The number one seed selected by Zhaozong, Prime Minister Sun Xie, was ordered to command Fengxiang, the commander-in-chief of the expedition, and was waiting to gather the troops of the Qinwang from all over the world to drive away the Qi thieves, regain Chang'an, and make great achievements.
But what is embarrassing is that not a single soldier in the world came to join forces, and Sun Xie became a veritable polished commander. Under Han Jian's secret guidance, Li Maozhen repented, making the central government's campaign to suppress Feng Xiang both powerless and unnecessary.
The political career of No. 1 seed Sun Xie also ended. He was first dismissed from the post of commander-in-chief of the Fengxiang Campaign, and then was dismissed as prime minister.
It is not difficult to understand that Sun Xie's resignation is inseparable from Han Jian.
Under the guidance of the great counselor Li Juchuan, Han Jian's interference in the affairs of the court could be described as subtle and silent, and he quietly ignored the central court.
In addition to defeating No. 1 seed Sun Xie, Han Jian also defeated No. 3 seed Zhu Pu.
In fact, it was not difficult to get rid of Zhu Pu, because this big liar had boasted about Haikou, saying that it would take more than a month to revive the Tang Dynasty. Now more than half a year has passed, but the cake of "peace in the world" he drew for Zhaozong has never been fulfilled.
When he promoted Zhu Pu out of the ordinary, it aroused the dissatisfaction of the ministers. Now that Zhu Pu is unable to fulfill the promise he boasted back then, he is riding a tiger with difficulty, and public opinion and public opinion are very unfavorable to him.
Even so, Han Jian was relatively cautious in doing things. He first chose a soft persimmon, the Taoist priest Xu Yanshi. Xu Laodao was one of Zhu Pu's recommenders. Han Jian chose him as a breakthrough point, first falsely accused him of a crime, and after having him executed, he then impeached Zhu Pu on the grounds of his friendship with him. This pushed Zhu Pu to the forefront of public opinion, so Zhaozong dismissed Zhu Pu from his position.
It is not difficult to get rid of Sun Xie, Zhu Pu and other "crash course" direct descendants of Zhaozong, because they are originally unable to support the wall and generally do not have the ability to make trouble. As for other hills and factions, it is not so easy, such as Prime Minister Cui Yin.
Cui Yin hugged the thigh of former prime minister Cui Zhaowei, while Cui Zhaowei had Wang Xingyu's mountain at his back. Although they both belong to the Kansai interest group, Wang Xingyu and Cui Zhaowei have both died, and Cui Yin has lost his backer. More importantly, Han Jian does not want to share power with Cui Yin, so he also regards him as a dissident and is included in the target of attack.
Under Han Jian's operation, Cui Yin was expelled from the central government and sent to Tanzhou (today's Gaoguansha City, Hunan). Cui Yin knew that the transfer of central personnel was the result of the competition between powerful vassals. If he wanted to gain a foothold in the court, he had to rely on local powerful vassals, so Cui Yin set his sights on Zhu Wen, the most powerful vassal in the Central Plains. .
Cui Yin secretly contacted Zhu Wen and instructed him to build the eastern capital of Luoyang, implying that he was holding the emperor hostage to order the princes.
Zhu Wen immediately understood Cui Yin's intention, and hurriedly joined forces with Luoyang administrator Zhang Quanyi of Henan Yin to request the emperor to move the capital to Luoyang. At the same time, he claimed that he would send 20,000 troops to escort him, and said a few good words to Cui Yin.
The lesser of two evils. Han Jian was worried that Zhu Wen would really come to steal the emperor from him, so he instead supported Cui Yin to stay in the central government as prime minister.
After Cui Yin paid homage to the prime minister again, he immediately falsely accused Lu Min of being an accomplice of Li Maozhen and demoted him from the court. Cui Yin's act of revenge made Han Jian elated. The second seed, Lu Jian, didn't have to worry about it himself.
Even the prime minister can be eliminated, not to mention other officials. Han Jian's purge of the civil service group was basically completed, which also declared that Zhaozong's civil service line failed again.
Next, Han Jian wanted to cut off Zhaozong's other arm: Prince Dianbing.
【Sixteenth House Massacre】
On the eighth day of the first lunar month in the fourth year of Qianning in the Tang Dynasty (897), Zhaozong received an urgent memorial stating that there was evidence that eight princes, including King Mu and King Ji, conspired to kill Han Jian and kidnap the emperor to the river.
Performer: Han Jian.
Zhaozong was shocked and hurriedly summoned Han Jian to clear up the misunderstanding. Han Jian excused himself from illness.
Zhaozong asked the eight princes to come to Han Jian in person to explain.
Han Jian still avoided seeing me, and even told me that eight princes had suddenly arrived with unknown motives, and I did not dare to meet them.
Finally, Han Jian put forward his own conditions: prohibiting the prince from deploying troops and placing the prince under house arrest.
His reason was that princes should take the initiative to avoid suspicion, and should not control military power, let alone participate in government affairs. They should follow the ancestral system and let the princes live in the Sixteenth House. The Sixteenth House is the royal compound where the prince is under house arrest.
The prince is Zhaozong's pathfinder, an important part of his process of leveraging his own strength and detours to seize military power, and he cannot give up easily. I can only practice Tai Chi with Han Jianxu and Weishe, and make soup and meatballs.
Without saying a word, Han Jian led his elite troops to surround the emperor's palace and threatened him with force. With the support of the army, Han Jian pushed further and put forward more stringent conditions: the newly established Ansheng, Baoning, Xuanhua and other forbidden military camps must be abolished!
Under the threat of force, Zhaozong had to agree, so Ansheng, Baoning, Xuanhua and other new armies were disbanded on the spot, and the princes were put under house arrest in the Sixteenth House.
At this point, not a single imperial guard army was left, led by Zhaozong himself, and all of them were reduced to nothing.
Han Jian spoke earnestly and taught Zhaozong, saying that everything he did was for his own good, and for the sake of the royal family, he must not drink poison to quench his thirst, and he must not be blinded by the separatist rule of the feudal town in front of him and ignore the potential harm of the prince.
There was the "Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms" in the Han Dynasty, the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings" in the Jin Dynasty, the "Rebellion of the Yongwang" before this dynasty, the "Rebellion of Li You" recently, and the rebellion of the foreign country Tubo... without exception, they all supported the royal family. Zongzhi is used to maintain the people's hearts in all directions. The vassal town can only be divided into one party, but the prince can destroy the entire country!
Therefore, Han Jian proposed that in order not to leave opportunities for foreigners and people with ulterior motives, the princes who had previously been sent to other places should also be recruited back and put under house arrest in the Sixteenth House together.
As a result, the spark of hope spread by Zhaozong to the local area was also extinguished.
Later, Han Jian proposed to kill Li Jun, the leader of Pengri Capital. When "Three Towns were in trouble", Li Jun performed meritorious service in protecting the troops and ranked first in meritorious services. Han Jian wants to kill him, what's the reason?
No reason.
Was there any reason to kill Prime Minister Du Ranneng? Was there any reason to kill Prime Minister Wei Zhaodu?
Now it's me, Han Jian, who is holding the emperor hostage, and it's time for me to have a good time. I don't like Li Jun. Is this a good reason?
So Li Jun was beheaded.
In fact, there is a reason. It is precisely because Li Jun ranks first in merit that he must be killed to establish his authority and send a signal to everyone: Even he can be killed, is there anything that I, Han Jian, cannot kill? But this reason is too dirty, so I'd better give it as "it doesn't look pleasing to the eye." Although he is an asshole, he is still domineering.
This was not the end of the story. Han Jian asked the witch doctors and alchemists to deceive Shengting, and requested an order to prohibit such people from entering the palace again.
Zhaozong agreed one by one.
Finally, Han Jian asked Li You, the king of virtue, to be crown prince.
"Qin Wang Lu" recorded this period of history, saying that Han Jian asked for the establishment of a crown prince to consolidate the foundation of the country; the prince was also placed under house arrest in the Sixteenth House to avoid power disputes within the royal family; crooked deceivers were prohibited from approaching the emperor to avoid Those who have understood the "Five Benefits of Wen Cheng" can no longer confuse the Sacred Heart. From then on, the emperor's ears and eyes are clear, his mind is suddenly enlightened, people from far and near are praised by everyone at home and abroad, and the people live and work in peace and contentment...
Wencheng Wuli refers to two famous Internet celebrities who cheated during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. See Lu Yongzhi. It's just that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty did not become a complete fool and saw through the tricks of the two men.
"Qin Wang Lu" can be called a powerful decontamination powder. It can actually turn Han Jian into a loyal and upright hero, confusing right and wrong, and extremely shameless!
And when we take a look at the author's signature - Li Juchuan.
Under the guidance of Li Juchuan, Han Jian took the emperor to order the princes, and gradually turned Zhaozong into his puppet, but he still had one final concern - Hedong Li Keyong. It has been a full year since King Yan Li Jiepi was ordered to go to Hedong as an envoy and asked Li Keyong for reinforcements from Hedong.
Han Jian was waiting, and Zhaozong was also waiting, waiting for King Yan Li Jiepi to bring back Li Keyong's attitude.
King Yan Li Jiepi finally returned, and he brought a message: Li Keyong had no time to look west.
The big stone in Han Jian's heart finally fell to the ground. He immediately went to the throne and reiterated the serious hidden dangers of the prince's troops. He continued to falsely accuse Yan Wang Li Jipi and Tan Wang Li Sizhou of evil intentions, implying that the emperor must kill the prince.
Zhaozong could only hide and not respond directly.
When Han Jiantu saw the situation, he and the eunuch Liu Jishu forged an edict, mobilized heavy troops, and surrounded the sixteen houses.
It was late at night, and the princes woke up when they heard the sound. They had no time to wash up or even change their clothes. They all had their hair disheveled and fled separately. Some climbed to the trees, some climbed to the walls, and some stood on the roof. They faced Zhaozong's palace. direction, wailing loudly: "Your Majesty, save your child!"
The only answer to them was the howling cold wind and ruthless killing.
Han Jian arrested eleven princes, including King Yan Li Jiepi, King Qin Li Sizhou, King Mu, and King Ji, and took them to Shidi Valley (today's west of Huaxian County, Shaanxi Province) and executed them all. Later, they were reported to have rebelled and were executed.
The situation of princes dedicating troops could no longer occur, and Zhaozong's path to win armed forces was completely blocked.
After massacring the sixteen houses, Han Jian planned to do nothing but abolish or kill Zhaozong and support the crown prince to inherit the throne.
Han Jian's father, Han Shufeng, tried hard to persuade him, saying that you are just a farmer in Henan who was deeply supported by the emperor in troubled times. Now you only have a small area of two states, only a hundred miles in radius, but you want to do this. An earth-shattering event? This will bring disaster to our family! Son, I don’t dare to see that day coming, otherwise you should kill me first.
Han Jian finally woke up a little and gave up his intention of abolishing Li.
With the internal and external collusion between Cui Yin and Zhu Wen, Zhu Wen had vigorously built the eastern capital of Luoyang and planned to come to Huazhou to snatch the emperor. This made Han Jian feel extremely frightened, so he first joined forces with Li Maozhen to rebuild the city of Chang'an, and then showed his goodwill to Li Keyong and expressed his willingness to send Zhaozong back to Chang'an to eliminate all previous misunderstandings.
Li Keyong did not want to see Zhaozong held hostage by the Guanxi Group, and he did not want to see Zhaozong fall into the hands of Zhu Wen. Therefore, he readily agreed to Han Jian and Li Maozhen's request, cleared up the past suspicions, and sent an engineering team to Chang'an City to assist with renovations.
In August of the fifth year of Qianning (898), Zhaozong finally left Huazhou and returned to the faraway city of Chang'an. In the same month, Zhaozong issued an edict to grant amnesty to the whole country and changed the fifth year of Qianning to the first year of Guanghua.
Sending Zhaozong back to Luan with gifts can not only stabilize the vested interests, but also prevent the survivors from talking and giving others leverage. I personally guess that this clever move was also made by Li Juchuan.
Great wisdom knows how to stop.
