History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 697 Chai Rong succeeded to the throne 2
A word of advice awakened the dreamer. When his father was ill, of course the son had to serve him. It was reasonable for Chai Rong to do so. Moreover, this also involved the transfer of the highest power in the empire. Although Guo Wei had no other heirs and there was no dispute over the throne, Wang Jun, Wang Yin and other powerful officials in the court and the frontiers might not be uncovetous of the throne.

The period when the emperor was ill was the golden period for fierce competition among various forces. During this period, many peripheral elements would do whatever it takes to overtake others, just like the speed skaters from South Korea, with dirty hearts and hands. Some were successful, like Zhu Yougui, and some were unsuccessful, like Li Congrong.

The main purpose of Chai Rong entering the palace to serve on the sickbed was to prevent the emergence of people like Zhu Yougui and Li Congrong, and to ensure that Guo Wei's will could be carried out unimpeded and not distorted or tampered with.

Chai Rong suddenly realized what was going on and moved into the palace that same day, serving by the bedside almost 24 hours a day.

On the 11th day of the first lunar month, Guo Wei's condition worsened, and he issued an edict to let Chai Rong supervise the country and exercise the power of the emperor. Then there was a dazzling promotion of official titles, and almost everyone in the country, including princes, meritorious civil and military officers, was promoted, laying the foundation for the transfer of power.

Before Guo Wei died, he gave his successor Chai Rong three very typical instructions:

1. Simple burial

Guo Wei said that after his death, the funeral should be quick and simple, and all the craftsmen and laborers who participated in the construction of the mausoleum should be paid their corresponding salaries, and the people should not be harassed on the pretext of building the mausoleum.
The mausoleums were not allowed to use stone pillars because "they were too labor-intensive, so they were replaced with bricks";
If you don't do as I say, my spirit will not bless you.

Do not build a duplex structure (do not build a lower palace), do not have tomb keepers, and do not erect stone men or stone animals. Just put up a stone tablet in front of the tomb and write "The Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty is about to die. He made an agreement with the successor emperor. Because he has always been frugal, he only ordered that he be buried in a clay coffin and paper clothes."
Before burial, the coffin must be opened and every corner of the tomb carefully checked to avoid accidental injury (human sacrifice);
In the future, during the Qingming Festival, if the country is not busy, people can be sent to sweep the graves. If it is busy, do not send people to the scene, and you can just offer sacrifices remotely.
I buried a set of sword and armor in Hezhong Prefecture and Weizhou, because those are the places where I fought. I buried a Tongtian crown and a crimson gauze robe in Chanzhou, and a Pingtian crown and a dragon-dragon robe in Bianzhou.

After explaining his own affairs, Guo Wei recalled to Chai Rong: "When I attacked Hezhong before, I witnessed the current state of the Tang Dynasty's imperial tombs. They were wasteful and extravagant, and only a few years later, they were robbed and destroyed by tomb robbers. Emperor Wen of Han was frugal, and his tomb is still well preserved. Remember, you must bury it simply!"

In addition to preventing tomb robbers, Guo Wei set an example and advocated simple burials. This was also due to the reality and the need to save financial expenditures for the country.

2. Treat Li Hongyi well
Before his death, Guo Wei told Chai Rong to give Li Hongyi a position as a military governor and treat him well. If Li Hongyi had not informed on the incident, the fate of Guo Wei and others would have been in doubt.

Treating Li Hongyi well was a manifestation of Guo Wei's clear distinction between love and hate. This temperament was preserved until the Song Dynasty, when Zhao Kuangyin launched the Chenqiao Mutiny and seized the country from Chai Zongxun. He also formulated the ancestral precept of "treating Chai's descendants well", instead of executing the entire family of the previous emperor like the previous usurpers such as Zhu Wen.

3. Re-employ Wei Renpu
In the early years of the Later Han Dynasty, Wei Renpu fled from Khitan and, with the introduction of Guo Wei, joined Liu Zhiyuan's camp. Guo Wei and Wei Renpu fell in love with each other and felt that they had met too late.

During the Xiaoqiang Incident, Wei Renpu helped Guo Wei with his plans and made great contributions to Guo Wei's founding of the country. We can even boldly speculate that Wei Renpu was the director of the "Chanzhou Mutiny", but the official history absolutely does not admit it, because according to the official report of the official history, the mutiny was an accident, and Guo Wei was really "forced" to become emperor. Guo Wei was innocent, just like Cao Cao, Sima Zhao, and Zhao Kuangyin.

After Guo Wei proclaimed himself emperor, he promoted Wei Renpu to the position of Deputy Privy Councilor, and later to Privy Councilor, using him to check and balance Privy Councilor Wang Jun. Of course, this meaning can only be understood but not expressed in words.

One day, Guo Wei, without any preparation, suddenly asked Wei Renpu about the number of troops stationed in various states and the names of the officers and officers in charge of the troops, in order to inspect Wei Renpu's work. Wei Renpu answered calmly, and Guo Wei took the roster to check, and found that it was exactly the same! Guo Wei was very pleased.

When Guo Wei was dying, he warned Chai Rong: No matter what, Wei Renpu must not be expelled from the Privy Council!
Chai Rong was very obedient and appointed Li Hongyi as the acting grand tutor. Soon after, he was promoted to the position of concurrent palace attendant. He moved his capital to Qingzhou and later to Chang'an. After Chai Zongxun ascended the throne, he was promoted to the rank of Grand Master of the Three Departments. Wei Renpu was promoted from Privy Councilor to Deputy Privy Councilor.

In addition to Wei Renpu, Guo Wei also left a complete group of mature civil servants to Chai Rong, such as Wang Pu, Fan Zhi, etc. When Guo Wei felt that he was about to die, he hurriedly urged the Hanlin scholars to draft an edict to appoint Wang Pu as the prime minister. After the edict was announced, Guo Wei said with relief: "I have no regrets!"

Wang Pu assisted two dynasties and four emperors and was a famous wise minister in history. His greatest contribution was that he compiled the "Tang Huiyao" in 100 volumes based on the work of his predecessors, and then compiled and wrote the "Five Dynasties Huiyao" in 30 volumes. From then on, he advocated the "Huiyao" format, and thus a series of immortal works such as "Song Huiyao" and "Spring and Autumn Huiyao" appeared in later generations.

Later generations evaluated Wang Pu, Fan Zhi and Wei Renpu as all having the qualities to be prime ministers, and they were also the key ministers who assisted Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin, and made immortal contributions to the Song Dynasty in ending the chaos of the Five Dynasties.

In the last stage of his life, Guo Wei summoned his nephew Li Chongjin to his side. Li Chongjin was older than Chai Rong, but Guo Wei asked Li Chongjin to kneel down and declare himself a subject to Chai Rong in front of him, making it clear that they were the monarch and his subjects. Then, he finally closed his eyes with peace of mind.

On that day (the 51th day of the first lunar month), Guo Wei passed away peacefully in Zide Hall at the age of .

The palace strictly blocked the news from the outside. Although Guo Wei had made detailed arrangements, the handover of supreme power was far from simple, and Chai Rong had a lot of work to do.

On the 20th day of the first lunar month, Guo Wei's last will was read out: Chai Rong ascended the throne in front of the coffin.

The next day, Chai Rong officially ascended the throne and became emperor, namely Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou.

Later generations spoke highly of Guo Wei. "Within a month, all bad policies were eliminated, and after a year, the people were greatly convinced. How could he be so good? It was because he was able to adapt to infinite situations... Although his reign was not long, he was able to establish a solid foundation." In a very short period of time, Guo Wei changed all the ills of the Later Han Dynasty and laid a solid foundation for future prosperity.

He ordered a simple burial when he was dying, which was also a model respected and praised by later generations.

Of course, he also had controversial points, the biggest of which was the "killing of the two kings", killing Wang Jun and Wang Yin, two founding heroes. Although the history books listed the various acts of disloyalty by Wang Jun and Wang Yin to prove that the killing of the two kings was justified, some people still believed that this was a manifestation of Guo Wei's inability to control the powerful.

(End of this chapter)