History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 487: The Lion Roars 2
【Xinzhou Wansui Oolong Case】

Shi Jingtang was the founder of the debt collection industry. He didn't care about the life and death of the people of Hebei. Since the imperial court had issued an edict, he had to collect debts according to the law and send troops to enforce the debts. The people of Hebei suffered terribly. A large number of people abandoned their land and left their homes to become refugees.

"Many fled...and the people complained."

At the end of June and the beginning of July of that year (the second year of Qingtai, 935), something happened, something big happened.

At that time, Shi Jingtang stationed his troops in Xinzhou (now Xinzhou City, Shanxi Province), and the imperial court sent envoys to escort a batch of summer military uniforms and convey the imperial edict. The soldiers were very happy and shouted "Long live the emperor".

At that time, when people were extremely excited, they liked to shout "Long live" to vent their emotions and express their joy and excitement. Descriptions such as "Long live the people" are also common in history books. The "Long live" here is just to express emotions, similar to the 80s people shouting "Ouye" and the 00s people shouting "Oli Gei".

However, "Wansui" has another special meaning, which is a respectful title for the emperor.

When the soldiers shouted "Long live the emperor", Shi Jingtang's face turned pale with fright, "Boys, you are trying to harm me!" He quickly sought help from his staff to discuss countermeasures.

Aide Duan Xiyao suggested that he kill the leading soldier, only in this way could he prove his innocence and loyalty to Li Congke.

Shi Jingtang ordered his trusted general Liu Zhiyuan to kill 36 soldiers headed by Li Hui, and then reported to the court, saying that Li Hui and others had gathered a crowd and made a lot of noise, and that four people shouted "Long live the emperor", so they were beheaded as a public display.

Li Hui was the head of the regiment and the "commander-in-chief of the horses" at that time. The other 35 people should be his adjutants and subordinate generals, company and platoon-level officers. Shi Jingtang's investment was still very cost-effective. What was the effect?

Instead of believing in Shi Jingtang's loyalty, Li Congke became more suspicious of him and "became more suspicious of him."

Just half a year after the "Xinzhou Wansui Oolong Case", serious misunderstandings arose again between Li Congke and Shi Jingtang.

On the first month of the third year of Qingtai (936), Li Congke celebrated his birthday (Qianchun Festival) and held a grand banquet in the palace. All civil and military officials, ministers and nobles came to congratulate him.

Li Congke had a bad habit of getting drunk and losing control. He had beaten An Zhonghui and confronted Fang Zhiwen with a knife. This time, he did something stupid again after getting drunk.

Shi Jingtang's wife was also present, and the princess's expression was out of place in the surrounding environment. Including Li Congke, the emperors of the Five Dynasties were basically warriors, uneducated and uneducated, and the ministers they trusted were mostly colluding with them. We can try to guess that the princess of Mingzong Li Siyuan did not like this kind of occasion very much. She felt uncomfortable listening to Li Congke and other rough men bragging drunkenly.

Furthermore, Li Congke was just her adopted brother who had no blood relationship with her. The age difference was also very large, and he was an uncle-level brother. However, he forced her own brother Li Conghou to death and took away their father's kingdom. He was an ungrateful person. Perhaps the princess also had some resistance to Li Congke in her heart.

Finally, Li Congke was suspicious of her husband Shi Jingtang and wished that Shi Jingtang would die immediately. The princess really didn't want to stay here for another minute.

The princess raised her glass and stiffly toasted Li Congke with a glass of wine as if she had completed a task. Then she stood up and said goodbye as if relieved, and hurried back to Taiyuan Prefecture.

She was unhappy with Li Congke, and Li Congke was even more unhappy with her. The more he looked at her, the more he thought she was a counter-revolutionary. So, Li Congke, under the influence of alcohol, said to the princess: "You are eager to return home, do you want to rebel with Shi Lang?" It should be noted that this literary saying should not be Li Congke's original words, but just his original intention. Historians have a built-in classical Chinese filter. Unless it is a copy of the original text of an imperial edict, decree, or order, there will generally be a certain degree of "written" processing. This is also the reason why different historical books record the dialogues of characters in the same event with slight deviations.

For example, An Zhonghui once said "I hate not getting rid of Prince Lu", and many historical materials adopted this record and made An Zhonghui "say" similar words. Although the wording is slightly different, they all retained the title of "Prince Lu" for Li Congke. In fact, Li Congke was not named "Prince Lu" until two years after An Zhonghui's death.

In other words, it is absolutely impossible for An Zhonghui to personally refer to Li Congke as "Prince of Lu". Therefore, "Prince of Lu" is a filter that later historians have built in.

At this birthday party, the drunk and out-of-control Li Congke should have just expressed the meaning of "You are eager to return home, and want to rebel against Shi Lang", but according to Li Congke's usual character, his original words should be more vulgar than this, so please use your imagination to imagine the obscene words.

In short, in front of all the civil and military officials, nobles and nobles, Li Congke ridiculed the princess severely. It was not very hurtful, but it was extremely insulting. It was a great humiliation. The princess left crying, crying all the way back to Taiyuan from Luoyang, and told Shi Jingtang about her grievances.

The conflict between the emperor and his minister had become public. Shi Jingtang also understood that Li Congke would not believe his tricks, whether he was pretending to be sick or pretending to be good, "which made him even more uneasy."

One becomes more suspicious, the other becomes more uneasy; a fierce clash is bound to break out between the two.

When Li Congke sobered up the next day, he felt something seemed to be wrong, so he asked his attendants whether they had said anything inappropriate or done anything inappropriate after drinking too much the day before.

Everyone told the truth.

After regaining his senses, Li Congke deeply regretted his drunken remarks and called his confidants to discuss countermeasures.

Li Congke's official attitude towards Shi Jingtang was unchanging, that is, he showed great trust in Shi Jingtang. When sending Shi Jingtang back to the town, Li Congke publicly stated that Shi Jingtang was my relative, my brother-in-law, and a comrade-in-arms for many years. Who else could I rely on if not him? He also personally assured Shi Jingtang that he would never let him move to another town, or recall him to the court to play the routine of promoting him in public but demoting him in private, and he trusted him very much to guard the northern capital.

Now, Li Congke still publicly stated: "Shi Jingtang is a good comrade. I have never doubted him. However, the rumors outside are spreading like wildfire. I am really afraid that it will cause misunderstanding. Do you have any good ideas to resolve it?"

If your question is of this tone, I'm sorry, but I can't answer that.

Now the question is not whether Shi Jingtang will rebel, but how to thwart his rebellion. Shi Jingtang's rebellion is a foregone conclusion, there is no doubt about it.

Since Li Congke was unwilling to speak his mind, the other think tanks could only keep silent and express their attitudes in silence.

After the court session, Li Song privately pulled Lü Qi aside and said to him, "You and I have received great favors from the emperor. Unlike them, we cannot just sit there and watch. We must actively offer our opinions and suggestions. What do you think about the Hedong issue?"

(End of this chapter)