - Feng Dao.

Feng Dao was reluctant to write, and Li Cunxu repeatedly urged him. Feng Dao risked his life to persuade him, saying: "Your Majesty is about to pacify Henan and seize the world. Guo Chongtao's suggestion is not a serious mistake. Your Majesty can just ignore it, but why alarm the whole army? If the enemy knows that there is a disagreement between us and the commander, and the master and the servant are alienated, it will be bad for your reputation."

At this time, Guo Chongtao also came in from outside and solemnly apologized to Li Cunxu. Feng Dao mediated and Li Cunxu calmed down his anger and stopped being petty.

In order to have dinner with the generals, he lost his temper and threatened to resign. This is the domineering side of Li Cunxu. But does he really trust these generals?

A: Never.

Objectively speaking, since Li Cunxu came to power, he has never really trusted his generals, such as Zhou Dewei. It was just that at that time he urgently needed to establish prestige in the army and also needed to rely on these generals to help him conquer the world.

After the three towns of Heshuo, Liu Shouguang of Youzhou, and Zhu Youzhen of Later Liang were all defeated, Li Cunxu had nothing to worry about anymore, and his practice of putting away the bow after the birds were all killed and cooking the dog after the rabbit was dead gradually surfaced, without any need to hide it.

During the Jiahe confrontation, there was a Hedong general who frequently appeared in the TV series, Li Jianji. His original name was Wang Jianji, and he was originally a subordinate of Li Hanzhi. After Li Hanzhi defected to Li Keyong, according to the rules, he had to select 500 warriors to present to Li Keyong, and Wang Jianji was among them. Later, because of his extraordinary bravery, he was adopted by Li Keyong and changed his name to Li Jianji.

When Li Cunxu took over the Wei Bo army, Wei Bo's elite "Silver Spear Xiejiedu" was handed over to Li Jianji for command.

In the Battle of Baixiang, he led 200 men to defend the bridgehead, resisting tens of thousands of troops of the Later Liang, helping Zhou Dewei to break the siege; in the Battle of Huliupi, he defeated the larger force with a smaller one, disrupted the Later Liang's formation, and finally turned the defeat into victory and reversed the situation; in the Battle of Deshengjiacheng, he led the warriors to break through the mobile fortress set up by the Later Liang on the river, and reversed the situation again. When the Khitan went south, Li Jianji also participated in the "Defense of Youzhou".

It can be said that during the confrontation at Jiahe, Li Jianji, with his bravery and fearlessness, turned the tide and made great contributions to the Hedong Army.

Li Cunxu was always suspicious of his sworn brother. When he let him lead the "Silver Spear Xiejie Capital", he sent the eunuch Wei Lingtu as the military supervisor to monitor Li Jianji's every move and report his every word and deed.

Li Jianji was not only brave in battle, but also good at comforting people. Whenever he received a reward, he would distribute it all to his subordinates, and he would not take a penny. Therefore, his subordinates were willing to die for him. Wei Lingtu used this as an attack point and secretly reported to Li Cunxu, saying that Li Jianji distributed his family wealth to reward soldiers, which won the hearts of the army, and his ambition was not small! It implied that Li Jianji had the intention of rebellion.

Therefore, Li Cunxu stripped Li Jianji of his military power and sent him to Daizhou as a governor. Li Jianji was upright and strong-willed. He knew he was framed but was unwilling to defend himself. Finally, a few months later, he died in Daizhou in a state of rage.

Li Cunxu's other sworn brother who had made great military achievements, Li Siyuan, could not escape suspicion because of the "crossing the Yellow River to the north" incident during the Battle of Huliupi.

In the second year of Tongguang (924), Li Siyuan was ordered to go north from Bianzhou to resist the Khitan. At that time, the armory in Weizhou had a batch of exquisite armor for the royal family. Li Siyuan used a formal official letter and legal procedures to ask the deputy governor Zhang Xian for sets of armor.

Zhang Xian believed that the war had already started. If the process was strictly followed, it would need to be reported layer by layer, from Weizhou to Luoyang, and then wait for Luoyang's instructions to be transmitted back to Weizhou. The procedures were complicated and the journey was long, and it would take too much time to go back and forth. Therefore, Comrade Zhang Xian made special arrangements and directly handed over 500 sets of armor to Li Siyuan, and then went through the process again.

Zhang Xian thought that Li Cunxu would praise him for his quick response, but he was furious. "What is your intention for giving my armor to Li Siyuan without my order?" He ordered Zhang Xian to be fined one month's salary and to go to the front line to ask Li Siyuan to return the armor.

If you were Li Siyuan, how would you feel at this moment?

Li Siyuan was the military governor of Xuanwu Army in Bianzhou at that time. Bianzhou was the center of the Central Plains, the capital of the previous dynasty, and close to the imperial capital of Luoyang. How could I allow others to sleep soundly beside my bed? In February of the third year of Tongguang (925), after Li Siyuan defeated the Khitan army, Li Cunxu moved Li Siyuan from Bianzhou to Zhenzhou.

Li Siyuan's family all lived in Taiyuan, so in March of the third year of Tongguang (925), he submitted a petition to the court, requesting that his adopted son Li Congke be transferred from Weizhou to Taiyuan to take care of his family.

Li Cunxu was furious. "Who has the final say in the world? Li Siyuan has a large army and is in an important city. How dare he give me orders? Do you want to rebel?" You think Weizhou is too far from Taiyuan? Okay, I order: demote Li Congke to the captain of the assault team, lead hundreds of people, and garrison Shimen! Go!

Li Siyuan was so frightened that he wrote memorials to explain, apologize and admit his mistakes. He then took the initiative to request to go to Beijing to report on his work and went to the court alone, showing that he had no ulterior motives.

Not only Li Cunxu was suspicious of Li Siyuan, but even Guo Chongtao was suspicious of him. Guo Chongtao privately told his confidants that Li Siyuan's achievements were too great to be tolerated by the emperor, and that he was not someone who could stay under someone else's rule for long. I don't think any of the princes could compete with him.

After receiving the news that Li Siyuan requested to enter the court, Guo Chongtao secretly reported to Li Cunxu, suggesting that they take this opportunity to execute Li Siyuan to eliminate future troubles.

Li Cunxu regained some of his sanity. Li Siyuan was the first to conquer Bianzhou, and Li Siyuan played an indispensable role in repelling the Khitan. Now, the rebellion is still unclear, and he keeps proving his innocence to the court and actively asks to come to Beijing to meet the emperor. If he dies at the Hongmen Banquet, wouldn't it make all the generals fearful? Zhu Wen killed Wang Zhongshi, and Zhu Youzhen killed Xie Yanzhang. I, Li Cunxu, cannot repeat this mistake.

Therefore, Li Cunxu rejected Li Siyuan's application to report to the capital. "I don't doubt you. We are brothers. You don't need to come."

Later, in the war to pacify Former Shu, Crown Prince Li Jiji led the army. Li Cunxu's purpose was very clear, to train a successor, let Li Jiji gain experience and connections in the army, and cultivate his own military strength to avoid a repeat of the difficult predicament when he succeeded to the throne in the future. Li Siyuan was unable to participate in the whole process.

At the end of the year, Li Siyuan came to Beijing to meet the emperor. Li Cunxu secretly ordered his confidant Zhu Shouyin to keep a close watch on Li Siyuan.

(End of this chapter)