[Wang Jian’s Chess Game 2]
In order to suppress the "Adopted Son Gang", in addition to taking the civil service route, Wang Jian also took a path that coincided with Li Cunxu's - eunuch.
Wang Jian reused eunuchs, and the power of the eunuchs increased day by day within the Qianshu Group. With the acquiescence of the top management, they competed with the elders for power and profit, and Wang Jian was happy to get what he got.
As for suppressing the elders and nobles led by the "Adopted Son Gang", Wang Jian was even more merciless.
For example, the adopted son Wang Zongdi was killed earlier; for example, the "first brother of the adopted son" Wang Zongji was killed recently; for example, Wang Zongxun who returned to Chengdu without authorization and was invited by many people was killed; and for example, Liu Zhijun was killed.
Liu Zhijun was first a general of Pu in Xuzhou. He surrendered to Zhu Wen during Zhu Wen's "Eastern Expedition to Xuzhou" and was appointed as the "Commander of Zuo Kaidao". He was given the resounding nickname "Zuo Kaidao Commander" because of his bravery and toughness, and his courage to surpass all the generals. Liu Kaidao"; later he rebelled against Liang Jiangqi and surrendered to Fengxiang Li Maozhen; because of Li Maozhen's suspicion, Qinzhou Li Jichong took Liu Zhijun under his wing.
At that time, Li Maozhen in Fengxiang was declining day by day. Li Jihui, the governor of the Jingnan Army in Pizhou, was poisoned by his son Li Yanlu. Li Yanlu claimed to stay as a queen. Immediately afterwards, Li Yanlu was killed by Li Jihui's adopted son Li Baoheng. Li Baoheng then surrendered the two prefectures of Pizhou and Ning to Houliang. , Hou Liang moved Li Baoheng to Huazhou, and ordered Huo Yanwei to lead the Jingnan Army in Pizhou.
Li Maozhen sent Liu Zhijun to recover Pizhou, while Huo Yanwei closed the city and defended it. Liu Zhijun's long attack failed (as long as half a year).
At the same time, Qianshu also launched a large-scale military operation against Fengxiang Li Maozhen. Generals such as Wang Zonghan, Wang Zongwan, and Wang Zongduo divided their troops into three groups and launched a massive northern expedition. Capture Qi generals Li Yanchao and Li Yande alive, recruit Li Yan'an to surrender, and direct their troops towards Qinzhou. Qinzhou Li Jichong was so frightened that he hurriedly sent his son Li Yanxiu to carry the seal of the talisman to surrender.
Li Jichong's surrender to the former Shu is definitely not an exception, because he has an important identity-the prince consort of the former Shu, Princess Xitipuci (the daughter of Wang Jian). Now that Shu is strong but Qi is weak, Li Jichong would vote with his feet to know who has thicker thighs.
Liu Zhijun, who was on the front line in Pizhou, was originally jealous of Li Maozhen and fell into slander due to the unfavorable war. Now, due to Li Jichong's surrender, Liu Zhijun's family members in Qinzhou were also moved to Chengdu and became hostages, so they hurriedly released Pi During the siege of Zhou, the commander Fengxiang took advantage of the night and took 70 of his followers to escape, rebelled against Qi and surrendered to Shu.
In this battle, the former Shu gained more than 50 generals under Li Jichong and Liu Zhijun, more than 3,000 horses, 9,000 soldiers, 60,000 households, and the land of Qin, Feng, Jie, and Chengdu. It can be said to be a great victory.
Before surrendering to the former Shu, Liu Zhijun defeated the famous former Shu generals Wang Zongkan and Tang Daoxi at Qingniling. The Shu people were in awe of him and gave him the nickname "Invincible King". Now, Liu Zhijun, who was the most valiant among the generals, came to Qianshu as a surrendered general, but was unanimously rejected by the generals of Qianshu. Liu Zhijun devoted his loyalty and wisdom to the former Shu, but all the generals were jealous of his achievements and refused to obey orders. Just like Duan Ning restrained Wang Yanzhang, Liu Zhijun did not make any contributions in the subsequent "Qishu War".
As a result, all the generals falsely accused Liu Zhijun of having double-minded intentions and secretly communicating with Fengxiang.
The three of them became tigers, and Wang Jian gradually began to be suspicious of Liu Zhijun. He once said to his attendants: "I am old. When I die, Liu Zhijun will not be able to be controlled by you."
The generals made up another nursery rhyme, which was widely circulated in Chengdu. The rhyme goes like this: "The black cow comes out of the pen and the brown rope breaks." Liu Zhijun has a dark complexion and was born in the year of the Chou (ox), so he is also nicknamed "Big Black Ox". Wang Jian's descendants all have the characters "Zong" and "Cheng", so they believe that "the black cow comes out of the circle and the brown rope breaks" indicates that Liu Zhijun wanted to usurp the inheritance of his descendants.
Therefore, Wang Jian arrested Liu Zhijun and took him to Tan City in Chengdu to be executed.
Liu Zhijun died unjustly. Before leaving, he begged for mercy, and the executioners laughed at him.
It is very ironic that it was the collusion between civil servants (Zhang Ge) and eunuchs (Tang Wenqi) that made the useless Wang Zongyan become Wang Jian's successor. Wang Zongyan relied on his own strength to defeat Wang Jian after decades of hard work in 8 years. The foundation is ruined.
What's even more ironic is that it was still the "Adopted Son Gang" (Wang Zongbi) who finally kidnapped Wang Zongyan's mother and son and surrendered the country.
Man's calculation is not as good as God's calculation, and Wang Jian will suffer the consequences.
It can be said that Douchi in the former Shu political core circle was Wang Jian's top-level design. However, the proliferation of political struggles exceeded Wang Jian's expectations, making the game gradually get out of control. This is so similar to Tang Zhaozong! Playing with fire and burning yourself.
The undercurrents inside Qianshu are very scary:
1. The "Prince's Rebellion Case" is a microcosm of the internal political struggle in former Shu and the climax of the factional struggle. At that time, the prince Wang Zongyi and the powerful minister Tang Daoxi were fighting for power. Neither party had any real intention to rebel, but an accidental fire broke out during the Chinese Valentine's Day. As a result, both sides suffered losses. Tang Daoxi and Wang Zongyi both died in the internal strife.
The most interesting thing is Wang Jian's final conclusion on this internal strife. Wang Jian gave an official and authoritative notification at that time, saying that the prince had rebelled, deposed Wang Zongyi as a commoner, and gave Tang Daoxi a posthumous title of Grand Master and the posthumous title of "Zhongzhuang". A monument was erected in his hometown of Langzhou to commemorate him.
Although Tang Daoxi was killed in the conflict, the political force he represented still exists and contains energy that cannot be ignored. Wang Jiandu did not dare to use the death of the prince to purge him, but instead falsely accused his own son of treason.
This incident is enough to show that the game is out of control, and even the original top-level designer Wang Jian has been wronged.
2. On November 3, the fifth year of Qianhua (915), a fire broke out in the Chengdu Imperial Palace. The Baichi Tower (where all the gold, silver and jewelry Wang Jian had acquired since entering Chengdu was hidden) was reduced to ashes. The losses were extremely heavy and the casualties are unknown. .
Wang Zongkan and others led their troops to request entry into the palace to put out the fire, but Wang Jian refused. Until the next day, the fire was still not extinguished. Wang Jian went out of the palace to briefly meet with the ministers, and ordered them to pray to gods and Buddhas and inspect the capital. Then he returned to the palace, closed the palace door tightly, and strictly prohibited anyone from entering the palace.
3. After the "Prince Conspiracy Case", Privy Councilor Pan Kang kept urging Wang Jian to appoint a new crown prince as soon as possible to disappoint the public. Who are the people "looking" at?
After Wang Zongyan was appointed crown prince, Pan Kang requested to retire and fled the political arena on the grounds of old age and frailty. His keen sense of smell told him that the country was about to be in disaster.
What kind of signals did Pan Kang see or feel before and after the "Prince's Rebellion Case"? Who are the people coveting the throne?
4. After the death of the former crown prince Wang Zongyi, Wang Jian planned to choose one between Wang Zongren and Wang Zongjie to be the prince, especially Wang Zongjie, "the most talented among them all". After establishing Wang Zongyan, Wang Jian revealed that he wanted to abolish Wang Zongyan and replace him with Wang Zongyan. The idea of establishing Wang Zongjie. As a result, Wang Zongjie died suddenly and inexplicably. The cause of death is unknown.
Obviously, this was a political murder. Wang Jian was "deeply suspicious", but he was only "suspicious". History books do not even record that Wang Jian sent people to investigate the real cause of death of the prince Wang Zongjie, let alone track down the mastermind behind the scenes.
5. After establishing Wang Zongyan as the crown prince, Wang Jian felt more and more that Wang Zongyan was not the master of the establishment. He once lamented, "I have fought hundreds of battles to establish the foundation. How can this person maintain it?" So he expressed his disapproval of Zhang Ge, who had strongly advocated the establishment of Wang Zongyan. He was very disgusted, especially after Wang Zongjie died mysteriously and suddenly. Wang Jian's disgust towards Zhang Ge turned into resentment, and he wanted to touch Zhang Ge.
The old rule is to first get rid of Zhangge's prime minister, demote him and let him go, then demote him again and again, and commit suicide in search of favors. However, with the strong protection of Concubine Xu Xian, Wang Jian was unable to dismiss Zhang Ge and demote him.
Although he is the emperor, Wang Jian's power is already very limited, and he cannot even touch Zhang Ge.
6. The eunuch Tang Wenqi attempted a coup, but failed.
This incident is very strange, and the details are not found in historical materials. Only a few fragmentary records are left, but they are enough to give a glimpse of the dangers and strangeness in the deep palace:
When Wang Jian was seriously ill, he suddenly ordered Wang Zongbi, the core figure of the "Adopted Son Gang", to come to Beijing to "protect him." The guards around Wang Jian were all replaced by the Central Forbidden Army under the command of the eunuch Tang Wenxu. Wang Jian was effectively placed under house arrest in the palace by the eunuch Tang Wenxu. Wang Zongbi was unable to meet Wang Jian.
Whenever Wang Zongbi and others requested to go to court, Tang Wenqi relied on Wang Jian's oral instructions and refused on the grounds of physical discomfort. His close party Pan Zaiying (son of Prime Minister Pan Kang) believed that Tang Wenqi's coup plot would not succeed, so he leaked the secret to Wang Zongbi. Wang Zongbi forced his way into the palace with his cronies, and finally saw the dying Wang Jian, so he truthfully reported what the eunuch Tang Wenqi had done. Wang Jian was furious, demoted Tang Wenqi from the court, and called the prince Wang Zongyan to enter the palace, ready to take over at any time.
Wang Zongbi therefore became one of Tuogu's important ministers.
The above is what is recorded in historical data.
Doubtful point: Tang Wenqi was the founder who supported Wang Zongyan as the crown prince. When Wang Jian was about to take over the throne and the prince Wang Zongyan was about to be promoted to official position, what kind of coup did he want to make? Is it to abolish Wang Zongyan? Tang Wenqing's true motive for controlling Wang Jian has become the key to this case and has also become a secret that will never be known to the public.
Wang Jian always favored eunuchs and rejected the "adopted son gang", but when he was seriously ill, he summoned his adopted son Wang Zongbi to the palace to "protect him". What happened in the palace that caused Wang Jian's attitude to turn 180 degrees?
The attempted coup by the eunuch Tang Wenqing has become a mystery for the ages. Although we cannot solve the case, we can get a glimpse of the dangers of the core power circle of Qianshu. The water is very deep.
At this point, we can see more intuitively that in the last few years of Wang Jian's life, there seemed to be an undercurrent of restlessness in the court, and the energy it contained was so amazing that Wang Jian even gave up three points.
The politics of Qianshu are gradually getting out of control.
