History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 988 Qian Hongchu

【Qian Hongchu】

Qian Hongchu was the ninth son of Qian Yuanguan. Between him and Qian Hongzong, there was another eighth son, Qian Hongzhao. If the order of seniority was followed, the one who inherited the throne should be Comrade Qian Hongzhao. Why did they bypass the eighth son and establish the ninth son?
There are two main reasons.

One reason was that Qian Hongwei was too powerful and difficult to control. In 946, Qian Hongwei was sent to Huzhou as governor. As soon as he arrived in Huzhou, a "superior" (a sorcerer) swaggered to the government office, climbed a tree in the courtyard, claimed to be possessed by a god, and then issued orders in the tone of a god, which frightened and awed everyone.

Qian Hongyi walked slowly under the tree and told the guards, "Take the crossbow, load it, aim..."

The "goddess" immediately cried for mercy. Qian Hongyi ordered him to be beaten with 18 sticks and then expelled from Huzhou. He used scientific methods to fight superstition and successfully suppressed the local people (the whole state was convinced). This year, Qian Hongyi was years old.

According to records, Qian Hongluo was proficient in administrative skills and had a deep understanding of poetry. He was a rare talent in governing the country.

Dong Zhuo at the end of the Han Dynasty, Tian Lingzi and Zhu Wen at the end of the Tang Dynasty, all powerful ministers and eunuchs who could depose and enthrone emperors at will, would certainly not support smart and capable princes. Young, ignorant, stupid, weak, cowardly and foolish people are the best candidates to be puppets.

The second is that Qian Hongzhai was originally the "crown prince".

According to the order of seniority, Qian Hongzong was followed by Qian Hongzhao, and Qian Hongchu was followed by Qian Hongzhao. This is the second basic principle of arbitrary dethronement and enthronement: enthroning a new monarch who was originally unqualified.

In this way, on the one hand, it can show the "favor of supporting" the new monarch, and on the other hand, it can demonstrate the power of the powerful minister and intimidate all officials.

To sum up, Hu Jinsi bypassed the eighth son Qian Hongzhan and established the ninth son Qian Hongchu.

Of course, the official report of the Wuyue Kingdom could not be of this caliber. Its version of "Approaching Science" is as follows:
In March 947, Qian Hongchu was stationed in Taizhou. A monk named De Shao in Taizhou was good at fortune-telling and told him, "This is not your destination. You should return to Hangzhou as soon as possible, otherwise you will be in big trouble." So Qian Hongchu wrote a letter to Qian Hongzong, asking for an audience. In September of the same year, after being approved, Qian Hongchu set out from Taizhou and arrived in Hangzhou in October. On the day of his arrival in Hangzhou, the sky suddenly changed, a strong wind blew, and in the southeast direction there were clouds like towers, "those who knew it were surprised." In December, Hu Jinsi launched a coup, placed Qian Hongzong under house arrest, and welcomed Qian Hongchu.

It is said that Qian Hongchu was "modest and modest three times", but the generals knelt down to congratulate him on the grounds of his virtue and prestige, and forced him to take up the job, so Qian Hongchu was forced to come out of retirement...

There is also a small detail here. Qian Hongchu was exiled to Taizhou in March. In June, Qian Hongzuo, who was only 3 years old, died suddenly. During this period, the monk De Shao said those words to Qian Hongchu. Why did he persuade Qian Hongchu to go to Beijing? Why did he say that staying in Taizhou would bring disaster?

Is Qian Hongchu really innocent and pure? As innocent as Guo Wei and Zhao Kuangyin? If not, there is only one explanation: the brothers were pawns of Hu Jinsi and other powerful officials from the very beginning.

Dai Yun, Zhang De'an, Kan Fan, Li Wenqing, Du Zhaoda, Cheng Zhaoyue, Hu Jinsi... they were the bigwigs who controlled the political arena of Wuyue State, while Qian Yuanguan and his sons were just pitiful puppets who could not even protect their own lives. They were like a dark cloud hanging over Wuyue State, visible but unbreakable and unavoidable.

Under the dark clouds, will Qian Hongchu repeat the mistakes of his two brothers?
There is no doubt that after Hu Jinsi arbitrarily deposed and enthroned, he immediately became the "Five-star Retired Emperor" of Wuyue. The weak puppet Qian Hongchu was unable to check and balance Hu Jinsi, so he could only "bow to him" and worship Hu Jinsi as his father-in-law to "assist in the political affairs of Wuyue."

However, Qian Hongchu's ability and luck exceeded everyone's expectations. It took him only three months to eliminate Hu Jinsi.

As mentioned above, Hu Jinsi can be said to be one of the earliest revolutionary veterans who followed Qian Liu. As of today, he has been a veteran of five dynasties. He has stood firm in all political struggles, and has become bigger and stronger, and he is arbitrarily deposing and enthroning, and he has an all-powerful hand. It is obviously not the best strategy to confront such a political opponent head-on. Qian Hongchu's approach is very traditional and effective, that is, to keep a low profile, forbear, divide and disintegrate, and first clip Hu Jinsi's wings. Hu Jinsi has two close confidants and minions - Zhu Wen and Yan Tao, and a close comrade-in-arms who is not so close - He Chengxun.

Zhu Wen, the commander of the Nei Ya, was ordered by Qian Hongzuo to arrest Cheng Zhaoyue. Hu Jinsi, the commander of the Nei Ya, was his immediate superior.
Many sources mistakenly write him as "Xie Tao". His surname is rare. "Yi" sounds the same as "dou". He was also the commander of the inner court and a loyal subordinate of Hu Jinsi.

These two were Hu Jinsi's direct followers and loyal lackeys. Normally, it was very dangerous to rashly attack the other party's direct followers. He Chengxun was Qian Hongchu's godsend breakthrough.

The relationship between He Chengxun and Hu Jinsi was quite delicate. Initially, they were mortal political enemies. It was only because Qian Hongzong hesitated at a critical moment that He Chengxun temporarily turned against him in order to protect himself. Therefore, there could be no trust between He Chengxun and Hu Jinsi.

According to official reports, He Chengxun had tasted the sweetness of betraying others, so he planned to betray Hu Jinsi and replace him, so he secretly reported Hu Jinsi's various rebellious deeds to Qian Hongchu and requested that Hu Jinsi be executed. However, Qian Hongchu hated his inconsistency and "punished him for his inconsistency and ordered him to be executed immediately."

Things may not be that simple, or Qian Hongchu is not that simple. Is there such a possibility: He Chengxun did not dare to betray Hu Jinsi at all, but Qian Hongchu "falsely accused" him and used Hu Jinsi to get rid of He Chengxun, using the big devil to eliminate the small devil, and ultimately weakening the power of Hu Jinsi's group.

Hu Jinsi was also not idle, he devoted himself to one thing - killing Qian Hongzong. It is a bit incredible to say that under normal circumstances, the person who wanted to kill Qian Hongzong the most should be the new emperor Qian Hongchu, but the historical records clearly record that Hu Jinsi tried every means to kill Qian Hongzong, while Qian Hongchu tried every means to protect Qian Hongzong's personal safety.

What a loving and respectful brotherly drama, so Song Dynasty style!

Let’s first talk about the “three harms that Hu Jinsi did to his former master” recorded in official history books.

After Qian Hongchu succeeded to the throne, he immediately sent his confidant, Dutou Xue Wen, to lead his personal soldiers to protect Qian Hongzong, and repeatedly warned him, "You must carefully protect my brother. If anything unusual happens, you must resist it to the death."

Hu Jinsi first spread rumors in front of Qian Hongchu, saying that Qian Hongzong was a licentious and incompetent ruler who had led the country and the people astray and committed heinous crimes, and asked Qian Hongchu to obey the will of heaven and execute the imprisoned Qian Hongzong. Qian Hongchu flatly refused.

After failing to harm his old master, Hu Jinsi came up with another plan. He adopted the old routine of "forging an imperial edict" and forged Qian Hongchu's order to let Xue Wen kill Qian Hongzong. Xue Wen finally encountered an "unusual incident". He smiled coldly, threw the red-headed document with his signature and seal aside, and said: "This is different from the order I received at the beginning. I will not obey your order!"

After failing to harm his old master, Hu Jinsi tore off his disguise and became more and more unscrupulous. He sent two assassins to climb over the wall at night to assassinate Qian Hongzong. Qian Hongzong closed the bedroom door and window in time, and then shouted for help. Xue Wen immediately led people to rescue and successfully shot the two assassins to death.

When the news of the failed assassination attempt came, Hu Jinsi was extremely worried. Less than two days later, he died of a carbuncle on his back. Hu Jinsi, who was extremely powerful in the court, was frightened to death.

Before asking why Hu Jinsi was frightened to death, let's ask another question: Why didn't Xue Wen capture them alive? The two assassins were shot dead on the spot, shouldn't they have captured them alive and interrogated the mastermind behind the scenes?
Will Hu Jinsi be scared to death? Compared with Qian Hongzuo, who died suddenly at the age of 20, and Qian Hongzong, who had a stroke at the age of 18, Hu Jinsi, who is only 90 years old, is still quite young, in good health, and enjoys eating.

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

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(End of this chapter)