After Guo Chongtao was killed, Li Jizhen asked Ren Yuan to take over Panxia again and lead the army instead of Guo Chongtao.
When Kang Yanxiao rebelled, Li Jiji summoned Ren Wan overnight. Ren Wan had just fallen asleep when the eunuch Li Yanan ordered him to go directly to the bedside to wake him up. Ren Wan jumped out of bed with a "pop" sound. He didn't even have time to put on his clothes (he was wearing pajamas, not running naked) and ran to see Li Ji. He was in trouble and was entrusted with the important task of quelling the rebellion.
Ren Wan was both civil and military, and his reputation was well-deserved. Within a month, Kang Yanxiao was captured alive.
Immediately afterwards, Li Jiji committed suicide. Ren Wan had no choice but to become a successor again and led the army back to the court.
In addition to the 60,000 troops who attacked Shu to maintain order, Ren Wan brought back more than 20,000 elite troops. All of them recognized Li Siyuan's legitimate ruling status and swore allegiance to him.
Li Siyuan greatly appreciated Ren Wan's preservation efforts and immediately appointed him as prime minister and judge of the third division.
After Douluge and Wei Shuo were demoted from the court, the newly established Li Siyuan court ushered in a serious political struggle. We can regard it as the aftermath of "harvesting reeds". At first glance, it seems confusing, but it The logic is actually clear and simple, that is, An Zhongjie’s political layout.
Compared with the fierce and passionate military conflicts, political struggles are often more secretive and slightly boring. Therefore, when this book talks about political struggles, in order to take care of the storytelling as much as possible, it will focus on extracting the more interesting stories, and then directly present the essential logic of the struggle and point out the context of the struggle, without sticking to the superficial running accounts.
In the "Post-Reed Harvest" movement, An Chongjie found an effective helper - the insidious and cunning villain Kong Xun. He regarded him as a confidant and obeyed Kong Xun's words. Of course, Kong Xun also stabbed An Zhongjia behind his back, but this is a story for later. In the early days of this political struggle, the two were still good friends who worked together.
The two men jointly led the privy envoys and launched a comprehensive attack on the "Prime Minister Gang" headed by Ren Wan. At the same time, An Zhongjie also established a new "Duanming Palace Bachelor" to divide the power of the Prime Minister. Through a series of dazzling operations, An Chongjie finally gained power.
After several rounds of competition, Ren Wan was defeated and realized the power of An Zhonghui Group, so he took the initiative to resign. I couldn't afford to offend him, so I couldn't afford to hide. However, Ren Wan still did not see through the political struggle. Political games are not allowed to leave midway. There are only two ways to leave: either to be the last person standing, good luck, and eat chicken tonight; or to be the last person to be killed. people. Ren Wan eventually died at the hands of An Zhonghui.
Is An Chongjie the final winner of this game? No, he also died shortly afterwards.
This political struggle in the Li Siyuan era can be regarded as the integration and continuation of the political struggle in the Later Liang Dynasty. Because the Li Cunxu era only existed for three years, and it began with strong military intervention. The process was the two major forces, Guo Chongtao and the eunuchs, snatching the power of the Later Liang Dynasty. As a result, the eunuchs destroyed Guo Chongtao, and Li Siyuan destroyed the eunuchs.
Therefore, the political struggle in Li Siyuan's era was not a continuation of Li Cunxu's era, but a continuation of the Later Liang era.
Below we will briefly describe this bloody political struggle:
Ren Wan
The reason why Li Siyuan appointed Ren Yuan as prime minister was, on the one hand, to stabilize the morale of the army. After all, he had more than 20,000 elite troops in his hands, and he was also responsible for pacifying Shu. If he were forcibly removed at this time, he would be like Li Cunxu. It would be very unwise to remove Guo Chongtao; on the other hand, Ren Wan had a good personal relationship with Li Siyuan. Li Siyuan did not classify him as "Li Cunxu's remaining party", but listed him as a comrade who could win over.
According to historical records, it took Ren Wan only one month to get the new government's work on track. "Within one month, the treasury was fully funded, the court was repaired, and the military and civilians were well-served." According to this record in "Old History of the Five Dynasties: Biography of Ren Wan", Comrade Ren Wan single-handedly completed the construction of the four socialist modernizations...
As the old saying goes, the serious and authoritative official history can occasionally be naughty, romantic, "fly down three thousand feet", and "inhuman".
In short, Comrade Ren Wan has a positive work attitude, superior abilities and outstanding achievements. There is nothing wrong with Li Siyuan's operation.
The conflict between Ren Wan and An Zhongjie can be summarized as one mountain cannot tolerate two tigers. In fact, the two of them have a lot in common. If the occasion, identity, and time were changed, the two could become close friends. The relationship between Ren Wan and An Chongjie is very similar to that of Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu. Since Yu is born, why is Liang born?
The advantage of both of them is that they both regard building an empire as their own responsibility, are active and strict in their work, and are typical workaholics; their shortcomings are also very similar, that is, in order to better serve the public, they have unlimited desire for power, "although they are worried about the country , and it’s all about fame.” This is the fundamental reason why the two are incompatible.
It's really a pity. Both of them had good intentions, both sincerely assisted Li Siyuan, and both wanted to build the Later Tang Dynasty into a unified and powerful empire and restore the glory of the Tang Dynasty. But both of them died unexpectedly in the end and did not have a good death.
Once, An Zhongjie came to Ren Wan's house as a guest. He originally wanted to ease the sharp conflicts and sit down and talk calmly. The banquet was quite harmonious at the beginning. Ren Wan called out his concubine and sang and danced to cheer up, " "There is a prostitute who is good at singing", An Zhongjie took a look at it, so he asked Ren Wan for it, but Ren Wan refused. As a result, the conflict between the two people not only did not ease, but deepened.
At work, the two compete for power and gain everywhere. Ren Wan's request for travel expenses should be approved by the Ministry of Household Affairs, which meant that the power was placed under the power of the prime minister, while An Zhongjie strived to have it issued by the Privy Council, which meant that he held this power in his own hands. As a result, the two of them argued endlessly in front of Li Siyuan, especially Ren Wan, who turned red with anger and raised his voice to yell, which was extremely rude.
Li Siyuan was a military commander, so he didn't take it seriously and didn't take it to heart at all. However, after he retired from the court, an old palace maid asked Li Siyuan: "Who was the person who was arguing with An Zhongjie just now?"
"It's the prime minister." Li Siyuan replied casually.
The old palace maid curled her lips and said: "When I was young and served the emperor in Chang'an, I have never seen a dignified prime minister dare to behave like this in front of the emperor. He clearly takes the emperor seriously!"
Don't be afraid of not doing good things, just be afraid of not having good people. After being provoked by the old palace maid, Li Siyuan suddenly became furious. As mentioned above, he was a weak rebel and usurped power, and he was most afraid of others questioning his authority.
With a few words from the old palace maid, Ren Wan was dismissed as prime minister, replaced by the prince and Taibao, and withdrew from the core circle of power. More than a month later, Ren Yuan Shangshu requested to retire and return to his hometown, and Li Siyuan agreed.
Resignation, retirement... political games do not allow early retirement unless you die.
