History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 795: The Death of Changle Lao 3
Second, the reverse side
1. Be pragmatic

Feng Dao's pragmatic spirit was fully demonstrated when Li Congke seized power.

At that time, Li Congke started his army from Fengxiang and marched eastwards, and Emperor Min Li Conghou fled overnight. Since Li Conghou fled in a hurry in the middle of the night without informing the civil and military officials, Feng Dao and other officials clocked in for work as usual the next morning.

On the way, the ministers heard the news that the emperor was absent from work. Feng Dao immediately turned back home. Li Yu, who was standing by, grabbed his sleeve and said that although the emperor was gone, the queen mother was still there, and they should return to their respective jobs as usual, and then send a small eunuch to ask the queen mother for her opinion. After getting the queen mother's approval, they could go home and wait for orders. This is the duty of a minister!
Feng Dao said: "The emperor has abandoned the country, and there is no emperor now. We, as subjects, can only obey the emperor. It is difficult to explain if we enter the palace without the emperor's order. Besides, Lu Wang (Li Congke)'s edict to pacify the people has been posted all over the streets of the capital. It is hard to say who will be the emperor in the future. It is better to go home and wait and see." After saying this, he went home without looking back.

Before Feng Dao even reached his home, An Congjin sent his men to urge Feng Dao on horseback, saying that Li Congke would be coming to Beijing soon and that Feng Dao should lead all the officials out of the city to welcome him immediately.

Therefore, Feng Dao stayed where he was and sent people to summon all the civil and military officials to prepare to welcome Lu Wang Li Congke. When Zhongshu Sheren Lu Dao arrived, Feng Dao urged him to quickly draft a letter of persuasion.

Director Lu was shocked by this, "Brother Dao, what do you want to do? When Prince Lu comes to Beijing, we only need to line up to welcome him immediately, how can we persuade him to ascend the throne? Even if we want to depose him, we should first report it to the Queen Mother, and let her issue the decree, and then proceed step by step. How can I be the first to draft a letter of persuasion?"

Feng Dao only said four words, "We should be pragmatic in our work." This sentence has become a classic, but also a stain that is deeply imprinted on Feng Dao and cannot be erased, and has been widely criticized by later generations.

Director Lu was furious at this, "Brother Dao, since ancient times, how could the emperor be away from home and the ministers persuade others to ascend the throne? What if Prince Lu doesn't want to be the emperor and blames us for the righteousness between the emperor and his ministers? What can we say?"

Director Lu is not stupid. Li Congke certainly wanted to be the emperor. However, in order to avoid being criticized, Li Congke would certainly put on a gentleman's face and be more righteous. If he just said a few words of blame, "You are not doing it right. Don't do it again in the future," it would be fine. But if he is used as a scapegoat, wouldn't it be a loss of both the wife and the army? In the distant past, Sima Zhao killed Cheng Ji, and recently, Zhu Wen killed Zhu Yougong and Shi Shucong, which all illustrate this problem - the final outcome of being a bootlicker is that the dog will be cooked after the rabbit dies.

Before Feng Dao could patiently preach, An Congjin sent someone to urge him, "Why don't you hurry out of the city and line up? You are deliberately dawdling, what do you mean?"

Everyone hurriedly lined up outside the city gate. Seeing that Li Congke had not arrived yet, Feng Dao, Prime Minister Liu Shu, Li Yu and others sat down under the city gate tower to rest. At this time, Lu Dao arrived late. Feng Dao hurriedly stood up, grabbed Lu Dao, and urged him to draft a letter of persuasion again. Lu Dao still responded with the above words.

These three prime ministers - Feng Dao, Liu Shu and Li Yu. Among them, Liu Shu was the signed author of "Old Book of Tang" and also Feng Dao's father-in-law. The two were like brothers. Li Yu despised Feng Dao's character very much and often used Feng Dao's work mistakes to deliberately disgust Liu Shu.

At this time of national crisis, Feng Dao's actions made Li Yu even more contemptuous and angry. When Director Lu finished speaking, Li Yu immediately added: "Director Lu is right. The crimes of us are simply too numerous to count!"

2. Serving the Khitans with servility
2.1 “I do”

Shi Jingtang established the Later Jin Dynasty and overthrew Li Congke. Feng Dao assisted Shi Jingtang very wisely. Shi Jingtang appointed Feng Dao as the chief prime minister and respected him very much.

However, the first priority of the "child emperor" Shi Jingtang was to send a senior official to report to Khitan. At that time, everyone avoided it.

In the Tang Dynasty, the Central Plains Dynasty was the Celestial Empire and the suzerain of the small foreign states. As the saying goes: the minister of the superior state is the lord of the subordinate state. When the Tang Dynasty envoys went to the vassal states, they would receive super high-standard VIP treatment, the courtesy of VIP P. We can have a direct experience of this when we watch "Journey to the West". A monk of the Tang Dynasty said "I come from the great Tang Dynasty in the East". Look at the performance of the king of a country, not to mention the ministers of the Tang Dynasty.

Now, the Later Jin was a small foreign country, while the Khitan was a great Celestial Empire. The envoys of the Later Jin became the sons of sons, the slaves of slaves, in the Khitan.

In addition, the Khitans were barbaric and unreasonable, uneducated, without a clear sense of moral principles, without books or etiquette... It was at the time when Shi Jingtang sold out the "Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun". The Khitans not only took over these areas, but also detained and placed under house arrest the governors and other officials of these areas. Insulting and detaining envoys from the Central Plains was also a reserved program of the northern nomadic peoples, so there was a risk of dying in the line of duty on this trip.

What is more painful than pretending to be a grandson or dying in the line of duty is to bear the eternal infamy of being a "traitor" and a "traitor to the country".

Therefore, all the civil and military officials in the court avoided taking on this difficult and shameful task. Shi Jingtang was very troubled by this.

On this day, Feng Dao and his colleagues were having a meal in the company cafeteria. Just after they finished, a staff member came to read out the emperor's decree, which basically asked if anyone was willing to share the emperor's worries and go on a business trip to the north. The carriages and horses were ready and they would leave immediately. You guys are full, right? Let's eat so we can get going...

At that time, including the minor official who read out the emperor's edict, they were all trembling with fear and their faces turned pale. The scene was extremely quiet.

At this moment, Feng Dao quietly took out a piece of paper and pen, and wrote two big characters: "Go away". Then he told his servants to inform his wife that he could not go home for dinner tonight and had to go on a long journey...

The clerk took Feng Dao's note and was so moved that tears streamed down his face. "Brother Dao, have a safe journey!"

Shi Jingtang was also very moved and personally held a farewell banquet for him. "We are based on the principle of fairness and voluntariness... You are so old, and I still let you wade into this muddy water..."

Feng Dao said, "Your Majesty has received the favor of the Northern Dynasty, and I am receiving the favor of Your Majesty, so why not?"

According to historical records, Shi Jingtang personally poured wine for Feng Dao and toasted him with tears in his eyes.

2.2 Return to China next week
According to the "Old History of the Five Dynasties", Emperor Taizong of Liao, Yelü Deguang, attached great importance to Feng Dao's arrival and treated him with special courtesy. When he heard that Feng Dao was coming, Yelü Deguang even wanted to go to the city to welcome him in person... However, through some subsequent records (which will be presented later), it seems that these were more like the Central Plains people deliberately trying to flatter themselves.

According to the records of the history books of the Central Plains, Feng Dao was indeed detained after arriving in Khitan. The Khitan people admired the culture of the Central Plains, so they hoped that scholars from the Central Plains could stay in Khitan and build a Greater Khitan, such as Han Yanhui.

Yelu Deguang asked Feng Dao a life-threatening question: Are you willing to stay?
If they say yes, they will stay in Khitan; if they say no, their coffins will be sent back to the Central Plains.

Feng Dao replied: "The Southern Dynasty is the son, the Northern Dynasty is the father, and both dynasties are subjects. What difference is there?"

Full marks standard answer. Yelu Deguang was overjoyed, so he arranged a place for Feng Dao to live and work for him, and welcomed him to join the Great Khitan Co-Prosperity Sphere.

Feng Dao certainly did not want to stay in Khitan, he had his own way to return home.

In order to win people's hearts, Yelu Deguang often gave rewards, but Feng Dao always sold the gold, silver and jewelry he received as rewards and then hoarded a large amount of firewood and charcoal.

Yelu Deguang didn't understand what he meant, so he sent someone to ask him.

Feng Dao replied, "It is cold in the north and I am old and weak, so I have prepared more things to keep warm." He did this to show that he was determined to settle down in Khitan for a long time.

Yelu Deguang was moved by him. He thought that it would be a waste of talent for such a "pro-Liao" person to stay in Khitan. He should be allowed to return to the Central Plains, infiltrate Shi Jingtang's inner circle, and serve the party and the country... So, he allowed Feng Dao to return to the Central Plains and make a difference in the Later Jin Dynasty.

As a result, Feng Dao flatly refused.

This was somewhat beyond Yelu Deguang's expectations. "You... go back. Really, I'm not kidding you."

Again and again. "Feng Dao submitted three petitions to ask to stay, but was sent away."

This play was so realistic. In the end, he followed the tradition of the Central Plains and declined three times. Then, under the iron order of Yelu Deguang, he reluctantly bid farewell to the Khitan...

(End of this chapter)