History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 586 Feng Yu
Du Chongwei requested to move his town to Weizhou.

First, Weizhou is relatively southward, so it can avoid the sharp edge of the Khitans;

Secondly, Weizhou Wei Bojun is also an important town in Heshuo with a history of more than 200 years, and its political status is comparable to that of Zhenzhou;

In the end, the people of Zhenzhou had been squeezed dry by him and became poor, with nothing left to squeeze out of them.

Shi Chonggui fully agreed. Du Chongwei moved his garrison to Weizhou.

The court sent Wang Qinzuo, the palace supervisor, to act as the governor of Zhenzhou. At that time, the court ordered the whole country to forcibly collect grain. Wang Qinzuo was pleased to find that there were still more than 100,000 hu of grain in Zhenzhou that Du Chongwei had not taken away in time, so Wang Qinzuo registered this batch of grain and reported it to the court.

Logically speaking, Du Chongwei had already promised to offer 100,000 hu of grain and 200,000 bundles of fodder to the court, so now he had paid his debt. Unexpectedly, Du Chongwei was furious and wrote a petition to seek justice, saying that he had not committed any crime, so why did Wang Qinzuo raid his house?
Du Chongwei is a Pixiu, he only takes in but never gives out. Anything that passes through his hands will have the surname Du.

Shi Chonggui then ordered Wang Qinzuo to return the grain and also gave Du Chongwei a large amount of additional rewards as compensation for his mental damage.

Shi Chonggui favored Du Chongwei without any bottom line, and ultimately shot himself in the foot. He deserved it. The following text will present Du Chongwei's repayment to Shi Chonggui.

Shi Chonggui and his aunt Feng Shi were shameless and committed indescribable acts in the mourning hall before Shi Jingtang's body was cold. Shi Chonggui favored Feng Shi and promoted Feng Shi's brother Feng Yu to the core power circle.

Feng Yu was first appointed as the Secretary of the Central Secretariat and the Imperial Edict Writer, which meant he helped the emperor draft imperial edicts. However, Feng Yu could not recognize a few words and could not even finish a book, so how could he write a book? However, this did not matter. Shi Chonggui also arranged for an expert to lead the team, and another Secretary of the Central Secretariat Yin Peng was his gunman, while his brother-in-law Feng Yu lay down and gained experience.

Since Feng Yu "does not know how to read", why was he allowed to serve in the Hanlin Academy as the Imperial Edict Drafter? Wouldn't it be better to assign him other work?

This is because the positions of Zhongshu Sheren, Zhizhigao, and Duanmingdian Xueshi are the green channel to enter the highest authority of the central government. If you are in other departments or other positions, such as Yuanwailang and Shilang of various ministries, you need a gradual process. Even if someone is leading you, you still have to take one step at a time and be promoted in sequence.

As for the Duanming Palace scholars, in theory, they did not need to have relevant work experience. Their positions were characterized by low rank and low salary, but they could come into contact with the emperor and participate in discussions on state affairs. Their opinions could even influence the formulation and revision of state policies.

The original intention of designing this system was to effectively prevent powerful officials from trying to cover up the emperor's power. The requirements for this position are usually the best among the successful candidates in the imperial examinations. They are often bookish, upright, loyal, have healthy ideals and correct beliefs, and are meticulous, serious and strict in their work.

The emperor pulled them into the core power circle, discussed state affairs with them, and divided the power of the powerful officials. The characteristic of their positions was "small officials in charge of big things". If the powerful officials wanted to enter this circle, regardless of their academic qualifications, the minimum entry condition was to give up their high positions and salaries, give up the coveted real power, and work down-to-earth as grassroots civil servants. This was something that the powerful political leaders would not accept.

These grand secretaries were of low rank and had no real power (they only made suggestions), so they would not pose a threat to the imperial power.

In this way, those who are powerful cannot enter the decision-making level, and those who enter the decision-making level are incompetent, and the imperial power will be forever secure.

This system seems perfect, but there is a logical bug, that is, the emperor has the final right of interpretation. The emperor has the final say on who can enter this circle and whether the suggestions in the circle can be adopted. In other words, if the emperor is enlightened, then everything is perfect, but if the emperor is dim, then the emperor will do whatever he wants, listen to one side and believe, be close to villains and stay away from wise ministers.

Shi Chonggui obviously belongs to the latter. He used this green channel to pull his elder brother-in-law Feng Yu into the highest decision-making level of the empire. Feng Yu also developed a subordinate - Xuanhui Beiyuan Envoy Li Yantao (who has the same name as one of the tomb robbers Wen Tao, but is not the same person).

Li Yantao was originally a servant of Yan Bao, who was the governor of Xingzhou in the Later Liang Dynasty. Later, he surrendered to Li Cunxu of Hedong and made great contributions to Li Cunxu's establishment of the Later Tang Dynasty. Li Yantao followed his master Yan Bao to the Hedong Group as a servant. Of course, the Hedong Group had to separate the master and servant. This was a common practice and a rule of the road, so Li Yantao was assigned to another Hedong general, Shi Jingtang.

During the "Hedong War", when Shi Jingtang went south to attack Luoyang, Li Yantao was left in Taiyuan to take care of Shi Chonggui. After a while, Shi Chonggui became attached to Li Yantao. Li Yantao can also be regarded as Shi Chonggui's direct descendant in Hedong.

Li Yantao, who was born a slave, was particularly scheming. Not only was he good at observing people's words and expressions and pleasing his master, he was also good at acting in groups. He actively won over those servants or concubines who were also favored, colluded with each other, formed a community of interests, and worked together to deceive his master's eyes.

Li Yantao made no secret of his hatred for the civil service group, often publicly stating that "scholars are completely useless", and made his attitude public, saying that these civil servants should be gradually laid off and eliminated until they are all dismissed.

A nouveau riche like him, who came from a humble background with no education, no qualifications, and no background, naturally had a natural and huge hostility towards the highly educated and prominent scholar-official class.

The eunuchs thought so too.

If they want to fight for power and profit, the civil service group who only have pens but no guns will be a soft persimmon in their eyes.

The eunuchs thought so too.

Feng Yu and Li Yantao colluded with each other and relied on the emperor's favor to unite and attack dissidents.

Feng Yu, Li Yantao and other political upstarts were fighting for power and profit. Whose power and profit were they fighting for? Of course, they would seize whoever had it. Who had it? Sang Weihan.

As a result, Feng Yu, Li Yantao and others continued to sow discord in front of Shi Chonggui and spared no effort to slander Sang Weihan. Soon, Shi Chonggui had the idea of ​​dismissing Sang Weihan.

After hearing about it, Li Song, Liu Xu and others tried their best to dissuade him, and thus Sang Weihan was barely able to keep his official position.

Sang Weihan sensed this threat, and he could not afford to offend this uncle of the emperor, so he wrote a memorial to Shi Chonggui, actively recommending Feng Yu as the deputy envoy of the Privy Council, in order to show his goodwill to Feng Yu.

Unexpectedly, Feng Yu was very unhappy. The Privy Councilor should be the Privy Councilor, but why did they have to appoint a deputy? What did that mean?
So Shi Chonggui bypassed the Secretariat and issued a personnel order directly from the palace: appointing Comrade Feng Yu as the Minister of Revenue and concurrently as the Privy Councilor.

Feng Yu became the Privy Councilor as he wished, and divided the power of Sang Weihan, who was also the Privy Councilor.

Afterwards, Prime Minister He Ning was also dismissed from his post, and the position of Prime Minister was taken over by Feng Yu, who then became the Privy Councilor, Minister of Revenue, Vice Minister of the Secretariat, and Co-Prime Minister.

(End of this chapter)