History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 354: A Game That Doesn't Allow Quitting Midway
After Guo Chongtao was killed, Li Jiji asked Ren Yuan to take over again and lead the army in place of Guo Chongtao.

When Kang Yanxiao rebelled, Li Jiji summoned Ren Yuan overnight. Ren Yuan had just fallen asleep, and Li Yan'an, the eunuch, ran to his bedside to wake him up. Ren Yuan jumped out of bed with a bang, and ran to see Li Jiji without even having time to put on his clothes (he was wearing pajamas, not running naked), and was entrusted with the important task of suppressing the rebellion.

Ren Yuan was a man of both civil and military talents, and lived up to his reputation. Within a month, he captured Kang Yanxiao alive.

Then, Li Jiji committed suicide. Ren Yuan had no choice but to take over again and lead the army back to the capital.

Of the 60,000 troops that went to attack Shu, Ren Huan brought back more than 20,000 elite soldiers, in addition to those who stayed in Shu to maintain order. All of these troops recognized Li Siyuan's legitimate ruling status and swore allegiance to him.

Li Siyuan highly praised Ren Yuan's contribution to the preservation of the country and immediately appointed him as prime minister and judge of the three courts.

After Douluge and Wei Shuo were banished from the court, the newly established court of Li Siyuan ushered in a serious political struggle. We can regard it as the aftermath of "harvesting reeds". It seems confusing at first glance, but its logic is actually clear and simple. That is An Zhonghui's political layout.

Compared to the passionate military conflicts, political struggles are often more secretive and a bit boring. Therefore, when this book talks about political struggles, in order to take care of the story as much as possible, it will focus on extracting the more interesting stories, and then directly present its essential struggle logic, pointing out the direction of the struggle, rather than sticking to the superficial account.

In the "Reed Harvest" movement, An Zhonghui found a capable helper - the sinister and cunning villain Kong Xun. He regarded him as a confidant and obeyed Kong Xun's words. Of course, Kong Xun also stabbed An Zhonghui in the back, but that's another story. In the early days of this political struggle, the two were good friends who worked together for the sake of evil.

The two of them led the Privy Council and launched a comprehensive attack on the "Prime Minister Gang" headed by Ren Huan. At the same time, An Zhonghui also established a new "Duanming Palace Scholar" to divide the prime minister's power. Through a series of dazzling operations, An Zhonghui finally gained power in the court.

After several rounds of competition, Ren Yuan was defeated and realized the strength of An Zhonghui's group, so he took the initiative to resign. If I can't afford to offend him, I can afford to hide. However, Ren Yuan still didn't see through the political struggle. The political game does not allow you to quit halfway. There are only two ways to quit: either you become the last person standing, and you win the game tonight; or you become the person killed by the last person standing. Ren Yuan eventually died at the hands of An Zhonghui.

Was An Zhonghui the final winner of this game? No, he also died soon after.

This political struggle during the Li Siyuan era can be seen as the integration and continuation of the political struggle of the Later Liang Dynasty. Because the Li Cunxu era lasted only three years, and it began with strong military intervention. The process was that Guo Chongtao and the eunuchs scrambled for the Later Liang regime. As a result, the eunuchs killed Guo Chongtao, and Li Siyuan killed the eunuchs.

Therefore, the political struggle in Li Siyuan's era was not a continuation of Li Cunxu's era, but a continuation of the Later Liang era.

Below we will briefly describe this bloody political struggle:

任圜
The reason why Li Siyuan appointed Ren Huan as prime minister was, on the one hand, to stabilize the morale of the army. After all, Ren Huan had more than 20,000 elite troops under his command and had the merit of pacifying Shu. If he was forcibly removed at this time, it would be as unwise as Li Cunxu removing Guo Chongtao. On the other hand, Ren Huan had a good personal relationship with Li Siyuan. Li Siyuan did not classify him as "Li Cunxu's remnant", but listed him as a comrade who could be won over.

According to historical records, Ren Yuan took only one month to get the new government's work on track. "Within a month, the treasury was well-stocked, the court was repaired, and the army and civilians were well-fed." According to this passage in the Old History of the Five Dynasties, Ren Yuan's Biography, Comrade Ren Yuan completed the socialist modernization construction on his own... As the old saying goes, the serious and prudent authoritative official history can occasionally be a little naughty, romantic, "falling three thousand feet straight down", and "not human at all."

In short, Comrade Ren Yuan has a positive work attitude, outstanding ability and outstanding achievements. There is nothing wrong with Li Siyuan's operation.

The conflict between Ren Yuan and An Zhonghui can be summarized as "there can't be two tigers in one mountain". In fact, the two have many similarities. If they were in a different situation, with different identities and at a different time, they could have become close friends. The relationship between Ren Yuan and An Zhonghui is very similar to that between Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu. If there is Yu, why is there Liang?

The strengths of the two are that they both regard building an empire as their own responsibility, and are proactive and demanding in their work, typical workaholics; their weaknesses are also very similar, that is, in order to better serve the public, they have an unlimited desire for power, "although they worry about the country, they are also eager for fame and fortune", which is the fundamental reason why the two are incompatible.

It's really a pity. Both of them had good intentions. They both sincerely assisted Li Siyuan and wanted to build the Later Tang into a unified and powerful empire and restore the glory of the Tang Dynasty. But in the end, both of them died in an untimely manner and did not have a good end.

Once, An Zhonghui came to visit Ren Yuan's home, originally to ease the sharp conflict and sit down to have a good talk. At the beginning of the banquet, it was quite harmonious. Ren Yuan called out his concubines to sing and dance to liven up the atmosphere. An Zhonghui liked the "prostitutes who were good at singing" at first sight, so he asked Ren Yuan for her, but was rejected by Ren Yuan. As a result, the conflict between the two did not ease, but deepened.

At work, the two fought for power everywhere. Ren Yuan requested that travel expenses should be approved by the Ministry of Revenue, which meant that the power should be under the power of the prime minister, while An Zhonghui insisted that it should be issued by the Privy Council, which meant that he should hold this power in his own hands. As a result, the two argued endlessly in front of Li Siyuan, especially Ren Yuan, who was so angry that his face turned red and he raised his voice and yelled, which was extremely out of control.

Li Siyuan was born a military general, so he didn't take it seriously. However, after he left the court, an old maid asked Li Siyuan, "Who was the person who was arguing with An Zhonghui just now?"

"It's the prime minister." Li Siyuan answered casually.

The old maid curled her lips and said, "When I was young and served the emperor in Chang'an, I never saw a prime minister dare to lose his composure in front of the emperor like this. He clearly doesn't take the emperor seriously!"

We are not afraid of no good things, but we are afraid of no good people. After the old palace maid's instigation, Li Siyuan was immediately furious. As mentioned earlier, he was a weak rebel and usurped the throne, and he hated others questioning his authority the most.

With one sentence from the old palace maid, Ren Huan was dismissed from his position as prime minister and appointed as the Prince's Guardian, withdrawing from the core power circle. More than a month later, Ren Huan submitted a petition to retire and return home, and Li Siyuan approved it.

Resign, retire...in the political game, early retirement is not allowed, unless you die.

(End of this chapter)