When Li Congke went east to Shaanzhou, he sent a briefing to the Empress Dowager Cao to listen to the Empress Dowager Cao's instructions. Empress Dowager Cao ordered everyone in the palace, big and small, to go to Shaanzhou to welcome Li Congke. This is what An Congjin told Feng Dao and others. Empress Dowager Cao had already sent people to greet Li Congke.
Li Congke ordered these people to return to Luoyang and continue to serve Empress Dowager Cao.
With Empress Dowager Cao's attitude, Li Congke no longer faced any political resistance.
When Li Congke came to the west of Luoyang City, the civil and military officials lined up under the leadership of the prime minister to welcome him and respectfully invited him to enter the city. However, Li Congke was like a dragon but did not see the end. He sent someone to spread the word that he had not yet knelt on the coffin of the late emperor and was not suitable to meet the ministers.
When Li Siyuan passed away, Li Congke did not come to attend the funeral. This time, he had to mourn first according to etiquette. What he did was not just to pretend to be a filial son, but also had a deeper political meaning.
Of course Feng Dao understood, so he persuaded Li Congke to ascend the throne as soon as possible and take charge of government work.
Li Congke did not express his position on this. Instead, he went to the palace to meet Empress Dowager Cao and Concubine Wang De, and expressed his condolences to the family members of the deceased. Then he went to the West Palace where the late emperor's coffin was stored, knelt in front of the coffin and cried loudly, crying out why he was framed and forced to raise an army.
Feng Dao led hundreds of civil and military officials to kneel and kowtow outside, and continued to persuade them to advance. Li Congke followed the etiquette and kowtowed to the officials in return.
Faced with the persuasion of the officials, Li Congke replied: "I came to Luoyang this time as a last resort. I just wanted to help the emperor get rid of the traitors around him. Now the traitors have been eradicated, but the emperor misunderstood and ran away. Then I Just wait for the emperor to come back, bury the late emperor, and then return to Fengxiang to continue being a governor and do your duty as a minister. Why are you all acting like this all of a sudden? It's very bad."
The next day (April 4), Empress Dowager Cao issued an order to depose the current emperor Li Conghou and demote him to the title of King of E. At the same time, he ordered Li Congke to temporarily preside over the state affairs and temporarily use the "Book of Edicts".
There were a total of eight emperor's seals, the "Eight Treasures", and Li Conghou took them all away, so Li Congke could only use the seal used when approving the edict as the "official seal" of the Later Tang Dynasty. But there is a small bug here. When Li Conghou met Shi Jingtang, historical records said that Li Conghou did not carry the emperor's seal or other items. So did he bring it or not?
In my personal opinion, I should bring it. If you don't bring any civil and military officials, you're worried about traitors; if you don't bring a yellow umbrella cover, flags, drums, and ceremonial guards, it's inconvenient to carry, but just put a few small seals in your pocket. Li Conghou's IQ is no problem. It is impossible for him not to know the importance of these things.
Of course Shi Jingtang had to insist that he didn't bring it.
All civil and military officials went to Li Congke's old residence and submitted their resignations, expressing their resignation. Li Congke ordered them all to be reinstated and pardoned.
These are all tricks to "give in" and usurp the throne.
On April 5, Empress Dowager Cao issued an order: Comrade Li Congke became emperor.
On April 6, Li Congke ascended the throne in front of Li Siyuan's coffin and officially sat on the throne of emperor, becoming the fourth emperor of the Later Tang Empire.
On March 15, 934 AD, the Battle of Fengxiang began;
On March 16, the central army defected in front of the formation; Li Congke embarked on the Eastern Expedition. What followed was no longer a war, but an armed parade of Fengxiang soldiers. From then on, there was no more fighting. The city strongholds along the way turned to the wind and turned their backs one after another;
He arrived in Luoyang on April 3 and sat on the throne three days later.
This was a result that was beyond everyone's expectations, even Li Congke didn't dare to imagine. Li Conghou's regime is so fragile and vulnerable to a blow. No, there is no need to strike, just a roar is enough. It is vulnerable to a roar. Li Congke's Eastern Expedition was not called the Eastern Expedition, but he took office immediately.
Some people jokingly said that Li Congke's world was created by crying. A cry on the Fengxiang City Wall cried out a great empire, describing Li Congke as a Liu Bei-like figure.
The wails on Fengxiang City Wall were just a dispensable appetizer. The reason why Li Congke was able to quickly ascend to the throne with overwhelming force was mainly due to the abnormal distribution of power and strength in the empire, which had been accurately predicted by Meng Zhixiang.
Those with strong strength did not allocate the resources they deserved, while those with weak strength divided up the interests of the empire. This abnormal distribution method will inevitably lead to secondary distribution.
If Li Congke was not the first to rebel, but Shi Jingtang, the result would inevitably be Shi Jingtang sitting on the throne of emperor.
The officers and soldiers of the Forbidden Army recognized money but not people. Whether it was Li Siyuan's adopted son or son-in-law, even if it was someone who could not be beaten, they would support anyone who gave them money. Anyway, they just didn't support Li Conghou.
After Li Congke ascended the throne, he couldn't wait to send Wang Luan, the son of Weizhou governor Wang Hongzhi, to Weizhou with poisoned wine so that Li Conghou could leave with dignity.
On April 9, Wang Luan arrived in Weizhou and met Li Conghou in prison.
Li Conghou had an ominous premonition and asked Wang Luan what his purpose was.
Wang Luan lowered his head and said nothing. Wang Hongzhi held a wine glass and kept urging Li Conghou to drink.
Li Conghou knew it was a poisonous wine and refused to drink it.
Since you don't want to be decent, then we will help you be decent. Wang Hongzhi and his son teamed up to strangle Li Conghou to death. Less than half a year after Li Conghou came to the throne, he was murdered in this way. He was only 21 years old.
Li Conghou was in a hurry when he fled and did not take his wife and children with him. His wife Kong (the daughter of Kong Xun) and four children were all in the palace and fell into the hands of Li Congke.
Li Congke sent someone to ask Kong, "Where is Li Chongji?" Then he beheaded all four children of Kong and Li Conghou.
When Li Conghou was imprisoned in Weizhou, only his immediate confidant Song Lingxun sent people to visit him. When he learned that Li Conghou had been killed, Song Lingxun cried bitterly for a long time, and then hanged himself to die for his country.
Li Conghou was in power for 5 months, one of which was in mourning for "Ding Fu", and he was actually in power for only 4 months, and his power was emptied by the "Rocket Faction", so during these 4 months, he was almost "Mediocre and inactive", he only did one thing, which was to encounter rebellion and be driven out of office.
And history has also given a very fair evaluation, "It is not the young master's fault for his failure to secure the country." Li Conghou was not a foolish king, nor a tyrant. He was a puppet who was emptied out by powerful officials. The powerful officials forced Li Congke to rebel. , leading to his death and the destruction of his country, which is really pitiful.
Mr. Ouyang Xiu, in line with the melon-eating spirit of watching the excitement without taking it too seriously, made a sour sarcastic remark, "It's a pity that Mingzong was made aware of it, and he is ashamed of his heavy teachings."
What Xiu Ye means is that An Chongjie tried his best to get rid of Li Congke for Li Siyuan, but Li Siyuan killed An Chongjie instead, so that before he was buried, Li Congke killed his own son and took away his empire. Therefore, if Li Siyuan knew anything after his death, Jiuquanxia should be ashamed of An Zhongjia.
In fact, it is not the case. As analyzed in the previous question, Li Conghou does not necessarily have to be overthrown by Li Congke. Shi Jingtang, Fan Yanguang, Zhao Dejun, Zhao Yanshou... everyone in the "powerful faction" has a share, because it is not a specific person who overthrows Li Conghou, but There is a serious mismatch between the distribution of resources and the distribution of interests, and there is a deformed relationship between power and benefit.
"Li Congke" is the appearance, and this imbalance of matching is the essence. Master Xiu's view on this issue is not as thorough as Meng Zhixiang's, but it does not affect his understanding of the matter.
