History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 668 Guo Wei Enters Bian
Guo Wei needed Liu Chengyou to die in an accident. It was just like Li Siyuan needed Li Jiji to die, Li Congke needed Li Conghou to die, and Liu Zhiyuan needed Li Congyi to die.

When Guo Wei heard the news that Liu Chengyou had been murdered, he cried out in grief, "This is my fault!"

On the same day, Guo Wei continued to march towards Bianzhou. When he arrived at the northeast gate of Bianzhou, Liu Zhu also rained arrows at him. Guo Wei had to go around the gate.

After Guo Wei's army entered the city, they began to plunder. Some soldiers rushed into the mansion of Bai Zairong, the "White Ma Yao", and looted everything. Then, the soldiers came to Bai Zairong and said to him: "We used to be your subordinates, but we never thought that we would let our old commander suffer such humiliation today. We are too ashamed to see you again, so... we don't plan to see you again." Then they beheaded Bai Zairong.

Zhang Yun, the Minister of Personnel, was a wealthy man, but he was extremely stingy, a typical miser. He tied the key to his safe to the strap of his underwear, like a woman's jewelry, jingling like a bunch of strings, to prevent his wife and children from taking his money. When Guo Wei's army broke into Bianzhou, Zhang Yun ran into the Buddhist temple and hid on the ceiling. As a result, there were too many people hiding there, and the ceiling could not bear the weight and collapsed.

The soldiers found him, rushed over, and stripped him naked... in order to find the key to the safe. Then they left the naked Zhang Yun where he was. It was the end of November in the lunar calendar, and the twelfth lunar month was about to arrive. As a result, the miser Zhang Yun froze to death on the streets of Bianzhou.

Jia Yanhui and Wei Renpu were neighbors of the workshop, and Jia Yanhui was favored by Liu Chengyou, so he took advantage of his favor and planned to occupy Wei Renpu's house. He repeatedly framed Wei Renpu in front of Liu Chengyou, causing Wei Renpu to be nearly killed. Now, the Weizhou soldiers captured Jia Yanhui alive and handed him over to Wei Renpu, who could do whatever he wanted with him.

Wei Renpu said, "Taking advantage of the chaos of war to seek personal revenge? I can't do such a thing." Then he released Jia Yanhui.

After hearing this, Guo Wei respected Wei Renpu even more.

Zhao Feng, the commander of the imperial guards, hated the soldiers who participated in the looting and said, "General Guo raised the army to purge the emperor and stabilize the country. These rats are doing evil. Is this what General Guo intended?" So he moved a small stool and sat at the entrance of the alley, holding a bow and arrow in his hand, shooting any soldiers who dared to approach. The soldiers did not dare to move forward, and Zhao Feng alone saved an alley.

This Zhao Feng was later killed by Guo Wei. The reason will be explained later.

On the second day after Guo Wei entered Bian (November 11), Wang Yin, Guo Chongwei and other generals warned Guo Wei that they must immediately order an end to the looting, otherwise the capital would become an empty city today. So Guo Wei issued a strict military order, strictly prohibiting harassing the people, and those who violated the order would be executed immediately.

At dusk, order gradually returned to the city of Bianzhou.

Liu Zhu and Li Hongjian were captured alive.

When Liu Zhu was captured, he looked the most miserable. Strictly speaking, it was his wife who looked the most miserable. According to historical records, "Zhu's wife was naked and covered herself with a mat." I don't know what they were thinking. When he was taken away, Liu Zhu looked back at his wife and said to her, "After I die, you will be punished as a slave."

His wife replied: "It's all your fault! Look at all the good things you have done, you deserve this!"

Liu Zhu bowed his head and said nothing. Guo Wei sent someone to the prison to question him: "I am a minister in the same palace with you, so there should be some feelings between colleagues, right? My family was brutally exterminated, although it was the order of the superiors, but your methods were so cruel! You also have a wife and children, don't you have any sympathy for others? Have you fed your conscience to dogs?"

Liu Zhu stiffened his neck and retorted, "I only know how to kill traitors for the Han Dynasty. As for other things, I don't know!"

Guo Wei's generals were furious and demanded blood for blood, so they executed Liu Zhu and his entire family. However, Guo Wei was kind-hearted and said to his subordinates, "Liu Zhu killed my entire family, and I will kill his entire family. When will the cycle of revenge end?" So he reported to the Queen Mother Li, who only beheaded Liu Zhu and one of his sons, and pardoned the rest of the family.

Prime Ministers Dou Zhengu and Su Yugui escaped from Qilidian and were captured by patrol soldiers and presented to Guo Wei. Guo Wei released them, consoled them with kind words, and reinstated them. Although they were prime ministers, the actual power was first monopolized by Su Fengji, then oppressed by Yang Bin and Shi Hongzhao, and finally Li Ye and others launched a coup and took over the power. In short, the two prime ministers had always been in the background and were just in name only.

Guo Wei led his troops into Bianzhou forcefully, and was eager to create a good image, so he pardoned the family members of his enemies who had been exterminated, and reinstated officials who were not implicated in the coup. Guo Wei was playing a big game.

During this tragic coup, although Li Hongjian received an order to massacre Wang Yin's entire family, he showed mercy and sent soldiers to guard them without any harm. Wang Yin was very grateful to Li Hongjian for not killing him, so he specifically asked Guo Wei to pardon Li Hongjian.

However, this kind-hearted comrade Guo Wei did not give Wang Yin any face and still ordered the beheading of Li Hongjian.

At this point, we can remove Guo Wei's hypocritical mask. He is neither a murderous demon nor a compassionate living Bodhisattva. His death list is entirely a ranking list of political interests. Anyone who touches his fundamental interests will be killed; otherwise, he can just say Amitabha.

Liu Zhu's wife did not belong to any political force, so she not only received amnesty, but also was allocated a house in Shanzhou to solve her livelihood problems; although Li Hongjian saved Wang Yin's entire family, Li Hongjian was the younger brother of Empress Dowager Li, and was definitely a backbone of the "uncle clan".

From this perspective, Guo Wei can indeed be considered an excellent politician, because he possesses the basic qualities of a politician: all his actions are guided by political interests. He has done a very good job.

After the army was defeated on the 22nd, Li Ye took the initiative to loot all the gold, silver and treasures in the national treasury, then packed up and fled westward to Shanzhou to join his brother, Li Hongxin, the governor of Shanzhou Baoyi Army; Hou Zan fled eastward to Yanzhou to join Murong Yanchao.

Li Hongxin refused to accept Li Ye, so Li Ye was forced to continue wandering and fleeing. When he fled to Jiangzhou, he was killed by bandits for his money. Hou Zan fled to Yanzhou, and Murong Yanchao warmly welcomed him into the city, gave him a warm welcome, washed him clean, tied him up, and sent him back to Bianzhou to show his goodwill to Guo Wei. Hou Zan was then beheaded in public.

At this point, Liu Chengyou and his "uncle clan" were basically wiped out. What is thought-provoking is that among the brothers of Empress Dowager Li, only the youngest brother Li Ye seemed to be involved. When the massacre began, Li Hongjian protected Wang Yin's family; after the massacre began, Li Hongyi leaked the secret to Wang Yin, Guo Wei and others; after Guo Wei entered Bian, Li Hongxin refused to accept his younger brother Li Ye, causing him to die on the way to escape.

(End of this chapter)