History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 488: The Lion Roars 3
Some information, including some authoritative ones, very irresponsibly said that Shi Jingtang's "ant moving" and other tricks successfully deceived Li Congke.

Although Li Congke lost in the subsequent competition, we cannot simply assume that the loser is a good-for-nothing fool. In fact, not only Li Congke himself, but his entire think tank never let down their guard against "powerful" people such as Shi Jingtang and Zhao Dejun, especially Shi Jingtang.

After the "Xinzhou Wansui Oolong Case", Li Congke transferred Zhang Jingda, the governor of Xuzhou Wuning Army, as the deputy commander of the Northern Army Group and led his troops to garrison in Daizhou. The purpose was to weaken the military power of the commander-in-chief Shi Jingtang. Daizhou was located north of Taiyuan and south of Yunzhou, and was an important stronghold for the Khitan to move south to Hedong.

Li Congke used Zhang Jingda as a wedge into Shanxi (west of Taihang Mountains) to the north of Taiyuan. At the same time, he appointed his brother-in-law Liu Yanhao as the governor of Weizhou Weibo Army to become a wedge between Hedong and Hebei, cutting off the connection between Shi Jingtang in Hedong and Zhao Dejun in Youzhou.

Suppressing Shi Jingtang in Hedong has always been one of the focuses of Li Congke's group. Let's take this as a starting point to take a look at Li Congke's civil service group.

李崧
A young official, his father was a military officer in Shenzhou. Li Song was a top student since childhood and could write good essays when he was a teenager, but he was not good-looking, so his nickname was "Da Chou".

At the age of 20, he became a military officer (official title) of the prefecture and entered the official career.

Zhuangzong entered Wei and promoted the "Heshuo Gang". Li Song was promoted and gradually became Li Jiji's staff. Li Song was good at writing but not proficient in politics. The leader's "respect" for him was more out of the political need to balance the faction and appease the "Heshuo Gang". However, Li Song boldly said that Li Jiji's chief think tank Li Ruo was not good at writing.

"You can you up!"

Li Song picked up his pen and drafted an article. After reading it, Lu Zhi, Feng Dao and others at that time clapped their hands and exclaimed, "What a talent!"

This workplace turmoil was resolved without any major problems, and Li Song was recognized by his superiors and gradually promoted and reused.

When Li Jiji led the army to attack Shu, Li Song had already become Li Jiji's chief think tank.

When Li Jiji followed his mother's order to kill Guo Chongtao and his son, Li Song urgently asked for an audience, "Why did the king do such a dangerous thing? Even if you must kill them, it won't be too late to kill them when you return to Luoyang. Now you are isolated 5,000 miles away from Luoyang with a large army. Killing important officials without the emperor's edict will shake people's hearts and bring disaster!"

Li Jiji was also helpless. He had already been killed. Isn't this just hindsight? What can he do?
Li Song remained calm in the face of danger and took a risky move - forging an imperial edict. He summoned three or four trusted clerks, climbed up the stairs, and forged an imperial edict to kill Guo Chongtao overnight, using the seal of the commander-in-chief to replace the imperial seal. The next day, it was made public, which stabilized the morale of the army and allowed the army to return safely to the east.

Later, he resigned from his post and returned home. Later, he was recommended by Fan Yanguang as the chief of staff. He then entered the court as a Hanlin scholar. After Li Congke ascended the throne, he was appointed as a scholar of Duanming Palace.

吕琦
This person has been introduced in the previous article. His father Lu Yan was involved in a dispute between brothers Liu Shouguang and Liu Shouwen, and was brutally murdered by Liu Shouguang. At that time, Lu Qi, who was only 15 years old, was rescued from the execution ground by his father's friend Zhao Yu at the risk of his life. He changed his name, begged all the way and fled into Shanxi.

Later, he was promoted by Zhuangzong Li Cunxu and entered the official career. He was promoted step by step with his solid knowledge. During the reign of Mingzong, Li Congke was framed by An Zhonghui and was placed under house arrest in Luoyang. Lu Qi lived in the same alley with him. At that time, all the civil and military officials in the court were intimidated by An Zhonghui's power and dared not contact Li Congke. They stayed away from him as if he were a plague god. Only Lu Qi often interacted with him and comforted Li Congke's wounded little heart.

After Li Congke ascended the throne, he treated Lu Qi with special respect, and appointed him as the Director of Imperial Edicts, the Imperial Secretary, the Direct Academician of the Privy Council, and the Academician of the Duanming Palace.

Li Song and Lü Qi were upright and loyal, well-educated and far-sighted. They were also highly valued by the last emperor, which is what Li Song said to Lü Qi: The emperor treats us well.

But there is a common sense misunderstanding here. Favoring or using is different from trusting. The leader uses you, but does not necessarily trust you. Another civil servant who was favored by Li Congke was Ma Yinsun.

Ma Yinsun was Li Congke's staff member when he was stationed in Hezhong. When he was under house arrest in the capital, Ma Yinsun stayed with him and stayed by his side. Later, he followed Li Congke to Fengxiang. Li Congke was moved by his loyalty and regarded him as his confidant.

When Li Conghou's order to relocate the garrison arrived in Fengxiang, Li Congke summoned his confidants to discuss the matter. Everyone unanimously advised Li Congke to lead his troops to resist the order, but Ma Yinsun, reciting Confucius' famous saying, advocated that Li Congke obey the emperor.

Everyone laughed at him for being pedantic. Although Li Congke did not adopt his suggestion, he knew that he was a pure and elegant person who had escaped from vulgarity and opposed vulgarity, so he did not punish him.

After Li Congke proclaimed himself emperor, he promoted Ma Yinsun to be Langzhong of the Ministry of Revenue and Hanlin Academician, and later promoted him to be Shilang of the Secretariat and Co-Prime Minister of the Secretariat, becoming the prime minister of the empire.

So Ma Yinsun is a typical example. He received a good person card from his leader. The leader knows that you are a good person, but he will not treat you as a confidant.

Ma Yinsun was skilled in writing, pedantic, rigid, weak and cowardly. He understood that his prime minister was a "good guy" and did not have the emperor's real trust, so he simply "kept himself safe".

During his short tenure as prime minister, Ma Yinsun earned the nickname "the prime minister who never opens his mouth", meaning that he "never opens his mouth to discuss, never opens the seal to take action, and never opens the door to invite scholars and officials."

In a word, he is occupying a position but doing nothing, just sitting there doing nothing.

What about the other prime ministers?
Li Congke appointed Lu Wenji and Yao Yi by drawing lots.

Lu Wenji's reputation was overrated, "he was in a position to manage state affairs, but had no advice from the emperor". His daily job was to nitpick and find fault with people he disliked. As for Yao Yi, he was also "dirty and incompetent in his position of prime minister".

Two embroidered pillows that look good but are not useful.

After Li Congke appointed the two, he felt a little regretful, so he made a tactful criticism to Lu Wenji in person, saying that he had not fulfilled the obligations of a prime minister.

Lu Wenji immediately submitted a memorial to retort, saying that according to work regulations, we attend court every five days to inquire about His Majesty's daily life. Not only are all the civil and military officials present, but there are also a large number of guards, and there are too many eyes and ears. Even if we have some ideas, we cannot speak them out.

Later, he petitioned to restore the Tang Dynasty's "Yanying Hall meeting" system, that is, the prime minister would meet with the emperor alone in the Yanying Hall, screening out outsiders and making it convenient to discuss confidential matters.

Li Congke was holding the memorial, his nose almost crooked with anger, and immediately issued an imperial edict to reprimand: "Can't you wait until all the civil and military officials have left the court and stay alone? This is also the old system of the Tang Dynasty! Besides, ordinary matters that are not important can be reported in public; if it is really a confidential matter, there is no need to wait for five days to report it. You can report it at any time, and I will naturally remove the idle people and meet you in the side hall or other suitable places. Why must it be in Yanying Hall!"

Through this conversation between the emperor and his minister, a shocking fact was exposed: Lu Wenji, the prime minister, had been in name only before this and had never reported anything to the emperor...

(End of this chapter)