[Death of Guo Chongtao]
After Meng Zhixiang went on the road, Li Cunxu still felt uneasy. Maybe he just remembered that Meng Zhixiang and Guo Chongtao had a relatively close personal relationship. Previously, Meng Zhixiang recommended Guo Chongtao to join the Central Committee, and recently Guo Chongtao recommended Meng Zhixiang to go to Xichuan... Now I want to kill Guo Chongtao, Meng Zhixiang interceded on his behalf, and I gave Meng Zhixiang the task of investigating Guo Chongtao...
After thinking about it, Li Cunxu felt that he had done something stupid. What if the two of them join forces to separate Shu? "It's broken!" Li Cunxu slapped his forehead and hurriedly called for the eunuch, the type of person he trusted most, to carry out this task.
Li Cunxu found the eunuch Ma Yangui and ordered him to gallop into Chengdu to monitor Guo Chongtao's movements. Note that it is not to investigate his accusation of "rebellion", but to look at his performance. If Guo Chongtao is ordered to lead the army, just give it up; if Guo Chongtao dares to delay, no matter what the reason, he will be killed!
Obviously, Li Cunxu still had some illusions about Guo Chongtao, leaving a certain amount of room for Guo Chongtao to survive.
This is different from the eunuchs' declaration. The eunuchs said that Guo Chongtao must not be allowed to leave Shu alive without leaving him any chance.
The eunuch Ma Yangui hurried to Queen Liu with an expression like "the sky is falling" and said anxiously: "Xiang Yansi has made it very clear about the dangers of Shu. Sooner or later there will be chaos. But the emperor is indecisive. If we continue to break up, we will inevitably suffer chaos! The Shu region is in danger, and a catastrophe is imminent. There is no time for it to happen. If something changes, how can we ask for instructions from Luoyang, which is three thousand miles away?"
Empress Liu quickly found Li Cunxu and asked Li Cunxu to make a decisive decision and kill Guo Chongtao.
Li Cunxu said that it was all hearsay, and he didn't have enough evidence. How could he kill the minister without permission?
"By the time you investigate clearly, it will be too late!"
Empress Liu could not persuade Li Cunxu, so she simply bypassed Li Cunxu and directly ordered Li Jizhen to kill Guo Chongtao preemptively. In the later Tang Dynasty, "three orders go together", that is, the emperor's edict, the queen's edict, and the empress dowager's edict, all have the same legal effect. So Empress Liu directly issued the order to Li Jiqi.
Meng Zhixiang was walking to the stone trench and had just settled down. He was struck by the scene and thought of Du Fu's "The Official in the Stone trench". He was filled with emotion and silently prayed in his heart, hoping that the world would be peaceful, the Holy Emperor would sit in the palace, honest officials would be honest, and the people would live and work in peace and contentment... ...In short, I hope the story in "Shi Hao Li" will never happen.
"In Shihao Village at dusk, there are officials who arrest people at night..."
Suddenly, there was a rapid knock on the door.
"It's weird, is this really 'someone is catching people at night' in the middle of the night?" Meng Zhixiang muttered to himself and opened the door. He saw that the visitor was out of breath, sweating profusely, and even He was panting and unable to speak.
With the help of the weak candlelight, Meng Zhixiang could clearly see the appearance of the visitor. He was the eunuch Ma Yangui.
Ma Yangui conveyed the Queen's order to Meng Zhixiang, "No need to investigate, just kill!" Without further delay, Meng Zhixiang was asked to go to Chengdu immediately without delay!
Meng Zhixiang could only pack his bags and travel overnight. Before leaving, Meng Zhixiang was extremely melancholy. He looked up at the moon in the stone trench and sighed, "The world is about to be in chaos!"
At the same time, Guo Chongtao was already preparing with Li Jizhen for the return of his class teacher to the DPRK. After research, it was decided to let Ren Wan temporarily stay in Chengdu to act as the envoy of Xichuan, waiting for Meng Zhixiang to arrive and complete the handover of work before returning to Luoyang. The rest (especially Guo Chongtao) must set off immediately.
On the day the army set off, the eunuch Ma Yangui rushed into Chengdu and showed Empress Liu's edict to Li Jiqi, "Your mother asked you to kill people."
Li Jicheng hurriedly hid the edict, "The army has already set off, and Guo Chongtao has not done anything unusual. How can it be like this? Stop talking. I will not kill a general without my father's official edict!"
The eunuch Li Congxi and others fell to their knees with a crash and cried bitterly: "The decree has been leaked for a long time. If you have the kindness of a woman, the consequences will be disastrous!"
The so-called leaks mainly meant that Ma Yangui had told Meng Zhixiang the content of the decree, and the close relationship between Meng Zhixiang and Guo Chongtao was well known. If Meng Zhixiang couldn't bear to take action, or the information leaked from Meng Zhixiang again, or leaked from here... In short, if people don't know, unless they don't do it themselves, this decree will be the arrow that leaves the string.
"What if Guo Chongtao gets wind of it and something changes on the way..."
"Yes, we must do nothing and never stop..."
"Could your own mother harm you? Listen to your mother."
All the eunuchs burst into tears, one from the bottom of their hearts, and the other from the bottom of their hearts, and finally persuaded Li Jiji.
Early the next morning, the eunuch Li Congxi conveyed Li Jiji's order and summoned Guo Chongtao, saying that there were military affairs to discuss. Guo Chongtao had no doubts and went without armor or weapons. He only took his sons Guo Tingjie, Guo Tingxin and a few followers with him.
Li Jiqi and other eunuchs laid an ambush, waiting for Guo Chongtao to throw himself into the trap. While waiting, Li Jiqi was on pins and needles. He couldn't bear the condemnation of his conscience and his face was extremely ugly.
Li Congxi and other eunuchs reminded him to be restrained, so as not to arouse Guo Chongtao's suspicion and spoil the matter!
Li Jiqi let out a long sigh, "I'm going upstairs first, you guys... do it." After saying that, he climbed up the stairs alone in great pain. Li Congxi and others winked at each other.
After a while, Guo Chongtao arrived at the scene, and Li Congxi and others pretended to be his informants and guides, leading him upstairs.
But as soon as Guo Chongtao walked up the steps, Li Jiji's personal bodyguard Li Huan launched a surprise attack from behind Guo Chongtao and shot Guo Chongtao in the head with a hammer hidden in his sleeve. Guo Tingxin and Guo Tingjie were also killed by the warriors in an instant.
Li Huan and others were all personal guards of the Crown Prince, masters of the inner circle, well-trained top killers. They killed Guo Chongtao and his son almost instantly, without even making any sound, and the three of them had no time to call for help. , scream and die. People outside didn't know that such a tragedy happened in the yard.
Li Jizhen's staff, Li Song, the governor of the city, did not know about it, so he went upstairs to ask Li Jizhen for an explanation.
I saw Li Jiji sitting alone in a tall building, covering his face and crying.
"The army is three thousand miles away. Without the emperor's edict, you kill the general without permission. How can you, my lord (Li Jizhen's current title is King of Wei), do such a dangerous move? Even if you want to kill him, you can wait until you get back. Can't we kill them again when we get to Luoyang?"
Li Song thought it was because Guo Chongtao didn't respect Li Jiji enough during the expedition to Shu, so he angered Li Jiji and caused his death. He did not know about the fatwas.
It was not convenient for Li Jiqi to say more, so he just said: "Sir, you are right. But what happened has already happened, how to remedy it? Please give me your advice, sir."
Li Song sighed and said there was only one way. He summoned several officials who were specifically responsible for drafting documents to go upstairs, and then "took the stairs upstairs" and removed the stairs. No one was allowed downstairs, and only a few close confidants were allowed to stand guard in the yard. There were only Li Jiji, Li Song and a few clerks.
Several people drafted a fake edict to kill Guo Chongtao, then stamped it with a temporary imitation of the Zhongshu Province seal made of wax, and then showed it to the entire army. Only then did the military morale be temporarily stabilized. Li Jizhen appointed Ren Wan to replace Guo Chongtao and take charge of military affairs.
The fawning staff and officials who used to surround Guo Chongtao fell apart and flew away when the disaster came. Only his secretary Zhang Li went to the Wei Prince's Mansion where Guo Chongtao was killed to mourn and pay homage.
