History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 357 The virtue of living well
However, Cui Xie is a person who likes to talk big and empty words, which is very unrealistic and just a name.

A name in name only is still a name. Ren Yuan recommended Li Qi, and An Zhonghui's party used Cui Xie to attack Ren Yuan. The two groups of people argued endlessly in front of Li Siyuan.

Ren Yuan said: Li Qi is very talented.

Kong Xun said: Li Qi is indeed very talented, but he has moral problems (he is not without artistic knowledge, but he is not honest).

Ren Yuan said: "Cui Xie's reputation is overrated. He knows only a few characters, so his nickname is 'the monument without characters'. My knowledge is very ordinary, and I am already ridiculed by the world. How can I use an illiterate person as prime minister?"

Li Siyuan mediated and said, "Let's forget about Li Qi and Cui Xie. How about letting Wei Su, the governor of Yizhou, do some hard work? Wei Su has a good reputation and treated me well before. If Wei Su is not qualified (to be promoted from mayor to prime minister), then Feng Dao can be it? Feng Dao served Zhuangzong as secretary general. He is outstanding in talent and noble in character. He has both ability and integrity and qualifications. I think he can be prime minister."

After the court was dismissed, Kong Xun walked out with a wave of his sleeves, and said to his attendants in great anger: "The major issues in the world are either Ren Yuan or Ren Yuan. Who has the final say in the country? I'm making this clear today - unless Cui Xie dies suddenly, the prime minister must be Cui Xie! No one else can make a difference, I say!"

An Zhonghui found Ren Yuan privately and said, "We are short of a prime minister now. How about letting Cui Xie take the position?"

Ren Yuan refused to give him face and said, "Li Qi is well-educated and talented, a hundred times better than Cui Xie! If we abandon Li Qi and use Cui Xie, it would be like abandoning jade and agate and using donkey dung!"

An Zhonghui laughed and did not insist.

However, in order to avoid being disgraced, Kong Xun took active actions and finally made Cui Xie the prime minister.

After Cui Xie became prime minister, all his memorials and reports were written by ghostwriters, which lived up to Ren Yuan's metaphor of him as a "donkey dung egg".

According to records, once, after work, Li Siyuan asked Feng Dao: "Does Lu Zhi still like drinking so much recently?"

Feng Dao replied, "Lu Zhi came to my house a few days ago and drank quite a bit. I advised him to drink less. Drinking is like doing things. You have to do it in moderation. If you exceed the limit, you will make mistakes."

Cui Xie was afraid that he would be regarded as dumb, so he quickly interrupted and said, "Otherwise, wine is the essence of food, the more you drink, the younger you become; wine is the father and food is the mother, drinking to death is better than being shot."

Everyone at the scene couldn't help laughing at his superficiality and crudeness. How could this be something the chancellor of an empire should say?
In An Zhonghui's plan, the division of power was also his painstaking effort. Li Siyuan was illiterate, so all the memorials were handed over to An Zhonghui, who read them to him. An Zhonghui's knowledge was about the same as Li Siyuan's, and helping the emperor read memorials was also an extremely dangerous job. So An Zhonghui thought of a way to kill two birds with one stone.

One day, An Zhonghui reported to Li Siyuan that although he was sincerely loyal, his ability was limited, and he requested the emperor to follow the example of the ancient sages of the Tang Dynasty and set up lecturers and readers, that is, to let knowledgeable people do this work.

Therefore, Li Siyuan set up the "Duanming Palace Scholars" and appointed Feng Dao and Zhao Feng as Duanming Palace Scholars. There are also records that it was Kong Xun's proposal.

In short, the Privy Councilors (An Zhonghui and Kong Xun) proposed to set up scholars in the Duanming Palace, which was equivalent to dividing the power of the prime minister and at the same time reducing their own responsibilities.

The above is the political struggle in the early period of Li Siyuan's reign led by An Zhonghui. It can also be seen as Li Siyuan's predicament of weak claim, and An Zhonghui came forward to organize the situation, and with the help of Kong Xun and others, completed the reintegration of core power and the redistribution of political resources. Note that this is only the early struggle of Li Siyuan's era. In the later period, An Zhonghui lost power and there was a new round of brutal struggle.

At this point, Li Siyuan had basically completed an important part of becoming emperor - "punishing evil". To put it simply, it can be summed up in one word: killing. Kill those who must be killed (Yuan Xingqin), kill those who should be killed (Kong Qian, Duan Ning, Wen Tao, etc.), kill those who should not be killed but must be killed (various princes), kill those who do not want to kill but have to be killed (Dou Luge, Wei Shuo, etc.).

Along with the bloody political struggle, Li Siyuan also implemented a series of benevolent policies that were praised by people. If "punishing evil" was based on killing, then the next measures were based on "life".
1. Release the maid

When Li Siyuan entered Luoyang, there were still more than a thousand beauties left by Li Cunxu in the palace. The eunuchs in charge of the palace maids selected hundreds of young and beautiful ones and presented them to Li Siyuan.

Unexpectedly, Li Siyuan became furious and shouted, "What do I need them for?"

The eunuch said: "The running of palace affairs cannot be separated from them..."

Li Siyuan said: "To manage the affairs of the palace, you must have rich work experience. Look at them, they are so young, how could they possibly understand?" So he re-selected a group of older palace maids and kept them in the palace. The rest were all released from the palace and returned to their relatives. If they were homeless, they could do as they pleased and were willing to marry an honest man. The court would be responsible for finding successors for them.

The beauties from Wang Zongyan's harem who were sent from Bashu were also ordered to return to their families.

One of the reasons why Li Siyuan was praised was that he released the palace maids of the previous dynasty and did not indulge in women.

Of course, Li Siyuan was indeed diligent in governing the country and did not indulge in women, but we should also be aware of two points: 1. Li Siyuan was already in his sixties when he ascended the throne, a 60-year-old old man, and generally speaking, he was past the golden age for indulging in wine and women; 2. Releasing a large number of palace maids was mainly to cut fiscal expenditure. You know, it is a considerable expense to support more than a thousand beauties.

2. Reduce the number of actors, etc.
Li Cunxu was addicted to wine and sex, and favored actors and eunuchs, which led to huge government expenses. After releasing the palace maids, Li Siyuan still felt the need to further reduce expenses in this area, so he issued an edict: 100 palace maids, 30 eunuchs, 100 actors, 20 staff members of the falconry and dog workshop, and 50 imperial chefs would be retained as appropriate, and the rest would be sent back, and all the nominal institutions in the palace would be abolished.

The above-mentioned systems can be said to be simple and hardworking in all dynasties.

It is undeniable that Li Siyuan has broken away from vulgar tastes, but we should not ignore another reason for his action: saving money.

3. Posthumous recognition and posthumous title

Additional compensation will be given to An Jinquan and other heroes who participated in the Battle of Taiyuan ten years ago to recognize their outstanding contributions in the Battle of Taiyuan.

On the one hand, it can set the record straight, and on the other hand, it can win over a wave of supporters, such as An Shentong (An Jinquan's nephew) who supported Li Siyuan to become emperor.

4. Redressing injustice

Rehabilitated Guo Chongtao and Zhu Youqian, restored their official positions and titles, returned their confiscated property, and allowed the bodies of Guo Chongtao and his son to be transported back to their hometown for a proper burial.

The essence of this measure is the same as the previous one, which is to publicize his goodness, that is, to highlight Li Cunxu's mistakes. It is interesting to note that Li Siyuan did not vindicate Kang Yanxiao.

Because Kang Yanxiao was really a rebel, while Guo Chongtao and Zhu Youqian were killed without any guilt. Public opinion and public sentiment all felt sorry for Guo Chongtao and Zhu Youqian, but no one felt sorry for Kang Yanxiao. Li Siyuan did not need to take the blame for Kang Yanxiao.

(End of this chapter)