History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 409 Flying Dragon in the Sky
【Flying Dragon in the Sky】

The great waves wash away the sands, and troubled times are the breeding ground for heroes. From the bottom of society, after years of hard work, they finally ascended to the throne of emperor, which was destined to be full of legends. Among them, Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, is the most well-known, because his era is relatively close to us, and he founded a unified dynasty with a vast territory, a long reign, and a great influence on the course of history.

If we only look at their backgrounds, the first half of Zhu Wen and Xu Zhigao's lives were not much different from Zhu Yuanzhang's. One was a servant and the other was a homeless child.

Living under someone else's roof enabled Xu Zhigao to develop keen insight and extraordinary endurance since childhood.

Young masters who have no worries about food and clothing are more likely to have a young master's temper, such as Xu Zhixun and Xu Zhixun, because they have too early and easily mastered social resources that others cannot reach, and they take it for granted that this is natural and reasonable. They think from the bottom of their hearts that they are superior to others.

But Xu Zhigao was different. He had a profound understanding of his situation. He had to humble himself and be cautious. Even if he was in a high position, he had to be humble and approachable. He had to remind himself all the time: Xu Zhigao, you are just a homeless, homeless and jobless vagrant! You have to keep your tail between your legs.

The previous article has mentioned how he served Xu Wen and tried every means to please his godfather. In fact, Xu Zhigao was like this not only to Xu Wen, but almost everyone. No one had ever seen Xu Zhigao lose his temper. He left everyone with the impression of being polite and courteous.

Xu Zhigao knew his own strengths and weaknesses very well. Even though he held a high position and great power, he was always in a weak position. A weak situation should lead to a weak attitude.

Veteran General Chai Zaiyong was so proud of his achievements that he wore a military uniform and carried weapons to the throne room. The censors severely criticized him, but Chai Zaiyong acted like "Let's see what you can do to me". On the surface, Chai Zaiyong was despising Yang Pu, but in reality he was challenging Xu Zhigao's authority.

This was a warning given to Xu Zhigao by the meritorious veterans.

Xu Zhigao's solution was to not say a word about the matter, and then deliberately break into the restricted area - Yang Pu's inner house. After entering, he pretended to be surprised, "Oh, how did I get into this place by mistake!" He retreated in a hurry, and then submitted a memorial to the emperor, impeaching himself, launching a deep self-criticism, and requesting Yang Pu to deal with him seriously.

Yang Pu "refused to grant the decree" and tried to persuade him with kind words, but Xu Zhigao still insisted on fining him one month's salary.

Comrade Xu Zhigao has a firm political stance, obeys the leadership of King Wu, has a high political consciousness, has strong political concepts and organizational discipline concepts, and actively plays an exemplary role... Learn from Comrade Xu Zhigao.

Chai Zaiyong was ashamed and embarrassed, and he admired Xu Zhigao's excellent management skills. From then on, he was convinced and no longer acted as a troublemaker. The government was also rectified.

The strategy of inflicting pain on oneself is one of the important means for weak leaders to manage their teams.

Xu Zhigao was well aware of the importance of talent. He had been eager to seek talented people for a long time. He was humble and willing to serve others. He was open-hearted and won the hearts of the people.

When he was in charge of Shengzhou, Xu Zhigao was frugal, generous and willing to give, and he gave everything he had to seek talented people. It was at that time that he invited a large number of talents such as Song Qiuqiu and Wang Lingmou to be his guests and staff, and they became his direct team to seize the country in the future.

At that time, Li Cunxu destroyed Liang, Li Siyuan came to power, and the Khitan moved south. There were frequent wars in the Central Plains, and many scholars and politicians who were frustrated fled to the south for refuge. Xu Zhigao was stationed in Shengzhou and controlled the Huai River. He was close to the water and had the moon in his sights. So he sent people to watch near the Huai River ferry and spent a lot of money to welcome talents from the north, including an important talent mentioned later - Sun Sheng.

Xu Zhigao even specially built a "Yanbin Pavilion" as a designated institution for recruiting talents, "so heroes from all over the country flocked to it."

Xu Zhigao also had his own "intelligence agency". In his spare time, he would personally go to the streets and fields to conduct private visits. Unlike other warlords and powerful officials, his purpose was to investigate the sufferings of the people and then help them solve their difficulties. He was a good cadre who went to the grassroots and did practical things.

After his reputation spread, many people came to him. “Famous and wise men, old and old, all came to the south.” “Scholars from the north came every day after hearing the news.” Everyone finally saw a leader with the demeanor of a wise ruler.

When the weather was hot, Xu Zhigao also refused to allow his servants to hold umbrellas and fan him. If his servants tried to hold umbrellas for him, he would definitely shout at them: "Many soldiers are still exposed, why should I use this?"

After Xu Zhixun's death, Xu Zhigao entered Yangzhou and was very respectful to Yang's puppets (Yang Wei and Yang Pu), which won him wide acclaim. So although Xu Wen was in charge of Shengzhou at that time and controlled the central government of Yangzhou remotely, everyone in Yangzhou was willing to accept Xu Zhigao's leadership wholeheartedly.

In 919 AD, Yang Wei founded the state of Wu and promoted Xu Zhigao to "Zuo Pushe Canzhi Zhengshi", which was equivalent to the deputy prime minister and slightly lower than "Tong Pingzhangshi". At that time, he was respectfully called "Zhengshi Pushe Gong".

At that time, Xu Zhigao was only thirty years old.

As the saying goes, a man without beard cannot do things well. Because Xu Zhigao was too young and was promoted too quickly, he thought that he lacked prestige and could not convince the people, so he took some medicine to turn his beard white overnight (one night turns to white) so that he could look more mature and experienced.

After Xu Wen's death, the players in the Huainan power game became Xu Zhixun and Xu Zhigao, and the result was no surprise.

Xu Jie, the deputy military envoy beside Xu Zhixun, was once a "prince party" who strongly supported Xu Zhixun. He urged Xu Wen to pass the throne to his own son Xu Zhixun, and made Xu Wen finally determined to enter Yangzhou and remove Xu Zhigao on the pretext of persuading him to ascend the throne. However, Xu Jie, a powerful minister who was entrusted with the care of the young emperor, saw that Xu Zhixun would inevitably lose this game of power, so he turned to support Xu Zhigao and took the initiative to disclose Xu Zhixun's secrets to Xu Zhigao.

Not only did the "important ministers entrusted with the care of the young emperor" turn against him, but even Xu Zhixun's two younger brothers: the third brother Xu Zhihui and the fourth brother Xu Zhijian also secretly sided with Xu Zhigao.

Especially the fourth brother Xu Zhijian, he is a die-hard fan of Xu Zhigao. At the beginning, the eldest brother Xu Zhixun set up a Hongmen Banquet at Shanguang Temple, hoping to kill Xu Zhigao, but was leaked by Xu Zhijian. Now, the second brother Xu Zhixun is fighting with Xu Zhigao, but Xu Zhijian still sits on the same bench with Xu Zhigao unswervingly.

The actual record says, "Zhixun was framed by his brothers internally and betrayed by Jie externally, but he didn't know it." Xu Zhixun had no idea that he had been deserted by his friends and relatives. The important ministers entrusted by his father to take care of his son and his own brothers were all like pancakes wrapped in fried meatballs - they set up cannons to shoot inside and ate their own people and betrayed their relatives.

Among them, the third brother Xu Zhihui worked the hardest. According to historical records, "Zhihui was largely responsible for Zhixun's defeat. Zhigao was very grateful to him."

In the final showdown of this game, Xu Zhixun and Xu Zhigao used exactly the same tactics, both of which were to lure the opponent into their own territory, the Hongmen Banquet.

But in the end, it was Xu Zhigao who successfully tricked Xu Zhixun. The key factor for his success was his fourth brother Xu Zhijian, who persuaded Xu Zhixun at the last minute and tricked his second brother to Yangzhou.

After Xu Zhixun failed and was imprisoned, he learned about the betrayal of his two brothers. He felt heartbroken and indescribably wronged.

Xu Zhigao rewarded Xu Zhijian as the military governor of Hongzhou Zhennan Army. In the second year of Changxing (931), Xu Zhijian died of illness while serving in Hongzhou, and Xu Zhigao ordered Xu Zhixun to take his place. On his way to take up his post, Xu Zhixun happened to encounter Xu Zhijian's funeral procession.

Xu Zhixun walked forward, stroked his fourth brother's coffin, and burst into tears, saying: "Fourth brother, we are brothers, why do you treat me like this? Oh, forget it, things have come to this, I have nothing to complain about, but... in the underworld, how can you face our father?"

After saying this, he burst into tears. The people who were seeing him off and accompanying him on both sides also wept bitterly, and the scene was extremely desolate.

In this deception, Xu Zhigao performed so convincingly that he actually gained an unexpected reward. He deceived An Zhonghui, a powerful official of the Later Tang Dynasty, and made An Zhonghui firmly believe that Xu Zhigao wanted to submit to the Later Tang Dynasty, so he sent a jade belt worth more than a thousand strings of cash as a token of trust.

The specific details of how Xu Zhigao won this game of thrones and his story of usurping the throne will be presented in detail later.

We revisit the main plot of "reducing the vassal states" by An Zhonghui, a powerful official of the Later Tang Dynasty: Under An Zhonghui's tough stance, the Later Tang Dynasty officially broke off diplomatic relations with Huainan and was on the brink of war. An Zhonghui strongly advocated conquering the Huainan region. Xu Zhigao was trying to catch rabbits by hunting grass, and inadvertently stole a priceless jade belt, and by the way deceived An Zhonghui's innocent and pure feelings.

(End of this chapter)