History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 484 Death of Li Renhan

A new emperor appoints his own ministers, an eternal truth. As a founding hero of the Later Shu, Li Renhan relied on his achievements to be arrogant to the emperor, and his fate can be imagined.

Among the important officials appointed by Meng Zhixiang to take care of his son upon his accession to the throne, Zhao Jiliang was the prime minister and a local governor, Wang Chuhui was the privy councilor, Li Renhan, Zhao Tingyin, and Zhang Ye all controlled some of the imperial guards and were also local governors, Zhang Gongduo and Hou Hongshi controlled some of the imperial guards. Among them, Li Renhan and Zhao Tingyin had a deep personal grudge and the two had competed for the governor of Dongchuan.

The 16-year-old Meng Chang was obviously no match for these people. If these people joined forces to cause trouble, the Later Shu Dynasty would change in a matter of minutes. Now, Li Renhan took the lead, Zhao Jiliang and Wang Chuhui were loyal to the Meng family, forming a clear political team. The first political purge in the process of power transfer in the Later Shu Dynasty was about to come.

After Meng Chang ascended the throne, he first conferred official titles and ranks on several old ministers who served as regents. Zhao Jiliang, Wang Chuhui, Li Renhan and others were all rewarded, so there is no need to list them in detail.

At this time, Li Renhan was extremely arrogant and domineering. He directly asked the emperor for the supreme power of the imperial guards - the judge of the six armies and the guards. Generally speaking, "the judge of the six armies and the guards" and "the generalissimo of the army and horses of the world" both carry political auras, which are basically the standard for successors, and sometimes even exceed the title of "crown prince", so Li Congrong of the Later Tang Dynasty would rather be "the judge of the six armies and the guards" than "crown prince".

Li Renhan sent someone to tell Meng Chang that he was the emperor, and then he sent his confidant to the Academy of Scholars to supervise the drafting of the edict. This was no longer a request to the emperor, but an "order" to the emperor.

Under the planning and coordination of Zhao Jiliang and others, Meng Chang agreed to Li Renhan's request and resolved it with a "buy one, get one free" approach. He announced the establishment of a new imperial army and appointed the sons of meritorious generals and martyrs as commanders.

As a result, the sons of Li Renhan, Zhao Jiliang, Yu Yuanzhen, Zhang Ye, Hou Hongshi, Zhao Tingyin and others all became commanders of this imperial army.

He legitimately diluted Li Renhan's power and won over Zhao Tingyin and others to create resistance for Li Renhan.

In addition to Li Renhan, Li Zhao, the governor of Zhaowu Army in Lizhou, was also arrogant and proud of his achievements. After hearing the news that Meng Chang had ascended the throne, he did not come to the central government for an audience as per the rules. Instead, he deliberately took his time and procrastinated. He only stayed in Hanzhou for more than ten days, during which time he spent every day in debauchery with relatives and friends.

In this way, more than two months after Meng Chang ascended the throne, Li Zhao came to Chengdu in a leisurely manner. After entering Chengdu, Li Zhao said that he had a foot disease and needed to use crutches to go to the palace. When he arrived at the palace and met the young lord Meng Chang, Li Zhao also excused himself for his illness and did not kneel, but just nodded slightly to Meng Chang.

In the feudal period, ministers had to "rush" when meeting the emperor, that is, walk quickly in small steps, to show respect for the lord. Only those who had made great contributions would be granted a privilege by the emperor, "no rush when entering the court", allowing you to walk slowly. But in general, this was only an honorary privilege. When entering the court, you had to rush as you should. Who dared to really puff out his chest and belly and pace in front of the emperor?

Li Zhao dared to lean on a cane and said, "I'm sorry, my legs and feet are not flexible." Not only did he not rush forward, he even dared not kneel down. He wanted to be the second Li Renhan.

Meng Chang had just ascended the throne, and people like Li Renhan and Li Zhao dared to be so disrespectful to the emperor. If he was not disciplined, how could he win the support of the people?
Historical records say that Meng Chang's close associates, Han Jixun, Han Baozhen, An Siqian and others, guessed the emperor's intentions and joined forces to fabricate rumors and frame Li Renhan for treason; other records say that Zhao Jiliang and Wang Chuhui were the masterminds behind the scenes. In short, the faction loyal to Meng Chang was about to take action.

Zhao Jiliang and Wang Chuhui secretly joined forces with Zhao Tingyin, who had a grudge against Li Renhan, and then ambushed swordsmen in the palace. When Li Renhan was in court, the ambushers attacked from all sides, captured him alive, and then dragged him out and beheaded him in public.

When Meng Zhixiang was still alive, Li Renhan had already shown his arrogant and domineering side. Together with his nephew Zhang Ye, he bullied men and women and did all kinds of evil things, and occupied the people's land and houses. He even had improper thoughts about the concubines of the Former Shu Dynasty, but he was afraid of Meng Zhixiang and suppressed them temporarily. After Meng Zhixiang died, they completely let themselves go. Li Renhan, a famous general of his generation, ended his brilliant life in such a hurry.

Afterwards, Meng Chang issued an edict announcing all of Li Renhan's crimes, and all of them, including Li Renhan's sons and followers, were executed.

The following is the moment to witness a miracle: Li Zhao's foot disease was cured instantly, his legs and feet regained their former flexibility, he hurried into the court, knelt down, kowtowed, and admitted his mistakes.

Some people suggested that Meng Chang kill Li Zhao, but Meng Chang spared his life because of Li Zhao's past contributions. He allowed him to retire as the Prince's Tutor and moved his family to Qiongzhou.

Meng Chang not only treated Li Zhao leniently, but also gave Zhang Ye the title of prime minister.

Zhang Ye is Li Renhan's nephew. His original name was Zhang Zhiye, but he changed it to Zhang Ye to avoid the taboo of Meng Zhixiang. He and Li Renhan were both direct descendants of Meng Zhixiang. He followed Meng Zhixiang into Sichuan, fought in many battles, and made countless contributions. He held the power of the imperial army.

At that time, it was not just Li Renhan, Zhang Ye, and Li Zhao who were arrogant and disloyal. They were just the most outrageous and excessive ones. According to historical records, almost all of Meng Zhixiang's old subordinates did not obey the 16-year-old brat Meng Chang. If Meng Chang used Zhao Jiliang, Wang Chuhui, and Zhao Tingyin to expand the "Li Renhan incident", there would be only two results:
1. Internal divisions, veteran generals and generals are all worried about their own safety, thus inducing rebellion;
2. Zhao Jiliang and others became the greedy snakes of the Later Shu, gradually consolidating the power of Li Renhan and others, and then sidelining Meng Chang.

When you use a tiger to drive away wolves, you must also prevent the tiger from becoming a threat; when you keep wolves to ward off tigers, you must never let wolves into your house.

Killing only Li Renhan would be enough to deter others, and it would not be appropriate to kill people in large numbers when the imperial power has not been fully consolidated. This is the wisdom of life and death in political struggles.

It is worth mentioning that Li Renhan’s nephew, Zhang Ye, who escaped the net, not only failed to learn a lesson, but became even worse. In the following days, he continued to do his own thing, not only accepting bribes and breaking the law, but even daring to recruit traitors, hide fugitives, and set up his own court and private prison.

No zuo no die, why you try?
Fifteen years after Li Renhan was killed, Zhang Ye recreated the scene of Li Renhan's killing and was killed by ambushed warriors when he was attending court. Meng Chang issued an edict to publicize his crimes and confiscated all his property.

The historian also commented on Li Renhan and others, saying bluntly that he "created" his own death, "he did it himself." ("Ten Kingdoms Spring and Autumn Annals")
Within three months of his accession to the throne, Meng Chang had consolidated his power by killing Li Renhan. Afterwards, he continued to take advantage of the civil strife in the Later Tang Dynasty to devour the land in the west. A fierce border conflict broke out between the two sides south of the Qinling Mountains.

In the subsequent handling process, the fatal weaknesses of Li Congke's regime in the Later Tang Dynasty were also revealed.

(End of this chapter)