History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 441: An Zhonghui Steps Down from the Altar
[An Zhonghui steps down from the altar]

If the war continued, the armies of the two Sichuan provinces would take advantage of the convenience of water routes and march north from Kuizhou directly to Luoyang. At this time, if Jingnan and Huainan also jointly launched an attack, Shi Jingtang's main force would not have enough time to rescue the king, and it is very likely that they would just arrive in Chang'an and hear of the "Xingjiaomen Mutiny" from Luoyang again.

The painful lesson of Li Cunxu's death and the destruction of his country when he conquered Shu is right before our eyes. Li Siyuan was a personal participant and he has a deep understanding of this. The war between the two Sichuan provinces must end, immediately! Right now!

Shi Jingtang returned without waiting for the imperial edict, which won the approval of Li Siyuan. Not only was he not held accountable, but he was also promoted to the position of Tongpingzhangshi and deputy envoy of the six armies and guards. He was promoted from a general to a prime minister and was also in charge of the imperial guards.

Immediately afterwards, Li Siyuan issued an edict to blame An Zhonghui, saying that he alienated the relationship between Meng Zhixiang, Dong Zhang, Qian Liu and the central government. He defined An Zhonghui as the war criminal culprit in the Sichuan-Liangchuan War and added two "false" charges to him:

First, he secretly took his son who was left as a hostage in the central government away, which was evidence of treason;

The second is to plot to personally lead a large army to attack Huainan in order to gain control of the military power...

This is groundless?
This is a must have!
An Zhonghui, who was once a powerful figure and had great influence in the court, was used as a scapegoat by Li Siyuan and died.

Afterwards, Li Siyuan sent envoys to the two Sichuans, saying that the war between the two Sichuans was entirely caused by the treacherous minister An Zhonghui, who forged the emperor's edict and sent troops to attack without authorization. He has now been convicted and executed by the court. He asked the two Sichuans to eliminate misunderstandings and stay well. I love you.

An Zhonghui was the token of surrender that Li Siyuan gave to the two Sichuan provinces. He used An Zhonghui to exchange for world peace.

Meng Zhixiang accepted the court's sincerity and transferred back Li Renhan of Kuizhou. Zhao Tingyin, who was left behind by the Zhaowu Army of Lizhou, was upright and took the initiative to ask to give the Zhaowu Army of Lizhou to Li Zhao who fought side by side with him. Meng Zhixiang highly praised him, but did not agree with his request. Under Zhao Tingyin's repeated insistence, Meng Zhixiang finally made it happen.

Since then, Li Renhan from the southern battlefield and Zhao Tingyin from the northern battlefield returned to Chengdu one after another. The war between the two Sichuan provinces and the central government of the Later Tang Dynasty ended here.

Meng Zhixiang was not a fool. He accepted Li Siyuan's ceasefire because the war between the two Sichuan provinces had achieved his strategic goal. This was the best time to cash in. Otherwise, could he still overthrow the Later Tang Dynasty and unify the world? Next, his strategic goal would be to eliminate Dong Zhang of Dongchuan and unify the two Sichuan provinces.

Let’s put aside the story line of the civil war in the two Sichuan provinces for now and look back at the death of An Zhonghui.

An Zhonghui was a son of a martyr. His father was An Fuqian. When Zhu Wen annexed the two Zhus of Yan and Yun, Li Keyong sent the "Three An Brothers" An Fushun, An Fuqing and An Fuqian to lead troops to rescue them, but they were defeated and killed. An Zhonghui served under Li Siyuan since he was young. For more than ten years, he worked hard and made suggestions for Li Siyuan. Li Siyuan regarded him as a confidant and used him as his right-hand man after he gained power.

After Li Siyuan ascended the throne, An Zhonghui took it as his responsibility to unify the world and did his best to fulfill his duties.

Good intentions do not necessarily lead to good results. Compared with Li Siyuan, An Zhonghui was a little more eager for quick success and instant benefits. The previous article has used a lot of space to introduce the relationship between the major political forces during Li Siyuan's period and the central government of the Later Tang Dynasty. An Zhonghui played a big role in it and always appeared as a "hawk".

Objectively speaking, in dealing with these major issues, An Zhonghui's mistakes outweighed his achievements.

For example, on the issue of Liangzhe Qian Liu, "cutting off Qian Liu" became one of An Zhonghui's capital crimes; for another example, on the issue of Liangchuan, An Zhonghui's handling method on the issue of Liangchuan was very typical. He ignored objective facts and forcibly promoted the war between Liangchuan, causing heavy losses to the court, so "forcing Liangchuan to rebel" became another of his capital crimes. Li Siyuan's court was very weak, whether it was political, military, or economic, it was weak in all aspects without dead ends, so Li Siyuan showed compromise and concession everywhere, which was a bit cowardly. An Zhonghui, on the other hand, was in sharp contrast to him, like a keyboard warrior who only talked big. If it was just talk, it would be fine, but he really put it into practice and destroyed the country endlessly.

An Zhonghui is a vivid example of a "patriotic thief". Sometimes, our forbearance is not cowardice, but keeping a low profile. It is not that we will not retaliate, but that the time has not come yet.

The only time An Zhonghui was a "dovish" was when dealing with the Huainan issue. At that time, in order to stabilize the internal affairs, Xu Zhigao pretended to surrender and offered the land of Huainan to the Central Plains, hoping to gain An Zhonghui's sincerity. An Zhonghui was successfully fooled and gave Xu Zhigao a priceless jade belt as a token of trust, and advised Li Siyuan not to interfere in the internal affairs of Huainan by force, and wait for him to surrender.

Xu Zhigao deceived An Zhonghui's feelings.

An Zhonghui finally took the "dovish" stance, but was mocked like this. He was furious and tried his best to instigate Li Siyuan to use force against Huainan. Fortunately, Li Siyuan was wise and did not listen. An Zhonghui's deep hostility towards Huainan also became the source of another capital crime for him.

In fact, these capital charges were not the real reasons why Li Siyuan executed An Zhonghui, but excuses.

An Zhonghui fell from grace because he made too many enemies. He was upright and strong-willed, and could have been an excellent leader of the Commission for Discipline Inspection. However, as his power grew rapidly, he could not help but be unable to suppress his inner demons, and his virtues did not match his position, and he also pursued personal interests while working for the public good.

The real reason for his downfall was that he was involved in the most dangerous political struggle, touching the bottom line that no ruler should touch - the succession. The water here was too deep and he could not control it.

After Li Siyuan ascended the throne, within a few short years, An Zhonghui united his faction to fight against dissidents, and was ruthless in excluding dissidents, which was terrifying:

1. Dou Lu Ge and Wei Shuo

These two were prime ministers of the previous dynasty (Zhuangzong Li Cunxu), useless and flatterers who had accomplished nothing. A new emperor appoints new ministers, so it was understandable to remove these two. However, An Zhonghui's method was a bit cruel. At that time, the two prime ministers of the previous dynasty had been convicted, stripped of all official positions, retired at home, and permanently withdrew from the political stage. They no longer posed a threat to An Zhonghui, but An Zhonghui still wanted to kill them all, held them accountable for their mistakes on the Jingnan issue, and sentenced them to death.

2. Ren Yuan

He was ostracized because of his different political views from An Zhonghui. He was also deprived of all real power and retired at home. An Zhonghui also falsely accused him of colluding with Zhu Shouyin and sentenced him to death.

The unjust deaths of these three senior officials of the previous dynasty, especially the death of Ren Yuan, caused An Zhonghui's image to plummet. People of insight accused him of being narrow-minded, seeking revenge for personal gain, killing all enemies, and being inhumane. Even An Zhonghui himself felt that this was a bit excessive, but he had to do it even if he blamed himself.

At the beginning of the founding of the country, An Zhonghui created a terrifying personality for himself that said "those who obey me will prosper, and those who oppose me will perish."

(End of this chapter)