History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 757: Predecessors Planted Trees (Part )

3. Forcing things to grow

The "Former Emperor's Party" was manipulated by Xu Zhigao, but as one party grew stronger, the other grew weaker. The Eastern Palace Prince's Party sprang up like mushrooms after a rain and became increasingly rampant.

Xu Zhigao's emphasis on talents can be said to have reached the pinnacle. As early as when he was the governor of Shengzhou, he built the "Yanbin Pavilion" to recruit conspirators like Song Qiuqiu. When he was in power again in Shengzhou, he built the "Lixianyuan" to recruit cultural celebrities such as Sun Sheng and Chen Jue. Xu Zhigao's respect for intellectuals was rooted in the genetic genes of the Southern Tang regime, which made the Southern Tang style of writing popular and left us a famous poet of the fallen country - Li Yu, the last ruler of the Southern Tang.

The shrewd Song Qiuqiu took a liking to Chen Jue at first sight. The two of them had similar interests and appreciated each other, so they secretly formed a political alliance and each got what they wanted.

When Xu Zhigao was about to depose the eldest son and enthronize the youngest son, passing the throne to his second son Li Jingqian, Song Qiqiu recommended Chen Jue to Xu Zhigao, asking him to be the top counselor around Li Jingqian. For this reason, Xu Zhigao personally talked to Chen Jue, comparing Li Jingqian to himself and Chen Jue to Song Qiqiu, expressing his hope that he could assist the young master like Song Qiqiu had assisted him. At the end of the conversation, Xu Zhigao did not forget to warn him that although Song Qiqiu was talented, his political stance was problematic, and he should take it as a warning!

With the help of Song Qiuqiu, a prominent figure in the Southern Tang political arena, Chen Jue quickly rose to prominence, entered the core power circle, and became Song Qiuqiu's most successful political investment.

Song Qiuqiu's nose was not wrong, and Chen Jue was no less insidious and vicious than Song Qiuqiu. Chen Jue single-handedly fabricated the "Chu Rengui framed case", which was known as the "first unjust case in Southern Tang Dynasty."

After Xu Zhigao usurped power, he eventually settled the Yang clan in Taizhou, and Taizhou City became the number one political prison in Huainan, and the warden of this prison was Taizhou Governor Chu Rengui.

Chu Rengui understood his master's intention very well. He rebuilt the inner city of Taizhou. His purpose of rebuilding the city was not for national infrastructure, but to make the prison impregnable and ensure that the Yang clan would not escape. He was also highly praised by Xu Zhigao for this.

Chen Jue's brother lived in Taizhou. He was sentenced to flogging by Chu Rengui for breaking the law, which angered Chen Jue. So Chen Jue submitted a memorial to impeach Chu Rengui for corruption, abuse of power, embezzlement and bribery, etc., and instructed Wang Zhonglian, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (Attendant Censor), to submit an impeachment memorial together.

Because Xu Zhigao appreciated Chu Rengui's past contributions, he only dismissed him from office. Chu Rengui was dissatisfied and filed a petition to appeal. According to records, his petition was fierce and violated the etiquette between the emperor and his subjects, which angered Xu Zhigao, so he sent Chen Jue to Taizhou for a detailed investigation.

This operation is very thought-provoking. Chen Jue was the first person to accuse Chu Rengui, but the organization chose to appoint Chen Jue as the leader of the special case team. Chu Rengui understood, so he hurriedly submitted a petition, admitted all the charges, and was eventually sentenced to death by Xu Zhigao.

This case may seem simple, but behind it there is actually a political struggle that is easily overlooked.

According to historical records, Chu Rengui did a lot of good things during his tenure in Taizhou, and his work ability was outstanding. Therefore, on December 937, 12 AD, the Southern Wu regime upgraded Hailing County under the jurisdiction of Yangzhou to Taizhou, and ceded four counties including Taixing and Yancheng to it, and then promoted Chu Rengui as the first governor of Taizhou.

As for the "bad things" done by Chu Rengui, historical records only record two cases, including Chen Jue's brother, to illustrate that Chu Rengui, who was born as a soldier, implemented harsh laws and severe punishments. However, if we look closely, the so-called "victims" in the two cases were criminals who committed crimes and should be punished. Moreover, the severity of the punishment cannot be considered "severe punishment". For example, Chen Jue's brother was sentenced to flogging, which is the lowest punishment among the five punishments of "flogging, caning, imprisonment, exile and death".

The so-called "corruption" problem is a malicious frame-up by Chen Jue.

Chen Jue's insidiousness and viciousness can be compared with Song Qiuqiu. He first spread rumors, manipulated public opinion, and set the tone. He also created a large number of literary and artistic works to "expose" the corruption in Taizhou officialdom. For example, one of his poems says, "I ask for more white money in my bag, and also the best yellow in the world." "White money in my bag" refers to silver, and "the best yellow" refers to gold, which implies that Chu Rengui embezzled and accepted bribes.

There were thousands of such fabricated poems and songs. Chen Jue secretly sent people to post and distribute them in the streets and alleys. Almost overnight, they were all over the bus stops, public toilets, and telephone poles in Yangzhou City... (Thousands of them were written and posted in Nanjing, and the matter was reported to the emperor)

When this matter alarmed Xu Zhigao, Chen Jue submitted an impeachment memorial, saying that Chu Rengui was too outrageous and caused public outrage... At the same time, he was assisted by the Imperial Censor Wang Zhonglian.

Seeing this, we can't help but feel a chill in our backs. Chen Jue is really a terrible existence, a sinister, cunning, cruel and ruthless scheming bitch. However, Chen Jue is not the real black hand behind the scenes. The truth behind this case is Xu Zhigao's struggle for the line.

Xu Zhigao valued civil officials and intended to suppress military generals, and Chu Rengui happened to be a military general who was in an important position, so Xu Zhigao kept praising him but was actually always suspicious of him in his heart.

As mentioned earlier, Xu Zhigao built an efficient intelligence system. Authoritative historical books say that he knew everything in Huainan and could even see through the eunuchs' meals when they were on business trips. Couldn't he see through Chen Jue's tricks of mobilizing water troops, manipulating public opinion, and disrupting the rhythm?

So the scary thing is that Xu Zhigao knew that this was Chen Jue's trick, but he just needed this trick, so he pretended to be confused and pretended to be furious. We see that the result of his "rage" was just to dismiss Chu Rengui from his post. This was Xu Zhigao's goal. Military generals need to be suppressed, but they don't have to be physically eliminated.

At this point, theoretically, Xu Zhigao and Chen Jue had already performed the play tacitly, but it was a pity that the characters in the play returned to the stage temporarily to add more scenes for themselves.

Chu Rengui submitted a petition to protest, and his words were fierce. Historical records recorded that his petition was "bold and crude, without any skills", "quite rebellious, and almost without any distinction between the emperor and his subjects". This directly stimulated Xu Zhigao's most sensitive nerve. Warriors are really dangerous! Chu Rengui was completely asking for death. Therefore, Xu Zhigao deliberately let Chen Jue lead the investigation, and finally sentenced Chu Rengui to death.

The reason why "Chu Rengui's false case" is called "the first unjust case in Southern Tang" is largely because of the double political conspiracy hidden behind it. In front of the old ghost Xu Zhigao, Chen Jue is just a younger brother, and Chu Rengui is a political victim who does not move in politics.

another:
1. There are many contradictions in the records of this case in history books. The modern scholar Mr. Shao Qifeng published a detailed research in "A Brief Study of the Life of Chu Rengui, the Governor of Taizhou" in "Dongwu Academic" (Issue 2018, 6), and many of the above are adopted. First of all, I would like to pay tribute to Mr. Shao Qifeng, and secondly, this book is well cited.

2. Some historical materials (such as the History of Southern Tang compiled by Lu You) said that Li Jing "pardoned his crime and only dismissed him from his post as governor" and finally sentenced Chu Rengui to death. In fact, this is wrong. Youshen mistook Xu Zhigao for Li Jing. It was Xu Zhigao (Liezu) who dismissed Chu Rengui first and then sentenced him to death, not Li Jing (Yuanzong).

Although to some extent, the mastermind behind this case was Xu Zhigao, it did not affect Chen Jue's exposure of his sinister and cunning nature. Some historical books also regard this case as the first year that Chen Jue abused his power, "Jue's manipulation of power began from this time."

Song Qiuqiu ambushed Chen Jue beside Li Jingqian, and at the same time ambushed his cousin Li Zhenggu beside Li Jingda. In addition, Wei Cen, Feng Yansi, Feng Yanlu and others were all Song Qiuqiu's followers. Among them, Feng Yansi was arranged by Xu Zhigao to be Li Jing's chief of staff.

Feng Yansi, Chen Jue and Song Qiuqiu colluded with each other and soon formed a secret political interest group that was difficult to get rid of.

Li Jing noticed that Feng Yanshi was behaving badly, but he was in a difficult situation and could not save himself, so he was unable to get rid of him.

Later, upright civil servants such as Sun Sheng and Xiao Yan kept reminding Xu Zhigao that Chen Jue, Wei Cen, Feng Yansi brothers and others were Song Qiuqiu's followers, who were in cahoots with each other and must be eliminated to prevent future troubles.

At first, Xu Zhigao didn't take it seriously, because in his opinion, warriors were the ones who should be suppressed. What kind of storm could a few poor scholars with pens cause? When he finally realized it, it was too late.

Xu Zhigao realized that although Song Qiuqiu was exiled to Hongzhou, his influence in the central government had exceeded his imagination. The cunning Song Qiuqiu had already woven a complex network of interests that was difficult to shake for a while. Moreover, Song Qiuqiu was an opponent of the crown prince Li Jing, and Song Qiuqiu's small gang posed a huge threat to Li Jing.

Therefore, Xu Zhigao adjusted his work focus to suppressing the "Princelings" and to clean up the Song Qiqiu followers who were entrenched and lurking around Li Jing. However, history did not give him a chance, because Xu Zhigao only woke up in February 943 AD. Before he could take action, he was already terminally ill and passed away.

Xu Zhigao did not have time to clean up the "Prince's Party", which laid the fatal seeds for the Southern Tang.

(End of this chapter)