History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 708: A Leaf Falls into the Imperial Ditch with the Wind 3
【Suspicion of the royal family】

Power is naturally unwilling to be supervised and restricted, and even more unwilling to be threatened and deprived. Those who supervised and restricted Wang Jipeng, such as Ye Qiao and other censors, were dismissed and forced to retire, which still reflects the principle of humanitarianism; if they threatened Wang Jipeng's power, their fate would be more miserable.

In March 939 AD, a strange phenomenon occurred in the royal palace of the Min Kingdom, and a "rainbow appeared in the palace."

The evil Taoist Lin Xing had always had a grudge against the emperor's uncle Wang Yanwu, so he took the opportunity to frame him, saying that someone in the royal family was going to rebel, and hinted at Wang Yanwu and Wang Yanwang.

So, Wang Jipeng killed Wang Yanwu, Wang Yanwang and their five sons without any investigation.

Wang Jipeng liked to drink, and he also liked to judge people's character by their drinking. He firmly believed that "truth comes out after drinking", so he often found excuses to hold banquets, then maliciously force his ministers to drink, and then sent his confidants to get information from them.

Once, Wang Jipeng killed his cousin Wang Jilong because he was disrespectful after drinking. As to what exactly was the "disrespect", historical records did not record it in detail.

In short, Wang Jipeng's drinking parties frightened all the civil and military officials and the royal family. Out of fear of Wang Jipeng's power, one of his uncles, Wang Yanxi, came up with a solution - pretending to be crazy and stupid, pretending to be mentally ill. In view of his superb acting skills, Wang Jipeng specially awarded him a set of Taoist clothes and sent him to Wuyi Mountain to become a monk.

However, not long after, Wang Jipeng still had doubts about his uncle Wang Yanxi, and recalled him to Fuzhou and placed him under house arrest. It was precisely because Wang Yanxi was under house arrest that he eventually became Wang Jipeng's successor.

When Wang Jipeng first ascended the throne, he asked his younger brother Wang Jiyan to command the six armies and the imperial guards. Wang Jiyan was humble and kind, which won the hearts of the soldiers. This aroused Wang Jipeng's suspicion, so he dismissed him from his military power and replaced him with another younger brother Wang Jiyong to command the six armies.

Since both Wang Yanjun and Wang Jipeng came to power through a coup, they always remained highly vigilant against the Imperial Guards, and making changes to the Imperial Guards' sequence became their common choice.

Wang Yanjun's attitude towards Wang Shenzhi's Yuancong army was relatively polite and restrained. He only reorganized the army's organization and established Gongchendu and Konghedu.

As mentioned above, Wang Jipeng surpassed Wang Yanjun in all aspects. He almost abandoned Gongchendu, Konghedu and the previous Weiwu Army (in the imperial army sequence, not referring to the Fuzhou Weiwu Army). The imperial army generals were also excluded, and the more experienced they were, the more marginalized they were. Wang Jipeng recruited 2,000 scoundrels from the market to form Chenweidu and use them as his confidants.

From then on, only the imperial guards were biological children, and the imperial guards during the reigns of Wang Shenzhi and Wang Yanjun were all raised by stepmothers. The salary of the imperial guards was several times that of the Gongchen and Konghe. Even their work clothes were gorgeous messy silk, and the lunch boxes and water cups in the cafeteria were made of gold and silver.

The people are not worried about the scarcity of wealth but the inequality of distribution. Gongchen and Konghe both complained and were quite dissatisfied.

Someone reported the imperial guards' complaints to Wang Jipeng, suggesting that he be more careful and treat everyone equally in order to calm the soldiers' discontent.

Wang Jipeng's approach was to further disintegrate and exclude the two capitals, sending them to Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, and reorganizing them from the central imperial guards into local guards. This move further angered the imperial guards.

One day in July 939 AD, a fire broke out in the imperial palace and the North Palace was almost burned down.

Previously, the "expert" Lin Xing predicted that "the royal family will be in chaos", so he killed Wang Yanwu, Wang Yanwang and others. Wang Jipeng asked him how to resolve it. Lin Xing calculated with his fingers and said that you have to leave the palace temporarily for a while because disaster will happen in the palace. Wang Jipeng also obediently moved out of the palace, and the fire really happened. Wang Jipeng believed that this must be someone's deliberate arson, and it was probably an attempted coup, so he ordered a strict investigation to find out the mastermind behind it. However, the relevant departments have been slow to solve the case.

At the same time, Wang Jipeng ordered Zhu Wenjin, the commander of Gongchen, and Lian Chongyu, the commander of Konghe, to clean up the fire scene. The two of them recruited more than 10,000 people, working from morning till night, which was very hard work, which also shows the severity of the fire.

One day, Wang Jipeng talked about the fire with the internal scholar Chen Tan, and said that he suspected that the fire was caused by Gongchendu and Konghedu, and the leader might be Lian Chongyu, the commander of Konghedu.

Wang Jipeng has been cautious all his life, but he trusted the person he should least trust.

Chen Tan was a "phoenix man". He came from a poor family, but was diligent and studious since childhood. He changed his destiny through knowledge. He was originally an aide to Wang Renda, the adopted son of Wang Yanjun. Wang Yanjun was suspicious of and killed Wang Renda. Chen Tan and other aides and guests were also arrested and prepared to be killed as "Wang Renda's accomplices". But when Wang Yanjun searched Wang Renda's house, he found that there was no gold or silver in Wang Renda's house, and there was no evidence of treason. There was only a collection of poems by Comrade Chen Tan, the content of which was positive and full of positive energy. So Wang Yanjun released Chen Tan and promoted him to Xuanhui Envoy and Internal Scholar.

After Wang Jipeng ascended the throne, he was transferred to the position of Inspector Taifu.

Wang Jipeng thought Chen Tan was a pedantic nerd, and he was open-minded and unguarded towards him. In fact, Chen Tan was a hypocritical man who looked righteous and honest, but was actually treacherous. According to historical records, he was "a flatterer and good at flattering others." He was very good at flattering and was good at guessing the leader's intentions and then flattering him.

When Wang Jipeng told Chen Tan that he had some doubts about Lian Chongyu, Chen Tan immediately leaked the secret to Lian Chongyu.

"The Emperor suspects you did it. You are about to die!"

Lian Chongyu was shocked and hurried to discuss with Zhu Wenjin.

Wang Jipeng was suspicious of the two capitals of Gongchen and Konghe, and excluded the generals of the imperial guards. Zhu Wenjin and Lian Chongyu, as the commanders of the two capitals, often suffered from bullying. Historical records show that the two "were often insulted by the emperor and had unusual thoughts in their hearts."

The two exchanged opinions and agreed that the best solution was to get rid of Wang Jipeng.

On the night of July 7, it was Lian Chongyu's turn to be on duty in the palace. Lian Chongyu and Zhu Wenjin led the soldiers of the two generals Gongchen and Konghe to rush into the palace, set fire to Changchun Palace, and started a mutiny. Then they sent people to welcome the emperor's uncle Wang Yanxi, who was under house arrest. Under the leadership of Lian Chongyu and Zhu Wenjin, the soldiers knelt three times and kowtowed nine times to Wang Yanxi on the rubble and shouted "Long live the emperor".

It is said that when Wang Yanxi heard about the riot, he was so scared that he hid in the toilet, but was found out by the rioting soldiers; "The Story of the Five Kingdoms" said that the rioting soldiers put a knife to Wang Yanxi's neck and forced him to take charge.

Wang Jipeng's trusted guards did not disappoint him and insisted on resisting, swearing to be loyal to Wang Jipeng until death. Wang Jipeng and Li Chunyan fled to the military camp of the guards.

The battle lasted all night, and Chenweidu was finally outnumbered and defeated. Then more than a thousand defeated soldiers protected Wang Jipeng, Li Chunyan and others and escaped. When they fled to Wutong Ridge, the organization of Chenweidu was completely disrupted, and many soldiers deserted and fled. Fewer and fewer stayed to protect Wang Jipeng.

(End of this chapter)