History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 449: An Zhonghui's Doomsday 4
This was a critical time point (February 931): the war between the two Sichuan provinces became increasingly severe. Meng Zhixiang of Xichuan conquered Kuizhou and his power bordered on Jingnan. Shi Jingtang withdrew his troops without authorization, disobeying the imperial edict. Xu Zhigao of Huainan completed the power transition and successfully took control of the Southern Wu regime. Qian Liu's Wuyue Kingdom temporarily severed diplomatic relations with the Later Tang Dynasty...

Once Meng Zhixiang of Xichuan and Xu Zhigao of Huainan form an alliance, the capricious villain of Jingnan will definitely join them, and then the entire Yangtze River Basin will form an "anti-Tang alliance". Under the leadership of Xichuan and Huainan, the power integration south of the Yangtze River will be completed again, and the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" will be staged again on the land of China, with Tang, Shu, and Wu.

Li Siyuan had to use An Zhonghui.

After removing An Zhonghui from his post, Li Siyuan first summoned Li Congke. The father and son hugged each other and cried bitterly. Li Siyuan said to Li Congke with tears in his eyes: "We almost never saw each other again!" Then, he promoted Li Congke to the rank of general of the imperial guards.

Immediately afterwards, Li Siyuan issued an edict to restore all of Qian Liu's official positions and titles, and sent senior officials to visit the Wuyue Kingdom to tell Qian Liu that the previous order for him to retire was a false imperial decree by An Zhonghui.

It was also at this time that Concubine Wang De was promoted to "Concubine Wang Shu" (Concubine Shu was the highest rank among concubines, and the original "Concubine Shu" Cao had been promoted to queen).

Li Siyuan's queen was Cao, who was modest, introverted and extremely low-key. As she grew old and ugly, she was not favored by Li Siyuan. She also knew that Li Siyuan liked Concubine Wang De the most, so when discussing the choice of queen, she gave way to Concubine Wang De, on the grounds that she was frail and sickly and not good at socializing.

Concubine Wang De knew her own place and did not dare to arbitrarily reverse the status of legitimate and illegitimate concubines, so she resolutely declined. In the end, Concubine Cao Shu was canonized as Empress Cao, and now Concubine Wang De replaced her as "Concubine Wang Shu".

After returning from the defeated army, Shi Jingtang not only did not receive any punishment, but was instead appointed as the deputy envoy of the six armies and became the deputy commander of the imperial guards.

Zhu Hongzhao, who betrayed An Zhonghui, was also promoted to the Envoy of the Southern Courtyard of Xuanhui.

The post of Xuanhui Northern Courtyard Envoy was held by the eunuch Meng Hanqiong.

Li Congke, Wang Defei, Shi Jingtang, Zhu Hongzhao, Meng Hanqiong... An Zhonghui's political enemies were all promoted and gained greater power.

Especially Meng Hanqiong and Wang Defei, the two are almost the reincarnation of "taking away father and scheming against Liu" and the eunuchs' power during the Li Cunxu period.

Although An Zhonghui was stubborn and partisan when he was in power, he was also serious and meticulous in his work. Whenever the palace's expenses slightly exceeded the budget or were unreasonable, An Zhonghui would reject them and report them to Li Siyuan. Therefore, when An Zhonghui was in power, the chaos of "three public consumption" in the palace almost disappeared.

But now, Meng Hanqiong directly bypassed the Privy Council and the Three Departments and withdrew money directly from the central treasury without even writing a receipt. It was just Meng Hanqiong's verbal order.

The amount of public funds embezzled by Concubine Wang De and Meng Hanqiong is too much to count.

The Privy Councilors Fan Yanguang and Zhao Yanshou witnessed An Zhonghui's experience with their own eyes, and could only turn a blind eye to the blatant violation of discipline by Concubine Wang De and Meng Hanqiong. When discussing state affairs, they only followed the lead of Concubine Wang De and Meng Hanqiong, and were submissive and obedient, just to save their own lives.

An Zhonghui had previously proposed to seek a military town to provide for his retirement, away from the center of political struggle, and spend his later years in peace. Now that he has the Hezhong National Defense Army, can he get what he wants?

Haha. Political struggles are always a life-and-death struggle. How can you quit halfway?

The court executed a eunuch named An Xilun on the charge of "spying on the emperor's daily life under the secret instructions of An Zhonghui." Spying on the emperor's daily life means spying on the emperor's health and travel plans. Generally speaking, this is not a minister's concern for the emperor, but a sign of rebellion.

The verdict clearly states that this guy was instructed by An Zhonghui. The accomplices have been brought to justice. Can the mastermind An Zhonghui still escape legal punishment?

An Zhonghui was greatly frightened, so he quickly submitted a petition requesting to resign from the post of Jiedushi of Hezhong.

Li Siyuan approved and allowed him to retire as the Prince's Grand Tutor.

On the day that Li Siyuan issued an edict approving An Zhonghui's resignation, An Zhonghui's two sons, An Chongzan and An Chongxu, who were in the capital, set out from the capital and rushed to Hezhong.

As soon as the two brothers entered the house, they startled An Zhonghui. An Zhonghui was shocked and exclaimed: "Why are you back?"

Some historical records say that they fled back secretly out of fear, but in fact they were framed.

According to convention, generals or ministers who led troops outside the capital had to leave their families in the capital. On the surface, it was a privilege granted by the lord to arrange a civil service job for the general's children in the capital, but in reality it was a hostage to prevent the general from defecting on the battlefield. Therefore, privately welcoming family members to the front line or the military garrison under one's jurisdiction was a major taboo and an important evidence of treason.

When Zhu Zhen was in Caozhou, he secretly welcomed his family members, which made Zhu Wen suspicious, and he finally executed Zhu Zhen in tears; Li Siyuan's eldest son Li Congshen was also kept by Li Cunxu, and was brutally killed because of "Mingzong's entry into Wei"; Meng Zhixiang secretly brought his family members from Taiyuan to Chengdu because he really wanted to rebel...

Now, the two stupid sons were tricked into the river. Isn't this obviously ironclad evidence of his "rebellion"?
An Zhonghui didn't even have time to scold his two stupid sons. He tied up the two idiots immediately, wrote a memorial to explain the whole story, expressed his loyalty to the emperor, and then sent his confidant to carry the memorial and escort his two sons back to the capital to clarify the facts.

The next day, an eunuch who had a good relationship with An Zhonghui came to the river. After seeing An Zhonghui, he immediately burst into tears and could not calm down for a long time.

The ominous premonition became stronger and stronger. When the sobbing eunuch slowly caught his breath, he finally said something shocking: Someone has accused you of treason. The emperor has urgently summoned Li Congzhang, the governor of the Shaanxi Baoyi Army, to garrison Hezhong. He has also sent infantry commander Yao Yanchou to lead troops to Hezhong. They are not here with good intentions!

The following record is very touching, and can be said to be tear-jerking. I hereby declare that the following is not fabricated, but is a translation of official history:

After listening to the eunuch's narration, An Zhonghui showed no panic or fear, but instead showed shame and self-blame. He said: "I am deeply indebted to the emperor, and I will never be able to repay it until my death. How could I rebel? It was just a false accusation by a traitor. However, this will make the emperor worried, and it will cause trouble for the court to mobilize the army. It is all because of me that the people are wasting money and labor. This is my sin!"

As soon as An Zhonghui's two sons arrived in Shanzhou, they were detained and imprisoned. Li Congzhang and others had already controlled all the entrances and exits to the ground in Hezhong. The arrogant An Zhonghui was now trapped.

Li Siyuan sent the Imperial Envoy Zhai Guangye as a member of the Central Special Investigation Team to Hezhong to investigate the case of "An Zhonghui's rebellion."

(End of this chapter)