History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 80 Tian Lingzi steps down from the altar
The reason why Li Keyong did not attack Chang'an this time was the same as the reason why he did not attack Bianzhou during the "Shangyuanyi Incident".

Wang Chongrong and Li Keyong jointly submitted a petition requesting the emperor to return to the palace. They listed Tian Lingzi's crimes and requested the emperor to execute the treacherous Tian Lingzi.

Li Keyong's failure to enter Chang'an put Tian Lingzi in a passive position. Public opinion began to shift, the lie of "fighting the enemy in accordance with the imperial edict" was exposed, and the calls for "clearing the imperial court" became louder and louder.

Tian Lingzi's behavior of usurping power and harming the country is known to everyone, including children, and can no longer be covered up. The only remaining political advantage has been destroyed, and the situation is not optimistic.

Zhu Mei and Li Changfu also saw that Tian Yan's party was strong on the outside but weak on the inside, especially the loss of its political advantage, which made the two of them waver and began to flirt with Li Keyong and Wang Chongrong.

Unable to stay in Fengxiang any longer, Tian Lingzi decided to leave Dasan Pass and go to Xingyuan to avoid the limelight.

Emperor Xizong of Tang was already a 23-year-old young man, and he understood some things. Tian Lingzi's attitude towards him had long changed. With the concentration of military and political power in his hands, Tian Lingzi was too lazy to continue pretending and deceiving, and became more arrogant and violent, and intimidation and threats were commonplace.

Emperor Xizong of Tang saw through his godfather's true colors, but he was powerless to change it. He could only complain secretly to the attendants around him, often bursting into tears while talking. Emperor Xizong of Tang was very much like Emperor Xian of Han.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month in the second year of the Guangqi reign of the Tang Dynasty (886), Tian Lingzi requested that the emperor move his throne to Xingyuan Prefecture, but Emperor Xizong flatly refused.

That night, Tian Lingzi led the warriors into the emperor's bedroom and forcibly took Emperor Xizong away. No civil or military officials knew about it.

Hanlin Chengzhi Du Rangneng (son of Du Shenquan) was on night duty. He heard the news and chased after the emperor on foot. He chased more than ten miles outside the city and found an abandoned horse without a bridle. Du Rangneng took off his belt, tied it around the horse's neck, and continued to chase, finally catching up with the emperor in Baoji.

The next day, some officials arrived one after another to report for duty. Most of the officials were robbed by bandits on the way, and their official uniforms and other luggage were all stolen, even the tablets of successive emperors in the royal ancestral temple were stolen.

Tian Lingzi temporarily settled down in Baoji, promoted Kong Wei to be the Imperial Censor, and ordered him to return to the rear to summon civil and military officials to come to Baoji to form an exile government.

Establishing a government in exile was Tian Lingzi's last straw.

Although there was an imperial decree, everyone knew it was written by Tian Lingzi. Moreover, the emperor was illegally abducted, and the legitimacy of the "Baoji government in exile" was questionable.

So when Kong Wei arrived in Fengxiang with the imperial edict, he was unexpectedly rejected by all the central officials. Prime Minister Xiao Ke and Pei Che claimed to be ill and refused to meet Kong Wei, and other civil and military officials also declined to report to Baoji for various reasons.

Kong Wei was filled with grief and indignation, tears streaming down his face, and he cried, "Even if it's ordinary people, relatives or friends who are in trouble, we should find ways to help them. What's more, it's the emperor? The emperor is on the run and has been humiliated. How can you, as his subjects, just stand by and watch!"

The officials knew they were in the wrong, so they agreed to go to Baoji, "but... give us a few more days, we need to clean up..."

Kong Wei was so angry that he was shaking all over. He said angrily: "My wife is seriously ill and is about to die, but I left her alone to focus on my work. How can you be so shameless? Goodbye!" He walked out in a huff.

Kong Wei found Li Changfu, the governor of Fengxiang, and asked him to send cavalry to escort him back to Baoji to report.

Li Changfu was moved by Kong Wei's loyalty, so he gave him luggage and travel expenses and sent elite cavalry to escort him on his journey.

The reason why the prime ministers avoided Kong Wei and the imperial edict was because they had other plans.

[Rescue the Emperor]

Prime Minister Xiao Ke, many of his ancestors had served as prime ministers. During the reign of Emperor Yizong, Wang Duo was in charge of the imperial examinations. Xiao Ke passed the examinations in the same year as Wei Baoheng. Afterwards, he was excluded by Wei Baoheng. When Emperor Xizong ascended the throne, the "Baoyan Party" was destroyed, and Xiao Ke was able to rise again and enter the court. When Emperor Xizong fled to Shu, he was appointed prime minister.

Xiao Ke understood that the "Baoji government in exile" was illegal, and only the "Fengxiang government in exile" was legal. The top priority should be to send troops quickly to rescue the emperor.

Officials at all levels of the central government reached a consensus that they must take the emperor back to Fengxiang, but they must not "disobey the emperor's order." The specific approach was to instruct neighboring vassal states to send troops to seize the emperor, and to strictly implement the "two no's" principle for the "imperial edict" from Baoji, that is, "no envoys, no imperial edicts."

It happened that Li Songnian, the judge of Bingzhou, was on a business trip to Fengxiang. Xiao Ke, in his capacity as prime minister, asked Li Songnian to convey an order: let Zhu Mei of Bining send troops to welcome the emperor back.

Therefore, Zhu Mei was ordered to send 5,000 cavalrymen to report to Fengxiang and await the prime minister's orders.

Kong Wei and Zhu Mei's 5,000 infantry and cavalry arrived at Fengxiang one after the other. This was the reason why Xiao Ke and other prime ministers avoided Kong Wei.

It was inconvenient for Xiao Ke and others to meet him, let alone explain to him, which led to Kong Wei's misunderstanding.

Let it be a misunderstanding, saving the emperor is more important.

Under the persuasion of Prime Minister Xiao Ke and others, Zhu Mei and Li Changfu joined forces to rescue Emperor Xizong of Tang who was kidnapped by Tian Lingzi. The army defeated the Shen Ce Army that came to intercept them in one fell swoop, and the pursuing troops were close to Emperor Xizong of Tang, and the sounds of drums and shouts were clearly audible.

Tian Lingzi escorted Emperor Xizong of Tang to the south in a hurry and sent the imperial guards to defend Shibi east of Baoji to delay the pursuing troops.

The road leading to Bashu was narrow and rugged, and the fleeing troops and fleeing refugees mixed together, blocking the road and making it difficult to move forward.

Tian Lingzi appointed Wang Jian and Jin Hui as "road clearing and killing envoys" to cut a bloody path with swords.

Wang Jian led five hundred soldiers and killed anyone they saw, regardless of whether they were soldiers or civilians, the old, the weak, women or children. The five hundred people were like a bloody bulldozer, striding forward, killing anyone who stood in their way, even if it was a Buddha.

There was no road ahead, but after killing many people, it became a road.

Emperor Xizong of Tang was forced to march forward amidst a sea of ​​blood and corpses.

In order to prevent Emperor Xizong from escaping into Shu, the pursuing soldiers from Fengxiang set fire to the plank road. When Emperor Xizong arrived, the plank road had been burned for more than ten feet and was already shaky and in danger of collapsing at any time.

Wang Jian tied the imperial seal tightly around his waist, supported Emperor Xizong of Tang, and jumped through the raging flames and billowing smoke. At night, Tian Lingzi used a few wooden boards to build a temporary shed, which could be regarded as the temporary palace of Emperor Xizong of Tang. This was the highest standard of treatment under the current conditions, and others could only sleep outdoors.

This shabby shack only serves as a symbol to show the difference between the emperor and the common people, but it has no practical significance because it does not even have the most basic function of sheltering from wind and rain.

There was not even a straw mat or pillow in the shabby shack.

Wang Jian knelt on the ground and let Emperor Xizong rest his head on his thighs. Wang Jian did not rest or eat for the whole night.

That picture is so beautiful.

When Emperor Xizong of Tang woke up, he was deeply moved. He took off his imperial robe and gave it to Wang Jian as a reward. He said, "I really have nothing else to give you. This robe contains my tears (there is this sentence in the original text) and your tenderness (but there is no such sentence). You can take it as a souvenir."

After rushing for a long time, Tian Lingzi and his party had just passed Dasan Pass when they received news: the Shibi defense line had collapsed and Zhu Mei had already chased to Dasan Pass.

Zhu Mei and Li Changfu sent people to block all the dangerous roads, burn the post station carriages, and chase them from behind. Tian Lingzi and his entourage had to find another way and take a detour to continue their escape. Three or four times, Emperor Xizong of Tang was almost caught by the pursuers. Finally, under the protection of Wang Jian and other "five cities accompanying the emperor", he successfully crossed the Qinling Mountains and arrived at Xingyuan Prefecture.

Tian Lingzi ordered the "Five Capitals Accompanying the Emperor" to station troops at the dangerous passes, and sent people to repair the plank roads and restore traffic.

At this point, the plan to seize Emperor Xizong of Tang by force failed. Even if the Guanxi coalition forces invaded Xingyuan Prefecture, Tian Lingzi could still hold Emperor Xizong hostage in Chengdu. Moreover, the emperor was in Tian Lingzi's hands, so the Guanxi coalition forces were afraid to act rashly.

Prime Minister Xiao Ke led all civil and military officials to collectively submit a petition to expose Tian Lingzi's crimes and request the emperor to execute Tian Yan.

Everyone knows that this is a self-deception. Otherwise, what other options do they have?

Have.

Zhu Mei found Xiao Ke and told him her new idea: to support a new king.

"The emperor has been away from Chang'an for six years. The soldiers sacrificed their lives and shed their blood to finally recapture Chang'an. I didn't expect that the emperor would attribute the credit to the eunuchs and hand over power to the castrated people, causing chaos in the world. Now, he mobilized the vassal states for no reason, causing a terrible disaster, and had to flee again. A few days ago, I followed your order to go to meet the emperor, but was accused for no reason, as if I was trying to hijack the emperor. In my opinion... can we change our way of thinking to solve the problem?"

"What do you think, Mr. Zhu?"

"There are still many descendants of the Li royal family. Now that things have come to this, why not support another one..."

Xiao Ke said, "Nonsense! Your Majesty has been in power for fourteen years and has not made any major mistakes. It was just Tian Yan who monopolized power. Every time Your Majesty talks about the loss of power, he cries in grief. And this time, Your Majesty had no intention of fleeing. It was Tian Yan who led his soldiers to force him. All the blame lies with Tian Lingzi. Who in the world doesn't know this?"

Zhu Mei lowered her head, knowing that her set of twisted theories could not fool the prime minister, but the expression on her face also showed her unwillingness to accept it.

Xiao Ke continued, "There is only one way before you, and that is to lead your troops back to this town and petition the emperor to return to the palace. As for the matter of dethroning and enthroning, please don't even mention it!"

Zhu Mei was determined to become Dong Zhuo. The reason why he proposed to support a new king was because he captured a member of the royal family with the surname Li, the successor to the throne of Xiang Wang Li Yan, in Shibi.

Li Yan was the great-great-grandson of Emperor Suzong of Tang. Due to illness, he stayed in Shibi and was captured by Zhu Mei.

Zhu Mei felt like she had found a treasure and immediately began to want to depose the emperor.

It was thought that the war had reached a stalemate, and that Tian Lingzi was often issuing orders in the name of the emperor, which made everyone miserable. The call to support a new emperor would surely be unanimous. However, it was unexpected that the civil service group represented by Xiao Ke was so stubborn.

If soft tactics don't work, use hard tactics. Act quickly to avoid any more trouble.

Zhu Mei summoned all the civil and military officials and announced: "I support a prince from the royal family of the Li family to inherit the throne and rebuild the empire. Anyone who dares to oppose will be beheaded!"

Zhu Mei asked Xiao Ke to write a memorial for Li Yan to become emperor, but Xiao Ke declined, saying that his writing skills were declining, so Zhu Mei forced Zheng Changtu to write it.

Li Yan accepted the joint memorial from civil and military officials supporting him to become emperor, and returned to Chang'an under the protection of Zhu Mei.

It is worth mentioning that Cui Anqian submitted a letter swearing allegiance to Li Yan at this time, which became a major stain on Cui Anqian's life.

Tian Lingzi wanted to ease the relationship with Wang Chongrong, so he gave him a higher official position and asked him to allocate 150,000 hu of grain. Wang Chongrong replied: No grain will be given unless Tian Lingzi is killed.

Before supporting Li Yan, civil and military officials repeatedly submitted petitions requesting the execution of Tian Lingzi.

Warlords all over the country also submitted petitions requesting the execution of Tian Lingzi.

Now, calling for the execution of Tian Lingzi has become a fashion, politically correct, and a manifestation of the keyboard warriors' loyalty to the emperor and patriotism.

The butterfly effect, a series of mistakes, led to the situation getting completely out of control. Driven by desire, the chess game evolved spontaneously, exceeding the expectations of the top designers.

Tian Lingzi initially just wanted to compete with Wang Chongrong for salt profits, but after just a few months, Tian Lingzi fell from the altar, from being a one-man show to having almost no foothold. The only political resource in his hands - the emperor - also suffered a fatal blow from the new emperor Li Yan.

No, there is still a chance. Tian Lingzi will not sit still and wait for death.

(End of this chapter)