History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 664 Taking risks

Wang Jun returned to the court to report, just as the three towns in the west were in rebellion. Liu Zhiyuan sent Guo Congyi to lead an army to attack Zhao Siwan in Chang'an, and appointed Wang Jun as the military commander (general military commander, general political commissar). As mentioned before, Guo Congyi and Wang Jun were enemies and had a very bad personal relationship.

The history books do not give the specific reasons for the conflict between the two, but we can make indirect inferences through their experiences:
Guo Congyi's father was a beloved general of Li Cunxu. He was given the surname Li and the name Li Shaogu by Li Cunxu. He was given the name Li Shaomou by Li Cunxu, which shows his status in the Hedong Group. When Li Shaogu died, Guo Congyi was still very young. Li Cunxu raised him in the palace and placed him on a par with the princes. At that time, he was named "Li Congyi", which also shows his status in the Later Tang Dynasty.

Li Siyuan and Li Shaogu were revolutionary comrades who fought side by side, and they also gave Guo Congyi meticulous care.

When Shi Jingtang established the Later Jin Dynasty, Guo Congyi restored his original surname and changed his name from "Li Congyi" to Guo Congyi to show his political stance. Later, he committed some crimes and was demoted to the deputy envoy of Suzhou Tuanlian. Later, he resigned due to his mother's death. After the mourning period was over, he stayed in his hometown of Taiyuan.

At this time, Liu Zhiyuan was in charge of Taiyuan Prefecture in Hedong. Liu Zhiyuan admired Guo Congyi very much, so he recommended him as the commander of the cavalry and infantry. Guo Congyi, an unemployed vagrant, became a general in Hedong with Liu Zhiyuan's recommendation. He was grateful to Liu Zhiyuan and assisted him wholeheartedly. Later, he firmly supported Liu Zhiyuan to become the emperor, becoming a veritable direct descendant of Hedong.

Liu Zhiyuan also trusted Guo Congyi very much. Before entering Bianzhou, it was Guo Congyi who was sent to clean up the Bianzhou Imperial Palace. He was also responsible for the most difficult, dirty and secret task - to kill Concubine Wang De and Li Congyi.

Since Liu Zhiyuan recommended Guo Congyi as the commander-in-chief of the cavalry and infantry, Guo Congyi has led troops to fight against the Khitan in the border areas many times. After Liu Zhiyuan entered Bian, he appointed Guo Congyi as the "Hebei Patrol Inspector", that is, the commander-in-chief of the patrol team in the area north of the Yellow River, and continued to be responsible for clearing out the Khitan forces; Xue Huairang, the defense envoy of Mingzhou, restored order and announced his return to the Central Plains. Guo Congyi led an army of 10,000 to assist him; when Du Chongwei rebelled, Guo Congyi followed the army to suppress the rebellion as the "command-in-chief of all the troops in the field camp", and was later promoted to the governor of Zhenning Army of Chanzhou for his merits.

Although there is no obvious intersection with Wang Jun, we can extract a few key words: noble birth, battle-hardened, and a founding hero.

In short, Guo Congyi has a thousand reasons to despise Wang Jun.

Although Guo Congyi and Wang Jun had unpleasant experiences, the three western towns were eventually pacified, and Wang Jun was promoted to the position of Xuanhui Southern Court Envoy due to his merits.

Guo Wei was sent to Weizhou and concurrently served as the Grand Marshal of the Hebei Army. Wang Jun followed him as a military supervisor.

By analyzing the life stories of Wang Yin and Wang Jun, we can see the badness of Liu Chengyou's plan. He should not have included Wang Jun on the list.

Although Wang Jun is a direct descendant of Liu Zhiyuan, he is not the same as the military generals group after all. He was a famous actor in the Royal Opera Troupe. Although he went to the battlefield later, he was in the capacity of a military supervisor, and his relationship with the military generals was not that close.

The military inspector is the emperor's spy, specifically responsible for supervising the front-line commander. Generally speaking, the relationship between the military inspector and the commander-in-chief will not be very good. It is precisely because of their bad relationship that the emperor made such arrangements to let them check and balance each other to prevent them from colluding and launching a mutiny.

Since he wanted to kill Guo Wei, it would be best to win over Wang Jun and make him an insider to stabilize the soldiers on the front line. However, Wang Jun's name was also on the assassination list, pushing him to the opposite side. Liu Chengyou made two preparations. While secretly decreeing the killing of Wang Yin, Guo Wei, and Wang Jun, he urgently summoned Gao Xingzhou of Yunzhou, Fu Yanqing of Qingzhou, Guo Congyi of Chang'an, Murong Yanchao of Yanzhou, Xue Huairang of Tongzhou, Wu Qianyu of Zhengzhou, and Li Gu of Chenzhou to rush to Beijing; at the same time, he appointed Su Fengji as the temporary Privy Envoy (acting as the Privy Council), Liu Zhu as the temporary mayor of the capital, Li Hongjian as the temporary manager of the Imperial Guard (acting as the judge of the Imperial Guard), and Yan Jinqing as the temporary commander-in-chief of the Imperial Guard Cavalry.

If the assassination succeeds, everyone will be happy; if not, I will fight you head-on!
Liu Chengyou did not fail to consider the consequences.

The massacre in the capital was not over yet. After the entire families of Shi Hongzhao, Yang Bin and Wang Zhang were executed, the "uncle's clan" turned their knives against the families of Guo Wei, Wang Jun and Wang Yin in the capital and ordered their entire families to be massacred as well.

It is very interesting that Su Fengji did not participate in the plan of this bloody coup, because as a representative of the civil service group, he was not truly accepted by the "uncle clan group". Liu Chengyou also very "clearly" realized that although the civil service group could be used temporarily, it would eventually be the same as the military group. In the short term, they were revolutionary comrades, but in the long run, they would still be targets of revolution.

When Su Fengji heard the news, he was stunned. After a long time, he slowly recovered from his shock. He sighed and said to the people around him: "It has to be done, but not in this way. It's too hasty and too reckless. If they had asked me at the beginning, it wouldn't have come to this!"

If killing the entire families of Shi Hongzhao, Yang Bin, and Wang Zhang was considered ill-considered, then killing the entire families of Guo Wei, Wang Yin, and Wang Jun as well was completely foolish.

When Emperor Mingzong entered Wei, even at the last moment, Li Cunxu tried his best to protect Li Congshen, the eldest son of Li Siyuan, and prohibited anyone from harming him, because they could serve as hostages or mediators, leaving a way out for the opponent and for himself.

Now, the situation on the front line is still unclear, but Liu Chengyou is eager to kill the hostages. This is tantamount to forcing Guo Wei and others to rebel, and Guo Wei has no choice but to rebel.

This is why Su Fengji beat his chest and stamped his feet, "Your Majesty, you are still too young! Please at least ask me a question, it's over, it's over..."

Liu Zhu carried out the orders of Li Ye and others. Liu Zhu was cruel by nature and killed the entire family of Guo Wei and Wang Jun, leaving no one alive, regardless of gender, age or status.

This large-scale massacre had a huge impact on the course of Chinese history. As all of Guo Wei's sons were killed, he had to pass the country to his nephew and adopted son, Chai Rong. Chai Rong's three sons were also killed in the turmoil, so when he died, the country had to be passed on to his fourth son, Chai Zongxun, who was only 7 years old.

With an orphan and a widowed mother, the ruler was young and the country was in doubt, so General Zhao Kuangyin launched a military rebellion, usurped the throne from Chai Zongxun and established the Song Dynasty.

The person responsible for the extermination of Wang Yin's entire family was Li Hongjian, the younger brother of Empress Dowager Li. Li Hongjian was cautious and did not kill Wang Yin in large numbers, but only sent people to control and guard Wang Yin's family as hostages, and their daily food and other supplies remained the same.

(End of this chapter)