History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 901 Liu Chengjun’s Collapse (Part )

Guo Wuwei was promoted rapidly in the Northern Han Dynasty. In just two years or so, he transformed himself from a Taoist priest with ordinary hair and clothes to the prime minister and privy councilor, which was a rare event in history.

Let’s talk about the “Duan Chang Rebellion Case”.

In July 963, three generals of the Northern Han imperial guards conspired to rebel, but were killed after the plot was exposed. Their confession implicated the Privy Councilor Duan Chang. Liu Chengjun first demoted Duan Chang from the court (to the governor of Fenzhou), and then strangled him to death, along with his wife and children.

Duan Chang died unjustly, he was killed by a woman, this woman was Liu Chengjun's favorite concubine - Guo Ji. Guo Ji was very beautiful, Liu Chengjun loved her very much and wanted to make her his concubine, but Duan Chang strongly opposed it, just because Guo Ji's family background was not good. To put it simply, her father was a monk and her mother was a widow.

According to records, Guo Ji's biological father was a "medical monk", a profession with a strong sense of the times, a perfect combination of barefoot doctors, quacks and charlatans, whose business scope included difficult encyclopedias, psychological counseling, chanting sutras for salvation, and humanistic care from cradle to grave. One day, the medical monk met a widow and had a friendly and in-depth exchange. Guo Ji was the result of their in-depth exchange.

Duan Chang advised Liu Chengjun not to accept Guo Ji as his concubine because "they are not a good match and may be laughed at by neighboring countries." At the same time, Duan Chang also advised Liu Chengjun not to promote Guo Ji's relatives and brothers to avoid the uncle's family from usurping power. Therefore, Guo Ji hated Duan Chang to the core.

Under Guo Ji's manipulation, the three main culprits of the rebellion "truthfully confessed" their conspiracy with Duan Chang. Duan Chang had no way to defend himself. Later, Guo Ji persuaded Liu Chengjun to kill him.

This is the whole process of the "Duan Chang Rebellion Case" in the history books. It is brief but contains a huge amount of information. Could it be that a prime minister of an empire really died because of a few words from a concubine? Don't worry, let's take a look at the fate of another prime minister:

"Zhao Wendu, the Righteous Man of Yan and Zhao"

Zhao Wendu, originally named Zhao Hong, was given the name Wendu by Zhao Kuangyin after he surrendered to the Song Dynasty because of his taboo. Zhao Wendu's father was named Zhao Yu, who appeared in this book a long time ago.

That was in 908. There was an internal conflict in Youzhou. Liu Shouguang first imprisoned his father Liu Rengong, and then killed his brother Liu Shouwen. He then carried out a bloody purge of "Liu Shouwen's followers". Lu Yan's name appeared on this list. The reason was that he assisted Liu Yanzuo (Liu Shouwen's son) in defending Cangzhou. The suggestion for his punishment was to execute the entire family.

On the day of execution, Lü Yan's friend Zhao Yu risked his life to save Lü Yan's 14-year-old (some say 15-year-old) son Lü Qi, then escaped from Youzhou, changed his name, and begged for food all the way to Taiyuan Prefecture in Hedong.

With the hatred of his family being exterminated, Lü Qi studied hard and got a job with Li Cunxu. In the Later Tang Dynasty, he became a scholar of Duanming Palace and a close minister of the emperor. In the Later Jin Dynasty, he was also highly regarded by Shi Jingtang, who planned to appoint him as prime minister. However, when he was about to be appointed as prime minister, Lü Qi suddenly fell ill and unfortunately passed away. Lü Qi's son has also appeared in this book. He is Lü Yuqing, the prime minister of the Song Dynasty.

On the one hand, Lü Qi endured humiliation and worked hard to become stronger. On the other hand, he was grateful and treated his benefactor Zhao Yu with great respect. He also treated Zhao Yu's son, Zhao Wendu, as his own brother and son and loved him very much. Lü Qi was a top student, so under his careful guidance, Zhao Wendu was able to pass the imperial examination and become a Jinshi.

Zhao Wendu passed the imperial examination in the Later Tang Dynasty and served as a military governor. In the early years of the Later Han Dynasty, Liu Zhiyuan was stationed in Hedong, and Zhao Wendu was the secretary of Hedong. Zhao Wendu was quick-witted and liked to joke. He was humorous and easy-going, and had a good personal relationship with Liu Chong. After Liu Chong became emperor, he promoted Zhao Wendu to Hanlin Chengzhi and Minister of War. After Liu Chengjun ascended the throne, he promoted him to Prime Minister (Zhongshu Shilang Tongpingzhangshi).

Before Guo Wuwei came to favor, Zhao Wendu had already held the position of Menxia Shilang and Privy Councilor, and was also appointed as Situ, which means that he held both the positions of prime minister and privy councilor in one person, and held a high position with great power.

However, the historical records only state that Guo Wuwei and Zhao Wendu disagreed, and Zhao Wendu was demoted and sent to Fenzhou, which was later changed to Lanzhou. Under the historians' understatement, there is a power struggle in the Northern Han Dynasty.

In terms of official position, Zhao Wendu was prime minister and privy councilor, while Guo Wuwei was only vice minister of the Ministry of Personnel; in terms of seniority, Zhao Wendu was a "veteran of three dynasties". Before Liu Zhiyuan became emperor, he was Liu Zhiyuan's chief of staff and chief think tank. Later, he assisted Liu Chong in founding the country and establishing the Northern Han regime. Now he assists Liu Chengjun, while Guo Wuwei was just a reclusive Taoist priest two years ago; in terms of popularity and reputation, Zhao Wendu is the son of a hero. The story of his father Zhao Yu rescuing Lü Qi has become famous in Yanzhao and moved the top ten figures in Hebei. Historical records record that "at that time, the righteous men of Yanzhao praised Yu for his ability to save the orphan of the Lü family."

It seems that Zhao Wendu should have beaten Guo Wuwei in all aspects, but why was the result completely opposite? This was the operation of Liu Chengjun, the top designer. Zhao Wendu was a founding father and belonged to the "previous emperor's faction", while Guo Wuwei was a direct descendant promoted by Liu Chengjun himself, and was often referred to as the "princelings" in this book.

Liu Chengjun wanted to take an independent path and promote his own reform line. Externally, he had to break free from the control of his Khitan father. Internally, he had to build a centralized system with himself as the core, requiring all civil and military officials to follow his lead without question.

After understanding this principle, looking back at the experiences of Duan Chang and Zhao Wendu, it will become clear:

Duan Chang, a descendant of the previous emperor, was upright and dared to speak out, such as advising Liu Chengjun not to accept Guo Ji as his concubine and advising Liu Chengjun not to use Guo Ji's relatives. To advise means to point out the emperor's inappropriateness, that is, not to approve of the emperor's words and deeds, not to be a fan of the emperor, to have independent thinking, and to dare to challenge the emperor's authority. This is the real cause of Duan Chang's death. Liu Chengjun just took advantage of the conflict between Guo Ji and Duan Chang to shift the blame of harming loyal officials to the beauty.

The best hunters always disguise themselves as prey. Guo Ji thought she had taken advantage of Liu Chengjun, but she didn't know that it was Liu Chengjun who took advantage of Guo Ji.

Zhao Wendu, a descendant of the previous emperor, whose father was Lü Qi's savior, and Lü Qi's sons Lü Yuqing and Lü Duan were both highly valued by Zhao Kuangyin and entered the core power circle of the Song Dynasty. With this relationship, Liu Chengjun became even more distrustful of Zhao Wendu.

Liu Chengjun was eager to complete the redistribution of central power, and he took a big step to strengthen central power. If you take a big step, you may get hurt. Ironically, it was Guo Wuwei, who was promoted by Liu Chengjun in every possible way, who led the Northern Han Dynasty into an abyss of no return. Even to this day, many scholars firmly believe that Guo Wuwei was a spy sent by our army (Song) to infiltrate the enemy.

Guo Wuwei’s bold moves will be described in detail later.

In addition to Guo Wuwei, Liu Chengjun also promoted a close confidant - Liu Jiyong.

Liu Jiyong's origin is also very exquisite. He is the son of Liu Shouguang of Youzhou. Because he was born to a concubine, he escaped the reckoning and became a monk in Wutai Mountain (in Xinzhou, the northernmost end of Taihang Mountain, bordering Liao). Liu Jiyong was smart, good at business, and rich. Even the local military and political leader needed him to provide financial assistance. This military and political leader was Liu Chong, the then governor of Hedong.

After Liu Chengjun ascended the throne, he also regarded Liu Jiyong as a money bag and gave him the title of "Honglu Qing", which was a high-ranking official but had no real power. Liu Jiyong's real value was to help the court make money, which could be understood as a red-topped businessman.

With the support of his official background, Liu Jiyong took advantage of his geographical location and used Mount Wutai as his base to actively engage in smuggling trade. In addition to making money to subsidize the imperial court, Liu Jiyong was also very considerate and smuggled a number of Khitan war horses and gave them to the Northern Han court. They were named "Tiandu horses" and there were hundreds of them every year.

Liu Jiyong also had an amazing skill - geological exploration. Once, he went to Huayan for a visit. While others were only enjoying the beautiful scenery, he immediately determined that there was a silver mine underground, so he set up a smelting plant in Tuanbai Valley and recruited nearby villagers to dig mountains and mine. After the silver was smelted, the court took 40%, and the rest was at Liu Jiyong's disposal. Historical records say that the Northern Han Dynasty was constantly harassed by the Central Plains forces and the Liao Kingdom's continuous exhaustion of fish, and its fiscal deficit was serious. However, the reason why it was able to survive was all due to the support of this silver mine. Later, the Northern Han Dynasty set up the "Baoxing Army" here to protect this lifeline of the Northern Han Dynasty.

Liu Jiyong's main task and energy were to make money. He was the money bag of Northern Han. Liu Chengjun appointed him as the "Minister of Royal Relations" and let him participate in state affairs, which was actually a division of the existing power. Because the "existing" at that time were the "previous emperor's line" such as Zhao Wendu, Liu Chengjun first arranged a person who would not participate in state affairs to participate in state affairs, which was actually to dilute the power of the "previous emperor's line", and the diluted power naturally transferred from Liu Jiyong's hands to Liu Chengjun's hands.

By the way, Zhao Wendu’s father is Zhao Yu, and Liu Jiyong’s father is Liu Shouguang. It seems that Liu Chengjun’s good intention was to use Liu Jiyong to assist Guo Wuwei in getting rid of Zhao Wendu.

It's full of tricks.

The Duan Chang Rebellion Case, the Zhao Wendu Case, and the promotion of Liu Jiyong and other old tricks of "a new emperor, a new minister" were all part of Liu Chengjun's power struggle. Only children care about right and wrong, while politicians only pursue maximum benefits.

(End of this chapter)