History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 885 Fighting between gods
【Fight between gods】

The two key figures in the pacification of Hunan and Xiang - Commander-in-Chief Murong Yanzhao and Chief Military Officer Li Chuyun - their personal relationship took a sharp turn for the worse during this military operation, and they eventually impeached each other after the war. This became the most sensational case since the founding of the Song Dynasty, and the verdict was even more jaw-dropping.

Behind this lawsuit of gods fighting each other, there was a pair of huge black hands, who had set up this chess game from the very beginning. The person who designed the chess game was Zhao Kuangyin.

Murong Yanzhao was the inspector of the imperial court before this, which was a very sensitive position; Li Chuyun was the envoy of the Southern Court of Xuanhui and the deputy envoy of the Privy Council. One was in the imperial guard system, and the other was under the Privy Council. The problem was hidden here. The core idea of ​​Zhao Kuangyin's military reform was to weaken the imperial guard system and increase the power of the Privy Council, so that they could check and balance each other, thereby strengthening the centralization of power.

Conflicts at work can easily affect personal relationships. It can be said that Zhao Kuangyin originally used Li Chuyun to restrain Murong Yanzhao. It was precisely because the relationship between the two was not harmonious that Zhao Kuangyin continued to play a big game. Again, he told the story first and then solved the game at the end.

The army gathered in Xiangzhou, and the people fled to the countryside to avoid the war. The supply of goods in Xiangzhou was affected to a certain extent. The number of vendors selling cakes decreased day by day, but the price of cakes increased quietly. The shadow of war helped Xiangzhou cake industry to complete the monopoly and optimize the industrial structure of Xiangzhou cake industry.

Although a large number of people fled, the sales of cakes did not decrease, but increased significantly, because the large-scale army was the main consumer. The supply decreased and the demand increased sharply, so Xiangzhou cake merchants doubled the price of cakes and took advantage of the army.

"Speculating, hoarding, and making money from the war, how can this be tolerated!" Li Chuyun was furious and immediately arrested two Xiangzhou cake bosses and leaders in the cake industry and sent them to Murong Yanzhao.

Murong Yanzhao was not only the commander-in-chief of this military operation, but also the governor of Xiangzhou, so whether the case was sent to the local court or the military court, Murong Yanzhao would be the final judge.

However, the problem lies in his title of "Xiangzhou Jiedushi". Xiangzhou is his territory, and Xiangzhou's problems are his problems. Li Chuyun sent the local profiteers to the leaders for disposal. On the surface, he was reporting to the leaders and asking for instructions, which was to give the leaders face, but in reality, he was severely slapping the leaders in the face.

Murong Yanzhao was indeed angry. Who do you think you are to give orders in Xiangzhou? Then he had the two profiteers selling cakes kicked out and ignored them.

Li Chuyun was very straightforward and sent the two back, insisting that Murong Yanzhao give an explanation. Murong Yanzhao refused to sign again, and Li Chuyun shipped the goods again... This went on for several times. Seeing that Murong Yanzhao was determined not to do anything, Li Chuyun simply took over the responsibility and dragged the two confused profiteers to the downtown entrance and beheaded them as a warning to the public.

This incident of killing the cake vendor without authorization caused the relationship between Murong Yanzhao and Li Chuyun to become tense.

Before the blood of the profiteer selling cakes had dried, Murong Yanzhao and Li Chuyun had another disagreement. The cause was that one of Murong Yanzhao's subordinates named Si Yi went to someone else's house as a guest, was rude after drinking, and committed a crime under the influence of alcohol. Someone reported it to Li Chuyun. Li Chuyun called Si Yi and reprimanded him.

Li Chuyun only gave Si Yi a harsh verbal criticism, thinking that he had given Murong Yanzhao face. If it weren't for his face, he would have been beheaded. However, Si Yi held a grudge and went back to Murong Yanzhao to make trouble, accusing Li Chuyun of deliberately disgusting Murong Yanzhao, "He didn't hit my butt, he hit your face!"

Murong Yanzhao gnashed his teeth in hatred, "You are so good, Li Chuyun, you killed people right after entering the city, and you used my subordinates to scare me? We will see."

We'll see. When we got to the Hunan front, something happened again.

When the army reached Baihu, Li Chuyun saw with his own eyes that a soldier broke into a civilian's house, and then there was a loud cry for help from the civilian. Li Chuyun immediately stepped forward to catch the soldier who was harassing the civilian, and took a closer look. Oh, what a coincidence? Murong Yanzhao's horseman.

Li Chuyun's punishment for him was "whipping his back".

This was not a slap on his back, but a slap on Murong Yanzhao's face. In a rage, Murong Yanzhao beheaded the horseman who had brought shame to him.

The personal relationship between Li Chuyun and Murong Yanzhao has already escalated from "discord" to "intolerance". So, we can look back and dig deeper into the pit that Zhao Kuangyin dug for the two of them:

Before the expedition, Murong Yanzhao fell seriously ill and could not ride a horse, so Zhao Kuangyin issued an edict to have him carried in a sedan chair to command the battle as a tribute to Zhuge Liang; before the army set out, Zhao Kuangyin also met with Li Chuyun alone, and "the emperor personally taught the strategy." This was a routine operation of the Song Dynasty later. The emperor commanded remotely and told the commander-in-chief the battle plan before the action, and the generals acted according to the plan and implemented the highest instructions.

The two seemingly insignificant clues are actually the fundamental reasons for "Li Chuyun VS Murong Yanzhao".

Let us first review the records of this war: Li Chuyun sent people to inform Gao Ji Chong twice, and after gaining their trust, he launched a surprise attack at night and attacked Jiangling Prefecture directly, taking Jingnan without bloodshed; then Li Chuyun dispatched troops and won a great victory at Sanjiangkou, and took advantage of the victory to attack Langzhou. Even the task of searching for Zhou Baoquan was completed by Li Chuyun.

Li Chuyun, Li Chuyun, and still Li Chuyun. Murong Yanzhao, the supreme commander, has become an unknown and transparent person.

Let’s go back and sort out the two clues: Murong Yanzhao was in poor health and unable to work normally; Li Chuyun received secret instructions from the top leader in advance.

Therefore, we can reasonably restore Zhao Kuangyin's intention, which was to let Li Chuyun sideline Murong Yanzhao.

When the history books evaluated Li Chuyun, they said that he was "autocratic in dealing with things and ignored the opinions of the masses", which means that he had too much power, acted beyond his authority, and always ignored the opposition of others and acted on his own. This was his performance on the battlefield of Hunan and Xiang, and it was also in accordance with the secret order of Zhao Kuangyin.

He executed a profiteer selling cakes in Xiangzhou, which was clearly an interference in local affairs and an overstepping of authority; he punished Murong Yanzhao's subordinates, which was an overstepping of level and an overstepping of authority. They deserved to be beaten and punished, but it should not have been done by Li Chuyun; in terms of battlefield command, he stole all the limelight from Murong Yanzhao and even all his power... Li Chuyun completely sidelined Murong Yanzhao.

Murong Yanzhao had one last power that Li Chuyun could not deprive him of, and that was the power to tell tales. Murong Yanzhao filed a complaint with the court, accusing Li Chuyun of being autocratic and abusing power; Li Chuyun also impeached Murong Yanzhao for not managing the army strictly, allowing his subordinates to harass the people, and ignoring the court's policy of appeasement...

This was the first major case of high-ranking officials fighting each other since the founding of the Song Dynasty. It caused a sensation across the country, and what shocked the country even more was Zhao Kuangyin's trial and judgment of the case:
"Let's put aside the facts. Murong Yanzhao is my sworn brother, he is old and experienced. No matter what he has done, I will not ask him about it. He has made contributions in recovering the two lakes and he will be promoted to the position of Inspector General. Li Chuyun will be demoted to the position of Governor of Zibo Prefecture and his son Li Jilong will be expelled from the army. I decree this."

Murong Yanzhao smiled with relief on his sickbed, but his condition worsened and he died at the end of this year (963) at the age of 51. During his illness, Emperor Zhao Kuangyin gave him medicine. When the sad news of his death came, Zhao Kuangyin burst into tears, posthumously awarded him the title of Minister of the Central Secretariat, the title of Prince of Henan, and promoted his four sons to serve as officials in the court.

At the same time, historical records say that after Li Chuyun was demoted and sent away, he was "afraid and did not dare to explain himself." He did not dare to appeal or argue, and died in office in Zizhou three years later (3).

After Li Chuyun's death, Zhao Kuangyin recalled his past merits and mourned deeply. A few years later, he arranged for his younger brother Zhao Guangyi to marry Li Chuyun's second daughter, who later became Empress Mingde. His son Li Jilong, who was implicated, also resumed his military post. This Li Jilong subsequently participated in the wars to destroy the Southern Tang and Northern Han, and made many outstanding achievements in the wars against the Liao and Western Xia. After his death, he was posthumously awarded the title of Zhongshu Ling and the posthumous title of "Zhongwu". He was honored with the temple court of Song Zhenzong and became one of the "Twenty-four Meritorious Officials of Zhaoxun Pavilion" during the reign of Song Lizong.

Some people say that in the fight between Li Chuyun and Murong Yanzhao, Murong Yanzhao won on the surface, but in fact Li Chuyun was the winner who had the last laugh.

In fact, this statement itself is a false proposition. Li Chuyun was just a pawn of Zhao Kuangyin, and it was Zhao Kuangyin who really fought with Murong Yanzhao.

Before the establishment of the Song Dynasty, Murong Yanzhao was the deputy inspector of the imperial court and Zhao Kuangyin's deputy, while Li Chuyun was only a "du yamen", a mid-level military officer.

After the founding of the country, Murong Yanzhao replaced Zhao Kuangyin and became the Palace Inspector, and was given the title of Prime Minister (the second rank of the Secretariat, because his father's name was Murong Zhang, so the "Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi" was changed to "Tong Zhongshu Menxia Second Rank"), becoming the supreme commander of the Song Dynasty's central imperial guards, holding a high position and power; Li Chuyun jumped from an inconspicuous mid-level military officer to the Guest Envoy and Privy Councilor, and soon became the Xuanhui Envoy and Privy Deputy Envoy, becoming Zhao Kuangyin's close confidant.

As mentioned earlier, in the reform to strengthen centralization of power, Zhao Kuangyin first dismantled the Imperial Guard Department, dividing it into two, separating out the "Imperial Guard Cavalry Command Department" and the "Imperial Guard Infantry Command Department", which were collectively called the "Three Yamen" with the Palace Front Department. This dispersed the power of the imperial guards and turned the fight between the left and right into a three-way confrontation.

On this basis, Zhao Kuangyin re-strengthened the power of the Privy Council, further disintegrating and weakening the power of the imperial guards, making it impossible for the "Chenqiao Mutiny" to happen again.

Looking at Li Chuyun's official positions, Privy Councilor and Privy Councilor, he was the vanguard used to disintegrate and dilute Murong Yanzhao, the leader of the Central Imperial Guards. Since then, Li Chuyun has offended Murong Yanzhao and his relatives and followers, and even the entire Imperial Guards system.

Murong Yanzhao was indeed highly respected and experienced. Even after leaving his post as the Palace Inspector, he was still a well-established figure with deep roots in the bureaucracy and the army of the Song Dynasty, which Zhao Kuangyin was afraid of. However, he fell ill before the expedition, which gave Zhao Kuangyin a perfect opportunity.

Zhao Kuangyin "personally taught strategies" to Li Chuyun, which not only included battle plans, but also hinted that he should "help" the commander-in-chief Murong Yanzhao.

"Comrade Murong Yanzhao is in poor health and may not be able to perform his duties as commander-in-chief. However, changing commanders in the middle of a battle is a taboo in military strategy, and recovering the two lakes is a great cause for the ages... So, you have to help him more, help him, understand?"

I understand. I am just taking over other people’s business.

So, there was a series of stories afterwards.

In other words, the accusations against Li Chuyun, such as "dictatorship in times of crisis", were actually all based on imperial orders, which were secret orders that could not be made public. So when he was demoted, he "did not make it clear" and accepted it silently without being able to appeal. This was a tacit understanding between the monarch and his subjects, or a secret agreement made in advance.

After Li Chuyun died, his daughter married Zhao Guangyi, and his son Li Jilong resumed his military post. When Li Jilong first returned to work, he was ostracized by Murong Yanzhao's followers because their interests were directly linked to the imperial guards, and Li Chuyun had represented the Privy Council to confront them and fight for power. However, the court always protected Li Jilong and gave him a broad platform, which eventually made him a famous general.

"Li Chuyun vs. Murong Yanzhao" is like "releasing military power over a cup of wine", a small chess game in Zhao Kuangyin's grand chess game of strengthening central power. Zhao Kuangyin used Li Chuyun to attack the deep-rooted "Murong Yanzhao Group" and further consolidated central power.

Zhao Kuangyin issued an edict to amnesty the two lakes, restore the economy, improve people's livelihood, and strengthen the rule. Then he issued a personnel appointment: Zhang Hui, the training envoy of Huazhou, was appointed as the training envoy of Fengzhou and concurrently the inspector of the trenches and forts of the western camp. The Song Dynasty was going to use military force against Sichuan and Shu.

Zhang Hui was a well-known figure in Huazhou. After Zhao Kuangyin pacified Li Yun in Luzhou, he also planned to destroy the Northern Han in one fell swoop, so he asked Zhang Hui for his opinion. Zhang Hui believed that the Zeluzhou area had not yet recovered from the scars of war, and the manpower and material resources could not support a war of annihilation. He suggested that plans should be made after recovery. His views were completely consistent with those of Zhao Pu and other think tanks, so he was quite appreciated by Zhao Kuangyin.

After Zhang Hui arrived in Fengzhou, he drew the latest military map, "which fully recorded the dangers and difficulties of the mountains and rivers", and sent it back to the court in a letter, attaching a battle plan he had drafted.

"The emperor read it and was very pleased." He then became more determined to fight against Hou Shu.

(End of this chapter)