Li Cunxu's half-brother Li Cunji and half-brother Li Cunque fled to the mountains south of Luoyang and hid in a farmer's house. After receiving a missing person notice from Li Siyuan, they reported it to Huo Yanwei and An Chongjie.
The two discussed privately and said that of course the lord must create a character of a loyal minister and a wise king, and always say some high-sounding words. Those of us who work under his subordinates must not be stubborn.
"Please make it clear, Lord An."
"What did the master say? We want to collect all the princes..."
"Yes, send it to Luoyang."
"Yes, if he is alive, he will be sent back for comfort, but if he is dead... he will be buried. You are carefully touching and gathering all the princes... Let's put it this way, you must gather all the people who have the right to inherit the throne... If he is dead, bury him."
Huo Yanwei suddenly realized, "But my lord is kind-hearted. We must do this kind of thing cleanly, let alone report it in advance."
"I understand so quickly!"
Therefore, An Chongjie sent assassins to secretly assassinate Li Cunji and Li Cunque.
Now we can expand on the previous question in detail: Li Cunba and Li Cunwo.
Li Cunba was ordered to do so at the critical moment and had just gone to Zhenhezhong. Within a month, news came from Luoyang that Li Cunxu had been murdered. This was a good opportunity for the soldiers and people in the river to avenge their old master Zhu Youqian. Li Cunba was so frightened that he quickly fled to Taiyuan with a thousand personal guards.
By the time he ran to Taiyuan, almost all of his followers had disappeared, leaving only one subordinate named Kang Congben, who was always loyal and unyielding.
Li Cunba knew that the situation was over, so he shaved off his hair, put on a monk's robe, and begged to see Taiyuan Inspector Li Yanchao, just to save his life.
Li Yanchao took him in.
Li Yanchao was the eldest son of Li Cunshen. After Li Cunshen's death, Li Cunxu recalled his merits and promoted Li Yanchao to be the governor of Fenzhou. When Weizhou rebelled, he asked Li Yanchao to serve as an inspector in Taiyuan. In other words, Li Yanchao from Taiyuan and Li Cunba from Hezhong were both ordered to fly to important towns just a month ago when they were in danger.
There were two eunuchs who held real power in Taiyuan. Their names were not left in the historical records. They only said that one was named Lu and the other was named Zheng. One was in charge of the military power in Taiyuan, and the other was in charge of the warehouse in Taiyuan. After Li Cunba arrived in Taiyuan, he conspired with the two men to assassinate Taiyuan inspector Li Yanchao and Taiyuan stayer Zhang Xian, and then separate Taiyuan and then Hedong.
Unexpectedly, the news leaked out and Li Yanchao learned about it. Li Yanchao then discussed with Zhang Xian and planned to preemptively eliminate the three people.
Zhang Xian said that he was just a weak scholar and did not want to get involved in the muddy waters of political struggles. He only needed to do his job well and be loyal to the emperor, and he did not dare to get involved in other things.
"Which emperor? Which emperor do you want to be loyal to now? Li Cunxu is dead. Although Li Siyuan has not yet proclaimed himself emperor, he is unanimously supported by everyone. Now Li Cunba wants to steal the land and break the earth to become king. You will stay in Taiyuan to guard the most good area. Is it right? Are you indifferent?"
Zhang Xian is pedantic and insists that as long as he keeps his integrity and protects himself wisely, he can survive in troubled times.
"If you don't kill them, won't they kill you?"
"That's your general's business. I'm just a scholar. Don't mention this to me again!"
Seeing that Zhang Xian was so stubborn, Li Yanchao had no choice but to take action alone. That night, Li Yanchao led his troops to preemptively kill Li Cunba and the two eunuchs Lu and Zheng.
Li Yanchao's men believed that Zhang Xian was indifferent because he had colluded with Li Cunba and others, so they planned to kill Zhang Xian together with him. After hearing the news, Zhang Xian escaped overnight and fled to Yizhou. Later, he was sentenced to death by Li Siyuan for abandoning the city.
Before Li Yanchao's rebellion, Zhang Xian's secretary Zhang Zhao advised him to adapt to the current situation, persuade him to advance, and express his submission and allegiance to the would-be emperor Li Siyuan. Zhang Xian also refused. After Zhang Xian escaped, the soldiers caught Zhang Zhao, pushed him in front of Li Yanchao, and asked that his traitor comrade be killed.
Li Yanchao said that Comrade Zhang Zhao was an upright and good man, ordered his release, and asked him to come out to pacify the people and help maintain order in Taiyuan.
Zhang Xian was sentenced to death, and his youngest son Zhang Ning was also killed.
Zhang Xian is miserable and pitiful. According to historical records, he was a man of few desires and aloof from the world. He only read the books of sages and did not listen to what was going on outside the window. His only hobbies are collecting books and reading. There are as many as 5,000 volumes in his home. In addition, he also likes to play the piano and cultivate his sentiment. Don’t drink alcohol and don’t form gangs. When having banquets with guests, he never talks about politics and only talks about poems and songs, which is quite elegant.
However, as the old saying goes, people cannot help themselves when they are in the world. In troubled times, no one can survive alone. Of course, there were political evergreens like Feng Dao at that time who could have a good death, but there was an important prerequisite: they did not hold real power in their hands. Only those who do not hold real power can truly stand aloof from the world.
However, Zhang Xian stayed behind in Taiyuan, sitting in the most important town of the empire with extremely important political and military significance, so it was impossible to stay away from the political whirlpool. Holding the chips in his hand, but not wanting to participate in the gambling, this is the sad thing about Zhang Xian.
The pedantic Zhang Xian has been used as a pawn in political struggles many times. He has always resigned himself to fate, believing that as long as he does his job well, everything will be fine. He really doesn't understand the essence of political struggle.
Afterwards, Li Siyuan defended him, and his eldest son Zhang Shousu later became an official in the Later Jin Dynasty, reaching the rank of Shangshu.
Some history books also say that it was Li Cunwo who united with the two eunuchs Lu and Zheng to plot the rebellion. It is also said that after Li Cunwo arrived in Taiyuan, he falsely claimed that he was following the imperial edict from the emperor (Li Cunxu) to take over Taiyuan. Everyone asked to see the edict, but Li Cunwo only took out an arrow and said that the emperor only gave it as a token and that time was tight and there was no time to write the edict.
Everyone was very suspicious, and they saw that the horse Li Cunwo was riding had even its accessories taken off, and it looked like it was walking in a hurry and in an awkward manner, so they became even more suspicious. Li Cunwo secretly contacted Lu and Zheng privately, and was killed by Li Yanchao.
"Zi Zhi Tong Jian" says that a man named Li Cunzhou came to Taiyuan from Luoyang and conspired to cause trouble with Lu and Zheng. He was killed after the incident was revealed. This "Li Cunzhou" is not found in "Family Biography", nor is it recorded in any historical materials. It only appears once. I personally guess that "Li Cunzhou" is probably a typo of "Wo". It comes from Luoyang, which is also consistent with Li Cunwo. itinerary.
In short, we don’t have to worry about whether it is Li Cunba, Li Cunwo, or Li Cunzhou. The fact is that one of Li Cunxu’s prince brothers fled to Longxing’s hometown, trying to control Taiyuan, and then Hedong, and then make a comeback and repeat the Long March. , to restore the legacy of his father and brother, but was promptly strangled in the cradle by Li Yanchao.
