History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 327 Guo Chongtao's Death 6 Self-rescue
[Death of Guo Chongtao 6 Self-rescue]

A tall tree attracts the wind. Holding greater power and possessing more resources will inevitably arouse jealousy and robbing. It is difficult for those in high positions to avoid becoming the target of public criticism. Moreover, as mentioned above, Guo Chongtao's way of dealing with people is not smooth and sophisticated, and he has made countless enemies.

Guo Chongtao also felt deeply uneasy facing the eunuchs and actors' slander and frame-up all day long.

Guo Chongtao was once full of ambition and wanted to confront the eunuchs head-on. But he forgot one thing: since ancient times, all civil officials who confronted eunuchs almost never had a good ending, because the referee (the emperor) was biased towards the eunuchs, and this was an unfair competition.

After several battles, Guo Chongtao woke up in time and saw through the rules of the game: the eunuchs were puppets and tools of the emperor, and the eunuchs' arrogance and domineering behavior came from the emperor's tacit approval and connivance. The emperor wanted to use the eunuchs to help him do some dirty things, such as purging civil servants... To confront the eunuchs head-on was to confront Li Cunxu head-on.

Therefore, Guo Chongtao immediately changed his thinking from confrontation to winning over the eunuchs, showing weakness and goodwill to them.

Guo Chongtao repeatedly petitioned to reduce his power and distribute it among the eunuchs. This was tantamount to bribing the eunuch group. However, it had little effect. The eunuchs did not appreciate it and continued to launch ruthless attacks on him.

Guo Chongtao was really scared, so he consulted with his confidants and suggested that he simply quit all his central government positions and go to the local area to be a military governor and live out his retirement years.

At that time, Guo Chongtao held a high position, and was a general and a prime minister. In the central government, he was the Privy Councilor and the Minister of the Interior, and he actually did the work of the prime minister without a name; in the local government, he was the Jiedushi of Chengde Army in Zhenzhou. The real power in his hands was almost comparable to that of Li Cunxu, and he was feared by the court and the public.

His confidants cried out that this was unacceptable, saying that a tiger in dire straits is bullied by dogs. Once you leave the central government, you will inevitably be hunted down and blocked by the eunuchs, and they will take advantage of you. By then, you will not even have the power to resist and can only be slaughtered.

After discussion and deliberation, the staff thought that Guo Chongtao had just made an unprecedented contribution to the empire and was very busy with work. The central court really could not do without Guo Chongtao for the time being, and the emperor had not yet suspected him, so it was appropriate for him to submit a letter of resignation at this time. The emperor would certainly not approve it. In this way, you can play hard to get and not only keep your official position, but also earn a reputation of resignation to stop the slander of treacherous people.

Guo Chongtao agreed with this, so he submitted three memorials, firmly requesting to resign from the post of Privy Councilor. As expected, Li Cunxu "refused to obey his request". Next, Guo Chongtao used his second trick.

At that time, Li Cunxu wanted to reverse the order of legitimate and illegitimate children and enthrone Xiao Liu as the empress, but was unanimously resisted by the whole court. There was also an incident where Li Cunxu cosplayed as Liu Sou and led Li Jiji to play tricks on Xiao Liu, and Xiao Liu beat Li Jiji in anger. The daughter-in-law beating her grandson pissed off the grandmother, Empress Dowager Cao. The emperor's family was just like the common people's. Empress Dowager Cao hated Xiao Liu even more and clearly opposed Li Cunxu's decision to make her the empress. Li Cunxu faced unprecedented resistance.

Therefore, Guo Chongtao followed the advice of his confidants and made a 180-degree turn in his attitude on the issue of enthroning the queen, from his previous firm opposition to firm support. He took the initiative to use his political power to force the puppet prime minister and civil and military officials to jointly submit a petition, requesting the emperor to enthrone little Liu as the queen as soon as possible and preside over the main palace.

Guo Chongtao's intention was very clear. He wanted to please Li Cunxu and Xiao Liu. With the support of the emperor and the empress, he had nothing to fear from the eunuchs and actors.

Guo Chongtao is very silly and naive. He has been engaged in political maneuvers all his life, but he has ignored the basic principle of the political game: don't talk about feelings, everything is guided by interests.

Xiao Liu will not be grateful to you unless she can benefit from it. If killing you is good for her, she will wield the butcher knife without hesitation.

Without Guo Chongtao's help, Xiao Liu would never have become the queen, and it was Xiao Liu who gave the order to kill Guo Chongtao.

In short, at that time, Guo Chongtao did gain Li Cunxu's favor. Guo Chongtao took advantage of the situation and used the third trick, "Replaying 25 Points on the Pros and Cons of Current Affairs", carefully analyzing the current situation and giving reasonable suggestions, pointing out the right path for the country's next development.

Li Cunxu was very pleased and thought that Guo Chongtao was a rare loyal and wise minister. Even when he requested to enthrone Xiao Liu as the queen, he was definitely thinking about the prosperity and stability of the country and the long-term peace of the empire, and there was no way he had any personal gain mixed in.

Since he could not resign from the central government, he had to resign from the local government. So in 925, when the Khitan invaded the south, Guo Chongtao took the opportunity to firmly resign from the post of Jiedushi.

At that time, Li Cunxu planned to let Li Siyuan and Guo Chongtao exchange positions, letting Li Siyuan go to Zhenzhou to resist the Khitan, and letting Guo Chongtao go to Bianzhou.

Guo Chongtao killed two birds with one stone. He praised Li Siyuan as a rare general and said that he was the best candidate to resist the Khitan. He must stay in Hebei and not return to the central government. At the same time, he firmly resigned from the post of governor, saying that he was a general and a prime minister, and his status was extremely high. He enjoyed wealth and glory that he could not even dream of. This was enough for his life. Since he was already in charge of the Privy Council, he would never dare to covet the post of governor again. Moreover, he was in the capital and could only lead the governor remotely. He could not fulfill the relevant obligations and would delay the development of the local area...

Li Cunxu was very moved and said, "I know you are loyal to the empire and never seek personal gain but only benefit others...but your contribution is too great. If we hadn't followed your advice, how could we have destroyed the Later Liang Dynasty? Don't refuse a mere Jiedushi."

He declined three times and begged to stay three times.

But Guo Chongtao was firm in his attitude. Li Cunxu was at a loss and asked him if it was too little. "Then what do you want? Tell me, and I will satisfy you!"

"I only want your Majesty to have his kingdom last forever, and pass it down through the generations!"

Li Cunxu was so moved that he finally resigned from his post at Guo Chongtao's repeated request.

In addition, when he led the army to attack Shu, Guo Chongtao returned a favor and deepened his friendship with a nobleman.

This noble man was Meng Zhixiang. It was because Meng Zhixiang resigned for fear of disaster that he recommended Guo Chongtao to the organization, which opened Guo Chongtao's highlight moment. Now, Guo Chongtao is in his prime. When he was ordered to attack Shu, he solemnly recommended Comrade Meng Zhixiang to Li Cunxu, and recommended Meng Zhixiang as the governor of Xichuan (it was just a pre-sale, the army attacking Shu had not left Luoyang yet), and also recommended the candidates for prime minister - Zhang Xian, Li Qi, and Cui Jujian.

He resigned from the position of local governor, reducing the power in his hands that was envied and hated; he blocked the rumors of the eunuch group; he flattered the Queen's forces; he flattered the Emperor; he consolidated his political allies... Guo Chongtao thought he was out of danger.

That's it?

Guo Chongtao was still a little naive. He overestimated his popularity and underestimated the shamelessness and meanness of the eunuchs. The eunuchs said that Guo Chongtao must not be allowed to leave Shu alive.

(End of this chapter)