History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 918 Liu Hongxi's Evil Governance

[Demolishing the bridge after crossing it]

If they can be so cruel to their brothers, what about others?

At the beginning of his reign, Liu Hongchang secretly advised him to kill Chen Daoxiang, Liu Sichao and others who killed the emperor, so as to pass the blame. However, Liu Hongxi secretly leaked this to Liu Sichao and others, and played a double act with them. Liu Sichao reported Liu Hongchang for treason, and then Liu Hongxi killed Liu Hongchang.

Did Liu Hongxi trust Chen Daoxiang, Liu Sichao and others so much that he was willing to betray his own brother? Or was he so stupid that he would rather listen to the slander of outsiders than believe his brother's advice?
Liu Hongxi was able to ascend to the throne thanks to the support of five warriors including Chen Daoxiang and Liu Sichao. At the beginning of his ascension to the throne, Liu Hongxi's direct lineage was not strong enough and his throne was not secure enough, so he still needed the continued help of Chen Daoxiang and others. On the contrary, Liu Hongchang and other brothers were the real imaginary enemies in Liu Hongxi's mind.

Using Chen Daoxiang to get rid of Liu Hongchang can not only win over Chen Daoxiang and others, but also eliminate the person who poses the greatest threat to the throne, and it can also put another blame on Chen Daoxiang and others. It is really like killing three birds with one stone.

In September 945, Liu Hongxi had been on the throne for two and a half years, and his throne had been greatly consolidated. It was time to use these scapegoats.

The official blue-backed report said that after careful investigation by relevant departments, the case of the assassination of the former emperor was finally solved. The five suspects, Liu Sichao, Tan Lingyin, Lin Shaojiang, Lin Shaoliang, and He Changyan, confessed to their crimes. Their crimes were extremely serious and they were executed immediately.

In the same month, Prime Minister Wang Hui, who had advocated "appointing the virtuous rather than the eldest" and planned to appoint Liu Hongchang as the emperor, was unsurprisingly demoted from the court and sent to be the governor of Yingzhou. Of course, Liu Hongxi would not let him take up the post alive, and "soon ordered him to be executed on the way."

A year later, in September 946, Chen Daoxiang and his entire family were executed.

It is said that after Liu Sichao and the other five were killed, Chen Daoxiang was unable to sleep or eat and was at a loss. He still had a little fantasy about Liu Hongxi, maybe Liu Hongxi would show some leniency to him, otherwise why would he only kill those five? His good friend Deng Shen gave him a book and asked him to read it carefully.

Chen Daoxiang took a look and found it was the "Han Ji" written by Xun Yue of the Eastern Han Dynasty. "Why are you showing this to me? I can't recognize a few words..."

"You idiot!" Deng Shen cursed, "The story of Han Xin being killed and Peng Yue being chopped into meat sauce is all in this book!" Chen Daoxiang became even more frightened.

When Chen Daoxiang and his entire family were executed, Deng Shen was also implicated and executed together.

Some people believe that Liu Hongxi did intend to spare Chen Daoxiang at first, but because Deng Shen was too smart and the book "Han Ji" fully explained the principle of being a scapegoat after the rabbit has died, Liu Hongxi decided to kill him.

In fact, Liu Hongxi would not have any affection for Chen Daoxiang. The five men were temporarily selected strong men, without any foundation, and could be abandoned at any time. Chen Daoxiang was originally a senior general (commander) of the Central Imperial Army, and had participated in suppressing the rebellion of Zhang Yuxian. He had a certain foundation and it was difficult to eradicate him at once, so Liu Hongxi would prepare for an extra year.

Liu Hongxi continued the various tortures used during Liu Yan's period, and even surpassed his father's, being more cruel than he was. He also gave these death sentences a resounding name - living hell.

Under Liu Hongxi's bloody purge, all civil and military officials were in danger (both internally and externally they were afraid and unable to protect themselves).

Pirates of the Caribbean

Liu Hongxi inherited and carried forward Liu Yan's love of luxury. During his reign, he repaired and built Nan Palace, Daming Palace, Changhua Palace, Ganquan Palace, Wanhua Palace, Xiuhua Palace, Yuqing Palace, Taiwei Palace, etc. Historical records say that there were "thousands of them, too numerous to count." There were palace maids specializing in announcing the dawn on each side of the palace, who were called "window monitors."

The jewels obtained through normal trade channels could no longer meet the needs of such a large-scale palace decoration project, so Liu Hongxi ordered the navy to become pirates. The mighty Southern Han Navy appeared and disappeared in the South China Sea, specializing in robbing passing merchant ships.

【Be close to flatterers and stay away from the wise】

In his later years, Liu Yan began to favor eunuchs. His view was that everyone would have selfish motives. The literati and scholars all had descendants. When they did things, they would strive for the interests of their descendants. Eunuchs had no descendants, so only eunuchs could serve the empire wholeheartedly and were the most trustworthy people. Although Liu Yan favored eunuchs, during his reign, there were only 300 eunuchs in the country. They usually only served as his eyes and ears to help him monitor the civil and military officials, and did not directly enter the power layer. During Liu Hongxi's period, the status of eunuchs changed qualitatively.

In 917, Princess Qingyuan married King Yanjun of Min. Min established its embassy in Southern Han in Guangzhou, headed by eunuch Lin Yanyu, to facilitate friendly exchanges between the two countries, enhance political mutual trust, and promote economic and trade cooperation.

At that time, Liu Yan invited Lin Yanyu to several banquets, during which he tried to probe the strengths and weaknesses of the Min Kingdom in a roundabout way, but Lin Yanyu always avoided answering. Once, Lin Yanyu dismissed the idlers and said to Liu Yan seriously: "If I leave the Min Kingdom, I will sell out the information of the Min Kingdom; then after I leave you, can I also reveal your information to others?"

After hearing this, Liu Yan immediately showed great respect for him.

Lin Yanyu continued, "I am just an eunuch. I only know how to serve my master. It is my great honor to share my master's worries. Other things are not what I should know, let alone what I dare to know."

Liu Yan was impressed by this eunuch and felt that eunuchs were the most lovable people in the world, so he hired Lin Yanyu as the chief eunuch of Southern Han (Nei Changshi) and asked him to help manage the eunuch departments of Southern Han.

Later, King Yanjun of Min was assassinated, and Lin Yanyu applied to Liu Yan to return to China. Liu Yan was unwilling to lose this talent and refused to let him go. With no hope of returning to China, Lin Yanyu changed into plain clothes, climbed up a tall building, and cried loudly towards the direction of Min for three days. Liu Yan was even more moved and became closer to him.

Are you moved by Lin Yanyu? But in fact, Lin Yanyu is insidious and cunning, a hypocritical hypocrite. It's a pity that Liu Yan and his son did not see through his true face.

After Liu Hongxi ascended the throne, he appointed him as the envoy of Ganquan Palace and relied on him very much, to the point of obedience. Liu Hongxi's extermination of his brothers was Lin Yanyu's masterpiece (Yanyu was actually involved in the extermination of his brothers). Among them, Liu Hongmiao was poisoned to death by Lin Yanyu himself.

Under the careful guidance of Lin Yanyu, Liu Hongxi's "Living Hell" project was launched in full swing, and the people of Southern Han hated him to the core.

Finally, in March 956, Lin Yanyu died of illness. The people of Southern Han congratulated each other, but they did not know that when Lin Yanyu was seriously ill, Liu Hongxi personally visited him and asked him who could replace him. Lin Yanyu said in a weak voice: "Gong Chengshu, only he can do it!"

Thus, the eunuch Gong Chengshu stepped onto the historical stage. With trust and remembrance for Lin Yanyu, Liu Hongxi promoted Gong Chengshu rapidly and appointed him as the head of Chengxuanyuan and the Ministry of Internal Affairs on the same day.

Gong Chengshu, "It was Gong who destroyed the Liu family."

In addition to being close to eunuchs, Liu Hongxi also made use of palace maids, such as Lu Qiongxian, Huang Qiongzhi, etc. Liu Hongxi appointed them as "female attendants" to participate in the decision-making of national military and political affairs.

[Literature and style blossom]

The young and energetic Liu Hongxi was also very obsessed with fighting competitions. He often boasted to people around him that he had a lightning five-whip and was a martial arts master. Talking without practice is fake, and Liu Hongxi often showed people his superb martial arts.

For example, whenever Liu Hongxi was in high spirits at a banquet, he would order people to bring out wild animals so that they could perform a "Wu Song Fighting the Tiger" show. The staff brought a large cage with the wild animal inside, and on both sides of the cage were fully armed guards, each holding a spear or halberd. Liu Hongxi held a bow and arrow and signaled the staff to open the cage door.

The cage door opened, and everyone held their breath. As soon as the beast came, Liu Hongxi drew his bow and shot an arrow. At the same time, the guards on both sides immediately rushed forward with long spears and halberds to stab the beast into a meat paste. Then, Liu Hongxi laughed and accepted the congratulations from the ministers, "High-end operation! National archer! 666!" If the beast knew, it could only sigh that young people have no martial ethics.

Once, when he was drunk, Liu Hongxi suddenly wanted to change the way of playing and show everyone his exquisite swordsmanship. He picked up a melon and put it on the shoulder of his favorite actor, Shang Yulou, and asked Shang Yulou to press his face and fix the melon next to his neck. According to Liu Hongxi, he would swing his sword to chop the melon, and then the melon would be cut in half, while Shang Yulou would remain unscathed. This is called "receive, transform, and release".

Liu Hongxi struck with his sword, and melons and human heads flew off, and blood covered the courtyard. The crowd was trembling with fear, while Liu Hongxi was drunk and sleeping soundly. The next day, Liu Hongxi woke up from his hangover and habitually called Shang Yulou to serve him. He called several times but no one answered. He was about to get angry, and the attendants on his left and right told him the truth of last night. Liu Hongxi, who was drunk, just sighed twice, without any regrets.

(End of this chapter)