History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 448: An Zhonghui's Doomsday 3
Although Shi Jingtang was the commander-in-chief, he was a staunch "peace advocate" who opposed sending troops from the beginning. Now he was hesitating at Jianmen Pass, which made it easy for him to be accused of being passive and lazy, playing with the enemy and not advancing, and nurturing the enemy for his own benefit. Therefore, he was very resistant to An Zhonghui's sudden visit, so he made a series of reports, exaggerating the difficulties faced by the front line and urging Li Siyuan to withdraw his troops and stop fighting.

After An Zhonghui left the capital, the central government became dominated by the "harem-eunuch alliance". Concubine Wang De, Meng Hanqiong and others joined forces with An Zhonghui's political enemies in the court to exert forces within the court, while Shi Jingtang cooperated externally. The two major forces worked together internally and externally, and spared no effort to discredit the war between the two Sichuan provinces and slander An Zhonghui.

Under such circumstances, Li Siyuan finally wavered and began to consider extricating himself from the quagmire of the two Sichuans. He took the initiative to release the 1,500 Xichuan soldiers detained in Kuizhou and showed goodwill to Meng Zhixiang of Xichuan, as mentioned above.

An Zhonghui knew that once he left the capital, he would inevitably suffer a double blow from both the court and the outside world, so he had to reach Jianmen Pass as quickly as possible to help Shi Jingtang win a victory and turn the unfavorable situation around. He traveled day and night and arrived in Fengxiang.

The previous governor of Fengxiang was Li Jihuan, the son of Li Maozhen. Before the war between Sichuan and Liangchuan began, Li Siyuan moved Li Jihuan to Xuanwu Army in Bianzhou, and let his trusted confidant Zhu Hongzhao stay in Fengxiang. This move was probably due to concerns about Li Jihuan's loyalty. Fengxiang, as the land connection point between the Central Plains and the two Sichuans, had a vital strategic position.

As a direct descendant of Li Siyuan, Zhu Hongzhao had been suppressed and excluded by An Zhonghui until he was appointed as the deputy envoy of Dongchuan Jiedushi, and then fled back to the central government. After returning to the central government, Zhu Hongzhao, who was like a stray dog, was very shrewd and licked An Zhonghui. When An Zhonghui and Wang Jianli were fighting in the court, Zhu Hongzhao firmly supported An Zhonghui.

From then on, An Zhonghui gradually changed his attitude towards Zhu Hongzhao and began to treat him as his own party member, promoting him and making important use of him, until he put him in the high position of Fengxiang Jiedushi.

This time, An Zhonghui arrived in Fengxiang exhausted. Zhu Hongzhao went out of the city to greet him in person. He knelt in front of An Zhonghui's horse and welcomed An Zhonghui to come and guide the work.

That evening, Zhu Hongzhao invited An Zhonghui to his humble home and led him to the inner room. His wife and children all surrounded An Zhonghui, kowtowed to him and greeted him. The whole family was respectful and served the best wine and food, warmly entertaining the benefactor who had promoted them.

It is better to help someone in need than to add icing on the cake. An Zhonghui was overwhelmed by the political struggle and was in a very bad state. This trip to the west was like being in trouble. Zhu Hongzhao's respectful and cautious attitude touched An Zhonghui deeply.

Moved, An Zhonghui couldn't help but burst into tears and said a few heartfelt words to Zhu Hongzhao, "The treacherous officials in the court framed me again and again and pursued me relentlessly. I couldn't resist and my life was almost hanging by a thread. Fortunately, the emperor was very perceptive and remained unmoved, which saved the lives of my family."

The two of them sighed with emotion, crying and drinking.

After a short rest, An Zhonghui set off again. His time was precious and he could not afford to waste it.

Zhu Hongzhao again respectfully sent An Zhonghui on his way.

As soon as An Zhonghui left, Zhu Hongzhao wrote two letters. One was sent to the court, saying that An Zhonghui was full of complaints and spoke ill of the court and the emperor, and should not be sent to the front line, otherwise he would seize Shi Jingtang's military power, and the consequences would be disastrous. The other letter was sent to Jianmen Pass at full speed to Shi Jingtang. The message in the letter was even more frightening: An Zhonghui's actions were eccentric, and he was afraid that the soldiers on the front line might be fearful and suspicious. It would be best to stop him head-on to avoid inciting a mutiny!

Shi Jingtang was terrified when he received the secret letter, and hurriedly submitted a memorial, saying that the soldiers on the front line were terrified after hearing that An Zhonghui was coming to supervise the battle, and that the army was in danger of getting out of control at any time. He asked Your Majesty to immediately order him to return to the capital and never come to the front line!
The eunuch Meng Hanqiong in the central government also seized this opportunity to accuse An Zhonghui of various faults.

The three anti-An forces in the central government, local governments and the front line worked together. Li Siyuan finally couldn't stand the pressure and ordered An Zhonghui to cancel his original plan and return to Beijing immediately. An Zhonghui received the imperial edict halfway (Sanquan), so he turned his horse around and returned the same way.

Sanquan is a very interesting place. From the beginning to the end of Li Cunxu's war to destroy Shu, the two sides only fought a small-scale battle at Sanquan. Now, An Zhonghui, who instigated the war against Shu, also turned back here. Sanquan became the turning point of the two Sichuan-Shu wars.

When An Zhonghui passed through Fengxiang, Zhu Hongzhao changed his attitude and refused to let him enter the city. An Zhonghui realized the seriousness of the matter and rode eastward in a hurry.

Before he could rush back to the capital, he received the latest order: After careful study by the organization, it has been decided to appoint Comrade An Zhonghui, the Privy Councilor, the Guardian Grand Marshal, and the Minister of the Central Secretariat, as the Acting Grand Tutor, the Minister of the Central Secretariat, and the Jiedushi of Hezhong, and to promote him to the Duke of Yi.

Pay attention and highlight the key points: the Privy Councilor was changed to the Jiedushi of Hezhong.

An Zhonghui no longer needed to come to the central government and could go directly to Hezhong to take up his post.

This was an even more dangerous signal. Without the central government, An Zhonghui had no chance to fight back when attacked by his political enemies. It was like being in the ring. Even if the opponent was strong, the boxer could at least fight hard and die with honor. But now, An Zhonghui was tied up, blindfolded, and allowed to be beaten by his opponent.

Prime Minister Zhao Feng interceded for An Zhonghui and told Li Siyuan that An Zhonghui had followed His Majesty for decades and his loyalty was evident, but he was framed because of his rude character and reckless actions. If His Majesty sat back and did nothing, An Zhonghui would soon die unjustly.

Li Siyuan thought that Zhao Feng favored him because he was promoted by An Zhonghui, and he was unhappy. He brushed him off with a few words.

Wang Defei and eunuch Meng Hanqiong persecuted An Zhonghui in order to fight for his power; Shi Jingtang tried to shift the blame to An Zhonghui in order to clear himself of the accusation of defeat; the two-faced Zhu Hongzhao also added insult to injury in order to get a bowl of leftovers from the political struggle; Li Congke also joined the "anti-An" alliance in order to save his life; other people who had been excluded by An Zhonghui also wanted to beat him up and vent their anger...

An Zhonghui is now more miserable than all the powerful ministers who have fallen from power in the past. Almost overnight, people inside and outside the court want to kill him. He single-handedly united the political circle and became the public enemy of the whole nation.

Did An Zhonghui have friends in the central court? Feng Dao, Zhao Feng?
No. Although Feng Dao and Zhao Feng had spoken for An Zhonghui many times and were even used as a shotgun by An Zhonghui, they were not "An Party" and did not belong to any political faction. Their belief was loyalty to the emperor and patriotism. They were honest and upright, noble and arrogant. They were not against people but against things. Although they were promoted by An Zhonghui, they would not lose their faith. They never licked the power, nor were they afraid of the powerful, and of course they would not add insult to injury.

They helped An Zhonghui to exonerate before because it was truly a false accusation and slander. What they were defending was not An Zhonghui, but justice and the law.

Under the joint attack of multiple forces, An Zhonghui had no way to escape.

(End of this chapter)