History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 431 The Punishment of a Gentleman
[The punishment of a gentleman]

Facing Li Yan's mysterious, solemn and grand request for the imperial edict, Meng Zhixiang relaxed, smiled and spoke in a kind tone, but the words he said made Li Yan extremely uncomfortable:
"You are well-known for your eloquence, and I'm sure you are often proud of it in private. I wonder if you have ever heard of the saying 'A sharp tongue can ruin a country, and a sharp tongue can disrupt the law and politics'?"

Of course Li Yan had heard of it, as Confucius once said this.

"Then do you remember the story of Confucius killing Shao Zhengmao?"

Shao Zhengmao, whose given name was Mao, was an official title. He was a colleague of Confucius, and both opened private schools and gave lectures to the public. At that time, Shao Zhengmao's training courses were more popular than Confucius's, and even Confucius' students skipped classes to listen to Shao Zhengmao's courses. As the saying goes, colleagues are enemies. Confucius was later appointed as the Grand Sikou (in charge of criminal justice) by the State of Lu. Just seven days after taking office, he killed Shao Zhengmao and left his body exposed for three days. Conquer people with virtue.

Confucius' students were puzzled by this, thinking that Confucius was just a naked hatred of his peers, taking revenge on private grudges, and being shameless and dirty. But no one dared to question their teacher. Finally, Zigong couldn't bear it anymore and questioned Confucius, saying, "Didn't you say that you should win people over with virtue? You are too cruel."

Confucius explained, "I call this 'the punishment of a gentleman'. A person with a treacherous heart, a stubborn behavior, a false speech, a broad memory of ugliness, and a generous attitude towards wrongdoing are the five worst qualities. A person who possesses any one of these qualities will be punished by a gentleman. Shao Zhengmao has all five of these qualities. This guy is a villain! He has deceived people and has left a deep poison. He must be killed!"

After Shao Zhengmao's death, his teachings were successfully lost due to Confucius' unremitting efforts.

"This..." Li Yan felt that the atmosphere was not right. It didn't seem like a seminar on "The Analects of Confucius". Could it be that Meng Zhixiang also wanted to convince others with his virtue?

Meng Zhixiang's attitude remained kind, and his tone remained tepid. He continued:
"Sir, you are also very eloquent, and your character is also questionable. Shao Zhengmao has five evils, and you also have five sins. Do you know clearly? Well, let me help you explain -" Meng Zhixiang said, while counting on his fingers:

"At the beginning, he broke an arrow as an oath with the Shu Lord Wang Zongyan, and when the other party surrendered, he broke his promise and massacred the entire family. The law of nature is obvious, and retribution is cyclical, which led to the successive defeat of the two countries. This is his first sin;
When he pacified Shu, he first entered the palace, stole the gold and silver treasures in the palace, and abducted the concubines and palace maids. This was his second crime.

He deceived the Shu people by promising them a reduction in taxes before they surrendered, but then doubled the taxes after they surrendered. This is his third crime.

He spread rumors to alienate the emperor and his ministers, saying that Xichuan was plotting a rebellion. He specially set up two new vassal states to occupy advantageous terrain, strangle Xichuan's throat, and covet Xichuan's land. His crime is punishable by death.
You only said that the imperial edict ordered the execution of eunuchs, but didn't you know that the imperial edict also said that the military supervisors should be removed? Now, there are no military supervisors in the armies and towns across the country, but only a military supervisor was sent to me in Xichuan. I ask you, what is the meaning of this? What are you thinking? This is your fifth major sin!"

After counting the five major sins, Meng Zhixiang slammed his big palm with five fingers outstretched on the table. The cups, chopsticks, and bowls were all bounced up high like an earthquake.

Meng Zhixiang's amiable expression had disappeared, replaced by a chilling murderous aura.

Li Yan was so frightened that he lost all his dignity and fell to his knees, begging Meng Zhixiang to spare his life.

Meng Zhixiang slowly stood up, walked to Li Yan, and said four words in a gentle voice, "It is difficult to offend public anger."

The voice was very low, but to Li Yan it sounded like the collapse of the heavens and the splitting of the earth. It frightened him so much that he collapsed to the ground like a puddle of mud.

The people of Xichuan are afraid of you and hate you even more. Today, I, Meng, will kill you on behalf of the people of Xichuan.

Confucius’s “gentleman’s punishment” was to kill Shao Zhengmao; the descendants of the second sage will also follow the example of the sage.

Meng Zhixiang walked down the steps slowly, then turned around and bowed slowly to Li Yan, who was limp in the hall, as if saying goodbye to an old friend.

The Xichuan general Wang Yanzhu rushed forward tacitly, lifted Li Yan up, dragged him into the yard, raised his sword and cut off the man's head.

The whole process was like being muted, clean and neat, a professional execution for thirty years.

I don't know if it was a coincidence of fate or Meng Zhixiang had ulterior motives, or if I was making a far-fetched assumption, but the name of Wang Yanzhu, the Xichuan general who beheaded Li Yan, is pronounced as "Wang Yan Zhu" in Chinese. After Wang Zongyan ascended the throne, he changed his name to "Wang Yan", so he is also recorded as "Wang Yan" in history books. For the convenience of narration, this book retains his generation name "Zong".

Li Yan instigated Wang Yan's death and the destruction of his country, and finally he died at the hands of "Wang Yan Zhu".

After killing Li Yan, Meng Zhixiang summoned Ding Zhijun, the commander of the left wing cavalry and infantry, and said to him, "When Li Yan led a delegation to the Former Shu Kingdom, you were his deputy, so we were old friends. Now, I'd like to trouble you to collect the body of our old friend."

If letting Wang Yanzhu kill Li Yan was an unintentional act of Meng Zhixiang, then letting Ding Zhijun collect Li Yan's body was a deliberate arrangement by Meng Zhixiang. He was sending a signal to the outside world that he was really not settling old scores or avenging the people of Shu. Li Yan did not die on a visit to the former Shu, but died while supervising the army in Xichuan.

After killing Li Yan, Meng Zhixiang submitted a memorial to the court, saying that Li Yan had falsely conveyed the imperial edict in Chengdu, claiming that he was ordered by the emperor to replace me as the governor of Xichuan, and urged me to go to the capital to pay homage, and also promised rewards to the soldiers without authorization, and now he has been killed by me.

There was another official in the court, Yang Lingzhi, who was on a business trip to Chengdu. As soon as he arrived at Lutou Pass, he heard the news that Li Yan had been killed. He immediately turned around and ran all the way back to Luoyang, daring not to enter Shu even at all costs.

When Li Siyuan received Meng Zhixiang's memorial, he just sighed helplessly. They were all experienced people, so there was no need to speak in code. The court did not ask, investigate, or pursue the death of Li Yan.

Not only did the court fail to investigate the truth behind Li Yan's death, it also sent Li Renju to Xichuan to express condolences to Meng Zhixiang and the officials and people of Xichuan.

Zhu Hongzhao, the deputy governor of Dongchuan, who was in the same batch as Li Yan, became restless after hearing about Li Yan's experience, but he did not dare to rashly propose to return to Luoyang for fear of irritating Dong Zhang, the governor of Dongchuan.

Zhu Hongzhao was a very smart man. He took advantage of the drinking time to talk to Dong Zhang and said a lot of true things. Zhu Hongzhao was originally a confidant of Li Siyuan and was trusted by him. However, he was envied and hated by An Zhonghui. It was because of An Zhonghui's exclusion that he was placed in the local area for many years and could not get close to the central government. Now, he was exiled to Sichuan by An Zhonghui!
Although it seemed like a grumble, it was actually sending an important signal to Dong Zhang: I am not An Zhonghui's spy. Like you, I am also a person who is suspected and excluded by him. We are comrades who share the same mission.

As a result, Dong Zhang gradually changed his hostile attitude towards Zhu Hongzhao.

Not long after, Dong Zhang needed to send someone to Luoyang for something, so he found Zhu Hongzhao, hoping that he could go on a long journey.

This must be a test from Dong Zhang!
Zhu Hongzhao pretended to be very reluctant and tried his best to shirk the responsibility, "Change to someone else. I don't want to see An Zhonghui's ugly face. He also hates to see me. Maybe he will take this opportunity to kill me in Luoyang, and I won't be able to come back...Change to someone else."

After several refusals, Zhu Hongzhao's acting skills successfully fooled Dong Zhang. At the last moment, Zhu Hongzhao finally "very reluctantly" accepted the task, "For the people of Dongchuan, for Marshal Dong... I'm willing to give it my all!"

After leaving Zizhou, Zhu Hongzhao rushed into Luoyang like an arrow, and finally left Dongchuan, a place of trouble!
(End of this chapter)