[The Death of Guo Chongtao 5 made too many enemies]
As analyzed in the previous article, the reason why Li Cunxu trusted the eunuchs was to use the eunuchs to suppress the elders and consolidate the imperial power. It can be said that the "eunuch line" is Li Cunxu's ulterior basic national policy. In order to fight for power, Guo Chongtao became enemies of the eunuchs and squeezed each other out. From a strategic perspective, Guo Chongtao was bound to die. He was bucking the trend.
In order to fight for power, Guo Chongtao not only offended the eunuch forces, but also offended the actor forces.
For example, after Li Cunxu took control of Bianzhou, the actor Zhou Za was lost and found. Zhou Za asked Li Cunxu to give two official positions as governors to repay the actors Chen Jun and Chu Deyuan of the Later Liang Dynasty, and Li Cunxu agreed. Guo Chongtao hurriedly advised him, and it was not until more than half a year later that Li Cunxu fulfilled his original promise and granted the two actors the title of governor.
Through this incident, the actors also gritted their teeth towards Guo Chongtao.
Objectively speaking, Guo Chongtao's offending the actor is different from offending the eunuch. Offending the eunuch is basically a conflict of interest and a struggle for power and profit, while offending the actor is due to the constraints of conscience and morality. It cannot be regarded as a flaw of Guo Chongtao.
But no matter what purpose Guo Chongtao had, the result was the same, that is, he deeply offended Li Cunxu's favored actor forces.
In addition to Li Cunxu's two most favored forces - eunuchs and actors, Guo Chongtao also offended the civil service group many times.
The first is to squeeze out competitors that pose potential threats to itself.
For example, when they invaded Bianzhou, Privy Councilor Guo Chongtao came with the army, and Prime Minister Douluge and others stayed in Weizhou, so Li Cunxu asked Guo Chongtao to temporarily concurrently serve as prime minister.
After about half a month, Prime Minister Doulu Ge came to Bianzhou from Weizhou. In the past half month, Guo Chongtao's status as "prime minister" has been fully recognized, and all tasks have been carried out in an orderly manner under the leadership of Guo Chongtao. Douluge has just arrived, he is unfamiliar with the place, and his eyes are dark. He can be used as a decoration and is only responsible for signing. Guo Chongtao is still responsible for all "prime minister" work.
As mentioned before, the prime ministers Douluge and Lu Rubi themselves were incompetent political vassals. Although they were prime ministers, they were very weak. In front of the powerful Guo Chongtao, the "prime minister" was in name only, and the real power was controlled by Guo Chongtao alone.
For another example, after the overthrow of the Later Liang Dynasty, some people said that although Guo Chongtao worked hard and made great achievements, he came from a humble background and did not know the operation of the central court. They suggested that Li Cunxu appoint officials who had worked in the central court during the Tang Dynasty. Firstly, they could be political vases, and secondly, they could also solve practical problems. question.
So someone recommended to Li Cunxu Xue Yangui, Zuocheng, the Minister of the Tang Dynasty, and Li Qi, the Prince Shaobao.
Guo Chongtao was greatly frightened, so he criticized Xue Yangui for being superficial, vain, and flashy, and accused Li Qi of being narrow-minded, insidious, and cunning... Subsequently, Guo Chongtao gave his favorite candidate: Zhao Guangyin, the younger brother of Zhao Guangfeng, the "Six Ministers Carrying the Coffin" . Prime Minister Douluge also recommended Wei Shuo, Wei Xiu's son.
Wei said that he was introverted, low-key and cautious; while the Zhao Guangyin recommended by Guo Chongtao himself was frivolous and pushy. History does not have a high evaluation of these two people. To put it mildly, they are not worthy of their duties, they occupy their seats and do nothing for others...
These two people, like Prime Minister Douluge, were very weak. Guo Chongtao bossed them around, so they could only obey his orders and let Guo Chongtao govern.
In the final analysis, evading the prime minister only offends a handful of people. What really made Guo Chongtao offend the entire civil service group was the large-scale layoffs and salary reduction campaign.
Li Cunxu intended to reduce expenditures on the three public affairs due to serious fiscal deficits. The most immediate method was of course to lay off large numbers of people, which was euphemistically called the elimination of redundant officials. This thorny task was left to Guo Chongtao to handle.
There is no doubt that this is an offending job. After a series of drastic layoffs, demotions, and salary cuts, all civil and military officials in the dynasty turned their attention to Guo Chongtao.
During this period, Douluge and Wei Shuo once said to Guo Chongtao privately: "Guo Ziyi's ancestral home is Daibei, and he later moved to Huayin. Your family has lived in Yanmen for generations. Could it be that you are a descendant of Guo Ziyi?"
In fact, this is Doulu Ge and Wei Shuo sincerely disgusting Guo Chongtao. At first it sounds like flattery, but in reality it's just insulting him without using any curse words.
Because Guo Chongtao came from a humble background, he was not from a famous family at all, and he had nothing to do with Guo Ziyi. At that time, the Bei and Yanmen areas were the northern frontier of the empire, bordering the northern barbarians and equivalent to remote mountainous areas. Douluge and Wei Shuo, who are from really famous families, sincerely use their ancestral home and family status to insult Guo Chongtao. What they really want to express is: you are a country bumpkin from a remote country!
Guo Chongtao was stunned by "at first hearing". He actually climbed up the pole seriously and said seriously: "Hey - if you didn't tell me, I almost forgot. I heard my father said that our family He really has something to do with Guo Ziyi, he and Guo Ziyi are only four generations apart."
"Yo——" Douluge and Wei Shuo simply played like monkeys to the end, pretending to be surprised and pleasantly surprised, "So, you are Guo Ziyi's grandson?"
"Great-grandson... great-great-grandson?"
"Yes, yes, grandson's grandson!"
"This person needs a grand introduction. He is the grandson of Guo Ziyi's grandson. This grandson..."
Douluge and Wei Shuo teased each other and cursed without using any curse words. This story was later used for reference by Xiao Yueyue, a cross talk artist.
Not only did Guo Chongtao fail to recognize the sincerity of the banter between the two, but from then on he really regarded himself as "the queen of Guo Ziyi" and often made fun of others based on their family background. When passing through Xingping in the expedition to Shu, I also made a special trip to pay homage to Guo Ziyi's tomb.
In this round of mass layoffs, Guo Chongtao dismissed and demoted some officials with political achievements and talents. The reason was that they were from humble backgrounds. Guo Chongtao talked to them and did not shy away from it. He said bluntly to them: "I know you You have outstanding abilities and outstanding political achievements, but just because you come from a humble background, I dare not use you at will, lest you be ridiculed by the upper class!"
Those who are retained and promoted are basically the so-called "queen from famous families". They often have a false reputation but no real talent and learning.
Guo Chongtao wants to build a celebrity system based on family background and protect the vested interest groups represented by him. This move is both ridiculous and counterintuitive.
It is not difficult to offend one person, but it is difficult to offend almost everyone. Guo Chongtao did it.
Guo Chongtao offended the meritorious veterans Li Cunxu was afraid of, such as Li Cunshen and Li Siyuan;
Guo Chongtao also offended the eunuchs and actors favored by Li Cunxu;
The civil service group that Guo Chongtao represents and that he relies on for survival has also been offended by him...
Among them, the strongest backlash was of course the more powerful group of eunuchs and actors. They often made slanderous remarks in front of Li Cunxu and slandered Guo Chongtao.
Guo Chongtao also realized that the danger was approaching and made some efforts to save himself.
