History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 886: The Young Lord of Later Shu
【Young Lord of Later Shu】

Meng Zhixiang ruled over Sichuan during the reign of Emperor Mingzong of Later Tang, and proclaimed himself emperor after Mingzong's death, formally establishing the Great Shu Kingdom. In order to distinguish it from the Great Shu regime of "the thief Wang Jian", later generations called Wang Jian's regime "Former Shu" and Meng Zhixiang's "Later Shu".

Meng Zhixiang died after being in office for more than half a year, and was succeeded by his third son Meng Renzan. After Meng Renzan ascended the throne, he changed his name to Meng Chang (pronounced the same as "chang") as usual, and we will call him "Meng Chang" in the following text.

Some historical records also say that Meng Chang was the fifth son of Meng Zhixiang. Regardless of whether he was the third or fifth son, his older brothers all died young. Therefore, when Meng Zhixiang proclaimed himself emperor, he appointed Meng Chang as the Inspector Taibao, the Jiedushi of Dongchuan, the Co-Prime Minister of the Secretariat, and the Envoy of Chongsheng Palace (some say the Commander of the Cavalry and Infantry of the Yamen). In short, his status as "Crown Prince" was established.

When Meng Zhixiang was seriously ill, he officially appointed Meng Chang as the crown prince and acted as regent. Meng Zhixiang knew that his death was approaching, so he urgently summoned the important ministers Zhao Jiliang, Li Renhan, Zhao Tingyin, Wang Chuhui, Zhang Gongduo, and Hou Hongshi to entrust his son to him, and died that night.

Meng Chang was only 15 years old when he ascended the throne (some historical sources say 16, some say 14. Meng Chang was born in November 919 and ascended the throne in July 11, so the exact age is 934 and a half. This book is very rigorous and not a compromise). A 7-year-old middle school student succeeded to the throne. There is no doubt that the country's military and political power was basically in the hands of the older generation of heroes such as Li Renhan and Zhao Tingyin. As the saying goes, a young ruler means a country in doubt. Meng Chang's top priority was to follow the old routine of "a new emperor means new ministers", to recover the power held by the founding heroes and establish a power system with Comrade Meng Chang as the core.

The first person to be taken away was General Li Renhan.

Li Renhan was arrogant because of his achievements. This was fully demonstrated during the Meng Zhixiang period. He once competed with Zhao Tingyin for the post of governor of Dongchuan, and also had a feud with Zhang Gongduo because of the struggle for power. Li Renhan did not take the young Meng Chang seriously at all. After Meng Zhixiang's death, Li Renhan became even more arrogant and directly demanded to be the commander of the six armies, that is, to become the supreme commander of the imperial guards. Meng Chang, of course, refused to agree, and the relationship between the monarch and his subjects deteriorated sharply.

Let’s take a look at Meng Chang’s amazing operation:

Four new teams of imperial guards were set up - the Fourth Division of the Palace Guards. Their personnel were children of senior generals and martyrs, with good family backgrounds. Their commanders were Li Jihong, son of Li Renhan, Zhao Yuanzhen, son of Zhao Jiliang, Zhang Jizhao, son of Zhang Ye, Hou Lingqin, son of Hou Hongshi, and Zhao Chongtao, son of Zhao Tingyin.

Li Renhan was originally supposed to lead the imperial guards and monopolize the cake, but Meng Chang played with the concept of sharing, which not only weakened Li Renhan, but also won over other founding heroes, making Zhao Jiliang, Zhao Tingyin and others stand on the opposite side of Li Renhan and become supporters of Meng Chang. The conflict between Li Renhan and Meng Chang was cleverly turned into a conflict between Li Renhan and the founding heroes group.

Afterwards, Meng Chang instructed his trusted aides, such as An Siqian, to falsely accuse Li Renhan of treason. Zhao Tingyin and Zhang Gongduo, who had already had a grudge against Li Renhan, also took the opportunity to join in. When Li Renhan came to the court to pay homage, they executed him for treason and then exterminated his entire family.

At that time, another veteran general, Li Zhao, also came to see the emperor. At first, Li Zhao also despised the 15-year-old kid, claiming that he was ill and had difficulty walking, and refused to kneel before Meng Chang. After hearing the news that Li Renhan had been exterminated, Li Zhao immediately threw away his crutches, and his waist and back no longer hurt, and he could climb up to the fifth floor in one breath without any effort. He knelt down and kowtowed to Meng Chang to admit his mistakes and beg for forgiveness. Subsequently, Li Zhao was dismissed from his military post, changed to the prince's tutor, exiled to Qiongzhou, and finally died in Qiongzhou.

Li Renhan's nephew Zhang Ye was also a founding hero of the Later Shu Dynasty. He was also domineering and disloyal. At that time, he was in charge of the imperial guards (the commander of the Right Kuangsheng Infantry). Meng Chang gave him the title of Tong Pingzhangshi to reassure him.

Here, we can already see that Meng Chang is really not an ordinary person. We dare not say that he is a young hero, but at least he is a scheming boy.

At the beginning of his reign, he adopted a strategy of using military force first and then civil force to deal with the founding heroes, dividing and disintegrating them, and defeating them one by one. He took advantage of the conflicts between Li Renhan and Zhao Tingyin and Zhang Gongduo to get rid of Li Renhan first, and in the process gave Li Renhan's nephew Zhang Ye the title of prime minister. He united all the forces that could be united, and easily eliminated Li Renhan, a figure like Oboi, which greatly deterred other disloyal elements with different intentions (such as Li Zhao, etc.).

After eliminating Li Renhan, Meng Chang dug a big trap for Zhang Ye: he was promoted to Sikong and concurrently judged Duzhi. Letting him manage money, Zhang Ye let himself go, took advantage of his power to amass wealth, and did more illegal things. If God wants to destroy him, he must first make him crazy. In the end, Zhang Ye's madness brought him disaster. Zhang Ye was originally the commander of the Right Kuangsheng Infantry Army. His arrogance caused dissatisfaction among his colleague, Sun Hanshao, the commander of the Left Kuangsheng Army, so Sun Hanshao secretly reported that Zhang Ye and his son were plotting a rebellion.

Zhang Ye's son Zhang Jizhao had a hobby - fencing, and he often visited swordsmen all over the world. This became a strong evidence of their rebellion - hiding fugitives and raising assassins privately. Pulling out the radish brought out the mud, and Zhang Ye's crimes such as setting up a private prison were also exposed.

Therefore, Meng Chang was "angry at his arrogance" and gave his trusted followers An Siqian, Li Hao and others a look, "You know what I mean."

Zhang Ye finally received the same treatment as Li Renhan. He was arrested and killed when he entered the court, and his family was confiscated.

Wang Chuhui, the privy councilor, was entrusted with the care of the orphan. After Meng Zhixiang passed away, as the only important minister who knew the news, Wang Chuhui first blocked the news, and then ran to the prime minister Zhao Jiliang overnight to discuss countermeasures with him. In the end, the two decided to let Meng Chang ascend the throne in front of the coffin first, and then inform Li Renhan, who held a large number of troops and was arrogant and domineering. So Meng Chang was able to ascend the throne smoothly, thanks to Wang Chuhui.

After Meng Chang ascended the throne, he appreciated Wang Chuhui's kindness and promoted him to a higher position. However, Wang Chuhui also began to be corrupt, selling official positions and openly accepting bribes from all sides. His son also took advantage of his power and said, "My father is Li Gang." After Zhang Ye was executed, Wang Chuhui felt a little scared, so he took the initiative to resign and handed over power.

Afterwards, Wang Chuhui was appointed as the military governor of Wude Army and the minister of the Central Secretariat, and was allowed to return home to rest. Wang Chuhui continued to submit memorials, saying that he was too old to work and wanted to resign from all official positions. Meng Chang then allowed him to retire as the prince's tutor.

Two years later, Wang Chuhui died of illness at home. Wang Chuhui was wise enough to know when to stop, so he woke up in time and retired bravely, thus having a good end.

In 941 AD, Meng Chang, who had been on the throne for six and a half years, staged a "releasing military power with a cup of wine" in advance. He dismissed the titles of military governors of founding heroes such as Zhao Tingyin and Zhang Gongduo, and appointed his confidants, such as Hanlin scholar Li Hao, as the local military governors.

In 948, An Siqian reported Zhao Tingyin's rebellion and sent troops to surround his residence at night. By chance, Li Tinggui, the governor of Shannan West Road, came to the court. After hearing the news, Li Tinggui tried his best to defend Zhao Tingyin in front of Meng Chang and finally saved Zhao Tingyin's life.

Zhao Tingyin suddenly realized his mistake and immediately submitted a petition to the emperor claiming illness and requesting to be relieved of his military power. Meng Chang appointed him as the Grand Tutor and granted him the title of King of Song.

From then on, there were no more so-called "old ministers of the previous dynasty" or "meritorious service in the founding of the country" in the court. Historical records record: "Since then (948), almost all the old ministers have been wiped out, and the emperor has begun to personally handle government affairs in the court."

It took Meng Chang more than ten years to complete the power reshuffle of the Later Shu Empire.

Thanks to my old friend “江湖刘白” for the monthly ticket support!



(End of this chapter)