History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 75 The real murderer behind the scenes
Long before Li Keyong arrived, some quick-footed soldiers had already run back and informed Madam Liu.

Mrs. Liu remained calm and ordered them all to be killed. She strictly blocked the news and told her confidants to pack their bags and return to Taiyuan at dawn.

Not long after, Li Keyong returned safely to the camp. He was so angry that his liver and lungs were boiling and his teeth were broken. "Wow... You cheap servant Zhu San, you are a despicable villain who repays kindness with enmity, I will skin you alive!" He was about to gather his troops and razed the city of Bianzhou.

Mrs. Liu hurriedly stopped him and explained the pros and cons to him.

"My husband obeyed the imperial edict to fight against the enemy, saved the Central Plains from danger, and helped Bianzhou in distress. But Bianzhou was ungrateful and set up a Hongmen Banquet to harm my husband. It was Bianzhou that was in the wrong. If my husband launched a large-scale attack on Bianzhou, he would fall into Bianzhou's trap. By then, Zhu Wen would bite back and accuse my husband of pretending to fight against the enemy and annexing the country, and pretending to attack Guo. Who can tell the right from the wrong?"

After hearing this, Li Keyong regained his sanity a little, but he was still furious, "Are you going to swallow this loss?"

"Of course not. We should not stay in such a troubled place for long. We should return to the town as soon as possible and report the Shangyuan Post Incident to the emperor. The emperor will decide the right and wrong."

If a husband has a virtuous wife, he will not do evil.

Li Keyong and Zhu Wen both had a virtuous wife, and the reason why they were able to dominate the world in the future was precisely because they were good at listening to their wives' opinions.

Li Keyong suppressed his anger and moved his camp. When passing through Xuzhou, Li Keyong asked Zhou Ji, the governor of Zhongwu Army, to borrow grain.

"The landlord doesn't have any surplus food." Zhou Ji refused.

"Another ungrateful person!" Li Keyong was helpless and left while cursing his mother. He passed through Puzhou and Shanzhou, crossed the Yellow River, and returned to Hedong.

Zhu Wen sent someone to deliver a letter, in which he said that he was unaware of the incident at Shangyuan Post Station, and that it was his general Yang Yanhong who conspired secretly with the court envoys. Now Yang Yanhong has been executed and the relevant personnel have also been severely punished. I hope that my dear brother will not take it to heart, blah blah.

Yang Yanhong died in the melee last night, so Zhu Wen made this dead man take all the blame.

Li Keyong cursed and tore up the letter.

Shangyuanyi is an eternal pain in Li Keyong's heart. This deep hatred lasted for decades. From then on, Taiyuan Li Keyong and Bianzhou Zhu Wen were sworn enemies, and the hatred was passed down from generation to generation.

Regarding the "Shangyuanyi Incident", historical records are also very brief, but they all clearly point out that it was Zhu Wen who planned the incident.

really?
Many people believe that Zhu Wen planned the Hongmen Banquet. This view seems to have become the mainstream view. However, this is ridiculous.

Although the final result was the Hongmen Banquet, this was contrary to Zhu Wen's original intention. At the beginning of the banquet, Zhu Wen not only had no intention of assassinating Li Keyong, but was trying to please Li Keyong. This banquet was originally a dinner for a political and military alliance.

When analyzing historical events, we must restore the historical background rather than looking at them from a bird's eye view.

At that time, although Zhu Wen was among the vassal states, his overall strength was very weak.

In terms of military affairs, historical records clearly state that when he arrived at the town, he had only a few hundred soldiers, which was not enough to maintain the security of the jurisdiction. He also had to obey the imperial edict to rescue Chenzhou. Even with the three commanderies of Xuzhou Zhongwu Army Zhou Ji and Xuzhou Ganhua Army Shi Pu, they were unable to lift the siege of Chenzhou. When the remnants of Huang Chao went north, even their old nest in Bianzhou was almost lost.

Politically, Zhu Wen was almost isolated and helpless. He only relied on his cleverness to get close to Wang Chongrong of Hezhong when he was recruited. Wang Chongrong also belonged to the emerging vassal state, and the two of them took what they needed and helped each other.

In terms of geopolitics, the situation was even more precarious. Bianzhou was surrounded by powerful enemies, all of whom were eyeing it covetously and were likely to annex the weak Bianzhou at any time; the biggest threat came from the remnants of Huang Chao - Qin Zongquan, the Fengguo Army of Caizhou. This will be discussed in detail below.

Zhu Wen of Bianzhou was like a little sheep hiding among wolves. He was in urgent need of finding a strategic partner and was looking for organizations to take him in.

Li Keyong was one of the few options Zhu Wen had. Although Li Keyong was not a pushover, the two's spheres of influence did not overlap, and there was no direct conflict of interest. For the time being, they lived in peace and did not interfere with each other. There was a possibility of an alliance between the two, making friends with those far away and attacking those near.

Facts have also proved that at the critical moment of Bianzhou's crisis, Li Keyong was the only one willing and able to send troops to rescue.

Of course, this kind of help is not free. Li Keyong has been a professional mercenary for 30 years, taking money from people and helping them get rid of disasters.

At that time, Li Keyong and Zhu Wen had no grudges against each other in the past or in the present, and they even fought side by side on the battlefield, forming a deep revolutionary friendship. For both emotional and rational reasons, Zhu Wen had no reason to risk assassinating Li Keyong.

Assassinating Li Keyong would do Zhu Wen no good but only harm. Forming a strategic partnership and a political and military alliance with him was Zhu Wen's most urgent wish.

How did this drastic turn from alliance to enmity happen?
In fact, the history books do not clearly record the details of the banquet. It only generally states that Li Keyong seriously offended Zhu Wen with his words, "Emperor Wu (Li Keyong) was drunk, flirted with the courtesans, shook hands with the commander of Bian, and recounted the story of defeating the bandits for fun."

"Old History of the Five Dynasties" restored that scene for us. Li Keyong was drunk, surrounded by women, and boasted to Zhu Wen.

This would make Zhu Wen so angry that he decided to kill him?

If this is the case, then we can continue to analyze:

First of all, Li Keyong's deep-seated contempt for Zhu Wen seriously hurt Zhu Wen's self-esteem and also shook the foundation of the "Jin-Bian Alliance".

In the feudal society with strict hierarchy, people were divided into different classes. Although the two were both vassal states, Li Keyong's family was the ruling class for generations, while Zhu Wen was the ruled class for generations. It was like both of you were international students, but they were from Cambridge and Oxford, while you were from Clayton University.

Equality is the foundation of interpersonal communication and political alliances. If there is a bias, the party in a higher position has the initiative. For example, the central court of the Tang Dynasty crushed Li Keyong politically, so Li Keyong could be used by the court and become a mercenary.

Now that Li Keyong has crushed Zhu Wen, does Zhu Wen still want to use Li Keyong? That's just wishful thinking.

Therefore, when Li Keyong continued to reveal his sense of superiority as an upper-class person, what Zhu Wen lost was not just his dignity.

Secondly, the person Li Keyong flirted with might not be an ordinary "servant prostitute", but Zhu Wen's wife Zhang Hui, which became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

In the Tang Dynasty, the prostitution class was huge and was roughly divided into two types: public prostitutes and domestic prostitutes.

Public prostitutes are set up by the government and are considered "state-owned assets". Officials can use them at will. They can be divided into three types:

Palace prostitutes serve the emperor; official prostitutes serve officials; camp prostitutes serve soldiers.

Not long ago, when Zhu Wen was rescuing Chenzhou, he also occupied Bozhou. In Bozhou, he went to Wushan with a prostitute from the camp. Later, the woman gave birth to a son for Zhu Wen. This child will be very important in the future, which will be mentioned later.

At that time, wars were frequent, and it was common practice for armies to rob men to serve as soldiers and women to serve as camp prostitutes. Not only adult men and women, but also underage boys and girls were also targets of looting. Li Keyong's troops robbed a five-year-old girl, who later became the wife of Li Cunxu, Li Keyong's son. This will be mentioned later.

Zhang Hui was obtained by Zhu Wen when he captured Tongzhou, so it is possible that some unpleasant rumors and gossip were circulated among the people.

It is understandable that Li Keyong, in his drunken state, mistook Zhang Hui for a camp prostitute or a captured female slave.

Zhu Wen was a man who valued feelings. Throughout his life, many important events were inseparable from his emotions. Zhang Hui was his most beloved and respected wife. Zhang Hui unfortunately died before Zhu Wen became emperor. Zhu Wen never appointed other concubines as queens throughout his life, and always reserved the position of "queen" for his deceased wife, which shows the deep feelings between the two.

Since the dream of cooperation was shattered, the verbal offense against Zhang Hui may have become Zhu Wen's direct motive for murder.

Looking at the process of the murder, it is not difficult to see that Zhu Wen was indeed not well prepared. He caught Li Keyong in a trap, ambushed more than 300 drunkards in the middle of the night, and let Li Keyong escape unscathed.

This also indirectly shows that Zhu Wen did not make a thorough plan to kill people at the beginning. The "Shangyuanyi Incident" was completely improvised and hastily formed.

Many people who have seen it in hindsight stand from today's perspective, with a God's eye view, and insist that Zhu Wen was far-sighted and saw that Li Keyong would be a strong opponent for him in the future struggle for the world, so he took the initiative.

According to this theory, I can say that Cao Cao did not kill Liu Bei when they were "discussing heroes over wine" because he saw that Liu Bei would recruit Zhuge Liang in the future, and Zhuge Liang would give him a way out at Huarong Road.

So was the "Shangyuanyi Incident" really a case of Zhu Wen risking his life for his beloved?
Thanks to old friends "Feitian Shenlongzhan", "feitian", and "Book Friend 151023051918540" for their recommendation votes and support!
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(End of this chapter)