History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 475 Li Congke ascends the throne 2
When Li Congke went east to Shanzhou, he submitted a memorial to Empress Dowager Cao and asked for her instructions. Empress Dowager Cao ordered all the leaders in the palace to go to Shanzhou to welcome Li Congke. This is what An Congjin told Feng Dao and others that Empress Dowager Cao had already sent people to welcome Li Congke.

Li Congke ordered these people to return to Luoyang and continue to serve Empress Dowager Cao.

With Empress Dowager Cao's attitude, Li Congke no longer faced any political obstacles.

Li Congke arrived at the west of Luoyang City. Civil and military officials, led by the prime minister, lined up to welcome him and respectfully invited him into the city. However, Li Congke was elusive and sent someone to tell him that he had not yet kowtowed to the coffin of the late emperor and was not fit to meet the ministers.

When Li Siyuan passed away, Li Congke did not come to mourn, but this time he came to mourn first according to etiquette. He did this not only to pretend to be a filial son, but also with more far-reaching political implications.

Feng Dao certainly understood this, so he wrote a petition to persuade Li Congke to ascend the throne as soon as possible and take charge of government work.

Li Congke did not make any statement on this. Instead, he went into the palace to meet Empress Dowager Cao and Concubine Wang De to express his condolences to the families of the deceased. Then he went to the West Palace where the coffin of the late emperor was placed, prostrated himself in front of the coffin and cried loudly, explaining why he was framed and forced to revolt.

Feng Dao led all the civil and military officials to kneel and kowtow outside, continuing to persuade him to ascend the throne. Li Congke kowtowed to all the officials in response to the etiquette.

Facing the advice of the ministers, Li Congke replied: "I came to Luoyang this time because I had no choice but to help the emperor eliminate the treacherous ministers around him. Now the treacherous ministers have been eliminated, but the emperor misunderstood and ran away. Then I will wait for the emperor to come back and bury the late emperor, and then return to Fengxiang to continue serving as the governor and fulfill my duties as a minister. Why are you all suddenly like this? It's not good."

The next day (April 4), Empress Dowager Cao issued an order to depose the current emperor Li Conghou and demote him to King of E. At the same time, she ordered Li Congke to temporarily take charge of state affairs and temporarily use the "Book of Edicts Seal".

There were eight seals of the emperor, namely the "eight treasures", and Li Conghou took them all away, so Li Congke could only use the seal used to approve the imperial edict as the "official seal" of the Later Tang court. But there is a small bug here. When Li Conghou met Shi Jingtang, historical records say that Li Conghou did not bring the emperor's seals and other items. So did he bring them?
Personally, I think he should have brought them. He didn't bring the civil and military officials because he was worried about traitors. He didn't bring the yellow silk umbrella and flags and drums because it was inconvenient to carry them. But he could just put a few small seals in his pocket. Li Conghou's IQ was fine, and he couldn't have been unaware of the importance of these things.

Of course Shi Jingtang insisted that he did not bring it.

Civil and military officials went to Li Congke's old residence, submitted their resignations, and waited for their fate. Li Congke ordered them all to be reinstated and pardoned.

These are all the tricks of "abdication" and usurpation of the throne.

On April 4, Empress Dowager Cao issued an order: Comrade Li Congke shall be the emperor.

On April 4, Li Congke ascended the throne in front of Li Siyuan's coffin and officially sat on the throne, becoming the fourth emperor of the Later Tang Empire.

On March 934, 3 AD, the Battle of Fengxiang began;

On March 3, the Central Army defected on the battlefield; Li Congke set out on the road to the East. What followed was no longer a war, but an armed parade of Fengxiang soldiers. From then on, there was no more fighting, and the cities and strongholds along the way surrendered and defected;

He arrived in Luoyang on April 4 and ascended the throne three days later.

This was a result that was beyond everyone's expectations, even Li Congke did not dare to think of it. Li Conghou's regime was so fragile that it could not withstand a single blow. No, there was no need to strike, just a roar would do. Li Congke's Eastern Expedition was not called an Eastern Expedition, but a "taking office".

Some people joked that Li Congke cried out his empire. A cry on the Fengxiang city wall gave rise to a great empire, describing Li Congke as a Liu Bei-like figure.

The howling on the Fengxiang city wall was just an appetizer. The reason why Li Congke was able to ascend to the throne so quickly was mainly due to the abnormal distribution of power and strength in the empire, which had been accurately predicted by Meng Zhixiang. People with strong strength did not receive the resources they deserved, while people with weak strength divided up all the benefits of the empire. This abnormal distribution method will inevitably lead to secondary distribution.

If the first person to rebel was Shi Jingtang instead of Li Congke, the result would inevitably be that Shi Jingtang would sit on the throne of emperor.

The soldiers of the imperial guards only care about money, not people. No matter if the person is Li Siyuan's adopted son or son-in-law, or even if they are not related at all, they will support whoever gives them money. Anyway, they do not support Li Conghou.

After Li Congke ascended the throne, he could not wait to send Wang Luan, the son of Wang Hongzhi, the governor of Weizhou, to Weizhou with poisoned wine to force Li Conghou to leave in a dignified manner.

On April 4, Wang Luan arrived in Weizhou and met the imprisoned Li Conghou.

Li Conghou had a bad feeling and asked Wang Luan why he came here.

Wang Luan bowed his head and said nothing, while Wang Hongzhi held up his wine glass and kept urging Li Conghou to drink.

Li Conghou knew that this was a cup of poison and refused to drink it.

Since you are unwilling to be decent, then we will help you be decent. Wang Hongzhi and his son joined forces to strangle Li Conghou to death. Li Conghou was assassinated less than half a year after he ascended the throne. He was only 21 years old.

Li Conghou fled in a hurry and did not take his wife and children with him. His wife Kong (daughter of Kong Xun) and four children were in the palace and fell into the hands of Li Congke.

Li Congke sent someone to ask Kong, "Where is Li Chongji?" Then he beheaded Kong and Li Conghou's four children.

When Li Conghou was imprisoned in Weizhou, only his close confidant Song Lingxun sent people to visit and greet him. When he learned that Li Conghou had been murdered, Song Lingxun cried for half a day and then hanged himself to die for his country.

Li Conghou was in power for five months, one of which was spent in mourning for his father. He was actually in power for only four months. His power was hollowed out by the "Rocket Faction", so during these four months, he was almost "incompetent" and did only one thing, which was to encounter a rebellion and be driven off office.

And history has given a very fair evaluation, "It was because the assistant ministers had no plan to stabilize the country, and it was not the fault of the young master that he was not a king." Li Conghou was not a foolish monarch, nor was he a tyrant. He was a puppet controlled by powerful ministers. The powerful ministers forced Li Congke to rebel, which led to his death and the destruction of his country. It was really pitiful.

Old Master Ouyang Xiu, in the spirit of watching the fun and not minding the big things, said something sourly, "If Emperor Mingzong had any sense, he would be ashamed of his important teachings. How sad."

What Master Xiu meant was that An Zhonghui tried his best to get rid of Li Congke for Li Siyuan, but Li Siyuan killed An Zhonghui instead. As a result, Li Congke killed his own son and seized his throne before he was buried. So if Li Siyuan knew about this after his death, he would feel guilty towards An Zhonghui.

In fact, this is not the case. As analyzed in the previous question, Li Conghou did not necessarily have to be overthrown by Li Congke. Shi Jingtang, Fan Yanguang, Zhao Dejun, Zhao Yanshou... everyone of the "powerful factions" had a role to play, because it was not a specific person who overthrew Li Conghou, but there was a serious mismatch between the distribution of resources and the distribution of benefits, and an abnormal relationship between power and benefit.

"Li Congke" is the appearance, and this kind of imbalanced matching is the essence. Master Xiu doesn't see this issue as clearly as Meng Zhixiang, but it doesn't affect his enjoyment of the show.

(End of this chapter)