[Highlight Moment of The Death of Guo Chongtao 2]
Opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared. Meng Zhixiang avoided Taiyuan, making room for Guo Chongtao, giving Guo Chongtao more opportunities to get close to Li Cunxu and participate in more and more confidential military and political meetings. Guo Chongtao lived up to expectations, repeatedly offered good advice, and gave correct suggestions on many key issues, which was highly valued by Li Cunxu.
1. Know yourself and your enemy, retreat from Khitan, and take back Zhenzhou with the breeze on your sleeves
Zhang Wenli rebelled against Zhenzhou and colluded with the Khitans to go south. The army was greatly frightened, and all the generals were afraid of the enemy and refused to advance. All the generals requested to retreat to Weizhou temporarily to avoid the sharp attack of the Khitan, and retreated to Weizhou to protect Xu Tu's plan. Li Cunxu was hesitant, but Guo Chongtao firmly advocated attacking the Khitan. He pointed out that the Khitan was only tempted by Wangdu and others and came with a bluff. The strategic purpose was only to rob property and would not shed blood and sacrifice for Zhang Wenli and Wangdu. Once they encountered Setbacks will inevitably lead to a retreat, and once our army retreats, the river will no longer be mine!
Li Cunxu never expected that the person who shouted "Don't be a coward, do it for me" and "Go up and start a group" was actually a civil servant who had no power to restrain the chicken, and he was looking at the problem from a higher dimension, and compared with those warriors. Compared with each other, there is a gap in realm.
Li Cunxu listened to Guo Chongtao's advice and headed north at full speed to face the Khitan. Everything went as Guo Chongtao expected, and the Khitan turned around and left.
After Zhenzhou was recovered, Guo Chongtao was ordered to go to the city to take over, adapt, appease and other tasks. This is a fat and lucrative job. For example, public funds can be embezzled, and government treasury searches can be omitted or concealed. For another example, bribes can be accepted, bribes can be demanded, and extortion can occur. Out of fear, generals will inevitably pay bribes. In short, this work must be left to trusted comrades. Li Cunxu handed over the task of taking over Zhenzhou to Guo Chongtao.
After Guo Chongtao entered the city, he was very clean. He neither embezzled public funds nor accepted bribes. After work, he only went to the market to buy books. Guo Chongtao's noble character once again moved Li Cunxu. While Li Cunxu admired Guo Chongtao, he also praised Bole Meng Zhixiang.
2. With courage and strategy, rescue Yang Liu from the siege
Later Liang made a surprise attack on Weizhou, extended its tentacles to the north of the Yellow River, and raided the southern part of Weibo day and night, resulting in a serious lack of productivity and a serious shortage of military supplies for Li Cunxu. The morale of the Hedong Army was low, and pessimism spread. Everyone believed that Li Cunxu would be defeated sooner or later. To be defeated by Zhu Youzhen.
At that time, Guo Chongtao devoted himself to his work and could not sleep well. Li Cunxu was even more undressed and ready to go. However, things did not develop in a good direction due to their efforts. Wang Yanzhang captured Desheng Jiacheng in three days, Houliang took advantage of the victory and approached Yangliucheng, and Li Siyuan was trapped in Yunzhou, with no news at all...
The soldiers in Hedong were panic-stricken and were in danger of mutiny. Li Cunxu climbed up to the city and looked around, but he was at wits' end and almost fell into despair.
At this critical moment, Guo Chongtao proposed a strategy, which was to continue to detour eastward, go deep into the Shandong Peninsula, find a weakly defended place in the rear beam to cross the river, and rescue Li Siyuan of Yunzhou.
Later, Guo Chongtao was ordered to face the danger and led his general Mao Zhang and others to gallop through the night. Finally, they crossed the river from Bozhou and rushed to build a new city on the south bank. They worked day and night, working 24 hours a day, racing against time. According to the war game deduced by Guo Chongtao and Li Cunxu, Wang Yanzhang had 10 days to rush to support, so Li Cunxu was responsible for holding off Wang Yanzhang for as long as possible, while Guo Chongtao had to build a new city with military defense functions within 10 days.
As a result, Guo Chongtao only took 6 days to complete the project, while Wang Yanzhang arrived on the 9th day. A fierce exchange of fire ensued between the two sides.
Guo Chongtao forgot all about sleep and food, racing against time. He was really tired, so he sat on the pony and took a nap. He took a short rest before getting back to the busy construction site. One time, Guo Chongtao was sitting on a pony in the reeds and taking a nap (sleeping on a bed among the reeds). Suddenly he felt something cool in his trouser legs... If he peed, it should be hot, so how could it be cold? of? The people around helped him check and found that it turned out to be a snake. Guo Chongtao is so tired.
In the fierce battle that followed, Guo Chongtao, armed with tenacity and tenacity, commanded and dealt with the Houliang army that was several times larger than his own. He regarded death as home without fear, and finally supported Li Cunxu's reinforcements.
Li Cunxu then used the city as a springboard to lift the siege of Yang and Liu, and rescued Li Siyuan who was trapped in Yunzhou. Soon after, Li Siyuan led his army to surprise Bianzhou and destroyed the country in eight days.
Guo Chongtao's rush to build the new city was indispensable.
3. Promote a surprise attack against all opinions
After Duan Ning took command, he formulated a four-pronged counterattack to engulf mountains and rivers, aiming to eliminate Hedong with a fierce momentum. Li Cunxu looked sad and called the generals to discuss. Li Shaohong, a popular eunuch in power, put forward a proposal to draw a river as a boundary with Houliang, which was widely recognized and supported.
Only Guo Chongtao insisted on fighting to the end and offered his "left hook" plan to surprise Bianzhou.
Li Cunxu followed Guo Chongtao's advice and finally destroyed Liang on the 8th and unified the Central Plains.
Historical records evaluate Guo Chongtao's contribution in the war to destroy Liang, "Capturing Wang Yanzhang, executing the Liang family, and demoting Duan Ning, all of which were supported by Chongtao." Li Cunxu was able to take control of Luoyang, and Guo Chongtao made the greatest contribution.
4. Appease the surrendered generals and protect the country’s wealth
After the destruction of the Liang Dynasty, Guo Chongtao was at the height of his power in the Later Tang Dynasty and was highly regarded. Therefore, he became the target of bribery by the generals who surrendered to the Later Liang Dynasty. When Guo Chongtao took over Zhenzhou before, he would not accept any bribes. However, after he entered Bianzhou and Luoyang, he accepted all kinds of bribes without rejecting them.
Even his relatives and friends couldn't understand why Guo Chongtao suddenly became corrupt, so they couldn't help but question him face to face. Guo Chongtao said that the officialdom of the Later Liang Dynasty was corrupt, and the bribery trend was difficult to eradicate for a while. Nowadays, most of the princes in the Sifang vassal towns are generals of the Later Liang Dynasty. They have been our enemies for a long time, and they have just recently expressed their allegiance. In fact, deep down in their hearts, they are fearful and uneasy. If this happens If you resolutely refuse their bribes at this time, it will make them more uneasy and cause big problems. I am temporarily keeping it for the country first.
(But in the days of the Puppet Liang Dynasty, bribery became common. Today, the feudal lords and the old generals of Duoliang were all killed by my Lord with hooks. Once you change your face and become one of us, you will firmly refuse their invitations, and you will have nothing to fear! Hiding it in a private room is nothing more than public money.)
Just a few months later, Li Cunxu "had something to do in the southern suburbs", and the imperial government suffered a serious financial deficit and could not afford the expenses for the suburbs. At this time, Guo Chongtao fulfilled his promise of "hiding his private room, which is nothing more than public money" and transferred " He used all the money he had received from "bribes" to finance Li Cunxu's Jiaotian Ceremony. Not only did he not withhold a penny of the "illegal money", but he also dug into his own pocket.
Guo Chongtao is a person with ideals and ambitions, a person who has escaped from vulgar tastes, and an anti-vulgar person. Learn from Comrade Guo Chongtao!
5. Repeatedly admonish the king
In addition to offering advice and suggestions, Guo Chongtao also repeatedly advised Li Cunxu, and almost lost his life for this.
Li Cunxu could not be regarded as a pure foolish king or tyrant. He was also an ambitious young man and young hero with ideals and ambitions. He also longed to become Taizong of the Tang Dynasty and hoped to have Wei Zheng by his side.
Many times, the powerful Li Cunxu would feel ashamed and speechless in front of the upright Guo Chongtao. Sometimes he would show awe and avoidance of Guo Chongtao just like Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty feared Wei Zheng.
Li Cunxu wanted to build a large-scale construction project in the palace and build towers and pavilions on the pretext of avoiding the summer heat. He was not afraid of anything else but Guo Chongtao's advice, so he took the initiative to send a clever eunuch to "say hello" to Guo Chongtao privately, with the intention of making him accommodating and leaving a lasting impression for the emperor. To save face and make things convenient.
The eunuch conveyed Li Cunxu's message, to the general effect that it was hotter this year than last year, and I couldn't stand the heat anymore, so I built a summer building. There was an almost pleading tone in his words.
Guo Chongtao, however, did not show any dignity at all, saying that last year it was because of the fierce battle with the Houliang Dynasty that His Majesty was focused on attacking the bandits and had no mind to think about it. Now that the powerful enemy has been destroyed, Your Majesty, just "let your eyes and ears play, don't worry about the battle formation, even if you are on a high level." Hundreds of feet, nine feasts in the wide hall, I can't forget the heat today." In one sentence, Your Majesty, you have fallen!
Other imperial censors only went to court to advise the emperor after he committed an offense, but Li Cunxu went to Guo Chongtao to say hello before he committed an offense. Li Cunxu gave Guo Chongtao enough face in exchange for Guo Chongtao's selflessness.
After the construction of the project started, Guo Chongtao again appealed to Li Cunxu. Li Cunxu was poor and felt guilty, so he finally adopted the method of avoiding Guo Chongtao all day long and did not reply to his appeal. Rice is cooked.
Through this story, we can see Guo Chongtao's uprightness, and we can also see Li Cunxu's cuteness. He is like a primary school student who has not done his homework when facing the class teacher.
Guo Chongtao was promoted through many meritorious deeds, became a highly respected minister, and had great power in both the government and the public. He truly achieved the goal of "going from general to prime minister." Coupon free of death gold medal.
So far, what we have seen is basically the great, glorious, and correct side of Comrade Guo Chongtao, and the reason why he fell to the bottom at the peak moment of his life is also inseparable from his character weaknesses.
