History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 312 More Than Ten Ministers
【More than ten ministers】

With Zhang Ge's fall, Yu Chuansu rose again and was appointed prime minister again. However, after this round of reshuffle, the prime minister of Former Shu had become a mere figurehead, and the real power in the empire was held by Wang Zongbi and the eunuch Song Guangsi.

Wang Zongyan never asked about state affairs and was happy to hand over the real power of the country to Wang Zongbi and Song Guangsi. As a result, "the country declined" just two months after he ascended the throne.

Faced with the fact that the "adopted sons' gang" held a large number of troops, Wang Zongyan did not care at all, and even preferred to "the prince himself command the troops", and was very happy to let his brothers hold military power.

Among all the princes, only Prince Peng Wang Zongding (Wang Jian's biological son) kept a clear head. He remembered the "Sixteen Houses Massacre" and the "Nine-Bend Pool Massacre" vividly. He said to his brothers: "Princes in charge of troops have always been the root cause of disasters and troubles. Now, the emperor is young and ignorant, and his ministers are powerful. It is inevitable that there will be discord and mutual harm. We, as princes, should not hold military power and bring suspicion upon ourselves." Afterwards, he took the initiative to hand over military power and all power, and spent every day reading books, planting flowers, and cultivating his sentiments.

Wang Zongyan did not understand his father's good intentions in using eunuchs. He only knew the surface but not the inside. Two months after he ascended the throne, the power of the eunuchs became unprecedentedly powerful. In addition to Song Guangsi, eunuchs such as Wang Tingshao, Ouyang Huang, Li Zhoulu, Song Guangbao (Song Guangsi's cousin), Song Chengyun, and Tian Luchou all served as generals of the imperial guards, holding military power and interfering in state affairs.

Without exception, these eunuchs were arrogant, greedy and violent, becoming a chronic disease within the Former Shu court.

In order to further enhance the social status of eunuchs, Wang Zongyan ordered the erection of statues of Tang Dynasty eunuch Gao Lishi and others in the Daci Temple in his memory. The person in charge of the statues was Song Yi, a famous artist from Shu. He was best at portrait painting and had been ordered to paint the portraits of emperors of successive Tang Dynasty dynasties.

After Wang Jian conquered Fengxiang in the north and pacified Nanzhao in the south, he built the Futian Pavilion to paint portraits of meritorious officials. In the Former Shu Dynasty, the honor of "Painting Portraits in the Futian Pavilion" was equivalent to the "Painting Portraits in the Lingyan Pavilion" in the Tang Dynasty. Wang Jian painted portraits of meritorious officials, while Wang Zongyan made portraits of powerful eunuchs. The difference is obvious.

Facing the rise of eunuchs, Zhou Xiang, a senior strategist (who first planned for Wang Jian to establish a separatist regime in Shu and helped Wang Jian break away from Yang Shouliang, capture the revolutionary base of Langzhou, and enter Xichuan), earnestly advised Wang Zongyan not to indulge eunuchs and to learn from the previous experience of the demise of the Tang Dynasty. But Wang Zongyan turned a deaf ear to this.

With the rise of eunuchs and the strong intervention of "foreign officials" (Wang Zongbi), Wang Jian's painstaking "civilian route" completely failed. Civil officials either kept silent or turned to eunuchs, which was surprisingly similar to the situation at the end of Emperor Zhaozong's reign. History will not repeat itself, but historical laws will repeat themselves.

In order to get along peacefully with Wang Zongbi and share the cake, Song Guangsi took the initiative to transfer the post of "judge of the six armies and various guards" to Wang Zongbi. From then on, the two major political groups were in collusion.

In Lin Han's "Ten Ministers in the State", he named and pointed out the ten most criticized treacherous ministers at that time. These ten people are just the tip of the iceberg. We will now select some typical examples, some of which have been reflected in "Ten Ministers in the State", and some of which can be used as supplements:
1. Wang Chengxiu, a eunuch, gained the favor of Wang Zongyan by his treacherousness and used the "honey trap" to deceive the post of Qinzhou Tianxiong Jiedushi, creating a precedent for eunuchs to serve as Jiedushi. He selected brave and skilled elite soldiers from the army and organized them into the Left and Right Longwu Armies as his own private armed forces. "All the old generals were indignant and ashamed."

2. Song Guangsi, a eunuch, "smart and calculating", initially served Princess Puci, followed her to marry Li Jicong, and then followed the princess back to Chengdu. When Wang Jian was dying, he wanted to use non-loyal officials to suppress the direct line of Xuzhou, "he tried to choose someone but failed, so he appointed Guangsi as the Privy Councilor". Wang Jian did not find a suitable candidate, so he had no choice but to promote Song Guangsi.

3. Wang Zongbi, the adopted son of Wang Jian, the leader of the "adopted son gang", and his achievements were remarkable. After Wang Jian's death, the powerful Wang Zongbi embezzled bribes and abused his power for personal gain, causing resentment from both the upper and lower levels.

4. Han Zhao, "a flatterer by nature, good at reading people's minds", when Wang Zongyan was "touring the north", Han Zhao requested to sell the posts of governors of Tong, Qu, Ba, Ji and other states to finance the northern tour, and Wang Zongyan approved. Afterwards, he colluded with Wang Chengxiu and An Zhongba to encourage Wang Zongyan to visit Qinzhou, and also issued death threats to Pu Yuqing who advised him against it.

Han Zhao was favored by the emperor and became the Minister of Rites and the Prefect of Chengdu. He was not very talented and learned, but he was able to enter the Hanlin Academy, become the Grand Secretary of Wensi Hall, and the Hanlin Imperial Secretary. He was a semi-illiterate person responsible for drafting edicts for the emperor. Obviously, like Gu Zaixun, he needed the help of Lin Han and other ghostwriters to get the title of Hanlin Bachelor to satisfy his vanity.

Han Zhao had two nicknames, "Folding Socks Thread" and "Monk's Shaved Hair", which meant that his knowledge was "not an inch deep".

In October of the first year of the Tongguang reign (923), Han Zhao was appointed as the Minister of Personnel to the Sanquan, responsible for selecting officials at all levels and assessing their performance. As expected, Han Zhao accepted bribes and bent the law for personal gain. His actions were so big and his behavior was so ugly that it triggered a collective petition.

These petitioners were all civil servants with culture, knowledge and integrity, so they wrote a poem to satirize Han Zhao:
"Jiamei Qiongshu, the minister's flesh and blood;
Lead Jiang Qingcheng, the minister's affection;
Guo and Lang prefectures, the assistant ministers retained them for themselves;
Ba Peng Ji Bi, the assistant minister does not hesitate. "The first half of the sentence is a place name, and the second half is a sarcastic remark to Han Zhao, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel, pointing out that the country's political resources were squandered by him.

This incident shocked the court, and Wang Zongyan also felt that Han Zhao had gone a little too far, so he summoned Han Zhao to the palace for tea. Han Zhao said shamelessly and righteously: "These people who used backdoors and connections are all relatives and friends of the Queen Mother, the Concubine Dowager, and the King's uncle. None of them are my relatives!"

As a result, Wang Zongyan remained silent and had nothing to say, and the matter ended there.

5. Ouyang Huang, a eunuch, was dissatisfied with the size of his house, so he deliberately set fire to the military camp where he lived and hundreds of houses nearby at night. The next day, he ordered craftsmen to rebuild his house on the ruins, thus forcibly occupying hundreds of houses of the people. Wang Zongyan turned a blind eye to this and did nothing about it.

6. Xu Yanqiong and Xu Yangui were brothers of Concubine Xu and Concubine Xiao and Concubine Xiao, and uncles of Wang Zongyan. When Wang Jian was dying, he warned the Xu brothers not to command the army. However, after Wang Jian's death, Xu Yanqiong took over the post of commander of the cavalry and infantry in the capital, replacing Wang Zongbi and taking control of the military power in the capital. He "abused his power and relied on his position", which made the generals feel unfair.

Xu Yanqiong chose the best location in the capital, built a luxurious villa, and bought many exotic flowers and plants. He especially loved the Tang Dynasty's national flower, the peony. However, Chengdu did not produce peonies. He heard that there was a peony in the monastery of Dongcheng Village in Qinzhou, so he spent a lot of money to buy it, transported it for 3,000 miles, transplanted it to his courtyard, and then invited the royal family to come to his house to admire it and show off.

After Wang Zongyan arrived, out of jealousy or disdain, he joked with his uncle and wrote the word "Meng" on the wall of his uncle's house. In Shu, "Meng" means "bad", and if it happened today, it should be written as "spicy chicken".

Xu Yanqiong was very good at flattery. Instead of getting angry, he ordered people to frame the word "Meng" with bright red silk to show his favor. "This is the handwriting of the current emperor!" It was exactly the same as the handprint of Li Cunxu embroidered by Gao Jichang.

Coincidentally, after the fall of the Former Shu, it was Meng Zhixiang who founded the Later Shu. When Meng Zhixiang first came to Chengdu, he lived in Xu Yanqiong's villa. People say that the word "Meng" on the wall is a mysterious sign.

7. Pan Zaiying, son of Prime Minister Pan Kang. He first clung to the eunuch Tang Wenjian, and when Tang Wenjian was plotting a coup, he leaked the secret to Wang Zongbi. Later, he clung to Wang Zongyan together with Han Zhao and Gu Zaixun. He often accompanied Wang Zongyan on banquets and was good at sung obscene lyrics and songs. He instigated Wang Zongyan to indulge in debauchery and often advised Wang Zongyan to kill those who advised him, because these people were too annoying and always disturbed the emperor's interest.

8. Xiao Huaiwu was originally just a security captain (a small courtyard envoy, a military patrol officer), and later became the chief of Wang Zongyan's secret service intelligence. He formed a secret service organization of thousands of people, called the "Xunshi Group", which was dedicated to gathering all kinds of intelligence and taking the opportunity to extort money and frame others. As a result, Xiao Huaiwu became very rich, and his luxurious residence and concubines were second to none at the time.

In order to establish his authority, Xiao Huaiwu killed innocent people indiscriminately, and people were all afraid of him. Once, a sorcerer who sold fake medicine came to Chengdu. Xiao Huaiwu wanted to learn his private secret recipe, but the sorcerer refused to give it to him, so Xiao Huaiwu ordered him to be beaten to death.

9. Zhang Ge, flattering superiors and bullying subordinates, narrow-minded. On the eve of the fall of Former Shu, he was reappointed as prime minister, and the first thing he did after reappointing was to beat Wang Lurou, a clerk, to death, just because Wang Lurou was rude to him during his exile. Xu Ji, who was demoted with Zhang Ge, said to others in private: "Mr. Zhang is talented but ignorant. If he kills Lurou, who will dare to protect himself? This is the beginning of disaster."

Just as it is said at the end of "Ten Ministers Present", if all the civil and military officials in the court are like this, why should we worry about the unrest in the country?

Wang Zongyan, just wait and see.

In April of the second year of Tongguang (924), Former Shu welcomed a very important guest - Li Yan, a special envoy of Later Tang. The arrival of this person started the countdown to the demise of Former Shu.

(End of this chapter)