History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 344 Mingzong Enters Luoyang 5 What Hatred and Grudge

[Mingzong enters Luoyang 5 What hatred and grudges?]

In fact, Yuan Xingqin not only had no grudges against Li Siyuan, but the two had a very close relationship. Yuan Xingqin was Li Siyuan's adopted son.

Yuan Xingqin was originally a general under Liu Shouguang of Youzhou. He was brave in battle and famous. When Liu Shouguang imprisoned his father and usurped power, Yuan Xingqin was ordered to capture the Da'an Mountain Castle and arrest Liu Rengong. Later, he was ordered to kill Liu Shouguang's other brothers. He was an obedient vicious dog, and he would bite whoever his master told him to bite.

Later, when Hedong was suppressing Liu Shouguang of Youzhou, Yuan Xingqin and Li Siyuan had a fierce exchange of fire. The two were well matched and the fight was extremely brutal. Li Siyuan shot Yuan Xingqin with seven arrows in total. Yuan Xingqin pulled out the arrows, continued to fight, and shot Li Siyuan in the thigh with a reflex arrow.

However, the Hedong Group had an overwhelming advantage over the Youzhou Group. Although Yuan Xingqin was brave, he could not save the collapsing group by himself. He was defeated in eight battles and was unable to turn the tide. Finally, he had to surrender to Li Siyuan's troops.

Heroes appreciate heroes. Li Siyuan caressed his back, gave him fine wine to calm him down, comforted him with kind words, and adopted him as his son, keeping him by his side. From then on, he followed him into battle and made many military achievements.

After Li Cunxu gained Wei Bo, he selected brave men from various armies to show his elite personal guards. He had heard of Yuan Xingqin's name for a long time, so he asked Li Siyuan for him. Li Siyuan had to reluctantly give up Yuan Xingqin and gave him to Li Cunxu. Li Cunxu gave him the name: Li Shaorong. From then on, Yuan Xingqin became Li Cunxu's trusted general.

Li Cunxu also loved Yuan Xingqin very much.

Once, Li Cunxu held a banquet in the palace to entertain his ministers. While watching singing and dancing, he drank and boasted (he talked about his battles for fun). Halfway through, Li Cunxu looked around and asked, "Huh? Why didn't Yuan Xingqin come?"

The attendants reported the truth, saying that the threshold for this banquet was the rank of envoy (third rank), and Yuan Xingqin was not qualified...

Li Cunxu's face suddenly changed and he slammed the table angrily, "Get out of here!" The banquet ended in an unpleasant mood, and the ministers retreated away tremblingly.

The next day, Li Cunxu issued an order to give Yuan Xingqin the title of envoy (i.e., to appoint Xingqin as the co-minister of the Secretariat). From then on, he only entertained military generals and no longer entertained civil officials.

In addition, Yuan Xingqin also got a concubine from Li Cunxu. This was certainly not Li Cunxu's initiative, but was tricked by Empress Liu.

It can also be seen from many small details that Empress Liu also loved Yuan Xingqin very much. For example, this time Yuan Xingqin was appointed by Empress Liu to lead the army to quell the rebellion.

In short, Li Cunxu was very kind to Yuan Xingqin, but Li Siyuan never offended Yuan Xingqin. Li Siyuan was deprived of his love by Li Cunxu. Yuan Xingqin could certainly love Li Cunxu, but he had no reason to hate Li Siyuan.

In the days before and after Li Cunxu encountered the "Xingjiaomen Mutiny", Yuan Xingqin's behavior was even more incomprehensible: he abandoned Li Cunxu at the last moment and chose to escape for his life, and after being arrested, he acted as if he would rather die than surrender and was generous in his sacrifice...

Is he really blindly loyal?
Later historians did not think highly of him, believing that his escape from Luoyang was the biggest failure of his life and that he had lost his integrity in his later years. If he had not escaped but chosen to die for his country at that time, he could be called a loyal minister. Although he remained steadfast and unyielding after being arrested, and angrily denounced the traitor Li Siyuan, it did not help.

What kind of death is valuable? The historian believed that "the reason why death is valuable is that it is not a casual life." Yuan Xingqin's escape from Luoyang was already a "happy life", so the historian's final verdict on Yuan Xingqin was "How could he be valuable!"

During the process of Li Siyuan becoming emperor, it is better to say that Yuan Xingqin was a senior spy of Li Siyuan rather than being loyal to Li Cunxu. Without Yuan Xingqin, Li Siyuan would have no chance of winning. At that time, Li Cunxu had no money, no food, no soldiers, and was deserted by his friends and relatives. He was in a very passive situation and should take it slow rather than rush when dealing with Li Siyuan. Of course, he did not believe Li Siyuan, but he had to actively seek peace and seek dialogue to resolve the dispute as he was at a disadvantage. He was waiting for Li Jiji to return with tens of thousands of main forces and spoils of war in Shu. By then, the balance of power between the two sides would shift, and Li Cunxu would be in an advantageous position. The strategy at that time would be to turn from the negotiation table to the battlefield.

The emperor condescended to ask for peace, gave up bloody killings and resolved the crisis through dialogue. This in itself is a huge political advantage and a tight ring around anyone who pretends to be a loyal minister.

Li Cunxu had already put this tight ring on Li Siyuan's head. "I trust you, I forgive you, you are innocent, I love you..." These words were the tight ring curse. The sweeter Li Cunxu's words were, the more lethal they were to Li Siyuan. Li Siyuan was really troubled by this.

It was Yuan Xingqin who blocked the sound of the tight ring. He forcibly pulled the situation from the direction of peace talks that was favorable to Li Cunxu to the track of war that was favorable to Li Siyuan. Yuan Xingqin not only forced Li Siyuan to rebel, but also forced Li Cunxu to death.

Li Cunxu's weakness was fully exposed in Poppy Valley. Whenever he saw soldiers holding weapons around him, he would coax them with soft words, almost begging them, for fear that they would impulsively kill the king. Is Li Cunxu a weak, cowardly coward? Why is he so undignified? Yuan Xingqin, don't you really know? You said you were loyal to Li Cunxu, but in fact you were pushing him into the fire pit.

Li Siyuan was able to sit on the throne thanks to Yuan Xingqin’s cooperation.

Of course, Yuan Xingqin could not be Li Siyuan's spy. We cannot stand in the perspective of God and accuse Yuan Xingqin of making things worse for Li Cunxu. The situation at that time was indeed very strange, and Yuan Xingqin could not be blamed.

Li Cunxu's situation was very difficult and passive. Li Siyuan's situation was not much better and was also very passive.

Politically, Li Cunxu had an absolute advantage; militarily, the two sides were evenly matched.

Li Siyuan's only direct troops were Huo Yanwei's 5,000 Zhenzhou soldiers. The troops of Li Congke and others were almost negligible. Moreover, Li Siyuan had no base. He was far away from Zhenzhou and lived in Weizhou, which was the stronghold of the rebels Zhao Zaili and Huangfu Hui. Their relationship with Li Siyuan was a strategic partnership, each taking what they needed, and this cooperative relationship was quite fragile.

So even though Li Siyuan formulated the "left hook" plan, he did not implement it immediately.

This mutiny was very strange. Both sides were paper tigers with strong exteriors but weak interiors. One was the legitimate emperor and the other was a revolutionary leader "supported by the masses", but neither had much money or soldiers. It was like two people holding empty guns confronting each other.

Other forces also took a wait-and-see attitude, like a group of armed onlookers with only one bullet in their guns, so they did not dare to help any side easily.

This is the strange thing about this mutiny. It was very peaceful and quiet. From the time Li Siyuan openly rebelled to his successful seizure of power, there was almost no direct conflict between the two sides. It ended in a muddle.

Perhaps Yuan Xingqin was right. Knowing yourself and your enemy, you can fight a hundred battles without danger. Li Cunxu only knew that he was a paper tiger, but he didn't know that Li Siyuan was also a paper tiger. Since Li Cunxu's rule was unpopular, it was even more necessary to fight quickly and not delay. Because Yuan Xingqin was a staunch "war faction", he interrupted the communication between the two sides because he was afraid of dragging things out and causing more trouble. No more nonsense, just one word, do it!

There are not so many ifs, and there are no assumptions in history.

(End of this chapter)