History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 359: Increasing Income and Reducing Expenditure, Appeasing All Parties
3. Open Source

1. If Li Siyuan wanted to solve the imminent economic problems in a short period of time, it was not enough to just reduce taxes and levies and cut fiscal expenditures. These were long-term measures, or long-term investments, with slow results and not enough to quench thirst. "Confiscating property" could only make a little quick money, which was neither long-lasting nor quenching thirst.

There was only one way for the new court to quickly overcome the economic difficulties: the spoils of war from Former Shu.

Li Siyuan really should thank Li Cunxu. If it were not for the timely transfusion from Shu, Li Siyuan's court would have been short-lived and the "Mingzong's prosperous era" would not have appeared at all.

After conquering Shu, Li Jiji and Guo Chongtao, as conquerors, forcibly collected "military labor fees" from the people of Shu. They pressed the money so hard that people died. A total of 5 million strings of cash were confiscated. After rewarding the army, there were still more than 2 million strings of cash left. Adding the savings in the warehouses of Shu, it was a considerable fortune. These properties had not yet been transported.

This connects to a point in the previous article: Ren Huan, who had returned from Shu, was appointed as prime minister, and he replaced Dou Lu Ge as the "Judge of Three Departments", and was put in charge of the empire's finances.

After returning from Shu, Ren Yuan knew that Shu was a piggy bank and cash machine. He understood Li Siyuan's good intentions, so he sent Zhao Jiliang to serve as the chairman of the Shu Money and Grain Transportation Management Committee (Sanchuandu Zhizhi Zhuanzhuanshi), whose main job was to transport the wealth of Shu to Luoyang to solve the urgent needs of Li Siyuan's court.

After arriving in Chengdu, Zhao Jiliang felt great hostility from Meng Zhixiang, the governor of Xichuan, because Meng Zhixiang had already had the ambition to rule Shu, which will be described in detail later. Zhao Jiliang made the greatest concessions in desperation, only following orders to move the money and grain in the warehouse, and did not dare to ask for other money and grain collected from the expedition, and did not dare to mention his appointment as the chief financial and transportation officer.

Zhao Jiliang finally lived up to expectations and arrived in Chengdu at the end of October. At the end of December, he transported 10 billion gold, silver and silk back to Luoyang. The history books only mentioned "12 billion gold and silk" without specifying the unit. It was this life-saving money that allowed Li Siyuan's court to survive the most difficult period.

Later, Li Siyuan transported money and grain from Shu more than once to provide blood transfusions for Luoyang, which aggravated the unrest in Shu and gave birth to a new separatist regime - Later Shu, which is a story for later.

2. Zhang Jian, who temporarily stayed in Chang'an, cut off the floating bridge when Li Jiji returned to the east, successfully forced Li Jiji to death, and then received Li Siyuan's edict to kill the eunuchs. Before that, the eunuch Xiang Yansi followed Li Cunxu's edict to kill Wang Zongyan's family and took Wang Zongyan's personal treasures for himself. At this critical moment, Xiang Yansi "disappeared", and Zhang Jian took all the gold, silver and treasures of Wang Zongyan's family and all the concubines.

There is no record of the exact amount of this property. Historical records only say that "Yan's money to furnish prostitutes and musicians belonged to Jian," and after receiving this unexpected fortune, Zhang Jian became the richest man in the local area, "accumulating tens of thousands of taels of gold."

Now, Zhang Jian was afraid that the matter would be exposed, so he took the initiative to make tributes. He first presented 72 of Li Jiji's golf horses, and then presented two rhinoceros belts and two jade belts from Wang Zongyan, and 150 famous horses.

But he still embezzled the rest of the wealth, and later he secretly sold these treasures and made a profit of more than 100,000 strings of cash. He was rich enough to rival a country.

Zhang Jian's elder brother was Zhang Yun, a general of the Later Liang Dynasty. Zhang Yun was also among the troops who went to attack Shu. Zhang Yun was the governor of Chang'an. Before leaving with the army, he recommended his younger brother Zhang Jian to temporarily take over as the governor of Chang'an.

4. Appease the Quartet
1. Inside the Later Tang Dynasty

The interior of this place can only be the places directly controlled by the Later Tang Dynasty, such as the vassal states in the Yellow River Basin, Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Shu. Although these places are theoretically subject to the Later Tang court, because Li Siyuan usurped the throne and the throne came from an illegitimate source, these vassal states are either ready to move to the Central Plains, or have evil intentions and are inclined to betray the country and surrender to the enemy.

In this regard, the weak Li Siyuan could only adopt a policy of compromise and appeasement, doing his utmost to win over others in order to ensure a smooth transition of supreme power.

We only select a few representative ones, because these people will do something else in the future and have a great impact on the current situation: 1.1 Heshuo
Li Siyuan was originally ordered to suppress the rebellion of Zhao Zaili and Huangfu Hui in Weizhou. However, he was coerced by the Weizhou rebels and then returned to seize power. Therefore, Zhao Zaili, Huangfu Hui and others in Weizhou had a very delicate relationship with Li Siyuan.

After Li Siyuan proclaimed himself emperor, he appointed Zhao Zaili as the governor of Yicheng Army in Huazhou. Although he was given the post of governor, he was transferred to Huazhou instead of keeping him in his old nest in Weizhou.

Zhao Zaili refused to go to the town on the grounds that "the military situation was not favorable" and the rebels were unwilling to leave the revolutionary base.

The court then used high positions and generous salaries to disperse and disintegrate the Weizhou rebels: Huangfu Hui was appointed as the governor of Chenzhou, Zhao Jin (who was the instigator of the rebellion with Huangfu Hui) was appointed as the governor of Beizhou, Zhao Zaili was transferred to be the governor of Henghao Army in Cangzhou, and the prince Li Congrong was sent to Weizhou, escorted by the general Fan Yanguang.

Zhao Zaili then moved his garrison many times, and served in Taining Army, Kuangguo Army, Tianping Army, Zhongwu Army, Guining Army, Wuning Army, Guide Army, and Jinchang Army, and lived until the demise of the Later Jin Dynasty.

Huangfu Hui was vicious and cruel. He was originally an ordinary soldier. He started a rebellion because he lost money in gambling after drinking, which led to Li Siyuan's seizure of power. Since the Beizhou Rebellion, his brutal character was fully demonstrated. According to records, he led his troops to break into the homes of ordinary people to rob, and suddenly, on a whim, he asked the ordinary people, "What is your last name?"

The people answered: "The surname is Guo."

Huangfu Hui laughed and said, "I will destroy the country!" Then he killed the commoner's family.

Then he went to another house and asked, "What's your last name?"

The people answered: "The surname is Wan."

Huangfu Hui was satisfied and said, "Killing Wan's family is enough." He then killed his entire family.

During the Later Jin Dynasty, Huangfu Hui visited Zhao Zaili's home and took the opportunity to blackmail him. Huangfu Hui said to Zhao Zaili: "We have been doing things together since Beizhou, and finally accomplished something big in Weizhou. I have always been a small governor, but you have always been a Jiedushi. Don't you forget that it was me who supported you to become the leader? Don't you know how to be grateful to me? Give me money, or I will kill you now!" Zhao Zaili was so scared that he quickly took out a huge amount of money and gave it to him.

When the Later Jin Dynasty fell, Huangfu Hui fled to Huainan and defected to the Southern Tang. When the Later Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Southern Tang, he fought hard against the Later Zhou Emperor Chai Rong, was seriously injured and captured, and Zhou Shizong comforted him with kind words, gave him good medicine, a golden belt, and a saddle horse. In the end, Huangfu Hui died due to his serious injuries.

This is the ending of two little people. They are little people, but they rewrote Chinese history. The little soldier in Beizhou lost money in gambling, and the butterfly effect was the prosperity of Mingzong. So cherish life and stay away from gambling.

Li Siyuan treated Zhao Zaili and Huangfu Hui with great kindness and righteousness, and did not kill them all, but instead appointed them as Jiedushi and Inspector-General respectively in their old age. This was Li Siyuan's effort to control the Heshuo region, which received a certain degree of positive feedback, but also had some effects, which will be mentioned later.

(End of this chapter)