History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 443: An Zhonghui Steps Down from the Altar 3
[An Zhonghui steps down from the altar 3]

6. Comfort

Just because Kang Fu was proficient in the Tibetan language and could communicate with Li Siyuan in encrypted form, which threatened An Zhonghui's monopoly, An Zhonghui came up with a vicious plan to kill someone with a borrowed knife, and deliberately sent Kang Fu to the turbulent northwest, where even Li Siyuan himself could not keep him.

Unexpectedly, Kangfu was able to pacify the Northwest, help the Later Tang central government manage the northwestern tribes, open up the Hexi Corridor, and contribute to the "Mingzong's prosperous era."

For the Later Tang Dynasty, this was a great thing. But don't forget An Zhonghui's original intention. His motive was very simple, he just wanted to kill Kang Fu.

Just because Kang Fu could bypass him and communicate directly with Li Siyuan, he wanted to kill him.

7. Fu Xi

Fu Xi was originally Wang Rong of Zhenzhou. After the alliance between Jin and Zhao, he was sent to serve Li Cunxu. Zhang Wenli launched the "Zhenzhou Mutiny" and massacred Wang Rong's family. Li Cunxu sent Fu Xi and others to attack Zhang Wenli, but Fu Xi failed for a long time and the Hedong Army lost four generals in succession.

He was later appointed as the military governor of Tianping Army in Yunzhou.

At this point, Fu Xi and Li Siyuan had an intersection: the Tianping Army in Yunzhou.

Li Cunxu wanted to place Fu Xi in a military post. He first offered him the post of governor of Chengde Army in Zhenzhou, but Fu Xi refused. Then he divided Weizhou into two towns and asked him to be the governor of one of them. Fu Xi was even more strongly opposed, saying that the Later Liang lost Heshuo because of the division of Weizhou.

Later, Fu Xi proposed a solution, which was to grant him a quota for the vassal state currently under the control of the Later Liang Dynasty, and "let him take it himself." At that time, the Yunzhou Tianping Army was under the control of the Later Liang Dynasty, so Li Cunxu gave Fu Xi a blank check for the Yunzhou Tianping Army.

However, as the war progressed, Li Cunxu launched the "Left Hook" operation, and Li Siyuan led his troops to capture Yunzhou. This was a clash between Li Siyuan and Fu Xi, and perhaps the conflict began at that time.

Later, Zhao Zaili led a "Weizhou mutiny". Li Cunxu sent Li Siyuan to lead the expedition and ordered Fu Xi to come from Qingzhou to help. When Fu Xi was halfway there, he heard that Li Siyuan had defected and became the leader of the rebels. He wanted to lead his troops back to Qingzhou, but was forced by the military supervisor Yang Xiwang to continue to Weizhou to quell the rebellion. At this time, Li Siyuan also sent an envoy to invite him to join the rebellion and overthrow Li Cunxu.

At the beginning of Li Siyuan's rebellion, he encountered a small setback and was weak, which made Fu Xi even more worried. Fu Xi was afraid of wolves in front and tigers behind, and he was in an awkward situation. He couldn't make up his mind and didn't know which side to stand on.

At the critical moment, Huo Yanwei lied to him, saying that Li Cunxu actually didn't suspect many people and only wanted to kill ten people, including Guo Chongtao, Zhu Youqian, Li Siyuan... You are ranked fourth.

Only then did Fu Xi decide to follow Li Siyuan.

After Li Siyuan became emperor, he regarded Fu Xi as a founding hero, which made An Zhonghui, a "direct descendant of the dragon" with pure blood, very unhappy.

In An Zhonghui's view, Fu Xi is "not of our kind" and must be attacked for two reasons:
First, Fu Xi had always been a follower of Li Cunxu, and was clearly a member of the "Zhuangzong remnant faction";
Secondly, he was indecisive, had an improper attitude and weak will during the "Weizhou Mutiny". He is an opportunist who forgets his principles for the sake of profit and changes his ways according to the wind. He is not worthy of trust.

Fu Xi regarded himself as a senior official of the previous dynasty, and believed that his qualifications and contributions far surpassed those of An Zhonghui. Fu Xi was one of the few people who dared to confront An Zhonghui head-on, and he seized on An Zhonghui's various mistakes in foreign policy and attacked him.

An Zhonghui ordered his men to falsely accuse Fu Xi of exploiting the people, and then deprived Fu Xi of his real power and retired as the Prince's Grand Tutor. Fu Xi was innocent, but after being wrongly dismissed, he became depressed and hunted and drank to relieve his depression. After just over a year, he unfortunately died of a stroke.

8. Wang Jianli
He encountered a tough nut to crack, and in order to defeat Wang Jianli, An Zhonghui sacrificed half his life.

Wang Jianli was also a direct descendant of Li Siyuan. When Li Siyuan was the governor of Daizhou, he promoted him to be the captain of the patrol team (Yuhoujiang).

Although Daizhou is only a remote and desolate third- or fourth-tier small city, its geographical location cannot be underestimated. It has special political significance to the Hedong Group. It is the "dragon's rise" and the best district of the Hedong Group. In the early days, the Shatuo people took root here, and Li Guochang, Li Keyong and other Shatuo "ancestors" also rest here.

During the reign of Li Cunxu, people were sent to Daizhou to pay respect to the ancestors' tombs. After arriving in Daizhou, these imperial envoys relied on the power of Li Cunxu behind them to be arrogant and lawless and oppress the people. The iron-faced and impartial Wang Jianli was not afraid of power. He arrested all those who violated the law and discipline and used flogging according to the law.

These lackeys ran to Li Cunxu and cried, "When beating a dog, one has to look at the owner first. This guy didn't just hit our butts, he clearly hit you in the face!"
Li Cunxu thought what he said made sense, so he became furious and ordered his men to capture Wang Jianli and teach him a lesson.

Li Siyuan tried his best to save Wang Jianli's life, and Wang Jianli became an instant celebrity, becoming a positive role model of unyielding loyalty and impartial law enforcement, and gained countless fans.

Afterwards, Li Siyuan was successively promoted to military governor of a vassal state. No matter where he was promoted, he always kept Wang Jianli by his side, promoted him and made important appointments to important positions, and constantly gave him higher positions and titles.

When Emperor Mingzong entered Wei, Li Siyuan's wife and children were all in Zhenzhou. Wang Jianli, who stayed behind in Zhenzhou, took the initiative to kill the eunuchs who supervised the army, recruited the garrison, and saved the lives of Li Siyuan's family. He became the lifesaver of Li Siyuan's family.

After Li Siyuan ascended the throne, he immediately promoted Wang Jianli to be the acting governor of Zhenzhou Chengde Army and the acting prime minister, and soon promoted him to the governor of Zhenzhou Chengde Army, with the additional titles of acting grand marshal and co-prime minister.

The Jiedushi were also divided into different levels. In addition to the hard conditions such as the geographical location and economic prosperity of the military town, in the special period of the Five Dynasties, there was also a hidden rule of political factors, that is, the "dragon's rise place" of the current emperor, that is, the military town before the emperor ascended the throne, such as the Xuanwu Army of Bianzhou during the reign of Zhu Wen.

Li Siyuan ascended the throne from Zhenzhou Chengde Army, so it would be a great honor to be able to command Zhenzhou Chengde Army. It also shows Li Siyuan's favor for Wang Jianli.

So... An Zhonghui became jealous again. He wanted to get rid of Wang Jianli and repeatedly slandered Wang Jianli in front of Li Siyuan. Wang Jianli also wrote a memorial to refute him.

They are all Li Siyuan's closest and most trusted followers. Li Siyuan can only play the role of a good guy and try to smooth things over.

Hard work pays off. Soon, An Zhonghui found a handle that could put Wang Jianli to death - treason!
That was when Wang Du, the Yiwu Army of Dingzhou, colluded with the Khitan and conspired to rebel. Wang Du secretly communicated with the Khitan and contacted his neighbors: Zhao Dejun of the Lulong Army of Youzhou and Wang Jianli of the Chengde Army of Zhenzhou. He wanted to pull everyone into the water together to establish the "Great Heshuo Co-prosperity Sphere" and restore the former separatist and dominant situation of the Heshuo towns.

Wang Jianli of Zhenzhou actually wrote a letter to express his support, expressing his willingness to support Wang Du in taking the lead and making things happen.

After An Zhonghui obtained this evidence, he was overjoyed and hurriedly reported it to Li Siyuan, accusing Wang Jianli of treason.

(End of this chapter)