History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 447: An Zhonghui's Doomsday 2
How could Bian Yanwen, a little-known character like a grain of sand, suddenly frame An Zhonghui, who was as stable as a mountain? Li Siyuan and An Zhonghui both knew that Bian Yanwen was a gun directed by someone, and there must be a powerful gang behind him, which was big enough to compete with An Zhonghui.

What was the purpose of this force in killing An Zhonghui? Or, what else did they want to do after killing An Zhonghui?
An Zhonghui was scared, and Li Siyuan was also scared.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that one of them is an emperor who rules the world, and the other is a powerful minister with omnipotent power. Beneath their glamorous appearance, their power is gradually being hollowed out and there are undercurrents lurking everywhere.

They were scared and cried very sadly.

A few days later, the simple and upright Prime Minister Zhao Feng submitted a memorial, saying that someone had recently falsely accused high-ranking officials of the empire but had not been convicted, and asked the emperor to severely punish them according to the law.

So Li Siyuan executed the entire family of Li Xingde and Zhang Jian.

An Zhonghui framed Li Congke, and “some people” framed An Zhonghui. Please note Li Siyuan’s attitude towards two similar cases at almost the same time:

Li Congke was "plotting a rebellion", and Li Siyuan repeatedly urged and instructed that the key witness in the case, Yang Yanwen, must be captured alive and interrogated personally to get to the bottom of the matter;

When An Zhonghui was accused of "rebellion", Li Siyuan only executed Bian Yanwen, who had the lowest rank and was the first to spread the rumor. After the prime minister raised questions, he reluctantly killed the other two people, but he never proposed to find the three people to question them face to face and find out the truth.

Li Siyuan knew that the three people were making false accusations, but he did not investigate the real culprit behind the incident and even cried with An Zhonghui.

These little clues are so easy to overlook, they are foreshadowing of something big in the future.

An Zhonghui escaped the false accusation, but he could not escape the fifteenth. The previous article briefly introduced An Zhonghui's arrogance and autocracy, and he made too many enemies.

Concubine Wang De colluded with the eunuch Meng Hanqiong and gained more and more trust from Li Siyuan. The signs of "the harem interfering in politics" and "eunuchs interfering in politics" were revived, and they greedily sought more power.

Who has the most power? An Zhonghui. So Concubine Wang De spared no effort to attack An Zhonghui and fight for the power in his hands.

The harem, eunuchs, and all the civil and military officials in the court... That's how Guo Chongtao died. An Zhonghui was terrified. He used the example of Li Cunxu to persuade Li Siyuan more than once, and used the example of "beating the father to plot against Liu" to persuade Concubine Wang Defei, but he didn't expect that he also had to be vigilant against Guo Chongtao's previous experience.

This is a common mistake people often make, they are very observant of other people's shortcomings, but turn a blind eye to their own faults. Human eyes can see the towering Mount Tai, can look out over the blue sky of the East China Sea, but cannot see the back of their own heads.

After careful consideration, An Zhonghui decided to surrender and withdraw from this political struggle that he could not win. He submitted a petition to resign, willing to hand over all power, and return home, just to save his life.

Li Siyuan was upset and replied, "I trusted you very much. I killed the person who falsely accused you. Why are you still like this? Don't you trust me? Can our relationship not stand the test?"

A few days later, An Zhonghui personally found Li Siyuan and asked him to resign and retire. This big man who was still a big shot not long ago was now in tears:

"I was born in a humble family, and was promoted to a high position by grace. Suddenly, I was framed by a villain. If it weren't for your majesty's insight, I'm afraid my entire family would have been killed. However, I am really incompetent and under great pressure at work. I'm really afraid that one day I will not be able to withstand such rumors. I beg your majesty to give me a military town for the sake of our decades of friendship, so that I can spend my old age in peace!"

Li Siyuan did not approve it.

An Zhonghui insisted again and again, and Li Siyuan became furious, thinking that An Zhonghui was blackmailing him, "Do whatever you want, I can't live without you?" The young couple was possessed.

The emperor and his minister parted unhappily again. Li Siyuan then summoned the prime minister, eunuchs and other close ministers to discuss the issue of An Zhonghui's stay or departure.

The eunuch Meng Hanqiong fully agreed, for a lot of reasons, such as An Zhonghui's recent mistakes on many major issues, and his constant threat to resign to threaten the emperor...

Prime Minister Feng Dao thought that what the eunuch Meng Hanqiong said made sense. "It is better to obey than to be respectful. Since An Zhonghui took the initiative to ask to resign and his attitude is sincere, let's do as he wishes."

Prime Minister Zhao Feng strongly opposed it, arguing that An Zhonghui was in a high position and should not be touched lightly.

Fan Yanguang supported Zhao Feng's opinion and raised a very realistic question, that is, if An Zhonghui was removed, who would replace him.

Li Siyuan turned his face to Fan Yanguang, "Can't you do that?"

This sentence made Fan Yanguang break out in a cold sweat. He hurriedly declined the position, saying that he had little experience and lacked moral integrity and was not up to the task.

The final result was to reject An Zhonghui's resignation request and let Fan Yanguang also serve as the Privy Councilor to dilute An Zhonghui's power.

At the end of this year (930), the war in Sichuan and Sichuan reached a stalemate. The main central army led by Shi Jingtang was halted at Jianmen Pass, and the defense line in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River collapsed. As mentioned above, the war situation began to become unfavorable to the Later Tang Dynasty.

Li Siyuan looked worried, and said to his close officials: "It seems that I have to lead the army myself."

An Zhonghui stepped down from his post and made a report, saying that as the Privy Councilor, he should bear the main responsibility for the war, and requested the court to allow him to supervise the battle at the front line.

Li Siyuan's statement that he would personally lead the army was a subtle criticism of the civil and military officials in the court, especially An Zhonghui. An Zhonghui certainly understood Li Siyuan's intention. As the promoter of this war, who would go if he didn't?
The War between the Two Sichuan Provinces was An Zhonghui's last chance.

Now, false accusations and slanders against him were pouring in from all directions like a tide, and he gradually felt the strength of his opponents, so much so that he cried and asked to resign and retire repeatedly. If he could take over the two Sichuans successfully through this war, then he might still have a chance of survival in the court, but once he failed, his political opponents would certainly make a big fuss about the blame for the defeat.

After the war in the two Sichuan provinces turned unfavorable, An Zhonghui became more anxious than Li Siyuan.

After Li Siyuan approved An Zhonghui's request, An Zhonghui did not dare to delay for a moment, packed up his things that day, and set out early the next morning. He doubled his speed along the way and advanced hundreds of miles a day.

When the military towns west of Tongguan heard about this, they were all panicked and immediately worked overtime, increasing the collection and transportation efforts, and at all costs, they wanted to transport food and supplies to the front line of Jianmenguan. As a result, a large number of civilians and livestock died of overwork.

After learning the news that An Zhonghui was going to the front line to supervise the battle, the person who was most afraid was Shi Jingtang, the commander-in-chief of the front line.

Generally speaking, when the side has lost a battle or is in an extremely unfavorable situation, if the top leaders suddenly go to the front line to inspect and supervise the battle, it means that they have great distrust in the commander-in-chief of the front line. The subsequent actions may be to dismiss him on the spot and investigate him, or even to execute him as a warning to others.

(End of this chapter)