History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 669 Guo Wei Enters Bian 2
How come there is such a big difference between brothers who were raised by the same parents?

According to historical records, Empress Dowager Li had seven brothers and sisters, and Li Ye was the youngest. Therefore, his six older brothers and sisters doted on him since he was a child, and he became a typical naughty child. He did not do any good things, and he did not do any bad things. He was full of bad ideas and crooked thoughts, and his mouth was full of vulgar and dirty words. Therefore, he was very popular with Liu Chengyou, and he got along very well with Nie Wenjin, Guo Yunming, and Hou Zan.

Obviously, this was most likely a slander and defamation against Liu Chengyou of the Later Han Dynasty by the political groups of the Later Zhou and Northern Song dynasties.

The "uncle clan" resisted the coup by Liu Chengyou and the "group of small people" because they maintained a relatively clear understanding of the current situation. Although it was an inevitable long-term trend to seize power from the military group, it must not be rushed, mainly because of Guo Wei who led the troops outside.

Due to the practical need to resist the Khitan, Guo Wei stationed troops outside. Although he was only the Jiedushi of Weizhou, his other identity was the commander-in-chief of Hebei. Liu Chengyou gave him almost unlimited power, allowing him to mobilize all the troops, money, food and other strategic resources north of the Yellow River.

The reason why Li Hongyi betrayed Liu Chengyou and leaked the secret to Wang Yin; Yan Jinqing leaked the secret to Shi Hongzhao at a critical moment (unsuccessful); Li Hongjian saved Wang Yin's family... was mainly based on this concern. Is Guo Wei so easy to be killed? The local tyrant north of the Yellow River!

Even if they had to take the risk and were determined to eliminate Guo Wei, they should have captured the leader first, killing Guo Wei who posed the greatest threat. However, Liu Chengyou and his group did the opposite and put Guo Wei at the end of the death list. The consequence of this was that Guo Wei had ample time to prepare.

Let's briefly review the timeline:

On November 11, Shi Hongzhao, Yang Bin, and Wang Zhang were killed;
On the 14th, Meng Ye arrived in Chanzhou with a secret decree, and Li Hongyi leaked the secret;
On the 15th, Guo Wei led his army southward;

On the 16th, Guo Wei arrived in Chanzhou;

On the 17th, Guo Wei arrived in Huazhou;

On the 18th, the eunuch Long Tuo brought back to Bianzhou the news that Guo Wei had arrived in Chanzhou (on the 16th);

On the 19th, Guo Wei arrived in Fengqiu;

On the 20th, the two sides confronted each other at Liuzipo;

On the 21st, the imperial army collapsed;
On the 22nd, Liu Chengyou was assassinated and Guo Wei entered Bian.

It took less than 10 days from the start of the coup to its complete failure. According to Liu Chengyou's plan, Shi Hongzhao and others would be killed on the 13th, Wang Yin would be killed on the 14th, and Guo Wei would be killed on the 15th.

In fact, when the tragedy happened on the 13th, Guo Wei had already received intelligence at the first time and began to discuss countermeasures with his staff. Therefore, after receiving the tip-off on the second day (14th), the army responded so quickly, discussing countermeasures, unifying thoughts, assembling troops, and mobilizing for combat... It took less than a day, and on the third day (15th), they had already embarked on the journey. It was not until the 16th that Liu Chengyou's group sent Hou Yi and others to lead the army to station in Chanzhou, setting Chanzhou as the first line of defense. Ironically, at the same time, Guo Wei had already occupied Chanzhou. If it is a movie, using double-lens splicing or fast switching will form a huge visual impact. Is Guo Wei moving too fast, or is Liu Chengyou moving too slow?
What is even more ironic is that Liu Chengyou also sent the eunuch Long Tuo to the "front line" of Weizhou for reconnaissance. In the eyes of Liu Chengyou's group, even if the assassination attempt on Guo Wei failed, if Guo Wei really wanted to rebel, it would take a long time to assemble, mobilize and complete the deployment, and they would definitely be in chaos in Weizhou.

As a result, the eunuch Long Tuo came back crawling (on the 18th) and told Guo Wei that he had entered Chanzhou, which shocked Liu Chengyou's group. In fact, due to the time lag in information transmission, Guo Wei had already crossed the Yellow River and Huazhou, and was about to arrive at Fengqiu, north of Bianzhou, which was considered to be the enemy at the gates.

Therefore, Liu Chengyou's group, which had taken the initiative to provoke the conflict, was in a huge passive position and could only respond hastily. Guo Wei, who took the initiative, actually took the initiative and used static tactics to control dynamic tactics. In just two days of confrontation, just a small test of more than a hundred people caused the imperial army to collapse and Liu Chengyou's group was instantly wiped out.

Although the time was short, many details revealed the reasons why the "uncle's family" turned against the emperor. For example, the military group represented by Guo Wei was deeply rooted and intertwined. As soon as the tragedy on the 13th happened, Guo Wei, who was far away in Weizhou, was the first to learn about it. When the two armies confronted each other, the generals of the imperial army deserted one after another and secretly communicated with Guo Wei.

Of course, suppose Liu Chengyou reversed the order of death, sent people to kill Guo Wei first, and then killed Shi Hongzhao and others, or agreed on a time and took action at the same time, would things be successful?

A centipede will not die without being stiffened. The group of military commanders is so big and deep-rooted that it is difficult to get rid of it. Liu Chengyou underestimated the enemy, was too young, and was too naive.

In addition, in this "two-day war", Liu Zhu's behavior was really incredible. When Liu Chengyou retreated to Bianzhou, he refused to let Liu Chengyou enter the city and fired arrows to drive him away; when Guo Wei came, he also fired arrows to drive him away. What is his position? It feels like he is an unprincipled Husky and Teddy, who is angry with everything.

According to historical records, Liu Zhu was cruel, murderous, and ruthless, which won Liu Zhiyuan's admiration, who thought he was a fierce warrior. However, his "bravery" only stopped at treating unarmed people who had no power to fight back.

Liu Zhu had a bad temper. If his subordinates made a small mistake, he would be dragged backwards on the ground for hundreds of steps, and the victims would often be covered in wounds.

If he targeted civilians, his methods were even more outrageous. All the cases he tried, no matter how serious the crime, could not escape a beating. In movies and TV dramas, when beating with a stick, two yamen runners cooperated with each other, and took turns beating with two boards up and down. However, Liu Zhu invented the "Hehuan stick", which means two boards fell at the same time; he also invented the "sui nian stick", which means the number of sticks depends on the age of the person.

When it comes to making money, Liu Zhu will not fall behind. He arbitrarily increases taxes in a simple and crude way.

When he was in Qingzhou, he used his position to disguise himself as a salt gang leader and secretly engaged in smuggling salt. When he went to Beijing, there were still several rooms of smuggled salt that he had not had time to sell or transfer. So Liu Zhu ordered people to pour all the smuggled salt into the well, and then add some dung and other filthy things, and then fill it with soil. As a result, his successor Fu Yanqing found out about this and reported it to the court.

That is why, as mentioned above, after this deputy provincial-level cadre was dismissed from his post in the capital, he became a jobless vagrant in Beijing. Yang Bin and Shi Hongzhao delayed arranging a job for him and deliberately suppressed him. The illegal salt case was one of the reasons.

Be it Liu Zhu or other members of the "group of villains", the records in history books can almost be described as disgusting to look at. On the other hand, the victims of the coup d'état, such as Shi Hongzhao, Yang Bin, and Wang Zhang, are often praised with excessive words. Even if criticism is made, it is quite considerable and well-reasoned, and they will also defend themselves after the tactful criticism.

(End of this chapter)