To be honest, Li Congke has never been so angry, especially after becoming the emperor and still sober and not drunk...
The two of them were scolded and confused because Xue Wenyu proposed the marriage to Li Congke. The two of them knew nothing about it, so they responded to Li Congke's words such as "My daughter is young, so you sold her to the barbarians." I can't understand it at all.
But they still accurately summarized the emperor's central idea, which was to oppose an alliance with the Khitan. At the same time, the two also understood fear.
The two of them were sweating profusely and hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, indicating that they were entirely from the perspective of the Later Tang Dynasty and were considering maximizing the interests of the Later Tang Dynasty. They had no treasonous intentions, let alone fighting for the interests of the barbarians. Please be aware of this, Your Majesty!
Li Congke had no intention of listening to the two explanations. His anger only increased, and he roared and cursed, spitting sweet things from his mouth.
Lu Qi was so frightened that he almost had an asthma attack. He gasped for air and kowtowed a little slowly.
Li Congke pointed at Lu Qi and cursed: "Lu Qi, you have always been arrogant and stubborn. You clearly do not regard me as the emperor!"
Lu Qi apologized and said, "We are stupid, stupid, and lacking in strategy. We are willing to obey the emperor's orders. What's the use of kowtowing?"
When Li Congke was tired of scolding and his anger subsided a little, he allowed them to stop kowtowing, gave each of them a glass of wine to calm their shock, and then told them to go home.
Subsequently, Lu Qi was appointed as Yu Shi Zhongcheng. The office of Yushi Zhongcheng was Yushitai. He worked outside the palace and could not enter the palace, which meant that he was alienated by Li Congke.
Li Congke scolded and alienated Li Song and Lu Qi, sending a strong political signal to the outside world: Anyone who advocates maintaining friendly relations with the Khitan is a traitor; anyone who advocates a tough attitude towards the Khitan is a loyal minister.
From then on, no one dared to mention the alliance with the Khitan. The failure of the normalization of diplomatic relations between the Later Tang Dynasty and the Khitan provided objective conditions for Shi Jingtang, Zhao Dejun and others to collude with the Khitan to rebel.
How chaotic is Li Congke's civil service clique? Taichang Chengshi Zaide provided us with a reference material.
In March of the second year of Qingtai (935), a memorial written by Shi Zaide caused shock in both the government and the public. In this memorial, Shi Zaide went all out, criticizing the current affairs in fierce terms and almost scolding the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty. Content explosion:
"...Those who are called warriors are not idle in making plans. Although they are strong and sharp, they abandon their armor in battle and carry their troops when they are poor; those who are called scribes have few artistic skills and are mostly unskilled. When asked about strategies, they are silent and do not write. Ze Qianren. The so-called empty personnel is a waste of national power."
——The military generals know how to run away when fighting, and switch sides when they can't escape; the civil servants are uneducated and have no moral character, not to mention they don't have strategies to stabilize the country. Even official documents need to be written by gunmen. Chaoli is a bunch of trash.
Later, Shi Zaide suggested a comprehensive assessment and a major blood change to remove the waste and bring up the lower-level talents.
Prime Minister Lu Wenji and others were furious and ordered the admonishers Liu Tao, Yang Zhaojian and others to go to the bookstore to accuse Shi Zaide of his mistakes; Zhongshu Sheng also went to the bookstore to refute it.
Shi Zaide challenged the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty. Although the words were relatively strong, Shi Zaide pointedly pointed out the current situation of Li Congke's group. The country's top think tanks are all fake people.
However, Li Congke actually withstood the pressure of the Manchu Dynasty's civil and military forces, supported Shi Zaide, and even compared the story of Wei Zheng and Tang Taizong. It is said that even if Shi Zaide uses inappropriate words and exaggerates, he cannot be convicted for his words. If I punish Shi Zaide today, who will dare to tell the truth in the future?
So he issued an edict criticizing the admonishers Liu Tao, Yang Zhaojian and others, saying that at that time, Huang Fude, a small county prime minister in Shaanxi County, also criticized the current affairs in a book, using fierce words, wanton abuse, insults and slander, without the courtesy of a minister. He should be killed, but Wei Zheng persuaded Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty to pardon him. Comrade Wei Zheng said, "Even if what he said is wrong, we can just not accept it. Why kill him?" Whenever I read this history, I feel that Comrade Wei Zheng is a good person. Kind of. But what about you? Faced with similar things, Liu Tao and others actually persuaded me to kill the person who wrote the letter, who was also a court admonisher. Why is there such a big gap between you and Wei Zheng?
"Because of reading Wenzhen's words, I am lenient to the crime of virtue."
As a result, some sources praised Li Congke, saying that he followed good deeds, accepted advice with an open mind, and learned from Wei Zheng and Tang Taizong... So how to explain his criticism and alienation from Li Song and Lu Qi?
In fact, Li Congke's support for Shi Zaide was a "borrowing force" and a relatively mild political struggle using Shi Zaide.
When Li Congke usurped the throne, he himself lacked sufficient confidence. He was most afraid of the disapproval of civil and military officials, just as he later yelled at Lu Qi when he got angry, "Don't take me seriously!"
Although the civil and military officials shouted long live on the surface, they never accepted Li Congke in their hearts. The vertical depth of Li Congke's group in the court was far from enough.
At this time, Shi Zaide suddenly appeared. He was not afraid of the powerful and powerful, and unleashed all his civil and military firepower on the Manchu Dynasty. He was exactly the chess piece Li Congke needed. Li Congke acted like a wise man who paid tribute to Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, and personally endorsed Shi Zaide's platform. He was afraid that Shi Zaide would misfire, "Brother, come on!"
Many times, there are many things that the big leader wants to say and do that are not convenient for him to do. At this time, someone needs to stand up for the big leader and help him say what he says and get things done.
Therefore, Li Congke's "following the good and being like the flow" is just a persona of the emperor, and it is only superficial.
In sharp contrast to Li Congke's group is Hedong Shi Jingtang's team.
Li Congke has repeatedly stated publicly that Shi Jingtang is his relative and comrade-in-arms, and I trust him very much. He talks about trust, but is very honest in his body. He uses Zhang Jingda and Liu Yanhao to drive wedges for himself. He also uses the "policy-based allocation" to kill three birds with one stone to cut the salary from the bottom of the Hedong cauldron. He spoke the truth after drinking at the banquet and frankly said that he was sure that Shi Jingtang was going to rebel... …
Shi Jingtang would not remain indifferent.
On this day, Shi Jingtang seemed to have no intention of chatting, and said an interesting thing to his staff and guests: "I had a very strange dream recently. I dreamed that when I was in Luoyang, one day I was walking alongside the emperor. , suddenly passed by the old house where the emperor lived before he ascended the throne. The emperor was very interested, and suddenly and enthusiastically invited me to come in and have a look. I humbled myself over and over again, but it was too kind to refuse, so I turned my horse around and entered the house. I rode my horse all the way to the entrance of the hall. I got off the horse, walked up the steps, entered the hall, and sat on the east side. At this time, I suddenly turned around. Guess what? Hey, the emperor has already galloped away. Haha, you guys Who can interpret Duke Zhou’s dream and help me analyze it, what does this dream mean?”
Everyone who dared to challenge Shi Jingtang understood what Shi Jingtang meant.
Shi Jingtang used dreams to send a strong signal to his men: I am going to rebel. Please help me make up some reliable excuses.
