【River Heritage Competition Case】
Zhu Wen suffered a setback on the Yanyun battlefield and faced dangers from all sides. At the critical moment, Zhu Wen's character exploded and he had good luck one after another.
Dong Chang, the governor of the Yuezhou Yisheng Army, proclaimed himself emperor, which hindered Yang Xingmi in Huainan and relieved Zhu Wen of the southern threat.
At the same time, the ground in Hezhong also ushered in a major political turmoil. Zhu Wen, who had rich experience in "being on the periphery", immediately seized the opportunity to fan the flames, muddy the water, and successfully brought together the Guanxi Group, Hedong Li Keyong and the central court. The couple instigated an external war, thereby preventing the formation of the "Pig-Killing Alliance".
Let’s start from the month before Dong Chang proclaimed himself emperor.
Wang Chongying, the governor of the National Guard Army in Hezhong, died of illness.
The last Hezhong Jiedu envoy was Zhu Wen's "uncle", Wang Chongrong. Wang Chongrong was upright and strict, but later developed into cruelty. One of his subordinates, Chang Xingru, was often beaten, scolded and punished by him. Finally, he could not bear the humiliation. In June of the third year of Guangqi (887), he launched a mutiny and killed Wang Chongrong.
With the support of Li Keyong from Hedong, the imperial court transferred Wang Chongying, the envoy of the Baoyi Army, to be the envoy of Hezhong Jiedushi, and promoted Wang Chongying's son, Wang Gong, to temporarily stay in the rear on behalf of the Baoyi Army.
Wang Chongying went to Zhenhe Zhong, but Chang Xingru did not dare to quarrel with him. Instead of claiming to be Jiedu or staying behind, he complained to Wang Chongying about his grievances and expressed his support for Wang Chongying to sit in Hezhong. Wang Chongying had only one request, and that was to use his head to pay tribute to his younger brother Wang Chongrong.
So, brother succeeded his brother, and Wang Chongying led the army to protect the country in the river. From the third year of Guangqi (887) to the second year of Qianning (895), Wang Chongying died of illness in office.
After Wang Chongying's death, the three armies recommended Wang Ke, the son of the old chief Wang Chongrong, to serve as his agent.
This is where the crisis brews.
Wang Chongrong had no children, and Wang Ke was actually the son of his brother Wang Chongjian, who was adopted by Wang Chongrong.
However, Wang Ke's two cousins - Wang Gong and Wang Yao (both sons of Wang Chongying) were unwilling. You, Wang Ke, did not inherit the class of Wang Chongrong. You inherited the class of my father Wang Chongying. My father has been in Hezhong for eight years. When he passed away, it was right for us two brothers to take over.
So the two brothers went to court and said that Wang Ke was not Wang Chongrong's son, nor Wang Chongjian's son. He was a servant of our Wang family, nicknamed "Zhong'er". How could he inherit the inheritance of our Wang family? And wrote to Zhu Wen, seeking Zhu Wen's support (Wang Ke's backer was Hedong Li Keyong). At the same time, the two sent troops to attack Wang Ke.
Wang Ke went to court to protest, reiterated his father's merits, and asked Li Keyong of Hedong for help and support.
The imperial court was at odds with Xini and sent eunuchs to mediate.
Wang Gong and Wang Yao were more skilled, and expressed their acceptance of mediation, and went to the imperial court, saying that otherwise, none of us three would be able to claim the middle of the river. Please ask the imperial court to send another high-ranking official to suppress the national defense army in the middle of the river.
Emperor Zhaozong was overjoyed. He did not expect that the court would be able to reap the benefits of the three bastards' competition for family property, so he happily sent Prime Minister Cui Yin to serve as the military governor of the national defense army.
In this way, it is equivalent to Wang Gong, Wang Yao and Zhaozong working together to divide Wang Ke's cake.
This is not the situation that Zhu Wen wants. Zhu Wen does not want this "inheritance dispute" to go away. He must incite the small ripples into huge winds and huge waves in order to hinder Li Keyong's hands and feet, and then defeat the "Pig Killing Alliance" ".
Speaking of which, Zhu Wen is Wang Chongrong's nephew, and Wang Ke is his cousin, so he should be on Wang Ke's side. However, for political interests, Zhu Wen stood opposite Wang Ke without hesitation.
Zhu Wen gave Wang Gong and Wang Yao advice and asked them to contact Fengxiang Li Maozhen to obtain the support of the Kansai Group and let the Kansai Group put pressure on the court to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the two brothers.
Under Zhu Wen's guidance, Wang Gong and Wang Yao immediately sent generous gifts to Fengxiang Li Maozhen, Jingnan Wang Xingyu, and Zhenguo Han Jian, hoping that they would come forward to uphold justice.
Therefore, the three towns jointly promoted Wang Ke, emphasizing that Wang Ke's path was not correct, and advocated that Wang Gong's son should inherit his father's legacy and serve as the military governor of the national defense army, and let Wang Ke succeed Wang Gong as the military governor of Baoyi, and the cousins would move to each other's towns. Obviously, Wang Ke could not come to Baoyi Army to take up his post.
Facing the disaster of annihilation, Wang Ke could only turn to Hedong Li Keyong for help. Only Li Keyong in the world could help him.
The heroes saw the same thing. Li Keyong knew that in order to protect Hedong from encirclement and suppression, he must launch an external war and must hinder the formation of the Kansai, Guanzhong, and Bianzhou alliances. So he took the initiative to defend Wang Ke.
Zhaozong most hoped that Hezhong would return to the embrace of the imperial court, and that the prime minister would receive the governorship, instead of giving it to Wang Ke or Wang Gong. So he replied that Prime Minister Cui Yin had been ordered to go to Zhenhe Zhong. Let this matter end here. The Wang brothers should stop fighting.
The Kansai Group's request was rejected by the court, which made the three commanders feel very humiliated.
There is more than one thing that the central government has "offended" the Kansai Group:
The Central Forbidden Army has eight military bases in the Gyeonggi region, one of which is near Huazhou and the other near Pizhou. Han Jian of the national army in Huazhou Town and Wang Xingyu of the Jingnan army in Pizhou wanted to get the moon near the water tower first and take it as their own, so they reported to the imperial court and asked for allocation.
The eunuch in charge of the forbidden army strongly objected, saying that this was the emperor's forbidden army, how could it be taken away by local vassals! So the court flatly rejected Han Jian and Wang Xingyu's requests.
This is the second thing that makes the Kansai Group unhappy.
When the Kansai Group took control of the imperial court through the "Destroy Yang Movement", Jingnan Wang Xingyu proposed to the imperial court to become a minister, but was rejected. Because Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, ascended to the throne through Shangshu Ling, he was no longer granted the post of Shangshu Ling from that time on. Only later Guo Ziyi, who had made great contributions, was awarded the Shangshu Ling for the first time, and Guo Ziyi never refused. Dare to accept it.
Wang Xingyu was very unhappy when he failed to seek the title of Minister. This was the third thing.
In addition, there is another thing that makes the Kansai Group quite unhappy, and that is Zhaozong's final resistance.
【Final struggle】
Zhaozong's struggle never stopped. Especially after suffering oppression from the Kansai Group, it became even more urgent to find a breakthrough.
The methods are still the same two: cultivate a civil servant group loyal to the emperor; have an armed force loyal to the emperor.
After resentfully dismissing Prime Minister Du Rangneng, Zhaozong promoted Wei Zhaodu to be Prime Minister.
Wei Zhaodu also met Zhaozong's personnel recruitment standards.
The first is loyalty.
When Huang Chao invaded Chang'an, Wei Zhaodu came to Shu from Xizong; when Xizong was attacked by Li Changfu in Fengxiang, Wei Zhaodu sent his wife, children and children to the Forbidden Army as hostages in exchange for the Forbidden Army's trust to attack Li Changfu's rebels. Wei Zhaodu's loyalty to the royal family is unquestionable. He is a comrade who has experienced trials and is trustworthy.
Secondly, Wei Zhaodu had experience in leading troops.
As the commander-in-chief of the campaign, he went to Shu to fight, and together with Wang Jian attacked Chen Jingxuan in Xichuan. Later, he was forced back to the court by Wang Jian's treacherous tactics. Wang Jian was able to separate Xichuan.
Third, Wei Zhaodu was also dismissed from his post and investigated for his inability to conquer Shu. He was sent to Luoyang, the eastern capital, and deprived of all his real rights. In fact, his political career was sentenced to death.
This is the key to Zhaozong's promotion of him. Let Wei Zhaodu stand up and be transferred from the nursing home to the State Council. Wei Zhaodu will be grateful to Emperor Zhaozong and will work even harder to repay Emperor Zhaozong for his kindness in restarting.
In addition to Wei Zhaodu, Zhaozong also promoted another person, Cui Yin.
Cui Yin's father is Cui Shenyou (prime minister of Xuanzong Dynasty), and his uncle is Cui Anqian (no need to introduce him). The Cui family was famous in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, and several generations of people were high-ranking officials in the court.
However, this Cui Yin is not of the same species as his ancestors. Historical records record that Cui Yin is "good at scheming, skillful at attaching beauty, showing dignity on the outside but dangerous at heart", "likes scheming, and is attached to power, but on the outside he is self-conscious." It may be simple and heavy, but it may be dangerous and treacherous.” In short, Cui Yin is a sanctimonious hypocrite, snobbish, good at clinging to dragons and phoenixes, forming cliques for personal gain, and has a sinister and vicious heart.
His uncle Cui Anqian knew him very well and once said to people around him, "Sooner or later, the family that my father and brother have worked so hard to build will be destroyed in Cui Yin's hands!"
During the "Operation against Yang", Prime Minister Cui Zhaowei secretly communicated with the Kansai Group, colluded with internal and external forces, and forced Prime Minister Du Ranneng to death. Cui Yin decisively hugged Cui Zhaowei's thigh and wagged his tail in flattery.
Therefore, Cui Zhaowei repeatedly recommended Cui Yin.
In promoting Cui Yin, Zhaozong was probably under pressure from the Kansai Group, because Cui Zhaowei was the agent of the Kansai Group in the court. When Cui Yin was asked to be prime minister, Zhaozong was more or less reluctant.
Later, Zhaozong promoted Zheng Wei to the position of prime minister.
