History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 334 The Great Famine

The Great Famine

From the aspect of Li Cunxu's appointment of prime ministers, it can be clearly seen that he took care of the "Heshuo Gang", which has been explained in detail in the previous article. In other words, Li Cunxu attached great importance to the power of Wei Bo, Zhenzhou, and Dingzhou. Everything has two sides, and those who can be used by me will inevitably threaten me at the same time. Li Cunxu attached great importance to the "Heshuo Gang" and was also very wary of it, just like treating a great general who was too powerful to be a threat to the emperor.

Not long ago, the Khitan invaded the south and Li Cunxu adopted a strategy of killing two birds with one stone, and mobilized the troops in the Heshuo area to station at the border to defend against the Khitan. In this way, he could protect the territory and weaken the power of Heshuo.

Although he attached great importance to it strategically, Li Cunxu's management of the Heshuo region was very poor, just like his management of the entire country.

For example, he relied heavily on Kong Qian, an expert in amassing wealth, to impose heavy taxes and levies, squeezed the people dry, and squeezed every last drop of oil out of them; for another example, he allowed eunuchs and actors to rob women. The actor Jing Jin and the eunuch Wang Yunping robbed 3,000 women in Wei Bo at one time, more than 1,000 of whom were wives and daughters of Wei Bo soldiers.

In addition, Li Cunxu's promises to the army and people of Weizhou were not fulfilled. When Li Cunxu first gained Weizhou, he received an elite force, the Silver Spears, which was carefully built by Yang Shihou, a famous general of the Later Liang Dynasty. There were 8,000 people in total. Li Cunxu used them as his personal guard. This elite force fought bravely and was invincible. During the bloody battle along the river, they charged into battle and made countless contributions. Li Cunxu repeatedly stated that he would reward them greatly after destroying the Later Liang Dynasty.

After conquering Liang, Li Cunxu did reward them many times, but the amount disappointed them. For example, Li Cunxu easily gave the actors the position of provincial governor, while none of these brave warriors who fought bravely and died bravely were awarded the position of provincial governor. Guo Chongtao once reminded Li Cunxu that he must take care of the feelings of the Wei Bo soldiers. Li Cunxu turned a deaf ear to all these and continued to do his own thing, only rewarding the eunuchs and actors.

In the third year of Tongguang (925), a great famine hit the Central Plains, and farmers fled, making it even more difficult to collect taxes. In addition, the continuous heavy rains made the roads muddy and difficult to travel. Both land and water transportation were basically at a standstill, and even if there was relief grain, it could not be delivered. As a result, all government warehouses were empty, and there was no place for military grain.

The highest person in charge of the competent unit, the rent official Kong Qian, would stand on the gate tower of the east gate of the city every day, looking eastward eagerly, hoping to see the grain transport ship. As soon as the grain transport ship arrived at the shore, he would immediately open the cabin and distribute the grain on the spot, but the grain that could be transported was still a drop in the bucket.

The officers and soldiers had no food and had no choice but to sell their children and pawn their wives just to get something to eat. The elderly family members of the soldiers who could not sell their property, dozens or even hundreds of people, went to the wilderness in groups to dig wild vegetables to fill their stomachs. A large number of them actually starved to death on the way and never returned.

The wife was sold, the children were sold, the parents starved to death outside... Is this the prosperity and wealth that was promised? The entire Hebei region was filled with resentment, and the public resentment was boiling, almost reaching a critical point.

The soldiers and civilians of Hebei cried bitterly and struggled on the brink of death. The famine had destroyed their families and separated them from their wives and children. However, their emperor Li Cunxu, accompanied by Empress Liu and 925 concubines, went hunting and playing in the south of Luoyang, accompanied by his personal guards. On the th day of the twelfth lunar month in the third year of Tongguang (), the magnificent team set out in a mighty manner and did not return to the palace until the th day of the twelfth lunar month.

On the day of the return journey, it snowed heavily, and many low-ranking officials and ordinary soldiers in the entourage team died of hunger and cold.

During this famine, the Yi and Ru River basins were the worst hit, with no food within a radius of several miles. However, when the royal hunting team passed through this area, they still ordered the locals to provide food.

Mr. Guan, you are Kong Qian, not Liu Qian, so you cannot witness the miracle. Even a good cook cannot cook without rice. There is indeed no food. The soldiers who accompanied the emperor searched the land and dug deep into the ground. They found that there was indeed no food. Instead of showing mercy to the people, they were angry and took their anger out on the people, "How can we report back?" Then they smashed the people's furniture and demolished their houses, and then took away the dismantled wood and used it as firewood. They were worse than robbers and bandits!
Not to mention the local people, even the local officials fled into the mountains to hide.

At this point, it is connected to a small foreshadowing in the previous article, that is, the army led by Li Jiji and Guo Chongtao to attack Shu faced serious difficulties in logistics and supply, and only brought about ten days of food into Shu. Therefore, the whole army was worried. Once the former Shu resisted stubbornly and the war was stalemate, then as Guo Chongtao said to Li Jiji when entering Dasan Pass, we will never return. The army that attacked Shu really had the intention of burning their boats and fighting with their backs to the river. Unexpectedly, after entering Shu, they successively seized a large amount of military food, which made the army no longer have to worry about the future.

The first half of the third year of Tongguang (925) was marked by a rare drought, and the second half by a rare flood. The harvest was poor, and then a great famine occurred. At the same time, Li Cunxu launched a war to annihilate the country, which made the economy of the Later Tang Dynasty, which was close to collapse, even worse.

At the end of the year, Li Cunxu convened a meeting to discuss ways to deal with the disaster. All the civil and military officials, from Prime Minister Dou Luge down, were helpless, but the Minister of Personnel Li Qi spoke out the real source of the crisis behind this natural disaster - man-made disaster.

Li Qi pointed out that first of all, we should live within our means. The government's expenditure and the deployment of the army should refer to fiscal and taxation, and retain sufficient strategic reserves, so that even if a disaster occurs, we can easily deal with it; secondly, we must stop Kong Qian's manipulation of exchange rates, shearing the sheep, cutting leeks and other naked robberies of the people!
Li Qi's words hit the nail on the head.

The so-called "government expenditure" mainly refers to Li Cunxu's personal expenses, especially hunting; while the deployment of troops refers to the war against Shu. My goodness, there was a great famine in the country, a large number of people starved to death, and the army was at the point of selling children and daughters, and you still launched a large-scale war! Fortunately, the former Shu was so cowardly that it surrendered without bloodshed, but what if he had resisted stubbornly? The consequences would be disastrous!
Li Qi criticized the emperor Li Cunxu and Kong Qian, who was in charge of finance. He was honest and frank, and was not afraid of the powerful. This was the narrow-minded, insidious and cunning Li Qi in Guo Chongtao's mouth, and the Li Qi who was excluded by Guo Chongtao.

Li Cunxu said that Comrade Li Qi's opinions were very constructive and should be treated positively. The organization must fully study, strictly implement and execute them... So he ordered the relevant departments to implement Li Qi's suggestions.

Any reform that touches the interests of vested interest groups will inevitably encounter resistance. The deeper the touch, the greater the resistance. This resistance is not necessarily fierce backlash or heated debates. For example, Li Qi's fiscal reform encountered a Tai Chi master. The relevant departments (Kong Qian's interest chain) of course had to accept the emperor's orders unconditionally on the surface, but they only accepted it verbally. In practice, the operation was the same as before. Li Cunxu's orders were like a piece of waste paper.

Li Cunxu also turned a blind eye to this and acquiesced. As mentioned earlier, Li Cunxu, a prodigal son, spent money without restraint, and he needed a Kong Qian-like figure to fill the bottomless pit for him. Of course, it was impossible to do this with conventional financial means. Li Cunxu knew this, and he needed Kong Qian to create various pretexts, impose heavy taxes, and levy heavy levies. Each took what he needed.

Li Qi's suggestion fell on deaf ears and received no response.

The famine was still spreading and had affected the food supply in the palace. Li Cunxu had no other options, so he planned to go to Bianzhou to ask for food.

The imperial censor quickly dissuaded him, saying that instead of moving, it would be better to tighten the belt and save money. Since ancient times, there has never been an emperor who begs for food everywhere! Although Shu is now peaceful, Huainan is still not submissive. We cannot expose our weaknesses yet.

Even the emperor had to eat for free, which shows how serious the famine was.

(End of this chapter)