History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 478: Three Idiots Make Trouble at the Military Affairs Office

[Three Idiots Make Trouble at the Military Affairs Office]

There was no Grand Council at that time, so for the sake of rhyme and word count, it should be "Zhongshu".

The three prime ministers Feng Dao, Liu Xu, and Li Yu reached a consensus on the issue of welcoming Li Congke. Among them, Liu Xu and Li Yu were more moderate and conservative, while Feng Dao was the most radical. Although the three had minor differences in procedures, their political stances were consistent and they were all "people who knew the times."

How will Li Congke treat the senior intellectuals who support him?

Answer: Ask them to leave politely, courteously and respectfully.

Because they are in the position of prime minister, they have huge power resources, and their own strength is negligible. If they do not wake up early, they will become ghosts under the knife like the "Rocket Faction". Li Congke has been very polite to them.

Among the three, Feng Dao, who most actively supported Li Congke, was the first to be exiled. The next month after Li Congke ascended the throne, he was exiled as the Jiedushi of Kuangguo Army in Tongzhou, while retaining the title of prime minister.

Liu Xu and Li Yu were left, and they often quarreled. For example, in order to mock Liu Xu, Li Yu often reviewed Feng Dao's previous mistakes and introduced the term "relatives" to the people. The two of them often quarreled over trivial matters, which affected their normal work. They also asked the emperor to judge and help mediate the dispute, which made Li Congke think that the emperor was like an aunt from the neighborhood committee.

What is even more incredible is that sometimes when the two quarreled, they would curse each other in the office, using foul language that was simply unbearable to hear. Historical records record that "they cursed each other in the government hall, and their words were very despicable." The prime minister of the empire, who was full of knowledge and had a thorough understanding of the classics, history, and literature, could actually curse people in such a vulgar way...

Why did the two prime ministers dare to do this? Of course, they did not take the emperor seriously. They used practical actions to make their attitude clear to Li Congke: Who do you think you are?
Li Congke was furious and dismissed the two men, one as Zuo Pushe and the other as You Pushe. "Pushe" had different political statuses in different periods. At first, it was equivalent to prime minister. Later, its authority continued to decline. By the end of the Tang Dynasty, it was basically equivalent to an "honorary title" and had no power. It was equivalent to "retirement" with the treatment of prime minister level.

According to custom, outgoing senior officials would be accompanied by their colleagues and subordinates on their way home to show their remembrance and respect. But when Liu Shu returned home, no one came to see him off.

It was mid-October in the lunar calendar. It was early winter and the streets of Luoyang were cold and windy. Only a lonely old man was walking dejectedly on the empty streets.

A poor person living in a busy city has no one to care about him, but a rich person living in a remote mountain area has distant relatives. Liu Xu experienced the warmth and coldness of the world.

According to historical records, when the news of Liu Shu's dismissal came, his colleagues cheered excitedly, clapping their hats and celebrating, saying: "We are so happy this time!"

What did Liu Xu do to make himself so unpopular in the workplace? He just did what he was supposed to do, strictly enforced the law, and uncovered a large number of corrupt officials and imperial parasites.

In order to solve the problem of lack of money, Li Congke asked Liu Shu to be in charge of the empire's finances (judge the three departments). Liu Shu was worthy of being the chief editor of the Old Book of Tang. He was strict and conscientious, meticulous, and never missed a single suspicious point. As soon as he took office, he found out the serious criminal facts of the relevant departments deceiving their superiors and subordinates, and committing corruption and perverting the law:

The tax authorities used old accounts to extort money. The people paid taxes, but the accounts were not settled and taxes were collected repeatedly. The collected taxes were not put into the national treasury, but flowed into the private pockets of officials. The people paid double the taxes, but the court was still burdened by the old accounts, which made the people suffer, harmed the country, and enriched the corrupt officials.

Liu Xu immediately reported this shocking discovery to Li Congke. Li Congke's request was simple: I don't care about corruption and abuse of power, I don't care about favoritism and fraud, but if you dare to touch my purse, no! In addition to recovering the stolen money and holding people accountable according to the law, he also issued an imperial decree: All taxes owed by the people before last year (933) will be written off!

The common people were rejoicing, singing and dancing, but the officials of the Three Departments hated Liu Shu with a vengeance.

Ouyang Xiu did not think highly of Feng Dao and Li Yu. Especially Li Yu, during the reign of Emperor Mingzong, he was "dismissed because of his pedantry"; when Li Conghou was ruling the country, he wanted to take the "civilian route" and rely on Li Yu, an honest and upright "public intellectual" who could talk freely and talk about things, to prosper the country, but he "regarded Li Yu as pedantic and never asked him anything"; after Li Congke ascended the throne, he directly nicknamed Li Yu "porridge monk", "thinking that he was full all day and had nothing to do". In a word, he was not good at anything, but he was the best at eating and a machine for making manure.

Being evaluated like this by the emperor was a blow that Li Yu could hardly bear at his age. Less than a year after being dismissed from his post, he died of illness and failed to receive treatment.

Feng Dao, Liu Xu, and Li Yu were actually all "honest men". Unlike previous civil servants, they had no connection with local vassal states, eunuch forces, harem forces, etc., and they had no factions in the court. Therefore, there was no resistance to removing them, and Li Congke could easily exclude them from the core power.

Because of this, they were not subjected to bloody purges and had a good end. Feng Dao in particular was a legendary figure unprecedented in Chinese history. He served in the Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han, and Later Zhou dynasties, and assisted ten emperors from Li Cunxu to Chai Rong. His story will be scattered in the following text.

During Li Congke's period, Feng Dao and Liu Xu were ostracized, leaving behind many funny stories.

For example, after Liu Xu was dismissed from his position as Pushe, he went to court one day when it rained heavily and all officials moved to the corridor to avoid the rain. Liu Xu discovered an embarrassing problem: no one knew the specific rank of Pushe. Under the constraints of the feudal etiquette, officials had different rules for entering the court, leaving the court, standing in line, etc. According to the order of official rank, grade, and title, where did Pushe rank?
Liu Xu didn't know. He asked around but no one knew. You can choose whatever you like.

And when he asked this, Feng Dao on the side was also confused, because at that time Feng Dao only retained the title of "Sikong". Sikong was among the Three Dukes and was extremely honorable, but... it was just an honorary title.

The two of you were completely isolated and marginalized, and there was no seat for you in the company meeting.

Feng Dao did not dare to act rashly, so he waited obediently for the other officials to enter before following them. Liu Shu followed Feng Dao obediently. All the officials covered their mouths and laughed.

It was awkward when they went in and out, and even more awkward when they were in meetings. Because they had no chance to talk, they just listened to other people's work reports and the emperor's work instructions, and all of this had nothing to do with them. So from then on, Feng Dao simply stopped attending court.

During the Five Dynasties, the ritual system declined, and some government departments did not even know what "Sikong" was. The new prime minister Lu Wenji vaguely remembered that one of the jobs of "Sikong" was to clean up during sacrifices, so he arranged Feng Dao to be in charge of sweeping the floor during sacrifices. The "Three Dukes" with the highest status in the feudal period actually became cleaning ladies...

Although the ministers didn't know where the problem lay, they always felt something was strange.

After hearing this, Feng Dao smiled calmly and said that there was nothing wrong with it. The cleaning work during the sacrifice should have been the responsibility of Sikong, so I took it. From then on, a cleaner with the highest level was born in Chinese history, becoming the ancestor of cleaning ladies.

(End of this chapter)