History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 561 "Big Eyes Cute" Succession 8
Of course, Shi Chonggui would also consider his eating manners, and even if it was robbery, he would try to be as decent as possible.

For example, in November of the seventh year of Tianfu (942), Shi Chonggui's group made a big fuss about salt tax.

In the Tang Dynasty, the policy was that the government operated salt and iron, that is, the government monopolized the salt business, and ordinary people had to buy the high-priced salt from the government. As a result, private salt dealers emerged, who smuggled salt and sold it at extremely low prices to make huge profits.

In order to protect the court's salt profits, local governments at all levels had to take on the task of arresting smuggled salt. However, in the face of huge profits, there were always people who took risks and risked being beheaded to engage in the industry of smuggling salt, and formed gangs to form armed "Salt Gangs", whose representative figure was Huang Chao, a major protagonist in the previous article of this book.

The smuggling of salt continued despite repeated prohibitions, and the cost of cracking down on smuggling also reduced the profits of salt. Therefore, the court changed its mindset. Since it could not be eradicated, it would jointly develop and cooperate for mutual benefit. The court reconciled with the salt gangs, subcontracted the official salt to the salt gangs, and let the salt gangs solve the "last mile". The court acquiesced to the salt gangs' smuggling of salt. Everyone made money, wasn't it wonderful?

During the period of Shi Jingtang, smuggling of salt became increasingly rampant and the government's profits dropped sharply. So, Shi Jingtang's group came up with a clever idea: they simply lifted the ban. The government allowed private enterprises to operate freely, but people had to pay salt tax, "1,000 coins for upper households, 200 coins for lower households, and divided into five levels."

In fact, it is similar to the "head tax", just under a different name. Everyone across the country has to pay taxes, and salt becomes an ordinary commodity that can be traded freely.

In order to make money, the imperial court has now issued an edict to restore the salt ban. Salt is still monopolized by the government, and ordinary people have to buy it at a high price. At the same time, the "salt tax" has not been abolished. The imperial court is levying double taxation. Not only do they have to buy my high-priced salt, but they also have to pay salt tax per person.

Legal looting.

In short, in the face of various natural disasters, the common people were displaced and left their homes, and nearly one million people starved to death due to the disasters. Against this background, Shi Chonggui's group also extended its evil hands to the poor and pitiful people, robbing them of money, food, horses, and people...

5.2 The Rich Live in the Houses of the Rich

The natural disasters that occurred year after year, coupled with the war, plunged the people of the country into dire straits, with no way to go to heaven or to the earth. However, Shi Chonggui used the excuse of the country's tight finances and supporting the war as an excuse to plunder the people's power. Is this really the case? Did Shi Chonggui also tighten his belt and share the suffering of the people during this difficult period?
Ha ha.

As the ruler of a country, Shi Chonggui's life can be summed up in four words: living a life of luxury and extravagance. When the people of the country were starving, Shi Chonggui, the emperor of the country, still lived a life of luxury and extravagance.

5.2.1 The Great Gold Robbery

According to historical records, whenever tribute was paid from all directions, Shi Chonggui would ask for silver to be replaced with gold. His reason was that gold of equal value was much lighter than silver, which would save transportation (gold was expensive and light, and therefore easier to transport).

Why do we need to facilitate transportation? People at that time privately said that this was a sign that the emperor would move to the north (those who knew it thought it was a sign of moving north). It was convenient when leaving.

The History of Song Dynasty records that "the young emperor was extravagant, often exchanging silver for gold and expanding his utensils..."

Later, Li Song, the judge of the Three Departments, took the account book and checked it. He was shocked to find that the actual inventory was more than a thousand gold ingots less than the account book! Who was so bold as to make false accounts and spend money in the national treasury?
Li Song immediately found the original person in charge, Liu Tao, and asked him where the gold had gone and how there was such a big hole. Not a single cent of the money in the national treasury could be deviated. Didn't he understand?

Liu Tao was also very aggrieved. At this time, Liu Tao was like Kong Qian in the early period of the Later Tang Dynasty, while Shi Chonggui was Li Cunxu. The one who embezzled public funds was none other than the current emperor Shi Chonggui. I was just a small judge of finance and warehouse keeper. How dare I stop him? How dare I give him an account? This was the tacit understanding between me, the money bag, and Shi Chonggui.

Liu Tao didn't have the guts to say these things directly, accusing the emperor of embezzling the national treasury. So he could only hint to Li Song, "Oh, it's common for some expenses not to be recorded in time to prepare for emergencies." Li Song was furious and immediately reported it to the relevant authorities, impeaching Liu Tao for embezzlement.

Liu Tao felt wronged, so he went to Prime Minister Sang Weihan in private to tell him his unspeakable secret. "Prime Minister, Li Song doesn't understand, but you don't know. Didn't I take the money? It was all taken by that... that person. Can this matter be tried and investigated publicly?"

Li Song originally belonged to Li Congke's civil servant group, while Sang Weihan was a 100% pure Hedong direct descendant. So, although Shi Jingtang and Shi Chonggui respected Li Song, Sang Weihan and other civil servants, only Sang Weihan was "one of them", a trusted direct descendant of the Shi family father and son, and therefore knew more about the inside story.

Sang Weihan knew the truth of the matter very well. Therefore, in this shocking case of embezzlement of huge amounts of public funds, the "main culprit" Liu Tao was only sentenced to "a one-month salary fine". The trial and judgment of the case were particularly low-key, and it was not even mentioned in the "Book of Jin" but in the "History of Song Dynasty", because Liu Tao's official career continued until the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Another thing about Liu Tao is worth mentioning: During the reign of Li Congke of the Later Tang Dynasty, Liu Tao served as a servant. He accidentally read an article written by a failed candidate. After reading it, Liu Tao applauded and said that this person's talent was enough to be a prime minister in the future. So he took care of this candidate in the second year's imperial examination, and helped him pass the imperial examination and successfully enter the political arena.

This lucky candidate was named Xue Juzheng. He was the prime minister of the Northern Song Dynasty and the supervisor of the Old History of the Five Dynasties. After his death, he was honored to be enshrined in the temple of Emperor Taizong of Song. During the reign of Emperor Lizong of Song, 24 deceased meritorious officials were selected and their portraits were painted in the Zhaoxun Pavilion, following the example of the "Lingyan Pavilion" of the Tang Dynasty. Xue Juzheng was one of them.

The person who discovered Xue Juzheng, this talented horse, was none other than Liu Tao, who is now unable to speak.

5.2.2 “Female Music with Soft Voices”

After the Jin-Liao War broke out, Shi Chonggui led the army in person and won two battles in succession.

During the march, he watched singing and dancing every day. However, there was no decent royal folk art troupe in the army, so he could only use war drums, erhu, Qiang flute, etc. to perform.

Shi Chonggui appreciated only high art and "soft female music" in the palace. He disdained these rough and vulgar military music, and only listened to them reluctantly due to objective conditions.

When Shi Chonggui was feasting with other generals in the army, he often said to those around him: "This is not music." Alas, this is simply noise and is not worthy of being accepted in a formal occasion.

Feng Dao and others were worldly-wise and catered to the emperor's tastes, so they took the opportunity to request the restoration of "soft-voiced female music".

Shi Chonggui shook his head and said that it was not the right time yet. Firstly, there was a powerful enemy at hand, and secondly, he was in deep mourning.

This was Shi Chonggui's high-sounding excuse. In the feudal period, people were not allowed to listen to music while in mourning. As mentioned earlier, since the Tang Dynasty, people would be severely punished for listening to music during the period of mourning. Even if someone else was playing music and you stopped to watch, you would be beaten with a stick.

But, did Shi Chonggui really observe the mourning period seriously? Humph, how shameless!
Shi Chonggui did more than just dance on top of the grave; he performed an indescribable act in front of the coffin, which was quite outrageous.

(End of this chapter)