History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 933 Bell Ringing Movement
【Bell Ringing Movement】

Li Jing had eleven sons. The eldest son, Li Hongji, died suddenly in July 959.
The second son, Li Hongmao, had a handsome appearance and amazing bones. He was good at poetry, disliked military affairs, had a calm personality, and was mature beyond his years. He was in sharp contrast to his high-profile and ostentatious elder brother Li Hongji. He had the demeanor of a benevolent monarch, and it was said that many ministers hoped that he would succeed to the throne in the future.

Li Jing also liked Li Hongmao very much. Once, Li Jing asked a famous monk, Monk Mu Ping, to calculate his life span. Monk Mu Ping counted with his fingers and wrote down the three characters "九壹". Li Jing was very happy and thought that this boy could live to 91 years old. As a result, a few years later, Li Hongmao died of illness at the age of 19. Everyone realized that the old monk was not lying and should read "壹９".

The third, fourth, and fifth children all died young, and their names were not even recorded in historical records.

The sixth son was Li Congjia, also known as Li Yu.

After the death of the eldest son Li Hongji, according to the tradition of primogeniture, the sixth son Li Yu should inherit the throne. But there was a small episode in the process.

Li Yu had a brother from the same mother named Li Congshan, who was the seventh child. He became the biggest uncertainty in Li Yu's path to the throne. We are familiar with Li Yu, who was good at literature, proficient in poetry and songs, and a famous literary youth, but he knew nothing about military affairs and was a novice in military affairs; while his brother Li Congshan "particularly liked military strategies", and the two brothers were a bit like Cao Zhi and Cao Pi.

After the "Three Expeditions to Huainan", Li Jing sent Li Congshan to lead a delegation to visit the Later Zhou Dynasty, just in time for the "Chenqiao Mutiny", and witnessed the establishment of the Song Dynasty. His eldest uncle and his second uncle were both his uncles, and the father of the Later Zhou Dynasty and the father of the Song Dynasty were both the fathers of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Li Congshan was very respectful and polite to Zhao Kuangyin. On behalf of the Southern Tang Dynasty, he recognized the status of the Song Dynasty as the suzerain state, and recognized that the Song Dynasty inherited all the alliances signed between the Later Zhou Dynasty and the Southern Tang Dynasty. Zhao Kuangyin treated Li Congshan's delegation with great courtesy and specially sent Hanlin scholar Wang Zhu to send him back home.

Li Congshan was accompanied by another important figure, Zhong Mo. Although the "Four Evils and Five Demons" were destroyed, Zhong Mo single-handedly opened the "Post-Four Evils and Five Demons Era", continuing the dark political struggle of the Southern Tang Dynasty.

At the beginning of the "Three Expeditions to Huainan", Zhong Mo and Li Deming were ordered by Li Jing to go to negotiate. After witnessing the overwhelming offensive of the Later Zhou Dynasty, the two took the initiative and agreed to cede the entire territory north of the Yangtze River in exchange for a ceasefire. Therefore, Chai Rong detained Zhong Mo and released Li Deming to return to Shengzhou to pass on the message.

Li Jing was very angry about the two men's arbitrary behavior in diplomatic negotiations. The "Four Evils and Five Ghosts" group took the opportunity to fan the flames and guide public opinion, labeling Li Deming a traitor and beheading him in public.

However, the final result of the war was to cede the entire territory of Jiangbei, which was exactly the same as what Zhong Mo and Li Deming had proposed. During this period, Zhong Mo was detained in the Later Zhou Dynasty. Chai Rong treated him well and asked him to serve as a special envoy for negotiations between the two countries, traveling back and forth between Bianzhou and Shengzhou, which eventually led to peace talks. Zhong Mo thus became an ambassador of friendship and a bridge of friendship between the two countries. Li Jing had no choice but to use Zhong Mo and suppress the "four evil men and five evil men" who advocated war, in order to show goodwill to the Later Zhou Dynasty and promote peace talks.

Blood debt must be repaid with blood. The powerful Zhong Mo sounded the clarion call to declare war on the "Four Evils and Five Demons" group. In front of Li Jing, he exposed the evil deeds of Song Qiuqiu, Chen Jue, Li Zhenggu and others, investigated their crimes of disrupting the government, and finally brought down the "Four Evils and Five Demons" group.

As mentioned above, the "Four Evils and Five Demons" group was just a political tool of Li Jing. Their power and downfall were all at the mercy of Li Jing. Similarly, the current "big shot" Zhong Mo was just a tool, a chess piece, but he did not realize it.

Zhong Mo suggested that Comrade Li Deming be vindicated and his reputation restored, and Li Jing did so. Restoring Li Deming's reputation was equivalent to restoring Zhong Mo's reputation.

The following year, Zhong Mo visited Bianzhou again as a special envoy for peace. Before the banquet, Zhong Mo was full of charm and presented a poem to Chai Rong on the spot. One of the lines, "Go back to your old companions," disgusted Li Jing. The historical records say that "Emperor Yuanzong (Li Jing) was disgusted when he heard it." Li Jing's inner monologue was: I don't object to you being a dog, but you have to understand that you are a dog of the Southern Tang, not a dog of the Later Zhou. Don't cry at the wrong grave.

Chai Rong once asked Zhong Mo, "Have you restored the military equipment of Southern Tang?"

Zhong Mo quickly acted like a grandson and said that we are already kneeling down and singing "Conquer" so how dare we mess around with these things?

Chai Rong said magnanimously, go back and tell your master that the city defense armaments still need to be built for the sake of future generations. The Celestial Empire believes in your sincerity and there will be no misunderstanding.

After Zhong Mo returned to China, he of course took credit for himself, saying that it was thanks to his eloquence and coaxing and deception that the Later Zhou Dynasty agreed to let us repair the city and expand the army in preparation for war.

On the surface, Li Jing praised him highly, promoted him and made him the head of the civil service (in charge of the Secretariat), but privately he was disgusted by his fawning face of selling out his master for personal gain.

Zhong Mo felt good about himself, thinking that he was the one who persuaded the Song Dynasty to retreat and saved the precarious Southern Tang. He regarded himself as the savior of Southern Tang and had no idea that Li Jing was scheming against him.

Later, Li Jing let Li Hongji take charge of the military and political power. Zhong Mo thought that the Southern Tang Dynasty was about to change, so he could not wait to insert his wings into the core power circle, such as arranging his confidant Yan Shi as Si Yi Lang. Si Yi Lang, at first glance, is not a big official, just a small sixth-rank official, but the actual power of "Si Yi Lang" is very sensitive - "in charge of admonishing the attendants, refuting and correcting the memorials, etc., and all memorials from the various departments must be submitted to him first, and after he has screened them, they can be handed over to the people in power.

Before Li Hongji could sideline Li Jing, Zhong Mo wanted to sideline Li Hongji first. He was too hasty and too ugly.

After hearing this, Li Jing became even more disgusted with Zhong Mo. If it were someone else, he would have died several times long ago, but Zhong Mo was an internet celebrity diplomat and peace ambassador in the eyes of the Central Plains. To a certain extent, Zhong Mo was the extension of the Central Plains will in Southern Tang. In human terms, he was a lackey that the Central Plains people trusted very much. Dealing with him without authorization would inevitably offend the Central Plains. What if "friendly countries were surprised"?
If you are neither deaf nor blind, you are not qualified to be the head of the family. Li Jing can only choose to continue to endure.

The opportunity soon came, and that was when Chai Rong passed away. After Chai Rong passed away, the one who cried the most in the world was Zhong Mo, just like when an old queen of a certain country died, her grandson smiled very happily, while the former slaves of the colony scrambled for mourning hats, as if they were the heirs of the Union Jack. According to historical records, after Chai Rong passed away, "Mo felt that he had nothing to rely on and felt lost."

Li Jing could fight back, gradually marginalizing Zhong Mo and eroding his real power. Tang Hao, the Imperial Secretary, had a bad personal relationship with Zhong Mo. It was said that Tang Hao had once stood on the side of the "Four Evils and Five Ghosts" and accused Li Deming of being a traitor and an accomplice in the murder of Li Deming. After Zhong Mo gained power, he often made things difficult for Tang Hao. On one occasion, Tang Hao accepted a bribe, which Zhong Mo caught, so he held a struggle meeting and scolded Tang Hao (questioned him face to face), which made Tang Hao terrified.

Things change, and now that Zhong Mo has lost power again, Tang Hao has become the pioneer of the "bell ringing movement".

Tang Hao reported Zhong Mo to Li Jing, accusing him of having ulterior motives and plotting a rebellion, on the grounds that Zhong Mo had a close personal relationship with the imperial guard general Zhang Luan. The two had been in frequent contact recently, and each time they had to send away idlers and have secret talks until late at night. Zhong Mo also violated regulations by borrowing the imperial guards to patrol the capital.

However, Tang Hao's accusation was just a figment of his imagination, without any real evidence, and at best, he was accusing the imperial guards of illegally patrolling, which was not a crime punishable by death. So Li Jing did not get angry, but just wrote it down in his notebook.

Zhong Mo got the news, but he also felt that it was completely groundless and Tang Hao's power was not enough to shake him.

Soon, Li Hongji died suddenly, and Li Jing was faced with the problem of choosing a successor. Zhong Mo felt that he had another chance to turn the tables. Previously, Zhong Mo and Li Congshan had been on a diplomatic mission to the Later Zhou Dynasty together. This business trip made the two of them close friends who could talk about anything, so Zhong Mo recommended Li Congshan to Li Jing as the successor.

The selection of a crown prince has always been a fatal topic that ministers try to avoid, but Zhong Mo chose to walk into the trap.

Zhong Mo said that Li Yu was a frivolous and unambitious child, and it was obvious that he was not as good as Comrade Li Congshan, who was a man of both military and civil skills, and it was obvious that he would be a great emperor throughout the ages. You should quickly depose the eldest son and enthronize the youngest son, and let Comrade Li Congshan be the crown prince.

Li Jing sneered secretly, "The King of Hell wants you to die at three o'clock in the morning, who dares to keep you alive until five o'clock? You have discussed state affairs without permission and premeditated the dethronement and enthronement of the emperor. This is enough to make you drink a pot." Li Jing added another item, bringing up his old past of making friends with Zhang Luan and borrowing the imperial guards without authorization. He first demoted him to the position of Director of the Imperial Academy, then to the position of Assistant Director of the Imperial Academy, and then to Raozhou, and sent him to Raozhou.

Li Jing specially sent ten guards to "drive you out immediately". Get out now, I don't want to see you for even a second!
At that time, Zhong Mo was already seriously ill. He was too old to pack up his belongings and was taken to Raozhou like a prisoner. On the way, Zhong Mo wrote ten poems, each one more sad and miserable than the last. Unfortunately, the original poems have not been found for appreciation.

Just after arriving in Raozhou, before he could settle down, Li Jing demoted him to the deputy envoy of Xuanzhou. Xuanzhou, go.

Zhong Mo dragged his sick body and was tortured half to death.

Having lost all real power and being excluded from the court, Zhong Mo's political career basically came to an end. Given the Later Zhou court's love for him, Zhong Mo could still survive, but unfortunately, only half a year later, Zhao Kuangyin overthrew the Zhou Dynasty and established the Song Dynasty.

The Later Zhou was gone, and it was time for Zhong Mo to go too. Li Jing immediately sent an envoy to sentence Zhong Mo to death. Congratulations, you have graduated from the human world. You kowtowed to the Later Zhou, so I gave you a chance to be buried alive with him.

After receiving the death order, Zhong Mo burst into tears and kowtowed in the direction of Shengzhou. He felt extremely wronged and used up his last bit of strength to cry out to the sky: "I have never failed my country!"

The messenger glanced at him with a fake smile, and said sarcastically in a cold tone: "The Lord has long expected you to say this. Look, here is another oral order--" The messenger took out another imperial edict from his bosom, cleared his throat, and raised his voice to read:
"Ahem, listen carefully - you and Sun Sheng were once sent to Zhou together, but Sheng died and you were the only one who got the official post, and you finally survived. Why is that?"

Even after you die, you will be nailed to the pillar of shame as a traitor and a traitor to your country. Do you still have the nerve to cry out for injustice? This is a murder that breaks one's heart.

Zhong Mo completely collapsed. He kowtowed in despair and murmured weakly, "I admit my guilt..."

Later, Zhong Mo was executed by hanging. In many cases, "granting death" or "granting suicide" is just a formality, which preserves the final dignity of the death row prisoner and allows him to leave with dignity. The messenger who comes with the imperial edict will also play the role of executioner. If he is unwilling to be decent, then help him to be decent.

Zhong Mo was one of the main promoters of the financial reform of the Southern Tang Dynasty. His idea was to mint large coins. This financial reform lasted only half a year before it was stopped. Then Zhong Mo was sentenced to death. Therefore, many people mistakenly believed that Li Jing was holding him responsible for the failure of the reform. In fact, Zhong Mo died in a political struggle, or in other words, he threatened the imperial power. His involvement in the dispute over the succession was the fuse. His suicidal behavior of relying on foreign powers and relying on the power of the Later Zhou Dynasty to force Li Jing to commit suicide was the fundamental reason. Moreover, Han Xizai, another promoter of the financial reform, was safe and sound. Han Xizai's story will be described in detail later.

Zhong Mo loved studying inscriptions. When he was on a diplomatic mission to the Central Plains, he would stop to look at any inscriptions he saw on the roadside. Once, a stone tablet was only visible on the upper part, and the lower part was submerged in water. Zhong Mo took off his clothes, jumped into the pond, touched the underwater part with his hands, and recorded the contents of the inscription by feel. Later, when the pond dried up, people dug out the stone tablet and found that it was exactly the same as Zhong Mo wrote.

Zhong Mo had a daughter. After he was sentenced to death, she vowed to remain single for life and later became a Taoist nun with the Taoist name Shouyi. This girl was proficient in Confucianism and Taoism. During the reign of Emperor Taizong of Song, a Dongzhen Palace was built in Bianzhou and she was summoned to serve as a Taoist priest.

Li Jing eventually followed the system of primogeniture and made Li Yu the crown prince. Not long after, he became angry with Tang Hao for moving the capital, and the pioneer of the "bell-ringing movement" was killed.

(End of this chapter)