History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 662 Trouble Begins with Xiao Qiang
Li Ye and other "uncle clansmen" constantly made small reports to Empress Dowager Li and Liu Chengyou, slandering Shi Hongzhao and Yang Bin. Empress Dowager Li was quite wise. Although she gradually disliked Shi Hongzhao and Yang Bin, she still considered the overall situation. Although she complained, she had no doubt about their loyalty.

Liu Chengyou is different, because he is young. Isn't he called a young man because he is full of energy?

He ascended the throne at the age of 18, full of ambitions, and was about to make great achievements and go down in history, but he did not expect these ministers to sideline him. In his eyes, Shi Hongzhao and Yang Bin were Cao Cao, Sima Yi, and Zhu Wen! He would never be Emperor Xian of Han, he would fight back.

The "uncle clan" also focused their work on Liu Chengyou.

Yang Bin seemed to sense a hint of crisis, so in April of the third year of Qianyou (950), Yang Bin took the initiative to resign from the post of Privy Councilor.

Of course, this was just a test of the emperor.

Liu Chengyou was also very cautious about this. If he agreed, Yang Bin might take the opportunity to rebel. At this time, Wu Qianyu, the envoy of the Northern Court of Xuanhui, persuaded Liu Chengyou to agree, and said that some old comrades should also give up their leadership positions to give young people a chance to gain experience.

Afterwards, Liu Chengyou demoted Wu Qianyu and sent him out of the capital. He also sent a message to Yang Bin: "The Privy Councilor is extremely important to the empire. Who else can be appointed other than you? It is inexplicable that you have suddenly resigned. Is it possible that someone is trying to alienate us from our monarch and ministers?"

Sure enough, Yang Bin no longer mentioned resignation.

Liu Chengyou secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that it was indeed a test! Fortunately, he was wise.

In this month, the "April Wine Party" incident occurred, and the "May Wine Party" incident occurred the following month. The "May Wine Party" was organized by Wang Zhang, the third official. Afterwards, Wang Zhang also wanted to resign and be transferred to the local government to avoid the increasingly sharp contradictions in the central government. It was Shi Hongzhao and Yang Bin who persuaded him to stay. This can also indirectly prove that Yang Bin's "resignation" a month ago was a test of the emperor.

"Certain people" are suspected of making weapons and armor overnight. Not only are they arrogant and domineering and do not take the emperor seriously, they also dare to test the emperor... What on earth do you want to do?
Due to the constant instigation and provocation of his "uncle's clan", Liu Chengyou finally made up his mind to take the initiative and eliminate potential rebels. He agreed to Li Ye and others' shocking plan to murder Shi Hongzhao, Yang Bin and others.

No matter how we look at it, we can still say that this plan is terrible. The plan is simple and crude, and consists of three steps:

The first step was to take advantage of the opportunity of attending court to ambush warriors and kill Shi Hongzhao, Yang Bin, Wang Zhang and others;
The second step was to kill the wives, children and elders of the above-mentioned people in the capital, and execute the entire family;
The third step is to send people to Hebei to kill Guo Wei and other remnants.

Then, the world will be at peace.

In Liu Chengyou's view, this plan was simply flawless, so he secretly reported it to Empress Dowager Li.

Empress Dowager Li was horrified. "My child, what do you want to do? You want to kill not just one but two officials of the imperial court. You must be careful! Have you discussed this with the prime ministers?"

Li Ye said, "The late emperor said a long time ago that it is best not to ask those scholars about national affairs. They are timid and hesitant, and it is difficult for them to accomplish great things!"

Empress Dowager Li still insisted on her opinion, believing that Liu Chengyou and others were too reckless.

Liu Chengyou was furious and even contradicted Empress Dowager Li, "What do you know as a woman?" Then he threw his sleeves and stormed away.

On November 950, 11, there was a solar eclipse. On November 1, Li Ye told Yan Jinqing about the plan, and the action would be tomorrow. Because Yan Jinqing was also "one of us" and had a grudge against Shi Hongzhao and others, he would definitely cooperate with the plan.

Yan Jinqing was so frightened that he pretended to be calm on the surface, agreed, said goodbye, and rushed to Shi Hongzhao's house to reveal the secret to Shi Hongzhao.

If the King of Hell wants you to die at three o'clock in the morning, who dares to keep you alive until five o'clock?
Shi Hongzhao was dying, and when he heard that it was Yan Jinqing, one of the members of the "uncle clan", who wanted to see him, he became disgusted and thought that Yan Jinqing was trying to bribe for the position of "Xuanhui Envoy", so he made up a random excuse and refused to meet him. In this way, Shi Hongzhao missed a chance to save his life.

Yan Jinqing knew that a catastrophe was inevitable, and returned home in a daze. He hung the portrait of the late emperor in the middle of the living room, knelt before it, and cried all night long.

Liu Chengyou and his "uncle's clan" were crazy and impulsive, Shi Hongzhao and others were numb, and only Yan Jinqing was sober. However, apart from missing the late emperor and crying bitterly, he could do nothing but watch the empire he had built up collapse.

The next morning (November 11), the winter sun was lazy. Shi Hongzhao, Yang Bin, Wang Zhang and others traveled under the stars and came to the palace in the dark to punch in for work as usual.

Suddenly, dozens of warriors rushed out of the Guangzheng Hall and started chopping with knives without saying a word. Shi Hongzhao, Yang Bin, and Wang Zhang were killed on the spot.

It was just that simple. The three powerful men who could make clouds and rain with a flip of their hands died tragically at the door of their office. They didn’t see the sun today.

Then, Nie Wenjin urgently summoned the prime minister and all the civil and military officials to Chongyuan Hall and asked them to line up and stand in silence. Just when everyone was puzzled, Nie Wenjin took out the imperial edict from his arms and read it to everyone: "Yang Bin, Shi Hongzhao, Wang Zhang and others conspired to rebel and wanted to endanger the country. They should be executed. I celebrate with you all."

All the officials were stunned. Before they could come to their senses, Nie Wenjin led everyone to the Wansui Hall to listen to the emperor's teachings.

Liu Chengyou was full of energy and could not hide his ecstasy. He announced to all the officials: "Hongzhao and others took advantage of my young age and abused my power, causing you to worry all the time. From now on, I will lead you and you, and there will be no more worries."

This was Liu Chengyou’s true “declaration of accession to the throne”. From this moment on, he began to “rule the country personally”.

All officials thanked and congratulated him. Afterwards, Liu Chengyou ordered the imperial guards to control the gates of the palace, and all civil and military officials were temporarily not allowed to leave the palace, and Bianzhou entered a state of emergency.

Because Liu Chengyou wanted to carry out the second step of his plan: all the followers and family members of "rebels" including Shi Honglang (Shi Hongzhao's brother), Zhen Yanqi, Xin Congshen, Yang Yankan, Yang Yanwei, Yang Yanyi (the three who submitted the memorial were all sons of Yang Bin), Wang Min (Wang Zhang's nephew), Zhang Yisu (Wang Zhang's son-in-law), Guo Yong, Gao Jin, Jingnan Bureau, and Chai Xun were arrested and executed.

Among them, Shi Hongzhao's other brother Shi Hongfu was in Xingyang at the time. When he heard about the disaster, he hurriedly hid and escaped. Later, he was secretly taken in by one of Shi Hongzhao's subordinates. When Guo Wei established the Later Zhou Dynasty and issued an edict to search for the relatives and descendants of Shi Hongzhao, Yang Bin and others, the subordinate offered Shi Hongfu to him.

Wang Zhang had no sons and only one daughter, who married Zhang Yisu, a deputy minister of the Ministry of Revenue. Zhang Yisu was in poor health and had been bedridden for many years. He was helped from his sickbed to the execution ground by the executioner and insisted on completing the execution despite his illness.

Wang Zhang’s wife, Bai, died of illness several months before the incident, so although Wang Zhang’s entire family was “annihilated” in this tragedy, in fact not many people in his family died.

(End of this chapter)