History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 850 Actor's Self-cultivation 4
1. "Wang Jianer" Wang Yansheng
Wang Yansheng was born in Shu and was a citizen of the Former Shu. After the Later Tang Dynasty destroyed the Former Shu, Wang Yansheng immigrated to the Central Plains. He was "cruel and strong", a ruthless person in society, good at using swords, and was nicknamed "Wang Jianer".

After immigrating to the Central Plains, he took refuge with the popular eunuch Meng Hanqiong. Meng Hanqiong recommended him to Emperor Mingzong Li Siyuan. From Emperor Mingzong to the "Jin-Liao War" at the end of the Later Jin Dynasty, there was a blank in Wang Yansheng's life history. But we can help him fill it in:
Wang Yansheng entered the central imperial guards with the recommendation of the eunuch Meng Hanqiong, so his official career was closely linked to the fate of Meng Hanqiong.

At the end of Mingzong Li Siyuan's reign, an unsuccessful palace coup took place, namely the "Li Congrong Rebellion Case". Meng Hanqiong was initially a eunuch serving Li Congrong. When Li Congrong launched a palace coup, Meng Hanqiong decisively stood on Li Siyuan's side, took the lead in attacking Li Congrong, and made the first contribution to quelling the rebellion.

Immediately afterwards, Meng Hanqiong was ordered to invite Li Conghou and assist him in ascending the throne. In other words, when Li Conghou ascended the throne, Meng Hanqiong became the most trusted eunuch around the emperor. "When Emperor Min succeeded to the throne, he relied on his favor. Within a month, he was promoted to the rank of Grand Master of the Imperial Court and General of the Cavalry."

However, the good times did not last long. Not long after Li Conghou ascended the throne, Prince of Lu Li Congke raised the flag of rebellion in Fengxiang. Li Conghou hurriedly sent Meng Hanqiong to Weizhou to prepare for a temporary retreat in Weizhou and a comeback. Unexpectedly, Meng Hanqiong used the same trick again and abandoned Li Conghou just like he abandoned Li Congrong, and decisively returned to Li Congke.

Just when Meng Hanqiong thought that Li Congke would be grateful to him and promote him as a founding father, Li Congke responded with a cold laugh and then executed him on the spot.

After Li Congke entered the capital, he issued an edict condemning the counter-revolutionary group that "formed cliques to raise troops, alienated the monarch and his ministers, and almost destroyed the country", and put the blame for the mutiny and seizure of power on them. The core members of this counter-revolutionary group were Zhu Hongzhao, Feng Yun, and Meng Hanqiong.

The eunuch Meng Hanqiong was very good at scheming. When Li Siyuan was in power, he tried hard to make friends with Concubine Wang De (Concubine Wang Shu, Hua Jianxiu), and the powerful officials of the dynasty, and flattered the crown prince Li Congrong. However, when Li Congrong made a fatal mistake (forcing the emperor to abdicate), he immediately turned against him and flattered Li Conghou. Later, he made friends with Zhu Hongzhao and Feng Yun, who were powerful in the court. When Li Conghou lost power, he decisively abandoned Li Conghou and flattered Li Congke instead...

This eunuch, who was good at dealing with people, ended up being outsmarted by his own cleverness.

Looking back at Wang Yansheng who was recommended by Meng Hanqiong, he was recommended during the reign of Emperor Mingzong. During those short few years, perhaps it was really good to be under a big tree for shade, and he lived a pretty good life. And within two or three months after Emperor Mingzong's death and Emperor Min's accession to the throne, with Meng Hanqiong's rise to prominence, Wang Yansheng also reached the peak of his life.

However, as Meng Hanqiong was identified as the leader of a counter-revolutionary group by the new emperor Li Congke, it was inevitable that Wang Yansheng would be implicated by him. Therefore, until Shi Jingtang established the Later Jin Dynasty, Wang Yansheng's resume during this period was almost blank.

It is fortunate that in order to gain broad support, Li Congke stated when he ascended the throne that "only the main culprit will be punished, and the rest will not be questioned", and did not expand the political struggle. Wang Yansheng and other "Meng Hanqiong followers" did not suffer a bloody purge, but there is no doubt that they were dismissed from office, relegated to the second line, and sidelined.

It was not until the "Jin-Liao War" that Shi Chonggui led the army in person and arrived in Chanzhou, then recruited warriors to go to Weizhou to deliver the message. In addition to Luo Yangui who was eager to make merit mentioned above, Wang Yansheng, who was eager to turn the tables, also volunteered, treating this battle as a gamble in his life.

They succeeded, risking their lives, and completed this counterattack. Wang Yansheng was promoted to the commander of the Holy Guard.

During the Later Zhou Dynasty, Wang Yansheng followed Xiang Xun to attack the Northern Han, made great contributions, and was promoted to Du Yu Hou. He made great contributions in the "Three Expeditions to Huainan" and the Northern Conquest of the Three Passes, and was promoted to Sanyuan Duzhihuishi.

After a simple analysis, it is not difficult to see the similarities between Luo Yangui and Wang Yansheng: both were subordinates of Xiang Xun; both had historical stains, Luo Yangui was a "Wang Jun accomplice" and Wang Yansheng was a "Meng Hanqiong follower".

During the "Chenqiao Mutiny", Wang Yansheng acted as a pioneer and was the first to rush into Bianzhou, helping Zhao Kuangyin accomplish a dirty and arduous task - clearing roadblocks.

At that time, Shi Shouxin and Wang Shenqi, who had been notified in advance, acted as insiders and opened the city gates to welcome the mutinous troops into the city. According to records, when a senior general of the imperial army heard that there was a change in the front-line troops and that they were returning to Beijing to seize power, the first thing he thought of was to organize a resistance. Before he could summon his subordinates, he ran into Wang Yansheng who was galloping towards him. In a hurry, the senior general turned around and ran back home to hide, but Wang Yansheng held on tightly and led the cavalry into his house. Without saying a word, he slaughtered the whole family.

"Wang Yansheng rode his horse to chase him, and he rushed into his house. Before he could close the door, he was killed by Yansheng, and his wife and children were all killed."

When Zhao Kuangyin accepted the throne, he made three rules with his generals and clarified the discipline. The second rule was that no civil or military officials in the court should be killed. Anyone who disobeyed the order would be put to death without mercy!

Therefore, Zhao Kuangyin was very angry about Wang Yansheng's "special killing" behavior that violated military orders, and gave Wang Yansheng the most severe punishment, "Don't do it again!"

Some people say that Zhao Kuangyin did not execute Wang Yansheng because the whole country was celebrating at the beginning of the founding of the country, which could be regarded as a "general amnesty". In addition, Wang Yansheng never became a military governor in the Song Dynasty because Zhao Kuangyin was angry at his killing... At first glance, it really sounds like what people would say.

Wang Yansheng did not become a military governor throughout his life, but the reason was definitely not because of "anger at his killing spree" as stated in history books. This was his merit, not his fault. Regarding the statement that he "did not receive military orders throughout his life", we need to make a comprehensive analysis:

First of all, the clever historian switched the concepts. "Not accepting the power of the emperor for life" and "not being favored for life" are two different concepts, and the historian deliberately confused them. "Taizu killed Han Tong because of this, and he was not accepting the power of the emperor for life." He added a sentence "Taizu killed Han Tong because of this" in front with ulterior motives. There is cause and effect, implying that "not accepting the power of the emperor for life" is a punishment for him, which led to this misunderstanding on our part.

After the establishment of the Song Dynasty, Wang Yansheng was first appointed as the Enzhou Tuanlianshi and the Commander of the Left Wing of the Iron Cavalry, and then promoted to the Defense Envoy, which was only one step away from the Jiedushi. Before that, he was just a mid-level general and a small follower of the imperial army without real power under Zhao Kuangyin. After the founding of the Song Dynasty, he was made a frontier official and sat in the western frontier of the empire. For Wang Yansheng, this was already a great thing that made his ancestors' graves smoke green smoke. What else did he want?

Secondly, Zhao Kuangyin did develop a certain resentment and disgust towards Wang Yansheng later, but it was not because of "killing" but "blackmail".

At the beginning of the founding of the country, Zhao Kuangyin assigned a very handy job to the executioner Wang Yansheng - the inspector of the capital, responsible for the security of the capital.

One night, Wang Yansheng, who was on night duty, suddenly visited the home of Prime Minister Wang Pu. Wang Pu "ran out in shock." The political environment at the time was extremely sensitive. Wang Yansheng, a loyal lackey and cold-blooded executioner of the new dynasty, suddenly visited the home of Wang Pu, an old minister of the previous dynasty who had surrendered only when a knife was placed on his neck. How could Wang Pu not be afraid?
After Wang Yansheng was invited to the hall and the host and guest sat down, Wang Pu finally put down his worry. Wang Yansheng explained, "Don't be afraid, Prime Minister. I was too tired from my duty tonight, so I just wanted to have a midnight snack and rest my feet."

After that, Wang Yansheng gave many hints, intending to ask for bribes, but Wang Pu pretended to be ignorant and accompanied him to drink all night. After dawn, Wang Yansheng left in anger, and Wang Pu submitted a secret report to Zhao Kuangyin, reporting what happened last night truthfully.

As usual, Zhao Kuangyin had to do the work of maintaining political stability at the beginning of the founding of the country. He had to show the new court's magnanimity and tolerance to civil and military officials who were not his direct descendants, and appease all forces, especially old ministers of the previous dynasty such as Wang Pu who were highly respected and needed to be appeased.

It was outrageous that Wang Yansheng, who was the inspector of the capital and the captain of the security team, dared to blackmail the prime minister of the empire. In a small sense, it was because Wang Yansheng had bad character, was arrogant because of his achievements, and had no respect for the law. In a big sense, it was because Zhao Kuangyin's group despised and excluded the old officials of the Later Zhou Dynasty. This was a serious political issue. If he was not severely punished, it would inevitably make Wang Pu and other former nobles feel insecure.

Therefore, Zhao Kuangyin was very angry and immediately demoted Wang Yansheng from the Enzhou Tuanlianshi to the Tangzhou Governor, and banished him from the capital.

Note that Wang Yansheng was promoted from governor to defense envoy soon after. So although Wang Yansheng did not become a military governor, Zhao Kuangyin really took good care of him and did his utmost.

Finally, when we look back at the details of Wang Yansheng’s “special killing” crimes, we find that his actions were quite purposeful and his targets were very precise. He only killed this person and would never implicate innocent people.

What crime had this man committed? They just met on the roadside, but Wang Yansheng chased him to his home and killed his entire family.

Besides Shi Shouxin, Wang Shenqi and other open underground workers, there were many other generals in the court, including civil and military officials. Why didn't Wang Yansheng kill them? Prime Minister Fan Zhi and Wang Pu were not our participants either. Why didn't Wang Yansheng kill them?

The only reasonable explanation is that before Wang Yansheng came to Bianzhou, he had already obtained a secret list with the name of this general on it, and someone at a higher level secretly instructed Wang Yansheng to kill this person as soon as possible.

So who was this senior official who was killed, and why must Zhao Kuangyin's group be physically eliminated as soon as possible?

This person was none other than Han Tong, a brave general who had made numerous military achievements in the "Battle of Gaoping", "Three Expeditions to Huainan" and "Conquer the Three Passes in the North", a direct descendant of Guo Wei, and the only person in the imperial army system who could check and balance Zhao Kuangyin.

(End of this chapter)