[Concubine inverted]
Li Cunxu was so willful that he violated etiquette. Within three years, he committed the inversion of his concubines twice.
In the first year of Tongguang (923), Li Cunxu ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, honoring his biological mother Cao as the empress dowager, and his aunt Liu as the empress dowager.
The Da Liu family was Li Keyong's main wife. In important events such as the "Shangyuanyi Incident" and the "Taiyuan Defense War", the Da Liu family fully demonstrated her "smartness and wisdom". In addition, Da Liu was also a great woman with both civil and military skills. She was "quite familiar with military aircraft" and taught Li Keyong's concubines horse riding, archery, close combat, etc., turning Li Keyong's harem into beauties. Bodyguard group.
It's a pity that Liu's family is infertile. However, the Da Liu family was truly maternal, never jealous, never fighting for favor, never persecuted other concubines who gave birth to sons, and treated them all as their own.
Not only did Liu not compete for favor, but she tried her best to recommend her best friend, Cao, to Li Keyong. He said that Cao's appearance is extremely noble and he will definitely give birth to a great son who can be your successor.
Mr. Cao was also very humble and always respected Mr. Liu. The two ladies have a deep relationship.
Later, Cao gave birth to Li Cunxu. Mother values her son, and from then on, Li Keyong doted on the Cao family.
According to the traditional old system, Mrs. Liu is Li Keyong's wife and should be respected as the empress dowager. During the feudal period, if the main wife had no children and a side wife had a son, the son would be adopted to the main wife, and the main wife would treat it as her own child. After the son succeeds, the main wife should be the empress dowager. For example, the Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Guangxu was her nephew and nephew, but the Empress Dowager was still her elder, not the biological mother of Emperor Guangxu.
But Li Cunxu was so willful. I want my mother to be the Queen Mother, who dares to have any objections?
When Prime Minister Lu Zhi was ordered to read the canonization edict in Taiyuan Mansion, everyone was shocked by Li Cunxu's violation of etiquette.
The eldest Liu family had a generous mind and took the initiative to go to Cao family's palace to congratulate her. Her face was beaming with joy and blessings from the bottom of her heart. This made Ms. Cao very embarrassed. The scene was both harmonious and a bit embarrassing.
Da Liu took the initiative to comfort Cao and said: "As long as our son (Li Cunxu) can live a long life and enjoy an endless country, we will have people to sacrifice and sweep under Jiuquan in the future. This will be satisfying. Why bother about other things?"
In the first month of the second year of Tongguang (924), Li Cunxu sent his younger brother Li Cunwo and the prince Li Jiqi to Taiyuan in person to welcome Empress Dowager Cao and Concubine Liu to the capital Luoyang.
The Da Liu family declined politely, saying that the ancestral tombs and temples of the late emperor were all in Taiyuan. If everyone left, there would be no one to worship during the holidays, so she was willing to stay in Taiyuan to worship the ancestors (Zhu Xie Zhiyi, Li Guochang, Li Keyong) mausoleum.
To turn a concubine upside down is like an emperor being deposed as a certain lord or a certain duke. It is a great shame. The Liu family was demoted from the main room to a side room, how could they still have the face to face the criticism of the civil and military officials of the dynasty? Staying in Taiyuan for some peace and quiet is also a relief. So I found a high-sounding reason and decided to stay in Taiyuan.
As a result, the Cao family and the Da Liu family parted ways.
The two sisters do have real feelings for each other. Since their separation, the two of them have been suffering from lovesickness at the same time. They don't want tea or food, and they are not moved by the prosperity in front of them at all. In just three months, both of them fell ill.
Especially Da Liu's condition is serious.
Empress Dowager Cao was very concerned about Da Liu's health, and sent imperial doctors to Taiyuan to visit her one after another. In April, I received bad news that Liu was bedridden and the situation was not optimistic.
Empress Dowager Cao said to Li Cunxu: "The concubine and I are as close as brothers, just like real sisters. Now that the concubine is critically ill, I want to go to Taiyuan to visit her in person."
Li Cunxu tried hard to persuade him, citing the hot weather and dangerous roads. Therefore, the emperor's younger brother Li Cunwo and others were asked to go to Taiyuan instead of Empress Dowager Cao.
In early May, bad news came. Concubine Liu died in Taiyuan due to ineffective treatment of illness.
Empress Dowager Cao couldn't bear the grief. She didn't eat or drink for several days and had to go to Taiyuan in person to see her off. In the past few days, Li Cunxu has been guarding Empress Dowager Cao at every step, trying to comfort her, asking her to be compassionate and obedient and to take care of her health.
In July, Empress Dowager Cao died in Luoyang.
The sisterly love between the Liu family and the Cao family has become a legend through the ages.
This is one of the inversions of Li Cunxu's concubines.
The second is his queen, Xiao Liu.
Li Cunxu's first wife was Han, the second was Yi, and Xiao Liu was only ranked third. However, mother is more valuable than son, and Xiao Liu received Li Cunxu's special favor because she gave birth to the prince Li Jiji. Li Cunxu once again had the idea of inverting the concubine, and wanted to make Xiao Liu his queen.
The idea was met with opposition across the board. His mother, the Empress Dowager Cao, was against it, and all the civil and military officials were unanimously against it.
Later, in order to protect himself, Guo Chongtao expressed his support for establishing Xiao Liu as his queen against his will. Li Cunxu then rather willfully appointed Xiao Liu as his queen.
The Han family and the Yi family were quite unhappy, so Li Cunxu named the Han family the concubine Shu and the Yi family the concubine Virtue to appease them.
Regarding Guo Chongtao’s change of attitude, we will analyze it later, but we will only touch upon it here.
【Love is like a tide】
Since the second year of Tongguang (924), there has been a severe drought across the country. Li Cunxu has personally participated in rain praying ceremonies more than once, and has repeatedly issued edicts for local officials to organize rain prayers. However, the weather is still dry and hot.
In April, someone recommended an outsider, the "Master of Subduing the Dragon" Wutai Mountain monk Chenghui (also known as "Chenghui"). Legend has it that his mother once went to Mount Wutai to pray for blessings. When she returned home, she found that she was pregnant for no apparent reason, and the child she gave birth to was Chenghui. When Chenghui grew up, she swore not to get married. She resolutely came to Zhenrongyuan in Wutai Mountain and became a disciple of Monk Fashun. From then on, she escaped into Buddhism.
Later, monk Chenghui traveled far and wide and came to the ground of Zhenzhou to eat and drink. Wang Rong, the governor of Zhenzhou at that time, did not believe in evil and did not give monk Chenghui the courtesy he expected. Therefore, this eminent monk who was oriented towards convenience and compassion publicly threatened Wang Rong, "Amitabha, I have five hundred poisonous dragons. Just wait. I will send one over right now. Just blow a little breath and kill him." The people of your town have all been fed to fish and turtles! How wonderful!"
Coincidentally, in the second year, there was a flood and part of the wall of Zhenzhou City was destroyed. The people were horrified and thought it was Monk Chenghui's method of exerting power. The saying that monk Chenghui had the ability to subdue the heavenly dragon and control the wind and rain was widely spread in the Heshuo area.
Therefore, Li Cunxu built the "Tower of Ciyun" (also known as "Ziyun") for him in Luoyang, granted him the title of "Master Fayu", and personally led the harem and the emperor's younger brothers and princes to kowtow to Monk Chenghui and ask him to He did this to pray for rain.
Monk Chenghui was unceremonious, sitting on the high platform with dignity, and calmly accepted the kneeling worship of the emperor and his family. Under the leadership of Li Cunxu, the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty also worshiped Chenghui devoutly, but Guo Chongtao was the only one who insisted not to do so.
"Don't panic, for the nectar will arrive in a matter of days."
"Please begin your performance."
Master Chenghui performed for more than ten days without seeing a drop of rain. Someone warned him privately, saying: "The emperor thinks you are talking nonsense and confusing the public with your evil words, and he plans to burn you to death!"
Chenghui can't call the wind and rain, but she can shake off the golden cicada. Flee in fear.
It is also worth mentioning that in a certain entry on a well-known domestic search engine, it is said that monk Chenghui was rewarded by Li Cunxu because he eliminated harm to the people, which moved him. Well, if releasing five hundred poisonous dragons to poison the people of Heshuo is also called eliminating harm for the people, I have no objection.
Foreign monks can chant sutras. An eminent monk from Khotan alerted Li Cunxu.
Khotan, a Buddhist kingdom in the Western Regions, is an important source of Buddhism being introduced to the Central Plains. The "Hu monks" produced there are the authentic eminent monks of origin. The Tang Dynasty regarded itself as a great power in the Celestial Dynasty and felt superior to others. Only when it came to imported Buddhism, it was willing to favor foreigners. Local eminent monks and masters (such as Tang Xuanzang) had to go to the Western Regions for gold plating. Only with the blessing of the aura of returnees from the Western Region can he become the top authority in the country.
The name of this Hu monk is not recorded in historical records. It is only recorded that he traveled to Mount Wutai, which alarmed Li Cunxu. "Zhuangzong led the queen and his disciples to greet him." The emperor's family personally welcomed him, and then sent eunuchs to take care of him. Food and daily life "moves the city wherever it goes." Then, there is no more.
Sin is sin, good is good, good is good.
People spent the first half of the year suffering from drought and heat. After Liu died of illness, God finally shed a few tears, but when Empress Dowager Cao died of illness, God could not stop crying.
"It rained heavily, and in September, the days and nights were gloomy, with no clear sky. Rivers overflowed, embankments broke down, and the whole world complained of floods."
Huazhou Memorial: The Battle of the Yellow River;
Capital: The Luo River is swollen and the Tianjin Bridge is damaged. Boats are used to help cross the bridge, and people are drowning every day. The court had to change to a three-day meeting;
Heyang and Shaanzhou reported: The river overflowed its banks; Shaanzhou reported: The Yellow River rose two feet and two feet, damaging the pontoon bridge and entering the city gate, and some residents drowned;
Bianzhou reported: The Bian River is swollen, and the city may be submerged... The east and west city walls of Kaizhou City divert water into the ancient river;
Zezhou reports: It rained continuously for 19 days this month;
Xuzhou and Huazhou reported: Flood.
This was only the flood situation within a month of the death of Queen Mother Cao. In the next two months (August and September), serious floods were reported in Weizhou, Fengxiang, Qingzhou, Heyang, Zhenzhou, Weizhou, Xiangzhou and other places. Among them, the water of the Yellow River in Heyang rose by one foot and five feet; the Han River in Xiangzhou surged, and a large number of houses collapsed...
The sisterly kindness of Da Liu and Cao moved God. Their love was like a tide, and their love was like a tide, surrounding the world.
In April, Li Cunxu also ordered state capitals across the country to hold rain-praying ceremonies. In July, he ordered state capitals across the country to pray for clear weather. The flood lasted for more than a year, so that the emperor had to avoid the main palace, reduce regular meals, withdraw from entertainment and save money, "in response to God's punishment."
In August, Li Cunxu personally inspected the progress of Queen Mother Cao's Kunling Tomb project. At that time, Weizhou was also suffering from floods. The rivers were overflowing, and the government had to open old rivers to divert the floods. Floods have made roads muddy and many bridges have been damaged.
Li Cunxu was furious and took Luo Guan, the magistrate of Henan County, where Kunling was located, into prison and tortured him until his body was completely bruised. The next day, an order was passed down: Changliu Yazhou. As usual, the order to exile is followed by the order to kill.
Luo Guan has a resolute and upright character. He never bows to the powerful. He ignores the "hello" requests of eunuchs and actors. He enforces the law impartially and has a clear mind. Guo Chongtao admired him very much, and Luo Guan often gave Guo Chongtao evidence of illegal crimes committed by eunuchs and actors. Guo Chongtao handed these evidence to Li Cunxu to persuade Li Cunxu to stay away from traitors.
Luo Guan was hated by eunuchs and actors for this reason.
The opportunity has come.
The road was blocked due to floods, which was a force majeure of nature. However, the eunuchs and actors, together with the Xiao Liu family, jointly accused Luo Guan of being lazy in political affairs, not taking action, not attaching great importance to the project related to the Queen Mother's mausoleum, and despising the imperial authority... give him a warning. Gang is online. Therefore, Li Cunxu ordered Luo Guan to be killed.
Guo Chongtao advised: "Even if Luo Guan did not repair the road, according to our country's law, it is not a capital crime!"
Li Cunxu took action and said, "The Empress Dowager's coffin is about to be transported, and I also have to travel on this road. However, the roads and bridges along the way are damaged. You still say that he is not guilty? Are you his accomplice?"
This is a bit confusing. Guo Chongtao did not say that Luo Guan was not guilty, only that the crime would not lead to death.
Guo Chongtao saw that Li Cunxu was going to be stupid again, so he changed his angle and continued to persuade, "Your Majesty, with your dignity, is angry at a small county magistrate. What do the people in the world think? Why do you condescend to this?"
"Okay, I'll leave it alone, you can figure it out!" After saying that, Li Cunxu flicked his sleeves and went straight back to the palace.
Guo Chongtao followed closely and explained patiently.
Li Cunxu really ignored etiquette and dignity, turned around and closed the palace door himself, keeping Guo Chongtao out.
While Guo Chongtao was struggling to explain outside the door, Luo Guan had been beheaded and his body was dragged outside the county government door and exposed to the public. The common people complained about Luo Guan's injustice and lamented endlessly.
In fact, the killing of Luo Guan was a microcosm of a political struggle, a microcosm of the struggle between Guo Chongtao and the eunuchs, actors, and the Xiao Liu family (also known as the "Zhuoliu Gang"). It ended with Guo Chongtao's failure.
Guo Chongtao failed to save Luo Guan, and the following year, he also failed to save himself. Eunuchs, actors and the Xiao Liu family were the absolute political forces during Li Cunxu's period, just like the "Gang of Foreign Relations" during Zhu Youzhen's period.
Judging from the results, the "Zhuoliu Gang"'s ability to harm the country completely crushed the "Wang Relative Gang". When there were strong enemies outside, it took the "Wai Qi Gang" ten years to bury Zhu Youzhen. When there were no foreign enemies, the "Zhuoliu Gang" took just three years to bury Li Cunxu, which was efficient and powerful.
