History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 464 Li Congrong's Rebellion
[Li Congrong's Rebellion Case]

When Fan Yanguang was leaving, Li Siyuan held a farewell banquet for him. The emperor and his minister drank very dull wine, and they wanted to say something but stopped many times, sighed and shed tears. Seeing someone off was like a funeral, and both of them had a premonition that today's farewell would be a farewell.

Finally, Li Siyuan said, "You are leaving me today. If you have any suggestions, you should tell me without reservation."

Fan Yanguang hesitated for a long time, and finally said cautiously: "For military and national affairs, I hope Your Majesty can be more open with the ministers, and not listen to the words of a group of villains."

According to historical records, the "villains" mentioned by Fan Yanguang refer to the eunuchs Meng Hanqiong and Wang Defei. This is a puzzling record, because Fan Yanguang was able to escape from the court by relying on their connections, and before leaving, he warned Li Siyuan to be more careful of them.

Afterwards, the king and his minister parted with tears.

As for Kang Yicheng, he is a man who is very aware of the times, has a keen political sense and no bottom line.

He was a Shatuo native, and initially served Li Keyong and later Li Cunxu. When "Mingzong entered Wei", he happened to be in Li Siyuan's army. He tried his best to point out Li Cunxu's mistakes in front of Li Siyuan and instigated Li Siyuan to start an uprising. After Li Siyuan became emperor, he became Li Siyuan's confidant.

Now, seeing that there was no hope of escape, he took the initiative to move closer to Li Congrong and sent his son to Li Congrong to work for him, hoping that after Li Congrong ascended the throne, he could once again avoid being killed as a "meritorious minister of the dragon."

In the fourth year of Changxing (933), in May, "the emperor's body was unwell", but he got better the next day and "recovered the next day"; in June, he became unwell again.

On November 11, he was “unwell”; on November 16, he was “seriously ill”.

The three most important ministers of the empire came to Guangshou Hall to inquire about the daily life and visit the sick. They were Li Congrong, the Grand Marshal of the Army and the Prince of Qin; and Zhu Hongzhao and Feng Yun, the Privy Councilors.

In front of them was the nearly unconscious Li Siyuan, with his favorite concubine Wang Defei waiting on his bedside, whispering in his ear, "Congrong is here!"

Li Siyuan lowered his head and did not respond to any external stimuli.

Concubine Wang De said again: "Hong Zhao and others are here."

Li Siyuan still didn't respond.

Li Congrong and his companions took their leave. As soon as they left Guangshou Hall, they heard a cry coming from inside the hall. Li Congrong tried hard to suppress his inner joy, "He's dead, dead, he must be dead!"

After returning to the Marshal's Mansion, Li Congrong hurriedly summoned his staff to discuss the next plan.

The current situation is that all the civil and military officials in the court support Li Conghou's ascension to the throne, but Li Conghou is currently stationed in Weizhou, not in the capital. Li Congrong and his military advisors hit it off and formulated a plan to seize power by force, because in their view, these "treacherous officials" in the court will definitely block the news of the emperor's death, keep the funeral a secret, and then rush to Weizhou to invite Li Conghou. They must race against time to control the court before Li Conghou arrives in the capital, force the officials to support their ascension to the throne in front of the coffin, and cook the rice first.

Of course, during this period, these "treacherous ministers" could also trick Li Congrong into the palace for various reasons, and then control or kill him. So Li Congrong claimed to the outside world that he was suddenly ill and refused to enter the palace again.

However, Li Congrong did not understand the evil taste of history, and a dramatic scene took place in the palace:
After Li Congrong and others left Guangshou Hall, the palace servants moved Li Siyuan to Yonghe Hall. That night, Li Siyuan, who was in a deep coma, suddenly woke up. The following record is very sad: When the 67-year-old man woke up, there was no attendant, no nurse on duty, and no family member accompanying him. Everyone seemed to have unanimously determined that he would die tonight, and they were even too lazy to accompany him to the end.

Li Siyuan felt very miserable. He looked around and finally found a palace maid who was on duty to keep watch. Li Siyuan asked weakly, "What time is it now?" The palace maid replied, "It's the fourth watch."

Li Siyuan then coughed violently, "spitting out several pieces of meat as big as lungs", and then became incontinent and urinated more than a bucket of water.

The maid asked him with concern: "How do you feel?"

Li Siyuan shook his head weakly, "I don't know either."

The maid hurried to call for help. After a while, all the concubines and maids in the harem arrived at the scene. They were surprised and happy, and shouted: "The emperor is resurrected! (Everyone is back to life)"

So he hurriedly fed Li Siyuan a bowl of porridge.

By daybreak, Li Siyuan had regained consciousness and his condition had improved.

Li Siyuan's condition improved and he was able to work, but Li Congrong knew nothing about it and thought that Li Siyuan had passed away. When he was notified to come to the palace to pay respects or report on his work, he firmly believed that it was a "traitor" who wanted to kill him and was using illness as an excuse to avoid court.

At this moment, Li Congrong was intensively deploying actions to seize power by force.

He sent his trusted confidant Ma Chujun to inquire about Zhu Hongzhao and Feng Yun's intentions, and asked, "I want to enter the palace to serve the dying emperor, and I want to bring my personal guards with me in case of any emergency. Excuse me, where should my troops be stationed in the palace?"

The two responded in a vague way, "Please make your own decision, Your Majesty."

This sentence can have two completely opposite interpretations. It can be understood as supporting Li Congrong, or it can be understood as opposing Li Congrong. He is indeed a veteran in the political arena.

When they were sending Ma Chujun away, the two men lowered their voices and told the truth, "The emperor is in good health. Li Congrong had better behave himself and not believe in rumors, lest he bring disaster upon himself!"

Li Congrong was furious when he heard this, because he believed that Li Siyuan had passed away. Zhu Hongzhao and Feng Yun were clearly trying to stabilize themselves and then welcome Li Conghou to the throne. So he sent Ma Chujun to threaten the two, "Don't you cherish the lives of your entire family? How dare you refuse my request?"

Zhu Hongzhao was originally an erratic villain. In order to fight for power and profit, he could either lick An Zhonghui's boots or kick An Zhonghui into a coffin when he was in trouble. He also wanted to escape from the court, a place of trouble. He cried and refused to be the Privy Councilor, but was scolded by Li Siyuan before he took the position. From the bottom of his heart, he really didn't want to wade into this muddy water, so he secretly leaked the secret that Li Siyuan was in good health, just to get out of it safely after Li Congrong ascended the throne.

Such political opportunists must be won over, appeased, and used for one's own purposes. However, the arrogant Li Congrong kicked him to the opposite side.

Zhu Hongzhao and Feng Yun immediately realized that Li Congrong would definitely lose miserably in this political struggle, so they ran into the palace without hesitation and sold the news that Li Congrong was about to seize power by force to Concubine Wang De and Meng Hanqiong.

The four men consulted closely and believed that the key factor to the success or failure lay in Kang Yicheng, because Kang Yicheng was the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Guard and held military power. So the four men called Kang Yicheng to a meeting to discuss the matter.

(End of this chapter)