Some people interpret it as Gao Jichang's repentance to the Bashu people, believing that he instigated the war, brought the flames of war to the Bashu people, and made the Shu people subjugated slaves, so he felt guilty towards the Bashu people.
Nonsense.
Then the people of Huainan deserve to be subjugated slaves? Conquering Shu is a sin, but conquering Huai is a merit?
This explanation is beautification and praise of Gao Jichang. This book is neither bragging nor discrediting (in fact, I really want to discredit him). The "fault" in Gao Jichang's words is the fault of the people of Jingnan under his rule. Because he believed that Li Cunxu easily destroyed Qianshu, doubled his strength, confidence, and ambition. The next step was to go south with the current and clean up Jingnan. He encouraged Li Cunxu to attack Shu, and in the end he led the war to Jingnan.
Liang Zhen, the great counselor, held the opposite view. He smiled easily and said to Gao Jichang: "There is no need to worry! After Li Cunxu obtained Shu, what doubled was not his ambition, but his arrogance. He must be even more arrogant and complacent. He was arrogant and extravagant, and even more unwilling to make progress, so he perished quickly. Li Cunxu's destruction of Qianshu was a blessing in disguise for Jingnan."
Gao Jichang's mind immediately flashed back to what he saw and heard in Luoyang, "Yes! What you said makes sense!"
Gao Jichang's nickname is "Gao Laizi", and his shamelessness is known to the world. After Shuping, he was so shameless that he asked Li Cunxu for Kui, Zhong, Wan and other states several times, "Your Majesty said so eloquently, didn't you say that you want to return the territory of these states to me, Jingnan."
Li Cunxu was a little undecided, yes, I said so... but the premise is that you fight it off yourself.
However, Gao Jichang had already figured out the true and false nature of Li Cunxu's court, and bribed Empress Liu, eunuchs, actors, and prime ministers Douluge and Wei Shuo in large quantities, especially Wei Shuo, who once lived in Jingnan and was an old friend of Gao Jichang. Therefore, he tried his best to favor Gao Jichang. As a result, there were voices inside and outside the court supporting the cession to Jingnan. Li Cunxu was under pressure and reluctantly agreed.
But before the edict was officially issued, there was the "Xingjiaomen Mutiny".
As mentioned earlier, Li Siyuan took control of Luoyang and made a weak claim, so political forces from all sides took the opportunity to extort money and make it difficult for the country to make money. When it comes to extortion and extortion, how can we miss Gao Jichang? This man has been a professional rogue for thirty years.
Previously, Gao Jichang had only shamelessly asked Li Cunxu for the three prefectures of Kui, Zhong and Wan. Now he took advantage of Li Siyuan's eagerness to stabilize the four sides and asked Li Siyuan for land in the five prefectures of Kui, Zhong, Wan, Gui and Xia. "I remembered. , the late emperor first promised to these five states..."
"I have never seen such a shameless person!" Li Siyuan was furious.
Some historical records say that Gao Jichang did not send troops during the expedition against Shu, but demanded land after the war; other historical records say that Gao Jichang sent troops but was defeated. No matter which theory is used, there is a consensus that Gao Jichang "has not made any achievements".
Prime Ministers Douluge and Wei Shuo also unanimously agreed to the request for land cession. Li Siyuan accepted Gao Jichang's request for land cession despite humiliation.
Later, Gao Jichang intensified his efforts. Shangshu asked the central court not to appoint governors, but to completely hand over the personnel appointment power of Kui, Zhong, Wan and other states to himself, and let his sons serve as governors of each state.
Theoretically speaking, although Jiedushi is the leader of the local military and government, he is usually only responsible for administration, military and part of the judiciary, taxation (local taxation), while personnel appointments and exemptions, taxation (national taxation) and other powers are still directly controlled by the central court. As for In terms of administration, military, justice, etc., Jiedushi absolutely cannot be willful, because there are deputy Jiedushi, military eunuchs, pushers, judges and other officials around him to share their power, and these people are basically dispatched by the central government. The authority of the "Jiedushi" has been greatly reduced.
This is the control system from the beginning of the design of the "Jiedushi" system. Coupled with the transfer of the Jiedushi and the rotation and defense system of the troops, it is impossible for the Jiedushi to separate the regime, let alone threaten the central government. Of course, this is only theoretical.
Usually, if there is a special emphasis on "theoretically...", then the actual situation must be the opposite.
Regarding the qualitative change of Jiedushi in the late Tang Dynasty, we need not go into details. The binding force of the system is directly proportional to military strength.
For example, Gao Jichang, the governor of Jingnan, theoretically only had the right to use the Jingnan area but not ownership. Everything in the world is not the king's land, and the shores of the land are not the king's ministers. The world belongs to Li Siyuan, and Gao Jichang and other vassals only help the emperor to defend the land. Therefore, although Kui, Zhong, Wan and other states were assigned to Jingnan, the personnel, taxation and other powers were still in the hands of the central government.
What Gao Jichang is doing now is to frantically test the bottom line of the central government and openly ask for the right to appoint and remove personnel, which is tantamount to declaring separatism.
Although Li Siyuan has to take the overall situation into consideration and have to compromise, this is the bottom line of the court, and it is a red line that no central court, no matter how weak it is, can tolerate it!
Li Siyuan did not convene the ministers for discussion and flatly refused. He also sent governors and other officials to Kui, Zhong, Wan and other states to clarify the central government's tough attitude.
What Li Siyuan never expected was that Gao Jichang responded with a stronger attitude.
Coinciding with the resignation of Pan Kang, the governor of Kuizhou (who had the same name as Pan Kang, the former privy envoy to Shu, but not the same person), Li Siyuan dispatched Xingfang Ye to serve as the governor of Kuizhou.
Gao Jichang had quick eyes and quick hands. He immediately sent troops to raid Kuizhou and massacred all the central garrison troops. Then he forcibly took over Kuizhou and refused to admit Western Ye. Later, they sent troops to attack Fuzhou, but failed to capture it.
Li Siyuan was furious. This was simply a blatant rebellion!
What happened next made Li Siyuan no longer able to tolerate it:
A transport team carrying 400,000 gold and silver silks and satins set out from Shu and traveled down the Yangtze River. Han Gong, the camp manager (Yiya), was responsible for escorting the transport to Luoyang to help Li Siyuan solve his financial problems. When passing through Jingnan, Gao Jichang robbed Huang Gang, Han Gong and other transport personnel were killed, and all money and materials were robbed.
The two fatal problems faced by Li Siyuan have been analyzed in detail in the previous article. The spoils of Shu are the lifeblood of Li Siyuan's new regime.
Li Siyuan sent someone to interrogate and demand, but Gao Jichang replied: "Han Gong's fleet went east from the Three Gorges, covering thousands of miles of vast waterways. If you want to know about the accident where the ship was destroyed and people were killed, you should ask the water god."
Gao Jichang was on the verge of committing suicide and tried his best.
Is it tolerable, which one is intolerable? Li Siyuan and Long Yan were furious and decided to teach this shameless man a lesson.
On February 21, the second year of Tiancheng (927), Li Siyuan issued an edict depriving Gao Jichang of all official positions and titles.
With Liu Xun, the military governor of Xiangzhou, as the commander-in-chief of Pingjing, and Xia Luqi, the military governor of Xuzhou, as his deputy, they went south from Xiangzhou and attacked Jiangling Mansion, the heart of Jingnan;
Dong Zhang, the governor of Dongchuan, served as the commander-in-chief of the assisting troops, and Xiang Ye, the governor of Kuizhou, served as deputy. They went down the Yangtze River from Shu to attack Zhong, Wan, Kui and other states;
Tanzhou Ma Yin set out from the south and attacked Jiangling Mansion with Liu Xun and Xia Luqi.
Tens of thousands of troops divided into three groups to surround Jingnan.
