Clue 3: Suspicious "tribute"
While Lu Sun was in Fujian, he was never able to have a formal meeting with Wang Jipeng. When Lu Sun returned home, Wang Jipeng sent Zheng Yuanbi, a member of the civil service department, to follow Lu Sun northward, taking with him a letter of credence and a lot of tribute.
After listening to Lu Shan's report, Shi Jingtang opened Wang Jipeng's letter and became furious. Because there are many words in the letter that are not offensive.
How "disrespectful"? In his letter, Wang Jipeng accused the Central Plains of unstable political situation, changing dynasties and emperors all the time. In short, you, Shi Jingtang, claim to be the lord of the Central Plains, but you don't do it yourself. Are you feeling guilty? Don't feel good about yourself all day long, and always think of yourself as the "Celestial Kingdom", and call us barbarians. We are much more stable than you! I won’t talk nonsense to you anymore. From now on, Jin and Fujian will be equal and use “enemy courtesy” when traveling between countries.
Shi Jingtang was furious and ordered the Fujian envoy Zheng Yuanbi to be thrown into prison and the gifts he brought back be sent back. Our country is vast and rich in resources, so who cares about his rags? Return, reject!
Li Zhishen, a foreign minister from the Ministry of War, hurried to the store to stop him, "No, just keep the goods."
Shi Jingtang thought about it, that's right, come on, the people will be detained, and the goods will also be detained.
Zheng Yuanbi, the special envoy of the Fujian Kingdom, was very courageous. He reported to Shi Jingtang, saying that our master was originally an uneducated barbarian who did not understand rules and etiquette. If he said nice words, he was not worthy of your happiness; if he said unpleasant words, he was not worthy of your happiness. It's worth your anger. You were just about to set an example to the people of the world, why did you do what you did today? Aren't you afraid of being laughed at by everyone in the world? So be it, I am willing to die to apologize for my lord, you kill me.
Shi Jingtang was suddenly in awe of Zheng Yuanbi, so he ordered his acquittal, gave him some gifts, and sent him back home.
Just when Zheng Yuanbi was on an envoy to the Later Jin Dynasty, another palace coup occurred in Fujian. Wang Jipeng was killed and his uncle Wang Yanxi ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor.
After Wang Yanxi proclaimed himself emperor, he immediately sent people to the Later Jin Dynasty to report that Wang Jipeng was killed by the imperial army and that he was supported as the highest military and political officer in Fujian. He also emphasized that he was just a "mighty military governor" and denied that he had proclaimed himself emperor and expressed his willingness to do so. It was called a vassal in the Later Jin Dynasty and the old good was restored.
So some people think that this is the main reason why Shi Jingtang released Zheng Yuanbi.
According to other records, Wang Jipeng had contacted Khitan by sea. Now when Yelu Deguang heard that Shi Jingtang had detained the Fujian envoys and gifts, he ordered Shi Jingtang to release them unconditionally, and then sent the Fujian "tributes" to Khitan. Yelv Deguang told Shi Jingtang that this was a person from Fujian who came to honor his father. How dare you cut him off halfway!
In this way, Shi Jingtang lost both his life and wealth.
Clue 4: Refuse to be knighted
There are authoritative historical records that when Shi Jingtang first canonized Wang Jipeng, Wang Jipeng refused. Wang Jipeng replied that I was already the emperor of the Min Kingdom, and it would not be appropriate to accept the canonization of your Jin Kingdom.
Shi Jingtang had no choice but to announce the severance of diplomatic relations with Fujian.
The diplomatic relations between Shanxi and Fujian have gone through several twists and turns in just over a year, from the severance of diplomatic relations to the normalization of diplomatic relations, from normalization to severance of diplomatic relations, from severance of diplomatic relations to return to normal... During this period, two consecutive palace coups occurred in Fujian. , two monarchs, Wang Yanzheng and Wang Jipeng, were killed.
We don’t need to delve into the mysteries and doubts contained in these four clues. In short, the Fujian Kingdom is determined to become an independent emperor. The later Jin Dynasty did not have the strength to recover it and could only let it go. Friendship between the two countries has always been the common interest of the two countries, especially the later Jin Dynasty, which not only has a friendly neighbor on paper, but also can gain a lot of real money through the gift of "honorary titles".
Therefore, after Wang Yanxi came to power, Shi Jingtang sent Zheng Yuanbi and other envoys back home, and diplomatic relations between the two countries were normalized.
3. Internal Affairs of Later Jin Dynasty
The external relations during Shi Jingtang's period were relatively simple and intuitive, and the same was true for his internal affairs, which were basically the internal affairs of the "kneeling clan". Like his predecessors, although Shi Jingtang was in the Ninth Five-Year Plan, his overall strength was still weak. Local warlords in the feudal towns, especially the former "powerful factions", still posed a strong threat to the central government.
And Shi Jingtang's behavior of recognizing thieves as his father made his situation more difficult than that of Li Siyuan, Li Conghou, and Li Congke. The domestic opposition had a natural political magic weapon, which was nationalism and patriotic sentiments, which had an absolute moral advantage. Anyone who opposes Shi Jingtang will use the topic to incite opposition.
Shi Jingtang faced an unprecedented dilemma. However, Shi Jingtang served as emperor for more than seven years. His reign was similar to that of Mingzong Li Siyuan, and far exceeded Li Congke's two and a half years.
When we evaluated the Hou Liang regime and Zhu Youzhen, we once came to the conclusion that the emperor's length of reign could be an important reference for his ability to govern.
Shi Jingtang's situation was even more difficult than that of Li Congke, but he did not die out as quickly as Li Congke's. Shi Jingtang had certain political skills. Let's see how he became a fearless trend-setter in the turbulent Five Dynasties.
1Repay evil with kindness
Whenever a new emperor takes the throne, in order to cultivate his own party members and consolidate his power, he must make a series of personnel transfers, which may be gentle or bloody. In short, the purpose is to eliminate the "old ministers who care about life" from dictating the new emperor. These independent and important ministers may be hard-working civil servants and military generals, they may be the harem forces that are constrained by everything, or they may be the eunuch forces.
If people with different surnames use force to overthrow the old dynasty and establish a new dynasty, then this political purge will be more cutting-edge and cold-blooded, basically a bloody massacre.
However, contrary to everyone's expectations, Shi Jingtang behaved very kindly and generously when dealing with Li Congke's court in the Later Tang Dynasty.
1.1 Core of the new regime
Before entering Luoyang, Shi Jingtang promoted the direct lineage of Hedong. Zhao Ying, Sang Weihan, Liu Zhiyuan and others controlled government agencies and military power respectively. Among them, Zhao Ying is the prime minister and Sang Weihan is the prime minister and privy envoy.
This was carried out under the supervision of Yelu Deguang. It was in the interests of Khitan to allow "pro-Liao faction" to hold important government positions.
1.2 Let go of the past feud
After Shi Jingtang entered Luoyang, he lowered his authority and clearly designated the "three evil men": Zhang Yanlang, Liu Yanhao, and Liu Yanlang. Accusing these people of being evil villains who have brought disaster to the country and the people, they are full of evil and cannot be tolerated by nature.
Zhang Yanlang was Li Congke's moneybag and chief finance minister (the Third Division). He knew the importance of money in politics and military affairs, so before Shi Jingtang's rebellion, he transferred all the central property scattered in Hedong. Shi Jingtang used the method of moving ants to remit money to Taiyuan, while Zhang Yanlang used the method of moving elephants to relieve him. Therefore, Shi Jingtang "deeply hated" him.
