[The Death of Guo Chongtao 4 Gelding]
Initially, Guo Chongtao, Meng Zhixiang, and the eunuch Li Shaohong were the "three giants of Zhongmen envoys". Among them, Guo Chongtao had the smallest position and power and was always under Li Shaohong. Moreover, in terms of qualifications, reputation, personal relationship with Li Cunxu, etc., Li Shaohong also completely crushed Guo Chongtao.
When Li Cunxu was planning to establish the Later Tang Dynasty, he wanted both civil servants and eunuchs to serve as privy envoys to check each other. At that time, the privy envoys had the greatest power. Guo Chongtao, as the "first brother among civil servants", became the undisputed candidate for the privy envoys of the Later Tang Dynasty. One of the people, and the eunuch is naturally Li Shaohong.
Because Li Shaohong was superior to Guo Chongtao and could be regarded as Guo Chongtao's old leader and superior, Guo Chongtao asked Li Shaohong to serve as the envoy of Xuanhui, and let Zhang Juhan, the eunuch who oversaw the Zhaoyi army, be on the same rank as him. A typical person who rises up and down secretly, and is an envoy of the Hui Dynasty, can be simply understood as the "house of internal affairs", or the often jokingly called "eunuch in charge". It is a typical "job is simple and the position is honorable", and it is a position that is very suitable for retirement.
The eunuch Zhang Juhan's qualifications, reputation and other aspects were crushed by Guo Chongtao, and he was promoted by Guo Chongtao, so he would not pose a threat to Guo Chongtao's status at all. In fact, the Privy Council was almost controlled by Guo Chongtao alone. Zhang Juhan could only agree with him and look up to Guo Chongtao without any power in his hands.
With a little trick of rising up and down quietly, Guo Chongtao took over the power. But he also deeply offended Li Shaohong.
In order to appease Li Shaohong, Guo Chongtao set up an "internal envoy" to be in charge of the finance of the third department and handed over this fat job of managing money to Li Shaohong. But Li Shaohong was not relieved because of this, and he always hated Guo Chongtao in his heart.
It is worth mentioning that Zhang Juhan, the insignificant Privy Councilor, was kept in obscurity due to Guo Chongtao's strong suppression. It was not until Guo Chongtao was no longer around that he did a major thing: tampering with the imperial edict and changing "Wang Yan and his party" "For "Wang Yan's family", thousands of lives were saved.
During the war to destroy the Liang Dynasty, Guo Chongtao's opinions often contradicted those of the eunuch Li Shaohong, and the final practice showed that Guo Chongtao was correct. After Li Cunxu took control of Bianzhou, he could not conceal his inner arrogance and said publicly: "Thankfully I listened. After hearing Guo Chongtao’s advice, if I had listened to Li Shaohong, I would have died without a burial place!”
We can try to think about Li Shaohong's face at that time. The conflict between him and Guo Chongtao became increasingly irreconcilable.
After Li Cunxu destroyed the Liang Dynasty, he favored the eunuchs, and the eunuchs, actors and actresses also fawned over him, leading Li Cunxu to corruption. Guo Chongtao often gave advice, which offended all the eunuchs, actors and actresses.
When Guo Chongtao and Li Jiji went to conquer Shu, they once said to Li Jiji: "His Royal Highness is the crown prince. When you sit down in the Ninth Five-Year Plan a hundred years from now, you will eradicate the abuses of this dynasty and eradicate the eunuchs." Cancer, courtesy to civil servants... As the saying goes, a gelding cannot be ridden again, and a gelded horse cannot be used again, let alone a gelded man!"
Not to mention that his ideas are not comparable to those of Cui Yin, but the second half of his sentence is completely a personal attack and a great insult to the eunuchs.
Walls have ears, and these words soon reached the ears of the eunuchs. The eunuchs were so angry that they gnashed their teeth and said to each other: "We must not let Guo Chongtao come back alive!" So, the eunuchs worked up and down, and really let Guo Chongtao die in Shu. .
In the process of conquering Shu, Li Jiji became a decoration. Guo Chongtao had the final say on all affairs in the army, no matter how big or small, and Li Jiji was only responsible for signing. (The recruitment system, the replacement of officials, the planning of the teacher's training, and the military instructions are all out of respect for Tao and are just a succession of orders)
Since the conquest of Shu, Guo Chongtao's emotional intelligence has begun to go offline. Although it is Li Cunxu's public appointment and commitment to command the entire army, he must not be arrogant and do not use bean bags as dry food. Li Jiji is just a decoration, but even more so. Crown Prince, don't take him too seriously.
Around Li Jiji, there were eunuchs Li Congxi, Li Yanan, Lu Zhirou, etc., who served as the generalissimo's secretaries and deputies. However, the generalissimo Li Jiji had nothing to deal with at all. After taking over Chengdu, Li Jiji's general manager The commander's office is still empty of people, but Guo Chongtao is full of people. After bribery and leaving, there is an endless stream of people with whom he has connections.
The generals and ministers who surrendered in the former Shu would first pay homage to Guo Chongtao's dock, and then pay homage to Li Jijian; even when Wang Zongbi surrendered, he first bribed Guo Chongtao with a large sum of money.
The gifts given to Guo Chongtao were all gold and silver treasures piled up like a hill, but the gifts given to Li Jiqi were only small items such as spittoons and whisks. Don't be too insulting!
Li Jiji was quite calm, at least pretending to be nonchalant on the surface. However, the eunuch Li Congxi and others were so ashamed and angry that they slandered Guo Chongtao more than once in front of Li Jiji, "Does he still have you in his eyes? You are nothing in his heart! He is going to rebel, you If he becomes emperor in the future, will he be able to obey your orders and exercise control?"
Over time, Li Jiqi's view of Guo Chongtao also became somewhat shaken.
After entering Chengdu, Guo Chongtao lived in Wang Zongbi's home. Wang Zongbi selected the best among Wang Zongyan's concubines, selected a large number of role beauties, and took out a large number of palace treasures, all of which were given to Guo Chongtao and asked Guo Chongtao to appoint him as the governor of Xichuan. However, Guo Chongtao actually appointed Wang Zongbi as the military envoy to Xichuan without consulting Li Jizhen.
Immediately afterwards, Wang Zongbi and Guo Chongtao's son Guo Yanjiao worked up and down, and ordered the former Shu surrendered generals and ministers to collectively petition and jointly petition, requesting that Comrade Guo Chongtao be allowed to stay in Shu and be the highest official of Shu, because we Shu people only trust Guo Chongtao. .
Unauthorized agreement with Wang Zongbi to serve as the Governor of Xichuan made Li Jijie take a breath of cold air and say hello to Guo Chongtao's loyalty. However, instigating the surrender of generals and ministers to jointly petition and forcing the central government to retain Guo Chongtao left Li Jijie with a broken back. Chill. Guo Chongtao's approach not only broke through Li Jiji's psychological bottom line, but also broke through Li Cunxu's bottom line.
The mainstream view is that Guo Chongtao's desire to stay in Shu was the fundamental reason for his genocide.
What Li Cunxu was most worried about happened. Guo Chongtao, the commander-in-chief of the Conquest of Shu, really wanted to separate the Shu territory and claim kingship.
Previously, the eunuch Li Congxi and others spoke ill of Guo Chongtao in front of Li Jizhen, but Li Jixian could still maintain a clear mind and defend Guo Chongtao. There is a precedent for Guo Chongtao accepting bribes on a large scale. Just like when Liang was just destroyed, it was just to appease the generals and ministers, dispel their doubts, and protect the country's wealth. It is inevitable that Guo Chongtao has a large family, after all, he is the The actual commander-in-chief of the Conquest of Shu must have a lot of official duties... In short, Guo Chongtao is a trustworthy and good comrade.
But when Li Jiji received a joint letter from former Shu generals, his views on Guo Chongtao were seriously shaken. Li Jiqi said to Guo Chongtao: "The Holy Emperor today relies on you as much as Hengshan and Huashan. How could he be willing to abandon you in this barbaric and barren land? I can't be the master."
The Shu people tried to persuade Guo Chongtao to stay, but Li Jiji flatly refused. This incident became a landmark event in the break between Li Jiji and Guo Chongtao.
