History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 691: Wang Jun, the Second Minister of the Ming Dynasty (Monthly Ticket Reward Plus 2)

3.3, “Bodhisattva”

Before Murong Yanchao formally rebelled, an "expert" observed the stars at night and said that Saturn was moving between Jiao and Kang, which meant that there would be blessings under Jiao and Kang. Jiao and Kang corresponded to Yanzhou, so something auspicious must have happened in Yanzhou.

Murong Yanchao thought this was a sign from heaven that he would become emperor, so he led his men to the west of Yanzhou City for 30 miles, burned incense and offered sacrifices, built a Kaiyuan Temple, and built statues of gods and gods to pray for blessings. At the same time, he ordered the people to put up a yellow flag at the door of their houses.

When Yanzhou was conquered, Murong Yanchao was still burning incense in the ancestral temple of Saturn, praying for blessings and miracles from the heavens. He fled in a hurry after hearing the news that the city had fallen.

It was precisely because he was busy praying devoutly and firmly believed that a miracle would happen that he was not fully prepared for "self-immolation of the entire family". In a panic, the entire family could only commit suicide by jumping into a well.

After Yanzhou was pacified, Guo Wei originally planned to capture all of Murong Yanchao's followers and massacre all the powerful officials in Yanzhou. Hanlin scholar Dou Yi strongly believed that this was not possible, and pulled Prime Minister Feng Dao and Fan Zhi to persuade Guo Wei together. In the end, Guo Wei announced the pardon of all of Murong Yanchao's followers, implementing the principle of "only punishing the main culprit and not asking about the rest."

Subsequently, Yanzhou was downgraded to a defensive state, and the "Taining Army" was abolished; Yanzhou and the military stationed within a five-li radius were exempted from taxes for one year, and within a ten-li radius, the summer tax was exempted; the people whose houses were destroyed in the war were given subsidies for wood; those who unfortunately died in the war were given a pension of three pieces of silk and exempted from corvée for three years...

Yanzhou is today's Jining City in Shandong Province. Jining may not be well-known throughout the country, but there is a county-level city under Jining that is well-known to everyone and even has a certain degree of international fame. It is Qufu, the hometown of Confucius.

When Guo Wei arrived in Yanzhou, he naturally had to go to Qufu County to pay homage to Confucius. After arriving at the Confucius Temple, Guo Wei wanted to kneel down and worship Confucius, but his attendants tried to dissuade him, saying that Confucius was only a minister, and His Majesty was the emperor, and it was unreasonable for the emperor to kneel down and worship his ministers.

Guo Wei said: "King Wenxuan (Confucius' title) is the teacher of emperors of hundreds of generations. What's wrong with kneeling down to worship your teacher?" Then he knelt down and kowtowed to Confucius with great respect.

Afterwards, Guo Wei visited the Confucius Forest and paid homage to Confucius' tomb. Guo Wei was filled with emotion and asked his attendants, "Can we find the descendants of Confucius and the second sage (Yan Yuan) now?"

The attendants replied, "Comrade Kong Renyu, the former magistrate of Qufu County and Duke Wenxuan, is the 43rd generation grandson of Confucius; there is also a township tribute Yan She, who is the descendant of the second sage Yan Yuan."

Guo Wei immediately summoned Kong Renyu, bestowed him with a red robe, and appointed him as the magistrate of Qufu County on the spot, and appointed Yan She as the chief clerk of Qufu County. Before leaving, he ordered the Yanzhou government to repair the Confucius Temple and forbade the felling of trees near Confucius' tomb.

Confucius is a symbol of Chinese culture and has also become a political symbol or tool. Those who respect Confucius are the legitimate rulers of China, and those who do not are barbarians.

Guo Wei himself had little education, but he still showed enough respect for Confucius to show that the Later Zhou regime was the place where the Chinese cultural tradition was. Among the "Five Dynasties", the Later Zhou had the highest "Confucius content", because Comrade Guo Wei was a descendant of Guo Shu, a descendant of the Zhou emperor, and inherited the Zhou emperor's mantle. The "ritual" advocated by Confucius and his Confucianism was the Zhou ritual. Confucius spent his entire life trying to maintain the Zhou ritual. As a descendant of the Zhou emperor, Guo Wei and the "Great Zhou" he ruled, how could he not respect Confucius?
There is no doubt that Guo Wei's worship of Confucius can be seen as a political show.

On the issue of kneeling to Confucius, Guo Wei once again claimed that it was God's will. According to Guo Wei himself, he arrived in Yanzhou on May 5. At that time, the rebels held the city firmly and the royal army could not take it down for a long time. On May 13, Guo Wei had a dream in which a Taoist priest handed him a book with the title "Return to the capital on the second day of next month". There were many more words below, but he did not remember them (because he could not make them up). When he woke up, he told his close ministers.

After another 4 days, they finally conquered the outer city of Yanzhou, and then another 9 days of clearing out the remaining forces... On June 6, Guo Wei paid homage to Confucius, and on June 1, Guo Wei left Yanzhou and returned to Bianzhou. According to historical records, "in modern times, no one has ever conquered a country so quickly." What's even more bizarre is that the heavenly book in his dream half a month ago had already told him that June 6 was the date for his return to Beijing.

The interpretation of this story is: Guo Wei had the help of gods and men behind him; it was God's will that Guo Wei ascended the throne.

Xuzhou, Hedong and Yanzhou were the "three towns that rebelled" at the founding of the Later Zhou Dynasty. Although Liu Chong of Hedong was not completely wiped out, he no longer posed a fatal threat to the Later Zhou Dynasty.

But Guo Wei still has a long way to go.

First, there were natural disasters. During Guo Wei’s time, natural disasters in the Central Plains were mainly floods. The Yellow River burst its banks many times and caused certain impacts.

Secondly, the local threats (the Three Towns) were basically suppressed, but hidden dangers within the court began to emerge, mainly due to the founding hero Wang Jun.

3. Two Ministers
1. Wang Jun

Wang Jun was born as a folk artist, proud of his beautiful singing voice. After many twists and turns, he finally got close to Liu Zhiyuan and became Guo Wei's military supervisor. During the Xiao Qiang Rebellion, Wang Jun supported Guo Wei in going south to compete for the throne and became one of the founding heroes.

Wang Jun is two years older than Guo Wei. Guo Wei respects him very much and calls him "brother" instead of his name. Wang Jun also relies on his contribution to the founding of the country, becomes proud of himself, looks down on others, and acts arrogantly, just like many other heroes who seek their own death.

According to records, he had a violent temper, was stubborn and strong, and wanted everything to be done according to his will. He would curse and fly into a rage if things didn't go his way. Not only did he curse his subordinates and colleagues, he even dared to curse Guo Wei.

Guo Wei had no choice but to compromise and give in, showing some respect to this big brother, which only encouraged Wang Jun's arrogance and domineering behavior.

During the Xiaoqiang Incident, Guo Wei relied on the support of Wang Yin and Wang Jun and the army to seize the world. In order to consolidate the imperial power, Guo Wei also adopted the "civilian route", vigorously cultivating the civil official group, restraining the military general group, and at the same time vigorously cultivating his own direct lineage in the military general group to weaken the power of meritorious generals such as Wang Yin and Wang Jun. For example, he promoted Zheng Renhui, Li Chongjin, Xiang Xun and others.

Zheng Renhui

Originally an aide to Chen Shaoguang, a general of the Later Tang Dynasty, he was bold, careful, and quite strategic. Once, Chen Shaoguang got drunk and acted crazy. For some reason, he drew his sword and wanted to kill Zheng Renhui. All the guests at the banquet were scared and hid everywhere, but Zheng Renhui showed no fear and calmly waited to be hit by the sword. Chen Shaoguang was impressed by his courage and dropped his sword on the spot, apologized to him, and said to him: "Sir, you have extraordinary demeanor, and you will definitely be very successful in the future!"

(End of this chapter)