【Not just ten ministers】
With Zhang Ge's fall and loss of power, Yu Chuansu regained his position and worshiped the prime minister again. However, after this round of shuffling, the prime ministers of former Shu have become mere decorations, and those who hold the real power of the empire are Wang Zongbi and the eunuch Song Guangsi.
Wang Zongyan never interfered with national affairs, and was happy to hand over the real power of the country to Wang Zongbi and Song Guangsi. As a result, "the country was in decline", and only two months had passed since he ascended the throne.
Faced with the "Adopted Son Gang" holding a large number of troops, Wang Zongyan didn't care. He even preferred to "Prince's Military Forces" and was very happy to let his brothers control the military power.
Among the princes, only Peng Wang Wang Zongding (Wang Jian's biological son) kept a clear mind. He still had fresh memories of the "Sixteen Houses Massacre" and the "Jiuquchi Massacre". He said to the brothers: "Prince Soldiers have always been the root cause of disasters. Today, the emperor is young and ignorant, and his subordinates are powerful. It is inevitable that they will sow discord and harm each other. We, the princes, should not hold military power and bring suspicion on ourselves." Then. , voluntarily surrendered military power and all power, and only read books, planted flowers, and cultivated sentiments every day.
Wang Zongyan did not understand his father's good intentions of reusing eunuchs. He only knew the appearance but not the inside. Two months after he ascended the throne, the power of eunuchs was unprecedentedly huge. In addition to Song Guangsi, Wang Tingshao, Ouyang Huang, Li Zhouren, Song Guangbao ( Eunuchs such as Song Guangsi's cousin), Song Chengyun, Tian Luqian and other eunuchs successively served as generals of the Forbidden Army, holding military power and intervening in government affairs.
Without exception, these eunuchs were arrogant and corrupt, which became a chronic problem within the former Shu court.
In order to further enhance the social status of eunuchs, Wang Zongyan ordered that statues of Gao Lishi, the eunuch of the Tang Dynasty, and others be commemorated in Daci Temple. The person in charge of the statues was Song Yi, a famous artist from Shu. He was best at portraits and was ordered to paint royal portraits of all the emperors of the Tang Dynasty. Allow.
After Wang Jianbei conquered Fengxiang and Nanping Nanzhao, he built Futian Pavilion and painted portraits of heroes. In the former Shu, the glory of "Futian Pavilion with Painted Images" was equivalent to the "Lingyan Pavilion with Painted Images" in the Tang Dynasty. Wang Jian painted portraits of heroes, and Wang Zongyan gave Quan a statue. See high and low.
Faced with the rise of eunuch power, the veteran counselor Zhou Xiang (who first planned for Wang Jian to separate Shu and rule the country, and helped Wang Jian break away from Yang Shouliang, capture the Langzhou revolutionary base, and seize Xichuan), earnestly advised Wang Zongyan not to indulge the eunuchs, but to learn from the Tang Dynasty A lesson from the past. But Wang Zongyan turned a deaf ear to this.
With the rise of the eunuchs and the strong intervention of the "foreign ministers" (Wang Zongbi), the "civilian line" that Wang Jian worked so hard to achieve completely failed. The civil servants either remained silent or turned to the eunuchs. The situation was surprisingly similar to that of the late Zhaozong period. resemblance. Historical stories will not repeat themselves, but historical patterns repeat themselves over and over again.
In order for the eunuch group to live in peace with Wang Zongbi and share the cake together, Song Guangsi took the initiative to transfer the official position of "judge the guards of the six armies" to Wang Zongbi. Since then, the two major political groups have been working together.
Lin Han's "Ten Ministers Are Here" named the ten most criticized traitorous ministers at that time. These ten people are just the tip of the iceberg. Next, we will select some typical examples, some of which are already reflected in "Ten Ministers in", and some of which can be used as supplements:
1. Wang Chengxiu, an eunuch, used his crafty ways to win Wang Zongyan's favor and trust, and used a "beauty trick" to deceive him into the position of Tianxiong Jiedushi of Qinzhou. He set a precedent for eunuchs to serve as Jiedushi, and selected 12,000 brave men from among the armies. The elites who are good at fighting are organized into the Left and Right Longwu Army and used as their own private armies. "Everyone is angry with the old generals."
2. Song Guangsi, a eunuch who was "smart and scheming", initially served Princess Puci, married Li Jichong with Princess Puci, and later returned to Chengdu with the princess. When Wang Jian was about to die, he wanted to use non-Conglong heroes to suppress Xuzhou's direct lineage. "I wanted to choose someone but failed, so I appointed Guangsi as the privy envoy." Wang Jian failed to find a suitable candidate and had no choice but to promote Song Guangsi.
3. Wang Zongbi, the adopted son of Wang Jian, the leader of the "Adopted Sons Gang", has made outstanding achievements. After Wang Jian's death, the powerful Wang Zongbi engaged in corruption, bribery, and self-interest, which caused resentment among everyone.
4. Han Zhao was "a sycophant by nature and good at catching people's thoughts." When Wang Zongyan was on his northern tour, Han Zhao asked him to sell the posts of governor of several prefectures such as Tong, Qu, Ba, and Ji to pay for the northern tour. Wang Zongyan approved. Later, he colluded with Wang Chengxiu and An Chongba internally and externally to encourage Wang Zongyan to travel to Qinzhou, and also issued death threats to Pu Yuqing who advised him.
Han Zhao was favored by many officials and became the Minister of Rites and the Governor of Chengdu. He had little talent and little learning, and was "rough in articles". However, he was still able to enter the Hanlin Academy, where he was a bachelor of Wensidian and a member of the Imperial Academy. He was semi-literate and was responsible for drafting edicts for the emperor. Obviously, like Gu Zaixun, he needed help from Lin Han and other gunmen to ghostwrite the book, so as to obtain the title of Hanlin bachelor to satisfy his own vanity.
Han Zhao has two nicknames, "Folding Stocking Line" and "Monk Shaved Hair", which means that his knowledge is "not an inch long".
In October of the first year of Tongguang (923), Han Zhao was appointed as the Minister of Civil Affairs and was responsible for the selection and performance evaluation of officials at all levels. Not surprisingly, Han Zhaoguang accepted bribes, bent the law for personal gain, made such big moves and looked so ugly that he triggered a collective petition.
These petitioners were all official state civil servants with culture, knowledge, and integrity, so they even wrote a poem satirizing Han Zhao:
"Jiamei Qiong Shu, the servant's flesh and blood;
Guiding Jiang Qingcheng, serving the family affection;
In the two states of Guolang, the minister stayed on his own;
Bapeng gathered the wall, and the minister did not hesitate. "
The first half of the sentence is all about place names, and the second half is a sneer at Han Zhao, the Minister of Civil Affairs, pointing out that the country's political resources have been squandered by him.
This incident shocked the court. Wang Zongyan also felt that Han Zhao had gone a little too far, so he summoned Han Zhao to the palace for tea. Han Zhao was not ashamed of his words and said righteously: "These people who use the back door and rely on connections are all relatives and friends of the queen mother, concubine, and uncle. None of them are relatives of me, Han Zhao!"
As a result, Wang Zongyan remained silent and speechless, and it was settled at this time.
5. Ouyang Huang, the eunuch, because he thought his house was small, deliberately set fire to it at night, burning the military camp where he lived and hundreds of nearby houses to the ground. The next day, he ordered the craftsmen to rebuild on the ruins. In this way, hundreds of houses were occupied by ordinary people. Wang Zongyan turned a blind eye to this and didn't ask anything.
6. Xu Yanqiong and Xu Yangui, brothers of Concubine Xu and uncle of Wang Zongyan. On his deathbed, Wang Jian earnestly warned not to let the Xu brothers lead troops. However, after Wang Jian's death, Xu Yanqiong was appointed as the commander of the capital's cavalry army, replacing Wang Zongbi and taking control of the military power in the capital. He "relies on power" and everyone will be unjust.
Xu Yanqiong chose the best location in the capital, built a luxurious villa, and placed a wide range of exotic flowers and plants, especially the peony, the national flower of the Tang Dynasty. However, peonies are not produced in Chengdu. He heard that there was a peony in the monastery of Dongcheng Village in Qinzhou, so he spent a lot of money to buy it, transported it for three thousand miles, transplanted it to his courtyard, and then invited the emperor to Relatives of the country come to the house to watch and show off.
After Wang Zongyan came, he joked with his uncle, whether out of jealousy or disdain, and wrote the word "Meng" on the wall of his uncle's house. In Shu, "Meng Wei is not good". If the incident happened today, he should be inscribed "hot chicken".
Xu Yanqiong was very good at flattering horses. Instead of being angry, he ordered someone to frame the word "Meng" with bright red silk and satin to show his favor. "This is the word given by the emperor himself!" It was exactly the same as Gao Jichang's embroidery of Li Cunxu's handprint.
Coincidentally, after the demise of the former Shu, it was Meng Zhixiang who established the later Shu. When Meng Zhixiang first entered Chengdu, he lived in Xu Yanqiong's villa. People say that the word "Meng" on the wall is a sign from somewhere.
7. Pan Zaiying, son of Prime Minister Pan Kang. He first hugged the eunuch Tang Wenqi's thigh, and leaked the secret to Wang Zongbi during "Tang Wenqi's conspiracy". Later, he hugged Wang Zongyan's thigh together with Han Zhao and Gu Zaixun, and often accompanied Wang Zongyan on banquets. He was best at lewd lyrics and songs, and instigated Wang Zongyan's great behavior. When he was dissolute, he often advised Wang Zongyan to kill those who advised him, because these people were too annoying and always disturbed the emperor's elegance.
8. Xiao Huaiwu was originally just a security captain (a small courtyard envoy, formerly a military patrol officer). Later he became Wang Zongyan's spy intelligence chief and established a spy agency with thousands of people called the "Trouble-seeking Group". Specializing in spying on all kinds of intelligence, and taking advantage of opportunities to extort, frame, and frame Xiao Huaiwu, he became extremely wealthy. His luxurious residence and concubines were second to none at the time.
In order to establish his authority, Xiao Huaiwu killed innocent people indiscriminately, and everyone was afraid of him. A warlock who sold counterfeit medicine once came to Chengdu. Xiao Huaiwu wanted to learn his private secret recipe, but the warlock refused to give it to him, so Xiao Huaiwu ordered him to be beaten to death with sticks.
9. Zhang Ge, flattering superiors and bullying inferiors, narrow-minded. On the eve of the demise of the former Shu, he returned to worship the prime minister, and the first thing he did after returning to the prime minister was to beat Wang Lurou to death with a stick just because Wang Lurou was rude to him when he was demoted and exiled. Xu Ji, who was demoted together with Zhang Ge, said to others privately: "Zhang Gong is a talented person but has little knowledge. If he kills Lu Rou, who will dare to protect himself? This is the source of disaster."
As it is said at the end of "Ten Ministers in", all civil and military ministers in the DPRK and China look like this, so why worry about the unrest of the country?
Wang Zongyan, just wait and see.
In April of the second year of Tongguang (924), Qianshu welcomed a very important guest - Li Yan, the special envoy of the Later Tang Dynasty. The arrival of this person started a countdown to the demise of Qianshu.
