History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 922: Going to the next level (Part )

In order to further help Liu Xiong stay away from government affairs, the eunuch Chen Yanshou also recommended a living immortal to him - the witch Fan Huzi. Fan Huzi claimed that she could ask the Jade Emperor to possess her body and give guidance to His Majesty the Emperor.

Liu Xiong then set up a tent in the inner hall, displayed various treasures around it, and asked Fan Huzi to sit in the middle to invite the gods. Fan Huzi wore a Yuanyou crown and a purple skirt, sat in the tent, and after chanting a spell, the Jade Emperor possessed her. Then he solemnly called Liu Xiong "Prince Emperor", saying that Liu Xiong was actually the son of the Jade Emperor who came to the world to save all living beings. Liu Xiong was very happy, so he gave the decision-making power of state affairs to Fan Huzi, and asked her to invite the Jade Emperor to come and guide the government work.

Eunuch Gong Chengshu, female attendant Lu Qiongxian and others rushed to attach themselves to Fan Huzi, and soon formed a close political alliance and colluded with each other. This scene is very similar to the group of Lu Yongzhi and others who deceived Gao Pian.

One day, Fan Huzi asked the Jade Emperor to possess him again, and then told Liu Xiong that the eunuchs Gong Chengshu, Chen Yanshou, and the female attendant Lu Qiongxian were all ministers in the heaven, such as the Marshal of the Heavenly Peng and the General of the Curtain. They were your old ministers in the Eastern Palace in the heaven, and now they are accompanying you to the earth. You must trust them and use them, don't believe the slander of those demons and ghosts, and don't doubt or punish them...

Who are the demons? Obviously, they are the honest civil servants who slandered the eunuchs and the female attendants.

Where there are people, there is politics, where there are politics, there are factions, and where there are factions, there are struggles. In the eunuch circle, there is no lack of intrigue and struggle for power, such as the three who slandered and killed Zhong Yunzhang: Xu Yanzhen, Gong Chengshu, and Li Tuo.

The eunuch Gong Chengshu was the designated successor of Lin Yanyu, the godfather of the Southern Han eunuch circle. Needless to say, his status in the circle is naturally high. Let's first look at the eunuch Li Tuo, who was also trusted because he was Liu Xiong's "father-in-law".

Li Tuo found two stunning beauties, first adopted them as goddaughters, and then presented them to Liu Xiong. Liu Xiong was very happy and accepted the pair of sisters. The elder sister was named Imperial Concubine and the younger sister was named Beauty, and they were quite favored in the harem. Li Tuo was therefore appointed as the Imperial Tutor and the Six Armies Observer. Liu Xiong also directly issued an edict, stipulating that future state affairs must be reported to Li Tuo first and can only be implemented after his approval. As a result, Li Tuo quickly became a first-line eunuch.

Let’s talk about Xu Yanzhen.

Xu Yanzhen is also a rising star. He quickly climbed to the second-tier eunuch position with his high emotional intelligence. He is already a hot figure in the eunuch circle, but he is still inferior to the first-tier eunuchs Gong Chengshu and Li Tuo. Xu Yanzhen can only rely on himself because he can't compete with Gong Chengshu with his father and Li Tuo with his daughter. Xu Yanzhen has a keen sense of smell and can guess the emperor's intention (in fact, it is not Liu Yan's intention, but the intention of the eunuchs in power), so he took the initiative to act as the captain of the political death squad and took the lead in falsely accusing Zhong Yunzhang, a founding hero.

Xu Yanzhen thought that he could become a first-line eunuch by virtue of his merit in falsely accusing Zhong Yunzhang, but he found that Gong Chengshu, who was responsible for assisting him, was still above him. After some thinking, Xu Yanzhen realized a simple truth, that is, one person has one job, and only by eliminating Gong Chengshu can he replace him. Xu Yanzhen planned to use his usual trick - false accusation to achieve his goal. Unfortunately, he was not careful enough and Gong Chengshu took the initiative. Gong Chengshu and Li Tuo falsely accused Xu Yanzhen of treason, and used his own method to treat him, and successfully killed Xu Yanzhen.

3. Destroy the whole family

In March 960, the eunuch Chen Yanshou asked Liu Xuan earnestly, "Do you know why the late emperor was able to pass the throne to your majesty smoothly? It was because he killed more than a dozen of his brothers. Do you understand?"

Liu Xiong nodded, "I understand."

"Do you really understand?"

Liu Xiong thought for a moment, then nodded firmly, "I understand!"

Afterwards, Liu Xiong killed his second brother Liu Xuanxing.

In 963, Liu Xiong created the punishments of burning, boiling, peeling, cutting on a mountain of knives, and cutting on a tree of swords. He also creatively introduced the punishment of using ferocious beasts, such as the tiger punishment and the elephant punishment (fighting a tiger against an elephant).

In 968, Liu Xuan ordered people to cast bronze statues of himself and his princes, which were enshrined in Tianqing Temple. After the statues were cast, Liu Xuan thought they did not look like the emperor, so he killed the craftsmen who cast the statues. Then he recast them, but they still did not look like the emperor, so he killed them again... He repeated this process three times before he was finally satisfied.

Just to make his glorious and great face spread to the world, he brutally slaughtered three bronze statue masters. When I turned to this section of history, I couldn't help but wonder if these bronze statues have been excavated by archaeologists. These are bronze statues dripping with blood. However, I thought again, it's not just these three bronze statues that are dripping with blood! The blood of the working people seeped into every pore of the feudal emperors.

5. Excessive taxes

Through the Wanzhengdian real estate project, we can imagine that the government expenditure during Liu Xiong's period must have been an astronomical figure, so Liu Xiong inevitably extended his evil hand into the pockets of the people.

For example, the city entry tax required anyone entering the city to pay one cent. Another example is the rice tax in Qiongzhou, which required five cents per dou of rice. What does this mean? In peacetime, the price of rice would be around four cents per dou, so the rice tax in Qiongzhou was about 100%.

The "sparrow tax" in the Southern Han Dynasty was also shockingly high. Previously, "one dan is equal to two liters", ten liters equal to one dou, and ten dou equal to one dan, which means that when people pay taxes, they need to pay 2% more, which is still within an acceptable range. During the reign of Liu Xian, the "sparrow tax" was eight dou for one dan, which was as high as 80%!

Liu Xiong not only wanted to make money from the poor, but also from the rich. He "led the wealthy to be taxed households", and everyone was equal before the heavy taxes.

Liu Xiong also set up a "Meichuan City" whose main task was to drive coastal fishermen to collect pearls for him. Today, we have mastered artificial breeding technology and can easily obtain a large number of pearls. Freshwater pearls are even cheaper. At that time, people could only dive naked to the bottom of the sea 500 feet without the assistance and protection of any diving equipment. The mortality rate was quite high. Therefore, pearls were the treasure that could rival gold in that era.

Countless fishermen risked their lives to collect pearls, tortoise shells and other rare marine creatures for Liu Xiong. In addition to using them to decorate the palace and as rewards, Liu Xiong also used these things to make many works of art, among which the most famous one is the "Fish-Engineered Coconut Standing Pot".

Yuying is generally believed to be the brain of a fish, which can be used as a vessel after being processed. It is difficult to verify what this pot looks like and what kind of craftsmanship it uses. The "Qingyi Lu" in the Song Dynasty included it, but it only recorded the name and speculated that "Yuying" was the brain of a fish, and then said that this thing was a rare treasure and a national treasure.

According to historical records, there were only four of these pots, each with a capacity of three dou, and it was also said that "people in Linghai thought it was rare". Based on this, I personally speculate that this "Yu Ying" is likely to come from a whale, otherwise, what kind of fish head can be three dou in size? Looking at its rarity, I estimate that it is almost certain that it is a whale skull. In the era of cold weapons more than a thousand years ago, it is conceivable how difficult it was to hunt a whale.

The eunuch Chen Yanshou catered to Liu Xiong's taste and spent huge sums of money to produce a large number of top-notch works of art. He also set up an exhibition hall next to the imperial palace. Liu Xiong often visited the hall to exchange his experiences in spending money, and he was reluctant to leave every time.

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(End of this chapter)