History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 550 Zhang Yanze Case 1
After Shuozhou was pacified, Yelu Deguang began to seriously consider intervening in Zhenzhou affairs. At this time, Shi Jingtang sent An Zhongrong's head. By the way, he sent an envoy to congratulate Yelu Deguang on the pacification of Shuozhou. As long as you don't feel disgusted, it's others who are disgusted.

According to the records of "History of Liao", Yelu Deguang wanted to send troops to interfere in the Zhenzhou War many times. From the moment he received An Zhongrong's head, the relevant issues were stopped.

However, Yelu Deguang was unwilling to give up and secretly instructed his followers to find an excuse to go south. They found it easily: Tuyuhun!

Previously, Tuyuhun was induced by An Zhongrong to rebel and return to the Later Jin Dynasty. Afterwards, Shi Jingtang sent troops to hunt down these illegal immigrants and extradite them back to Khitan. For this, he bore enormous domestic public opinion pressure, presented generous gifts to Khitan, explained and communicated with Khitan in a very humble manner, and apologized to Khitan sincerely, which won the Khitan's forgiveness.

Yelu Deguang wanted to find a reason to march south, so he brought up old matters again, revived things that had already been written off, and mobilized a large army, pretending to march south on the pretext of pursuing the Tuyuhun traitors.

The story of the Khitan's migration south will be described in detail later. Here I will just briefly explain the background. As mentioned above, Shi Jingtang had always been wary of the Khitan, and this was his reason. The Khitan had always coveted the fat piece of meat in the Central Plains.

Before the outbreak of the Zhenzhou War, Sang Weihan secretly wrote a memorial to Shi Jingtang, in which he used the allusions of "slow hiding of treasures will encourage thieves" and "a brave man keeps the door tightly closed" to remind Shi Jingtang. The two idioms mean "if treasures are not hidden secretly enough, it will tempt others to steal" and "even if there are brave warriors guarding the warehouse, the door must be closed tightly."

As a core figure of the "pro-Liao faction", Sang Weihan advised Shi Jingtang to maintain a clear understanding of "pro-Liao" and keep the alarm bell ringing, because imperialism has never given up its desire to destroy us. We must always be vigilant against the Khitans and be prepared for armed confrontation.

Shi Jingtang and Yelu Deguang had a tacit understanding. They were wary of each other in private, but they were as close as father and son in public. The Later Jin and Khitan sent envoys to congratulate each other on their successful suppression of the rebellion and the maintenance of national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Yelu Deguang also sent envoys to wish Shi Jingtang a happy birthday (February 2).

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Lantern Festival, Shi Jingtang went out of the palace to enjoy the lanterns and have fun with the people. He played until late at night and returned home with great pleasure. He was really happy.

After a few days of happiness, Shi Jingtang had nowhere to hide from the annoying and disgusting things: someone came to the capital to seek justice and file a complaint with the emperor. The person seeking justice was Zhang Duo, the father of Zhang Shi, the secretary of Jingzhou, and he sued Zhang Yanze, the governor of Jingzhou.

Shi Jingtang was upset, "It's Zhang Yanze again!" He then transferred Wang Zhou, the governor of Heyang, to be the governor of Jingzhou and replaced Zhang Yanze back to the central government.

On April 4, there was another solar eclipse. Shi Jingtang avoided the main hall as usual and did not attend court. Surprisingly, the solar eclipse did not occur as expected, so all officials presented a memorial to congratulate the emperor, saying that he wished the emperor a long life, a wise and holy ruler, and that the heavens were moved and that he deserved congratulations (the sun did not set on that day, and all officials presented a memorial to congratulate the emperor).

Shi Jingtang was filled with joy. In his high spirits, he issued an edict that the military governors and provincial governors on both sides of the Yellow River should also serve as river embankment envoys, ordering them to control the Yellow River well and reduce the losses caused by its floods so that the people could feel the warmth of a wise and holy ruler.

At this time, the Right Counselor Zheng Shouyi submitted two memorials in a row, impeaching Zhang Yanze, the former governor of the Zhangyi Army in Jingzhou. Zheng Shouyi was the nephew of Zheng Congdang, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Xizong. Zheng Congdang was very successful during the Huang Chao Rebellion mentioned above, and together with the prime minister Zheng Ting, he was called the "Two Zhengs", and was a prime minister who made great contributions in the fight against Huang Chao.

As soon as he saw "Zhang Yanze", Shi Jingtang couldn't help but frown, and threw the memorial on the desk as if he had eaten a fly and ignored it.

A few days later, Li Tao, Zhang Lin, the doctors of the Ministry of Justice, and Ma Lin and Wang Xi, the deputy doctors of the Ministry of Justice, jointly petitioned the emperor and stood outside the palace gate to submit a joint memorial, still impeaching Zhang Yanze.

Who is this Zhang Yanze and what did he do to deserve Shi Jingtang's attitude towards him?

Zhang Yanze's ancestors were Turks, who later moved to the Yinshan area and then to Taiyuan. His father and grandfather were both generals of Yinshan Prefecture. Zhang Yanze, a descendant of a general family, lived up to his family tradition and was good at riding and shooting. He followed Li Cunxu and Li Siyuan successively and was promoted for his merits. After Shi Jingtang became emperor, he promoted him to the governor of Caozhou. Following Yang Guangyuan, he participated in quelling the rebellion of Fan Yanguang in Weizhou, and was promoted to the governor of Huazhou Zhenguo Army for his merits. Later, he moved to the Zhangyi Army in Jingzhou.

Appearance is determined by the heart. Zhang Yanze has a very distinctive appearance. His eyes are yellow and have a luminous effect, just like a beast. Looking at him is creepy. His character is also cruel and bloodthirsty, like a mad beast.

How cruel was he? When he went mad, he even killed his own son.

His son did not inherit his brutal and cruel character, but was gentle and kind. Zhang Yanze was very angry about this and thought that a tiger father had given birth to a dog son. Therefore, he often beat him severely and even planned to kill him. The son was so frightened that he fled to Qizhou (now Jinan, Shandong Province). The officials of Qizhou did not dare to take him in, so they sent him to the capital and asked Shi Jingtang to take care of him.

Shi Jingtang returned the unfortunate child to Zhang Yanze.

Zhang Yanze found an excuse and submitted a memorial to impeach his own son on the grounds of "defection", hoping that the court would allow him to "kill his own son for the sake of justice" and allow him to kill this rebellious son.

The person who was in charge of drafting the memorial for Zhang Yanze was his chief strategist (secretary). When Zhang Shi heard what Zhang Yanze meant, he hurriedly advised him that even a tiger would not eat its own cubs.

"Don't mind your own business in our family! Just write if I ask you to. I'm not going to kill your son. What's your business?"

Zhang Shi refused to draft it and tried his best to dissuade others.

Zhang Yanze was furious and took out his precious carved bow, "Then I will kill you first!" He drew his bow and released an arrow. Zhang Shi fled in haste and escaped with his life.

Zhang Shi was Zhang Yanze's chief think tank, and because of the same surname, he was trusted by Zhang Yanze. All military and political affairs were handed over to Zhang Shi. Zhang Shi was upright, just, and honest, so he offended many villains. Seeing that Zhang Shi angered Zhang Yanze, these villains took the opportunity to frame him and ran to Zhang Yanze to gossip.

After hearing this, Zhang Shi knew that he was in great trouble, so he claimed that he was sick and needed to go to another place for medical treatment, and then fled overnight with his wife and children.

Zhang Yanze immediately sent his generals to chase him and told them: "If Zhang Shi refuses to come back with you, you must bring back his head."

Officials along the way sympathized with Zhang Shi's plight, secretly opened the city gates, and sent people to send him to Bingzhou. Li Zhou, the governor of Jingnan Army in Bingzhou, submitted a memorial to the court, asking for instructions on how to deal with the situation.

Shi Jingtang condoned Zhang Yanze, so he issued an imperial decree to exile Zhang Shi to Shangzhou. Although it was exile, it was actually a kind of protection for Zhang Shi.

(End of this chapter)