History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 705: Changes in the Nine Dragons Tent 5
By October, Wang Yanjun was already seriously ill. One day, Wang Yanjun, despite his illness, attended the military parade, and then gave a big reward to the three armies and hosted a banquet for the civil and military officials. Halfway through the banquet, Wang Yanjun suddenly became unconscious and started talking nonsense, saying that he saw Wang Yanbing coming...

Wang Yanbing forced Wang Yanhan to death and handed over the throne to him, and he then captured and killed Wang Yanbing and secured his throne.

The entire court was stunned. Only Li Jian was overjoyed, thinking that Wang Yanjun was about to die.

Wang Jipeng was also very happy.

Li Xun and Wang Jipeng colluded secretly and believed that they should act decisively and take the initiative. Once Wang Yanjun passed away, Chen Jinfeng, Chen Kuangsheng and others might be able to forge a will and depose the eldest son and enthrone the youngest son.

So, when everyone inside and outside the palace was busy rescuing Wang Yanjun, Li Xian, with his trusted henchmen, broke into Li Keyin's house with big wooden sticks and killed him.

However, the next day, Wang Yanjun miraculously recovered, and Chen Jinfeng told him about Li Keyin's murder.

Wang Yanjun was greatly shocked and immediately went to the Golden Palace to convene an emergency court meeting, ordering a thorough investigation into the murder of Li Keyin and to uncover the mastermind behind it!

Wang Jipeng was so frightened that he was at a loss for words. "I screwed up. I have to pay tribute to Li Congrong!"

Li Qi's pupils were filled with blood, and his will was firm. "Once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. Things have come to this point. If I stretch my neck, I will be stabbed. If I shrink my neck, I will be stabbed. I will do it once and for all. I will fight!"

Li Xian led his men and rushed into the palace, rebelling and killing the emperor!

Li Jie was the Imperial City Envoy, responsible for the security of the imperial palace. The Imperial City Envoy assassinated the king, which was a case of embezzlement.

Wang Yanjun was shocked to hear of the mutiny and hid under the bed in the "Nine Dragon Tent". The soldiers stabbed and stabbed him with spears and halberds, and Wang Yanjun was seriously injured. When Wang Yanjun was dragged out, he was still alive, with blood holes all over his body. Wang Yanjun rolled around in pain and wailed in the blood. But the soldiers stopped stabbing him, as if they wanted to watch Wang Yanjun suffer.

Finally, the palace maids could no longer bear it and killed him.

A poem sighed and said:

"The king is seriously ill and has left the court, but the music and dance in the palace is still going on.

Who knows that in the Nine Dragon Fairy Tent, deep in the night, only my lover is allowed to return home."

Li Xun also killed Chen Jinfeng, Chen Kuangsheng, Chen Shouen, Gui Shouming, and Wang Jitao.

The next day, Wang Jipeng declared that he was acting as regent in accordance with the Empress Dowager's order and announced his ascension to the throne on the same day.

After Wang Yanjun married Princess Qingyuan of Southern Han, he sent eunuch Lin Yanyu to set up an office in Guangzhou, which was specifically responsible for receiving envoys from the Min Kingdom and promoting friendly exchanges between the two sides. In fact, it was the embassy of the Min Kingdom to Southern Han.

Liu Yan of Southern Han (son of Liu Yin and brother of Princess Qingyuan) treated Lin Yanyu very highly and often asked him about internal affairs of the Min Kingdom.

Lin Yanyu never answered and said to Liu Yan: "If I leave Min, I will reveal Min's strengths and weaknesses; then after I leave Southern Han, can I also reveal Southern Han's strengths and weaknesses? Is this what a diplomat is like?" Liu Yan felt very ashamed, and at the same time he respected Lin Yanyu even more. He treated him more favorably and made him the chief eunuch of Southern Han, responsible for the assessment of eunuch affairs in the palace.

When the news of Wang Yanjun's assassination came, Lin Yanyu requested to return home, but Liu Yan refused. Lin Yanyu changed into plain clothes and cried for three days facing the direction of Fuzhou.

Although Wang Jipeng was Wang Yanjun's eldest son, his accession to the throne was still illegitimate.

There were many precedents of military coups to seize power during the same period, such as Li Siyuan seizing Li Cunxu's position, Li Congke seizing Li Conghou, Shi Jingtang seizing Li Congke... But they had sufficient reasons to seize power, such as the emperor was incompetent and they "cleared the emperor's side", or the emperor was suspicious and they were forced to rebel in order to survive. Wang Jipeng did not have any of these reasons.

Wang Yanjun was a playboy and a womanizer, but there is no record in history books that he harmed the wives and daughters of civil and military officials or common people, unlike Wang Zongyan and Li Cunxu; he was fond of unorthodox ways, which was linked to being a "ruthless and incompetent monarch", but judging from the results alone, he cannot be said to be hopeless.

In other words, although the common people had complaints against him, they did not escalate to the point of overthrowing him; nor did the army have an irreconcilable hatred for him.

Even if Wang Yanjun lost his way and had few supporters and deserved to be killed, what was the reason for Wang Jipeng and Li Jian to kill the emperor? Was it to "clean up the court"? No, it was to silence him. Because they killed Li Keyin, and the emperor wanted to investigate.

Without any public opinion fermentation, no mobilization, and no preparation, they suddenly broke into the palace and killed the king.

In other words, even if Wang Yanjun lost his way, Wang Jipeng did not gain it.

The first and most difficult problem Wang Jipeng faced after ascending the throne was how to deal with the "Nine Dragon Tent Incident", how to explain to the world the truth about the assassination of the previous emperor, how to gain recognition and support, and how to deal with Li Xian.

Under such circumstances, Wang Jipeng immediately sent envoys to the central dynasty (Later Tang), removed his imperial title, and only called himself "Jiedushi of the Weiwu Army of Fuzhou", pledged allegiance to the Later Tang, resumed tribute, and strived for the recognition of the central court; he issued a general amnesty to win the hearts of the people; he appointed Li Ji to judge the affairs of the six armies and the guards, and to be the general manager of the imperial guards, in order to reassure the people.

Li Bo was originally the Imperial City Envoy, and now he was the Chief of the Imperial Guards. He also had the merit of supporting Wang Jipeng to the throne. In fact, when Wang Jipeng first ascended the throne, the real power of the court was controlled by Li Bo. Li Bo knew that he was guilty of treason and could not be cleared. He was also worried that Wang Jipeng would kill people to silence them, so he assembled a group of death warriors. Whenever he went out, he was surrounded by people in front and behind to prevent him from being plotted against.

This made Wang Jipeng even more fearful and uneasy. Wang Jipeng was not idle, he won over a commander of the imperial guards, Lin Yanhao.

Lin Yanhao of course chose to stand on Wang Jipeng's side, so the king and his minister made a plan. Lin Yanhao pretended to surrender to Li Jipeng on the surface, gained Li Jipeng's trust, and successfully became an undercover agent.

One month after the "Nine Dragons Incident", Wang Jipeng announced a big reward for the imperial guards. The imperial guards entered the palace to receive their rewards, and Lin Yanhao ambushed hundreds of warriors in advance. When Li Jian entered the palace, Lin Yanhao captured him alive, cut off his head, and hung it on the palace gate for public display.

Afterwards, Wang Jipeng announced the truth of the "Nine Dragon Tent Incident", shifted all the blame for regicide onto Li Bo, and wiped out Li Bo's remnants.

More than 1,000 private armed forces of Li Bo launched a rebellion and attacked the imperial palace. Wang Jipeng and Lin Yanhao had been prepared for this. The remnants of Li Bo failed to win, so they set fire to the palace gate, took Li Bo's head, and fled to the Wuyue Kingdom in Hangzhou.

After eliminating Li Xun, Wang Jipeng appointed his two brothers, Wang Jiyan, as the commander of the six armies and Wang Jigong, as the governor of the Weiwu Army in Fuzhou, and his teacher and chief aide Ye Qiao as the envoy of Xuanhui and the minister of state (prime minister).

(End of this chapter)