Liu Shouguang insisted on proclaiming himself emperor despite all dissuasion. He placed a large chopping board for cutting meat in the middle of the courtyard, with a bright sharp ax thrown next to it. Then he summoned his civil and military officials, pointed at the swordsmen, and announced: "I want to proclaim myself emperor, and those who oppose it—— die!"
Counselor Sun He was the first to object.
Sun He and Lu Yan were originally Liu Shouwen's subordinate officials. They supported Liu Shouwen's son Liu Yanzuo in Cangzhou and climbed the city to defend the city. After the city was broken, they were captured together. Liu Shouguang ordered Lu Yan to kill his whole family and release Sun He. From then on, Sun He became an important adviser to Liu Shouguang, devoted his loyalty and wisdom to Liu Shouguang, and offered suggestions and advice. When Zhenzhou asked for help, Sun He insisted on Liu Shouguang sending troops, but Liu Shouguang refused.
One more thing needs to be mentioned here. When Lu Yan suffered the genocide, his son Lu Qi was only fifteen years old. Before leaving, Lu Yan’s friend Zhao Yu deceived the prison officer and said that the child was not a child of the Lu family, but his younger brother. , don’t kill by mistake. The supervisor believed it was true, so Lu Qi saved his life. After Zhao Yu rescued him, he changed his name and fled with Zhao Yu. On the way, Lu Qi's feet hurt unbearably, so Zhao Yu carried him on his back for dozens of miles in one go, making a living by begging along the way. , and finally escaped into the ground east of Hedong.
Lü Qi studied hard and achieved excellent results. He was soon known by Li Cunxu, so he entered the official career, and then entered the central government and became an important minister in the Later Tang Dynasty. After the establishment of the Later Jin Dynasty, he also worshiped him as prime minister. As a result, Lü Qi died of illness before he could formally become the prime minister. .
Lu Qi repaid his kindness and treated Zhao Yu as a father, treating Zhao Yu's son Zhao Wendu as his own son. Under his guidance, Zhao Wendu also passed the Jinshi examination.
Lu Qi had two sons, Lu Yin and Lu Duan, both of whom became prime ministers of the Song Dynasty.
In Liu Shouguang's view, Sun He was a frightened bird. He was grateful for his life, and he would definitely support his plan to become emperor without hesitation. Sun He's leading opposition made Liu Shouguang very angry.
"Have you forgotten my kindness to you?"
Sun He replied with great righteousness, saying that it is precisely because I am grateful for your kindness that I am willing to die for your loyalty. Don't be confused, and never arrogantly proclaim yourself emperor!
Liu Shouguang was furious and said, "You are such a wolf-hearted white-eyed wolf!" He ordered the soldiers to press Sun He on the chopping board, then cut his flesh with one knife and eat it in front of everyone.
Sun He held back the severe pain and shouted: "In less than a hundred days, the army will arrive!"
Liu Shouguang ordered Sun He to be stuffed with soil in his mouth, and then cut Sun He into pieces with a thousand knives and executed him in Lingchi.
"Who else?"
"Long live my emperor! Long live!"
Liu Shouguang insisted on going his own way, and finally ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor in Youzhou on August 13, the first year of Qianhua (911), and changed the country's name to "Dayan" (historically known as "Jie Yan", named after Jie, which shows his cruelty and cruelty) ), and changed the year name to "Yingtian". Liu Shouguang's "Dayan Kingdom" was not recognized by history. Like Dong Chang's "Dayue Luoping Kingdom", they were both illegal puppet regimes and were not among the "Ten Kingdoms".
On the day Liu Shouguang proclaimed himself emperor, his neighbor to the north sent a big congratulatory gift: the Khitan captured Pingzhou. Jie Yan's puppet regime was born out of the panic of the people.
When Li Cunxu heard the news that Liu Shouguang had ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, he laughed like a pig.
The eunuch Zhang Chengye suggested that in order to make Liu Shouguang even more crazy, Hedong should take the lead in sending envoys to congratulate him. Continue to make fun of Yangzi.
Therefore, Li Cunxu sent Li Chengxun, the deputy mayor of Taiyuan (Taiyuan Shaoyin) to visit Jie Yan. After Li Chengxun arrived in Youzhou, Jie Yan's protocol officer asked Li Chengxun to meet Liu Shouguang in the courtesy of a minister, kowtow and acknowledge him. Li Chengxun firmly objected, saying that he was an official appointed by the Tang Dynasty and not appointed by Liu Shouguang. How could he be a vassal to Liu Shouguang?
Liu Shouguang was furious, put him in prison, and then forced him to surrender. Li Chengxun took the opportunity to tie the couple and said that if you can make my lord surrender to you, of course I will surrender to you.
Liu Shouguang used both soft and hard tactics, but Li Chengxun always refused to compromise. Finally, when the Hedong army conquered Youzhou, Li Chengxun was brutally killed by Liu Shouguang.
Many people praised Li Chengxun for his integrity, which was comparable to Su Wu's shepherding. But there is also controversy, because the purpose of this visit was not to argue with Jie Yan, but to deliberately elevate Liu Shouguang and make him further lose his mind, prompting Liu Shouguang to make a serious misjudgment of the current situation, thus leading to his demise. From this perspective, Li Chengxun was totally in the wrong direction and failed in his mission.
In particular, he took the initiative to move out Li Cunxu, which made Liu Shouguang clearly realize that it was impossible for Li Cunxu to surrender to him from the bottom of his heart, which was equivalent to telling Liu Shouguang: Hedong and Hebei are not afraid of you at all. For the sake of a moment's face, for a moment's sincerity, Li Cunxu's plan to stir up trouble almost came to nothing!
Fortunately, Liu Shouguang didn't need anyone else to add fuel to the fire. His enthusiasm was like a fire, burning the entire desert. Lying to yourself is the most perfect deception.
Even though he knew that neither Hebei nor Hedong was truly afraid of him, Liu Shouguang still wildly believed that he could conquer the world, which was very much like his father. So ordinary yet so arrogant, saying the harshest words and receiving the harshest beatings.
Liu Shouguang held a military meeting to discuss going south to invade the Dingzhou Volunteer Army.
At the meeting, counselor Feng Dao raised objections, and Liu Shouguang was furious and threw him into prison. Fortunately, someone tried his best to intercede, and Feng Dao was saved. Feng Dao then fled to Hedong, where the eunuch Zhang Chengye recommended him to Li Cunxu.
Feng Dao is a strange person in the "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms" period, and even in the entire five thousand years of Chinese history. He is absolutely unprecedented and unprecedented. His legendary stories will be presented one by one in the following article.
Liu Shouguang led an army of 20,000 people, invaded the territory of the Yiwu Army and besieged Rongcheng. Wang Chuzhi asked Li Cunxu from Hedong for help.
Li Cunxu sent Zhou Dewei to lead an army of 30,000 to join forces with Zhenzhou general Zhang Wenli and Dingzhou general Cheng Yan at Yishui, and then launched a counterattack against Jie Yan.
The coalition forces surrounded Zhuozhou, and the governor Liu Zhiwen stayed behind closed doors. Liu Qufei, a guest of Liu Shouqi (who had previously fled to Hedong for refuge), came to the city to shout and said to Liu Zhiwen: "Our young master (Liu Shouqi) came to fight for his father against the rebellious son and traitors. Why did you refuse?"
Liu Shouqi also took off his helmet and came to the city in person to comfort Liu Zhiwen, "Comrade Liu Zhiwen, you have worked hard!"
After seeing the young master Liu Shouqi, Liu Zhiwen immediately knelt down on the city gate tower, kowtowed and apologized while looking at the city from a distance, then opened the city gate and presented the city to surrender.
The gate of Youzhou suddenly opened, and Zhou Dewei led his army to the gate of Youzhou City.
Afterwards, according to historical records, Zhou Dewei was jealous of Liu Shouqi's achievements and framed Li Cunxu. Liu Shouqi defected to the Later Liang Dynasty out of fear.
In fact, Zhou Dewei did say something unfavorable to Liu Shouqi to Li Cunxu, but it was definitely not out of jealousy. When I talked about Liu Rengong's rebellion in Youzhou, I analyzed that the Hedong Group's mass base in Youzhou was very weak. Now, Liu Shouqi only needs to show his face and say hello, and the defenders will immediately open up the city and surrender. Such a call This makes Hedong Group very worried. If Liu Shouqi raises his voice in Youzhou, he will repeat the story of Liu Rengong's rebellion in Youzhou.
Liu Shouqi persuaded Zhuozhou to surrender, which sounded the alarm for the Hedong Group. That's why Zhou Dewei quickly reminded Li Cunxu to take more precautions. Therefore, Li Cunxu urgently summoned Liu Shouqi back to Taiyuan. Liu Shouqi was worried about something unexpected happening, so he fled to Houliang with Liu Qufei and others to seek asylum, and was appointed governor of Bozhou by Houliang.
As soon as the war broke out, the enemy troops came to the "capital" city. Liu Shouguang had no choice but to shamelessly ask Liang Zhuwen for help.
