History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 429 The one who owes money is the uncle
[The one who owes money is the uncle]

When Li Jiji and Guo Chongtao entered Chengdu, they forcibly collected "military reward funds" and extorted 5 million strings of cash from the people of Bashu. After rewarding the army, they still had 2 million strings of cash left.

Although Guo Chongtao and Li Jiji died one after another, there was another person who knew about this matter, that is Ren Yuan. After Li Siyuan came to power, he appointed Ren Yuan as the "Judge of the Three Departments", that is, the head of the empire's finances. Li Siyuan's intention was very clear. The country was short of money, and only Shu could help. However, how much money was hidden in Shu, only Ren Yuan, who followed the army into Shu, knew the inside story.

Ren Yuan certainly understood Li Siyuan's good intentions, so he sent Zhao Jiliang to Sichuan to transport the money, together with the money and grain in the Chengdu treasury, back to Luoyang with interest.

Zhao Jiliang was a man of both civil and military talents. When he first served in the Later Liang Dynasty, he was first appointed as a staff member by Wang Tan, the governor of Baoyi Army, and then as a military officer. When Yang Shihou was in charge of Weizhou Army, he appointed him as the county magistrate of Yuanshi County, and later promoted him to be a military officer of Weizhou. When Emperor Zhuangzong entered Wei, Li Cunxu had heard of his talents in both civil and military affairs, and promoted him to be in charge of taxation in Weizhou.

At that time, Liang and Jin were in a tug-of-war along the river, and the consumption was unprecedentedly huge. In order to meet military needs, Kong Qian increased the exploitation of the Heshuo area, and imposed heavy taxes like a tiger, causing a large number of people in Weizhou to flee. The loss of productivity made it more difficult to collect taxes, and Kong Qian further increased the intensity of exploitation in order to meet the standards, and this cycle went back and forth, falling into a vicious circle.

The Weizhou area was almost dug deep into the ground, squeezing every last drop of oil out of the people. However, Li Cunxu was still not satisfied. He called Zhao Jiliang and blamed him for his poor tax collection.

If it were someone else, they would just obey in front of him and exploit him more after they retired. But Zhao Jiliang stiffened his neck and retorted to Li Cunxu, asking: "When will your highness destroy the Later Liang?"

Li Cunxu had never seen such an arrogant person in his life, but he saw one today. "Your duty is to supervise taxation, how dare you interfere in military affairs?"

Zhao Jiliang replied: "Your Highness only knows how to attack and defend, and you also levy heavy taxes without caring about the people. If you continue like this, not only Henan, but even Hebei may not belong to Your Highness!"

Li Cunxu was shocked. He was stunned at first, but then he changed his attitude. He held Zhao Jiliang's hands gratefully and said, "Sir, your words saved the world!" So he looked at Zhao Jiliang differently and respected him more. He promoted him to the position of Salt and Iron Judge and Taipuqing.

Now, Ren Yuan wanted to ask Meng Zhixiang for money. Although the money originally belonged to the court, the debtor was the master. If the debtor wanted to be paid, the creditor should appease the debtor appropriately. So Meng Zhixiang was promoted to the position of Shizhong, and Zhao Jiliang was appointed as the special envoy to announce the decree.

Zhao Jiliang arrived in Chengdu with the imperial edict granting him the title of Shizhong, and was warmly welcomed by Meng Zhixiang. But when Meng Zhixiang saw Zhao Jiliang's title of "Sanchuan Du Zhizhi Zhuanyunshi", his face changed instantly. This title translated means the highest military and political chief of Xichuan, Dongchuan, and Hanchuan, and also the director of transportation.

What was transported? The government treasury, taxes, etc. in Sanchuan.

The title of "Shizhong" suddenly lost its appeal. You give me an illusory honorary title in exchange for the real money in my hand? Grandma!
Meng Zhixiang's subordinates also unanimously opposed handing over the money and food. Without money and food, how could they feed tens of thousands of troops?
The Xichuan soldiers held their swords, gnashed their teeth, and glared at Meng Zhixiang. It only took a glance from Meng Zhixiang and Zhao Jiliang would die on the spot.

Meng Zhixiang said to them: "The things in the treasury (two million strings of cash) were originally the court's money. Now that it is presented to the court, we have nothing to say. I accept it. However, the taxes collected by the prefectures and counties are used to support the 100,000 Xichuan soldiers. No one can take a penny!"

The words were directed at his subordinates, but actually meant for Zhao Jiliang to hear.

Zhao Jiliang stood aside, not daring to say a word. He had to follow Meng Zhixiang's request and only transfer the "national tax" and give up interfering in the "local tax".

Meng Zhixiang and Zhao Jiliang were old acquaintances and had a certain degree of friendship. He knew that Zhao Jiliang was a man of both civil and military talents. As for the transportation of grain and money, each had his own duties and served his master. So he petitioned the court to keep Zhao Jiliang in Xichuan and recommended him as the deputy governor of Xichuan. You expanded the army and kept the money, but you also wanted to detain the court's talents and poach socialists? What on earth do you want to do?
Li Siyuan issued an edict appointing Zhao Jiliang as the commander of the militia in Guozhou and rejected Meng Zhixiang's request.

Meng Zhixiang decided to go all out and hid the imperial edict, forcibly detained Zhao Jiliang, and submitted another memorial to the court, asking for mercy and approving his request. After being rejected again, he sent envoys to Luoyang for the third time to petition.

There is no such thing as a third time, and Zhao Jiliang had been detained by Meng Zhixiang, so Li Siyuan had no choice but to go with the flow and agree to Meng Zhixiang's request to save face for both parties.

In this way, Zhao Jiliang became the deputy envoy of Xichuan Jiedushi and the most important counselor of Meng Zhixiang. From then on, Meng Zhixiang would consult Zhao Jiliang on all matters, big or small. Zhao Jiliang also became one of Meng Zhixiang's founding ministers in the future.

With money, food, troops and talents, Meng Zhixiang still had to eliminate his last worry, which was his family in the rear. So he sent people to Taiyuan to invite his wife and children to Chengdu.

In order to consider the overall situation, the weak Li Siyuan swallowed his anger and made concessions everywhere. However, don't forget that there was a "hawkish" official by his side, An Zhonghui.

An Zhonghui had long disliked Meng Zhixiang. This was because Meng Zhixiang was appointed by Li Cunxu as the governor of Xichuan. He was Li Cunxu's brother-in-law, not Li Siyuan's brother-in-law. He belonged to Li Cunxu, not Li Siyuan. It would be the best if Meng Zhixiang could be transferred back to the central government. However, this was a fantasy. Even Zhao Jiliang could not come back, so how could Meng Zhixiang come back?

In An Zhonghui's view, Xichuan Meng Zhixiang would rebel sooner or later.

What about Dongchuan? Needless to say, he will also rebel.

Dong Zhang, the governor of Dongchuan, was a sworn brother of Kong Xun and Gao Jichang of Jingnan. They were all servants of Li Rang, the richest man in Bianzhou. Later, they were adopted as sons by Li Rang, and Li Rang was adopted as son by Zhu Wen. Therefore, Dong Zhang, Kong Xun and Gao Jichang were all Zhu Wen's adopted grandsons.

Li Cunxu overthrew the Later Liang Dynasty, and Dong Zhang surrendered. He bribed the Later Tang dignitaries heavily, thus keeping his high position and generous salary and gaining the trust of Li Cunxu.

Like Kong Xun and Gao Jichang, Dong Zhang, who rose from slavery, had keen observation skills. He shrewdly clung to Guo Chongtao's thigh and licked Guo Chongtao. He followed the army to attack Shu and got the good job of guarding Dongchuan.

Meng Zhixiang of Xichuan and Dong Zhang of Dongchuan were all Guo Chongtao's men, which was one of the things that framed Guo Chongtao. Whether they were Guo Chongtao's men or Li Cunxu's men, in short, they were not Li Siyuan's men.

Especially Dong Zhang, who was also a sworn brother of Kong Xun. The relationship between Kong Xun and An Zhonghui was also very delicate. They were inseparable in the early stage, but later, because of the "Li Siyuan's selection of a daughter-in-law" incident, Kong Xun betrayed An Zhonghui and the two became enemies.

This is why some historical books give two completely opposite explanations when discussing the relationship between Dong Zhang and An Zhonghui. Some historical materials say that An Zhonghui was suspicious of Dong Zhang and suppressed him, eventually forcing him to rebel; others say that An Zhonghui protected Dong Zhang and wanted to use Dong Zhang to suppress Meng Zhixiang.

The book is not detailed. This book provides the golden key to see the essence of the facts: the relationship between An Zhonghui and Kong Xun. In the early stage, An Zhonghui and Kong Xun were good friends, so he wanted to support Dong and destroy Meng. After breaking up with Kong Xun, he wanted to eliminate Dong and destroy Meng.

An Zhonghui strongly advocated the reduction of the power of the feudal lords and the deployment of forces in the two Sichuan provinces. What arrangements did he make and what results would he reap?
(End of this chapter)