[Suspicious clouds in Guanzhong]
Cui Yin and Zhu Wen seem to be inseparable, but each has his own agenda. The break between the two is inevitable.
Perhaps in Cui Yin's heart, he has never looked down on Zhu Wen from beginning to end. Regardless of his background or education, Cui Yin completely crushed Zhu Wen, but because Zhu Wen had enough military power in his hands, he had to commit himself. The truth is, a man can bend and stretch.
Through the performance of the two in the breakup, we can see Cui Yin's carelessness and naivety in underestimating the enemy, although this process is very short-lived.
Zhu Wen is indeed a counterattack, but his strategy - or conspiracy and power, is far ahead of Cui Yin by several blocks.
When Zhaozong was detained in Fengxiang, Zhu Wen had already laid out a big game:
The ultimate goal of this grand chess game is to usurp the Tang Dynasty and replace it;
In order to successfully complete the transfer of imperial power, we must first move the capital to within our own sphere of influence. Taking all factors into consideration, the best choice is Luoyang, the eastern capital. Zhu Wen had long ago instructed "healing master" Zhang Quanyi to repair the Luoyang palace, and now the hardware facilities are basically ready;
If you want to move the capital, there must be sufficient reasons to demonstrate the necessity and urgency of moving the capital.
This was Zhu Wen's "three-step" plan to usurp the Tang Dynasty.
The first step is to prove the necessity of moving the capital. The most important part of this is to demonstrate the threat of the Kansai Group.
In fact, the Kansai Group headed by Li Maozhen has become very tolerant and well-behaved after the "Siege of Fengxiang". He was always submissive and willing to compromise. For example, Li Maozhen's official title in the central government was "Shang Shu Ling", while Zhu Wen was "Shou Zhong Shu Ling" ("Shou" means that the official rank is lower than the official position, "Jian" is used for equal grades, and "Jian" is used for higher grades). (using "行"), it can be seen that Li Maozhen's official position is higher than that of Zhu Wen, which frightened Li Maozhen to go to court again and again, insisting on "Shang Shu Ling".
Titles such as "Shang Shu Ling" and "Zhong Shu Ling" are all false titles. They are just honorary titles without real power. Even so, Li Maozhen did not dare to line up in front of Zhu Wen, which shows Li Maozhen's fear and respect for Zhu Wen.
Zhu Wen has done his homework on how to seduce the Kansai Group. These are the two big mines he had planted before.
The first is Fengxiang Li Maozhen, the leader of the Kansai Group.
When Zhu and Wen's troops suppressed the situation and aggressively forced Li Maozhen to sign an alliance under the city, Li Maozhen only put forward two conditions in order to protect himself: reconcile with Cui Yin and ask him not to do anything to him; and make a political marriage and let his son marry Zhaozong's daughter. .
Zhu Wen and Zhaozong all agreed, but when Zhaozong returned to Chang'an, they all overturned it.
Under Zhu Wen's instigation, Cui Yin launched a political purge in the central government, and the first to bear the brunt was the "Fengxiang Gang". The reconciliation between Li Maozhen and Cui Yin was declared invalid;
Zhu Wen took advantage of the juncture of repaying Zhaozong's favor and sent Princess Pingyuan back with a threatening letter. He killed two birds with one stone and Li Maozhen's request for a "political marriage" was thus invalidated.
At this point, the imperial court has essentially withdrawn all sincerity and commitment to Li Maozhen. Li Maozhen has been in panic all day long, full of doubts and fears.
Secondly, there is Pizhou Li Jihui.
When Zhu Wen besieged Fengxiang, he used his spare time to easily surrender Pizhou. Li Jihui, the then Jiedu envoy, surrendered and took his family as hostages.
According to the general routine, Zhu Wen should have sent his family to Bianzhou, and then asked Li Jihui to move to the town. We can refer to the recent situation of Han Jian in Huazhou. After the surrender, he was transferred to Xuzhou to command the Zhongwu Army. However, after Li Jihui surrendered, Zhu Wen still felt confident and bold enough to let Li Maozhen's adopted son continue to stay in Pizhou Jingnan Army.
However, the next wave of operations is difficult for many people to understand:
Li Jihui's wife was as beautiful as a fairy. When she was staying in Hezhong Mansion as a hostage, she was forcibly raped by Zhu Wen. However, this beautiful woman had a strong personality and harbored shame, so he sent someone to take the cuckold thousands of miles away. When she was sent to Pizhou, she told her husband Li Jihui. Instead of crying and complaining, she was sarcastic and sarcastic, saying that you, a big man, still have a heavy army, and you can't even protect your own wife. I am now Zhu Wen. You are a woman, and I have no face to see you again in this life. I can only study the method of suicide (it’s just a knife and a rope).
She didn't cry, but Li Jihui cried (with tears and anger).
Zhu Wen's next operation was the most coquettish: returning Li Jihui's family to Pizhou.
The subsequent result, of course, was that Li Jihui surrendered and rebelled again, fell into the arms of his godfather Li Maozhen again, changed his past, and fought resolutely with Zhu Wen to the end.
There is a slight doubt here, that is, Li Jihui's wife is not included in the family members who were released back to Pizhou. We can make a bold guess: maybe those words did not come from the mouth of Li Jihui's wife at all, but were deliberately caused by Zhu Wen. As for Li Jihui's wife, she might have really committed suicide, or she might have been "suicided." That's why Zhu Wen used her tone to say "I'm looking forward to the knife rope", and then expressed deep regret for her "death" and sent her back. The remaining hostages expressed their apologies.
It is also possible that those words were the original words of Li Jihui's wife. She did not commit suicide and returned to Pizhou.
No matter what the truth is, Zhu Wen's treatment of Li Jihui's surrender is indeed puzzling if viewed in isolation. And if one can gain insight into Zhu Wen's "three-step" plan, one will understand that this was Zhu Wen's deliberate attempt to let the tiger return to the mountain. Laying mines for the Kansai Group.
In addition to Li Jihui, Zhu Wen also planned to cause trouble to the Guanxi Group, for example by pretending that Li Jizhao was the military governor of Qinzhou Tianxiong Army. Li Jizhao, the adopted son of Li Maozhen, also surrendered to Zhu Wen during the "Siege of Fengxiang", while Qinzhou was located to the west of Fengxiang.
Arrange Li Jizhao to the west of Fengxiang. If Li Jizhao defectes to Li Maozhen, then his role will be the same as Li Jihui; if Li Jizhao is loyal to Zhu Wen, he will become the sharp knife behind Li Maozhen. No matter which outcome, it is Zhu Wen's victory.
Li Maozhen sent troops to obstruct it, and Li Jizhao was unable to go to town, so the matter was settled.
After this combination of punches, Li Maozhen and the Kansai Group he controlled were forced to sharpen their swords. In order to survive and dignity, they had to actively expand their military and prepare for war.
Cui Yin is also good at conspiracy, but his level is not at the same level as Zhu Wen. In Chang'an, he faked the power of the tiger, used the "Fengxiang Gang" to sacrifice the flag, launched a counterattack, and finally gained power. He experienced the joy of turning his hands into clouds and rain. He regarded himself as a veteran in politics, but he had no idea that this was Zhu. Wen teases the Kansai Group's needs. It is also a combination of Zhu Wen's "three-step" plan.
Cui Yin's party unity and opposition also greatly stimulated the Kansai Group, which was the result Zhu Wen wanted.
The Kansai Group actively expanded its arms and prepared for war, which naturally threatened Chang'an, so Zhu Wen had reason to move the capital to Luoyang. Zhu Wen’s conspiracy is perfect!
Cui Yin understands that Zhu Wen will not share the final fruits of victory with anyone. His break with Zhu Wen will happen sooner or later, and the process of this game will inevitably be mixed with a bloody storm. If he wins, Win the world, lose the whole family.
After massacring the eunuchs, Cui Yin took over the Central Forbidden Army and had military power in his hands. However, this small amount of troops was not enough to compete with Zhu Wen.
So, facing the threat from the Kansai Group, Cui Yin came up with a plan and reported to Zhu Wen that many of the establishments of the Forbidden Army were only in name only. They had no soldiers and were in name only. Recently, the Kansai Group was engaged in small tricks. , have to be on guard, so I ask you to allow me to recruit new soldiers in the capital to eliminate your concerns in the west.
Zhu Wen followed suit and agreed to Cui Yin's request to recruit troops. He then selected thousands of trustworthy comrades in his army, disguised himself, and rushed to Chang'an to enlist in the army.
According to Cui Yin's report, he planned to recruit 4 infantry battalions for each army of the Forbidden Army, with 250 people per battalion, and a cavalry company of 100 people, with 1,100 people per army, and the six armies totaled 6,600 people.
In order to quickly obtain equipment and form combat effectiveness, Cui Yin did everything possible, cutting down trees outside the city to obtain wood, and destroying Buddhist statues in temples to obtain copper and iron.
Cui Yin thought he could hide from the enemy and expand his military strength quietly, but he didn't know that he had jumped into another trap of Zhu Wen. Among his more than 6,000 newly recruited "direct lineage" troops, there were more than Half of them were spies planted by Zhu Wen.
As the Kansai Group was ready to move, the streets of Chang'an City were filled with various rumors. Some said that Li Maozhen would once again invade the palace and rob the emperor, some said that Wang Jian of Xichuan would also come to "protect the emperor", and some said It is said that Li Maozhen joined forces with Wang Jian to invade Shu...
Cui Yin was the driving force behind these rumors, but Zhu Wen's trick of "raising the bandits' self-respect" was used by Zhu Wen, who proposed to move the capital to Luoyang. At this time, Cui Yincai secretly thought that something was wrong. Jiang was still old and hot, and he was indeed taken advantage of by Zhu Wen again.
Only then did Cui Yin realize Zhu Wen's "three-step" plan: the first step was to provoke the Kansai Group and create a threat; the second step was to use the threat to move the capital; the third step was to change the dynasty.
Seeing that the plan was about to transition to the second step, Cui Yin sensed an unprecedented crisis. While intensifying his military training, he secretly contacted Zhao Kuangning of Xiangzhou and planned to move the capital to the Jing and Xiang area to avoid Zhu Wen's attack. Regarding Zhao Kuangning in Xiangzhou, we will explain it in detail later.
At the critical moment of life and death, honor and disgrace, a God-given opportunity suddenly comes!
This opportunity was the rebellion of King Shifan of Pinglu Army in Qingzhou, as mentioned above; at the same time, Yang Xingmi of Huainan also launched an attack on Du Hong of Wuchang Army in Ezhou, competing with Zhu Wen for control of the middle section of the Yangtze River, which will be detailed later.
Strictly speaking, for Zhu Wen, these are not fatal threats, just a slightly larger daily routine. But for Cui Yin, this is his only chance. Something is better than nothing, treating a dead horse like a living horse.
So Cui Yin made a desperate move and took the initiative to launch a counterattack.
This is an eternal historical mystery. On that day, Zhu Youlun, the top agent of the Bian Army in Chang'an City and Zhu Wen's nephew, was playing polo with his colleagues in their free time. Unfortunately, an accident occurred and he fell off his horse and died.
