History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 326 Guo Chongtao's Death 5 Making Too Many Enemies
[Death of Guo Chongtao 5: Making Too Many Enemies]

As analyzed in the previous article, the reason why Li Cunxu favored eunuchs was to use them to suppress the old veterans and consolidate the imperial power. It can be said that the "eunuch line" was Li Cunxu's ulterior basic national policy. Guo Chongtao became an enemy of the eunuchs in order to fight for power and excluded each other. From a strategic perspective, Guo Chongtao was doomed to die. He was moving against the trend.

In order to fight for power, Guo Chongtao not only offended the eunuchs, but also the actors.

For example, after Li Cunxu entered Bianzhou, the actor Zhou Za was found again. Zhou Za asked Li Cunxu to give two provincial governors to the actors Chen Jun and Chu Deyuan in return. Li Cunxu agreed immediately. Guo Chongtao tried to persuade him, but it was not until more than half a year later that Li Cunxu fulfilled his promise and gave the two actors provincial governors.

After this incident, the actors were also gnashing their teeth at Guo Chongtao.

Objectively speaking, Guo Chongtao's offense to actors is different from his offense to eunuchs. Offending eunuchs is basically a conflict of interest, fighting for power and profit, while offending actors is out of conscience and moral constraints. It cannot be regarded as Guo Chongtao's flaw.

But no matter what Guo Chongtao's purpose was, the result was the same, that is, he deeply offended the forces of actors favored by Li Cunxu.

In addition to the two forces that Li Cunxu favored the most - eunuchs and actors, Guo Chongtao also offended the entire civil service group.

The first step is to exclude competitors who pose a potential threat to oneself.

For example, when attacking Bianzhou, Privy Councilor Guo Chongtao came with the army, and Prime Minister Douluge and others were staying in Weizhou, so Li Cunxu asked Guo Chongtao to temporarily serve as prime minister.

About half a month later, Prime Minister Dou Luge came to Bianzhou from Weizhou. During this half month, Guo Chongtao's "Prime Minister" status had been fully recognized, and all work was carried out in an orderly manner under Guo Chongtao's leadership. Dou Luge was new to the place and had no idea what was going on. He could only be a decoration and was only responsible for signing. Guo Chongtao was still responsible for all the "Prime Minister" work.

As mentioned above, Prime Ministers Dou Luge and Lu Ruobi were incompetent political vases. Although they were prime ministers, they were very weak. In front of the powerful Guo Chongtao, the "prime minister" was in name only, and the real power was held by Guo Chongtao alone.

For example, after overthrowing the Later Liang Dynasty, some people said that although Guo Chongtao had worked hard and made great contributions, he was of humble origin and did not know how the central court worked. They suggested that Li Cunxu employ officials who had worked in the central court during the Tang Dynasty. This would allow them to serve as political vases and solve practical problems.

So someone recommended Xue Yangui, the left chancellor of the Tang Dynasty, and Li Qi, the prince's guardian, to Li Cunxu.

Guo Chongtao was greatly alarmed, so he criticized Xue Yangui for being superficial, having a false reputation, and being flashy without substance, and accused Li Qi of being narrow-minded, insidious and cunning... Then, Guo Chongtao gave his favorite candidate: Zhao Guangyin, the younger brother of Zhao Guangfeng, one of the "Six Ministers Carrying the Coffin". Prime Minister Dou Luge also recommended Wei Shuo, the son of Wei Xiu.

Wei Shuo was introverted, low-key and cautious; while Zhao Guangyin, who was recommended by Guo Chongtao himself, was frivolous and liked to show off. History did not give a high evaluation of these two people. To put it mildly, they were unworthy of their positions, occupied positions without doing anything...

These two people, like Prime Minister Douluge, were very weak. Guo Chongtao bossed them around, and they could only obey and let Guo Chongtao govern the country.

In the final analysis, the removal of the prime minister only offended a handful of people. What really made Guo Chongtao offend the entire civil service group was the large-scale layoffs and salary cuts.

Li Cunxu intended to cut spending on government services due to the serious fiscal deficit. The most immediate way to achieve this was, of course, to lay off a large number of employees, under the pretext of eliminating redundant officials and staff. This difficult task was given to Guo Chongtao.

There is no doubt that this is an offensive job. After a series of drastic layoffs, demotions, and salary cuts, all the civil and military officials in the court looked askance at Guo Chongtao. During this period, Dou Luge and Wei Shuo once privately said to Guo Chongtao: "Guo Ziyi's ancestral home is from Daibei, and later moved to Huayin. Your family has lived in Yanmen for generations. Are you a descendant of Guo Ziyi?"

In fact, this is Dou Luge and Wei Shuo's sincere attempt to disgust Guo Chongtao. At first it sounds like flattery, but in reality it is insulting him without using any dirty words.

Because Guo Chongtao was born in a humble family, he was not from a prominent family at all, and he had no relationship with Guo Ziyi. At that time, Daibei and Yanmen were the northern border of the empire, bordering the northern barbarians, which was equivalent to a remote mountainous area. Dou Luge and Wei Shuo, who were descendants of real famous families, sincerely used their ancestral home and family background to humiliate Guo Chongtao. What they really wanted to express was: You are a country bumpkin from a remote and poor village!
Guo Chongtao was stunned by what he heard at first sight, and actually followed the lead and said seriously, "Hey - if you hadn't told me, I would have almost forgotten. I heard from my father that our family is indeed somewhat related to Guo Ziyi, and he is only four generations away from Guo Ziyi."

"Oh..." Dou Luge and Wei Shuo just wanted to play monkeys to the end, pretending to be surprised and delighted, "So, you are Guo Ziyi's grandson?"

"Great-grandson...great-great-grandson?"

"Yes, yes, grandson's grandson!"

"This person needs to be introduced solemnly. He is the grandson of Guo Ziyi's grandson. This grandson..."

Dou Luge and Wei Shuo praised and teased people without using any dirty words. This story was later used as a reference by the crosstalk performer Xiao Yueyue.

Guo Chongtao not only failed to realize that the two were joking sincerely, but from then on he really regarded himself as "the descendant of Guo Ziyi" and ridiculed others for their family background. When he passed by Xingping during the expedition to Shu, he even paid homage to Guo Ziyi's tomb.

During this round of layoffs, Guo Chongtao dismissed and demoted some officials with outstanding political achievements, on the grounds that they were from humble backgrounds. Guo Chongtao talked to them and said to them bluntly: "I know you are capable and have made great political achievements, but just because you are from humble backgrounds, I dare not appoint you casually, so as not to be laughed at by the upper class!"

Those who are retained or promoted are basically the so-called "descendants of famous families". They often have empty reputations but no real talents or knowledge.

Guo Chongtao wants to build a celebrity system based on family background to protect the vested interest group represented by him. This move is both stupid and ridiculous, and goes against the trend.

It is not difficult to offend one person, but it is difficult to offend almost everyone. Guo Chongtao did it.

Guo Chongtao offended the meritorious veterans whom Li Cunxu feared, such as Li Cunshen and Li Siyuan;
Guo Chongtao also offended the eunuchs and actors favored by Li Cunxu;
The civil servant group that Guo Chongtao himself represented and on which he depended for survival was also offended by him...

The strongest backlash came, of course, from the more powerful eunuchs and actors, who often slandered Guo Chongtao in front of Li Cunxu.

Guo Chongtao also realized the approaching danger and made some efforts to save himself.

(End of this chapter)