History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 450: An Zhonghui's Doomsday 5
Li Siyuan handed over the power of life and death of An Zhonghui to Zhai Guangye, and told him that if he found that An Zhonghui really had any ill intentions, he should be killed.

Zhai Guangye was from Yunzhou, of the Later Liang nationality, and a descendant of a martyr. His father, Zhai Jingke, was a junior officer of the Later Liang, responsible for guarding Dingyuan Post. Zhai Jingke was dashing and courageous, devoted to his duties, held his ground, and repelled the attacks of the Hedong Group for more than a year, and finally died gloriously for his country.

Zhai Jingke's heroic and fearless spirit moved his enemy, Li Siyuan. At that time, Zhai Guangye was only ten years old and very smart, so Li Siyuan took him with him, taught him carefully, and gave him the name "Dingyuan" to commemorate the Dingyuan Posthouse where his heroic father died.

Zhai Guangye was intelligent, alert, taciturn, and cautious. He had never made any mistakes either at work or in life, and was highly valued by Li Siyuan. His background as a "three-no product" also made him deeply trusted by Li Siyuan, so he was repeatedly promoted and entrusted with important tasks.

After Li Siyuan ascended the throne, he appointed Zhai Guangye as the Imperial City Envoy.

Li Siyuan trusted and valued him, so he was once the target of An Zhonghui's suppression and exclusion. Zhai Guangye was submissive on the surface and did not dare to resist, but he had long hated An Zhonghui in his heart. Now, Li Siyuan handed over the power of life and death of An Zhonghui to him.

Zhai Guangye remained calm on the surface and rushed to the river as fast as he could. No need to investigate, just kill him!

Zhai Guangye, together with Li Congzhang, led a large army to surround An Zhonghui's residence.

Li Congzhang entered the courtyard alone. When he saw An Zhonghui, he immediately knelt down and kowtowed, paying homage with great ceremony, "Greetings to the Grand Master."

An Zhonghui was shocked and ran down the stairs in a hurry, "Grand Tutor (Li Congzhang's official title was Inspector Grand Tutor), you are so polite, it really honors me!" As he said this, he lifted up his sleeves, knelt down to Li Congzhang, and kowtowed in return.

At this moment, Li Congzhang had secretly taken out the most famous hidden weapon of the Five Dynasties period - the iron hammer from his sleeve. While An Zhonghui was kowtowing, he hit An Zhonghui on the back of the head, blowing him off with one blow.

An Zhonghui's wife, Zhang, witnessed everything on the steps. She rushed over, threw herself on An Zhonghui, and shouted, "It's not too late for you to die, so why is the Master so anxious?"

Li Congzhang swung the hammer and struck Zhang in the head again.

An Zhonghui and his wife died on the spot, with blood all over the ground.

Li Congzhang stripped the couple of their clothes and left their bodies exposed. The next day, after repeated requests from his staff, Li Congzhang agreed to cover the bodies with clothes.

Li Congzhang then raided An Zhonghui's house and found that An Zhonghui's personal property was only a few thousand guan. A few thousand guan was, of course, an astronomical figure for ordinary people, but for a high-ranking official at the time, especially a powerful official like An Zhonghui, who was second only to the emperor, this amount was simply too shabby. What a great honest official!

An Zhonghui and his wife died, and their two sons were also executed. Li Siyuan ordered, "In the case of An Zhonghui, only these four people should be executed, and the rest should not be questioned."

Mainstream historians do not have a high opinion of An Zhonghui, and basically say that he was stubborn, unworthy of his position, ambitious but incompetent, narrow-minded, and that his tragic death was his own fault. Although he was loyal to the emperor and patriotic, and took it as his responsibility to unify the world, he was in vain and was just looking at the objective facts.

Of course, there are some bright spots, but overall, his faults outweigh his merits. Guo Chongtao during Li Cunxu's time was far better than him.

In fact, he had the potential to become Wei Zheng. When Li Siyuan ascended the throne, Xiazhou Jiedushi Li Renfu presented a white eagle to An Zhonghui. An Zhonghui decisively refused to accept it and reprimanded the envoy with the painful lesson of Li Cunxu's defeat, "Emperor Zhuangzong died because of his obsession with hunting. Now the new ruler has ascended the throne and you still give this!" The next day, after Li Siyuan learned about it, he publicly praised An Zhonghui, but secretly sent someone to chase the Xiazhou envoy and secretly took the white eagle back. A few days later, he secretly took it to the suburbs to hunt, and cautiously told his entourage: "Watch your mouth, don't let An Zhonghui know!"

Does he look like a primary school student who sneaks into the Internet cafe without telling his parents?

A slightly controversial point is An Zhonghui's attitude towards Li Congke. An Zhonghui wanted to kill Li Congke at all costs, but was eventually killed. Why did he hate Li Congke so much? Was it because he was punched at the table many years ago?
According to official historical records, An Zhonghui earnestly told Li Siyuan that Li Congke would rebel in the future. After Li Siyuan's death, Li Congke succeeded in his rebellion and ascended the throne.

It is said that before his death, An Zhonghui publicly expressed his greatest regret in life, "I deserve to die, but I wish I could help the country get rid of Prince Lu!"

However, we cannot review the situation from a God’s perspective, shooting the arrow first and then drawing the target. How did An Zhonghui know that Li Congke would rebel? Did he see the rebellious nature behind him, or was it because of his identity as an “adopted son”?

Before Li Siyuan's "rebellion", Guo Chongtao also instigated Li Cunxu to kill Li Siyuan, with the same reason that Li Siyuan would definitely rebel in the future.

Whether he is a prophet, a promoter or a catalyst, that depends on one's own opinion.

Although An Zhonghui once held great power and was well-known throughout the country, and it can be said that in terms of influence, An Zhonghui has surpassed Wang Zhongshi in the early period of the Later Liang Dynasty and Guo Chongtao in the period of Li Cunxu, but An Zhonghui's death did not cause unrest. On the contrary, the core power circle of the Later Tang Dynasty became more harmonious, and the external environment of the Later Tang Dynasty was therefore stabilized.

It was not very harmful, but extremely insulting. This was the biggest mockery of An Zhonghui.

After An Zhonghui died, Wuyue returned to the embrace of the Later Tang Dynasty, because the previous severance of diplomatic relations was caused by An Zhonghui's forged imperial edict.
An Zhonghui died, and the war between the two Sichuan provinces ended, because An Zhonghui had "forged an imperial edict" to start the war;
An Zhonghui died, and everything became better, because all the mistakes were made by An Zhonghui...

The war between the two Sichuans ended with the defeat of the imperial court. Not only did it fail to successfully reduce the power of the vassal states, but it also lost the lands of Langzhou Baoning Army, Suizhou Wuxin Army, Qianzhou Wutai Army, Kuizhou Ningjiang Army, Shannan East Road, etc. The power of the two Sichuans doubled and almost returned to the territory of Former Shu.

The court summoned An Zhonghui to submit his surrender to the two Sichuan provinces, and ordered Su Yuan, the official in charge of West Sichuan, and Liu Cheng, the official in charge of East Sichuan, to return to their respective towns to serve as peace liaison envoys.

Meng Zhixiang was very happy to learn that all his relatives in Luoyang were safe and sound. He also realized that the strategic goal had been achieved and it was time to shift the focus of his work to digesting the vested interests. So he sent an envoy to visit Dongchuan and asked Dong Zhang to submit a memorial of thanks together, thus putting a successful end to the war between the two Sichuan provinces.

Dong Zhang was so angry that his nose almost turned crooked. "Thank you? You, Meng Zhixiang, can thank me, but what kind of thank you am I, Dong Zhang? Your whole family, Meng Zhixiang, has not been harmed, but I have been exterminated!"

Afterwards, the relationship between the two Sichuan provinces instantly dropped to a freezing point, and the tensions returned to their former state from being good friends in need.

Meng Zhixiang was not unaware that Dong Zhang's son Dong Guangye and his entire family were killed, nor was he blinded by Li Siyuan's reconciliation edict.

Meng Zhixiang is playing a big game of chess.

(End of this chapter)