History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 587 Feng Yu 2
Privy Councilor + Co-Prime Minister = invincible in the court. The Minister of Revenue is equivalent to today's Minister of Finance. In August of the second year of Kaiyun (945), Feng Yu became a political tycoon who could call the shots in the central court of the Later Jin Dynasty.

How favored was Feng Yu? He once took a few days of sick leave due to illness, and Shi Chonggui ordered that all personnel appointments above the rank of governor must be made after Feng Yu arrived at the post.

As you can imagine, Feng Yu had no problem selling official positions and titles. People came from all directions to bribe him, and the politics of the Later Jin Dynasty became extremely dark.

Yin Peng, the ghostwriter for Feng Yu, also joined Feng Yu's party and became Feng Yu's think tank. With Feng Yu's help, Yin Peng also rose from a secretary to a secretary and a privy scholar, entering the core power circle. At the same time, as Feng Yu's confidant, Yin Peng also became a key figure in smoothing the relationship and the first stop for bribery to Feng Yu.

Sang Weihan resigned from the post of prime minister and was stripped of his position as privy councilor, but he still held the title of privy councilor. Feng Yu and his party kept a close eye on him all the time and formed voluntary disciplinary inspection committees, refusing to stop until Sang Weihan was brought down.

The reason why Sang Weihan allowed the treacherous ministers to succeed was not only because the emperor was partial to one side, but also because he himself had many small flaws. For example, he was a little shallow, and he would repay a drop of kindness with a spring, but he would also take revenge for the slightest grievance. For Sang Weihan, favors were not left overnight. Such a character can be said to be generous and straightforward, very much like the Liangshan heroes, but this way of dealing with people is an advantage for a hero, but it is a fatal flaw for the prime minister of the empire.

The reason why Shi Chonggui completely distanced himself from Sang Weihan was a casual remark made by Sang Weihan.

On the first day of the first lunar month in the second year of Kaiyun (945), civil and military officials went to the palace to pay their respects and attend the New Year ceremony. At that time, Sang Weihan, who was also the privy councilor and prime minister, sent a maid to the palace to pay his respects to the empress dowager. During the greetings, he casually asked about Shi Chongrui's situation and asked whether his younger brother Shi Chongrui had studied recently.

This is a very normal polite question, just like when relatives get together during the holidays and ask each other what grade their children are in, how they did in the final exam, and what major they want to study...

However, this sentence was regarded as a treasure by Feng Yu and his party. They immediately ran to Shi Chonggui and falsely accused Sang Weihan of having the intention to depose the emperor.

Shi Chonggui believed it.

Because the situation at that time was that the Khitan launched the second campaign and invaded the Central Plains on a large scale, and the Later Jin had a bad start. A layer of terror filled the hearts of the military and civilians across the country. Shi Chonggui was so anxious that he became "unwell" and his condition was so serious that he could not attend the New Year celebration on the first day of the first lunar month.

Under such circumstances, Comrade Sang Weihan, the leader of the civil service group, a veteran of two dynasties, the soul of the "pro-Liao faction", and the chief architect of the pro-Liao policy, suddenly became concerned about Shi Chongrui's situation...

Shi Chongrui was the only surviving son of the late emperor Shi Jingtang. There were also rumors that the late emperor's will had intended to enthrone Shi Chongrui, and that it was Feng Dao and Jing Yanguang who forged the will to support Shi Chonggui.

The "reading incident" planted a time bomb in Shi Chonggui's heart.

Not long after, Shi Chonggui, perhaps because he had won a victory and was so happy that he drank a few more cups of wine, "the emperor became ill due to excessive drinking." Sang Weihan sent someone to the palace to find the empress dowager, saying that the emperor's younger brother Shi Chongrui was almost old enough to go to school and it was time to arrange for him to attend school (please find a tutor for the emperor's younger brother Chongrui).

With the exaggeration of Feng Yu and others, the incident quickly fermented, and the "old-timers gang" took the opportunity to frame Sang Weihan for wanting to depose and enthrone. Sang Weihan was a veteran of the previous dynasty, neither a direct descendant of Shi Chonggui's Hedong family nor a royal relative, and was not trusted by Shi Chonggui. After the malicious exaggeration and instigation of the "old-timers gang", Shi Chonggui became even more suspicious of Sang Weihan.

With the rise of the "old-timers" gangs such as Feng Yu and Li Yantao, many of Sang Weihan's political enemies joined them, seeking warmth together and colluding with them. For example, Li Shouzhen.

Li Shouzhen was from Heyang. When Shi Jingtang was stationed in Heyang, Li Shouzhen became a general under Shi Jingtang. From then on, he followed Shi Jingtang until the founding of the country. Therefore, Li Shouzhen, like Liu Zhiyuan and Sang Weihan, belonged to Shi Jingtang's direct lineage. Today's "former dynasty veterans gang". Yang Guangyuan colluded with Khitan to go south, and Yelu Ma'ao attacked Yunzhou in an attempt to unite with it and repeat Li Cunxu's "left hook". Li Shouzhen was ordered to go to block it and successfully defeated Yelu Ma'ao. He was promoted to Yanzhou Jiedushi for his merits, and then led an army of 20,000 to suppress Yang Guangyuan.

When Yang Guangyuan surrendered, his subordinate Song Yan presented Yang Guangyuan's treasures, beauties, famous horses, etc. to Li Shouzhen, so Li Shouzhen secretly hid Song Yan in his own army and gave him shelter.

This is because according to convention, after suppressing a rebellion, the imperial court would issue an amnesty edict to pardon the remaining traitors, implementing the principle of "punishing only the main culprit and not asking about the rest". Therefore, as long as these traitors who helped the tyrant to commit atrocities can find a way to survive until that day, they can start a new life and their previous crimes will be wiped out.

Song Yan bribed Li Shouzhen heavily in order to save his life, and Li Shouzhen had already agreed. He was just waiting for the storm to die down in two days, and then everything would be fine.

However, the reason why Yang Guangyuan embarked on the path of collusion with foreign countries had a lot to do with the instigation of these staff members. When Yang Guangyuan's sons surrendered, they had already captured and killed a group of core leaders, and Song Yan was one of the fish that slipped through the net. At that time, Sang Weihan intended to catch all these rebels in one fell swoop, so he took advantage of the change of his position and deliberately delayed the issuance of the amnesty edict in order to ask the front-line soldiers to kill more traitors.

Soon, the news about Li Shouzhen leaked out and he was reported. So the emperor ordered Li Shouzhen to hand over Song Yan, and then he executed Song Yan.

Sang Weihan hated evil, but he was not very tactful in dealing with people. Killing Song Yan was not only a small matter of not giving Li Shouzhen face, but also confirmed Li Shouzhen's crime of recruiting traitors and harboring a Class A wanted criminal. Li Shouzhen would have to pay the price.

Therefore, Li Shouzhen hated Sang Weihan with gnashing teeth.

Now, Shi Chonggui showed suspicion of the old ministers of the previous dynasty and doted on the "old and pro-old gang" without any bottom line. Li Shouzhen therefore paid homage to Feng Yu, and Sang Weihan was his token of allegiance. Li Shouzhen actively framed Sang Weihan and drew a clear line between himself and the "old and pro-old gang".

Feng Yu, Li Yantao and Li Shouzhen got together and, after discussion, they decided that Kaifeng Prefecture Governor Zhao Ying was gentle and easy to control, so they jointly submitted a petition recommending Comrade Zhao Ying to replace Sang Weihan.

On December 945, 12, the second year of Kaiyun, Shi Chonggui issued an edict: Sang Weihan was relieved of all his central government posts (Privy Councilor, Minister of the Central Secretariat) and was appointed as the prefect of Kaifeng; the former prefect of Kaifeng, Comrade Zhao Ying, was promoted to Minister of the Central Secretariat; and Prime Minister Li Song concurrently served as Privy Councilor.

(End of this chapter)