【Safari Emperor】
Martial emperors loved hunting. Hunting is an activity similar to a military exercise. It not only exercises horseback riding and archery, but also exercises the ability to command and coordinate operations. Therefore, it is very popular among northern nomads and martial leaders.
Li Keyong loved hunting, but hunting did not affect his governance. Li Cunxu also liked hunting, especially after overthrowing Hou Liang, he became uninhibited.
Before overthrowing the Later Liang Dynasty, Li Cunxu's records were mostly about being brave, leading the army, and even taking risks, falling into the enemy's siege many times. Although he is often accused of being rash and reckless, he is indeed passionate and passionate.
After taking control of Bianzhou, Li Cunxu's records often contained words related to "hunting". Just in February of the third year of Tongguang reign (925), there were actually four hunting records and one hitting record in one month:
"Ding Mao, he was shooting in the suburbs... Jisi, he summoned his subordinates to hit the ball in the court... Gengchen, it was a blessing to shoot geese in the suburbs... Yiyou, he was shooting ducks in Guobo... Wuzi, it was a blessing to shoot geese in the suburbs."
It is worth noting that the ones that can be recorded in history should be larger in scale. Trivial matters such as small-scale hunting and batting will not appear in the Chronicle of the Emperor. For example, Li Jitao went to Beijing for an audience and followed Li Cunxu on many hunting trips, but there is no detailed record in "The Chronicles of Zhuang Zong". In other words, the many hunts Li Jitao participated in were all small-scale entertainment.
So this month alone, it has been recorded 5 times, which is enough to illustrate the problem.
Every time hunting occurs in the suburbs, it will cause serious damage to local agriculture, because the government will temporarily enclose farmland as a hunting ground, and the entourage will gallop horses and trample the crops.
On September 7, the second year of Tongguang (924), Li Cunxu was hunting in the suburbs of Luoyang again. He Ze, the magistrate of Luoyang County, hid in the grass in advance. When Li Cunxu arrived, He Ze suddenly jumped out, stopped the horse's head, and said: " The crops are about to mature, but they are destroyed, and your Majesty’s tax collection is very tight. How can the people survive? Please grant me death first!”
Li Cunxu agreed with his outspoken admonishment, comforted him deeply, sent him back, and then... the hunting continued.
From the county magistrate to the prime minister, secret envoys, and even acting officials, they all gave Li Cunxu advice. Li Cunxu also knew that everything they said was reasonable, but he refused to correct it. To have power is to be willful.
Two months later, on November 9, Li Cunxu led more than 10,000 pro-army guards to Yique County for hunting.
Yique County is where Zhu Wen's mausoleum is located. When Li Cunxu passed by Zhu Wen's mausoleum, he did something that has been criticized: he paid homage to Zhu Wen's mausoleum (worshiping the ancestor of Liang Dynasty, which is criticized by people).
Maybe Li Cunxu deliberately disgusted Zhu Wen. I took away your kingdom and killed your whole family. You saw it in the spirit of heaven, ha, you're welcome.
Because Li Cunxu also had a frivolous side and played little pranks. Not only did he deliberately disgust Zhu Wen, but there will also be a story later in the article about how he deliberately disgusted Xiao Liu.
However, no matter what his motive was, he was "paying homage" to the number one political prisoner after all. Paying homage is different from visiting. This is a very serious political event.
It doesn't matter, having power means being willful.
During the official hunting process, Li Cunxu successfully obtained first blood and "hit a big deer with one shot." Li Cunxu was very happy and ordered to hunt all night. In the dark night, many cavalry followers fell off the cliff, causing many casualties. However, this did not affect Li Cunxu's hunting interest at all, and he "killed thousands of people".
Li Cunxu returned home with a full load. When he returned to the capital, it was already another late night. Under Li Cunxu's order, torches were lit in the streets and alleys of Luoyang, making them as bright as day. Then he summoned his ministers and distributed the venison.
Historical records do not record Li Cunxu's hunting expenses. This "deer hunting in Yique County" provides us with a certain reference value. "More than ten thousand cavalry followers" and "Six Streets with torches like daylight".
In addition to martial arts (hunting), Li Cunxu also had another "elegant name" - watching theater.
【The Actor Emperor】
Watching theater was a common hobby of feudal emperors and an important daily pastime. People who like to watch plays should not be regarded as not doing their job properly, but some emperors failed to grasp the scale. They loved the house and the bird, and transferred this obsession to the actors and actresses. Not only did they give them a lot of rewards, they also allowed them to participate in the government and even be influenced by them. It’s time to formulate major national policies.
When the emperor is a fanatical star-chaser and a fanatical fan, politics cannot be dark.
Yang Po'er was one of Li Cunxu's favorite actors. In order to express his love for him, Li Cunxu rewarded him with an important state, made him the governor of Weizhou, and gave him the name Li Cunru.
After Yang Po'er took office, she focused on embezzling money and amassing money. As long as the city defense sentries paid a certain amount of money, they could leave their posts and go home to rest. So in the second year of Longde (922), the Houliang army made a surprise attack on Weizhou. At that time, there was no one on duty on the city wall. The Houliang army climbed directly onto the city wall, almost without a single blow, and captured this important stronghold north of the Yellow River and controlled Weizhou. South of Bo.
Another actor named Zhou Za was also deeply loved by Li Cunxu. During the Battle of Huliupi, Zhou Zao was captured by the Later Liang Dynasty. Li Cunxu thought about him day and night and never forgot him. When Bianzhou was captured, Zhou Za suddenly appeared in front of Li Cunxu's horse, fell to his knees, and cried out that he missed his majesty.
Li Cunxu was surprised and happy, "Baby, why are you still alive?"
Zhou Za shed two lines of hot tears, "I almost never saw you again! The reason why I was able to survive was thanks to Chen Jun, the head of the Royal Song and Dance Troupe (Jiaofang envoy) in Houliang, and the director of the Royal Garden Bureau ( For the preservation of Chu Deyuan, the envoy of the inner garden, I would like to pray to your majesty for the position of two governors as a reward for the two benefactors!"
Li Cunxu immediately agreed, "Aren't we just two governors? Why are you so polite?"
Guo Chongtao reminded: "There are still many soldiers who have followed His Majesty through life and death and have not received rewards. Now that His Majesty has just entered Bianzhou, he is eager to reward two actors as governors. I am afraid it will chill the hearts of the soldiers."
Li Cunxu then took back his orders and said, "Wait first to avoid the limelight."
However, Zhou Za and other actors kept urging Li Cunxu to fulfill his promise. Finally, half a year later, in May of the second year of Tongguang (924), Chen Jun was appointed governor of Jingzhou and Chu Deyuan was appointed governor of Xianzhou.
Li Cunxu said to Guo Chongtao: "I am the Son of Heaven, and I speak with eloquent words. How can I fail to keep my words? In the past six months, I have been too embarrassed to see Zhou Za and the others. Your opinion is also very pertinent, but... handle special matters specially, don't get into trouble. , learn to be flexible."
After the letter of appointment was issued, the soldiers all sighed with resentment.
In comparison, Yang Po'er and Zhou Za were only second-rate actors. In Li Cunxu's era, the real top star was an actor named Jing Jin.
Jing Jin appears many times in the previous article. Although he is mentioned in one sentence, he is all related to one keyword: bribery.
In the work of taking people's money and eliminating disasters, there are two big guys who bravely shoulder the heavy responsibility and occupy an absolute market share. One is Xiao Liu and the other is Jing Jin.
The reason why Jing Jin gained Li Cunxu's trust was that he was not only an old artist with "both virtue and skill", he also had another secret identity - a spy chief.
As the king of a country, Li Cunxu also hopes that the world will be peaceful and the people can live and work in peace and contentment. He also hopes to go deep into the masses and understand the hardships of the grassroots people. However, "private visits" usually only appear in novels. In real history, the main way for the emperor to understand the people's sentiments was through various sources of gossip.
Jing Jin was responsible for spying on people's sentiments. He often went in and out of the people and reported everything he saw and heard to Li Cunxu in detail, acting as Li Cunxu's eyes and ears.
However, Jing Jin had his own filter and only picked out some words that the emperor liked to hear, and the visit became gossip.
Due to the particularity of intelligence work, whenever Jing Jin reported on his work, he had to exclude others. Therefore, Jing Jin had a lot of opportunities to contact Li Cunxu alone, and the time the two spent alone together was far more than that of the imperial prime minister. Jing Jin often used this time to sow discord and make slanderous remarks, and interfered in government affairs through direct lobbying against Li Cunxu.
In addition, Jing Jin is particularly good at guessing Li Cunxu's inner thoughts, helping Li Cunxu to say things that are inconvenient to say and do things that are inconvenient to do, so he is the most favored.
Food and sex are also important, and Li Cunxu is particularly lustful. But it is not convenient to talk about such dirty thoughts in public. So Jing Jin staged a good show with the eunuchs.
The eunuchs told Li Cunxu that the palace was often haunted in the middle of the night and he was very frightened. Li Cunxu planned to ask an expert mage to do it. The eunuchs waved their hands and said: "In the past, when we served Yizong and Xizong, the total number of concubines and maids in the palace exceeded ten thousand. Look, most of the houses in the palace are empty now, so demons and evil spirits dare to wander out. .”
"Oh——" Li Cunxu understood, he had good intentions! Well, then we can only choose beauties from the world to enrich the harem.
The eunuch Wang Yunping and the actor Jing Jin were appointed as supervisors and went to auditions in Taiyuan, Youzhou, Zhenzhou and other places. The emperor has financial allocations for selecting his maids. After all, it is "selection", not "robbing". However, Jing Jin and others used the money to enrich their own pockets, and used the emperor's order to extort the land, and really "robbed" three thousand women. There are many bullock carts carrying women entering Beijing on the road.
Zhang Xian, who was left behind in Tokyo (Weizhou), later reported to the court, saying that more than a thousand wives and daughters of the soldiers were missing. Had they been sent to the palace by mistake?
Zhang Xian saved enough face and steps for Li Cunxu, saying that it might be a mistake in the work of the draft team and he got the wrong person, but who in the world didn't know that he was forcibly abducted by actor Jing Jin and others?
Please pay attention to this matter, keyword reminder: Weizhou, soldiers.
I robbed people of their money before, but now I robbed them of their wives and daughters. Li Cunxu, just wait.
