History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 761 Two Ghosts in Tokyo

【Two Ghosts in Tokyo】

During his seven years in office, Xu Zhigao worked hard to govern the country, stopped fighting external wars, and focused on détente in foreign policy, striving to create a peaceful and stable external environment. The weather was good and there were bumper harvests year after year, so the people of Huainan enjoyed several years of peace and prosperity. The comprehensive national strength of Southern Tang was unprecedentedly improved, and on the basis laid by Yang Xingmi, he made further progress.

When Xu Zhigao was dying, he earnestly warned Li Jing to continue to uphold his strategic thinking, unite the neighbors, and accumulate strength. In order to help Li Jing remember, he even bit Li Jing's finger with his own mouth, so that he would remember this unforgettable pain and his earnest teachings.

However, the unprecedentedly powerful strength soon made Li Jing complacent. The victory of the "Zhang Yuxian Rebellion" further fueled Li Jing's ambition to become a great power. At the same time, the "Five Ghosts and Four Evils" used their expertise in flattery to actively encourage Li Jing to expand outward, restore the Tang Dynasty, and become an emperor of the ages.

In the first month of 944 AD, Zhou Zong was dismissed from his post as prime minister and sent to be the military governor of Hongzhou Zhennan Army; Zhang Juyong was dismissed from his post as prime minister and sent to be the military governor of Runzhou Zhenhai Army.

Zhou Zong was a man who retreated at the height of his career and voluntarily withdrew from the core of the power vortex; Zhang Juyong was also a member of the "Former Emperor's Party" and always presented himself as a loyal and honest elder. Historical records record that he was "honest and taciturn, and acted like an elder." There are not many records about him in historical records, but from this eight-character comment, we can know that his attitude was the same as Zhou Zong's. He was truly indifferent to fame and fortune and was unwilling to get involved in the muddy water of political struggles.

The demotion of the two "former emperor's party" members also indirectly illustrates the rise of the "princeling party" represented by the "five ghosts and four villains", and the real power in the court was gradually controlled by them.

Subsequently, Li Jing decided that the throne in the future should follow the rule of "succession from elder brother to younger brother" and be passed on to his younger brothers Li Jingsui and Li Jingda in order of seniority.

When Feng Yansi and others heard about this, they were very displeased, so they colluded with each other and planned to sideline Li Jing and control the Southern Tang court.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month, Li Jing issued an edict: "Li Jingsui will enter the palace to participate in the central government's decision-making. Among the civil and military officials, except Wei Cen and Zha Wenhui, the rest are not allowed to enter the palace unless they are summoned!"

Obviously, this was the result of the operations of the "Five Ghosts and Four Evils". It should be said with certainty that it was they who forged the imperial edict and Li Jing was almost sidelined.

As soon as the imperial edict was announced, both China and foreign countries were shocked. Xiao Yan, a member of the Qingliu Party, immediately submitted a memorial, saying that the establishment of a Marshal's Office (the Marshal of the Army of the World) would still cause consternation among the ministers, let alone letting him participate in government affairs directly, and the emperor refused to meet with the ministers? I am only worried that China and foreign countries will be isolated and traitors will succeed, which is extremely disadvantageous to Your Majesty!

However, Xiao Yan's memorial fell on deaf ears.

Afterwards, all civil and military officials were in an uproar. According to some historical materials (Lu You's edition of "History of the Southern Tang Dynasty", "Chronicles of the Ten Kingdoms" and "Unofficial History of Jiangnan"), even Song Qiuqiu submitted a memorial to the emperor to strongly oppose the movement.

Jia Chong, the commander of the imperial guards, went to the Golden Palace and knocked on the door, crying.

Finally, Li Jing "suddenly came to his senses" and rescinded his order. Is it really that simple? The reason why I put "suddenly came to his senses" in quotation marks is precisely because I doubt the above historical materials.

First, the authoritative historical document "Zizhi Tongjian" recorded the scene of Jia Chong, the general of the imperial guards (the imperial guards Du Yuhou), knocking on the door and crying, and also recorded his crying words, saying "I have served the late emperor for more than 30 years..."

According to the records of Jiangnan Wild History, this passage was written by Song Qiqiu, and the original text is "I have served in the previous court for thirty years, and every time I discuss something..." Obviously, this is very consistent with Song Qiqiu's experience;

The "Ten Kingdoms Spring and Autumn Annals" records that Jia Chong knocked on the door and wept, saying, "I have served the previous emperor for thirty years, and I have seen the reason why the previous emperor succeeded..."

The two said basically the same thing. The first said that he had followed Xu Zhigao for thirty years, and that Xu Zhigao was able to achieve great things because he was open to opinions and accepted advice. Now, Your Majesty, why are you doing the opposite and blocking the way for people to speak out? And so on.

Jia Chong was born as a military general, a tough guy, nicknamed "Jia Wei Chi". Since the Tang Dynasty, people often named military generals who were good at using steel whips "Wei Chi", such as "Sick Wei Chi" Sun Li and "Little Wei Chi" Sun Xin in "Water Margin". The "Wei Chi" here refers to the famous general in the early Tang Dynasty - Wei Chi Jingde (Wei Chi Gong), who followed Li Shimin in the north and south, made many military exploits, participated in the "Xuanwu Gate Incident", and was ranked seventh among the "Twenty-Four Heroes of the Lingyan Pavilion". After his death, he was honored to be buried with Li Shimin. Wei Chi Gong, who was black-faced and used double whips, and Qin Qiong, who was yellow-faced and used double maces, were worshipped as "door gods" by the people and enjoyed a high reputation among the people. It was said that he was the "black evil star" from the upper world. In the storytelling and romance, he was even more popular, such as "Single Whip Seizing Spear".

We can boldly speculate that it was Wei Cen and Zha Wenhui who were behind the scenes, coaxing and deceiving, with the intention of undermining Li Jing and covering up the world with one hand. Unexpectedly, the ministers were indignant and the voices of opposition were beyond expectations.

Of course, the voices of the "Pure Stream Party" such as Xiao Yan and others can be ignored, so Xiao Yan's memorial fell on deaf ears. The two ghosts were too lazy to pay attention to him.

However, Song Qiqiu's voice forced them to re-examine their behavior. Song Qiqiu was their great mentor, great commander, great helmsman, and omnipotent father. When Wei Cen and Zha Wenhui, the masterminds behind the scenes, saw Song Qiqiu's memorial, they read the rebuke behind it: "I haven't been the eldest brother for many years... Little devils, you want to rebel!"

Jia Chong represents the voice of the military (Imperial Guards), and the voice of the military should not be underestimated.

Therefore, it was the strong opposition from Song Qiuqiu and Jia Chong, one civil and one military, that forced Wei Cen and Zha Wenhui to stop, which led to Li Jing's "sudden awakening".

Therefore, based on historical materials from all sides, we can draw a conclusion that this farce was an extremely bold and risky attempt to cross the line by the small counter-revolutionary group of Wei Cen and Zha Wenhui, which was strangled in the cradle by the leader of the old counter-revolutionary forces (Song Qiuqiu).

If you take too big a step, you might easily tear your balls.

(End of this chapter)