Prime Ministers Feng Dao and Li Song catered to Shi Jingtang's wishes and repeatedly recommended Du Chongwei.
Du Chongwei did not have much real talent and learning, and his conduct was bad. People avoided him like the god of plague. His left and right aides also advised him to restrain himself, otherwise the people would flee. One time, Du Chongwei passed by the market and said to his entourage: "Everyone said that I forced the people to leave their homes. See for yourselves, there are still so many people on the streets!"
His so-called qualifications or achievements are basically based on his experience and being led by masters: following Hou Yi to defeat Zhang Congbin; following Shi Jingtang to surrender Fan Yanguang.
However, he was promoted repeatedly, from general to prime minister, and his rank was close to that of Liu Zhiyuan. The reason is simple, he is Shi Jingtang's brother-in-law. He is one of the few "trustworthy" comrades of Shi Jingtang.
Liu Zhiyuan despised this soft-boiled man who relied on nepotism to rise to power. In March of the fourth year of Tianfu (939), Shi Jingtang gave Liu Zhiyuan and Du Chongwei the title of prime minister at the same time. Their names appeared in the same edict. Liu Zhiyuan almost refused the edict for this reason. .
In the story of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei sealed Guan, Zhang, Zhao, Ma, and Huang as the "Five Tiger Generals". Guan Yu ranked first among the five tiger generals, and Huang Zhong ranked last. Guan Yu was quite dissatisfied with this, thinking that he and his third brother Zhang Fei were from the dragon. A hero, with great hard work and a sense of loyalty to Taoyuan, he deserves to be among the Five Tigers; Zhao Yun has followed Liu Bei for many years, so he is also qualified; Ma Chao, who came from a famous family, is also qualified... Only towards Huang Zhong, Guan Yu directly made his attitude clear: He has him Without me, without him!
Huang Zhong was a reduced general who submitted to Liu Bei after the Battle of Chibi, and his previous rank was only a partial general, so Guan Yu contemptuously called him a "veteran". In ancient times, the word "veteran" was slightly derogatory and could only be used to be self-effacing. If used on others, it would be a naked personal attack.
During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Liu Zhiyuan became angry because he was juxtaposed with Du Chongwei. He refused to accept the edict, closed his house tightly, and did not see guests. "He" is exactly the same.
Shi Jingtang was furious, "If you want to love me, don't pull me down!" So he planned to remove Liu Zhiyuan from military power and let him retire and go home to retire.
Counselor Zhao Ying shouted no, kowtowed and begged, saying that His Majesty was trapped in Taiyuan by more than 100,000 people back then, with only 5,000 troops in hand. If Liu Zhiyuan had not been determined to fight, how could the country be where it is today? If you were deprived of military power for such a trivial matter, no one in the world would be disappointed.
Shi Jingtang calmed down his anger and sent He Ning, a bachelor from Duanming Palace, to do ideological work for Liu Zhiyuan, and Liu Zhiyuan accepted it.
Now (the sixth year of Tianfu, 941), Du Chongwei replaced Liu Zhiyuan's military power in the imperial army. This made Liu Zhiyuan furious and transferred his anger to Feng Dao and Li Song.
In mid-August, Shi Jingtang came to Weizhou as scheduled. On the Mid-Autumn Festival, Shi Jingtang issued an edict to grant amnesty to the world. He also issued an edict to appease An Chongrong, urging him to know his way back and not to go further down the wrong road.
When An Chongrong saw Shi Jingtang suing for peace with such a low profile, he believed that Shi Jingtang was weak and could be bullied, so he stepped up the pace of rebellion. The edict had the opposite effect.
On the surface, this patriotic young man was filled with righteous indignation and wanted to fight against the Khitans. In private, he secretly made contact with the Khitans through Youzhou in order to gain the support of the Khitans and overthrow the Shi Jingtang regime.
The Khitan people also understood that An Chongrong's name was anti-Liao, but in fact he was a conspiracy against Jin. They also planned to gain benefits from this turmoil, so they chose to watch the fire from the other side.
"Although Chongrong took Khitan as his representative, he sent people against Yin to marry Liu Xi, the governor of Youzhou." - "New History of the Five Dynasties"
"The more glory you have, the more you will indulge in unreasonableness. Although there is this memorial, it is also secretly that people have a trust with Liu Xi, the commander of Youzhou, Khitan." - "Old History of the Five Dynasties"
This is the ugly face of "patriotic youth" An Chongrong.
In addition to secretly communicating with the Khitan people, An Chongrong also actively contacted the rebels in the Later Jin Dynasty - An Congjin, the governor of Shannan East Road in Xiangzhou. Although he was thousands of miles away, the thieves saw thieves and nodded. An Chongrong still keenly smelled the familiar smell emanating from An Congjin.
The jurisdiction of Shannan East Road in Xiangzhou is located to the north of Jingnan. It is the central chokepoint connecting Jingnan, Hunan and other southern vassals. It is said that those who are close to Zhu are red, and those who are close to high are Laizi. An Congjin actually started doing the Gao family's old business in Jingnan - robbing tribute. An Congjin intercepted the properties of Nan Chu Masi Fan as tribute to the Later Jin Dynasty, and privately made weapons and armor, recruited troops and horses, and expanded his strength.
When his staff persuaded him to change his mind, he beheaded the person who advised him. Regarding the rebellion, An Congjin was like a bastard and was determined to resist.
In March of the fifth year of Tianfu (940), Shi Jingtang planned to move An Congjin to Qingzhou through the nationwide large-scale town relocation movement. He sent people to test An Congjin's attitude, but received a very strong rejection.
In April of the sixth year of Tianfu (941), An Congjin sent an envoy to visit Later Shu, requesting that Later Shu send troops to attack Jinzhou and Shangzhou under the control of Later Jin, forming a cornered attack with Xiangzhou.
Meng Chang (Meng Renzan) of the Later Shu Dynasty convened a group of ministers to discuss, and everyone agreed that the Jin and Shang states were far away and the terrain was difficult, so logistical supplies were very problematic. For Hou Shu, the Jin and Shang states were too useless and required a lot of cost to conquer. However, they could not bring benefits to Hou Shu. Instead, they increased political and diplomatic costs out of thin air. Why should the Shu people go into the fire to get chestnuts for the rebels?
Therefore, Hou Shu politely declined An Congjin's invitation.
An Congjin turned to Jingnan Gao Congjiao for help.
As early as last year, An Congjin had already contacted Gao Congjie of Jingnan. At that time, Gao Congjie had agreed to support him in rebelling against the Central Committee of the Later Jin Dynasty.
Gao Cong taught professionally for thirty years. At that time, he and An Congjin were playing a double act in a tacit understanding. On the surface, he said no, but his body was very honest (externally, he refused, but yinly was the same). In this way, both Shi Jingtang and An Congjin would be popular, and both would regard Gao Congjie as one of their own.
Now, An Congjin wants to move the rebellion from the PPT into reality, and specially implores Gao Congjie to fulfill the previous secret agreement and send troops to help.
Gao Congjie decided that An Congjin could not succeed, so he said with a straight face, "What secret agreement? Haven't I always refused your attempts to win over me?" He seriously analyzed the pros and cons for him, and advised him not to be stubborn and to be like me. Isn’t it nice to have the same loyal ministers?
Wang Baoyi, Gao Congjie's adviser, even suggested that Gao Congjie quickly betray An Congjin to the Central Committee of the Later Jin Dynasty to prove his innocence and avoid getting burned.
Xiangzhou Shannan East Road is closely adjacent to Jingnan. If the imperial army comes to suppress the rebellion, it is very likely that Jingnan, who has colluded with the rebels, will be killed. Therefore, Jingnan must prove his innocence.
Therefore, Gao Congjie reported An Congjin's rebellion "truthfully" to the Central Committee of the Later Jin Dynasty, and attached the letters he had exchanged with An Congjin in recent times as ironclad evidence. As mentioned above, in these correspondences, Gao Congjie's public attitude has always been to express his rejection and opposition to An Congjin's rebellion.
