History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 385: One Emperor and Three Kings Harming Gao Yu
[One emperor and three kings harmed Gao Yu]

Gao Jichang's tactics were exactly the same as Li Cunxu's, which was to spread rumors in the two lakes area, to the effect that "Gao Yu was going to rebel against Ma Yin, and everyone on earth knew it."

Faced with overwhelming rumors, Ma Yin always chose to trust Gao Yu unswervingly and was not moved at all.

Seeing that "carpet bombing" was ineffective, Gao Jichang changed his thinking and chose a new strategy of "precision guidance and targeted elimination", and selected a breakthrough point - Ma Yin's second son Ma Xisheng.

Gao Jichang wrote a letter to Ma Xisheng, saying that he wanted to get to know the famous Gao Yu through Ma Xisheng's connections, and emphasized that he was a die-hard fan of Gao Yu, and especially admired him, thinking about him day and night, and Gao Yu was his dream lover. He wanted to meet Gao Yu very much, and begged Ma Ergongzi to be a matchmaker and help to make the connection...

At the same time, the messenger secretly "leaked" an important secret to Ma Xisheng according to Gao Jichang's instructions: Do you know why my master Gao Jichang must get in touch with Gao Yu? Because my master often said to people around him: "Ma Yin uses Gao Yu, it's really God's will to destroy the Ma family. Gao Yu will definitely take away the Ma family's foundation. I have to get on good terms with him first..."

Ma Xisheng is a second-generation idiot like Huainan Yang Wo and Xichuan Wang Zongyan, who is mentally retarded (stupid). Although Ma Xisheng is mentally retarded and stupid, his mother is deeply loved by Ma Yin. As the son is honored by the mother, Ma Yin dotes on this mentally retarded and stupid son.

He is stupid, powerful, and easily fooled, which is why Gao Jichang used him as a breakthrough point.

A clumsy plot to sow discord like Jiang Gan stealing the book made Ma Xisheng seriously suspicious of Gao Yu, a senior official. Ma Xisheng's brother-in-law Yang Zhaosui, who had always been jealous of Gao Yu's power, also wanted to find an opportunity to replace him. After finding out Ma Xisheng's thoughts, Yang Zhaosui began to speak ill of Gao Yu to Ma Xisheng.

Like Guo Chongtao, Gao Yu was not a perfect person, a pure person, or a person who had escaped from vulgar tastes. Historical records say that he also admired luxury, was greedy, and offended many people. Yang Zhaosui easily collected a lot of negative information about Gao Yu.

With the help of Yang Zhaosui, Ma Xisheng became more convinced that Gao Yu had evil intentions and would sooner or later become a great threat to Southern Chu!
Ma Xisheng privately inquired about the opinions of his brothers. Ma Xifan, who was fooled by Li Cunxu, immediately expressed his strong agreement, "Tang Lord Li Cunxu also said so!"

Three people make a tiger. In the eyes of the two foolish brothers, they have obtained the same information through different channels, and this time they will not be wrong. Gao Yu wants to seize the Ma family's foundation. Everyone knows Sima Zhao's intention!
Therefore, the two brothers repeatedly lobbied Ma Yin, saying that Gao Yu was not only arrogant because of his achievements, but also had already acted presumptuously, exposing the signs of usurpation, and was secretly making friends with the neighboring vassal (Gao Jichang). If he was not eliminated now, he might become too powerful to be removed in the future!

Ma Yin was so disappointed, "You idiots, what do you know? The one who made my great cause come true is Gao Yu! Stop talking!"

Finally, it was Ma Yin's favorite son, Ma Xisheng, who stepped forward and said, "Why don't we find a compromise and take away Gao Yu's military power first."

This was a famous political struggle at the end of the Ma Yin era of the Nan Chu Group. It was a common fierce struggle between the "old ministers of the previous dynasty" and the "new princelings."

At that time, Ma Yin had basically established his position as the successor to Ma Xisheng. Ma Yin had dozens of sons, among whom the eldest son was Ma Xizhen.

According to records, the eldest son Ma Xizhen was "elderly and virtuous", good at writing poems, able to discuss Buddhism with monks, and once inscribed in the pavilion in the back garden: "Fine fish in the deep, secluded birds stand for a long time." According to the convention of "primogeniture inheritance system", Ma Xizhen was of course the successor to Ma Yin.

However, Ma Yin was fond of the new and tired of the old, and he became increasingly alienated from his old and ugly wife, and favored the young and beautiful concubine Yuan (who was repeatedly given the title of Defei, so it is also recorded as "Yuan Defei"). When Ma Xisheng was born, Ma Yin was nearly fifty years old, and he became even more doting on Ma Xisheng. When Ma Xisheng grew up a little, Ma Yin abolished his eldest son Ma Xizhen and made his illegitimate son Ma Xisheng his successor. Ma Xizhen was so scared that he resigned from his official position and became a Taoist priest.

Ma Yin intended to cultivate Ma Xisheng, and as he grew older, he continued to delegate power to Ma Xisheng, allowing him to gain experience and develop his own team.

Therefore, in Ma Xisheng's view, these founding fathers who had followed Ma Yin through thick and thin were the key obstacles that affected his succession to the throne. They were often powerful and even commanded a large number of troops, but they were proud of their achievements and were unwilling to obey the orders of the young master. Therefore, taking the opportunity to clean up these old guys was the top priority of the "princelings".

Now, the "princelings" have set their sights on Gao Yu.

Ma Yin wanted to suppress them, but the "Prince's Party" was becoming more and more powerful, and Ma Yin was no longer able to do so. After a brief contest, Ma Yin had to compromise with the "Prince's Party" and agreed to a compromise, depriving Gao Yu of his military power.

Gao Yu was deposed and demoted. He was indignant and said to those around him in anger, "I have assisted the king for so many years. I just wanted to build a house in the West Hills after retirement to live there in my old age. I didn't expect these bastards to grow up and bite people!"

It was clearly a foal, but it was called a puppy. Although they all had four legs, Ma Xisheng was very dissatisfied with this rounding-off classification of creatures.

In July of the fourth year of Tiancheng (929), Ma Xisheng ordered his men to kill Gao Yu and to hunt down Gao Yu's accomplices in the city. He killed Gao Yu's entire family and all his close friends. The massacre lasted for a whole day. Afterwards, Ma Xisheng posted a notice, falsely claiming that Ma Yin's order claimed that Gao Yu was plotting a rebellion.

One emperor and three kings harmed Gao Yu, one emperor (Li Cunxu) and three kings (Gao Jichang, Ma Xisheng, and Ma Xifan).

On that day, Changsha was shrouded in a rare fog, so thick that it was said that you couldn't see your hand in front of you. Ma Yin had no idea about Gao Yu's death, and he was uneasy. He said to his attendants with sorrow: "When I followed the old general Sun Ru to fight for Huainan, strange celestial phenomena would occur whenever an upright and kind person was wrongly killed. Could it be that a good person has died unjustly today?"

The next day, his subordinates reported Gao Yu's murder. Ma Yin, who was nearly 80 years old, was filled with grief and indignation. He beat his chest and stamped his feet, crying loudly, saying, "Gao Yu was my meritorious official and my old friend, but he suffered such a disaster!" After crying for a long time, Ma Yin said to those around him with great sorrow, "I can't save Gao Yu today, how can I save myself tomorrow?"

The death of Gao Yu represented that the political struggle in Southern Chu had risen to a historical high. The "Princelings" headed by Ma Xisheng had completely sidelined Ma Yin.

Four months before the massacre of Gao Yu, Ma Xisheng was already the deputy governor of Tanzhou Wu'an Army, the judge of Changsha Prefecture, the director of political affairs, and the general recorder of all military affairs inside and outside the country. He was equivalent to the highest military and political leader of Southern Chu and the real top leader of Southern Chu, while Ma Yin became a spiritual leader. From then on, all matters big and small in Southern Chu were decided by Ma Xisheng. Therefore, when Gao Yu was killed, Ma Yin was completely kept in the dark.

This is also the reason why Ma Yin told people around him that he would not be able to keep his position. He already felt that he had made a mistake by handing over the real power too early.

(End of this chapter)