One emperor and one courtier, this is the eternal truth. Li Renhan was a hero in the founding of Shu, and he relied on his achievements to be proud of himself. One can imagine his fate.
Among the ministers appointed by Meng Zhixiang to entrust him with the throne, Zhao Jiliang is the prime minister and local military envoy, Wang Chuhui is the privy envoy, Li Renhan, Zhao Tingyin, and Zhang Ye all hold part of the imperial military power and are also local military envoys, Zhang Gongduo, and Hou Hongshi Take control of part of the imperial army. Among them, Li Renhan and Zhao Tingyin still had a deep personal grudge, and the two once competed for Dongchuan Jiedushi.
The 16-year-old Meng Chang is obviously no match for these people. If these people work together to cause trouble, Hou Shu will change in a matter of minutes. Now, Li Renhan has taken the lead in leaving the circle, Zhao Jiliang and Wang Chu have returned to be loyal to the Meng family, forming a clear political alignment. The first political purge in the power transfer process of Later Shu is about to come.
After Meng Chang came to the throne, he first granted officials and titles to several veteran Gu Ming ministers. Zhao Jiliang, Wang Chuhui, Li Renhan, etc. all received rewards, so there is no need to list them in detail.
At this time, Li Renhan acted extremely arrogant and domineering. He directly asked the emperor for the supreme power of the imperial army - to judge the guards of the six armies. Generally speaking, "sentence to the guards of the six armies" and "marshal of the world's soldiers and horses" have their own political halo, and are basically the standard for successors, sometimes even exceeding the title of "crown prince", so Li Congrong in the later Tang Dynasty I would rather "judge the guards of the six armies" than "the crown prince".
Li Renhan sent a message to Meng Chang, and then sent his confidants to the Academy to supervise the drafting of the edict. This is no longer asking the emperor, but "ordering" the emperor.
Under the strategizing of Zhao Jiliang and others, Meng Chang agreed to Li Renhan's petition, and used the "buy one, get one free" approach to resolve it, announced the establishment of a new forbidden army, and used the children of meritorious old generals and martyrs to Serve as commander in chief.
As a result, the sons of Li Renhan, Zhao Jiliang, Yu Yuanzhen, Zhang Ye, Hou Hongshi, Zhao Tingyin and others all became commanders of the forbidden army.
It justifiably diluted Li Renhan's power, and won over Zhao Tingyin and others to set up resistance for Li Renhan.
In addition to Li Renhan, Li Zhao, the military commander of Zhaowu Army in Lizhou, was also proud of himself. After hearing the news of Meng Chang's accession to the throne, he did not follow the rules and came to the central court. We stayed for more than ten days and spent every day drinking and drinking with relatives and friends.
In this way, more than two months after Meng Chang ascended the throne, Li Zhaocai came to Chengdu calmly. After entering Chengdu, Li Zhao said that he had foot disease and needed to use crutches to go to the palace. When he came to the main hall and met the young master Meng Chang, Li Zhao also excused himself from kneeling down and just nodded slightly to Meng Chang to express his intention.
In the feudal period, ministers had to "hurry up" when they saw the king, that is, walking quickly in small steps to show their respect for the lord. Only those who have made great achievements will be granted a privilege by the emperor, "Don't rush into the court" and allow you to go slowly. But under normal circumstances, this is just an honorary privilege. When entering the court, how should you follow it? How should you follow it? Who dares to be really shy and pacing in front of the emperor?
Li Zhao dared to use a walking stick and said, "I'm sorry, my legs and feet are not flexible." Not only did he not rush, he even dared not to kneel down. It's almost like being second to Li Inhan.
Meng Chang had just ascended the throne, and Li Renhan and Li Zhao dared to despise the king. If they didn't correct them, how could they convince the public?
According to historical records, Mengchang's direct relatives - Han Jixun, Han Baozhen, An Siqian, etc., inferred the holy intention and jointly fabricated rumors to frame Li Renhan for treason; other records said that Zhao Jiliang and Wang Chuhui were the masterminds behind the scenes. In short, the faction loyal to Meng Chang is about to take action.
Zhao Jiliang and Wang Chuhui secretly united with Zhao Tingyin, who had a grudge against Li Renhan, and then ambushed the swordsman in the palace. While Li Renhan was in court, ambushes were sent out to capture him alive, and then he was taken out and beheaded in public.
When Meng Zhixiang was still alive, Li Renhan had already shown his arrogant and domineering side. Together with his nephew Zhang Ye, he bullied men and women and did all kinds of evil, occupying people's fields and houses. They even had evil thoughts about the concubines of former Shu, but they were temporarily suppressed because they were afraid of Meng Zhixiang. After Meng Zhixiang passed away, they completely let themselves go.
The famous general Li Renhan ended his glorious life in such a hurry.
Subsequently, Meng Chang issued an edict to announce Li Renhan's various crimes, and all his sons and party members were executed.
The following is the moment to witness the miracle: Li Zhao's foot disease was instantly cured, and his legs and feet regained their former flexibility. He rushed to the court, knelt down and kowtowed, and admitted his mistake.
Some people suggested that Meng Chang kill Li Zhao, but Meng Chang spared Li Zhao's life in memory of Li Zhao's past achievements and allowed him to retire in the name of Prince Shaofu and move his family to Qiongzhou for resettlement.
Meng Chang not only treated Li Zhao leniently, but also gave Zhang Ye the title of prime minister.
Zhang Ye is Li Renhan's nephew. His original name was Zhang Zhiye. To avoid Meng Zhixiang's taboo, he changed his name to Zhang Ye. He and Li Renhan are both direct descendants of Meng Zhixiang. He followed Meng Zhixiang into Shu, fought in the north and south, and made countless achievements. And he holds the power of the imperial army in his hands.
At that time, it was not just Li Renhan, Zhang Ye, and Li Zhao who were domineering and disobedient, they were just the most outrageous and excessive ones. According to historical records, basically all of Meng Zhixiang's old subordinates were dissatisfied with the 16-year-old brat Meng Chang. If Meng Chang uses Zhao Jiliang, Wang Chuhui, and Zhao Tingyin to expand the "Li Renhan Incident", there will only be two results:
1. There is internal division, and the old generals who have made great achievements are in danger of themselves, thus inducing rebellion;
2. Zhao Jiliang and others became the greedy snakes of Later Shu, gradually gathering the power of Li Renhan and others, and then sidelined Meng Chang.
To drive a tiger away from a wolf, you must also prevent tigers from becoming a problem; to drive a wolf away from a tiger, you must avoid inviting wolves into your home.
It is enough to kill only one Li Renhan to act as a deterrent. It is not appropriate to go on a killing spree when the imperial power is not fully consolidated. This is the wisdom of life and death in political struggle.
It is worth mentioning that Li Renhan's nephew Zhang Ye, this fish that slipped through the net, not only failed to learn from this, but intensified his behavior and continued to go his own way in the following days. He not only took bribes and perverted the law, but even dared to recruit surrender and rebels. They went into hiding and set up private courts and private prisons.
Nozuonodie, whyyoutry?
Fifteen years after Li Renhan was killed, Zhang Ye reenacted the scene of Li Renhan's murder. He was killed by ambushed warriors during the imperial court. Meng Chang issued an edict to announce his crime and confiscate all his family property.
The historian also commented on Li Renhan and others, bluntly saying that he "made" his own death, "he is the one who did it himself." ("Ten Kingdoms Spring and Autumn")
Within three months of taking the throne, Meng Chang stabilized his regime by killing Li Renhan. After that, he continued to take advantage of the situation and took advantage of the civil strife in the Later Tang Dynasty to devour the land in the western part of the Later Tang Dynasty. A fierce border conflict broke out between the two sides south of the Qinling Mountains.
In the subsequent handling process, the fatal weakness of Li Congke's regime in the later Tang Dynasty was also revealed.
