History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 480 The Correct Way to Peel an Onion
While managing the core power of the central government, Li Congke was also peeling off the outer layer of the onion. As a ruler who took the overall situation into consideration, Li Congke prepared two masks, tender and ruthless. The attitude of a politician often depends on the needs of practical interests rather than the true feelings in his heart.

2. Periphery

2.1 Fang Zhiwen

Fang Zhiwen, the Jiedushi of Pinglu Army in Qingzhou, was a founding hero of Li Siyuan. When Li Siyuan was the commander-in-chief of the Northern Army Group, Fang Zhiwen was his deputy (deputy commander-in-chief), and Li Congke was still Fang Zhiwen's subordinate at that time.

At a banquet, Li Congke drank too much and had a conflict with Fang Zhiwen. It seems that Li Congke has a problem of fighting after drinking, and the feud with An Zhonghui was because he beat An Zhonghui after drinking.

However, An Zhonghui chose to swallow his anger temporarily, and ran away after being punched. As Li Congke's superior, Fang Zhiwen would not tolerate him, and confronted Li Congke head-on on the spot. Li Congke drew his saber, and Fang Zhiwen also drew his saber, "What's up, kid, let's fight?"

When Li Congke started his rebellion in Fengxiang, Fang Zhiwen discussed with his generals and planned to help Li Conghou resist Li Congke, so he sent people to Luoyang to investigate the situation. When he arrived in Luoyang, he found out that Li Congke had become the emperor.

Fang Zhiwen was terrified. After much thought, Fang Zhiwen decided to admit his mistake to Li Congke, so he personally rushed from Qingzhou to Luoyang, carrying a lot of gifts, and asked Li Congke to forgive his mistakes.

Li Congke of course chose to forgive him, and the two of them smiled and forgave each other. Li Congke treated Fang Zhiwen well, named him the King of Dongping, and let him return to the town.

2.2 Suo Zitong

When An Zhonghui framed Li Congke, he sent Yao Yanchou and Suo Zitong to lead troops to conquer Hezhong and killed the important tainted witness, Yang Yanwen. After Li Congke ascended the throne, he killed Yao Yanchou, but did not make things difficult for Suo Zitong, and still let him serve as the general of the imperial army. However, Suo Zitong has been frightened ever since.

One day in August, after get off work, Suo Zitong jumped from the Tianjin Bridge into the Luo River and committed suicide.

When Li Congke heard the news, he was greatly shocked and posthumously awarded the title of Grand Marshal.

Li Congke's real purpose in eliminating the "rocket faction" and former enemies was to seize power from them. Suo Zitong was just a general of the imperial guards and had no value to Li Congke, so Li Congke would show a broad mind to such an "enemy".

Abandoning personal emotions is a basic quality of politicians. Their joys, sorrows, anger and happiness are completely at the service of strategic intentions and interests. That is, their emotional expression is only a tool, not a result.

Suo Zitong thought too much. What a pity. What a pity.

2.3 Chang Congjian and Wang Jingkan
Chang Congjian was a ruthless man, a ruthless man who "scraped bones to cure poison" in official history, paying tribute to Guan Erye. His family had been butchers for generations, and he was strong, brave, and good at using lances. He joined Li Cunxu as a junior officer. Whenever Li Cunxu attacked the city, Chang Congjian always acted as the "ladder head", rushing to the front of the wall to climb, and accumulated merits to become the commander-in-chief of the infantry.

When Li Cunxu was fighting against the Later Liang, he saw a warrior holding a large flag in the Later Liang army. The morale of the Later Liang army was greatly boosted, while the morale of the Hedong army was frustrated. Li Cunxu was worried about this, so he recruited warriors who could seize his flag. Chang Congjian signed up enthusiastically, but Li Cunxu was reluctant and did not approve him.

Chang Congjian showed his personality. He directly disobeyed the military order and led several close cavalrymen to gallop into the Houliang formation, just like Guan Yu's "beheading Yan Liang". Chang Congjian shouted and galloped. The Houliang soldiers were frightened and retreated again and again, leaving a lane for people. Those who were a little slower were killed immediately. Chang Congjian was like a tiger into a pack of wolves, charging left and right, chopping melons and vegetables like a storm, and took the flag and returned. The Hedong army beat drums to cheer, and the cheers shook the sky, and the morale was greatly boosted.

Li Cunxu was amazed at his bravery and did not pursue the crime of disobeying military orders, but gave him a generous reward.

"Scraping the enemy's positions and seizing the flag" was just an appetizer, the highlight was "scraping the bones to cure the poison". Once, a stray arrow injured his leg, and the arrowhead was deeply embedded in his thigh bone. He asked the military doctor to help him remove it, but the doctor said that he could only chisel his bones (there is no good medicine, so he wanted to chisel his bones). All the generals thought it was impossible, but Chang Congjian smiled and said, "Come on."

Without anesthesia, the arrow had to be removed by chiseling the bone. The military doctor had no experience in this area and was hesitant to start. Chang Congjian was furious and shouted at the military doctor to act quickly.

During the operation, the generals on both sides could hardly bear to watch, but Chang Congjian could still chat and laugh with everyone (everyone watching seemed to be overwhelmed by the poison, but Chang Congjian was still talking and laughing). He was simply the reincarnation of Guan Yu.

From his daring to disobey military orders, we can see that Chang Congjian was a skilled and bold man with a unique personality. He refused to obey discipline and was "hard to control". However, Emperors Li Cunxu and Li Siyuan were able to make excuses for him and gave him the green light everywhere. Li Siyuan once warned him to be more restrained, otherwise if he caused a big problem, he would really punish him according to the national law. Chang Congjian still did his own thing, "Come on."

Li Conghou sent him to lead troops to conquer Fengxiang, but all his soldiers defected and surrendered, and the rout could not be stopped. During the retreat, Chang Congjian was betrayed by his subordinates and was captured alive and handed over to Li Congke.

Li Congke rebuked him, saying that the army had abandoned darkness and joined the light, so why were you so stubborn and unrepentant?
Chang Congjian showed no fear and replied generously: "The client dare not have any second thoughts!"

Li Congke was moved by his loyalty and said, "At that time, Li Conghou was the emperor. You were loyal to your master and each served his own master. I did not blame you. Now, I am the emperor. I hope you can be loyal to me as you were loyal to the late emperor." He then appointed Chang Congjian as the commander of the Yingzhou militia.

Wang Jingkan was captured together with Chang Congjian, but Wang Jingkan was not as strong-willed as Chang Congjian. After being captured, he took the initiative to admit his mistakes to Li Congke and begged for forgiveness.

Li Congke also released Wang Jingkan and allowed him to continue serving as a general in the imperial army.

2.4 “Fengxiang Sedan-Carrying Faction”

The king's army was at the gates of the city, and Fengxiang was about to fall. Comrade Yang Siquan took the lead, and Comrade Yin Hui responded later, firing the first shot of defection. Before that, Li Congke sent a letter to the neighbors, but only Xiangli Jin, the defense envoy of Longzhou, responded sincerely and sent his staff Xue Wen to Fengxiang to discuss major issues.

We will call them the "Fengxiang sedan chair carrying group" for the time being. It was they who carried Li Congke from Fengxiang to Luoyang. Li Congke fulfilled his promise to them, promoted them one by one, made them rich, and rewarded them handsomely.

Yang Siquan and Yin Hui were only low-ranking officers in the imperial guards at that time. Now, comrade Yang Siquan was promoted to Jiedushi of Jingnan Army of Bingzhou; comrade Yin Hui was first promoted to Jiedushi of Qizhou Defense Commissioner, and later to Jiedushi of Zhangguo Army of Yingzhou.

An Congjin, who was a traitor in Luoyang and killed Feng Yun, was promoted to the governor of Heyang.

Comrade Xiangli Jin, the defense envoy of Longzhou, was promoted to the governor of Baoyi Army of Shanzhou.

Xue Wenyu was also promoted and reused, and was appointed as a direct scholar of the Privy Council and became Li Congke's think tank. Xue Wenyu is also one of the most famous young people who harmed the country in Chinese history. He perfectly interprets what "keyboard warrior" and "patriotic thief" are, which will be mentioned later.

The imperial guard general An Shenqi was previously ordered to conquer Fengxiang. When he led his troops to the front line of Fengxiang, he surrendered as a whole. As a result, he was appointed as the Jiedushi of Chuzhou Shunhua Army, and later transferred to the Jiedushi of Xingzhou.

(End of this chapter)