History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 745 My beard has turned white from waiting
[My beard has turned white from waiting]

One day, Xu Zhigao looked in the mirror, plucked the white beard on his lips with tweezers, and then sighed: "I'm getting old, old..."

Zhou Zong happened to be nearby and immediately understood Xu Zhigao's intention, so he requested to go to Yangzhou to persuade Yang Pu to follow the example of Yao and Shun and to abdicate. Zhou Zong specifically told Song Qiuqiu about this, meaning that Song Qiuqiu could help his master Xu Zhigao with ideas.

However, Song Qiqiu was good at scheming and eager for quick success. He did not want Zhou Zong to be the first to be promoted, so he took the most wrong step in his life. When Zhou Zong explained his purpose and wanted to leave, Song Qiqiu begged him to stay for a drink. Zhou Zong could not save face and stayed. Song Qiqiu secretly wrote a personal letter and sent someone to Shengzhou to present it to Xu Zhigao, which basically opposed Xu Zhigao forcing Yang to abdicate.

Xu Zhigao was quite surprised by the drastic change in Song Qiuqiu's attitude.

A few days later, Song Qiuqiu personally came to Shengzhou and threatened Xu Zhigao (using dangerous words to move Emperor Liezu), and asked Xu Zhigao to kill Zhou Zong to show his loyalty to Yang Pu.

Song Qiuqiu's coaxing and threatening made Xu Zhigao begin to doubt his life and he almost killed Zhou Zong. Fortunately, Ma Renyu, Xu Jie and others persisted in their efforts and Zhou Zong was only demoted to Chizhou.

At this time, Li Jianxun, deputy envoy of Shengzhou, and military advisor Xu Jie all expressed their positions and expressed their firm support for Xu Zhigao, hoping that he would follow the will of the people and quickly become emperor.

Li Jianxun is the son of Li Decheng, a veteran and meritorious general of the Huainan Group. He is skilled in poetry and calligraphy, and is deeply loved by Xu Wen. He is happy to marry Xu Wen's daughter. He is Xu Wen's son-in-law and Xu Zhigao's brother-in-law.

With the strong support of Li Jianxun, Xu Jie and others, Xu Zhigao summoned Zhou Zong back to his side.

From then on, Xu Zhigao no longer trusted Song Qiuqiu and gradually distanced himself from him.

However, just a few days later, fires broke out in Shengzhou City for two consecutive days, which was very strange and bizarre. Xu Zhigao suspected that someone was trying to stage a mutiny, so he stepped up vigilance and sent out strict military guards.

Song Qiuqiu's "rebellion" made Xu Zhigao suspicious, and the continuous strange fires made Xu Zhigao dare not delay any longer. In order to avoid more trouble, he had to speed up the pace of usurping power.

Three months after the fire (May), Xu Zhixun died of illness. As mentioned above, after the "Living for a Thousand Years" incident, Xu Zhixun was already a fish on the chopping board. As long as Xu Zhigao gave him a look, he could "die of illness" at any time.
The following month (June), Yang Meng, the Prince of Linchuan, was falsely accused of privately manufacturing weapons and raising assassins. He was demoted to the Duke of Liyang on charges of treason and imprisoned in Hezhou. Wang Hong, the general of the imperial guards, was assigned to lead 6 soldiers to guard him strictly.
Xu Wen's beloved youngest son, Xu Zhigao, was a militia commander in Runzhou. He was full of second-generation bad habits, and liked to hang out with small-time people. He only liked to go to romantic entertainment venues every day, and he also occupied a row of shops on the city's commercial street to compete with the people for profits. When Xu Zhigao heard the news, he was very angry and summoned Xu Zhigao's officials to scold him. Xu Zhigao was terrified.

At this time, someone quietly reminded Xu Zhigao that Xu Wen loved Xu Zhixun the most, but he still entrusted the foundation to you. When you let Xu Zhixun die of old age, people outside had a lot of stabbing in your spine. Now, if you scare Xu Zhixun again, how will people outside talk about you? Besides, if Xu Zhixun studies hard, improves every day, has outstanding abilities, is well-known, trains soldiers, and wins people's hearts... what good will it do you? The more useless and useless he is, the better it is for you!

Xu Zhigao suddenly woke up and quickly treated Xu Zhie well and stopped asking about his private life, thinking the more corrupt and depraved he was, the better.

In July, Xu Zhigao promoted Song Qiuming but secretly demoted him, sending him to Shengzhou, adding the title of Sikong and making him the judge of all the provinces. In fact, he was deprived of all real power and given an empty title, which was equivalent to the "Division of Eastern Capital" in the Tang Dynasty.

Song Qiuqiu submitted a petition to the emperor, saying that he wanted to resign and retire, and return to his hometown. Xu Zhigao then gave him a luxury house in Shengzhou, allowing him to live wherever he wanted.

In the political struggle in Huainan, Song Qiuqiu would threaten to resign at every turn, which had become a common sight in Huainan's political arena. Reading the history books made people laugh, as if this old gentleman, who was greedy for power, fame and wealth, was like a little girl in love, who would break up and cry at every turn, and even threaten to hang herself.

Later, in October, Yang Pu gave Xu Zhigao the title of Prime Minister, Shangfu, and King of Qi, and granted him the Nine Gifts. Seeing the "Nine Gifts" we know that the abdication process is already proceeding in an orderly manner.

As usual, Xu Zhigao refused to accept the offer.

In November, Xu Zhigao continued to plan his family business. He sent his eldest son Xu Jingtong to Shengzhou to serve as the deputy envoy of Shengzhou and Xuanzhou, and deputy governor-general of all the provinces, becoming the second in command of the country and "in charge of all military affairs at home and abroad". In theory, he was undoubtedly the crown prince. He ordered his second son Xu Jingqian to stay in Yangzhou. Not long after, Xu Jingqian fell ill, so he was replaced by his third son Xu Jingsui.

Since Song Qiuqiu had been excluded from the core power circle, Xu Zhigao asked Chen Jue to assist Xu Jingqian, and taught Chen Jue earnestly to learn from Song Qiuqiu's strengths.

Three people, there must be my teacher.

In Xu Zhigao's view, Song Qiqiu's greatest strength was his treacherous and daring remonstrance. Although Song Qiqiu was good at scheming, he was not a flatterer and would not flatter. He would argue with reason, and sometimes Xu Zhigao would be so angry that he would walk out in anger. Even so, Song Qiqiu would stick to his own opinion. Sometimes, Song Qiqiu would also be petty, break up, resign, etc. Several times, he would pack his bedrolls, run to the city gate, and return home in anger. Xu Zhigao would always warn the city gate officials in advance not to allow Song Qiqiu to leave the city.

Now that Song Qiqiu was excluded, Xu Zhigao would occasionally feel sad. He had to learn to adapt slowly. In October 935 AD, Yang Pu, the puppet emperor of Southern Wu, gave Xu Zhigao the titles of Shangfu, Taishi, Grand Prime Minister, Grand Marshal of the Army, and King of Qi, "with special honors", and designated ten states including Shengzhou and Runzhou as "Qi State". This was indeed a big step.

Xu Zhigao resolutely declined the titles of Shangfu, Prime Minister, and special honors, but accepted the fiefdom and the establishment of a state. He began to work on establishing his own "Qi State" in Southern Wu, taking a substantial step towards usurping the throne.

In the first month of 936 AD, Xu Zhigao formally established the Marshal's Office in Shengzhou and appointed civil and military officials. Gao Conghui, the "Second Generation Lai" of Jingnan, wrote a letter to persuade Xu Zhigao to ascend the throne and become emperor. He was very sensible.

At the end of this year, Yang Pu announced that Shengzhou would be upgraded to the Western Capital. The abdication process was still in progress.

Xu Zhigao urgently needed the recognition and support of the veterans of the Huainan Group, such as Li Decheng and Zhou Ben. These two were veterans who assisted Yang Xingmi in seizing Huainan and were highly respected. So Xu Zhigao revealed his ideas to them and planned to let them take the lead in supporting him.

Zhou Ben was filled with grief and indignation, saying, "I have received great kindness from the late king (Yang Xingmi), and I have no way to repay him. Ever since Xu Wen and his son came to power, I have always hated myself for not being able to save the Yang family from danger. Now they want me to take the lead in usurping the Yang family's foundation. How is that possible!"

However, his son Zhou Hongzuo advised him to face the reality and believe that a man who knows the times is a hero.

Finally, Zhou Ben had no choice but to bite the bullet and go against his conscience. Together with Li Decheng, they led generals from all over the country to Yangzhou and jointly wrote a petition to Yang Pu, stating Xu Zhigao's contributions to the country and requesting Yang Pu to follow the example of the sages and give up the throne to a virtuous person. Then they went to Shengzhou to persuade Xu Zhigao to accept the emperor's abdication.

Song Qiqiu was a cooked duck, and he was stubborn. At this time, he was determined to continue to sing the opposite tune. He said to Li Jianxun (son of Li Decheng) with great regret: "Alas, your father was a founding hero of the Yang family. He followed the Yang family for nearly 48 years (Li Decheng and Zhou Ben followed Yang Xingmi for years). His wisdom for a lifetime is gone today!"

The palace maids and eunuchs also kept reporting that the palace was "haunted". Yang Pu sighed and said, "Is the Yang family's national destiny really over?" The officials around him said in unison, "This is God's will. It cannot be stopped by human power!"

The Min Kingdom and the Wuyue Kingdom also wrote letters to Xu Zhigao to persuade him to ascend the throne.

In the first month of 937 AD, Xu Zhigao formally established the "State of Qi" and set up all civil and military officials like the emperor. Xu Zhigao's wife was changed from princess to queen, and his eldest son Xu Jingtong was made crown prince. He also pardoned all criminals in the country.

In March, Xu Zhigao made two more intriguing moves:

First, he gave his godfather Xu Wen the temple name Taizu, and then changed his posthumous title from "Zhongwu Wang" to "Wu Wang". Look carefully, the word "Zhong" was removed. This move was the same as the Huainan regime's separation from the Tang Dynasty more than a decade ago (919). When Yang Xingmi died, the Tang Dynasty gave him the posthumous title "Wu Zhong Wang". Xu Wen asked Yang Wei to change his posthumous title to "Xiao Wu Wang".

Removing the word "loyalty" indicates a gradual separation from the "previous dynasty". It sends a strong political signal to the outside world: Brother wants to draw a clear line with the Yang family.

The second move was to change his name. Xu Zhigao changed his name to "Xu Gao", removing the generation name that was exclusive to Xu Wen's nephews. Just like leaving a certain society, one must return the character "Yun". Xu Zhigao took the initiative to return the character "Zhi", which sent another strong political signal: Brother wanted to draw a clear line with the Xu family.

To overthrow the Yang family's country and usurp the Xu family's foundation, this was Xu Zhigao's sinister intention of "plotting against his family at home and his country abroad".

Li Decheng and Zhou Ben made their positions clear and stood on Xu Zhigao's side. Apart from the explicit opposition from his former "intimate lover" Song Qiuqiu, there were almost no other dissenting voices.

Xu Zhigao sent people to visit the Khitan and made friends with them with beautiful women and precious treasures, laying the foundation for future joint attacks on the Central Plains. The Khitan also sent envoys to return the visit to Huainan, and the two sides established friendly diplomatic relations, which lasted for decades.

Prime Minister Wang Lingmou went to Shengzhou to persuade Xu Zhigao to accept the abdication, but Xu Zhigao refused.

According to the abdication procedure, this step was almost the last stubbornness before accepting the abdication. The next time would be when the prime minister led all the civil and military officials to threaten to die, and then Xu Zhigao would be "forced" to accept it.

At this time, Yang Meng, who had been imprisoned in Hezhou, broke out. Yang Meng knew that he was fighting against a rock with an egg, but this was Yang's last chance.

(End of this chapter)